A WORLD WITHOUT ISLAM

by

GRAHAM E. FULLER

There are a few slogans that help me launch into the topic at hand, whatever it might be, at my lectures and seminars: among them; Knowledge brings understanding; If you cannot stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen; and, If you expect to agree with everything I have to say, why even bother?

The last line is, I believe, the most pertinent, if the purpose is to gain additional knowledge in order to broaden one's perspective and to gain new insights in one's field of interest.

Many, if not most of us prefer to bask in our own comforting thoughts and beliefs, and avoid intellectual confrontations that might challenge or contradict our deeply engrained precepts, whether religious, political, philosophical or otherwise. It is only the highly curious and the skeptic that seeks alternative paths to explore and challenges to welcome.

Recently, I found a book whose title seemed intriguingly challenging to my own personal understanding of Islam's historical role and current global interactions with other religions and cultures. I ordered the hard-cover book, A World Without Islam, through Amazon (published at $26, discounted to $10!), without even bothering to read the commentaries about it: In other words, I bought the book for its cover!

I was fully expecting the author of the book, Graham E. Fuller, to be attempting to present a series of well-researched anti-Islamic arguments, a very popular genre these days among Western scholars whose main objective is to sell books or to appear on the new York Times' Best Seller list. That wasn't the case, at all.

Here was a case where I found myself in total agreement with the author's perspectives and conclusions. Yet I didn't think I was wasting my time reading an essay with which I was in total accord.

No, I am not, and have never been, a religious person or an adherent to any religious philosophy, from the most ancient to the most recent cults. I also never liked the taste of foods that contained okra. But to find out about the characteristics and nutritional benefits of this very popular vegetable, one should study the subject without personal prejudice. The same principle applies to the study of history, religion, culture and sociology.   

I would like to recommend this book to anyone who might be interested in a comprehensive, yet condensed, study of Islamic history and its 1,400 years of trials, tribulations and triumphs on the global stage.

I particularly encourage educated Iranians, both at home or in diaspora, to read this 300-page book, if they are truly interested to look beyond personal biases and the barrage of propaganda against Islam, Arabic language and its cultural influences in Iran and elsewhere.