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The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis Paperback – April 4, 2011

by Robert R. Reilly (Author)

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The book you must read to understand the
Islamist crisis—and the threat to us all

Robert R. Reilly’s eye-opening book masterfully explains the frightening behavior coming out of the Islamic world. Terrorism, he shows, is only one manifestation of the spiritual pathology of Islamism.

Reilly uncovers the root of our contemporary crisis: a pivotal struggle waged within the Muslim world nearly a millennium ago. In a heated battle over the role of reason, the side of irrationality won. The deformed theology that resulted, Reilly reveals, produced the spiritual pathology of Islamism, and a deeply dysfunctional culture.

The Closing of the Muslim Mindsolves such puzzles as:

· why the Arab world stands near the bottom of every measure of human development

· why scientific inquiry is nearly dead in the Islamic world

· why Spain translates more books in a single year than the entire Arab world has in the past thousand years

· why some people in Saudi Arabia still refuse to believe man has been to the moon

Delving deeper than previous polemics and simplistic analyses, The Closing of the Muslim Mindprovides the answers the West has so desperately needed in confronting the Islamist crisis.

"Should be required reading for anyone who hopes to argue effectively against Islamic jihad." —The Center for the Advancement of Capitalism

“What happened to moderate Islam and what sort of hope we may have for it in the future . . . is the subject of Robert Reilly’s brilliant and groundbreaking new book. . . . Closing is a page-turner that reads almost like an intellectual detective novel. It is among those few brave books on Islam . . . that should be read by anyone who wants to understand one of the most fundamental causes of conflict in the 21st century.”

—National Review Online

“A book that may offer the key to both understanding and perhaps defeating the ongoing war of terror against the West.”

—American Spectator

“Robert R. Reilly comes closer to providing a persuasive explanation [of what happened to Islamic culture] than any other account I have seen. As Reilly succinctly shows, Islamic civilization . . . threw out of the intellectual window the principles of rational inquiry that the Greeks had first introduced to the West half a millennium before Christ.”

—Weekly Standard

“The lack of liberty within Islam is a huge problem. Robert Reilly’s The Closing of the Muslim Mind shows that a millennium ago Muslims debated whether minds should be free to explore the world—and freedom lost. The intellectual history he offers helps to explain why Muslim countries fell behind Christian-based ones in scientific inquiry, economic development, and technology. Reilly provides astonishing statistics . . . [and] also points out how theology prefigures politics.”

—World magazine

“Reilly recounts Islam’s abandonment of Hellenistic reason, and blames it for the subsequent decline of Muslim civilization and the rise of radical Islam. . . . The importance of this turn in Muslim thinking cannot be exaggerated.”

—Asia Times

“Superb and essential . . . Fascinating.”

—Jihad Watch

—Hudson Institute

“An eye-opening and mind-opening book . . . No short review can do full justice to this book . . . Well-researched and meticulously documented.”

—Oregon Live

“Superb and stimulating . . . Reilly’s small book has earned a place near the top of the tiny library of books I regard as indispensable. How did I live so many years without it?”

—Joseph Sobran

“Hatred of Islamism for the West is not merely political, as Reilly’s exhaustive analysis shows, but is indeed ‘metaphysically necessary.’ . . . The roots of this now pervasive attitude are deeply buried and shrouded in time, denial and ignorance, and it is the principal achievement of Reilly’s book that he provides a comprehensive account of this momentous event, written in a lucid fashion that is accessible to both experts and the general public.”

—National Observer (Australia)

“Clear and concise . . . What Reilly suggests, based on abundant modern scholarship, is that the first fully developed theological school in Islam, the Mu’talizites, would probably have despised bin Laden’s ravings. The tragedy of Islam is that the Mu’talizites . . . have become anathematised heretics.”

—MercatorNet

“The most eye-opening book of 2010.”

—Catholic Culture

“Robert Reilly helps explain the Muslim worldview by thoroughly documenting the historic and doctrinal roots behind it; by refreshingly bypassing the overly dramatized question of “what went wrong,” he explains the more pressing “why it went wrong.” —Raymond Ibrahim

The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert R. Reilly is a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Reader’s Digest, and National Review, among many other publications. A former director of the Voice of America, he has taught at the National Defense University and served in the White House and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Reilly is a member of the board of the Middle East Media Research Institute and lives near Washington, D.C.

Paperback: 244 pages
Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute; 1 edition (April 4, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1610170024
ISBN-13: 978-1610170024
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 0.8 x 5.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 121 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #576,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #998 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Middle Eastern
- #1007 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Terrorism
- #2334 in Books > History > Middle East

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Riverboy

Why Did Islam Fail?

October 30, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A thousand years ago, three great civilizations of roughly equal achievement faced each other: Latin Christendom, the Byzantine Empire, and the Muslim world. One collapsed and disappeared, one fell into permanent backwardness, and one went on to develop reason, science, mathematics, medicine, and technology. The one which prospered was Latin Christendom, and its nations spread their achievements around the world.

Why did Islam and Byzantium fail? Why did Western Europe succeed? They failed because their leaders made a fatal theological error: they rejected the role of reason in guiding human affairs, substituting a misguided fundamentalist, literalist view of religion, which allowed only their interpretation of revelation to play that role.

In the West, Thomas Aquinas labored for years to convince the Church to accept that human reason reflected God's reason, the divine Logos, and that reason and revelation could work together for the good of mankind. It took nearly a century for his ideas to prevail, but they did. Out of this came science.

In the Muslim world, the proto-Thomists, the Mutazillites, made the same argument, but they were defeated by anti-intellectual literalists who were completely opposed to rational theology or philosophy. Rationalism died still-born in the Muslim world and obscurantism and ignorance have triumphed to this day.

