Young Muslim's Guide to the Modern World [Hardcover]

Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1994

A Young Muslim's Guide to the Modern World, by one of Islam's greatest contemporary scholars, was written specifically for Muslims, and in particular young Muslims, urging them to become familiar with their religion and to gain an understanding of the modern world from the Islamic point of view in order to respond positively to its challenges. This guide, the first of its kind in any language, presents an exposition of the teachings of Islam as revealed in the Qur'an, explained in the hadith and Sunna of the Prophet and commented upon by Muslim scholars and thinkers, as well as outlining the Western religious and intellectual tradition. --This text refers to the mass market paperback edition of this title

Editorial Reviews

Review

eviewed by Robert Siegel of NPR's All Things Considered, the interview with Seyyed Hossein Nasr won the award for the best radio interview of the year. The author says in this brilliant work, The West has produced many orientalists who have studied Islam from their own point of view, but the Islamic world has produced very few occidentalists who can study the various aspects of Western civilization from its science to art, from religion to social behavior, from the Islamic point of view. Through these Muslim maps of the modern intellectual landscape, the author challenges two fronts: young Muslims to become familiar with their religion and cultural roots and to gain an understanding of the modern world from the Islamic point of view. This guide for the Muslim to the modern worldthe first of its kind in any languagepresents the eternal truths of Islam as well as Western religious and intellectual tradition as they confront each other in today's world. -- Robert Siegel of NPR's All Things Considered

About the Author

Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born in Tehran in a family of traditional scholars and physicians. After receiving his early education in Iran, he came to America where he studied physics, the history of science and philosophy at MIT and Harvard from which he received his doctorate. Nasr was professor at Tehran University and founder and first president of the Iranian Academy of Philosophy. He is presently University Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Hardcover
• Publisher: Kazi Publications (January 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567444954
• ISBN-13: 978-1567444957
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,340,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For all young Muslims this book is a must, July 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Young Muslim's Guide to the Modern World (Paperback)

I believe that for Muslims all over the world but especially those of us who live and are educated in the West it is imperative to understand our own intellectual and religous traditions. The reason is that without this knowledge we will not be able to resist the forces of secularism, modernism, progressivism and the other ideas that pose the idea that this world is the only one and that there is nothing beyond it. The ideas of secularism pose an especially grave threat to young Muslims living in the West and going to Universities where moral relativism and liberalism is the orthodoxy of the moment. Syed Hossein Nasr writes of a clear need for Muslims to know both the Quran and the life of the Blessed Prophet(Peace be upon him) and the civilization that grew out of those two divine sources. But equally important he wants young Muslims to undertand the reality of the West in order to make a coherent and logical Islamically valid response without apologetics and reliance ! ! on second hand scolarship. In effect he is asking Muslims to be "Occidentalists" in the same manner that many Westerners have been "Orientalists". This will involve a study of Christianity, Judaism, Secularism and their development over the past centuries. With this understanding by educated Muslims we will be better able to show that the Muslim world view has a valid alternative both spiritually socially and economically as well as politically. I would recommend this book to all people both Muslim and Non-Muslim to read. May Allah guide us to His path and peace and blessings upon the last of His Messengers Muhammad and his family and companions. Salam 'Alaikum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhuh. (Peace be upon you and the mercy and blessings of God)

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Every English speaking Muslim should have this book!, June 15, 2001

By 

Mr. A. Jehangir - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Young Muslim's Guide to the Modern World (Paperback)

This book by Dr. Nasr is a book which was waiting to be written and it could not have been written by a more qualified person. I learnt a lot about the intellectual history of Islamic thought from this book (philosophy, mystical ideas, speculative theology) and how it has developed throughout the ages to the present. I also was very very impressed by the scholarly yet succint way in which the major philosophical and intellectual movements which shaped the history of the West were presented. This again greatly increased my knowledge. These first two sections were excellent. The third section was not as strong as the other two--how Muslims should respond to the Western dominance at present and a comparative overview--as it was too brief. This though is an excellent book. I hope that Dr. Nasr writes another version of this book--for adults this time following the same format but including a lot more detail and references and bibliography.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading, especially for Muslims in the West., September 23, 2005

By 

O (Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Young Muslim's Guide to the Modern World (Paperback)

Seyyed Hossein Nasr "A Young Muslim's Guide to the Modern World" (Kazi, 1994)

Picking up a new book (in the sense of not having read before) by Professor Nasr is an experience to be relished, but at the same time one for which you need to brace yourself. Nasr tackles God, Philosophy, Civilization and the crisis of modern man... not exactly holiday reading. His books invariably present the reader with a 'tour de force' of traditional Islamic knowledge as well as an almost frightening breadth of learning spanning the fields of Philosophy, Science, History, the Arts, Education, Politics, Economics and of course Religion.

Above all else, perhaps, Professor Nasr's genius lies in his ability to weave together relevant information from seemingly disparate fields to create an organic synthesis simultaneously in accordance with the teachings of Islam and scholastically rigorous enough to present a formidable challenge to the most critical mind. One must also take into consideration his intellectual pedigree, second to none in both the traditional world of Islam, and modern Western learning, presented through his eloquent command of the English language which renders his writing such a joy to read.

The book in question is perhaps the ideal entrance for a Muslim reader into the thought of Nasr. Its aim is to at once reaffirm the many aspects of the Islamic 'message' (the first seven chapters) before venturing into a fairly deep, although understandably brief considering the amount of ground covered, analysis of the modern Western world (the next seven chapters) in chapters dealing with Modern Philosophy, Science and Technology and so forth. The fifteenth and final chapter takes the form of an epilogue restating the need for young Muslims to both learn their own tradition deeply and also to learn about the Modern World seriously in order to be able to respond Islamically to the multitude of challenges it poses a follower of tradition. Indeed, Nasr asserts that while the West has produced numerous scholars who study Islam and the Islamic World from their point of view, the Islamic world has produced very few scholars able to study the various aspects of the West (in any depth at least) from the Islamic perspective.

So there we have the basic outline of the work, one which is both ambitious and greatly needed at this critical juncture in history. Professor Nasr is by no means the first Islamic scholar to address the topic of the spiritual welfare of the youth as it is confronted with modernity, however he is certainly the one author whose masterful treatment this issue has needed the most. As he notes, most Islamic critiques of the Modern West are shallow, ill-informed and reactionary, unable to stand up to much serious examination. Nasr characteristically avoids such emotional, simplistic generalisations and presents the reader with the learned, scholarly treatment we have come to expect.

The volume touches on so many themes that it is difficult to summarise, leaving one to conclude with a strong recommendation in favour of tracking it down and partaking in its blessings (barakah) for yourself. You may also find yourself turning the final page with a sense of faith and belonging, having rediscovered your prestigious tradition, a sense of sobriety having learnt something of the nature of the problems of modernity but above all a sense of illumination and purpose based upon the Eternal Reality of Divinity. Nasr concludes aptly with a well-known quote from the Noble Quran: "When the Truth comes, falsehood shall fade away."

Note: The copy in question is published by Kazi (1994) and while it is adequate, the reader is advised to seek out the edition published by the ITS - The Islamic Texts Society, whose books are always of the highest quality, the Kazi edition lacking especially with regard to the typeface used for the chapter headings.