David Cook (historian)

David Cook is an American historian and professor of the history of Islam at Rice University. Cook earned his PhD at the University of Chicago.

Quotes

• Thus, the concept of martyrdom developed differently in Islam than it did in either Judaism or Christianity. Martyrdom in Islam has a much more active sense: the prospective martyr is called to seek out situations in which martyrdom might be achieved. For example, in Abdallah b. al- Mubarak’s Kitab al-jihad, we find Nawf al-Bikali praying: “O, God! Make my wife a widow, make my child an orphan, and ennoble Nawf with martyrdom!”
  • David Cook, Understanding Jihad, page 26