Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Thought provoking perspectives on traditional wisdom, what Aldous Huxley called the "perennial philosophy," the metaphysics of the Platonists, Sufis, and Hindus, amongst others. The book explains the spiritual basis of Islam and its similarities with other religions. It suggests that these various systems are manifestations of a common core that stands at odds with contemporary post-Renaissance Western culture. There are chapters on topics such as traditional art, the differences between show more "Pontifical" and "Promethean" humanity, the primacy of the soul in medicine, and the nature of time and eternity. In the final essay, Nasr claims that the central disparity between the traditional and scientific view is that science is grounded in matter while spiritualism is grounded in consciousness. There were things I found unconvincing, for example the facile disparagement of evolution, but he makes a fair case for the importance of traditional thought and the negative impact of a purely materialistic approach to being. show less

I can't say I read the whole thing, but have read many of the Suras and the notes. I'm not Muslim but have Muslim friends and think it's important to understand their religion directly through their texts, rather than through hearsay. It's a beautiful and fair translation. I have a Christian background and find that many translations seems to purposely try to make Islam seem alien by, for example, not translating the word "allah" to God. This translation does it so well there are many places show more where it reads like parts of the Bible. Interestingly, the Quran contains a fuller account of the nativity story than the Bible and one that is familiar to us today, which can be explained by the fact that Muslims lived peacefully in Europe among Christians for a few hundred years. show less

(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 show more 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. show less

Among the best I've ever read; Nasr has a genius for interweaving Shi`ism with the rest of Islam (instead of relegating it to footnotes or a separate chapter) without getting defensive about it.