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| Author | Michael Cook |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Publication date | 2000 |
| Pages | 719 |
| ISBN | 978-0521130936 |
Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought is a 2000 non-fiction book about the evolution of Enjoining good and forbidding wrong in Islam by Michael Cook. The book is a winner of Albert Hourani Book Award and Farabi Award. An epitome of the Michael Cook's book was published under the title Forbidding wrong in Islam in 2003 by the Cambridge University Press. According to Cook, while the first title is organized around "schools, sects, and individuals," the epitome version focuses on the thematic questions.
Content
Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought is an attempt to respond to the question of whether or not one one intervene if he he sees a wrong being committed in public. Michael Cook follows in his book the development of the ideas over Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong via investigating the large amount of content produced by Muslim scholars. All major schools of law, i.e. Sunni and Shia, are considered along with some smaller sects. In this regard, "minute points of agreement and dissent, as well as to common roots of the different views" are payed attention to.
Michael Cook discusses the distinction between Islamic and Western concepts of wrong along with the actions to take on this regard. One significant contrast between Islam and the West is that, although Islam has rules and processes in place to avoid wrongdoing, the West prefers to wait until a wrong has already been done before taking action. Cook defines the Western response to wrong as "rescue," while the Islamic perspective is "forbidding wrong." While the West penalizes drunk driving, Islam forbids drinking altogether.
In his book, Cook discusses Islamic and Western concepts of right and wrong after establishing the distinction between rescuing and prohibiting wrong. Both Islamic and Western civilizations condemn wrongs that cause harm to others; nevertheless, Islam considers wrongs against individuals as well as wrongs against God. Cook says: "The prevalent Western values thus tell Muslims that it is our business how they treat other Muslims; and at the same time they tell them that it is not their business how other Muslims should choose to live."
Reception
The book has been reviewed by Donna Robinson Divine and Ulrike Freitag.
Fred Donner praises the book as the pinnacle of classical philological orientalism, Christopher Melchert, Paul R. Powers, and Andrew Rippen all give positive assessments, and Michael Chamberlain calls it a "masterpiece." Wilfred Madelung adds one paragraph of criticism while at the same time predicting that the book will certainly become "a standard reference work in Islamic studies."
References
- Albert Hourani Book Award Archived 2010-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Malczycki, W. Matt (2008). "Review of Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought; Forbidding Wrong in Islam, Michael Cook". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 35 (1): 144–147. ISSN 1353-0194.
- "Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought | Reviews in History". reviews.history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
- Divine, Donna Robinson (2002). "Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought: Michael Cook". Digest of Middle East Studies. 11 (2): 110–113. doi:10.1111/j.1949-3606.2002.tb00469.x. ISSN 1949-3606.
- "Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought". Reviews in History.
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