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What Islam Did for Us: Understanding Islam's Contribution to Western Civilization

What Islam Did for Us: Understanding Islam's Contribution to Western Civilization
By Tim Wallace-Murphy

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Product Description

In these troubled times, when Islam is under seemingly perpetual attack, it is imperative to consider how much the West owes to the religion’s spiritual insights. Bestselling author Tim Wallace-Murphy presents the first major popular book to examine the common roots of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and to reveal Islam’s immense contributions to our society—which included laying the foundations for our systems of education, astronomy, mathematics, and architecture. He also illustrates how the European Western powers helped foment the current crisis in the Middle East, and why we must strive for a just, equitable solution to these problems. Understanding can begin with this compelling acknowledgment of our shared spiritual heritage, including religious tolerance, respect for learning, and the concepts of chivalry and brotherhood. 
 
 

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #817979 in Books
  • Published on: 2006-09-30
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 272 pages

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Customer Reviews

Not what it says it is2
The book title and description makes one think that this book will be along the lines of "The Gifts of the Jews" or "How the Irish Saved Civilization," a grand survey, interspersed with detailed case studies/examples that back up the book's thesis. I think the publisher or someone must have sensed this niche and changed the title from something else. Instead of a chapter on how colleges in Islamic Spain were the direct predecessors of Oxford and the Sorbonne, you get a page or two with a probably valid, but barely explained theory. The rest is general history, drawn from other books (not much original research here) and then the book descends into talking about TEMPLARS, with little on what they had to do with Islam's contributions to Western civilization. Unfortunately, I didn't research what else the author had written until I received the book and realized they were all about Templars, Rosslyn Chapel, yadda yadda. Hence, this previous work by the author carries over heavily into this book and makes for a not-very-scholarly or lucid work, laced with the usual conspiracy theories.