ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to reconstruct how Weber analysed Islam and the social impact of Islam. It requires an interpretation effort, but it is worth doing since Weber's argument about Islam recurs with many scholars. Weber's books on Protestantism, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism as well as Confucianism and Taoism have become the standard reference points to which analyses of religion and society refer, either with approval or with criticism. However, there is no similar monograph by Weber dealing with Islam. Typical of Weber's writings on Islam and the Arab world is that they tend to be very sparse, but on the other hand extremely condensed and yet clear. Thus, he never writes in one place at length about the Muslim world but he throws out a number of points here and there where he makes affirmative and general assessments of the social and economic as well as political consequences of Islam–the religion of Mohammed.
