Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of Islam & the Muslim World

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Obviously reviewing an encyclopedia is not like reviewing a history book. These over-size pages contain over 500 articles,a few short essays,but mostly long essays by hundreds of scholars;also a glossary of Arabic terms,over 140 color & other illustrations, 15 maps, genealogies,and time lines for the several regions central to Islam.

There is also a "Synoptic Outline of Entries" including articles listed under biography, culture[5 headings], geography, history[4], politics, religion[7],etc. The index is quite helpful since the actual articles are in easy to notice bold number-type. Some articles are much longer than a long essay,e.g.: The Abbasid Empire[4 pages], Allah[3], al-Andulus[Islamic Spain], Muhammad[8], Holy Cities[6], Caliphate[8], Ottoman Empire[4], Baghdad[3], India's Mogul or Mughal Empire[3]& its great ruler Akbar[2].

There are some tricky features:"Philosophy" is a six page article which the index "redirects" you to under its Arabic name "Falsafa". The short article on theology is under "Kalam",but see also the long article on "Law"[obviously not an Arabic word]. Related to these topics is a seven page article "Tasawwuf"[variously used for "mysticism" and "Sufism"].

The perhaps greatest Muslim thinker,champion of the Qur'an[Koran],al-Ghazali,1059-1111 A.D.[under "G",a rare exception to the index-rule of listing the "al-s" under "A"]---gets a one page essay,1500 words.[Note that his & others Arabic calendar years life spans are not given.] Ghazali is also important,as he should be,in the "Falsafa" article. Also Ghazali is in the "Tasawwuf" article. Too bad Europe had no Ghazali-type Bible champion vs Aristotle;Europeans,lacking a Forward to one of Ghazali's books,even thought Ghazali to be a champion of Aristotle!

I am disappointed to find no discussion of the "Meccan" universal suras in the Qur'an[Koran] vs the "Medina" ethnocentered suras. [The earlier,Mecca suras are short and are,therefore,in the back of the Qur'an.]

No book can be "complete",thus the Sufi Rumi has a thousand words but the "other" al-Ghazali brother,a major Sufi,is not even mentioned. You CAN find a "Taliban" article as well as one on Qutb who lived in the US and went back to Egypt to essentially found militant jihadism. Also a thousand words on the historian Ibn Khaldun.

In short this is a rather large guide to most of the important aspects of the greater[larger] cultures and religious beliefs and habits held by nearly one and a half billion people today[4X the U.S. population] in traditions extending back, up to 1400 years. Islam is the majority faith from Indonesia to Morocco and Kazakstan to coastal Tanzania.

Initially I had my doubts as to how objective this encyclopedia might be: would it be merely an `apologetic' tome by Islamic writers, or might it provide some `objective' analysis through the toleration of some `Orrientalist' questioning? Sometimes I was a little puzzled by its layout. To find something about the Kaaba, this topic is not listed anywhere in the "K" chapter, but instead under `Pilgrimage' - as is the `Hajj.' Pertaining to the Qibla, it notes: `The Meccan sanctuary became the qibla again in 624 c.e. when an important change in Muhammad's attitude towards the Jews occurred' - what `change' might that be goes unanswered (for that answer, you need to see Robert Spencer's `The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Koran'). Nonetheless, the sections pertaining to the Quran and Polygamy are fairly objective with some introspect provided (although nothing is stated as to how/when/who finally compiled the Quran). About half of the articles are written by Arab/Muslim-sounding names (from many different domestic and foreign universities), and other writers surprisingly provided references to: Richard Bell, Kenneth Cragg, Patricia Crone, Arthur Jeffrey, Bernard Lewis, J. Wansbrough, W. Montgomery Watt, and other western-oriented `Orrientalists' who have questioned Islamic mythology. Very informative, very well written, scholarly - not just `lite' fluffy analysis. The topics of "Israel" and "Palestine" are avoided; there are more references to the 'PLO' than to 'Israel'. "Jihad" is discussed in both of its `religious struggle in understanding Allah' and well as its `warfare offensive' perspectives (although not as open as JIHAD WATCH might prefer). I am very happy to have this 2 vols, 823-page set in my library.