A brave and challenging message for 21st-century Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
A critical assessment of modern Islam.
In trying to shape his son’s understanding of Islam, Qureshi, author of The Broken Contract, began a journey of exploration that led him to realize how modern Islamic orthodoxy, on one hand, and Islamophobia, on the other, had warped perceptions of Islam into something it is not. The author introduces lay readers to the history of the religion, humanizes its original adherents, and clarifies the message of the Qur’an, countering the messages of ossified leaders and bigoted detractors. Qureshi uses much of the same historical and literary criticism techniques that theology scholars have used since the 1800s in examining the origins of Christianity. The author reclaims Muhammad, his contemporaries, and his immediate heirs from the fundamentalist viewpoint of perfection, clearly demonstrating their humanity and even frailty. He shows these early leaders as people capable of doubt and discord, as opposed to the infallible saints of legend. Similarly, the author demonstrates that the Qur’an and the hadiths of Muhammad have far more nebulous origins than many present-day religious leaders would allow. Qureshi recognizes that many of his explanations of Islam are not only unpopular, but even dangerous. “There is a lot of content in this book alone that if you were to publicly state in a Muslim-majority country, you could easily end up behind bars, beaten, or killed,” he writes. “There’s not a lot of breathing space there to challenge orthodoxy.” Yet Qureshi believes an open-minded approach to Islam is imperative for its message to resonate with future generations. The author uses an informal, even lighthearted, style backed up by solid research. Readers would be well served by following up this book with Mohamad Jebara’s The Life of the Qur’an, a deeper dive into the origins of Islam.
A brave and challenging message for 21st-century Muslims and non-Muslims alike.Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781538189320
Page Count: 328
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
A philosophically rich critique of state violence and mass apathy.
An Egyptian Canadian journalist writes searchingly of this time of war.
“Rules, conventions, morals, reality itself: all exist so long as their existence is convenient to the preservation of power.” So writes El Akkad, who goes on to state that one of the demands of modern power is that those subject to it must imagine that some group of people somewhere are not fully human. El Akkad’s pointed example is Gaza, the current destruction of which, he writes, is causing millions of people around the world to examine the supposedly rules-governed, democratic West and declare, “I want nothing to do with this.” El Akkad, author of the novel American War (2017), discerns hypocrisy and racism in the West’s defense of Ukraine and what he views as indifference toward the Palestinian people. No stranger to war zones himself—El Akkad was a correspondent in Afghanistan and Iraq—he writes with grim matter-of-factness about murdered children, famine, and the deliberate targeting of civilians. With no love for Zionism lost, he offers an equally harsh critique of Hamas, yet another one of the “entities obsessed with violence as an ethos, brutal in their treatment of minority groups who in their view should not exist, and self-decreed to be the true protectors of an entire religion.” Taking a global view, El Akkad, who lives in the U.S., finds almost every government and society wanting, and not least those, he says, that turn away and pretend not to know, behavior that we’ve seen before and that, in the spirit of his title, will one day be explained away until, in the end, it comes down to “a quiet unheard reckoning in the winter of life between the one who said nothing, did nothing, and their own soul.”
A philosophically rich critique of state violence and mass apathy.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780593804148
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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