Reviews

At times, however, it turns to unscholarly polemic against the Islamists, whom the author in the end charges with having betrayed the legacy of the earliest Muslims in their nihilistic quest for political power (p. 199). [...]she insinuates that the term al-h kimiyya al- uly, employed by Sayyid Qutbas signifying Gods supreme sovereignty and judgeship, was derived from the slogan of the early Khawrij that judgement belongs only to God (pp. 156, 184). [...]this probably makes it a more serviceable introduction to the subject for many general readers. [...]a list, including as it does the names of some of the most important Western historians of Islam over the last century, suggests the target audience of this book: advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students, as well as other well-informed general readers seeking an introduction not just to jihd but to the critical apparatus of Islamic studies. [...]by addressing the canonization of al-Bukhrs Sah h and Muslims Sahh (the Sahhayn), which stand second only to the Quran itself in Sunni Islam, Jonathan Brown answers far more practical and intriguing questions.