Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith

by Vartan Gregorian

Book Overview

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After World War II, leading western powers focused their attention on fighting the ""Red Menace,"" Communism. Today, as terrorist activity is increasingly linked to militant Islamism, some politicians and scholars fear a ""Green Menace,"" a Pan-Islamic totalitarian movement fueled by monolithic religious ideology. Such fears have no foundation in history, according to Vartan Gregorian. In this succinct, powerful survey of Islam, Gregorian focuses...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081573283X
• ISBN13: 9780815732839
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

An excellent introduction to Islam, even more relevant today, 2009, than in 2003

I enjoyed reading Vartan Gregorian's book "Islam: A Mosiac, Not a Monolith". It was written in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, as we in the US struggled to understand why it happened. Gregorian, interestingly enough, is of Armenian parents, but was raised in Iran. The book was published in 2003, but it may as well have been published in 2009, as President Obama himself tries to understand and make peace with the Islamic world. It is a very short book and is written for the general public, but in a very much academic manner. In it he, first of all, explains how Islam started in 600 AD and how and why it split and how this plays out today. He then goes on to explain that not only is Islam practiced differently in different regions, but it also means different things to different peoples.

Welcome voice of reason

The book was addressed to an American audience; its mission was to provide a brief survey of the Muslim world, its religion and ideologies, with the objective to destroy the understanding that Islam is a monolith and that America was at war with 'Islam', rather than with some specific Muslims. Given the small space that it had, the book does a remarkable job. I am sure an updated reprint will take care of the newish fad of 'Islamofascism'. I must admit that I need the reminder of reason myself once in a while. Off and on I get carried away myself by popular rages. I fully endorsed Fallaci's rage after 9/11. I still will not throw her book away into the trashcan. Things like the Rushdie Fatwah, the Bahmyan destruction, the various bombs, in first place the Bali ones, make me build up very strong negative emotions. One needs to direct these into the proper channels. One needs to read Gregorian and others once in a while. My own education about Islam rested on the two pillars of a German writer of trivial adventure stories, which I read as a 12 y old, and then the remarkable Maulana Maudoodi's writings translated into English, when I was a twen. Then I put the subject away, done and settled. I looked at Islam like at Christianity, both somewhat irrational and surprisingly large sects following obscure faiths. Only the masses following them made them less than obscure. Rage and neglect don't work, only knowledge does. So ok, let's get back to acquiring some. About Gregorian: the book is not perfect. I wish he had given a bit more space to the religion and its history. The first chapter is good for 35 pages, but couldn't he have done 50? After explaining to us that Islam is not just about Arabs, Gregorian spends chapter 2, called Modernists and Traditionalists, almost entirely on Arabs. There is also some PC attitude: on page 49 he says that 'the record shows that Islam is not adverse to science or technology'. However he proceeds by telling us that no science and technology happens, or very little. Other than arms. Similarly, he mentions that the basic education sector is a possible trouble zone, with teaching being left to unqualified ideologues on a large scale, but he does not elaborate on this 'hot potato'. Out of a sense of tact? In chapter 3, Challenges of the 20th, he calls the Iran-Iraq war a war of Arab states. That must have been slipped in by an editor, I can't believe Gregorian could have made that mistake himself. Further down in that chapter, he states that Z.A.Bhutto was Pakistan's President from 71 to 73. That is not wrong, but so misleading that it looks like a mistake. ZAB was Prime Minister until 77, when he was deposed, jailed, and later executed for (alleged) murder. My point is: if the book makes these trivial mistakes where I catch them, how sure am I of the stuff which I have to take as stated for lack of own prior knowledge? I will not hold it against the book that it mentions a major European problem only in passing: the i

Excellent Presentation of the Middle Ground

I thought this book presented a balanced view of Islam - not alarmist in nature, but at the same time not pretending that there are not fundamentalists that attempt to use Islam to justify their actions. Quick and easy read - completely enjoyed it.

A Book On Islam That Engages Your Intelligence, Rather Than Insulting It

"Huntington [Samuel P. Huntington, author of THE CLASH Of CIVILIZATIONS And The REMAKING Of The WORLD ORDER] and others who write about a clash of civilizations do not recognize that class, tribal, family, personal, ethnic, cultural, economic, and national interests have always defied a unity of purpose that transcends all these divisions. As shown above, instances when the Muslim world was a unified monolith have been extremely rare. Throughout Islamic history, the gravitational pull of regional, dynastic, and since the nineteenth century nationalist interests has consistently outweighed the spiritual affiliations of some idealized, transcendent, organic umma. If history is a guide, it shows that in Islam, as in most major religions, there is a broad gulf between the ideal of unity and the realities on the ground." (ISLAM: A MOSAIC, NOT A MONOLITH, pp. 110-111). The above paragraph provides the gist of Vartan Gregorian's excellent book, dispelling certain myths about both the Islamic world and Islamist extremism which are being promoted by some politicians, journalists, writers and religious leaders in the West. Gregorian shows that the idea of a totalitarian Pan-Islamic juggernaut determined to engulf the world and submit it to "sharia" law not only is unlikely it has no historical foundation. While the fears of Islamist extremism are naturally not unwarranted and should be taken seriously, Gregorian also wants us to keep in mind the intense struggles between modernity and traditionalism, as well as religion and nationality in the Muslim world. Indeed, except for relatively brief periods in history, the Umma (the Muslim community) has mostly existed in a world fragmented by rival dynasties and states, willing to ally themselves with outsiders against each other. He reminds us that "Sharia" law, dreaded by many as some sort of universal Islamic system of punishment and coercion, is not a unified body of law, but rather exists within four specific schools of thought (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi and Hanbali), each with their own levels of interpretation. Islamist ideology itself is shown to be quite varied, running through a spectrum that includes the most uncompromisingly fanatical to those more moderate and willing to work within the system and participate in electoral politics. Gregorian goes further to explain Muslim extremism as historically a tool that's been used both by and against western dominance. What started as a reaction to the presence of European colonialism in North Africa and the Near East was also nourished and utilized by Great Britain and the United States against Marxist and other socialist movements in the region during the Cold War. Despite popular conceptions, fostered by governments and media for their own advantage, Gregorian finds Islamism to be in decline. After the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan the Islamist movement fractured and struggles with competing constituencies and agendas. While acknowl

Readily accessible to non-specialist general readers

Islam: A Mosaic, Not A Monolith by Vartan Gregorian (President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York), is an informed and informative survey of the Islamic faith since its inception some 1,400 years ago. Examining Islam's tenets, institutions, changes, role in history, crucial questions that have caused strife among Muslim states, and a great deal more, Islam: A Mosaic, Not A Monolith is readily accessible to non-specialist general readers, yet thoughtful enough in its study and presentation of complicated issues of faith, politics, and culture to be of considerable value for scholars and dedicated students of Islamic Studies as well. In view of contemporary American efforts to combat the threat of international terrorism arising from fundamentalist Islamic extremists, Islam: A Mosaic, Not A Monolith should be present in the collections of every school and community library system in the country.