No god but God: The Origins and Evolution of Islam
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Engaging, accessible, and thought-provoking, No god but God is a persuasive, elegantly written, and accessible introduction for young readers to a faith that for much of the West remains shrouded in ignorance and fear.
Adapted for young readers from No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, this exploration of Islam by Reza Aslan, internationally acclaimed scholar of comparative religion, delves into the rituals and traditions of a religion that is largely misunderstood by the West. It covers the religion’s origins—the revelation of Muhammad as Prophet and the subsequent uprising against him, and the emergence of his successors—as well as Islam’s complex history.
No god but God is sure to stimulate discussion and encourage understanding of the Islamic faith and the people who follow it.
Praise for No god But God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam of Islam
“This welcome addition to Islamic studies provides a valuable context for reflection about the origins of issues facing Muslims and their neighbors today.”—Publishers Weekly
“An introduction to Islam as evocative as it is provocative.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Wise and passionate book.”—New York Times
Financial Times Best Book of the Year
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Packing in a formidable amount of research, legend, and critical analysis, Aslan condenses his adult book of the same name to create a concise introduction to Islam. By breaking up chapters with clear subheadings, maintaining a conversational tone, and incorporating numerous anecdotes that both inform and entertain, Aslan makes 15 centuries of religious history digestible without oversimplifying complex material. Beginning with the economic, interreligious, and cultural context into which Muhammad was born, including the Jewish and Christian understandings of prophecy, Aslan focuses on Muhammad's early life, his growing awareness of his prophetic calling, and his Earthly ministry's focus on social justice, particularly for women and the poor. Aslan details the sociopolitical influences shaping Islam and the written Quran in the decades following Muhammad's death, then segues smoothly into relevant contemporary issues, such as the concept of jihad, the role of women in Islam, and ways in which recent technology has allowed for more diverse interpretations of the Quran. This welcome addition to Islamic studies provides a valuable context for reflection about the origins of issues facing Muslims and their neighbors today. Ages 12 up.
Customer Reviews
Good historical overview
"Religion is not faith, it is the story/history of faith. Prophets don't create religions, they simply share the message they receive from an Almighty Creator", Reza Aslan captures the essence of religion and prophets' role in creating a religion. Since Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed shared the message of "faith in One and Only God" Faith is a personal journey in every religion, and unfortunately religion can be used to achieve the objectives of men who appeared to be in charge, whether he was the pope, rabbi, or an imam. Blaming extremist in Islam on the religion, is same as blaming holocaust, crusades, colonialism on Jesus or Christianity. There are crazy people in every religion but thank God there are much much more sane, good, and peaceful people as well.
Very Defensive
What I liked about this book is the fact that it summarizes in a concise manner the various phases of the formation of Islam.
However, the author has clear biases that he tried to emphasize throughout the book. This is surprising from a scholar. The biases are around the successors of the prophet along with the relationship between the religion that the the prophet intended to spread versus the Islam that we see people practice today.
The first part of the book was better in all aspects. The latter part was very defensive and completely missed the point. Trying to separate the Islam of the prophet from the terrorism we see today is wrong. Defending a religion by emphasizing that the original message was misinterpreted by the subsequent followers is no defense at all. In fact, it brings this religion to blame even more because of the usage of words that are misleading without providing a proper guidance.
In other words, if the author is to be believed regarding this issues (words had various meanings that lead to contradictory interpretations), then, well, the god that revealed those words to the prophet had a weird sense of humor.
I must say that the author did a lot better when writing Zealot.
This guys is nuts.
Read some of his current reviews of Israel, and of the United States, and other western world ideals. He is a scholar of what? Show me the credentials. I can claim to be anything I want.
By the way try reading beyond fundamentalism. His book from 2009. He claims the US is fighting a holy war agains Muslims. Ugh... Moron we weren't the ones who started this.