Hamka’s Great Story presents Indonesia through the eyes of an impassioned; popular thinker who believed that Indonesians and Muslims everywhere should embrace the thrilling promises of modern life; and navigate its dangers; with Islam as their compass. Hamka (Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah) was born when Indonesia was still a Dutch colony and came of age as the nation itself was emerging through tumultuous periods of Japanese occupation; revolution; and early independence. He became a prominent author and controversial public figure. In his lifetime of prodigious writing; Hamka advanced Islam as a liberating; enlightened; and hopeful body of beliefs around which the new nation could form and prosper. He embraced science; human agency; social justice; and democracy; arguing that these modern concepts comported with Islam’s true teachings. Hamka unfolded this big idea—his Great Story—decade by decade in a vast outpouring of writing that included novels and poems and chatty newspaper columns; biographies; memoirs; and histories; and lengthy studies of theology including a thirty-volume commentary on the Holy Qur’an. In introducing this influential figure and his ideas to a wider audience; this sweeping biography also illustrates a profound global process: how public debates about religion are shaping national societies in the postcolonial world.
#1870637 in Books 1997-12-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.50 x .80 x 5.50l; .89 #File Name: 0299157342304 pages
Review
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Recommended poignant; poetic ethnic narrative.By A CustomerElmaz Abinader has created a vivid and insightful biography of three generations of a family's struggle to define itself amid the dislocation and challenges of the first half of the 20th century. Her characters are strongly drawn and distinctive; reflecting values so typical of the Lebanon and other communities where family and kinship are both strength and obstacle.Elmaz has a particularly strong feeling for her women. They are sometimes overwhelming and tedious in their ability to bear pain; rationalize hurt; support erring spouses; and recognize flaws in others. The men do not hold up as well. Despite some heroic moments in fleeing from persecution and making new lives in America; in general; the men are not as spiritually hardy or as forebearing as the women. There is a strength and lyricism in these pages that goes beyond another ethnic narrative. Elmaz' grounding as a poet has served in well in unfolding the dramatic and incremental movement of these families towards a conclusion that renews again the wheel of life.Well-done.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. An AWAIR PickBy Audrey ShabbasA beautiful work of remembrance; a family chronicle written against the backdrop of history. Here are the stories of five generations of her family-- in Lebanon and in the Americas. Based on diaries; letters; and interviews; the richly textured narrative moves easily through oppression by Ottoman Turks; religious struggles; and world wars; back and forth from the hills of Beirut to the green knolls of western Pennsylvania.Teachers/Librarians: 9th grade to Adult - Social Studies/humanities - your collection of Arab-American history.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Most Boring Book I've Ever ReadBy Susan RudolphThis book was incredibly boring. I was assigned to read it for a class. Not one person in the class made it all the way through.
