A penetrating and thought-provoking study of Turkey, Pakistan, Muslim India and the Arab states—torn between the demands of an ancient faith and the pressures of the modern world. This timely book explores Islam today—a world living through the crucial, creative movement in which the heritage of its parts is being transformed into the herald of its future.
Professor Wilfred Cantwell Smith traces the development of Islam from the medieval period until recent times. He shows how closely religion is related to contemporary problems and he tells how each of the Muslim states has tried to build a place for itself in the mid-twentieth century, lured by the Communist world on the one hand and the West on the other.
Editorial Review(s)
“Written with the profound fellow-feeling that emerges from understanding.” —New York Times Book Review
About the Author
Wilfred Cantwell Smith (1916–2000) was a Canadian Islamicist, comparative religion scholar, and Presbyterian minister. He was the founder of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Quebec and later the director of Harvard University's Center for the Study of World Religions. The Harvard University Gazette said he was one of the field's most influential figures of the past century. In his 1962 work The Meaning and End of Religion he notably questioned the modern sectarian concept of religion.
