What Islam Did for Us: Understanding Islam's Contribution to Western Civilization [Paperback]

Tim Wallace-Murphy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2006

In these troubled times, when Islam is under seemingly perpetual attack, it is imperative to consider how much the West owes to the religion’s spiritual insights. Bestselling author Tim Wallace-Murphy presents the first major popular book to examine the common roots of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and to reveal Islam’s immense contributions to our society—which included laying the foundations for our systems of education, astronomy, mathematics, and architecture. He also illustrates how the European Western powers helped foment the current crisis in the Middle East, and why we must strive for a just, equitable solution to these problems. Understanding can begin with this compelling acknowledgment of our shared spiritual heritage, including religious tolerance, respect for learning, and the concepts of chivalry and brotherhood. 
 
 

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Watkins (September 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1842932012
• ISBN-13: 978-1842932018
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,428,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what it says it is, October 31, 2008

By 

Eric J. Leeder - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Islam Did for Us: Understanding Islam's Contribution to Western Civilization (Paperback)

The book title and description makes one think that this book will be along the lines of "The Gifts of the Jews" or "How the Irish Saved Civilization," a grand survey, interspersed with detailed case studies/examples that back up the book's thesis. I think the publisher or someone must have sensed this niche and changed the title from something else. Instead of a chapter on how colleges in Islamic Spain were the direct predecessors of Oxford and the Sorbonne, you get a page or two with a probably valid, but barely explained theory. The rest is general history, drawn from other books (not much original research here) and then the book descends into talking about TEMPLARS, with little on what they had to do with Islam's contributions to Western civilization. Unfortunately, I didn't research what else the author had written until I received the book and realized they were all about Templars, Rosslyn Chapel, yadda yadda. Hence, this previous work by the author carries over heavily into this book and makes for a not-very-scholarly or lucid work, laced with the usual conspiracy theories.

5.0 out of 5 stars Nicely written book, February 7, 2011

By 

G. Rouzitalab "Bob" (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: What Islam Did for Us: Understanding Islam's Contribution to Western Civilization (Paperback)

Mr. Wallace-Murphy provides a precise and condensed version of the history of struggles, triumphs, conflicts and contributions of the world's three major religions, which, in my opinion, every Christian, Muslim and Jew should read and should become familiar with. It is fascinating to learn so many great lessons from history, provided that we don't ignore the facts.
This book is a breath of fresh air in our poisoned western media, where, there is so much hostility towards Islam, despite the facts that through reading history we learn that many of our pain and sufferings are self inflicted.
This author provides historical facts to prove that if we look beyond the last 100 years, Muslims have actually been the major contributors to the world tolerance, stability and growth, far more than other major beliefs. I enjoyed the facts that the sources of historical facts are listed at the end of the book, in addition to the references (bibliographies).
The book has a smooth transition that starts with explaining the ancient traditions and moves on to the interpretation of the intercontinental relationships between the three religions of the time.
In the last chapter, the author touches on some Subjects that are "forbidden" to mention, let alone discuss, in the west, which, in my opinion, if our media had the courage to discuss, we would certainly have a shorter path to resolve our conflicts with the Muslim world.
Practicality in obtaining a peaceful resolution to the current crisis, between the people in the Middle East and the Western ideology, rests upon an initial diffusion of tensions, and this author seems to have taken the steps to mitigate this tension by educating us about our history.