Customer Reviews

Islam Under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post- Honor World (Themes for the 21st Century Series)

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If you read Bernard Lewis and Karen Armstrong's books on Islam, you'll enjoy Dr. Akbar Ahmed's Muslim perspective on what's going on in the Muslim world. This book answered many of my questions about Islam after Sept. 11: why is Islam, a peaceful religion, in conflict with every major religion in the world? How are the media contributing to a sensationalist view of Islam? What are Muslims around the world doing to reclaim their religion from fanatics? I highly recommend reading Dr. Ahmed's books. His emphasis on dialogue and tolerance help me better understand how most Muslims feel about the state of their religion and its place in the world.

For those who reflect on the mess in much of the Islamic World Ahmed's uncompromising essay is worthwhile reading. Mature reflections by an Anthropologist, former Ambassador and Muslim intellectual provide perspective and ideas all but absent in Western media.

Neither `Occidentalist' blaming the west nor `Orientalist' blaming Islam, Ahmed considers the witches brew of tribal, dynastic, European, and Islamic factors in times of great pressure, rapid change, and social imbalance. He is hard on Muslim leaders and countries - this is no apology. He also attempts to understand and analyze these difficult times. The application of the idea of a "post-Honor" world (including Muslim views of Clinton) may speak more to readers than the chapter on Ibn Khaldun and asabiyya perhaps.

At times personal, even idiosyncratic, the essay is always provocative. For those with some background and serious about understanding who want more than the typically polemic or hidden agenda multitude of books promoted in the U.S. - read this. Muslims frustrated by hving disaster after disaster in the media and public attention on what they see as exceptional, even un Islamic, presented as `typical' - read this.

Three other books are strongly suggested: for recent events and a Muslim `take' on the news "The War on Islam" by Enver Masud would complement this essay. Also Michael Sells and Emran Qureshi have edited a valuable collection "The New Crusades: constructing the Muslim Enemy". Another insightful book has three studies of how the purposeful fiction of the "Axis of Evil" has been promoted and manipulated (Inventing the Axis of Evil: The Truth About North Korea, Iran, and Syria
by Bruce Cumings, et al.)

This is a must-read book written by a broad-minded, knowledgeable and experienced author, if you are interested in current World events and the notions behind them.

The author, in no way, condones suicide missions or terrorist activities or any other kind of violence. He lays down the terrorists' mindset in plain language.

He also mentions the reasons why the Muslim youth in some Muslim-majority countries react very harshly and aggressively against the West or anything represents the Western civilization.

He argues that some of the violent acts of some Muslims, under no circumstances, represent the compassionate and peaceful aspects of Islam. Therefore, they cause great trouble for non-Muslims as well as Muslims. Especially, Muslims living in Europe and North America are exposed to threats, harassments, discrimination and isolation. This acts as an impetus to push Muslims to further estrangement, and possibly to marginalization.

He also presents very meaningful and sensible propositions for Westerners as to how they approach and treat Muslims and receive positive feedbacks and reactions. There are also very constructive and sound suggestions for Muslims, especially Muslim leaders as to how they should act and govern their countries in order to make long-lasting progress.

In conclusion, a broad-minded, tolerant, and knowledge and compassion-based attitude for Muslims is promoted throughout the book. When Muslims regain the genuine Islamic sense of justice, compassion, care and scholarship and live up to these principles, they will have a good chance of gaining their old glory back.

Expertly written by Akbar S. Ahmed (Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University, Washington, DC), Islam Under Siege is a ground breaking examination of critical issues surrounding Islam, the West, and how the two diverse cultures view one another. Ranging down the last few centuries of history, and into the post-modern world of globalization, and now in the wake of the September 11 attacks, Islam Under Siege ranges from such central issues of controversy as the Islamic treatment of women, the failings of Muslim leadership, the quest for Muslim ideals and a global paradigm, and more. Islam Under Siege is a quite sober analysis and a very strongly recommended addition to Islamic Studies reference shelves and reading lists.

A good continuation of the clash of civilizations argument with a little more complexity-inevitably. Perhaps some solution can come from this reading rather than just identifying the problem.

As a student of theology and conflict resolution, I felt privy to an insider's perspective on the religious distortions of a violent few and was encouraged to seek a better tomorrow with newfound understanding and knowledge.

In Islam Under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World Dr. Akbar Ahmed, explores the rise of religiously motivated violence and corresponding notions of honor in the world today. Dr. Ahmed's insights highlight sociological and spiritual factors contributing to such behavior. He interprets the underlying problem as the lost or misinterpreted notion of honor and calls his readers to understand the events surrounding such circumstances. Dr. Ahmed engages the reader in a journey of reflection, criticism, grievance, and exhortation; but most importantly he inspires one hope. This is a definite must read and worth the time in any busy schedule. You will not be disappointed.

Ahmed unconvincingly dismisses the "envy/jealously" excuse for why there is so much animosity in the Islamic world toward the USA and tries to present an overall cultural reaction to the breakdown of 'asabiyya' or social cohesion and group loyalty as the main culprit.

His unabashed pro-muslim attitudes and opinions kept me wondering when he might ever show a little objectivity. He even seems to accept suicide bombings, which he calls 'martyrdom', as an understandable and perhaps even laudable act as he refers to the poetry of Al-Gossaibi, Saudi ambassador to Britain. He doesn't entertain the idea that the social acceptance of strapping bombs around children to kill a few unsuspecting and innocent civilians may itself be a manifestation of such egregious social disintegration and decline that in and of itself may point to the real problem at hand.

The entire theme of the book comes across as a little ridiculous when in the opening chapter he compares Israel's 'feeling' of being under siege to that of Islam's feeling of being under siege. This when Israel is a single tiny nation surrounded by much larger Islamic nations bent on her destruction and having been militarily attacked and invaded on several occasions by as many as six of those nations simultaneously. Islam on the other hand, thrives in dozens of countries stretching across several continents!.

The book is barely worth reading for the asabiyya education and gaining a broader understanding of viewpoints from the Islamic world.