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kingabzpro's review against another edition
3.0
It's very unique book about how Islamist ideology works and what is word jahad and how to counter far toxic extremists groups. This book have very rich vocabulary and explains 2 perspectives of highly functioning individuals with limited knowledge about religion.
shivani_maurya's review against another edition
4.0
I was binge watching old episodes of Politically Incorrect and Real Time when I stumbled upon Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz as Bill's interviewees and panelists. And their brief appearances were enough to convince me to embark on the hunt for more dialogues and debates featuring the two. Undeniably, it has been a rewarding week so far. Having watched some of their discussions online, it became easier to approach this book. For me the main takeaway is summed up by Maajid's belief that :
And the dialogue adheres to it in spirit. Coming from two opposite ends on the faith spectrum, Sam and Maajid steer clear of their differences and instead focus on addressing the failure of constructive discussions on Islam and the reforms required to purge the extremists from the Islamic community. To this end they discuss their approaches to Islam as a religion and the parts of its scriptures that are vacuously interpreted by Jihadists and Islamists to further their nefarious ends. They enunciate the impediments to integration of Islam with modern secularist world view, based heavily on human rights and their guarantee. Yes, their inherent beliefs do emerge in this dialogue..but not to drown each other out. Rather they try to fill the gaps in each other's views and reach a common ground. They advocate for freedom of speech via criticism, they discuss the salience of plurality in interpretation of scriptures, they denounce the violence committed by extremist groups and chide the liberal left for its failure in stopping faith based atrocities in the name of cultural tolerance. It is a remarkable discussion, the likes of which we don't come across very often.
The dialogue has made me eager to check out other Muslim and non-Muslim speakers, in order to explore the real time reckoning of a religion with the secularist and liberal world view. I wish all religions were under just as strict a scrutiny as Islam. After all no religion is free from fundamentalism and violence in the name of faith. But all in good time I suppose. For now the intellectual battle lines are drawn over the need for reforms and the fundamentalist push back to it. I hope to learn more from such discussions and internalize them irrespective of the religion under scrutiny. At the end of the day, it is a battle of ideas. May the best one prevail.
No idea is above scrutiny and no people are beneath dignity.
And the dialogue adheres to it in spirit. Coming from two opposite ends on the faith spectrum, Sam and Maajid steer clear of their differences and instead focus on addressing the failure of constructive discussions on Islam and the reforms required to purge the extremists from the Islamic community. To this end they discuss their approaches to Islam as a religion and the parts of its scriptures that are vacuously interpreted by Jihadists and Islamists to further their nefarious ends. They enunciate the impediments to integration of Islam with modern secularist world view, based heavily on human rights and their guarantee. Yes, their inherent beliefs do emerge in this dialogue..but not to drown each other out. Rather they try to fill the gaps in each other's views and reach a common ground. They advocate for freedom of speech via criticism, they discuss the salience of plurality in interpretation of scriptures, they denounce the violence committed by extremist groups and chide the liberal left for its failure in stopping faith based atrocities in the name of cultural tolerance. It is a remarkable discussion, the likes of which we don't come across very often.
The dialogue has made me eager to check out other Muslim and non-Muslim speakers, in order to explore the real time reckoning of a religion with the secularist and liberal world view. I wish all religions were under just as strict a scrutiny as Islam. After all no religion is free from fundamentalism and violence in the name of faith. But all in good time I suppose. For now the intellectual battle lines are drawn over the need for reforms and the fundamentalist push back to it. I hope to learn more from such discussions and internalize them irrespective of the religion under scrutiny. At the end of the day, it is a battle of ideas. May the best one prevail.
lennyankireddi's review against another edition
5.0
The book reads, as the title suggests, like a dialog between two individuals with divergent views on a topic and different experiential backgrounds, offering a perspective, asking and answering questions and debating a topic that few intend to approach with candor and honesty. I felt most gratified from the way the authors set the parameters for the conversation and define terminology with early on, so that when either of them is mentioning a certain concept, one knows exactly what they are talking about. Both participants seem to have made a very sincere attempt to stay honest to the conversation and desist from needlessly sugarcoating or exaggerating subjects. There are occasions when one might find themselves disagreeing with the change in tone one might perceive of the authors, especially if they are aware of their former positions on issues. One might find there is a certain softening of tenor and a shuffling towards the center in the positions taken but for the most part, this does not tarnish the quality of the discourse. For anyone who feels this topic is of unavoidable and prime importance in this day and age, this dialog will clarify and inform a lot of things. What it will not do is provide definitive solutions. It is not meant to. The focus of the authors was to get a conversation started with a clear definition of terms and to make people feel like it is alright to engage in such. In this, the dialog has a great chance of succeeding with those who read the book with an open mind.
