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Islam Today: A Short Introduction to the Muslim World , by Akbar S. Ahmed. 253 pages, glossary, references, index. London: I. B. Taurus, 1999. $19.95 (Paper) ISBN 1-86064-257-8

In recent years there has been a spate of 'short' or 'brief introductions to Islam, some admirable but most repetitive. Akbar Ahmed, a renowned Muslim anthropologist at Cambridge, has written extensively on Islam in both its historical and contemporary settings. The present volume "arose out of a BBC television series" (p. xi) with which Ahmed was intimately involved. While Ahmed insists this is not an academic text, he in fact propounds and defends quite a few ideas about Islam. It is certainly not a good academic book for what generally passes as an objective view of the subject, but it is useful to have a readable perspective from a Muslim intellectual embedded in a quintessential Western institution. If you are looking for a reliable introduction to Islam or the Muslim World, this book would be a poor choice. It reads more like an op-ed piece of monograph length than either a scholarly or mass-market narrative. In order to arrive at 'Islam Today' Ahmed retells yet again the basics of Islam and what he styles a Muslim view of its history up until the start of the twentieth century. He then looks at the collision of 'Muslim Nations' and 'Western Modernity' through the abbreviated case studies of Turkey, Iran, and India followed by a succinct discussion of what he sees as the major issues in this confrontation (pp. 13262). These include the Arab-Israeli conflict, democracy, law, family, marriage, and women's roles. His chapter on Muslim minorities provides a timely focus on what is happening in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Finally, he concludes with his previously stated diatribe against the Western media's exploitation of Islamic 'fundamentalism.' The chief merit of Ahmed's work, that he presents an avowedly 'Islamic' perspective, is also the main problem. The tone is apologetic, giving the impression that there is an idealized 'Islam' that the words and actions of bad Muslims (many of whom appear to have been wealthy or shi'a) should not impugn. Ahmed's 'Islam' is defended by anecdotal appeals to rationality. For example, the custom of the prophet cleaning his teeth with a twig called siwak has been proven by "some Swiss pharmaceutical companies" to contain