This title is a comprehensive and factual introduction to a complex subject. It is set out in clearly defined and concise sections that encompass all aspects of the religion, including: faith - the origins of Islam, with an explanation of the Koranic law and how it is dispensed; sects - a breakdown of the Islamic sects and an account of the rise of militant Islam in the 20th and 21st centuries; history - the major events of Islamic history; and Islamic world - a directory of Islamic nations in order of importance.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Chris Horrie is an award-winning newspaper, magazine, and television journalist and the author of Tabloid Nation. Peter Chippindale is the coauthor, with Chris Horrie, of Stick It Up Your Punter!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Some good info but often inaccurate and polemical,
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This review is from: What Is Islam?: A Comprehensive Introduction (Revised and Updated) (Paperback)
This is a 2003 rewrite of a 1990 book, dealing with Islamic history, theology and culture. Written by non-Muslims with no particular axe, pro- or anti-Islamic, to grind, it would seem to be an ideal introduction for non-Muslims. However it is riddled with errors, dismally proofread, and on occasions the authors just can't put their polemic aside.
On the plus side to start with - it has a very useful brief introduction to early Islamic history, and it deals with the different schools of Shari'a jurisprudence in a readable and crisp manner. It also presents a useful, though occasionally inaccurate, section on various sects of Islam. Useful if you're confused as to the difference between the Shi'i and the Sunni. However, from here the book starts going wrong. Firstly, the proofreading is dreadful. The Arabic name for Morocco, al-Maghrib, apparently means the West or the 'sunrise'. Er, don't know about your planet lads, but on mine the sun rises in the East. The section on the United Arab Emirates tells us there are 6 emirates in the UEA (sic), having listed 7 on the same page. The gross factual errors are even worse. Istanbul, they tell us, means 'City of Islam'... er, um, no, that would be 'Islaminsehri'. Istanbul is actually a Turkicisation of the Greek 'i stan polis', or in the city. Alawites are apparently confined to Syria and Lebanon... er, that might surprise the 15 million or so Turkish Alevi, who form the largest Alawaite community in the world. Finally, when they come to the section on Islamic countries, you know who they don't like, and in this case arch-enemies No. 1 and 2 are Turkey and Pakistan. Blinded by their own political convictions, they fail to do justice to the complexities of either country. Also lacking in that section is any analysis of countries where Muslims are not at least half the population - as a result important and ancient Muslim communities in India and China are ignored, as is the Islamic diaspora in Europe, as are the growing Islamic communities of countries like Kenya and South Africa. There is some useful information in this book, but in a crowded market you can do much better.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Heavy with Opinion; Light on Facts,
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This review is from: What Is Islam?: A Comprehensive Introduction (Paperback)
"What is Islam" is the product of two tabloid journalists, Chris Horrie and Peter Chippindale, whose previous titles include "Stick It Up Your Punter" and "The Man Who Was Screaming Lord Sutch." Chris Horrie is described (in a November 2002 interview with NPR's "On the Media") as an expert on English tabloids. In "What is Islam" you see the proof of that assertion.
As previously pointed out, the book is riddled with simple errors (al-Magrib, al-'Arabi means "place of sunset" or "western" in Arabic) that anyone with access to the internet should have been able to discover. It also meanders from topic-to-topic, each only peripherally related to the subject that preceded it. Smack in the middle of the book is a tedious chronology, followed, only then, by a description of the sects in Islam. As far as this being the "revised and updated" version, the only evidence I could find of that was Chapter 10, an ill-reasoned and thinly veiled attack on America. Without citation or proof, it claims that George "Dubya" Bush declared a new crusade against all of Islam - never mind the careful pronouncements by the administration that Islam was a religion of peace hijacked by a minority of extremists. To expose the (supposed) ignorance and deep paranoia of America, Chris and Pete resort to linking American policies to the extremist positions of an obscure "Professor Huntington." After establishing this as their only source of information, they inform the world that America fears that, (on Page 104) "the far more technologically adept Confucian civilization of the Far East (which includes Japan) will finance the Islamic world and, in due course, supply it with all the high technology it could possibly require. Thus, at some unknown point in the near future, the West will face a deadly foe in the form of billions of fanatical Muslim fighters, financed and armed with high-tech weaponry by the latter-day space-age Chinese Emperor." In "What is Islam" Chris and Pete's version of hyperbolic yellow journalism reaches new heights. As far as the descriptions of Islam, such the five pillars of the faith and the difference between Shia and Sunni, you could have gotten more facts, without the editorial comment, by browsing any online encyclopedia. For the totally misinformed, this will be an easy read, aimed at the lowest common denominator. As such, you'd be better off picking up a tract from your local Masjid or Mosque. Or better yet, find an actual Muslim source for your investigations into Islam.
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