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Title: The Koran: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Michael Cook ISBN: 0-19-285344-9 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (6 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Apologetic for Islam
Comment: Every page is filled with apologetics for Islam. This is a waste of time for the objective reader. However, if you are just concerned with building a system of flimsy apologetics for Islam, then this is the book for you. Otherwise, don't read it.
Rating: 4
Summary: For the Curious
Comment: Though a short book, the Koran is like all scripture and enormous topic to tackle. For a book as short as this, it is inevitable that the work will only scratch the surface. Cook does a good job of putting in secular language how one can approach the Koran as a book and as the centerpiece to the Islamic faith. He writes in inverse chronological order, starting with the modern and ending with the opaque early history of the Koran. This is neither a guide to reading to the Koran nor an interpretation of its contents, but rahter, an anecdotal presentation of many topics relating to its contents. For an introduction to the Koran, it is rather disappointing in the end in terms of offerring a strong list for further study focusing on various topics. Much of this is not Cook's fault so much insofar as few interesting works address the Koran at a layman's level and usually tend to be quite technical and assume at least a cursory knowledge of Arabic. Also missing unfortunately is a good summary of some of the modern trends in literary and historio-critical approaches to the Qur'an though some mention is made of Wansborough (about a paragraph). Overall, it's an accessible read that is likely to inspire further study... There are good collections of scholarly articles by the polemicist ibn Warraq that one can buy as well if one is looking for something with more details.
Rating: 4
Summary: Islam and religious toleration
Comment: Let's face it: most of us who've lately been reading books on Islam and the Qur'an are doing so to understand a religion we for the most part ignored prior to 9/11. We're putting ourselves through a crash course on Islam and Islamic culture in the hopes that we can figure out what Islam's basic tenets are, and how it is that the Taliban and al-Qaida can claim the religion as their justification for repression and terror.
Obviously one of the first places to start is with the Qur'an itself. But to Westerners who've never opened it, the book can be intimidating and arcane. Michael Cook's little volume on the Qur'an is a decent introduction to its structure, basic principles, interpretation, and history.
Some points in Cook's book are of more immediate service to the beginner than others. Cook's discussion of the difficulties encountered in translating the Qur'an's Arabic into other languages may not be of great interest to the beginner. But his overview of the various Muslim schools of exegesis or interpretation certainly will be, for this discussion begins to reveal to the reader that there's no more of a uniform way of reading the Qur'an than there is of reading the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. As a consequence, Qur'anic verses can mean different things to Muslims coming from different exegetical traditions. Cook illustrates this point in Chapter 4 by discussing the "sword verse" (Sura 9:5) and the "tribute verse" (Sura 9:29). These two verses are frequently appealed to by commentators on Islam's attitude to "infidels." Cook does a fine job of showing that the verses can be read either as harshly intolerant or as live-and-let-live, depending on how one parses the text.
One of the many merits of this short book is that Cook encourages us to think about the meaning of "sacred scripture" in general. Whatever else scripture is, regardless of the religious tradition we're talking about, it's fluid and living and multi-layered. To condemn a sacred text on the basis of a cursory reading and a literal interpretation of a few ambiguous verses is a rush to judgment.
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Title: Muhammad by Michael Cook ISBN: 0192876058 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: January, 1984 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Judaism: A Very Short Introduction by Norman Solomon ISBN: 0192853902 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Islam: A Very Short Introduction by Malise Ruthven ISBN: 0192853899 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Bible: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by John Kenneth Riches ISBN: 0192853430 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Hinduism : A Very Short Introduction by Kim Knott ISBN: 0192853872 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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