When the American public sprinted to bookstores after September 11, 2001—and purchased whatever they could find about Islam—it was actually Carl Ernst’s Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World they were looking for. Unfortunately, Ernst’s jewel was not there yet. Fortunately, it is now. If it isn’t, it should be.

Ernst begins with a historical look at anti-Islamic attitudes. We Judeo-Christians of Western Europe and the Americas think of Israelite prophecy/revelation and Greek philosophy as the defining sources for our civilization. Ernst reminds us that these same sources are foundational for Islamic civilization, too, and there is much more that unites us than divides us, if we take a measured look at "both sides." There were negative attitudes from early on, but much of what defines our stereotypical perceptions of Islam today was influenced by the 19th century Orientalists; these attitudes, along with events from the 1960s and 70s, and the willingness of mass media to let excitement prevail over information, have led the average American to see "Arab," "Muslim," and "terrorist" as "almost interchangeable terms" (p. 26). Ernst introduces us to our "goal" in the final section of the chapter: Avoiding Prejudice in Approaching Islam. Important information for our students, for us, and for many of our fellow citizens.

In his second chapter (Approaching Islam in Terms of Religion), Ernst looks at the origin and the development of the word "religion." Western civilization did not really think much about "religions"—in the plural—until the 17th century, when Hugo Grotius wrote his "debating manual" to help Christian sailors and missionaries assert the correctness of their spiritual viewpoints against the heathens they encountered. Ernst notes a variety of ways of looking at religion; he differentiates between ethnic and national identities, and he includes the possibility, as happens in some cultures, that one might be a devotee of more than one religion. In the first chapter he had cautioned readers about extremists (of all religious persuasions) and their language: the religious extremist presents his movement as a "quest mandated by God." Here, he suggests that the inflammatory rhetoric we hear from isolated individuals in the Islamic world (though they garner more than their share of press) follows in the wake of the "continuing export of fire-breathing Christian missionaries to Muslim countries [which] provided a new example of how one can use the authority of scripture to bash one’s opponents" (p. 67).

The third chapter of Following Muhammad makes at least two points that are central to my enthusiasm for this book. One is that the Prophet played multiple roles in the early Muslim community; in subsequent generations, different groups fixed on those aspects of his life and teachings that touched their own situations most poignantly. Islam is probably as diverse as Christianity. We are going far out on a limb to say what "Muslims think," what "Muslims do," or what "Muslims say," because—other than a very restricted set of religious beliefs and practices—such statements neglect the fact that there are a billion Muslims in the world, and that these Muslims, from a variety of ethnic groups, comprise a majority of the population in fifty countries on three different continents. Ernst also asserts that Western readers and Western media too often refuse to allow Islam the same "liberal and tolerant interpretations of scripture" that are accorded to Judaism and Christianity (i.e., a variety of interpretations are possible for Biblical statements, but we take Qur’anic verses literally). The points Ernst makes here are both delicately and cogently argued, and they deserve to be pondered by a wide audience.

"Ethics and Life in the World" (chapter 4) is a look at how the Qur’an, Qur’anic interpretation, hadith, the process of "consensus," and reasoning by analogy converged to influence the development of a variety of societies in the Islamic world. Ernst addresses the tremendous contributions that Islam has made, and he takes issue, articulately, with those who attempt to say that Islamic philosophy died along with Averroes, in 1198. In his subsection on "Liberal Islam" (which is "alive and well") Ernst points out that " [u]nfortunately, due to the massive cultural amnesia about the non-European world that is the by-product of globalization, nearly all … modern Muslim thinkers remain unknown even to the highly educated in Europe and America." It is precisely our inability to hear their voices that keeps us from "being able to have a genuine dialogue of civilizations" (p. 141). Two later sections of this chapter address the issues of gender and veiling (also important reading for teachers who discuss modern Islam with their students), and "Islam and Science."

Chapter 5 ("Spirituality in Practice") is an overview of Sufism and the spirituality of Shi’ite Islam, both sections of which are stellar presentations, in my opinion. The first entails the best "cursory" introduction to Sufism I’ve encountered (there are a number of good works on Islamic mysticism on the market, including Ernst’s Shambhala Guide to Sufism [1997] but these are entire books): in a matter of pages, and with uncanny clarity, Ernst introduces us to the foundations and basic concepts of Sufism, and then to a number of the Sufi orders and their practices. He concludes with a subsection on art. Ernst’s concise introduction to the development of Shi’ism and Shi’ite spirituality is, once again, clear, erudite, and sensitive. I’ve spent considerable time with Shi’ite Islam—at least as a reader, teacher, and translator—and I cannot recollect a better starting place for a beginner in the field than this section on the branch of Islam that is prevalent in Iran and most of Iraq.

Ernst’s final chapter in this work is a "Postscript." He looks briefly at "new images of Islam," as they emerge from political and ideological situations, and at the idea of "pluralism" in the religion: how Muslims work to interpret, and sort out, two important—perhaps contradictory, but perhaps not—statements by the Prophet ("Difference of opinion is a mercy for my community," and "My community will never agree upon error"). In this final chapter, which reiterates the message that runs in filigree through the entire text, Ernst refers to the "intoxicating sense of superiority" that the advanced science and technology of the West tends to "confer" upon many of us ("even those of us who find it difficult to program a VCR," he chides on p. 200). If some of this energy of "superiority" could be channeled into a balanced and sympathetic attempt to understand the diversity and richness of Islam, we would all be better off. It is this that Ernst seems most eager to have us take away from his book.

Following Muhammad is an important work for secondary school teachers, whether we deal with Islam formally, by teaching it, or informally, in discussions with students, parents, or colleagues.


review ©2004 by David Streight and RSiSS

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