Great World Religions: Islam

By: John L. Esposito, The Great Courses

Narrated by: John L. Esposito

How familiar are you with the world's second-largest and fastest-growing religion? In these 12 lectures, Professor Esposito guides you through the facts and myths surrounding Islam and its more than 1.2 billion adherents. Many in the West know little about the faith and are familiar only with the actions of a minority of radical extremists, but this lecture series will help you better understand Islam's role as both a religion and a way of life, and its deep impact on world affairs both historically and today.

What does the future hold for Islam and the West in the new century? How will it change under the influence of conservatives, reformers, and extremists? Moving from Muhammad to the present, from the 7th to the 21st centuries, you'll explore Muslim beliefs, practices, and history in the context of its significance and impact on Muslim life and society through the ages, as well as world events today. Topics you'll cover include the life and legacy of the prophet Muhammad; the nature and true meaning of jihad; the Muslim beliefs about other faiths such as Judaism and Christianity; Islamic contributions to mathematics, science, and art; the intricate relationship between Islam, modernization, capitalism, and democracy; and much more.

Professor Esposito takes a closer look at the historical development of two great Islamic institutions: Islamic law and Islamic mysticism. And he examines the worldwide "struggle for the soul of Islam" occurring today between conservatives and reformers, mainstream Muslims and extremists.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2003 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2003 The Great Courses

As a Muslim, this is fairly accurate

As a Muslim, I wanted to understand how Islam is being presented to non-Muslims in an academic way. This is fairly accurate on the fundamentals, but there were several points I would have wanted to correct the professor at, especially in the second half of the course.

Muslim review of the course

If you could sum up Great World Religions: Islam in three words, what would they be?

Accurate, fair, best

Would you be willing to try another book from The Great Courses and John L. Esposito ? Why or why not?

Yes because its the best out there.

Any additional comments?

I found the first 2 videos to be fair and truthful. John Esposito does an excellent job of explaining the religion, the diversity of the religion and the 5 pillars. He brings in the concept of Jihad masterfully at the end of the second video.

The only complaints which were really small mistakes were around the 38 second mark in the first video in which he stated that some Muslim nations ban women from driving along with other issues. The reality is only Saudi Arabia bans women from driving which Professor Esposito is cited stating on politifact. At the 11:31 mark he states that Zakat is paid in Ramadan. Zakat is actually paid 1 year from when one meets the nisab (minimum requirement of savings to be required to pay zakat). Around 22:40 mar of the first lecture Esposito states that Islam had mainly male scholars and was patriarchal. Fine but Women Muslim Scholars vastly outnumbered Christian/Jewish women scholars which were much more patriarchal. Its very important to contextualize. We cannot compare modern day Islam to modern day Christianity/Judaism. Many modern Muslim nations are less than 60 years old and Islam is 600 years younger than Christianity. However the first 1200 years of Islam, Islam was well ahead in women rights only to be surpassed in 1970 with voting, credit card and inheritance rights. In some ways Islam still stands on the moral high ground with a marriage gift, requirements of men to provide for women, requirement of men to attend religious services but not women and more. Always contextualize!!

I gave this 4 stars because it is in my opinion one of the best videos on Islam out there today that I know of. Common Ground Institute & Services is planning to release similar videos by Muslim scholars for the public. I would recommend the following scholars on You Tube for further knowledge on Islam:
-Hamza Yusuf
-Yasir Qadhi
-Omer Suleiman
-Tariq Ramadan
-Abdul Hakim Murad

Thank you
Sami Aziz
Muslim Chaplain for Wesleyan University
Hartford Seminary Masters in Muslim-Christian Relations

Good Info, Less than I Wanted, AWFUL LECTURER

The information was good and respectful, and was presented well. I did learn stuff about Islam.

I'd been hoping for a LOT more detail, but that's largely my own fault for failing to notice that it was only a 6h course, as opposed to the 21h course I'd last purchased. Lesson learned!

But he was SO HARD to listen to! So many long random pauses! I listened to most of the course on 1.5x, and all was much improved, but there was still the occasional odd too-long pause. Even at 2x his speech patterns were distracting!

If I were to do this again, I'd look for the same lecturer's book on Audible, which looks to contain much of the same content, but is narrated by someone else.

Beginning to Understand

Would you consider the audio edition of Great World Religions: Islam to be better than the print version?

Not applicable.

Who was your favorite character and why?

No characters. It's a lecture series.

Have you listened to any of Professor John L. Esposito’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't but he was engaging.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Not possible.

Any additional comments?

I have a Christian background and didn't understand this third member of the Abrahamic tradition. There is a lot of information and you will begin to understand not only the divergence from Judaism and Christianity but the split between Sunni and Shia. I recommend it with caution because you will know that you understand more but also that a mountain of information is still out there.

Opening Minds - to Similarities

This is one timely listen. I wholeheartedly recommend learning about how similar we are in our differences.
Learning leads away from fear. Keep on learning, towards understanding!
Thank you, Professor Esposito for holding our minds open!