Extract from review by Muhammed Haron (University of Botswana) in African Affairs, Vol. 109 no. 434 (January 2010):
"Shamil Jeppie’s book tells a fascinating story about a small but significant Durban-based Muslim organization that grappled with the compatibility between Islam and modernity. Jeppie, who is an historian based at the University of Cape Town, divides his book into eight chapters and a useful set of set of endnotes and references."
Extract from review by James C. Armstrong, Independent Scholar for H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online - H-SAfrica (www.h-net.msu.edu) (May 2008)
"Language, Identity, Modernity" is a path-breaking and fascinating study of a little-known but, on the author's showing, influential group, the Arabic Study Circle, which emerged around 1950 in Durban, South Africa. ...
"Language, Identity, Modernity" offers a fresh insight into the history of the Muslim community of Natal, and amply justifies its full title. The author and the HSRC Press are to be commended on its publication. There are copious endnotes, and a useful bibliography.
Extract from review by Yusuf Ismail in Islamic Focus Issue 10 (August 2007) p.16:
"In what can be described as a non-patronising honest primer on an organisation arising out of the social milieu of a 1950's Durban, Shamil Jeppie introduces his readers to the world of the Arabic Study Circle and its impact on the South African Muslim community in the last century."
"This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding Islam in South Africa. Beautifully written, it combines critical scientific analysis with admiration and compassion for these pioneers in general and Dr Mall in particular."
- Yousuf Dadoo, University of South Africa
Click on the links below to read the reviews:
Africa Perspective - 01 June 2007
Asian Journal of Social Science 37 (2009) 953 - 976
