Customer Reviews

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Here's what disappointed me. The author begins by complaining that such a short introduction can't adequately present Islam. Fair enough, but Ruthven then proceeds to waste much time critiquing certain points of view rather than just giving an exposition. Even worse, he often makes offhand allusions to people and historical events and takes an abstract, high-handed tone, so that I feel I would have to already be acquainted with Islam and the history of the Arab world in order to understand what he's talking about. Jeez, this was supposed to be an intro, not a refresher!

On the other hand, after reading the whole thing I really did come away with a decent basic knowledge of Islam's history and beliefs, which came from someone who obviously knows a lot about it. And for that I am grateful.

As I purchased this book b/c I didn't know much about Islam, and wanted a starting point, I found it be very useful to me. I cannot evaluate the accuracy of all the information, as some other reviewers have done. I felt it was a great survey of many subtopics.

Perhaps what disturbed some readers was that the book does not touch only on the "religious" aspects of Islam. However, based on another book I had read, Islam the religion is irreversibly entangled with Islamic politics and society. Indeed, the author of Islam: AVSI states as much with the first three headings in Chapter 1: Islam as Identity, Islam as Political Ideology, and Islam as Faith. This is similar to Jews, who usually identify as Jewish regardless of whether they practice the faith.

I was very pleased with my purchase of this VSI, and highly recommend it. I now go on to further my learning with a trip through a translation of the Quran.

I initially bought this book because I was impressed with another "Very short introduction" entitled "The Koran" by Michael Cook. I thought that "Islam" would be as good, but I was disappointed. Instead of a thoughtful and insightful book, I found "Islam" to be a hodgepodge collection of facts, opinions and speculation that brought me no closer to understanding Islam than I had been before. Ruthven is best in the brief sections when he sticks to comparing religions (which is apparently what he does for a living). However, the author seems to misunderstand many aspects of Islam, and makes several significant factual errors- the greatest of these perhaps is the assertion of the widespread influence of Sufism on Islam and the Muslim world as a whole. If you are thinking of buying this book in order to get an understanding of Islam, forget it. Buy "The Koran" instead, and you will get a much better understanding (and book) at the same price.

I read "Islam: A Very Short Introduction" for a class I am taking on Islam in Africa. I was really hoping to gain more knowledge on the religion that over 1.6 billion people practice. Also, I wanted to learn about the differences between "true" Islam, and the Islam of the fanatical fundamentalists such as Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.
Sadly, this book is not the best place to go for that kind of information. It is a short read, to be sure. But the book packs way too much information into a small volume. In some chapters, it is virtually impossible to discern the information given.
However, there is some good information available here. The chapter on the history of the rise of Mohammad the Prophet, and the beginnings of Islam, is very insightful. Also, the appendix gives great insight into the five pillars of Islam.
Overall, "Islam: A Very Short Introduction," is a disappointing overview of Islam. If you're the kind of reader who can amass a vast amount of knowledge in a shor amount of time, then this is the place to begin. But if you're like me, and it takes a while for it to sink in, then other books might be better places to learn from.
Book Grade: C+

Like other reviewers, I bought this to get the basics of the history, beliefs, and practices of Islam -- I figured the title would mean the book would provide those things. I was wrong. The author spends more time discussing Islam than informing the reader about it. Imagine being an undergrad listening in on the conversation of a few post-doc students who already knew that one another knew the basics, and then some...this is the book you'd write from that. It should have been titled "A Very Short Discussion of the Politics and Historiography of Islam" -- hardly something for beginners. I think I'll go buy a Dummies guide.

These short introductions were all used for an accelerated religious studies class, and served their purpose well. I bought them used, then sold to book buy back for a couple of dollars total. Served the purpose well.

The Author Malise Ruthven obviously made a lot of effort, which I believe was genuine, to display Islam in the form he believed in it, not necessarly what Islam really is. Although he has embedded a lot of correct contributions and beliefs of Muslims, he has missed some fundemental and "constitutional ones" on several occasions. His approach is a more philospohical one, that would leave a person coming for the first time to know Islam to be more confused with the author's ideas on Islam than the basics and essence of Islam and its meaning to Muslims.

He starts with a chapter on the politics of Islam, which I see very uneccesary to start a "short" introduction to Islam. He corrects important misconceptions on Islam, but blurrs and misinterpret others. For example in his description of the understanding of Jesus in Islam, he was very accurate, while he makes baseless and swooping conclusions that the trip of the Prophet Mohamed Peace be upon him to the heavens was most probably an imagination, even though it is mentioned in the Quran. I think the book would have benefited hugely if it was reviewed by a Muslim scholar to iluminate for the author where he definetly got it wrong. This book may serve for theological and philosphical debates and discussions but definetly not a first introduction of Islam to non-Muslims.

PLEASE if your interested in learning about ISLAM the religion then looking it up on the web is much more usefull and truthfull than this garbage. you will not be introduced to anything in this short introduction, except the same ani-islamic propaganda that is abundant every were around you.