Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Understanding Islam   [John Derbyshire]

Being a bit of a Karen Armstrong fan after her "History of God" book, I started browsing her 1991 biography of Muhammed while waiting for a plane in New York.  Ended up buying the book and reading it in flight in place of the book I SHOULD have been reading (Elizabeth Castros' "HTML, XHTML & CSS," recommended by several readers—probably correctly—as the solution to my last software bleg).

VERY interesting.  She gives Muhammed a very good press, explains all the tribal squabbles & their significance, writes sympathetically about the Prophet's various revelations, dreams, etc.  Makes his appeal, and the appeal of his new revelation (as well as its repellent effect on "old believers") easy to grasp.  Also his complicated relationship to Judaism & the Jews.  I didn't know half this stuff.

Have any of my colleagues read this book?  Be interested to hear other opinions.  (Especially counter-opinions, as I have a feeling there's a bit too much Armstrong in Armstrong's Muhammed.)  Armstrong has also written a book about Buddha which I am now quite keen to read.

05/08 04:53 PMShare