"No god but God" by Reza Aslam

I recently finished the book cited above and found it both interesting and especially well-written. For more about the author and the book (and other writings) click on the post title above.

There are several good reviews of the book including the following:

http://www.amazon.com/No-god-but-God-Evolution/dp/1400062136

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/04/25/174945.php

The following link leads you to an interview with the author:

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/04/08/203604.php

The last paragraph of the book reads as follows:

"It may be too early to know who will write the next chapter of Islam's history, but it is not too early to recognize who will ultimately win the war between reform and counter reform. When fourteen centuries ago Muhammad launched a revolution in Mecca to replace the archaic, rigid, and inequitable strictures of tribal society with a radically new vision of divine morality and social egalitarianism, he tore apart the fabric of traditional Arab society. It took many years of violence and devastation to cleanse the Hijaz of its 'false idols'. It will take many more to cleanse Islam of its new false idols - bigotry and fanaticism - worshipped by those who have replaced Muhammad's original vision of tolerance and unity with their own ideals of hatred and discord. But the cleansing is inevitable, and the tide of reform cannot be stopped. The Islamic Reformation is already here. We are all living it."

I can only hope that we survive what is already looking like a new "hundred years' war" and that the outcome is as the author posits.