Islam: The Religion and the People (NF 2008) - Lewis & Churchill

Islam: The Religion and the People (NF 2008) - Bernard Lewis and Buntzie Ellis Churchill

An overview of Islam in under 250 pages certainly sounds like an exercise in futility. Just imagine an overview of other broad topics such as The History of Western Music or American Political Thought in under 250 pages. It’s impossible. Yet Lewis and Churchill, with 167 pages of actual text (The rest of the book’s pages are devoted to the appendixes “Some Practical Matters” and a fairly large “Terms and Topics.”), give it a pretty good shot.

The authors generally do a good job of covering the basics of Islam such as the pillars of Islamic faith, the Koran, significance of mosques, the difference between Sunni and Shi’a, Islam and the economy, women in Islam, war and much more. Just exactly what is the difference between Islam and Christianity and where does the divergence begin? Why is it that reform and Islamic law just don’t mix? And is Islam really a religion of peace or one of violence?

I applaud Lewis (widely acknowledged as the West’s leading scholar on all things Middle Eastern) and Churchill for producing a badly-needed summary of Islam. Even though it’s not perfect, I hope many Americans will read it and that they will read it as a starting point, not as an exhaustive treatment of the subject. Some issues in the book need further clarification, such as the vast history of Muhammad, the spread of Islam since the 7th century and how things changed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And although the spotlight on Islam during the last seven years has been covered in many other books, not enough attention is given to it here.

The unencumbered writing style and short chapters make for fairly rapid reading and the authors sprinkle several photos and examples of (apparently rather dated) Islamic humor. The “Some Practical Matters” appendix covers much of the Arabic language, but could have greatly benefited from examples of actual Arabic letters. The “Terms and Topics” at 44 pages reiterates several definitions included in the actual text, but omits other important terms from the text such as jihad and mosque. That might be a little picky, but for book browsers with little or no knowledge of Islam, the “Terms and Topics” section might be the first place they turn, only to find common terminology missing.

Still, Islam: The Religion and the People is a valuable starting point for anyone interested in understanding the complex world of Islam.