This book uses the debates of scholars of Islam to create a fascinating, detailed, scholarly, readable explanation of how this happened, the implications of this for today's world, and how it might be undone.

I urge everyone to read and ponder this crucially important book.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?

Yes

John

Good book, but very tedious to read

September 5, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The book contains some interesting historical information about how Islam, at one time, embraced open discussion and freedom of thought, but has now morphed into a religion of intolerance - "worship as we dictate, or we will kill you".
Unfortunately, this book is written for the under-grad or grad-student of philosophy, religion or literature. I have a Masters degree too, but it is in Engineering. And I found the vocabulary used to be an impediment to my enjoyment. The book is very tedious to read.
If you are a High School graduate, or a college grad in a non-liberal arts major, and you still want to read this book, then I recommend you just read the final chapter and call it 'done'.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

DaleO

This was well worth reading for background understanding

May 8, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I don't know if the book was entirely even-handed, it likely has some bias, but it is still a worthwhile exploration of some of the deep theological basis behind current conflicts - religious, civilizational, or whatever.

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LaurinoJ

Brilliant explanation of what went wrong and why the Muslim world is in its present state.

September 13, 2011

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book was perfect in detailing what went right during Islam's golden era and how due to the rejection of the school of reason, which was the mutazilite school, it has been more or less an 800 year civilizational decline especially for the Arab followers of Islam. The book does a great job of explaining just how intellectually damaging the embrace of the more literalness Asharite and Hanbali schools of thought have been for its followers which is the vast majority of the Islamic world. This book sums up the dire situation both the Muslim world finds itself in and the bleak chances of peace for the rest of the world has as it has to deal with the burden of a religion that refuses to abandon its failed ways of thought. A must read for anyone interested in the Middle East or Islam.

0Comment 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

David

Recommend it to anyone/everyone who wants to understand the dynamics ...

August 13, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book gives one an understanding of the development of Islam, "it''s will over reason" and it's goals. It doesn't mix words and is a serious examination. Recommend it to anyone/everyone who wants to understand the dynamics of Islam and it's world view today.

0Comment 5 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Charlie

The Closing of the Muslim Mind

April 14, 2012

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Like most Americans, I knew little about the thinking behind Islam. This extremely well written book opened my eyes to the radical difference between the way a Christian and a Muslim think. For the latter, Allah can only be known by revelation, not by rational thinking. As a result,there are no boundaries that restrict the Supreme Being because whatever is revealed is by definition good and must be obeyed. On the other hand, Christians believe that God is love and His involement with humanity is the direct result of this attribute,allowing humans to understand, inter alia, what the ten commandments require. Unlike Allah, the Christian God cannot change His mind because of who He is. Given the low probability of fundamental change by either philosophy, there is a low probability of peaceful co-existence between the two philosophies.

0Comment 5 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Wow - insightful and scary

June 21, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This pulls the mask off jihadi violence and explains how so many people can support it. I never really believed politicians who claim jihadis "hate our freedom". Well, now it's believable given the history that Reilly reveals of Islamic thought. Reilly points to the ultimate solution - a Muslim equivalent of St. Thomas Aquinas who can marry theology and philosophy inside of Islam. They already had such persons in the 900's and 1000's - but the anti-reason crowd won the battle for control of Islam. There is no guarantee that the anti-reason philosophy can maintain control of Islam forever.

0Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

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Phil Coppa

Roots of Muslim poverty and lack of freedom

June 27, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Reilly's book is very important for understanding the predicament we are in. Until Islam breaks out of its self-imposed straightjacket there is very little we can do.

We need Muslims educated in free Western universities to go back to their own countries and spread the word. Anti-intellectual Islam has left its people impoverished and totally lacking freedom. There will be little or no science or progress until the majority in Muslim countries are taught to think for themselves.

Memory work without freedom to use intellect and reason are a dead end.

0Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

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Most recent customer reviews

Three Stars

Okay.

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer

A Lucid Look at Islamic Theology's Fall from Reason

A concise yet detailed examination of the evolution and devolution of Islamic theology over time. In particular, Reilly demonstrates how Islamic fundamentalists ejected reason...Read more

Published 2 months ago by The Bruce

Open the mind of the West by reading this book!

We all owe it to ourselves to educate ourselves as much as possible about what is behind Islamism and why Muslims think and act the way they do.Please read this book.

Published 4 months ago by Z Renz

Okay, but...

Rather dense and hops around a lot. Gave some good information about the evolution of Muslim thought but overall not worth the time to read.

Published 4 months ago by eau de pen

Excellent baseline read for understanding Islamist thought

I highly recommend this book for the student of ideological or religious dogma. Reilly breaks down the philosophical differences between the Western (Greek) thought and Sunni...Read more

Published 5 months ago by Amazon Customer

Required reading for every person who seeks to understand why Islam cannot co-exist with Western society.

A hard read for me - I am very weak on theology, and he uses words in his context which have very different meanings to me.Read more

Published 5 months ago by Machinery's Handbook

The beginning of the book is very difficult to read as it reads like a text book

I read this book to supplement another book by Gorka and it pays off. The beginning of the book is very difficult to read as it reads like a text book.Read more

Published 7 months ago by Aaron Oakes

Great Insight

The book is a must read. The author "connects the dots", making the current state of the Muslim world understandable. It is the solution that will be elusive.

Published 7 months ago by lattema

Gain Insight

Great book will help you understand the Muslim mind and the Middle East.

Published 8 months ago by Road Runner

Not the same!

A very enlightening book. Among many other issues, this book helped me understand that the Biblical God and the Muslim's cannot be the same God.

Published 8 months ago by Rosarito

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