Professor Huston Smith's 

Introduction to Cyril Glasse's

 Concise Encyclopedia of Islam

 
One can wonder whether in all the human sciences there is greater need for a reference work than for this one in hand. The question risks hyperbole, but there is reason to take it seriously. The world,  especially the Western world towards which this encyclopedia is primarily directed, desperately. needs to understand Islam better, and in the face of this need previous reference works are woefully inadequate.

At the height of the US-Iranian crisis in 1979, a journalist called attention to the seriousness of our ignorance in words that are likely to retain their force for some time. "We are heading", Meg Greenfield wrote in Newsweek, into an expansion of the American relationship with that complex of religion, culture and geography- known as Islam.  There are two things to be said about this- One is that no part of the world is more important to our own well-being at the moment -and probably- for the foreseeable future. The other is that no part of the world is more hopelessly and systematically and stubbornly misunderstood by us.

Towards alleviating this misunderstanding previous reference works did what they could, but they do not come close to meeting the present need. Hughes' Dictionary of Islam dates back to the nineteenth century and has a missionary bias that forces Pakistani editions to white-out objectionable passages on almost every page. The four-volume Encyclopaedia of Islam which appeared between 1913 and 1938 (and its condensed version, cut down to 600 entries from 10,000, the Shorter Encyclopaedia of Is/am which appeared in 1961) is more objective; its new edition, which is in progress, will serve specialists well, but only half of the fascicules in which it is being issued have appeared, and the price of the eventual multi-volume set will be beyond the reach of the general public. There is a good work in German, Le.tikon der Is/amischen Welt, but (aside from two volumes by the Ronart husband and wife team that deal exclusively with the Arab world) in English this is the picture.

To return to the Greenfield quote, why is it that Islam is so "hopelessly and systematically and stubbornly" - three exceptionally severe adjectives - misunderstood by the West? One answer is that the West's separation of church and state makes it next to impossible for it to understand people who lodge religious belief not only at the center of their individual conduct, but also at the center of their politics."???

This is indeed a major obstacle, but there are two others, the first of which again relates to politics. It is ironic that of the major faiths outside Christendom, Islam stands closest to the Judaeo-Christian West both geographically and religiously.   Geographically Christianity and Islam have shared common borders for thirteen hundred years, while religiously both are descended from Abraham - ?? yet is the one that is least understood. On reflection, though, while this is indeed ironic, it is not surprising. Common borders provoke border disputes, and these can easily escalate into raids, blood-feuds, and full scale wars. During most of their history, Muslims and Christians have been at odds, and rivals are not known for having the most objective views of each other.

Once we think of them, these two causes of misunderstanding are obvious; but the third one is not. Religiously. people tend to fall into two categories. Some find the meaning they seek in religious forms -commandments, observances, and texts straightforwardly, largely literally, interpretations, while others, without bypassing or abandoning these, sense their provisional character and reach out for meanings that the forms contain but which cannot be equated with those forms. If we call the first type of person exoteric, out of his concern for meanings that attach to the outer or manifest forms, the second type that is drawn to the meanings that underlie those forms is conveniently designated esoteric. Both types turn up in all the historical religions and very likely in tribal ones as well, but nowhere does the difference surface quite as clearly as in Islam, Exoterically- outwardly, and explicitly- Islam is the shariah, a revealed, canonic law by which the faithful should live. Concomitantly, though, the Koran and Hadith, or authoritative Traditions that were instituted by Muhammad, abound in references, frequently veiled, to profound, metaphysical truths which the forms of Islam enfold and protect in the way husks protect and conceal their kernels. Esoterics see these references as invitations to search out those deeper truths and make them the center of their lives. At their best, Sufi orders are associations of such esoterics.

Every reference work on Islam will take note of this esoteric/exoteric distinction somewhere, but in others it turns up only in isolated pockets; a handful of entries such as those on Sufism, Mysticism, tasawwuf - perhaps a dozen items in all. It is a remarkable feature of this new encyclopedia that it takes as its starting point that almost everything in Islam can be viewed in these two perspectives. Beginning with that premise, it proceeds to compile a resource that tries intentionally to do justice to both. A glance at its very first entry, on "Aaron", will make this clear.

What is in hand, therefore, is more than just a new reference work on Islam that is up-to-date and has been kept to manageable compass, i.e., a single volume. By virtue of the "binocular", esoteric/ exoteric vision that it trains on its entries throughout, a new dimension of depth comes into view. The result is an encyclopedia that does more than bring reliable information into reach. In the long run it can help its users to see the phenomenon of Islam in a new light. It seems almost redundant to say that its able and devoted author, Cyril Glasse, deserves our heartfelt thanks.

Huston Smith
Thomas Watson Professor of Religion and
Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, Syracuse University
Adjunct Professor, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California

Disclaimer: All the material here are for educational purpose. No circulation of these material without getting permission from the original author/publisher would be appropriate. If anyone has any problem with any of these contents, as far as copyright is concerned, please contact and the matter would be promptly addressed. Also, each item, whenever appropriate, is linked with source(s) from which the item can be obtained. farooqm@globalwebpost.com

Home
Index of My Writings
Have you visited my other sites:
Kazi Nazrul Islam Page?
Genocide 1971 Page?
Hadith Humor Page?
Economics-Finance Page?