I have just finished reading "The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists" by Khaled Abou El Fadl and recommend it highly to anyone wanting to understanding the schism in Islam between what El Fadl refers to as "Moderates" and "Puritains". (Click on post title above to see Amazon's listing and reader reviews for the book. Note that it is a real bargain to boot.)
El Fadl is an Islamic jurist who is Professor at UCLA. He takes an Islamic jurist's look at the Qur'am and how it can be (and, historically was) interpreted in a moderate way and how the Puritans have hijacked the holy book and the Islamic religion in a perverse fashion. His analysis should interest and appeal to Muslims and non-Muslims as well.
He concludes with a short but important chapter on what the moderates must do in order to reassert the primacy of their enlightened view of their religion.
Not a long book and reasonably accessible. Read it for sure.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
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