Understanding Islam

Understanding Islam is a study of the religion by Frithjof Schuon, the Swiss philosopher associated with the perennialist school. It opens by describing Islam as the meeting of God as such with man as such, setting what is unchanging in God against what is lasting in human nature.

The author says his aim is less to describe Islam than to explain why Muslims believe in it. The book is written both for Western readers who are unfamiliar with the religion and for Muslims who want a deeper grasp of the foundations of their faith.

Schuon builds his account on the essential nature of things rather than on any confessional standpoint, which opens fresh approaches to the five pillars of faith, the Quran, the Sunna, the Prophet and the esoteric dimension at the heart of Muslim spirituality. His outlook is universalist in an intellectual sense: while examining one religious framework, he readily draws on parallels and ideas from other traditions, especially Vedanta. His underlying conviction is that in an age far from the origins of Revelation, the need is to rediscover the truths inscribed in the very substance of the human spirit.