120 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 14:l 

The Vision of Islam 

By Sachiko Murata and William C. Chittick. New York: Paragon 
House, 1994, xii+ 368 pp. 

The Vision of Islam forms part of a series, entitled Visions of Reality, 
designed to focus on religions as worldviews. According to the statement of the 
editorial board on the flyleaf, each religion studied in the series will be pre­
sented in the context of its own inner dynamic or ethos using a methodology 
appropriate to itself. Murata and Chittick have succeeded admirably in living 
up to this commiunent by allowing Islam to speak through abundant quotations 
from the Qur'an and the hadith. 

The outgrowth of an introductory course on Islam taught by the authors at 
the State University of New York at Stony Brook for more than a decade, Vision 
is organized in an innovative manner. After a brief introduction to the Qur'an, 
its translations, and the life of the Prophet, the authors recount the "hadith of 
Gabriel" transmitted by both al-Buk:haf1 and Muslim on the authority of 'Umar 
ibn al-Kha.t.tab. According to this repon, the Prophet was questioned by an 
unknown stranger about the significance of submission (isliim), faith (iman), 
and doing what is beautiful (i/:zsiin ). After explaining these concepts, the Prophet 
then identified this mysterious individual as the angel Gabriel, the being through 
whom God revealed the Qur'an. The remainder of the book is structured around 
these three elements or dimensions, as the authors term them. 

Dealing first with the several senses of submission, acceptance, or commit­
ment, Part I describes the essential practices of Islam: the five pillars. An often 
misunderstood sixth pillar, jihad or struggle, is also discussed cogently. The 
authors then explain the historical articulation of these practices in the formation 
of the Sunni and Shi'i schools (madhiihib), the Shari'ah, and Islamic jurispru­
dence. Here and elsewhere, variations among the schools are noted. 

Part II, dealing with imiin, accounts for more than two-thirds of the book, 
an indication of the relative weight the authors give this dimension. The three 
fundamental principles of faith-divine unity, prophecy, and eschatology-are 
the major topics of this section. The nature of God's absolute unity and tran­
scendence is explored through a discussion of His signs, attributes, and acts (as 
manifested in creation), and Islamic angelology. Here, the text is infused with 
the metaphysics of illuminationist philosophy. Notions such as good and evil, 
human free will and determinism, are linked convincingly with the concepts of 
divine unity and the hierarchy of creation. This argument, in tum, leads logi­
cally to an account of the role of prophecy and humanity's acceptance of guid-



Book Reviews 121 

ance as well as its heedlessness and forgetfulness. The historical struggle of the 
prophets to remind human beings of the original covenant between God and 
His creatures provides an opponunity to examine the relation of Islam with 
other religions and the special significance of the prophethood of Muhammad 
within this context. After a discussion of Islamic eschatology, Part II concludes 
with an oveiview of the expression of faith in rationalistic theology, abstract 
philosophy, and visionary mysticism 

"Doing what is beautiful" is the focus of Part m. In it, the authors empha­
size worship, sincerity, devotion, love, and wholesomeness. They funher see 
these qualities embodied in the civilization of Islam through its art, poetry, and 
what they call "practical mysticism." Part IV is a brief but suggestive look at 
some of the challenges faced by Muslims in the contemporary world. The book 
is provided with a useful glossary of the Arabic and Islamic terminology used 
and an appendix indicating the sources of the hadiths quoted in the text. 

In sum, this is a fresh and imaginative introduction to IsJam that does not 
sacrifice comprehensiveness to originality. Ideas that may at first seem difficult 
and unfamiliar are presented with clarity and grace. Moreover, the sensitivity 
and caring of the authors toward their subject are apparent on every page of this 
fine work. While providing an excellent oveiview of Islam's self-conception 
for the general reader, The Vision of !slam should also be considered seriously 
as a text at the college level. 

John E. Woods 
Depanment of History 
University of Chicago 

Chicago, fllinois