Title: Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam By AARON W. HUGHES
Abstract: holds a chair in Jewish Studies at Rochester University in New York State.As from 2004, he had already made a name for himself with fair publications, in London, on The Texture of the Divine: Imagination in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Thought, Situating Islam, and Theorizing Islam.Typical for his cultural anthropology approach is the juxtaposition of emic, i.e. popular, and etic, i.e. scientific, descriptions of Muslim / Islamic behaviour.At any rate, the book under review is the very best introduction currently available in English for non-Muslims seeking a sound approach to Islam.Part I sets the stage with a description of pre-Islamic Arabia, in particular of Makka.It continues with a detailed presentation of the Prophet, the Qur8:n, and Islamic political and legal history from the khulaf:8 al-r:shid<n to the development of Sunni and Shi6i Islam, Sufism, kal:m (with much detail on Mu6tazilism, Hanbalism and Ash6ari theology).The last sections are devoted to women in Islam and Muslims' encounter with modernity down to post-September 11 apologetics.Throughout, specific issues like Qur8:nic Manuscripts in Sana, Shi6i and Sunni Islam as well as Sufism, Averroe ¨s, Malcom X, al-Qaida, and Islam in the Internet show up in 21 framed boxes.On the whole, the author-widely quoting John Wansbrough, Patricia Crone, and Michael Cook-is extremely sceptical about the authenticity of all major sources of Islamic history, believing that much of it is mere hearsay, projected back and romanticized.For him, what constitutes a religion's contents is neither stable synchronically (at a particular time) nor diachronically (through time).Also, he considers all Muslim historical records as problematic, confessing that he does not believe God to be an actor in history or that one set of beliefs is of greater value than any other.Thus the Quraysh for him were simply 'nomadic Arabs ''who were short on religion, but strong on identity''.' (p.26).The author sees his books steering a 'middle path between theological introductions to Islam and works that seek to undermine the religion'.In fact, his ideal is a text 'consistently historical, sociological, and literary rather than theological' (p.1), arguing that 'there is no such thing as a monolithic Islam or a single Muslim identity' (p.226).Thus, he even shies away from speaking of 'Islam', both inherited and actively created, preferring 'Islams', differently professed by Sunnis, Twelver Shi6is, Sufis, Isma6ilis, Ahmadis and so on (p.10).Even so, the author bases his description of Islamic history on authors like Ibn IsA:q, al-W:qid;, Ibn Sa6d, al-Bal:dhur;, and al-Fabar;, giving proper prominence to MuAammad al-Sh:fi6;, although for him 'they read more like hagiography than history' (p.56).Particularly excellent is the author's masterful analysis of 'sober' versus 'intoxicated' Sufism and of Sufism as a profession (pp.154-79).The same is true