Review of Aaron W. Hughes, Muslim Identities: an Introduction to Islam

Islam, its rapid spread and development and a wide variety of interpretations regarding its beliefs and practices, is a subject of vigorous debate and discussion both from theological and academic perspectives. Both these approaches are quite distinct—theological presentation of a religion differs from the academic presentation. In the former, religion is defined and explained by using religious terms, whereas, the latter while defining the religion employs various other terms other than religion itself that are derived from the academic disciplines such as history, sociology, etc. The book Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam by Aaron W. Hughes who holds the Phillip S. Bernstein Chair in the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester is an commendable attempt to introduce Islam and its development and diversity across the centuries to the religious studies students.