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Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith, by Vartan Gregorian
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After World War II, leading western powers focused their attention on fighting the "Red Menace," Communism. Today, as terrorist activity is increasingly linked to militant Islamism, some politicians and scholars fear a "Green Menace," a Pan-Islamic totalitarian movement fueled by monolithic religious ideology. Such fears have no foundation in history, according to Vartan Gregorian. In this succinct, powerful survey of Islam, Gregorian focuses on Muslim diversity and division, portraying the faith and its people as a mosaic, not a monolith. The book begins with an accessible overview of Islam's tenets, institutions, evolution, and historical role. Gregorian traces its origins and fundamental principles, from Muhammad's call to faith nearly 1,400 years ago to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, and the subsequent abolition of the Caliphate. He focuses particular attention on the intense struggle between modernists and traditionalists, interaction between religion and nationalism, and key developments that have caused bitter divisions among Muslim nations and states: the partitions of Palestine, the break up and Islamization of Pakistan, the 1978 revolution in Iran, and the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Today Islamist views range across the entire spectra of religious and political thought, and Islamism is anything but a unified movement. While religious extremists have attempted to form a confederacy of like-minded radicals in many countries, much of the Muslim population lives in relatively modern, secular states. Gregorian urges Westerners to distinguish between activist Islamist parties, which promote—sometimes violently—Islam as an ideology in a theocratic state, and Islamic parties, whose traditional members want their secular political systems to co-exist with the moral principles of their religion. Gregorian emphasizes the importance of religion in today's world and urges states,societies, and intellectuals to intervene in order to prevent Islam--as well as other religions--from becoming the political tool of various parties and states. He recommends continuing dialogues between modernist and traditionalist Muslims, as well as among the educated, secular elite and their clerical counterparts. He also urges U.S.-led efforts to engage and better understand the diversity of Muslim communities in the United States and the world. Lamenting widespread U.S. ignorance of the world's fastest-growing religion, Gregorian calls on "enlightened citizens" to promote international understanding, tolerance, and peace.
- Sales Rank: #1730670 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Brookings Institution Press
- Published on: 2004-05-28
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .41" w x 5.51" l, .54 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 144 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
From Publishers Weekly
While many in the Western media have depicted Islam with broad strokes to the point of caricature, Gregorian, the president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, reminds readers that it is unfair to generalize so wantonly about a religion that encompasses more than a billion people. This book is brief, but its scope is ambitious: Gregorian surveys 1,400 years of Islamic history, including such key modern events as the 1978 Iranian revolution and the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Naturally, some nuance is lost with this kind of dizzying breadth, but Gregorian competently presses home the point that Islam is a tremendously diverse religion that has changed considerably throughout its history. A final chapter explores the need for knowledge and understanding about Islam, which some have labeled "the green menace" that has replaced "the red menace" of the Cold War.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"In this slim volume, Gregorian offers a survey of the history, theology and challenges in modern, democratic societies. Gregorian, the president the the Carnegie Corp. of New York and former president of Brown University, warns against stereotyping and inflammatory characterizations of the religion and advocates understanding as a path to tolerance." — The Houston Chronicle, 7/1/2003
"Gregorian is a national treasure, one of the most interesting intellects and personalities in the United States.... [He] writes with delightful clarity, an effective sense of irony, and a rich knowledge of the subject. He presents it as complex--unapologetically--but then delivers details with brisk simplicity." —Michael Pakenham, The Baltimore Sun, 6/15/2003
"An exceptionally readable, panoramic view of the Islamic world." —S. P. Blackburn, Hartford Seminary, Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, 4/1/2004
"While many in the Western media have depicted Islam with broad strokes to the point of caricature, Gregorian reminds readers that it is unfair to generalize so wantonly about a religion that encompasses more than a billion people. This book is brief, but its scope is ambitious.... Gregorian competently presses home the point that Islam is a tremendously diverse religion that has changed considerably throughout its history." — Publishers Weekly, 5/15/2003
"For, the scholar - he was trained as a historian at Stanford - has also written Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith. The book, aimed at non-scholarly readers across America, pleads for a positive understanding of that religion that believes in the philosophy of reconciliation." — India Abroad, 10/1/2003
"the perfect primer" —Karen Elliott House, Wall Street Journal, 11/11/2006
About the Author
Vartan Gregorian is president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Born in Tabriz, Iran of Armenian parents, he received his elementary education in Iran, secondary education in Lebanon, and higher education in the United States. He has served as president of Brown University, president of the New York Public Library, and founding dean and provost of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. President Clinton awarded him the National Humanities Medal in 1998.
Most helpful customer reviews
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful.
