The American Journal of Theology 1904 Jewett

8/8/2019 The American Journal of Theology 1904 Jewett

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Review: Recent Literature on IslamAuthor(s): J. R. JewettSource: The American Journal of Theology, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Apr., 1904), pp. 429-431Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3154328

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RECENT LITERATURE ON ISLAM'

RECENT LITERATURE ON ISLAM.WHILE any good addition to our literatureof Islam is always wel-come, Professor MacDonald's excellent book' will be sure of an unus-

ually cordial reception from all those who are interested in the studyof Moslem institutions. For, as the author well says in his preface:In EnglishorGermanor Frenchthere is no booktowhicha teachermaysend his pupilsforbriefguidanceon the developmentof these institutions;on the development f law there are onlyscatteredandfragmentary apers,and on the developmentof theologythere is practicallynothing.The author is careful to point out the unity of church and state inIslam, but is compelled by the necessities of the case to divide his workinto three parts, treating, respectively, of the development of the state,the development of legal ideas and schools, and the development oftheology. Of these the last part is much the longest, embracingroughly two-thirds of the body of the book. There are three appen-dices. Appendix I consists of "Illustrative Documents Translatedfrom the Arabic;" Appendix II is devoted to a selected bibliography;while Appendix III consists of a chronological table covering eventsfrom Ii to 1275 A. H. An index of names and Arabic words fills thelast fourteen pages of the volume. It is manifestly impossible, in a

'Development of Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence, and Constitutional Theory.[The Semitic Series.] By DUNCAN B. MACDONALD.New York: Scribner, 1903.xii+386 pages. $1.25-

429occupations of children. Mr.Lee " has illustratedthe indirect methodsof philanthropy which are so much more effective than those of directrelief-giving. He has himself been.active in such enterprises n Boston,and has made himself acquainted with the methods successfullyemployed in other cities. Many of these activities are such as maywell be taken up by those who desire to give useful expression to theirChristianbenevolence and yet wish to do something better than scatterpennies among the poor. The topics briefly,but very suggestively,treated are: savings and loans, health and building laws, model tene-ments, vacation schools, playgrounds for children, baths and gym-nasiums,playgrounds for boys, outings, clubs, industrial training andpreventive agencies for adults.

CHARLES RICHMOND HENDERSON.THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.

" Constructive and Preventive Philanthropy. By JOSEPH LEE. With an Intro-duction by JACOBA. Rus. New York: Macmillan, 1902. 242 pages.


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430 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGYlimited space, adequately to review a book covering such a wide fieldand dealing with so many intricate questions. Special attention, how-ever, may be called to the chapter on Al-Ghazzali, of whom the authorwell says that he was "the greatest, certainly the most sympathetic,figure in the history of Islam, and the only teacher of the after-generations ever put by a Muslim on a level with the four greatImams." Chapter 2 of Part I, giving a sketch of the origin of theFatimids, the Druses, the Assassins, etc., is extremely interesting. Indiscussing the claims of the Ottoman sultan to be the caliph, pan-Islamism and the Brotherhood of As-Sanusi, the author touches onproblems the interest and importance of which are manifest. To anywho might be inclined to underestimate the vitality of Islam thereviewer would commend a careful consideration of the author's wordson p. 6:

If, as some say, the faith of Muhammad is a cul-de-sac, it is certainly avery long one; off it many courts and doors open; down it many peoples arestill wandering. It is a faith, too, which brings us into touching distancewith the great controversies of our own day. We see in it, as in a somewhatdistorted mirror, the history of our own past. But we do not yet see its end,even as the end of Christianityis not yet in sight. It is for the student, then,to remember that Islam is a present reality and the Muslim faith a livingorganism, a knowledge of whose laws may be of life or death for us who arein another camp. For there can be little doubt that the three antagonisticand militant civilizations of the world are those of Christendom, Islam, andChina. When these are unified, or come to a mutual understanding, then,and only then, will the cause of civilization be secure.The documents translated from the Arabic are really illustrative andconstitute a valuable feature of the book. The selected bibliography,with such comments as the author has chosen to give, will prove veryuseful indeed. Professor MacDonald has done well to call attentionto the fact (p. 6) "that no work can be done in this field without areading knowledge of French and German, and no satisfactory workwithout some knowledge of Arabic." Professor MacDonald has writ-ten an excellent book, and one which may be most cordially recom-mended to any who are interested in the subjects of which it treats.In his Gazali' Baron Carra de Vaux has given us a companionvolume to his Avicenne published two years earlier; in fact, the indexpublished with the present volume covers both works. Some idea ofthe author's treatment of his subject may be gathered from the titles of

2Gazali. Par CARRA DE VAUX. Paris: Alcan, 1902. viii+322 pages. Fr. 2.


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RECENT LITERA TURE ON ISLAM 43the chapters which are, respectively, as follows: "Theology beforeGazali ;" "Gazali- His Life and His Bibliography;" "His Struggleagainst the Philosophers;" "Gazali's Theology;" "Theology afterGazali;" "Ethics;" "Mysticismbefore Gazali;" "Gazali'sMysticism;""Arab Mystics subsequentto Gazali;" " On the Persian Mystic Poets."Special attention may be called to what the author has to say on theinfluence of Christianityon mysticism in Islam. The author's treat-ment of his subject is impartial,his style is clear, and he has producedan interesting and valuable book.Dr. Hirschfeld's studies in the Qoran3 appear as Vol. III of theRoyal Asiatic Society's Asiatic Monographs, having been reprintedfrom the Indian Antiquary. In the discussion of the topics whichthis volume treatsthere is room, as everystudent is aware,for consider-able difference of opinion. Therefore we are not surprised, forexample, to find the author disagreeing (p. 32) with both Geiger andWellhausen in his estimate of the influence on Islam exercised by Juda-ism and Christianity, respectively. Again, some of the author'setymolo-gies will not meet with universal acceptance. But the book is writtenwith fair-mindedness and great learning, and, whether the studentagrees or disagrees with the author in some matters of detail, he willfind his discussions to be stimulating and helpful. The reviewerwould like to call special attention to the chapterentitled "The Parablein the Qoran," with the Appendix, "The Mathal in Tradition."In Part V4 of his series of pamphletsentitled Der Islamische OrientDr. Hartmann presents an outline of an East Turkish book whichgives the popularversion of the story of the life and death of a dervishof Turkestan. The student, not only of Islam, but of oriental religiousideas in general, will find this outline, with Dr. Hartmann's intro-duction and notes, most interesting, for it affordsa vivid glimpse intoa world of ideas absolutely different from that to which we are accus-tomed. J. R. JEWETT.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.3New Researches into the Compositionand Exegesis of the Qoran. By HARTWIGHIRSCHFELD. London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1902. ii+ 155 pages.4MeMereber weise Narr und fromme Ketzer.: Ein zentralasiatisches Volksbuch.Von MARTINHARTMANN. Berlin: Peiser, 1902. Pages (of the series) 147-93, inclu-sive.