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Islam: A cultural perspective
96
Short Reviews and Book Notes
A short review will not do justice to Hultkrantz's many topics . His phenomenology turns out to be much the same thing as ordinary ethnography . Had be cut back on the more imposingly phrased, but essentially run of the mill generalizing, he would have achieved a crisper empiricism . R . H . BARNES University of Oxford
Richard C . Martin, Islam : A Cultural Perspective, Prentice-Hall Series in World Religions, Prentice-Hall International 1982 . 178 pp. £5 .95 It is rare to Lind a full-length introduction to Islam by a non-Islamicist . But whatever Richard Martin may lack in terms of first-hand knowledge of languages and texts is abundantly made up for by his accurate and intelligent use of up-to-date secondary materials in a general religious studies perspective . Within the compass of a mere 166 pages, he has succeeded in encapsulating a much broader view of Islam as religion, culture, and society than is normally found in introductory works . Many of the details about the life of the Prophet, the collection of the Traditions, the formation of the law schools, or the regulations of fqh that are the stock-in-trade of many books and a beginner's bugbear have been abandoned in favour of a wider approach which brings in such disparate elements as Ibn al-Ráwandi, the Shi i ta`ziya, or the character of the Iranian bazaar . All of these and other topics are dealt with perceptively and in a manner that shows the author has grasped the essentials of the matters he writes about . His use of basic sociological and anthropological concepts such as the `Great Tradition' and `Little Tradition' or religious studies distinctions between, for example, `history' and `sacred history' all serve to illuminate even familiar topics in a fresh manner . There are, of course, minor errors, but these are few : the Táj Mahal was neither a palace nor a mosque (pp . 26-27) ; the term Jdhiliyya has more the connotation of `age of barbarism' than `Time of Ignorance (of God)' (p . 91) ; it is misleading to group Rilmi and Ibn al--`Arabi together with Suhrawardi as `Ishriigis' (p . 102) ; and Ibn Hanbal's Musnad never became one of the six canonical collections of hadth (p. 104) . In general, this is by far the best short introduction to the subject to appear in many years . DENIS MncEOIN Department of Religious Studies, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne
A . Rosalie David, A Guide to Religious Ritual at Abydos, Modern Egyptology Series, Aris and Philips Ltd . 1981 . xiv + 182 pp . A revised format with redrawn line figures and additional plates marks the second edition of this successful work, previously entitled Religious Ritual at Abydos and reviewed in detail by John Hinnells (Religion 5/1, Spring 1975, pp . 89-90) . Although there is much of Egyptological interest for specialists, the author provides a precise scene by scene account of the ornamentations in the temple, with numerous line-drawings, which is entirely accessible to the non-Egyptologist . It is therefore an excellent practical introduction to aspects of ancient Egyptian religion . M . P.
Short Reviews and Book Notes
A short review will not do justice to Hultkrantz's many topics . His phenomenology turns out to be much the same thing as ordinary ethnography . Had be cut back on the more imposingly phrased, but essentially run of the mill generalizing, he would have achieved a crisper empiricism . R . H . BARNES University of Oxford
Richard C . Martin, Islam : A Cultural Perspective, Prentice-Hall Series in World Religions, Prentice-Hall International 1982 . 178 pp. £5 .95 It is rare to Lind a full-length introduction to Islam by a non-Islamicist . But whatever Richard Martin may lack in terms of first-hand knowledge of languages and texts is abundantly made up for by his accurate and intelligent use of up-to-date secondary materials in a general religious studies perspective . Within the compass of a mere 166 pages, he has succeeded in encapsulating a much broader view of Islam as religion, culture, and society than is normally found in introductory works . Many of the details about the life of the Prophet, the collection of the Traditions, the formation of the law schools, or the regulations of fqh that are the stock-in-trade of many books and a beginner's bugbear have been abandoned in favour of a wider approach which brings in such disparate elements as Ibn al-Ráwandi, the Shi i ta`ziya, or the character of the Iranian bazaar . All of these and other topics are dealt with perceptively and in a manner that shows the author has grasped the essentials of the matters he writes about . His use of basic sociological and anthropological concepts such as the `Great Tradition' and `Little Tradition' or religious studies distinctions between, for example, `history' and `sacred history' all serve to illuminate even familiar topics in a fresh manner . There are, of course, minor errors, but these are few : the Táj Mahal was neither a palace nor a mosque (pp . 26-27) ; the term Jdhiliyya has more the connotation of `age of barbarism' than `Time of Ignorance (of God)' (p . 91) ; it is misleading to group Rilmi and Ibn al--`Arabi together with Suhrawardi as `Ishriigis' (p . 102) ; and Ibn Hanbal's Musnad never became one of the six canonical collections of hadth (p. 104) . In general, this is by far the best short introduction to the subject to appear in many years . DENIS MncEOIN Department of Religious Studies, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne
A . Rosalie David, A Guide to Religious Ritual at Abydos, Modern Egyptology Series, Aris and Philips Ltd . 1981 . xiv + 182 pp . A revised format with redrawn line figures and additional plates marks the second edition of this successful work, previously entitled Religious Ritual at Abydos and reviewed in detail by John Hinnells (Religion 5/1, Spring 1975, pp . 89-90) . Although there is much of Egyptological interest for specialists, the author provides a precise scene by scene account of the ornamentations in the temple, with numerous line-drawings, which is entirely accessible to the non-Egyptologist . It is therefore an excellent practical introduction to aspects of ancient Egyptian religion . M . P.