Islam for the Western Mind: Understanding Muhammad and the Koran

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 253 pages
• Published by: Hampton Roads Publishing Company September 2005
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 157174424X
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1571744241
• Book Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Weighs: 11.2 ounces

Product Review
Drummond [does] a awesome job of achieving objectivity while managing to keep information accessible to westerners without any previous knowledge. -- TCM Reviews Newsletter, January 2006

Product Description
More than a billion people consider themselves Muslim, making it the world’s second largest religion. Yet western portrayals of the Islamic mind are often flawed if not openly biased. Islam for the Western Mind is an intensive look—from a Christian perspective—at what inspires and motivates Muslims, namely Muhammad and the teachings of the Koran. Drummond presents a balanced look at the life and teachings of Islam’s founding prophet, and makes critical links between the message of Muhammad and that of Jesus. Drummond is an ordained Presbyterian minister and former professor who was named as one of the outstanding scholars of the 20th century.

Reader Reviews
An excellent introduction to the religion of Islam written from a Christian but unbiased perspective. A linguist and an ordained Presbyterian minister, Dr. Richard Henry Drummond makes an intensive study of the life and influences of Muhammad. Although in his introduction to this book Dr. Drummond does deal with the present socio-political struggles in the Muslim world, and in the final part of the book: "Historical and Theological Evaluation," he discusses post-Muhammad Muslim civilization from the Caliphate up until the dissolution of the Turkish Ottoman Empire after the First World War; he is unlike most other contemporary authors on this subject in that he focuses instead on the theology and ethics Muhammad believed he was delivering to the Arab peoples directly from God. A God which Muhammad stressed was the same God known to the Jews and Christians. Muhammad never claimed to be creating a new religion. Rather he taught that he was the final prophet in a line extending back to Jesus (Drummond devotes an entire section on the special honor Muhammad paid Jesus, calling Him, "the Word and Spirit of God, born of Mary, the Virgin"), Elijah, Solomon, David, Moses and Aaron, Abraham and Ishmael, Noah and Adam. Whereas Dr. Drummond notes the long presence of Jewish and Christian communities in the Arabian Peninsula and the probable influence on a young Muhammad by proto-monotheists known as 'hanifs' who preached in the Hijaz, he stresses what made Muhammad's teachings and the Quran special was its demands for justice for the poor and the outcast, women and orphans (Muhammad was himself an orphan). For example, Muhammad didn't merely preach charity, he made it an obligatory method of worship. Drummond also remarks on the importance and virtue Muhammad found in 'gratitude.' He taught humility and appreciation as reciprocal to the compassion of God and man. Also given in detail is Muslim eschatology. Muhammad put much stress upon the belief and expectation of the Last Day when each and every man and woman shall be brought before God to answer for his or her own life only. Again, what made Muhammad's message different from either the Judaism or Christianity of that time was in his teaching that all who believe in the One God are open to salvation on that Last Day. Richard Henry Drummond's ISLAM FOR THE WESTERN MIND should be considered required reading for anyone wanting to learn about this fascinating religion and its phenomenal founder.