The introduction talks about how after the attacks on September 11th, politicians and preachers in the United States declared a clash of civilizations between the Western Societies and the Middle East. Many people had this bias that Western Civilization was democratic and enlightened while the Middle East was barbarous and archaic. However, the author goes on to explain how it is more of class of monotheisms. One line from the passage that I found interesting was, “Religion, it must be understood, is not faith. Religion is the story of faith. It is an institutionalized system of symbols and metaphors that provides a common language”. He then goes on to talk about how this clash of monotheisms occurs when this faith becomes entangled in religion.
Chapter 1: The Sanctuary in the Desert
The first chapter begins by talking about the sanctuary called Ka’ba. I really liked how the author described in great detail the appearance of the Ka’ba. It helped me visualize something that I had never seen before. There are said to be three hundred and sixty idols housed at the Ka’ba. Each one representing different gods in the Arabian Peninsula. One part of the reading that surprised me is when the author talks about how no one knows who built or how long the Ka’ba has been there. One theory is that since the Ka’ba is near an underground spring known as Zamzam, that wandering tribes used the Ka’ba as a secure place to store various objects used in rituals.
Another part of the chapter I enjoyed was when he discussed the term Jahiliyyah. Jahiliyyah is defined by Muslims as an era of moral depravity. Jahiliyyah Arabs were thought of as polytheistic individuals who engaged in bad behavior with little thought of their moral consequences.
Through just the intro and the first chapter of this book I already have been exposed to Islamic culture and religious beliefs that I previously did not know about. I look forward to the next chapters of this book.