Ideals and Realities of Islam

This is the first of very few English books to treat Islam from its own point of view, from within the tradition. It is written for the Western reader interested in Islam, and also for the Western-educated Muslim. Here, the author seeks to answer from the Islamic standpoint, many of the criticisms brought against the Islamic tradition by the modern West. This book explains, in contemporary language, the truths of Islam as revealed in the Quran, and as followed by generations of devout Muslims. The major aspects of the Islamic tradition are discussed in detail, whilst the traditional Islamic doctrines and beliefs are explained in response to criticisms of modern thought, with frequent comparisons to other world religions. This revised edition of Seyyed Hossein Nasr's seminal work includes an updated, extensive, annotated bibliography for each chapter by both Muslim and Western scholars as welll as a Preface by Titus Burckhardt and a Foreword by Huston Smith. This classical book has been rendered into numerous languages including Indonesian, translated by the present President of Indonesia. The present book contains six lectures out of a series of fifteen public lectures delivered by Dr. Nasr during the time he held the chair of Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Studies in the American University of Beirut (1964-65). These public lectures concern the religion of Islam and the diverse aspects of the civilization it produced. "Ideals and Realities of Islam" has been primarily written for those Western readers who are interested in Islam. The book comprises six chapters dealing with Islam and discussing precisely the Qur'an, the Prophet, the Sharfah or Divine Law, the Tariqah or Sufism, and Sunnism and Shi'ism. The author has, in his scholarly manner, elucidated the major aspects of the Islamic tradition and has made frequent comparisons with other religions, notably with Christianity, which meets Islam in Lebanon. In these essays, Professor Nasr has presented what is most universal in Islam and underlies the beliefs of all the orthodox branches of the tradition. -- Abridged from http://www.jstor.org (Oct. 8, 2014) Ideals and Realities of Islam......Page 2 CONTENTS......Page 4 PREFACE by Titus Burckhardt......Page 6 FOREWORD by Huston Smith......Page 10 INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION......Page 22 INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW EDITION......Page 28 1 ISLAM-THE LAST RELIGION AND THE PRIMORDIAL RELIGION-ITS UNIVERSAL AND PARTICULAR TRAITS......Page 34 2 THE QuRAN-THE WoRD OF GoD, THE SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE AND ACTION......Page 62 3 THE PROPHET AND PROPHETIC TRADITION-THE LAST PROPHET AND UNIVERSAL MAN......Page 90 4 THE SHARiAH--DIVINE LAW: SOCIAL AND HUMAN NORM......Page 118 5 THE TARiQAH--THE SPIRITUAL PATH AND ITS QURANIC ROOTS......Page 148 6 SUNNISM AND SHI'ISM--TWELVE-IMAM SHI'ISM AND ISMA'ILISM......Page 174 GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS......Page 208 ANNOTATED SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 214 Index......Page 242

Seyyed Hossein Nasr seeks to answer from the Muslim standpoint many of the criticisms brought against the Islamic tradition by the West.