20 May
I was a skinny bespectacled?child who didn?t excel at sports, but who read alot. Alot. So the way in which I became noteworthy was by knowing alot. I prided myself on being the kid who knew more about what you were talking about than you did. Pretty obnoxious, I know. The predictable side effect of such a trait was that I grew up into an arrogant young man. And as others caught up to me in knowledge, I was left with an arrogance and pride that was not only obnoxious, but also unwarranted.
Over the years, I?ve gotten smacked down enough by life that I?ve gotten a lot better about the pride thing. I?ve gotten a lot better in the humility department, but?pride still rears its ugly head. It is this pride that keeps me away from the series of books entitled ?The Complete Idiot?s Guide.? Even at my humblest, I don?t consider myself a complete idiot, so why read (and carry around) a book apparently written for complete idiots?
Well, in this case I overcame my pride and am glad that I did. I acknowledged to myself how little I knew about Islam and just how much I thought I knew about it that was probably completely incorrect. I humbled myself and bought?The Complete Idiot?s Guide to Understanding Islam?by Yahiya Emerick. I?m glad I did, and I recommend it to anyone seeking to learn more about this misrepresented faith.
The book thankfully doesn?t treat you like an idiot, but it does start from the ground up and gives you a good foundation of information about the life of Muhammad, the process by which the Qur?an was revealed to him, the history of Islam, Muslim culture, and also allows you to dip your toes into the deep waters of the Arab-Israel conflict and the root causes of 9/11 and other terrorist acts. One thing I learned is how little I know about the history of the Arab world and how impossible it is to judge Arab nations and the faith of Islam without a better understanding of that history. Yahiya Emerick is an American convert to Islam, and so he is well-suited to communicate Islam to Americans. Mr. Emerick does a good job of addressing the questions Americans are likely to have about Islam and its role, where it has one, in the terrorist attacks which have made us suddenly aware of this faith. He also does a good job in explaining that so much of what we?ve come to associate with Islam has no basis whatsoever in the Qur?an or the teachings of Muhammad.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone who wishes to gain a better understanding of the Qur?an, Islam, Muhammad, or the Arab world.
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