The Qur’an and the West

For five decades Kenneth Cragg has been widely recognized and praised as one of the West’s most insightful interpreters of Islam. He has stood at the forefront of the ecumenical movement, exhorting Christians to better understand and appreciate Islam and its holy teachings, urging dialogue on the social and political implications of the life of faith. In this highly literary rumination he addresses the utter sanctity of of the Qur’an and its role as object of Muslim reverence. Yet he also weighs the Qur’an in a more inclusive way: as the font of faith and spirituality, decency, morality, and values both individual and collective that concern humanity as a whole. Cragg makes clear that the terrorists of 9/11 perverted the Qur’an’s meaning. But what the West still fails to appreciate about Islam, he argues, is the Qur’an’s reach over all areas of human life, including what Christians call the 'secular.' There is no such distinction between 'secular' and 'sacred' in Islam. It is Cragg’s intention to explain the significance of the Qur’an and the 'sacramental' character of all areas of human life in the Islamic worldview, and why this causes such a fundamental problem in how Christians and the West understand Muslims. Along the way he criticizes American foreign policy in Iraq, and he highlights the significance of the recent bombings in London. The book in fact, interweaves Qur’an commentary with political commentary.This is a wise and mature work by a major scholar, one whose influence on the field is incalculable.