Islam, a Way of Life

by Philip K. Hitti

Professor Hitti, the distinguished orientalist, writes vividly and on a basis of lifelong scholarship about Islam, showing that it is not only a religion but also a state and a culture and that in these overlapping and interacting aspects it is a whole way of life. Writing of Islam the religion Professor Hitti describes it as a system of beliefs and practices initially revealed by Allah to Muhammad in the seventh century, enshrined in the Arabic Koran, complemented by tradition, and modified through the ages in response to changes in time and place. Islam the state, he shows, is a political entity with an aggregate of institutions based on koranic law, founded by Muhammad in Medina, developed by his successors (caliphs) at the expense of the Persian and East Roman empires to a height unattained in either ancient or medieval times, and then fragmented into splinter states in western Asia, northern Africa, and southwestern and southeastern Europe. Islam the culture, he explains, is a compound of varied elements -- ancient Semitic, Indo-Persian, Hellenic -- synthesizes under the caliphate and expressed primarily through the medium of the Arabic tongue. Unlike the other two, Islam the culture was mainly formulated by conquered peoples rather than by Arabians. From the middle of the eighth century to the end of the twelfth century, it was unsurpassed in its literary, scientific, and philosophic output. In the final chapter, discussing the confrontation of Islamic culture with modernity, the author maintains that the world can view with gratitude Arab contributions to the past and can look with hope to their accomplishments in the future.

Genres: Religion

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Philip K. Hitti (1886-1978) was a Lebanese historian who was instrumental in establishing the field of Near Eastern Studies in the United States.

Category: Great Scholars and Teachers
Year At AUB: 1908
Education: AUB, BA 1908; Columbia University, PhD

Philip Hitti was born in the village of Shemlan in 1886. He graduated from the American University of Beirut with first honors in 1908, teaching there for several years as the University’s first Lebanese professor. He departed for the US, where he studied at Columbia, becoming the first Lebanese, and the first native-born Arab speaker, to receive a PhD in the US in 1915. In 1926 he moved to Princeton, founding the first program of Middle Eastern Studies in the US, which he chaired until his retirement in 1954. Under Hitti’s leadership Princeton became the premier center for Islamic studies in the West and was one of the pioneers of the concept of area studies. He was also a prolific writer, and his seminal book, History of the Arabs, published in 1937, is in its 11th edition. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of AUB, the recipient of innumerable awards from the governments of the Arab countries, and received numerous heads of State in his home including the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon.

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had been slowly working my way through The History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani when I took a break for a few months. When I began anew, I felt like I might need to start over, as it was so packed with information that I had forgotten many important details. Instead, I picked up Phillip K. Hitti’s “Islam: A Way of Life” as a quick refresher before jumping back into Hourani’s work. Hitti’s book read more like an abridged history of Arab peoples through roughly the end of the Abbasid caliphate.

Hitti was born a Maronite Christian in Lebanon, but I am not sure what his religious views were later in life. Still, this book feels less/not experiential and more objective, though is still deferential. This is interesting to me considering Lebanon’s modern history of intermittent pluralism and hostility. I should probably read books about Islam written by adherents of the religion one day as well, just to get different perspectives.

Islam: A Way of Life wasn’t exactly a page-turner, but it did give me a quick refresher of some of the historical background from The History of the Arab Peoples. The early history of pre-Islam and Muhammad and the section on beliefs and practices were quite pithy and interesting. The section on Sufism, which I was briefly exposed to in Turkey, was fascinating. The section on jurisprudence, which I also had trouble getting through in Hourani’s book, was important to gain a fuller understanding of Islam, but not very exciting. The history of the Caliphal State section was definitely worth reading, but chock full of difficult names (for a westerner). For me, the super-basic take home was that as Islam spread geographically, it morphed culturally to represent those from outside the Arabian peninsula. It was neat to hear how and why Islamic culture differed in Spain/North Africa vs. the Middle East vs. Persia.

Islam the Culture, the final portion of the book was also full of names, sadly only a few that I had heard of before. This section made me very interested in reading more about Islam in Spain. I visited Cordoba and Granada many years ago and would love to go back after having read more about this culture/time period. The section on Philosophy was meh. As an aside, I realized that, while I love philosophy, I don’t enjoy when philosophers try to reconcile what they really yearn to believe with religious ideas they feel they must accept. Much of this section was in that vein. Still, it made me want to revisit Plato, Aristotle, and Neoplatonism, all traditions that early Islamic philosophers tried to incorporate but were typically ostracized for considering.

The Literature section, which I very much looked forward to, was a litany of names and incomplete anecdotes that were difficult to follow. I could tell that Hitti enjoyed this topic as his language morphed into the flowery a bit, but I wished he would have concentrated on fewer people and spent more time with each. Alas, that was not the purpose of his book, though. This section didn’t relate to Islam specifically as much as to cultures associated with Islamic peoples. The art section was informative and aligned with what I’ve seen is Islamic art (mostly in Spain and Morocco). I fondly remember fascinating and beautiful geometric patterns. The emphasis on calligraphy and the Arabic language as an enduring artistic contribution were cool to read about. The music section was far too short. The final chapter of the book, ‘Confrontation with Modernity’ was barely worth mentioning.

In the end, this book was worthwhile but too tight and too crammed with information. This was kind of what I wanted, but I still wasn’t happy with what seemed like endless lists of names and short summaries. This brevity prevented elaboration and created a rather dry text on what is a rich subject. Hopefully, I can use this as a jumping off point to explore topics of interest more carefully. Now back to Hourani’s book, which I hope to finish before the end of 2025!