Readily accessible to non-specialist general readers
By Midwest Book Review
Islam: A Mosaic, Not A Monolith by Vartan Gregorian (President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York), is an informed and informative survey of the Islamic faith since its inception some 1,400 years ago. Examining Islam's tenets, institutions, changes, role in history, crucial questions that have caused strife among Muslim states, and a great deal more, Islam: A Mosaic, Not A Monolith is readily accessible to non-specialist general readers, yet thoughtful enough in its study and presentation of complicated issues of faith, politics, and culture to be of considerable value for scholars and dedicated students of Islamic Studies as well. In view of contemporary American efforts to combat the threat of international terrorism arising from fundamentalist Islamic extremists, Islam: A Mosaic, Not A Monolith should be present in the collections of every school and community library system in the country.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful.
A Book On Islam That Engages Your Intelligence, Rather Than Insulting It
By Caesar Warrington
"Huntington [Samuel P. Huntington, author of THE CLASH Of CIVILIZATIONS And The REMAKING Of The WORLD ORDER] and others who write about a clash of civilizations do not recognize that class, tribal, family, personal, ethnic, cultural, economic, and national interests have always defied a unity of purpose that transcends all these divisions. As shown above, instances when the Muslim world was a unified monolith have been extremely rare. Throughout Islamic history, the gravitational pull of regional, dynastic, and since the nineteenth century nationalist interests has consistently outweighed the spiritual affiliations of some idealized, transcendent, organic umma. If history is a guide, it shows that in Islam, as in most major religions, there is a broad gulf between the ideal of unity and the realities on the ground." (ISLAM: A MOSAIC, NOT A MONOLITH, pp. 110-111).
The above paragraph provides the gist of Vartan Gregorian's excellent book, dispelling certain myths about both the Islamic world and Islamist extremism which are being promoted by some politicians, journalists, writers and religious leaders in the West.
Gregorian shows that the idea of a totalitarian Pan-Islamic juggernaut determined to engulf the world and submit it to "sharia" law not only is unlikely it has no historical foundation. While the fears of Islamist extremism are naturally not unwarranted and should be taken seriously, Gregorian also wants us to keep in mind the intense struggles between modernity and traditionalism, as well as religion and nationality in the Muslim world. Indeed, except for relatively brief periods in history, the Umma (the Muslim community) has mostly existed in a world fragmented by rival dynasties and states, willing to ally themselves with outsiders against each other. He reminds us that "Sharia" law, dreaded by many as some sort of universal Islamic system of punishment and coercion, is not a unified body of law, but rather exists within four specific schools of thought (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi and Hanbali), each with their own levels of interpretation.
Islamist ideology itself is shown to be quite varied, running through a spectrum that includes the most uncompromisingly fanatical to those more moderate and willing to work within the system and participate in electoral politics. Gregorian goes further to explain Muslim extremism as historically a tool that's been used both by and against western dominance. What started as a reaction to the presence of European colonialism in North Africa and the Near East was also nourished and utilized by Great Britain and the United States against Marxist and other socialist movements in the region during the Cold War.
Despite popular conceptions, fostered by governments and media for their own advantage, Gregorian finds Islamism to be in decline. After the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan the Islamist movement fractured and struggles with competing constituencies and agendas. While acknowledging it as an optimistic view, Gregorian references Gilles Kepel (from his 2002 book, JIHAD: The TRAIL Of POLITICAL ISLAM) on the belief that "the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, represented not a growing threat from Islamist extremism but the reverse: they were a symbol of its `isolation, fragmentation and decline.'"
Vartan Gregorian was born in Tabriz, Iran, but is from an Armenian background. In addition to serving as president of Brown University, founding dean and provost of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, and president of the New York Public Library, Gregorian is presently the president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. ISLAM: A MOSAIC, NOT A MONOLITH grew out of a report submitted to Carnegie's trustees in the summer of 2001 on the need to promote public understanding for America's Muslims and also the need to ease their integration into American society. After September 11, 2001, the report took on a global perspective, developing into the more comprehensive survey that is this book. The next time you are in your local bookstore, wandering in either the Middle Eastern History or Religion aisles, ignore the glossed-over apologistic junk of Karen Armstrong on one end and the Islamophobic polemics of Robert Spencer on the other. Instead, choose to give this book a look over. You won't be disappointed.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Useful and reliable, but very introductory
By R. M. Peterson
I bought and read this book as part of my self-education program on Islam. It turned out to be not nearly as detailed as I had expected, especially in its discussion of the tenets of Islam and their application(s) in the modern world. The principal point of the book is to refute the popular perception of Islam as a monolith bent on clashing with and destroying Christianity and/or the West. Still, as far as it goes it is a very useful introduction, both reliable and objective, and, as others have noted, superior to Karen Armstrong and far superior to Robert Spencer.
(When I was in junior high school in the early '60s, the perceived threat to the U.S. was communism, and wanting to learm more about that pressing issue I bought a book by J. Edgar Hoover on communism. Needless to say, it wasn't very helpful, although it took me several years to come to that realization. Reading a book by Robert Spencer to learn about Islam would not be much different.)
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