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Email: f-donner@uchicago.edu

Fred M. Donner
Professor of Near Eastern History
Chairman of Department

Suggested Introductory Readings on Islam (Winter 2002)

Good, brief starter surveys are:

• Malise Ruthven, Islam: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 1997.
• Frederick M. Denny, An Introduction to Islam. Macmillan, 1985.

• David Waines, An Introduction to Islam. Cambridge University Press, 1995.
• Fazlur Rahman, Islam. 2nd ed., University of Chicago Press, 1979.
• John L. Esposito, Islam, The Straight Path. 3rd. ed., Oxford University Press, 1998.
• Andrew Rippin, Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. 2 vols. Routledge, 1990-1993.

The Qur'an, considered by believing Muslims to be the word of God as revealed to His prophet Muhammad (d. 632 C.E.), is readily available in many English translations (Dawood, Arberry, Yusuf Ali, Picthall, etc.). These vary significantly in nuance, but all can claim to be honest attempts to render the meaning of the text into English; it must be remembered that translation is itself an act of interpretation, so that the meaning of many verses turns out differently in various translations depending on the translator's understanding of the original Arabic.

For the novice, the Qur'an is not always easy to read because its contents are not arranged in the form of a narrative; a beginning reader may wish to approach the Qur'an not by starting with page one and reading ahead, but by using the index to search out various passages of the text that deal with a particular theme that he is curious about, and comparing them. The surahs (chapters) near the end are shorter, and may be easier for the beginner to read first, rather than starting with the longer surahs at the beginning of the Qur'an.

Useful introductions/companions to the Qur'an text are:

• Michael Cook, The Koran: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2000.
• Fazlur Rahman, Major Themes of the Qur'an. Minneapolis & Chicago: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1980.

The religion of Islam is the distinctive, central element in a vast array of cultural phenomena that we call Islamic civilization. The whole range of Islamic history and civilization are surveyed by the following works, both lavishly illustrated:

• John L. Esposito (ed.), The Oxford History of Islam. Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Francis Robinson (ed.), The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World. Cambridge University Press, 1996.

The most intellectually sophisticated interpretation of Islamic history and civilization is provided by the following work--not always easy to read, and requiring some background before undertaking it, but very rewarding for those who perservere. Volumes 1 and 2 are particularly worthwhile:

• Marshall G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam. 3 vols., University of Chicago Press, 1974.

• Stephen Humphreys, Between Memory and Desire: The Middle East in a Troubled Age. University of California Press, 1999. Thought-provoking, with much on the role of Islam in this crucially important region.
• Barbara Freyer Stowasser, Women in the Qur'an, Traditions, and Interpretation. Oxford University Press, 1994. An excellent, balanced survey of this topic.
• John L. Esposito and John O. Voll (eds.), Makers of Contemporary Islam. Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Ahmad Rashid, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia. Yale University Press, 2000.