Islam in the Modern World: Challenged by the West, Threatened by Fundamentalism, Keeping Faith with Tradition

(I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads)In a time when so many people seem so ill informed, yet so quick to speak, on the religion that is Islam, it is important for there to be reliable, informative resources out there so that those who do wish to properly educate themselves can. Nasr’s Islam in the Modern World is such a resource.Highly informative, this book touches on the idea of traditional Islam, not only as we see it in the world today, but throughout history. He makes the important distinction between what is traditional Islam from the other, many, branches we see today. Drawing comparisons between the idea of modernism and the different versions of fundamentalism, he shows how they differ from the traditional stance. This is his primary concern, Traditional Islam in confrontation with modernism and fundamentalism.The author also touches on how the term “Islam” is used for national, ethical, politico-economic (etc) reasons, and not just religious ones (the manipulation of Islam for non-Islamic ends), as well as the idea of Jihad being the effort exerted in life to ensure an equilibrium of life, both inwardly and outwardly, as opposed to the vision so many have of it meaning religious violence, which is something that I think needs to be understood here in the US, were there are so many who so often fail to understand the differences. This book does seem to require a previous understanding of Islam and some of its concepts and terms, but not the point that one completely unfamiliar would be totally lost trying to read it. I would recommend it to anyone wishing to familiarize themselves with the religion of Islam, and to understand the current condition of the religion, as well as its relation with the world around it.