The writer of this e book is an Adventist Outdated Testomony scholar, who grew up in an Arabic tradition (in his case, the Arabic tradition of Egypt). The e book has 17 chapters, a glossary of just about 90 Islamic phrases, an in depth bibliography, and three appendices: Scripture, Church Fathers and Apocrypha, and Qu’ranic and Hadith texts. The purpose of the e book is to allow missionaries, guests, and people within the Center East to grasp the Arab thoughts, tradition, and worldview.
The amount’s chapters are nicely organized, with targets at the start, subheadings, a abstract, a listing of debate questions, and endnotes. It’s evidently written as a textbook for schools and universities. The chapter headings clearly point out the chosen subjects that cowl such numerous issues as childbirth, honor and disgrace in Muslim contexts, music, and ritual prayer. Every chapter is supposed to convey a deeper understanding of the chosen theme and an appreciation of the Arab mindset.
For every subject, the e book seeks to current the historic background, at occasions going again to pre-Islamic occasions. For instance, when discussing the variety of tradition in Islam (chap. 2), the writer factors out that the pre-Islamic generosity, hospitality, and sociability of Arabs has been practiced and beneficial by Islam since its starting. Then again, in distinction to the pre-Islamic idea of handbook labor of the Bedouins, who noticed bodily labor, corresponding to farming, as dishonoring, the Qur’an extols work and elevates it to the extent of worship (chap. 8).
The e book accommodates many attention-grabbing information of curiosity to Christians. For instance, within the chapter “Burial Rites within the Pre-Islamic Period” (chap. 16) the time previous to the existence of the Qur’an is known as “the time of ignorance” by Muslims (cf. Acts 17:30). Within the chapter on ethics (chap. 7) we be taught that for Muslims preserving one’s status is extra essential than honesty (cf. Prov. 19:1), and disgrace is a crucial social constraint inside Islam. The prophet taught: “If you don’t really feel ashamed, then do no matter you want” (Hadith 4:690; cf. Ps. 19:12, 13).
In abstract, Islamic Tradition and Society is a veritable gold mine of helpful data for the examine of Islam and its tradition. Due to his distinctive background, the writer is sympathetic to Islam whereas on the identical time rendering a robust evaluation and critique of its ethics in gentle of the good controversy between Christ and Devil. Islamic Tradition and Society deserves to turn out to be a regular work for the examine of Islam in all colleges the place such programs are provided. Each Seventh-day Adventist within the teachings of Islam will profit from a cautious examine of this e book.
