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7/24/2019 Reviewed Works Islam in Modern History
1/4
The Academy of Political Scienceis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Political Science
Quarterly.
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ReviewAuthor(s): Charles IssawiReview by: Charles Issawi
Source: Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 73, No. 2 (Jun., 1958), pp. 307-309Published by: The Academy of Political ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2146111Accessed: 08-07-2015 09:56 UTC
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7/24/2019 Reviewed Works Islam in Modern History
2/4
No. 2]
REVIEWS
307
Despite
its
weaknesses,
his is a valuable
book,
of
particular
interest o studentsof Israeli public and economicadministra-
tion,
as well as to
all interested
n
governmental
roblems
of
new states.
ABRAHAM
M.
HIRSCH
WASHINGTON,
D. C.
Islam
in
Modern
History.
By
WILFRED CANTWELL
MITH.
Princeton, rinceton
University
ress,
1957.-x,
317
pp. $6.00.
Islam Inflamed:A Middle East Picture.
By
JAMES MORRIS.
New York, Pantheon
Books,
1957.-326
pp.
$5.00.
The two
books
under reviewhave little
n
common
except
the
word
Islam
in
their titles. In
style, pproach
and
content
they
differ
undamentally,
nd whereas Professor mith's
book
will remain for
long
an
indispensable
work
in
the
field,
that
of
Mr.
Morris
will
most
probably
be soon
forgotten.
Professor mith,
Director
of
the
Institute
of
Islamic Studies
at
McGill
University,has been
closely
studying
the
Islamic
worldfor some twenty-fiveears, nd has a thoroughknowledge
of
at least two
of its
leading
languages,
Arabic and Urdu. He
is
fullyaware of the
importance,
nd has
attempted
o
analyze
the
operation,
of two sets of
forces
hat
are
shaping
the
Muslim
world:
the religious,
including Islam,
Christianity
nd Hin-
duism, and
the
socio-political,
ncluding
nationalism, ndustrial-
ism,
Marxism
and
democracy.
He is
bold, deep
and
incisive n
his
thinking,
ut
without
a
trace
of
arrogance,
nd
clear,
vivid
and
often
eloquent
in
his
style. The result s
in
many
ways the
best book on the subject since H. A. R. Gibb's Modern Trends
in Islam
of
1947.
The first
hapter
deals with Islam in
History and
contains
suggestive
ew
interpretations f
the course of
medieval
Islam;
its
central
thesis s the stress aid
by Islam
on
righteous
ction
by
and
through he
community,
nd
hence on
the
historical roc-
ess,
which
is
that
community
n
motion.
By
ignoring om-
plexities,
one
might
arrange
representatives f
these faiths n a
graded
series
as
follows:
the Hindu, for
whom
ultimatelyhis-
tory s not significant; he Christian,forwhom it is significant
but
not
decisive; the
Muslim,
for
whom it
is
decisive but not
final; the
Marxist,for
whom it is
all in
all.
The second
chapter
covers
Islam in
Recent History
,
and is
followed
by area
studies.
The
Arabs:
Islamic
Crisis brings
out
very
well
the social and
political
problemsof
the
Arabs and
their
nationalist and
religious
responses.
Turkey:
Islamic
Reformation
studies the
impact of social
changes in that
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7/24/2019 Reviewed Works Islam in Modern History
3/4
308
POLITICAL
SCIENCE QUARTERLY
[VOL.
LXXIII
country
nd
raises
two fundamental
questions:
Can
a
non-
Christian nation be a memberof Westerncivilization? and
Can
one
generate
a
Reformation
by
fiat?-even
when
provid-
ing the milieu?
Pakistan: Islamic
State
discusses the
diffi-
culties faced
in
the
attempt
to
build on
Muslim bases
a
state
capable
of
coping
with
contemporary roblems.
India:
Islamic
Involvement
describes the
unique
position
of the
Muslim
minority
n
these terms: Muslims
have
either
had
political
power or
they
have not.
Never
before
have
they
hared it
with
others.
The
concluding
chapter
deals
very
briefly
with
Other
Areas .
There are
a
few
slips
in
the
book;
for
example,
the
fall
of
Czechoslovakia to communism is
put
in
1952
(p.
105);
and,
naturally, this
reviewer
disagrees
with
certain
interpretations,
such
as,
that the
power
of the clerics
n Pakistan seems to
have
been
overstressed. But
these are minor
criticisms
f
what
is,
to
repeat,
an
outstanding book
by
a
learned,
intelligent
and
thoroughly
enetrating
cholar.
Like
Professor
mith,
Mr.
Morris
writes
very
well,
but
there
theresemblance nds. He is no scholarbut a journalistwhohas
managed
to
producefour
books
in
three
years.
