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 A useful work July 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This edition is particularly useful in that, unlike contemporary Indian editions, it is unexpurgated.
The late Ram Swarup Agarwal (1920-1998) was a Hindu thinker and prolific author. He was highly critical of Christianity, Islam and Communism. His support of European neopaganism lent a fascist tone to some of his declarations. His work greatly influenced later Indian writers, particularly the founders of Hindutva nationalism, a movement which has become responsible for the brutal persecution of multitudes of Indian Christians and Muslims.
Meera Nanda wrote: "In the hands of Hindutva's deep thinkers, notably Ram Swarup and Sita Ram Goel, dharmic ecology takes an explicitly anti-monotheistic turn, aimed superficially at Christianity. Goel notably, but also many others like N.S. Rajaram and Koenraad Elst hold `Semitic monotheism' responsible for the crisis of modernity: they take the left's critique of the scientific revolution as disenchanting the world, but blame it on Christianity, rather than on science per se. All the ills of modernity that the left and right both agree upon are pinned on to the monotheistic conception of God who stands outside nature, creating this split between man and nature." [Meera Nanda: "Dharmic ecology and the neo-Pagan international: the dangers of religious environmentalism in India", presented at panel no. 15 at the 18th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, 6-9 July 2004 in Lund, Sweden, Hinduism, Environmentalism and the Nazi Bogey ]
However, these factors do not automatically falsify all the data which Swarup sought to examine and integrate into his overall system of thought.
The present book was originally published in the USA in 1982 under a title which more accurately reflects its content: "Understanding Islam through Hadis: Religious faith or fanaticism?" (Smithtown, NY: Exposition Press, 1982). This edition can be read online at http://www.voi.org/books/uith/.
In 1983, the first Indian reprint of the book by Sita Ram Goyal (1921-2003), Swarup's long-time friend and collaborator, sold out quickly. In 1987 Goyal (Goel) printed another edition of the book and also tried to publish a Hindi translation which he had commissioned. The details are not known with certainty but, apparently on the basis of a complaint lodged with the police, all copies of the Hindi translation were seized from the printer's shop and Goyal was arrested. Goyal was bailed out after 18 hours in police custody, but the impounded copies of the Hindi translation were never returned to him. Later, public furore ensued after a claim in the Jama`at-e-Islami weekly "Radiance" that the book was offensive to Muslims. Finally, in 1990 the Hindi translation of the book was officially banned. In March 1991 the English original was also banned. The criminal case against Goyal for printing the book was dismissed after some years on 5 May 1997, but the book still remained banned. However, after a court case, the Delhi High court approved the book with the omission of 5 excerpts to which Muslims had taken strong exception. This expurgated edition (0-682-49948-X), the "Fourth reprint", is published by Voice of India, New Delhi, and is available for purchase in hardcopy through the Internet. It states: "All passages pointed out as objectionable material by the Government of Delhi in their letter dated 17 April 2001 have been deleted in this fourth edition in keeping with our statement submitted to the High Court of Delhi on 11 May 2001" (p.iv).
The blanks where the deleted passages would have appeared remain and are found on pages 26-27, 65-66, 67-68, 102, and 174-175. Fortunately, these expurgated passages have been restored in this new edition by Prometheus Press, albeit with the less-helpful title: "Understanding the Hadith: The sacred traditions of Islam" (2002). These are as follows:
*pages 38-39:"The First Mosque: Facing the Qibla", and a paragraph from the
following section entitled: "Allah allows Muhammad terror and war booty";
*pages 74-75:Safiyya [One of Muhammad's wives]
*pages 76-77:Zainab bint Jahsh [Another of Muhammad's wives]
*page 108:A paragraph from "A great motivating force"
*pages 178-179: The merits of `Aisha [4 paragraphs are deleted]
This book is a survey of the of the "Sahih Muslim", the second most important collection of Ahadith (traditions), after al-Bukhari. As the Ahadith are, for all practical purposes, on the same level of authority as the Qur'an itself for Muslim doctrine and practice, this book is particularly useful. Swarup's quotations are taken from the English translation by Abdul Hamid Siddiqi. As Swarup states in his foreword, "we have quoted extensively and faithfully from it" (p.10).
Muslims do not regard all Ahadith as authentic, but there is still a debate in Muslim circles as to where the line should be drawn, the most notable being between Sunni and Shi`ah. In reality authenticity of the ahadith collected by Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim are taken for granted by Sunni unless challenged by a respected Muslim jurist.
