Review

Author(s): Charles Issawi

Review by: Charles Issawi
Source: Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 73, No. 2 (Jun., 1958), pp. 307-309
Published by: The Academy of Political Science
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2146111
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REVIEWS

No. 2]

307

Despite its weaknesses,this is a valuable book, of particular

interestto studentsof Israeli public and economic administration, as well as to all interestedin governmentalproblems of
new states.
WASHINGTON,

D. C.

ABRAHAM M. HIRSCH

Islam in Modern History. By WILFRED CANTWELLSMITH.

Princeton,PrincetonUniversityPress,1957.-x, 317 pp. $6.00.

Islam Inflamed:A Middle East Picture. By JAMES MORRIS.

New York, Pantheon Books, 1957.-326 pp. $5.00.

The two books under reviewhave littlein commonexcept the
word " Islam " in their titles. In style,approach and content
they differfundamentally,and whereas ProfessorSmith's book
will remain for long an indispensable work in the field, that
of Mr. Morris will most probablybe soon forgotten.
ProfessorSmith, Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies
at McGill University,has been closely studying the Islamic
world forsome twenty-five
years,and has a thoroughknowledge
of at least two of its leading languages,Arabic and Urdu. He
is fullyaware of the importance,and has attemptedto analyze
the operation,of two sets of forcesthat are shaping the Muslim
world: the religious, including Islam, Christianityand Hinduism, and the socio-political,including nationalism,industrialism, Marxism and democracy. He is bold, deep and incisivein
his thinking,but without a trace of arrogance,and clear, vivid
and ofteneloquent in his style. The resultis in manyways the
best book on the subject since H. A. R. Gibb's Modern Trends
in Islam of 1947.
The firstchapter deals with " Islam in History" and contains
suggestivenew interpretationsof the course of medieval Islam;
its central thesis is the stresslaid by Islam on righteousaction
by and throughthe community,and hence on the historicalprocess, " which is that communityin motion." " By ignoringcomplexities,one might arrange representativesof these faithsin a
graded series as follows: the Hindu, for whom ultimatelyhistoryis not significant;the Christian,for whom it is significant
but not decisive; the Muslim, for whom it is decisive but not
final; the Marxist,forwhom it is all in all."
The second chaptercovers" Islam in Recent History", and is
followed by area studies. " The Arabs: Islamic Crisis" brings
out verywell the social and political problemsof the Arabs and
their nationalist and religious responses. " Turkey: Islamic
Reformation" studies the impact of social changes in that

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308

POLITICAL

SCIENCE QUARTERLY

[VOL.

LXXIII

countryand raises two fundamental questions: " Can a nonChristian nation be a member of Western civilization?" and
" Can one generate a Reformationby fiat?-evenwhen providing the milieu?" "Pakistan: Islamic State " discusses the difficulties faced in the attempt to build on Muslim bases a state
capable of coping with contemporaryproblems." India: Islamic
Involvement" describes the unique position of the Muslim
minorityin these terms: " Muslims have either had political
power or theyhave not. Never beforehave theyshared it with
others." The concludingchapterdeals verybrieflywith "Other
Areas ".
There are a few slips in the book; for example, the "fall of
Czechoslovakia to communism" is put in 1952 (p. 105); and,
naturally, this reviewer disagrees with certain interpretations,
such as, that the power of the clericsin Pakistan seems to have
been overstressed.But these are minor criticismsof what is, to
repeat, an outstanding book by a learned, intelligent and
thoroughlypenetratingscholar.
Like ProfessorSmith, Mr. Morris writesverywell, but there
the resemblanceends. He is no scholarbut a journalistwho has
managed to produce fourbooks in threeyears. Taking full advantage of modern transport,he has flittedfromJuba in the
south to the Caspian and feelshe has to give a wider public the
benefitof his impressions. Many of these impressionsare vivid
and some are amusing,especially those of the Arabian sheikhdoms, which readily lend themselvesto burlesque. Hence the
reader who is not unduly bothered by the distinctionbetween
Dichtung and Wahrheitmay get a good deal of fun out of this
book.
But those who really want to learn something about the
Middle East will have to turn elsewhere. It is not merelythe
factualerrors,thoughthereare plentyof these. Take economics
for example: Egypt's annual per capita income is put at " less
than $28" (p. 23) instead of $100. "Iraq can look ahead to
Scandinavian standardsof comfort" in " only a decade or two "
(p. 285). This conclusion is not surprisingin view of the assertion that" Iraqi agriculturealone can produce an annual income
of twelve million [presumably billion] dollars-about $3000
annually per capita" (p. 288). Or take history: Tamerlane's
capture of Damascus (1401 A.D.) is placed in the twelfthcentury
(p. 122). Iraq's medieval population is put at 35 million (p.
285). In the Middle Ages, cultural exchanges between Arabs
and Europeans are said to have taken place by " way of Spain
and the Danube Basin " (p. 122)-one can imagine the

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No. 2]

REVIEWS

309

Kulturtraegertrudgingcheerfullythroughhordes of Pechenegs,
Bulgars, Magyarsand otherDanubian devoteesof culture. But
all this is forgivable. XVhen,however,Mr. Morris reportsthe
followingconversationin Lebanon, " 'What feast day is this?'
I asked the taxi driver. 'Christmas friend,'he replied withouta
smile (it was the middle of July)" (p. 110), and when one recalls
how religious and conscious of feast days are all Lebanese, one
really begins to wonder.
The truthis that Mr. Morrisdoes not like the Middle East of
today. If it had only consentedto remain a museum piece he
would have been happy. For, " one of the greatpleasuresof the
Middle East is to encounter a tribe of Kurds on the move"
looking like " a communityof unusuallycheerfulbrigandscrossing a steppe to commit an atrocity" (p. 278). Unfortunately,
thingshave changed; for instance,"Arabs oftenmade excellent
mechanicsand machine workersand adapted themselvesall too
easily to the industriallife" (p. 251). And by the same token,
Middle Easternersand other Asians will not like Mr. Morris'
book. Indeed, if anyonewants to understandwhythe West is so
cordiallydislikedin Asia, all he has to do is glance throughIslam
Inflamed-a horribletitlebut one forwhich not Mr. Morrisbut
presumablyhis Americanpublisheris responsible.
CHARLES ISSAWI
COLUMBIA

UNIVERSITY

The Union of Burma: A Study of the First Years of Independence. By HUGH TINKER. Issued under the auspices of
the Royal Institute of InternationalAffairs,by Oxford UniversityPress, London, New York, Toronto, 1957.-xiv, 424
pp. 42s.; $6.75.
In 1942JohnL. Christianbroughtout his masterpiece,Modern
Burma. Enlarged and reissued in 1945 as Burma and the Japanese Invader,it standsas the definitivesurveyof pre-warBurma.
For the period from 1945 on, in which Burma won her independence and launched herselfinto the internationalcommunity,no full-scalework on Burma has been published to bring
Christianup to date. The one collectiveeffort,
Burma by Frank
N. Trager and Associates (New Haven, 1956), has so far had
only verylimited distribution.
Dr. Hugh Tinker, of the Universityof London,.has filledthis
gap, providinga first-rate
study of contemporaryBurma which
will stand with George Kahin's Nationalism and Revolution in
Indonesia as a classic in SoutheastAsian studies.In The Union

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