55-0568
BP50
CIP
Bowersock, G. W. The crucible of Islam. Harvard, 2017. 220p bibl index ISBN 9780674057760, $25.00.
One of the thorniest topics to teach is the Middle East, and this is particularly true of the crucible of Islam. Bowersock (emer., ancient history, Institute for Advanced Study) takes great pains to balance the faith-based conclusions of Islam and negative media portrayals of the religion, clarifying the crucible of Islam in a neutral way. For this, he is to be applauded. Bowersock argues that the factional quarrels that have bedeviled Western scholarship on early Islam should be ended. The author contextualizes the warlord Mohammed within Middle Eastern history, discusses how the Koran was assembled after Mohammed's death and the problems that poses, and addresses how to understand Islamic imperialism from a regional perspective. Arab paganism celebrated the Kaaba, which was to become the most holy site of Islam. The Kaaba stone was appropriated by Muslims in the context of their rising dominance. Finally, Bowersock discusses the Dome of the Rock and its quotations (allegedly from the Koran and written in stone), some of which are problematic because they are not included in the final edited Koran created by the caliph Uthman after Mohammed's death. This is an invaluable examination of the origins of a great religion.