Book Review: The Portrayal of Man in Western and Islamic Literature

Name: Nur Fasya binti Zahidi (1513366)

Page: 129

Title of the Chapter: The Portrayal of Man in Western and Islamic Literature

Author: Umar Abdurrahman

Title of the Book: Islamicisation of Knowledge and English, in the Age of Islamophobia and Westernophobia

Editors: Nor Faridah Abdul Manaf & Aimillia Mohd Ramli

Published & Printed: One Global Publications Sdn. Bhd. in collaboration with The International Institute of Islamic Thought 

Publication Year: 2016

Review:

‘The Portrayal of Man in Western and Islamic Literature’ written by Umar Abdurrahman is a 2 pages long about how man is being reflected in fictional settings as a reflection of men in reality through the earliest ages until modern times. This section is divided into two; Western and Islamic literature. In his analysis, in both Western and Islamic literature, man is both honored and condemned.

In his take on Non-Judeo-Christian literature, man is inclined to do both good and evil in nature and action. Man’s worldly ambitions, uncontrollable lust of material needs, power and self-glorification often leads to man’s own destruction and direct conflict with divine laws. A similar trend in Judeo-Christian oriented literature, men are both builder and destroyer. They are obsessed with self-glorification and demand of absolute obedience from their followers. Their stubbornness and over-achieving always create a path for self’s doom.

Just as in Western-oriented-literature, man is also depicted as both saint or sinner in Islamic oriented literature. Muslim writers of both ancient and modern periods portray men in his limitless forms. Referring to literatures written by Muslim writers, man is usually portrayed as a hypocrite committing fraudulent acts and violating his religious authority to satisfy his ego and desires that loses his humanity, and in his journey to spiritual fulfilment and acceptance is full of trials and tribulations but those with moral courage will triumph, man is a stranger even in his own community, man is an existentialist and man’s success or failure depends on his choice, man practices exceedingly conservatives and patriarchal, polygamy, and oppression towards women as sanctioned by the culture, and see themselves as honored by God with a much superior intellect (which ironically can make or break a man); all of which are not consistent with Islamic teachings. In Islamic poetry, man is portrayed in multi-forms depending on the poet’s intention. Poetry became fully accepted as an instrument for the transmission of Islamic values. Muslim poets used it to comment on many issues most of which dealing with man’s relationship with his Creator and fellow men.

In reviewing this chapter written by Umar Abdurrahman, I compliment how the author presents his point with supporting evidence from various literature from Non-Judeo-Christian and Judeo-Christian, to Islamic literature. In Islamic perspectives, man is created in the best form blessed with intellect by Allah. Man should be aware of his human inferiority, be totally humble and submit to the supremacy and mercy of his Lord. Overall, I think it is a really good insight on how men are being portrayed in literature throughout the ages and how it mirrored man in reality.