"This lucid and compelling account of Islam is written from what
might be called a phenomenological perspective. Because its principal
aim is to present Islam as a living faith from a Muslim perspective as
reflected in the classical texts of the tradition, Murata and Chittick
(comparative studies, SUNY, Stony Brook) go to some length to differentiate
their work from the numerous historical, critically oriented introductions
to Islam that have appeared over the last several decades.