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Michael Gilsenan, Recognizing Islam: Religion and Society in the Modern Arab World (New York: Pantheon Books, 1982). Pp. 394.

And precisely because the problems at their roots are less technical and intellectual than they are economic, social, and cultural, the economists and other social scientists in developing Islamic countries would be able to make much more useful contributions if they concentrated their efforts on the real social and economic problem these countries face. Regarding the question of justice, for example, far greater results may be obtained by focusing attention on the existing distribution of wealth and income, and the extent of poverty faced by the vast majority of these communities. Beyond that, there are the very important problems of choice of technology, international economic relations, and the roads to economic development that Islamic economies (along with other developing countries) need to discover for themselves, rather than taking the path of sheer emulation of others, which so far has not resulted in a single success after three decades and more of "development effort." (See further, this writer's "The Political Economy of Oil-Exporting Countries," Peuples Mediteraneens, September 1979, pp. 3-22.) The case of Iran should be a sobering example for all these countries, Islamic or otherwise, that emulations, apologias, and propaganda alone can yield little fruit even when money pours into the country virtually like manna from heaven. The Shah's economic strategy failed, not because it allowed lending and borrowing, but because it used inappropriate techniques and policies that it uncritically copied from Western and Eastern economies, and because it ignored (often with contempt) the social and cultural dimensions of economic progress. [See further, this writer's The Political Economy of Modern Iran (London and New York: Macmillan and New York University Press, 1981).] Taleghani's tract is the idealistic response of a human soul to economic injustice and political persecution, an outcry that reflects the spirit of the singer rather than the letter of the song. Siddiqi's essays, on the other hand, are part of an attempt to use the letter to suit the realities as they are. It is a competent effort within its own terms of reference. The questions we have posed affect the terms of reference themselves. And, in principle, it would be possible for singers to sing better, and/or to sing better songs.