id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentence	flesch	summary	cache	txt
ajiss-2887	Hart, David M.	Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society by Akbar S. Ahmed. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1988. pp. 251	1988.0	3	.pdf	application/pdf	954	29	50	The book’s title and subtitle seem, to this reviewer at least, an accurate reflection of its content: it has an introduction also called “Discovering Islam”, then two major sections (each divided into chapters of unequal length; the first and longer on ”The Pattern of Muslim History” and the second on ”Contempomy Muslim Society” (with a conclusion again entitled “Discovering Islam”). Ahmed’s own experience in climbing Mt. &a’ outside Makkah, while he recounts that of the Prophet, gets his book off to an excellent start; and after a discussion of the Prophet’s life and mission (with a useful genealogy for non-anthropologist readers on p. 18), he gives us good looks, in turn, at the four ideal caliphs, the early and properly Arab dynasties (the Umawi and the Abbiisi, as well as the Umawik offshoot in a1 Andalus), the triad of Muslim empires (Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal), Sufis and scholars (with special emphasis on al Biruiii and Ibn Khalduii; two of Ahmed‘s most illustrious predecessors as Muslim anthropologists), Islam of the periphery (in China and the USSR), Islam under European colonialism and - now forming the second part of the book-Contemporary Islam.	cache/ajiss-2887.pdf	txt/ajiss-2887.txt