Therefore, Swarup was right to treat the Ahadith texts as meaning what they say, just like Salafi and Deobandi Muslims. So let Muslims themselves say openly precisely which ahadith are authentic and which not.
Generally speaking, Muslims are offended by any critique of their faith and practice from nonMuslim thinkers. This explains the reactions to this book by some of the other reviewers. The idea that a scholarly approach will lead to a more honest conclusion is a fabrication either of sheer naivete or of a misguided attempt at political correctness.
 unscholarly May 14, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
It's quite obvious that the author does not have an indepth knowledge on the Hadiths. First of all, he does not take into account that there are authentic and unauthentic hadiths. Second of all, many of the Hadiths mentioned in this book are out of the blue. Source please!
Greatly misleading title by a clearly biased author November 9, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
A person trying to understand hadiths in particular and Islam in general are better served elsewhere. I recommend the "An-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths" - where the hadiths' authenticity are more assured and where readers can better come to their own conclusions. This book is a biased view of 'selected' hadiths (some hadith's authenticity are doubtful) by someone with an agenda and preconceived views. It is illuminating to note that Ram Swarup is a Hindu writer known for attacking Islam and Christianity in his works (you can google him or do a quick search at Wikipedia).
 A Mix: Great Facts, Analysis, and Sourcing along with Author's Biases January 13, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
First things first, the author Ram Swarup makes clear his personal distate for Islam, which unfortunately is a very unprofessional way of presenting the text. However, with that said, don't throw the baby out with the bath water. This is still a great scholarly work in so far as it acquaints English-speaking readers with primary sources (including an extensive bibliography) for Hadith/Sunnah. Many non-Muslims often make the mistake of assuming that the Quran is the sole authoritative text creating Islam, when in actuality the Quran (which Muslims believe to be the word of God as revealed through Muhammad) is inseparable from the Hadith/Sunnah, which are the anecdotal traditions, practices, opinions, and other quotations of Muhammad and his early Muslim community. The Hadith also lays out much of the basis for the Shari'ah legal system.
Personally, I think this book is helpful to both Muslims and those wishing to understand Islam. Muslims will find that this book will help them to anticipate and respond to arguments commonly brought against Islam, while non-Muslims will come to better understand many apsects of social practices of Muslims that are not addressed in the Quran.
While displaying many prejudices, the author, to his credit, does indeed address some of the polemics of Islam's position on various issues, including its treatment of non-Muslims. For example, traditionally, non-Muslims alone are subject to the "jizya" poll tax, are forbidden to carry weapons, may not ride on horseback, must wear clothing identifying them as non-Muslims, may not build new churches or temples (they were only allowed to repair old ones), may not ring church or temple bells, and are forbidden from engaging in public worship or public religious festivals. In the countries of the Gulf, the latter restrictions are even today tightly enforced, which creates a rift in relations in so far as Muslims in Western nations are free to build mosques and publicly worship while freedom of religions is banned in many Islamic-majority countries.
Other tenets of Islam presented in the book that non-Muslims may take issue with include the concept that under certain circumstances it is permissible for a man to strike his wife and that apostasy is punishable by death. Muslims will find these topics challenging and intresting because they beg the question of whether certain Hadis (singular for Hadith) can be de-selected as being irreconcilable with universal principles of human rights, while still retaining an overall faith in Islam. This is not a new issue, but will encourage reflection, further study, and healthy debate on topics that commonly recur in inter-faith dialogues.
Another area that only receives cursory treatment in the book is how Islamic concepts of predetermination (fate) and lack of complete free will intersect with the penal system under Islamic law. Ram Swarup does not make an in-depth study of these sub-topics, but does present some basic ideas.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the Hadith, but I would also advise them to take Ram Swarup's commentary with a big grain of salt. Just as some great medieval scientists dabbled in alchemy, so Swarup's thorough scholarship is at times tainted by his prejudices.
Anti-Islam Book August 15, 2006
6 out of 17 found this review helpful
This book is an anti-Islamic work. One can tell by just reading the couple of pages available to you. The author tries to say that Muhammad tried to say he was higher than God. Which is blasphemous and what the Prophet preached against. Muhammad was against putting up to Godly status and he said so as does the Qur'an. He was like the other Prophets, but a mortal human being.
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