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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
informative
slow-paced
I started reading this shortly after I started to read the Qur'an, this helped put the Qur'an in context and clarifies things. This book was pretty good, it covers early Islamic history including the time shortly before Mohammad, Mohammad's life and then his early successors, it also covers three different sects of Islam, the Shi'ites, the Sunni, and Sufism (along with some of the current extremists). This book is very defensive of Mohammad portraying him as an almost perfect prophet (although denying that he was taken to heaven before he died), it was defensive enough that I almost feel I need to read another biography to get a more balanced view. The last few chapters covered the modern era, extremists and bringing democracy to Islamic countries, since this book was written shortly after 9-11, these chapters probably were what the book was leading up to (to show how extremists perverted Mohammad's view), but for the most part I don't think they added much.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
informative
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I don't know enough about Islam to critique Aslan's presentation of history, but it strikes me as very similar to the tone he takes in Zealot. It is a softer approach than history might approve, though I have no reason to believe that he is bending any facts here. He is presenting history in a certain context to demonstrate that "fundamentalism" in many ways strays from the spirit and origin of Islam. It is very similar to what he does in Zealot: it is a well presented overview of a broad span of religious history, designed in part to irritate fundamentalists.