A Muslim counterpart to Lawrence Taylor’s Occasions of Faith (1995) and other recent studies of pilgrimage; highly...
A Moroccan ethnographer travels to Islam’s shrines and reports on what he finds, much of it unexpected.
“I am a Muslim,” writes Hammoudi (Anthropology/Princeton), “who continually questions the religion’s fundamentals but fiercely maintains its ethos.” Ever doubtful, he discovers that his fellow Muslims undertake the hajj, or pilgrimage to Medina and Mecca, for many reasons, not least of them the assumption that wealth and reputation will follow. To examine those reasons, however, Hammoudi must first get on the roster of pilgrims, for the fundamentalist Wahhabi mullahs and Saudi Arabian bureaucrats, “guardians of the Holy Places,” have imposed a strict quota on the number of foreign hajjis admitted each year, and competition is fierce. Morocco, where he resides when not teaching in New Jersey, metes out its quota down to the village level: a nicely democratic practice in theory, though at every stage open to favoritism and power-brokering. “If one wanted to look for the ideology that has the most adherents in my country, one would not be surprised to find it to be something very like corruption,” Hammoudi writes. “It’s a secret, but an open secret.” Corruption is no rarer within the walls of the holiest shrines, we find; the author recalls encounters with hookers, crooked officials and guides, and the like. Medina, thronged by visitors who all have their own reasons for coming, becomes a shrine for “the religion of Me, Me first, Me before everyone else.” The Islam Hammoudi finds there and even at the Kaaba is far from monolithic, riven by ethnic and social divisions that, in theory at least, should not exist. “Around the black cube, the circle consecrated the equal dignity of all Muslims, but it did not eliminate differences in class or status.”
A Muslim counterpart to Lawrence Taylor’s Occasions of Faith (1995) and other recent studies of pilgrimage; highly recommended for students of contemporary Islam, especially those prohibited from entering its shrines.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2006
ISBN: 0-8090-7609-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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