While many informative surveys on Islam exists, most focus on Islam as an ideal rather than on Islamic practices, and most deal with texts and doctrine rather than the reality of people’s daily lives. Carolyn Fluehr - Lobban’s book admirably fills the need for a study of Islamic practices the translation of ideals into daily routines and rituals. Her book vividly illustrates the wide variety of customs, language, rituals, laws, beliefs and politics that are encompassed in, and too often obscured by, the word ‘Islamic’. Recognizing that in the post-Cold War world the West’s search for a new other manifests an alarming tendency to centre on the Muslim world, the author argues that a better understanding of Islamic life is desperately needed.
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She then discusses her own perspective as an anthropologist writing on Islam. She introduces these concepts in such a way that students will grasp these issues and their relevance for understanding the Muslim world. Drawing on both her personal history and her search, she relates events from the five years that she spent in three countries (Tunisia, Sudan, and Egypt). This case-study approach offers the option of valuable comparisons in each chapter, which present with great clarity the idea that Islam, is not the same everywhere, militating against the damaging yet all-too-common views that texts tell us exactly what people do, and that Islam is the same form Morocco to Malaysia. Throughout the book, the author maintains an engaging style focused, clear, and personal, and she often employs stories to convey her points. As a result of her close observations of the popular or she puts it, the uncertain and untidy relation of everyday life, a rich set of images gradually emerges, which are much more relevant to ordinary lives in the Middle East than are media broadcasts and reviews of texts. The book begins with a review of the pillars of Islam, and goes on to ideal the interactions among the author, her family and the families they encounter in the Arab world. Along the way, Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban covers all the important material and introduces the complex negotiations of everyday life through her many examples. For example, while she discusses Sunni and Shi’i, she also distinguishes between establishment and folk versions of Islam. In a chapter on Islamic Values, she discusses generosity and hospitality, including the
She then discusses her own perspective as an anthropologist writing on Islam. She introduces these concepts in such a way that students will grasp these issues and their relevance for understanding the Muslim world. Drawing on both her personal history and her search, she relates events from the five years that she spent in three countries (Tunisia, Sudan, and Egypt). This case-study approach offers the option of valuable comparisons in each chapter, which present with great clarity the idea that Islam, is not the same everywhere, militating against the damaging yet all-too-common views that texts tell us exactly what people do, and that Islam is the same form Morocco to Malaysia. Throughout the book, the author maintains an engaging style focused, clear, and personal, and she often employs stories to convey her points. As a result of her close observations of the popular or she puts it, the uncertain and untidy relation of everyday life, a rich set of images gradually emerges, which are much more relevant to ordinary lives in the Middle East than are media broadcasts and reviews of texts. The book begins with a review of the pillars of Islam, and goes on to ideal the interactions among the author, her family and the families they encounter in the Arab world. Along the way, Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban covers all the important material and introduces the complex negotiations of everyday life through her many examples. For example, while she discusses Sunni and Shi’i, she also distinguishes between establishment and folk versions of Islam. In a chapter on Islamic Values, she discusses generosity and hospitality, including the