Islam is reinvented as body-spirit unity countering Western Christian asceticism

Evidence

One idea is so general, however, that it seems worth while to single it out. It was well put by Mr Muhammad Asad in a recent book. Mr Asad was born a Jew in Europe and he was converted to Islam. His attitude expresses the modern impatience with asceticism and finds in Islam the satisfaction of spiritual yearnings without necessity to renounce the satisfaction of those of this world. Islam, for him, is the religion of the body and the spirit in one; this is not just a matter of personal morals, but, for example, of social teaching also. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1649

Categorization

• XREF: Directly corroborates Aziz/Razack thread — Islam’s Western construction is elastic: from violence-spreading heresy to worldliness-affirming alternative, per observer needs.