A Bit More Learning

When I started reading Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy a little over a month ago, I was taken aback at just how much I didn't know about the scholarly tradition within Islam, especially in terms of how the whole system of Hadiths was developed in relation to the concept of the Sharia. Now approaching the end of Jonathan Brown's fine book I know a whole lot more, though still not enough to regard myself as anything more than a very mildly enlightened amateur in the field. But I feel that perhaps even more important than what I've come to understand of the work of the many scholars in this field, I've arrived at a much sounder grasp of the ways in which those of all faiths, or, more broadly, systems of belief, come to frame those beliefs against the world of facts, experience, truth, reality.

Professor Brown's work strikes me as embodying a quality of humane patience that I have come to see as central to Islam and relevant to any belief system that helps sheds light on the mystery and pain and wonder of it all. And it manages this in an entirely unpretentious fashion, though not shying away from some big philosophical ideas. Somehow it deals with them in a plain-speaking manner that looks easy but I suspect isn't.

One of the reviews quoted on the back cover rightly recommends Misquoting Muhammad to all who are interested in Islam in a general sense but I'd go beyond that and say anyone who's interested in the way we think and make sense of the world will find much of great insight to mull over in the book.