The Family Structure in Islam

Burr Ridge, IN, U.S.A.: American Trust Publications, 1977. Soft Cover. Near Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. English version. 360 pages. Whether one wishes to exmine the differences between the Muslim scene now and in the classical formative period, or the discrepancy between the ideal conception of Islamic law and its application, or the comparisons and contrasts among various regions of the Muslim world, one can find a point of departure in this volume. Dr. Hammudah Abd Al Ati deals with a wide array of topics touching on religion, set roles and the family, law, and social chnage. These are basic, sensitive issues in the structure of social life; they arouse the strogest feelings among people. The author approaches these disputed questions with very high qualifications: a deep, personal familiarity with Islam and a scholar's knowledge of it as well as of modern social science. He is thus able to combine sympathy and objectivity to produce understanding. Dr. Hammudah Abd Al Ati goes deeper into the history and social institutions of the Islamic world by considering how religious inspiration, law and social conditions during the first four centuries of Islam together shaped ideas about what the family system of Muslims should become. He shows that social conditions outside the relious system did not fix the ideas of Muslims about the family, though these conditions did set certain boundaries within which those ideas developed. If the author had stayed within religious conceptions, there would be nothing to add to the subject except a further treatment of divine precepts and Muslims' interpretation of them. Believing, however, that divine law does not eliminate human choice, he relates thsi law to the mode of life of the time. Dr. Hammudah Abd Al Ati might also have asked how far the Muslim prescription for family institutions was follwed in reality. The author squarely confronts the most difficult issues of scholarship and and morals concerning Islam. These are, in terms of Western Studiesand attitudes, plural marriage, modes of divorce, social equality in mating, and sensuousness. Top of spine bumped and rubbed, otherwise fine..