Conversion to Islam [Hardcover]

Nehemia Levtzion (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1978 | ISBN-10: 0841903433 | ISBN-13: 978-0841903432

Across the barriers of climate and culture in Asia and Africa, Islam has won converts and has been adopted by entire ethnic groups. From its dramatic emergence in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century to its spread across Africa in modern times, Islam has had a major impact on all forms of life. The essays in the volume span 13 centuries of Islam history. The important distinctions between conversion through military conquest and that through social and political action are discussed together with Islam's role and its encounter with other religions.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Holmes & Meier Pub (October 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0841903433
• ISBN-13: 978-0841903432
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,893,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor and lacking, July 7, 2007

By 

Gogol (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conversion to Islam (Hardcover)

This book is in fact a collection of papers delivered at SOAS concerning the conversion to Islam in various societies and cultures. The book includes works by a number of 'scholars' in 'Islamic' studies.

Problem with the book though however, is that apart from the chapters by Levtzion on West Africa and O Fahey on Dar Foor this book is very poor.

Take for example the chapter on China by R Israeli. It is difficult to believe that this person even knows the first thing about Islam and to say the least, very worrying that this person holds a post in a university. He seems to be completely ignorant of the Islamic world veiw; that mankind share a common ancestor (Adam) who had knowledge of revealed truth as did his descendents who gradually drited away from divine truth thus, God sent down prophets to bring them back to the fold, therefore, every nation has been sent a prophet or messenger and thus, from the Islamic veiwpoint a new culture would not be seen as automatically 'different' but rather just another chain in the link of divine revelation. For every one thing that may be different in that culture there may be two that are the same.

Israeli however mocks the Muslim historian who claims a Chinese emperor descended from Adam (has Israeli not read the bible?) mocks the idea that the Chinese Muslims would see comparason with their religion and the teachings of Confucianism (It would seem then ignoring the traditional Islamic belief that every nations has been sent a prophet or messenger) dismisses most of the Islamic sources of Chinese Islams history while quoting Broomhall without question (Is he not aware that Broomhall's book 'Islam in China' was written with the sole intent at establishing Christian missionary work amongst Chinese Muslims? Hardly an objective book then is it?)

His theory being that Chinese Muslims regarded themselves distinct and only attempted to assimilate after the demise of both the Abbasids and then later Mongol power in China and made up some kind of shared history to do this is frankly laughable. I can only pity those who study under him.

Next we have the spread of Islam in Anatolia. Now having read T.J. Winter (A.H.Murad) nonsense on this subject this is not much better. Still producing the same nonsense concerning the spread of Islam dating from the Seljuq Turks only (There were Muslim colonies in Anatolia long before that and even a Muslim quater in Constantinope see the Tafsir of Omar Blimen for further details) That Islam came in 3 classes. 1 The Seljuq higher class of Hanafi scholars 2 The 'mystics' followers of Ibn Arabis teachings 3 The ghazis warrior class 4. The Babas (a group he would later compare to witch doctors!!!)

First off, The Ghazis and the Babas were vertually one in the same. Many were Turkomans who studied the teachings of the great Ahmed Yasawi (who I can asure you was not some 'Witch doctor' but a Sunni/Sufi scholar) Many of these Babas (of whom the Bektashi order would come from) Took his teachings and joined the ranks of the Muslim armies fighting the crusades in Anatolia.

I will not bother to go into the nonsense commnents he begins his paper with concerning the expulsion of Christians from Anatolia during the population exchange (though he did seem to ignore the Christians of Central Anatolia who were in large numbers) This has been repeated time and time again of course ignoring the fact that Muslims were equally expelled from Salonica, there were once over 4 Mosques in Athens, hundreds of Tekkes in Southern Greece and large Muslim populations in almost all of the Greek Islands especially Crete and Lesbos.

Practically nothing is written on the importance of the Sufi orders in conversion in Anatolia (see the book by Arnold "The preaching of Islam")

We are then given an even more pointless paper on "Then conversion myths of Indonesia" Now if you regard them as 'myths' then may I ask what exactly is the point of repeating them? The book is filled with this "Acording to Muslim historians such and such king had a dream a result of which he converted to Islam; which of course is nonsense" So why bother printing it then???

Other chapters cover early conversion to Islam and conversion in India but it would take up too much space to cover all the nonsense in this book.

I must say, I can see now why it was only priced at about $10!!!

At least O'Fahey and Levtzion cover areas of the Islamic world less covered by others (the teachings of ibn Idris and the Sanusi order, West Africa) You would have thought for the others they would have done a better job than this!