Product Description
Despite the importance of Islam in global affairs and the role of Islamic Studies in Religious Studies, little attention has been given to the basic questions of how Islam should be taught. This volume brings together a number of leading scholars of Islamic Studies with rich experience in teaching Islam in a diversity of undergraduate settings, from large public universities to small private colleges. Topics addressed include Islamic law, the Quran, Sufism, women in Islam, Islam in America, and teaching about Islam through Arabic literature and the use of new information technology. Along with providing practical information about structuring courses and assignments, the contributors examine the place of Islamic Studies in the larger theoretical framework of Religious Studies and liberal arts curricula.
The author of this book fails to mention the Bukhari Hadith in which Mohammed states that “women are deficient in intellect.” Bukhari was a scholar who collected the sayings and teachings of Mohammed, a separate documents from the Koran. The Hadith are considered to be of nearly equal authority to the Koran. Mohammed was asked about the fact that the testimony of one man is equal to the testimony of two women, his explanation being that “women are deficient in intellect.” Under classical Islam men may marry up to four women, divorce them at will, and have sex with all the slave women he owns. There is no effective check on male sexuality only women’s. Someone this information never made it into the book
Rating: 1 / 5
The person who wrote the “Sexual License for Men Slavery for Women” review is a complete jackass. Why don’t you leave your Bible thumping for foxnews.com. Amazon really needs to get some quality control around these parts.
To the book: I am half-way through and can say that I’ve learned a great amount from these professors, though the essays are hit or miss. Wheeler, Reinhart, and Brockopp’s essays are great; Lewinstein’s is terrible and not worth even a cursory perusal.
Rating: 4 / 5
This book is really intended to help college level instructors of religion who lack a thorough grasp of Islam. And the book does a pretty good job at that. However, some of the book is rather esoteric for most undergraduate survey classes. It is not intended for casual reading on the topic of Islam. The AAR is a great group and this book should be helpful to the college instructor who is more of a generalist and finds him/herself teaching a class in which Islam is a major theme.
So, good book for the intended purpose.
Rating: 4 / 5