Faith and Power

by Edward Mortimer

Book Overview

Traces the history of Islam and examines its manifestations in modern Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, and Russia.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394711734
• ISBN13: 9780394711737
• Release Date: August 1982
• Publisher: Vintage Books USA
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

The book to start a dialogue with

Edward Mortimer's "Faith and Power" offers an invaluable tool to all open-minded individuals who don't easily buy trendy depictions of the violent nature of Islam as a religion, and Muslims as its followers. It is a well written account of Muslim attitudes, dilemmas, successes and frustrations that shaped and is still shaping Muslim psyche in every corner of the world. It is in no way obsolete, and if there is a genuine desire in the West to build bridges toward Muslim world, this is the book to start with.

As Timely as Ever

Faith and Power examines the Islamic world through its politics, an idea that may seem odd when other religions are the topic but one that makes perfect sense in a religion that sees no distinction between the secular and religious world. Edward Mortimer, a journalist and most recently a special adviser at the United Nations, I first read this book for a Middle East studies class in the mid-1980s, and a few details are now out of date, such as names of various rulers who are no longer in office (or in some cases, alive). But overall, the book holds up quite well because it takes a look at the historical issues feeding Islamic matters today. Given Pakistan's importance to U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, I found the chapter on that country especially worth re-reading. Here are a couple of things Mortimer says: "Pakistan was an attempt to re-create an Islamic order after a long period of colonial rule...Pakistan was therefore an experiment of great significance for Muslims wherever the incursion of the West had broken the continuity of their political tradition." Mortimer goes on to raise questions about the viability and even logic of the existence of Pakistan, given its lack of ethnic and religious identification that would distinguish it from other states in the area or around the Muslim world. Pakistan forms just one chapter of Mortimer's excellent book, which starts with the beginnings of the Muslim faith and goes through the historical divisions within Islam, Western impact on the Arab and Muslim world, Arab nationalism, the rise of the Shiite clerics to power in Iran and the Soviet disaster in Afghanistan. This is a book requiring serious attention because what Mortimer has to say applies to current events regardless of when it was published.