bronwynmb's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this. I definitely will need to read it again to better absorb it all.
drifterontherun's review against another edition
5.0
I've been a Sam Harris fan for a while now. When it comes to atheism, spirituality, free will, lying, morality, and Christianity, he's oftentimes the most thoughtful and knowledgeable person on the subject. We can now add Islam to that last. Sam Harris has often been slammed by disingenuous "liberals" who claim that he is nothing more than a bigot who cites all muslims as being responsible for the actions of a few. Some of the regressive leftists who have engaged in this name calling are those I otherwise respect, like the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Glenn Greenwald. Others are far more blatant and summon no respect from me at all, like out and out Islamist apologist Reza Aslan.
In this slim book, Sam Harris joins forces with former extremist (and true Muslim moderate) Maajid Nawaz in a dialogue about nothing less than the future of the world's second largest religion and what that means for the rest of us. Harris and Nawaz both address their critics on the far right and the regressive left and what they manage to accomplish in a little more than 120 pages is nothing more than a map showing us all, Muslim or not, the way forward. Harris points out, rightly, that Christian demagoguery is doomed to not only fail but further inspire jihadis and islamists while Nawaz speaks most eloquently on the harm that regressive leftists like Greenwald and Aslan are doing to the cause of moderate Muslims.
Overall, this is a helpful guide for the rest of us for many reasons, not least of which is simply explaining, clearly, the difference between an Islamist and a Jihadi. Talking about Islam - the good and the bad - as these two men do over these pages is something that has become far too rare in the politically correct world we live in. To hell with such cowardice.
In this slim book, Sam Harris joins forces with former extremist (and true Muslim moderate) Maajid Nawaz in a dialogue about nothing less than the future of the world's second largest religion and what that means for the rest of us. Harris and Nawaz both address their critics on the far right and the regressive left and what they manage to accomplish in a little more than 120 pages is nothing more than a map showing us all, Muslim or not, the way forward. Harris points out, rightly, that Christian demagoguery is doomed to not only fail but further inspire jihadis and islamists while Nawaz speaks most eloquently on the harm that regressive leftists like Greenwald and Aslan are doing to the cause of moderate Muslims.
Overall, this is a helpful guide for the rest of us for many reasons, not least of which is simply explaining, clearly, the difference between an Islamist and a Jihadi. Talking about Islam - the good and the bad - as these two men do over these pages is something that has become far too rare in the politically correct world we live in. To hell with such cowardice.
goomz's review against another edition
2018 update: originally gave this 5-stars. It's interesting for anyone who wants to understand the new atheist movement, it clearly lays out the main differences in approach and some useful terminology. I read this at the last possible time I could still read a Sam Harris book neutrally, and I really started to see how unhelpful Harris' viewpoint was (even though I agreed with it at the time). Nawaz had aspirational and noble goals, Harris responds with some problem, Nawaz goes, "yes, that's going to be a challenge." No contribution except on Islam's unsalvageability. I saw Nawaz on Twitter saying something about "The SJWs" or "political correctness" or something along those lines, disappointed to see that's all he was after all.
aaylajanelle's review against another edition
4.0
What I found most useful about this book was the depth of knowledge that the authors brought. This book has given me a much more nuanced understanding of some critical aspects of Islamism and differences between types of Muslims. Overall it was very enlightening.
dj_yossarian's review against another edition
3.0
I think it's essential to have these sorts of difficult discussions, and I found the first half of this book to be very enlightening. I'm not a huge fan of Sam Harris but he did push Maajid Nawaz to answer some very tough questions about how Nawaz and his laudable organization Quilliam specifically propose to combat Islamism and foster reform in Muslim societies.
The book sort of petered out at a certain point, and to be honest even this slim volume was too much Sam Harris for me (I find really strident atheists to be as annoying as really strident anybody elses). It was worth reading and will give me a better understanding when I go to read other books on the topic, and I'm glad to know about the work Quilliam is doing.
The book sort of petered out at a certain point, and to be honest even this slim volume was too much Sam Harris for me (I find really strident atheists to be as annoying as really strident anybody elses). It was worth reading and will give me a better understanding when I go to read other books on the topic, and I'm glad to know about the work Quilliam is doing.