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A review by beatsbybeard
Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue by Maajid Nawaz, Sam Harris
4.0
True to its subtitle, this short volume is a clear, respectful, and candid dialogue. Harris (outspoken atheist) and Nawaz (liberal Muslim) have received flak from all sides for their efforts here, one critic even calling Nawaz Sam Harris's "lapdog" and a "porch monkey". Yikes.
The results of politicized religion are inevitably disastrous, and since Islamism (as defined by Nawaz, "a political movement to impose Islam on society") is on the rise, it is the particular focus of this book. Nawaz advocates for secular, pluralist democracies focused on human rights as the way forward. Something I particularly like about the book is that Nawaz gets most of the ink; it would be all too easy for people to write this off as inauthentic if the points made were only coming from Harris. The two men agree that liberals have largely failed to acknowledge the ideological problem behind Islamism and jihadism (the use of force to spread Islamism). "Regressive leftists" instead find any and all other ways to justify the violent behavior – Western colonialism and imperialism chiefly at fault – while hurling the term "Islamophobia" at anyone who points out the jihadis' religious motives. As a result, they often end up siding with insidious theocrats and violent zealots who wish for the global rule of Islam. Nawaz's nuanced thinking on this is particularly helpful in articulating the spectrum on which jihadis, Islamists, conservative Muslims, and liberal Muslims reside.
Given how short this book is and how clear its authors' ideas are, I recommend it to anyone who cares enough to think about the topic in subtler ways. In such a polarized field, it's refreshing to see such candor and deep mutual respect.
The results of politicized religion are inevitably disastrous, and since Islamism (as defined by Nawaz, "a political movement to impose Islam on society") is on the rise, it is the particular focus of this book. Nawaz advocates for secular, pluralist democracies focused on human rights as the way forward. Something I particularly like about the book is that Nawaz gets most of the ink; it would be all too easy for people to write this off as inauthentic if the points made were only coming from Harris. The two men agree that liberals have largely failed to acknowledge the ideological problem behind Islamism and jihadism (the use of force to spread Islamism). "Regressive leftists" instead find any and all other ways to justify the violent behavior – Western colonialism and imperialism chiefly at fault – while hurling the term "Islamophobia" at anyone who points out the jihadis' religious motives. As a result, they often end up siding with insidious theocrats and violent zealots who wish for the global rule of Islam. Nawaz's nuanced thinking on this is particularly helpful in articulating the spectrum on which jihadis, Islamists, conservative Muslims, and liberal Muslims reside.
Given how short this book is and how clear its authors' ideas are, I recommend it to anyone who cares enough to think about the topic in subtler ways. In such a polarized field, it's refreshing to see such candor and deep mutual respect.