Overview
The Islamic world today is highly diverse, with Muslims in different places claiming different ethnic backgrounds and national identities, occupying a range of socioeconomic statuses, speaking different languages, and holding divergent attitudes toward the modern world. However, all Muslims consider themselves united as part of a worldwide community of believers called the umma.
The Muslim World: An Overview briefly discusses the core beliefs shared by all committed Muslims, provides statistics on the Muslim populations of various countries, and highlights national and regional issues (including conflicts) involving Islam.
Synopsis
The Islamic world today is highly diverse, with Muslims in different places claiming different ethnic backgrounds and national identities, occupying a range of socioeconomic statuses, speaking different languages, and holding divergent attitudes toward the modern world. However, all Muslims consider themselves united as part of a worldwide community of believers called the umma.
The Muslim World: An Overview briefly discusses the core beliefs shared by all committed Muslims, provides statistics on the Muslim populations of various countries, and highlights national and regional issues (including conflicts) involving Islam.
Children's Literature
The "World of Islam" series provides teens with information on Muslim beliefs and life styles, problems facing Muslims in today's world, and relations with non-Muslim nations. This volume begins with a brief history of Islam and an explanation of basic beliefs, the Qur'an, the Hadith, and the five pillars of Islam. While the main differences between Sunnis and Shiites are clearly explained, a section on Islamism is too brief to be comprehensible to young readers. Other chapters cover Muslims in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and the Americas, according to population, history (very brief), and current problems. Needless to say, these subjects are too vast to be adequately explored in thirty-three pages; absence of source notes makes it impossible to verify information. The author tends to omit American involvement in the Middle East, such as unqualified support for Israel, CIA overthrow of Iran's elected government (1953), and support for both Saddam Hussein, and the Taliban when it seemed politically advantageous. Discussion of European Muslims is limited, as in a reference to Nicolas Sarkozy, citing his reasonable demands on French Algerians, while ignoring his vicious insults and brutal persecution by his police—see Chapter "Sarko, Bouna and Zyed" in Graham Robb's Parisians (Norton, 2010). Teachers planning to use this series should be aware that, since it has been attacked by an Islamic advocacy group as anti-Islamic (rejected by the publisher and its consultant, a conservative think-tank), it might be advisable to collect supplemental material from a wide variety of other sources. Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft