Customer Reviews

The Crisis of Islamic Civilization

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I've read a number of books on Islam's crisis, but this is the first I've read one actually written by a Muslim. Allawi was not just an Iraqi minister, he is at least partly educated in the West and clearly a first rate intellectual in any event. Allawi delivers a balanced view of Islam's difficulties coping with the modern world; he heaps significant blame on the West for repeatedly taking advantage of weaker Muslim countries, but he also doesn't hold back on his criticisms of Islam's many problems. His bottom line is that Muslims have lost their way and the true essence of Islam, and that is individual responsibility for dedicating one's life to the foundation of the religion. Living in harmony within the community, mutual respect and modesty (men and women, inside and out), staying in touch with one's environment and actively seeking knowledge that will lead to a closer relationship with God. He argues that the West has long since lost it's soul and the corrupt/despotic regimes of most Arab countries simply ape the most vulgar and despicable elements of Western "civilization." In my mind, he lays out a compelling argument for all of us losing our way.

It's truly an excellent book for anyone really interested in Islam's struggle, it's not necessarily for someone looking for a book focused on terrorists/fundamentalism/extremism. However, he does explain the the split in Islam between the Sufi and the Wahabi/Salafist extremists whom he explains have lost their way...and ability to think. The Wahabi/Salafists take every element of the Koran and Sharia as literal and are intellectually incapable of understanding nuance. Allawi argues that these extremists have no true knowledge of Islam and what it really means. It presents convincing arguments which detail Islams inability to find solutions to modern problems because there is no central authority to manage development of either Islam's interpretation/development. Shia clerics fare better than the hodge podge of Sunni clerics and self-appointed "experts" in the Taliban, al-Qaida and other gangs. He argues that the rise of the Wahabi/Salafists has actually degraded Islam because of all the pretenders issuing fatwas and continually misinterpreting Sharia and the Koran. Their focus on the ridiculous, like requiring facial hair on men, covered women, no school for girls etc...reveals their stupidity and ignorance of Islam...a religion steeped in science/math/medicine over the centuries.

Excellent read for those who want to better understand what's ailing one of the world's great religions. Its also revealing for a Westerner wondering about what's ailing us as well.

This is a book that everyone should read, not because it is so good, but because it shows hows incredibly fractured are the thought processes of even leading Islamic intellectuals. The book is constant whine. Allawi is fair. He doesn't like the West, he doesn't like Islamic extremists. But his perspective on life shows how far apart the West and Islamic civilizations potentially are. His instincts are to deny any sense of individual rights or freedoms in consession to some mystical need for "community." In fact, he treats mysticism as central to his culture and something that the West has denigrated. He wants Islamic Science, deriding the impact of Western Science on the world or at least his world. As a scientist, a Western scientist, I truly believe that science belongs to the world. The approach and philosophy of science are not Western alone. Allawi wants a science that reinforces the idea of God as the creator. He's entitle to his view, but he cannot change the course of scientific philosophy.

The worst part of this book is his dismissal of criticism about treatment of heretics and apostates. So what if they are killed? It's no big deal, he argues, and it's all blown out of proportion by the Western press. I think if Allawi stood in front of a crowd about to stone him to death, he might just elevate his perspective on individual rights.

He whines. He does not offer one detailed solution. If he represents the Islamic elite, our war will be be endless.

The book is well written, in a balanced tone analyzing the differences between Islam as a comprehensive way of life and the "Islamic States". The book offers a valid point of view as a counter argument to the "Clash of Civilizations". It provides the reader with an eloquent description of the role of Islam in the Islamic civilization, and how the absence of the application of Islam, and not its presence, is the reason for the crisis. When I started reading the book I was skeptical, because of its name, that it is another half baked book written contributing to the Islam and Muslim bashing that became "en vogue" after the attacks on 9/11. To my delight, I found it a well researched book, portraying the bright face of Islam, and its positive impact on the human civilization. The book provides areas of compactibility and congruence between Islam and current world affairs including, but not limited to, human rights, the environment, minority rights, and the concept of citizenship and state system in Islam, as well as the relationship and interaction between the Islamic civilization and other states/civilzations.

Dr Ali Allawi's latest book is a tour de force on Islamic responses to modernity and how most of them have failed the test of times. The reason being according to the learned scholar is that they have missed the most important ingredient of all and that is, the spiritual or the inner dimension of Islam (tasawwuf). This has generated a haphazard response and at times a 'secular' response even on the part of the islamists for Islam stresses on the relation with the transcendent and with the unseen(ghayb)[Qur'an "those who believe in the unseen"] for when there is a tendency to merely concentrate on this world even in the name of islam, it has inadvertently become secular.

