British Secularism and Religion (P/B)

“Crucial to the vitality of any religious community is its ability to attract and engage descendants and converts. By this measure, notwithstanding the proliferation of mosques and Islamic organizations, the Muslim community in America is not doing at all well.” This rather sober assessment motivates Dr. Lang to address, in this book, the alienation from the Mosque of the great majority of America’s homegrown Muslims. In Losing My Religion: A Call For Help, the author comes to terms with many of the queries put to him by Americans of Muslim parentage and converts to Islam since the publication of his book Even Angels Ask in 1977. Lang asserts that to effectively respond to the general malaise of American-born Muslims, the Islamic establishment in America needs to be willing to listen to the doubts and complaints of the disaffected. This entails engaging in open discussions on issues with which many in the Muslim community will be uncomfortable, but Lang avers that such open dialogue will be of more benefit to young American Muslims struggling with their faiths than the covert and uniformed discussions that often take place or no discussion at all. For this reason, Lang feels it is important and beneficial “to be candid and objective and not evade controversy, for to inadequately state the case for or against a specific position, especially when it challenges convention, only serves to further alienate the sceptical.” In addition to examining questions of theodicy, hadith authenticity, and moot practices within the American Muslim community, the author includes many testimonials and inquiries that make this book informative. Dr. Lang is Professor of Mathematics at The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. He is the author of two best selling works: Struggling to Surrender and Even Angels Ask: A Journey to Islam in America. Both books have been translated into other languages.

This monumental study examines issues of anthropomorphism in the three Abrahamic Faiths, as viewed through the texts of the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Qur’an. Throughout history, Christianity and Judaism have tried to make sense of God. While juxtaposing the Islamic position against this, the author addresses the Judeo-Christian worldview and how each has chosen to framework its encounter with God, to what extent this has been the result of actual scripture and to what extent the product of theological debate, or church decrees of later centuries and absorption of Hellenistic philosophy. Shah also examines Islam’s heavily anti-anthropomorphic stance and Islamic theological discourse on Tawhid as well as the Ninety-Nine Names of God and what these have meant in relation to Muslim understanding of God and His attributes. Describing how these became the touchstone of Muslim discourse with Judaism and Christianity he critiques theological statements and perspectives that came to dilute if not counter strict monotheism. As secularism debates whether God is dead, the issue of anthropomorphism has become of immense importance. The quest for God, especially in this day and age, is partly one of intellectual longing. To Shah, anthropomorphic concepts and corporeal depictions of the Divine are perhaps among the leading factors of modern atheism. As such he ultimately draws the conclusion that the postmodern longing for God will not be quenched by pre-modern anthropomorphic and corporeal concepts of the Divine which have simply brought God down to this cosmos, with a precise historical function and a specified location, reducing the intellectual and spiritual force of what God is and represents, causing the soul to detract from a sense of the sacred and thereby belief in Him.

In this book, the author discusses the beliefs and origins of Sufism. It has been written in a clear and uncomplicated style which makes it accessible for readers of all levels. The history of Sufism is traced as well as how sufism developed into what we have today. The author touches upon the beliefs of Sufism, and gives examples from personalities that are regarded highly by those who ascribe to Sufism. A scholarly criticism in light of the Qur’an and Sunnah.

From the Back Cover

You must be aware that there are a number of destructive calls which have been established amongst the ranks of the Muslims and which have shaken and damaged the belief held in there hearts. They have polluted the pure Islamic ‘aqeedah, and have grown by stages to reach such a dangerous level that they led to the splitting of the Muslims into sects and the parties, about which the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Indeed those who were before you, from the people of the book, split into seventy-two sects, and this religion will split seventy-three. Seventy-two in the fire and one in the paradise and it is the Jammaa’ah.”

Then there is no doubt that each one of these sects claims for itself that it is the saved sect, and that it is correct, and that it alone follows the Messenger. But the way of truth is a single way and it is the one which leads to salvation, and any other way is one of the ways of miss guidance which leads to destruction.

So the way of truth is to cling to the book of Allaah and the Sunnah of Allaah’s Messenger (S) as occurs in the hadeeth: I have left amongst you two things whith which you will not go astray: The Book of Allah and my Sunnah, and they will not be separated till they come to me at the Pond.

• A scholarly criticism of Sufism in the light of the Qur’an and Sunnah
• Written in an uncomplicated style, ideal for the layman