View source for Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought

{{Short description|2000 book by Michael Cook}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
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| name              = Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought
| image             = Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought.jpg
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| author            = [[Michael Cook (historian)|Michael Cook]]
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| publisher         =  Cambridge University Press
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| pub_date          = 2000
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| pages             = 719
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| isbn              = 978-0521130936
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'''''Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought''''' is a 2000 non-fiction book by [[Michael Cook (historian)|Michael Cook]]. It discusses the evolution of the Islamic concept of [[enjoining good and forbidding wrong]] ({{transliteration|ar|al-amr bi-ma’ruf wa nahi ‘an al-munkar}}). The book is a winner of  [[Albert Hourani Book Award]]<ref>[http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/excellence/hourani_winners_list.htm Albert Hourani Book Award] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100516173346/http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/excellence/hourani_winners_list.htm |date=16 May 2010 }}</ref> and [[Farabi Award]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Quiñones |first=Eric |date=7 February 2008 |title=Cook honored for book on Islamic thought |url=https://www.princeton.edu/news/2008/02/07/cook-honored-book-islamic-thought |access-date=14 August 2023 |website=[[Princeton University]] |language=en |quote=Michael Cook, Princeton’s Class of 1943 University Professor of Near Eastern Studies, has been awarded a Farabi International Award by Iran’s Ministry of Science, Research and Technology for his book “Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought.”<br/> Cook received the award, which recognizes achievement in the humanities, at a ceremony in Tehran in January.}}</ref>
The 700-page book is divided into five sections and 20 chapters.<ref name=":2" /> It was translated into Persian in 2005 and received widespread attention in Iran, where it went through three printings by 2008. The Persian editions sold more copies than the English editions did. Indonesian and Arabic translations of the book are also available.<ref name=":3" /> An [[epitome]] of Michael Cook's book was published by the Cambridge University Press in 2003 under the title ''Forbidding Wrong in Islam''. According to Cook, while the first title is organized around "schools, sects, and individuals", the [[epitome]] version focuses on the thematic questions.<ref name=":0" />
Cook argues that despite this topic being understandable in almost every culture, very few have given it such accurate attention.<ref name=":2" /> Michael Cook analyzes the differences between Islamic and Western conceptions of wrong as well as a suggested course of action. Islam has laws and procedures to prevent wrongdoing, but the West prefers to wait until a wrong has been committed before acting. It is a fundamental difference between Islam and the West. When anything goes wrong, Cook describes the Western approach as "rescue", but the Islamic viewpoint is "forbidding wrong".<ref name=":0" />
== Content ==
''Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought'' is an attempt to respond to the question of whether or not one should intervene if he sees a wrong being committed in public.<ref name=":1" /> In other words, [[Michael Cook (historian)|Michael Cook]]'s book focuses on the "Islamic duty to lead others to do good and, especially, to stop others from doing wrong".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Powers |first=Paul R. |date=April 2003 |title=Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought . Michael Cook |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/491324 |journal=The Journal of Religion |language=en |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=322–324 |doi=10.1086/491324 |issn=0022-4189}}</ref> He follows in his book the development of the ideas over Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong via investigating the large amount of content produced by Muslim scholars. All major schools of law, i.e., Sunni and Shia, are considered along with some smaller sects. In this regard, "minute points of agreement and dissent, as well as to common roots of the different views" are paid attention to.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought {{!}} Reviews in History |url=https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/215 |access-date=12 August 2023 |website=reviews.history.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>
[[Michael Cook (historian)|Michael Cook]] discusses the distinction between Islamic and Western concepts of wrong along with the actions to take in this regard. One significant contrast between Islam and the West is that, although Islam has rules and processes in place to avoid wrongdoing, the West prefers to wait until a wrong has already been done before taking action. Cook defines the Western response to wrong as "rescue", while the Islamic perspective is "forbidding wrong". While the West penalizes drunk driving, Islam forbids drinking altogether.<ref name=":0" />
In his book, Cook discusses Islamic and Western concepts of right and wrong after establishing the distinction between rescuing and prohibiting wrong. Both Islamic and Western civilizations condemn wrongs that cause harm to others; nevertheless, Islam considers wrongs against individuals as well as wrongs against God. Cook says: "The prevalent Western values thus tell Muslims that it is our business how they treat other Muslims; and at the same time they tell them that it is not their business how other Muslims should choose to live".<ref name=":0" />
Cook states at the outset of his comparison of the Shia and Sunni ulama in contemporary times that the Shia legacy is still alive. At the same time, the Sunni tradition has become a moribund if revered heritage (turath). This significant distinction is due, in part, to the fact that Imami ideology is focused on a single nation (Iran), whereas Sunni ideology lacks a similar territorial concentration. [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Ayatollah Khomeini]]'s confrontation with the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah]] and the Islamic Revolution that followed united the Imami world in a way that no recent event has brought the Sunni world together. As a result, Shia ulama provides society with Islamic responses to contemporary questions, while Sunni ulama are becoming even more socially irrelevant.<ref name=":0" />
==Reception==
[[File:Farabi International Award 2008 06.jpg|thumb|Cook receiving the [[Farabi International Award]] in 2008, [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]] presiding]]
The book has been reviewed by [[Donna Robinson Divine]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Divine |first1=Donna Robinson |title=Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought: Michael Cook |journal=Digest of Middle East Studies |date=2002 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=110–113 |doi=10.1111/j.1949-3606.2002.tb00469.x |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1949-3606.2002.tb00469.x |language=en |issn=1949-3606}}</ref> and [[Ulrike Freitag]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought |url=https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/215 |website=Reviews in History |language=en}}</ref>
[[Fred Donner]] praises the book as the pinnacle of classical philological [[orientalism]], [[Christopher Melchert]], Paul R. Powers, and [[Andrew Rippin|Andrew Rippen]] all give positive assessments, and Michael Chamberlain calls it a "masterpiece". [[Wilferd Madelung|Wilfred Madelung]] adds one paragraph of criticism while at the same time predicting that the book will certainly become "a standard reference work in Islamic studies".<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Malczycki |first=W. Matt |date=2008 |title=Review of Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought; Forbidding Wrong in Islam, Michael Cook |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20455577 |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=144–147 |jstor=20455577 |issn=1353-0194}}</ref> The book is further portrayed as "a welcome and timely addition to the literature on Islamic thought", besides being "detailed and extensive". It is accessible to all audiences while not being very difficult to read.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Sabet |first=Amr G. |date=1 January 2003 |title=Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought: By Michael Cook (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 702 pages.) |url=https://www.ajis.org/ |journal=American Journal of Islam and Society |language=en |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=153–156 |doi=10.35632/ajis.v20i1.1885 |issn=2690-3741|doi-access=free }}</ref>
== References ==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:2000 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:English-language books]]
[[Category:Books by Michael Cook (historian)]]