Dr Allawi gives an analysis of the responses of the muslim thinkers in the field of education, politics, human rights. What i like about this book is that he does not merely analyse their works but he also provides a critical appraisal on their project and provides interesting insights on why some of them had failed to bring back islamic civilisation to its golden period. Amongst the ideas treated here are the Islamization of knowledge project which had originated from Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas "a philosopher and educationalist of genius and profound insight".
Other contemporary thinkers treated here in an analytical fashion include Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Muhammad Abid al-Jabiri, Malek bennabi and others.

Other issues treated here are issues connected to islamic state, human rights and islamic law, islamic banking and islamic economy. This book should honestly be read by everyone interested to have a good critical overview of islamic thought and muslim responses to issues in the contemporary world. It is a book written by a philosopher and thinker who has thought deeply in regards to these issues and provides his insights to the present predicament of muslims. Although he does not provide straight forward answers to many of the issues raised here, those advocates of the many ideas discussed within this book should honestly rethink and respond accordingly.

Both the importance and the misunderstanding of Islam has clearly been growing for a while. This book gives an exellent perspective on the foundational difference between Islam and western perspectives on subjects like human rights and the justice system.

One typically reads either reactionary pieces on the doctrinal tendencies of Islam that leads to its recent rise in militancy or in Cold war origins of the armament of militant islam by western powers. There obviously exist elements, in particular cold war power struggles, that have led to some of the political and social architecture that exists in the Islamic world, but this book discussions discuss other, and what have convinced me are much more powerful issues that have been conflicting Islam for some time.

It is argued convincingly that current inferences on violence and reactionary behaviour are not a function of embedded values. They are argued to be emergent phenomenon of a divided culture where wealth has driven much of affluent society to embrace consumption goals leaving most behind feeling excluded. The distribution of wealth in much islamic society falls into extreme pareto distributions, and the justice that exists does not seem to address things properly. The dismissal of the Caliphate and the stagnation of jurisprudence is argued to be a major factor in dissillusionment of the under represented. In such environments, reactionary tendencies tend to amplify. In a sense it is argued that the social contract which used to be effective has failed to keep pace with the society that governs it. To be more specific, it is argued that the fundamental difference between the western political economy and islamic political economy is that sharia defines jurisprudence and it does not have the same form of plasticity. In particular the evolution of Sharia seems to have become more reactionary compared to the path it had been taking a century ago and Wahabism has taken control of much modern interpretation of Sharia. The repurcussions of having such competing interests and lack of congruence between western and islamic political economy and foundational doctrine is the need for a rethinking of the ways in which Islam can and should endogenously move "forward" with self consistency (a source of tension that helps form the crisis for islamic civilization).

This book really gets one engaged in an incredibly important subject that will continue to be prominent. It is evolving in real time and it never ceases to amaze me how few people have spent time studying and of Islam's foundation. This book, though quite heavy in information, manages to get the novice up to speed very quickly an efficiently with many of the major issues facing the world's second most populous religion.

This books was an interesting read, it raises interesting debates about the sociological longterm effects when two civilizations collide and essentially creates a hybrid of dubious value. However, i disagree with several of his main points. He bemoans the fact that Western powers and their local backers starting from the 19th century "interupted" Islams evolution towards some form of democratic/representative rule of government based on Islamic tenets and philosophy.

But what evidence does he produce to back up the claim that Islamic Civilization would eventually accomplish this transformation on its own? He himself admitted that authoritative leaders were a trademark of Islam from the Caliphs onwards to this very day. He mentions Irans democratic "experimentation" 1906-1909 as case in point, yet it's shortlived parliamentarian flirt was clearly based on Western ideas about state institutions, not Islamic ones. Should the Islamic world then languish under it's "inherited" dictatorship until Islam finally finds it's own answers in a distant future, free from Western influence and meddling, because acknowledging otherwise would hurt the sensibilities and pride of Muslim intellectuals? It seems like that this is what Allawi is proposing.

He also plainly state his opinion that human rights(those rights commonly assumed to be universal, such as those stipulated in the UN Declaration) are of Western origin. Even if true, would that in itself invalidate them or somehow exclude these principles from being applied to in Islamic countries? What type of individual "Western" rights does he find objectional in a Islamic setting and on what basis does he conclude that the Muslim alternative(based on the Sharia or other sources) is superior and more fitting? He doesnt answer that fully.

As another reviewer mentioned, i didnt find his claims about apostasy and blasphemy satisfactory. If rulers of old times didnt enforce draconian laws despite it being clearly and univocally advocated by the main schools of Islam, then the "credit" for this moderation should go to the one who chose to ignore this command, not the religion that was its source. Allawi also uses the oft mentioned idea of Christianity having a similar blemished history while ignoring the fact that capital punishments for sacrireligious crimes are seen as a ancient relic in Western societies and Christian theology, something that can hardly be said for a number of Islamic countries.

So yes, its an interesting, perhaps even controversial, book that deserves to be read. But some of its arguements were unconvincing.

Allawi, tells Islam and the West what he thinks Islam needs to do to find a better place in the world. He is clear and specific. Frank