Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks)

Rating:
Summary: Unraveling the political history of Islam
Review: Ernst's Following Muhammed is an excellent introduction to the history of the Islamic faith and where it is today. As one of the earlier reviewers points out, the book is aimed mainly at readers who have little to no prior knowledge of the religious tradition, and I certainly fell into this category at the time I read the book. The book definitely seems to be a response to the negative image that is frequently being cast upon Muslims in the recent years. Ernst goes through the centuries of Muslim history and describes how the way the world has seen the religion has been distorted by what he calls "political implications." He shows how the political agendas involving Islam, both from within and from its at times tumultuous relationship to Judaism and Christianity has shaped what the world sees as the single, monolithic "Islam." In doing so, he makes a thoughtful case for the religion's diversity without being an apologist.
All in all, I highly recommend this book as a starting point to the study of Islam. It is a very fast and interesting read, and provides a much more accurate and broad understanding of one of today's "hot issues" that is thankfully spin-free.

Rating:
Summary: a clear introduction on the principles of Islam
Review: I liked Carl Ernst's book "Following Muhammad" because it provided a clear, simple introduction to the basic principles of Islam, and did not necessarily try and defend it from all of the criticsim that it receives, but just presented it as how he views and understands it.

This book was very easy to follow and understand, even for someone who does not know much about Islam or the beliefs which surround it. It starts from the very beginning and discusses Muhammad's role, the different parts of the text, the significance of the Qur'an, and more. I also enjoyed the intricate pieces of art that were included in the chapters. Instead of already jumping into the subject of Islam, and assuming that readers understand much about its history and origin, Ernst, unlike other authors I have recently read, uses simple language and easy to understand descriptions of the religion and its traditions.

The only part of the book that I did not like was that sometimes I had wished that Ernst include possibly some more comparisons to difference between Islam and other faiths, so that people who understand or follow those might be able to better recognize differences or similarities to what they understand or believe.

Rating:
Summary: The best place to begin a study of contemporary Islam
Review: It has often been stated that the tragedy of 9/11 has forced Muslims of both scholarly and devotional backgrounds to deal with the profound issues in their communities with an unprecedented openness, courage, and criticism. A not dissimilar challenge has also been presented to more liminal voices, non-Muslim scholars of Islam who have spent their entire career studying Islam and Muslims from a humanistic perspective, scholars whose outlook has often been shaped through extended periods of living in Muslim countries and profound contact, relationships, and friendships with Muslim scholars, artists, and spiritual leaders. Carl Ernst is widely considered one of the leading scholars of Islam. The excellent volume Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World is Ernst's learned, profound reflection on the situation of the Islam, Muslims, and the world at large.

Conventional discussions of Islam today begin with two vastly divergent points: There is the mushrooming and uneven body of political writings about Islam that focus on the Middle East, collapsing the 1400 years of Islamic history into the last two generations, particularly since the creation of the state of Israel. The other discourse about Islam is philological in nature, focusing on "classical" (i.e., pre-modern) legal, Qur'anic, and philosophical texts usually in Arabic. Carl Ernst posits a different starting point, one so radically brilliant and simple that one has to ask why more scholars have not adopted this perspective. Ernst starts by examining Islam as a religious tradition, one shaped and understood through the human lens of practitioners of this tradition. As such, he approaches Islam not in a transcendent timeless fashion, or as one fixed eternally in the 7th century, nor yet as a variable only of interest for understanding the post-colonial trauma of the last 40 years. Instead, Ernst moves with ease and grace through the 1400 years of practices, rituals, institutions, and ideas that have been marked as Muslim. He does not focus on the Arab world exclusively, but recognizes that 82% of all Muslims are non-Arab, with the majority being South and South East Asians. He judiciously avoids the many traps and pitfalls that mar conversation about contemporary Islam. He refuses to yield the discussion of Islam to Salafis who insist that all of Islam must be collapsed to Qur'an and hadith. While probing the crucial sources of Islam, Ernst also engages Islamic ethics, spirituality, music, literature, philosophy, and piety. It is this holistic and humanistic approach that few scholars of Islam can undertake with such mastery, and here is where Ernst truly shines. No less than this is expected of Ernst, who most today regard as the leading Western scholar of Sufism, the true heir to the incomparable Annemarie Schimmel, to whom the volume is dedicated.

Nor does Ernst restrict his challenge only to Muslim blind spots: He also takes on dominant Western triumphalist notions. Here again Ernst breaks with the crowd in documenting that it is not simply a result of simple Western misunderstanding that Muslims comes across as inhuman or subhuman. He carefully documents that the blind spots are directly tied to the shameful period of colonialism, a period to which many -particularly in America - seem to have an allergic or amnesic reaction. His discussions of European colonialism, American imperialism, the impact of Zionism, and the political debates over Orientalism are a model of depth, balance, and insight. In the writings of lesser scholars, these analyses are filled with polemics and apologetics. Commendably, Ernst manages to steer away from these pitfalls.

The book is set out in six succinct and highly readable chapters: Islam in the Eyes of the West, Approaching Islam in Terms of Religion, The Sacred Sources of Islam, Ethics and Life in the World, Spirituality in Practice, and a postscript. Ernst's mastery of the spiritual, ethical, and aesthetic realms of Islam stands out clearly in having devoted two chapters to these crucial topics. Far too often in introductory volumes, the picture of Islam that emerges is that of a purely legalistic, ritualistic tradition completely bereft of beauty, art, and love. Ernst's work nicely reflects the historical understanding of many Muslims, one that is shaped as much by the spiritual teachings of Sufi masters and ethicists as it is by Qur'anic virtues.

UNC Press has positioned this text as the leading volume in their forthcoming series Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks, and has done a superb job in its production. The book is beautifully illustrated, containing eight pictures and six luminous calligraphy pieces by the contemporary South Asian calligrapher, Rasheed Butt.

This timely volume is recommended enthusiastically to anyone who wants to gain a nuanced and balanced understanding of the contested position of Islam in the modern world. It fully deserves to be recognized as the single best choice for academic courses dealing with Islam and Middle Eastern studies, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. While one cannot recommend it strongly enough to students and scholars of Islam, hopefully political scientists and historians of the Middle East and beyond, not to mention policy makers, will also avail themselves of it. Ernst's volume breaks new theoretical ground while remaining completely accessible to the intelligent lay reader. This is the rare work that only a scholar at the very zenith of his/her field can write, an even more daunting task given all the polemics about Islam today. There is no better, more profound place to begin - or end - a sophisticated discussion about contemporary Islam than Ernst's masterpiece.

Omid Safi, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, Colgate University
Co-chair for the Study of Islam Section at the American Academy of Religion
Editor, Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism (Oxford: Oneworld, 2003).

Rating:
Summary: Poorly researched, very opinionated- bad combination
Review: The author displays an alarming lack of understanding of European history and Christianity (especially Catholic Christianity.) He uses several negative assumptions about Christianity, some of them easily disproven with a little research, to compare it unfavorably with Islam. Simultaneously, he promotes, throughout the book, his own relativistic and pluralistic value system which ultimately holds nothing to be objectively true.