10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good tour of Islam, May 26, 2005
This very readable account of the case of Jihad and the conflict between Islam and the world, is a must read for anyone interested in the present conflict. The book traces the birth of Islam and the injunction to Jihad. There is no sugar coating here, no pretending that Jihad means `peace' or that Jihad is the `internal struggle'. Instead a fair presentation is given as to the reasons for Jihad and its manifestation. The history of Islam is traced, from the 4 early Caliphs, through to the defeats at Constantinople and Tours.
We are given a tour of Islam as it spreads and as it confronts Christianity. We encounter the Crusades. We see how Islam transformed, became corrupted and attempted reform. We see the Ottomans at the gates of Vienna and then the `sick man of Europe'. Great concentration, perhaps 1/3 of the book, is dedicated to the confrontation in India between England, Islam and Hinduism. It is here that the books strength lies. The author gives a perfect rendition of the Indian independence struggle and Ali Jinnah and the birth of Pakistan. An honest assessment is made of how Pakistan became a `home for Islam' and then a `home for terrorism'. Pakistan is presented, not Saudi Arabia, as the home of international terrorism, due to the ISS support of the Taliban and Osama.
There are several generalizations, as there must be in this book. There is great description of Christian vitriol against Islam and similar Hindu `anti-Islamic' statements. The reader is told that even Dante was not fair to Islam. There is great cataloguing of Christian atrocities. However the reader is not treated to the many Islamic atrocities at places like Famagusta, and oddly Lepanto the turning point of the Mediterranean expansion of the Ottomans is not covered. This can be attributed to bias on the books part. Islam is presented as the victim, however it is not clear how this `defensive' Jihad conquered 1/3 of the world? Many questions are left unanswered and the reader must be cautious for many events are one sided, however this is not apologetic, Islam is also given its due.
Seth J. Frantzman
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Shade of Scholarship, April 5, 2006
Shri M. J. Akbar is a highly respected journalist, and the Chief Editor of Asian Age. Most of his writing has so far focused on India (The Siege Within, The Making of India, Riot after Riot). This is the first time that he has attempted a more global theme, the conflict between Islam and Christianity. He has also done a reasonably good job. The book is full of insights and anecdotes, and has that special readability which only a journalist can bring to a book.
Being a journalist, Shri Akbar does not offer references for most parts of the book, assuming that others would have either read the relevant book and know the source, or would not be bothered. As a result, it is difficult to follow-up on some of his valuable insights.
The central theme of the book is Jihad, and Shri Akbar offers a sweeping perspective of the same, down the ages. His main focus is Islam and Christianity, as indicated in the sub-title. But he is not able to resist talking about Islam and Hinduism, and devotes substantial space to the same.
He also emphasizes the centrality of lesser Jihad in present day practice of Islam, so far as a significant part of the community is concerned. While he does not condemn Jihad outright, he also does not endorse it, preferring to take a more liberal view. This is quite in keeping with his position and also a natural consequence of his company in professional and personal life.
Yet it is only natural that his perspective is affected by his birth and upbringing. He dismisses Emperor Akbar's shenanigan's thus: 'His visits to courtier's households, in fact, became a bit of a problem, thanks to a roving eye.' However, there is apparently nothing wrong in this, as Badayuni `sensibly' advised the aggrieved courtiers: 'Either do not befriend a mahout, or make the house large enough for the elephant'.
Such bemused tolerance on part of Shri Akbar naturally leads to a situation, where he finds Sir Jadunath Sirkar's negative comments about Siraj-ud-daulla's debauchery inexplicable. Shri Akbar attributes this to Sir Jadunath's dislike of Muslims, instead of attributing this to his traditional Hindu values of faithfulness in marriage. As a result, he approvingly quotes Ms. Jaya Chatterjee, who found that Sir Jadunath Sirkar 'denied Muslims a place in the history of modern India'.
It is on occasions like this that Shri Akbar's scholarship fails him, and his loyalty to his community shows through. Unfortunately, such lapses are not occasional, they run through the entire work, particularly when it comes to Hindu-Muslim interaction. For instance, he informs us that Islam spread in India through the Sufis, rather than through the sword. This is transparent deception at best -- there are only three sufi mazaars of significance in North India: Delhi, Ajmer and Agra. These cannot be used to wish away a historical truth. Further, Islam does not approve of many goings-on at these mazaars, as it comes close to what Islam denigrates as idol-worship. In overemphasizing the Sufi contribution, and to use Jaya Chatterjee's turn of phrase, Shri Akbar not only denies Hindus a place in the Indian history from 12th to 18th centuries, he also denies them the memory of their heroic resistance.
This does not make him less of a thinker. To my mind, it is extremely difficult for a person to deny his heritage and culture, when it comes to thinking or writing. People mostly think and write according to who they are. Shri Akbar is no exception to this rule, and you can't fault him for offering Islam the shade of his scholarship.
This bit of blemish on his scholarship notwithstanding, the book is quite readable, for its sweeping vision and for a better understanding of challenges facing Islam.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A deliberate butchery of a fascinating subject, August 7, 2003
This review is from: The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict between Islam and Christianity (Hardcover)
The author has interpreted Islamic history, particularly Islamic history in Indian , in a biased and stilted manner to bring it in line with the views he expresses in his editorials. His omissions are far too glaring for this book to give a reader a proper view of Islam's history or its interactions with other religions, especially in the Indian subcontinent, where the author is a highly influential journalist.
For instance, he devotes an entire chapter titled "Jihad as non-violence" on Gandhi's work with Muslims even mentioning one of his most trusted lieutenants, Abdul Gaffar Khan, also popularly known as the `Frontier Gandhi', who always remained a hero to his people in Pakhtunistan, a land that has now become infamous as a breeding place of terrorists and the most probable hideout of Osama Bin Laden. Similarly, he chronicles the growth of Jinnah's and the Muslim leagues power without mentioning Jinnah's `Direct Action' day, and the extremely gruesome atrocities committed by Muslims in order to mark it, an event considered by many to have directly led to the creation of Pakistan. The pattern of ommisions of high profile events coupled with many unsubstatiated statements (the book makes use of hardly any footnotes or references after the first chapter) ultimately paints a very baised picture of Islamic history.
The book also does not consider any Islamic society in any location other than the middle east and the Indian sub-continent. Africa, which contains the fastest growing Muslim population, South-East Asia, which contains the nation with the largest number of Muslims in the world (Indonesia), are largely excluded from this book.
This myopic view point coupled with glaring omissions, and a biased description, makes book, which could have been a fascinating exploration of what is a truly engrossing subject, into a narrative that would leave most readers, at best, misinformed.
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