Taking
full
ad-
vantage of
modern
transport,
e
has
flitted
from
Juba
in
the
south to
the
Caspian
and
feelshe
has
to
give
a
wider
public
the
benefit f
his
impressions.
Many of
these
mpressions
re vivid
and
some
are
amusing,
especially those of
the
Arabian
sheikh-
doms,
which
readily
lend
themselves
o
burlesque.
Hence
the
reader
who
is
not
unduly
bothered
by the
distinction
between
Dichtung
and
Wahrheit
mayget
a
good
deal of
fun
out of
this
book.
But
those
who
really
want
to
learn
something
about
the
Middle
East
will
have to
turn
elsewhere.
It is not
merelythe
factual
errors,
hough
there
re
plenty f
these.
Take
economics
for
example:
Egypt's
annual
per
capita
income is
put
at less
than
$28
(p.
23)
instead of
$100.
Iraq can
look
ahead to
Scandinavian
standardsof
comfort in
only a
decade
or two
(p.
285).
This
conclusion
s
not
surprising
n
view of
theasser-
tionthat Iraqi agriculture lone can produce an annual income
of
twelve
million
[presumably
billion]
dollars-about
$3000
annually per
capita
(p.
288).
Or
take
history:
Tamerlane's
capture
of
Damascus
(1401 A.D.)
is
placed
in
the
twelfth
entury
(p.
122).
Iraq's
medieval
population is
put at
35
million
(p.
285).
In
the
Middle
Ages, cultural
exchanges
between
Arabs
and
Europeans
are
said to
have
taken
place
by
way
of Spain
and
the
Danube
Basin
(p.
122)-one
can
imagine
the
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7/24/2019 Reviewed Works Islam in Modern History
4/4
No.
2]
REVIEWS
309
Kulturtraeger
rudging
heerfully
hroughhordes of
Pechenegs,
Bulgars,Magyars nd otherDanubian devoteesof culture. But
all
this
is
forgivable.
XVhen,
owever,
Mr.
Morris
reports
the
following
conversation
n
Lebanon, 'What
feast
day
is
this?'
I
asked
the
taxi
driver.
'Christmas
friend,'
e replied
without
smile
(it was
the
middle of
July)
p.
110),
and when
one recalls
how
religious and
conscious
of
feast
days
are
all
Lebanese,
one
really
begins to
wonder.
The
truth s
that
Mr.
Morris does
not like
the
Middle
East
of
today.
If
it had
only
consented to remain a
museum
piece he
would have beenhappy. For, one of thegreatpleasuresofthe
Middle
East is to
encounter a
tribe of
Kurds on
the
move
looking
ike
a
community f
unusually
cheerful
brigands ross-
ing
a
steppe to
commit an
atrocity
(p.
278).
Unfortunately,
things
have
changed;
for
nstance,
Arabs often
made
excellent
mechanics nd
machine
workers nd
adapted
themselvesll
too
easily to
the
industrial
ife
(p.
251).
And
by
the
same
token,
Middle
Easterners
nd
other
Asians will
not
like
Mr.
Morris'
book.
Indeed,
if
anyone
wants to
understand
why
the
West
is so
cordially isliked n Asia, all he has to do is glancethroughslam
Inflamed-a
horribletitle
but
one
for
whichnot
Mr.
Morris
but
presumably
is
American
publisher
s
responsible.
CHARLES
SSAWI
COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITY
The
Union
of
Burma: A
Study
of
the
First
Years
of
Inde-
pendence.
By
HUGH
TINKER.
Issued
under
the
auspices of
the Royal Instituteof InternationalAffairs, y OxfordUni-
versity
Press,
London,
New
York,
Toronto,
1957.-xiv,
424
pp.
42s.;
$6.75.
In
1942 John
L.
Christian
rought
ut
his
masterpiece,
Modern
Burma.
Enlarged
and
reissued
n
1945
as
Burma
and
the
Jap-
anese
Invader,
t
stands s
the
definitive
urvey
f
pre-war
urma.
For
the
period
from
1945
on, in
which
Burma
won
her
inde-
pendence and
launched
herself
nto
the
international
commu-
nity,
no
full-scaleworkon Burma has been published to bringChristianup to
date.
The
one
collective
ffort,urma
by Frank
N.
Trager
and
Associates
New
Haven,
1956),
has
so far
had
only
very
imited
distribution.
Dr.
Hugh
Tinker,
of
the
University
f
London,.has
filled
this
gap,
providing a
first-rate
tudy
of
contemporary
urma
which
will
stand
with
George
Kahin's
Nationalism
and
Revolution
in
Indonesia as
a
classic
in
Southeast
Asian
studies.
n
The
Union
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