BOOK
REVIEW A primer for a transforming
West A Brief Guide to Islam
by Paul Grieve
Reviewed by Dmitry Shlapentokh
The
continuous war in Iraq and ongoing terrorist
activities have made Islam quite a popular
subject. Lay people are studying the mysterious
Muslim religion with the same enthusiasm as,
generations ago, those in the West engaged in
deciphering the intricacies of Marxism and dabbled
in the mystery and profoundness - as thought at
that time - of Russian culture. It is
not
accidental that there has been a profusion of
books on Islam. Still, A Brief Guide to
Islam stands out.
The problem with
many books that have tried to introduce readers to
Islam is that the authors assume most readers have
extensive knowledge of the subject. The writers
have also had a sort of spontaneous desire to
demonstrate their knowledge, and the
readers get lost in details. This book is free of
these problems. Written in a crisp, accessible
style, it covers all the important aspects of
Islam without over-burdening the text with details
that could confuse non-specialists.
At the
very beginning of the book, the reader finds a
short description of the major tenets of Islam.
This is followed by the history of Islam, starting
with the Ummayads, Abbasids, and Fatimids. The
late medieval and modern history of Islam is
incorporated in the history of the Ottoman Empire.
The last and most interesting part of the book
deals with the recent and present role of Islam
and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.
Besides the narrative, there is a glossary
of important names and terminology that includes
short descriptions of aspects author Paul Grieve
regards as important. Here Grieve tries to be as
comprehensive as possible. The names, for example,
include an array of personalities from Mohammed's
numerous wives to radical fundamentalist
philosophers/politicians.
A book aimed at
providing a description of Islam from the
beginning of its history to the present day cannot
be totally comprehensive. One also cannot expect
extensive theoretical elaboration. Still, since
the author has engaged not in a description of the
past and present but in speculation about the
future, one could expect some more theoretical
flesh to the factual bones.
In the last
part of the book, the author elaborates on the
future of Islam, predicting that it will change
the nature of Europe. He argues that European
countries will not be able to sustain their
present economic position unless they accept an
increasing number of immigrants. In the view of
the European public and elite, Muslims of various
ethnic backgrounds are hardly the best choice. A
major reason is that Muslims have little desire to
be assimilated. In France, for example, they have
engaged in violent riots. Germany still grants
citizenship mostly on the grounds of race; one
needs to be an ethnic German to ensure smooth
naturalization. In addition, Muslim minorities,
mostly Turks, face social rejection because of
their unwillingness to "be German", to embrace
European culture in general.
The author
attributes these problems of assimilation to the
increasing numbers of Muslims in Europe. This is
one reason, but possibly not the major one.
History knows many cases where newcomers, even
those who come in large numbers, have absorbed the
culture of the dominant elite. Indeed, throughout
most of modern European history, non-Europeans,
including Muslims, have been eager to accept
European Western culture. They marveled at Western
productivity, military power, and rule of law.
But by the second half of the 20th century
and the beginning of the 21st, the situation had
changed. Non-European societies, Japan and later
China, South Korea and other "Asiatic tigers",
have spelled the end of Western, mostly American,
efficiency, as Western nations' internal markets
have become increasingly battered, with their
financial/economic existence depending more and
more on loans, mostly from Asian treasuries. The
United States, the very embodiment of the West, is
no longer a lender but a major debtor.
The
military power of the West was shattered by
Vietnam and continues to be so in Afghanistan and
Iraq. Paradoxically enough, the defeat of the USSR
was not so much a defeat of the enemy of the West
as a self-inflicted wound for Russia, which
ethnically and culturally has more in common with
the West than the East.
Finally, life in
the West, and the West's foreign policy,
particularly that of the US, has caused Asians,
Muslims included, to question the assumption that
the West has played according to its own rules.
Muslims who emigrate to the West often find that
external politeness and broad smiles conceal an
absolute disregard for others, the complete
atomization of the person on his own in the
Darwinistic struggle for survival. And it is not
surprising that quite a few Muslims who enter the
West see no reason for being assimilated. They
assume that it is not they who should be guided by
the West but they who should guide the West.
Europe will accept increasing numbers of
Muslims in the same way that the US will accept
increasing numbers of Latinos. And the influence
of non-European groups - Muslims of various ethnic
backgrounds and Chinese people - will be more and
more visible in Russia. Regardless of whether the
Europeans and Americans like it, the world in this
century will be profoundly changed by Asians,
including those with Muslim backgrounds. And for
this reason, this book will be of great use for a
long time for those interested in Muslims past and
present.
A Brief Guide to Islam:
History, Faith and Politics by Paul Grieve.
Carroll & Graf (March 12, 2006). ISBN:
0786718048 . Price US$13.95, 416 pages.
Dmitry Shlapentokh, PhD, is
associate professor of history, College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences, Indiana University South Bend.
He is author of East Against West: The First
Encounter - The Life of Themistocles, 2005.
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knowledge, and the
readers get lost in details. This book is free of
these problems. Written in a crisp, accessible
style, it covers all the important aspects of
Islam without over-burdening the text with details
that could confuse non-specialists. 
