0 - Eureka Street

ooks:2
Herman Roborgh
A short history of Islam
Islam: The Straight Path (Revised Third Edition), John L. Esposito. Oxford University Press, 2005. r~BN o 195 r!h66 9, RRP $65
T E TERROR"T ATTAC" m ll September
2001 led to an upheaval in the
West's relations with the Muslim world.
Many came to interpret these events as
signs of a clash between Islam and Western
civilisation. Explosive headlines led
m any to understand Islam as the cause
of global terrorism. John Esposito's book
seeks to put these fears to rest by m aking
a clear distinction between mainstream
Islam and the kind of Islam espoused by
extremists. But this is to over-simplify the
issues. His claim that such extremists can
be found in every religion tends to dismiss
these attacks as the actions of a fanatical
minority that does not need to be taken
very seriously. Esposito's book disregards
Muslim voices calling for a critical investiga
tion into the causes of terrorism and
into the American response. It also disregards
the serious questions non-Muslims
are asking about the identity and purpose
of Islam in the modern world.
Anyone with some personal experience
of the Muslim
world would be willing
to admit that the
word Islam itself is
misleading. For there
are as rnany Islams as
there are communities
of Muslims in the
world. Specific historical,
cultural and
geographical factors
have led each Muslim
community to
give its own peculiar
stamp to the movement
initiated by the
Prophet Muhammad
in the seventh century.
There is no one,
monolithic version of
Islam, just as there is
no single authority
to authenticate the teachings or beliefs
of Islam. Instead, Islam is a dynamic
project within history, a project that is
not yet finished. Esposito's title, Islam:
The Straight Path, describes Islam in the
past rather than as an evolving m ovem
ent in the present. His book gives
the impression that Islam is simply
there waiting to be understood
as a phenomenon in history.
E xCEPT TO orscuss several issues relevant
to violence and terrorism briefly
in the epilogue, Esposito's book remains
what its earlier editions were, namely (in
the author's own words), 'essential coverage
of the origins, spread, and developm ent
of Islam and its roles in Muslim societies'­
As such, it is a readable and useful introduction
to Islam. But the preface promises
the reader that it will address 'the key
issu es necessary to understand the influence
of Osama bin Laden and the continued
growth of extremism, questions about
the relationship of
Islam to violence and
terrorism, the m eaning
of jihad, the origins
of a global jihad
ideology, the role of
suicide bombing, and
the influence of Saudi
Arabia's Wahhabi
Islam'. These important
issues are treated
rather too summarily
in the epilogue, however,
and the reader is
left dissatisfied. Since
Esposito fails to analyse
these complex
issues at any depth,
he cannot claim that
his book deals with
Islam as a modern
phenomenon. It is
essentially a history of Islam up to the
events of 9/l l.
The book describes the reforms that
have taken place in the Muslim world
during the 19th and 20t h centuries in
response to Western colonialism and
imperialism. Since the author himself
admits in his preface to the revised third
edition, however, that the events of 9/ll
'proved a tragic turning point and setback
that has challenged and in many cases
undermined the progress of the recent
past', it would have been more helpful if he
had explained how these modern events
have undermined what he described as
'progress in the Muslim world'. Such an
analysis would have helped the reader
to m ake more sense of these events and
to place them in the broader perspective
of Islamic history. Even though con ­
temporary Muslim thinkers are, in fact,
reflecting on these issues, Esposito has
not included their investigation s in his
revised edition.
On the last page of his book, Esposito
mentions three of the ways in which contemporary
efforts at reform have to face
opposition from within Muslim society.
But he fails to take note of the pervasive
Western demonisation of Islam as an
additional factor working against change
and reform within Islam. Anyone aware
of the frustrations felt by Muslims in the
face of Western hegemony will feel disappointed
that the book did not do more to
articulate these Muslim sentiments. For
the book makes little attempt to give a
sympathetic ear to those voices speaking
on behalf of marginalised groups of Muslims
who are suffering various forms of
oppression because of Western
arrogance and greed.
T HE BOOK rs WEA KEST in its portrayal
of reformist tendencies that have emerged
in the Muslim world since 9/l l. Esposito
40 EU REKA STREET NOVEMBER- DECEMBER 2005