✍ Scribed by Huston Smith
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
I got Huston Smith's "Islam" for a church study group. The book had been recommended by one of the study group pariticpants and by a professor acquaintance who uses Smith's book in a survey of world religions. Both gave it very good reviews. And so do I. The Introduction is especially key to understanding why all who are unfamiliar with Islam--or those who know only what they've gleaned from the media since 9/11 should learn about it. Smith's Prologue explains why Islam is so important an element of the Judeo-Christian traditions in the West. Smith uses cogent citations from a variety of sources to underscore his commentary and understanding of Islam. The subtitle, "A concise Introduction" is to be taken seriously; every word in this book counts. A beauty of this book is that Smith presents a faith that we in the West consider exotic and foreign, yet is born of Abraham as are Judaism and Christianity. Something I learned that made this short book so useful for me is that he explains clearly why the Koran is so often misunderstood and why translations seem to be a clutter of chopped up sentences that seem not to hold together. It almost makes one want to learn Arabic so as to fully appreciate Islam as a faith and way of life. No, no, I have no intention of converting, but Smith's book has helped me understand my own Christian faith far more clearly.
📜 SIMILAR VOLUMES
Originally titled The Religions of Man, this completely revised and updated edition of Smith's masterpiece, now with an engaging new foreword, explores the essential elements and teachings of the world's predominant faiths, including: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism, C
Among the glories of world architecture, Islamic mosques and palaces — from Spain to Egypt and other parts of the Middle East — are universally studied and admired. This profusely illustrated introduction to that subject gives a lively account of the style of structures symbolized by dom
This is a translation of one of the basic works of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence as it is understood by those of the Zahirite school of law.
This straightforward introduction to radical political economy strikes a balance between breadth and depth and was written for the beginning student and others interested in a relatively short text on radical economics.