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Max Weber and Islam

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This is an informative set of essays by scholars who might be described as "Orientalists" or "neo-Orientalists" on Weber and Islam, bringing useful balance to Bryan Turner's 1974 work. Almost half of the book is taken up by Huff's introductory essay and Schlucter's essay "Hindrances to Modernity: Max Weber and Islam." The remaining contributions tend to be relatively brief. Crone on law and the rise of capitalism is among the better; several essays (Peters, Metcalf, and Cook) touch on the presence or absence of dissenting movements within Islam that might or might not play a role similar to that ascribed by Weber to Calvinism in the rise of capitalism in Western Europe.

(Max Weber wrote many books pertaining to the blending of sociology and Christianity in capitalist countries.) The chapter topics in this book are: `Introduction" by Toby Huff (52 pages); "The Institutionalization of Early Islamic Societies" by Ira Lapidus (85); "Aspects of Islamization: Weber's Observations on Islam Reconsidered" by Nehemia Levtzion (15); Islamization in late Medieval Bengal: The Relevance of Max Weber" by Richard Eaton (10); "Max Weber and the Patrimonial Empire in Islam" The Mughal Case" by Peter Hardy (20); "Paradise or Hell? The Religious Doctrine of Election in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Islamic Fundamentalism and Protestant Calvinism" by Rudolph Peters (20); Weber and Islamic Reform" by Barbara Metcalf (12); "Secularization, Weber, and Islam" by Francis Robinson (15); "Weber, Islamic Law, and the Rise of Capitalism" by Patricia Crone (16); "Weber and Islamic Sects" by Michael Cook (25); and "Weber's Analysis of Islam and the Specific Pattern of Islamic Civilization" by S.N. Eisenstadt (8). For someone just learning about Islam, this is a very informative book as many Islamic topics are covered in broad reviews. A couple of the contributors discuss the issue of various Muslim philosophers debating whether or not Muslims have `free will' or are their actions are controlled by their god: Allah. Pertaining to the issue of man's `free will' in Islam or Christianity, one author opined: "the doctrine of predestination was set by John Calvin" which influenced Max Weber's view of Islam in that "For Weber, the key to the spirit of capitalism - ethical dealing, rational means, and the increase in capital as a duty - is found in the Calvinist doctrine of the elect and its relentless and chilling doctrine of divine election" (p.226). "Divine election" is also important to the Shia/Shiite view of religious/political succession of their Imams following the death of Muhammad (which have rise to the split between the Shia and the Sunni). Lots of good scholarly discussion, well worth the time to read.