The Social Origins of Islam: Mind, Economy, Discourse.

• Author: Rippin, A.
• Position: Review

The Social Origins of Islam: Mind, Economy, Discourse. By MOHAMMED A. BAMYEH. Minneapolis: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS, 1999. Pp. xiii + 316. $18.95 (paper).

The question of the origins of Islam continues to attract attention from a variety of academic perspectives. Mohammed Bamyeh, who teaches social theory and comparative civilizations at New York University. comes at the question from a different angle than most studies encountered in the field. He defines his interest as how the idea of Islam "became thinkable at a particular point in time" (p. x), a concern which is described as that of "historical sociology." In order to ascertain the factors associated with the rise of Islam, "mind, economy and discourse" are the major themes to be examined. The overall thrust of the book is to compare the Qur""an with the ethos and ideology of pre-Islamic poetry, in the first place, and then, to a lesser extent, to consider what became known as "Islam" with the ideology of the Qur""an. All this is done in the language of theoretical sociology. Personally, I find this theoretical aspect of the book its most interesting and valuable contribution. It serves to elevate the di scussion of Islamic origins to a new level and truly suggests that Islamic studies could enter into a discussion with the broader disciplines of the human sciences. Banished now are the days when the mixing of sociological theory and the study of Islam's origins meant W. Montgomery Watt's Islam and the integration of Society (London, 1961). While some people may react negatively to the jargon with which this book is (relatively lightly) scattered, the merits of the book will mean that the effort is worthwhile.

Part one of the book deals with the world constructed in the long pre-Islamic odes. The themes considered are the role of sedentary versus bedouin lifestyles, the role of money and Mecca as the focus of trade (although, of course, there is no evidence for that in the poetry, but let us leave that objection aside for the moment), the experience of life and death, the presence of "spirituality" (including "hanifism," conceived of as an organized path of faith, with prophets and the like), and, finally, the style of the discourse itself. Part two treats the notions of prophet, community, and power, each dealing with aspects of the life of Muhammad. Here the emphasis falls on the break with the past which Muhammad represents even while he worked within the structures available...