Islam
May 2011 · Hachette UK
4.1star
32 reviewsreport
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224
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About this ebook
One of the world's foremost commentators on religious affairs on the history (and destiny) of the world's most misunderstood religion.
In the public mind, Islam is a religion of extremes: it is the world's fastest growing faith; more than three-quarters of the world's refugees are Islamic; it has produced government by authoritarian monarchies in Saudi Arabia and ultra-republicans in Iran. Whether we are reading about civil war in Algeria or Afghanistan, the struggle for the soul of Turkey, or political turmoil in Pakistan or Malaysia, the Islamic context permeates all these situations.
Karen Armstrong's elegant and concise book traces how Islam grew from the other religions of the book, Judaism and Christianity; introduces us to the character of Muhammed; and demonstrates that for much of its history, the religion has been a force for enlightenment that promoted liberties for women and allowed the arts and sciences to flourish.
ISLAM shows how this progressive legacy is today often set aside as the faith struggles to come to terms with the economic and political weakness of most of its believers and with the forces of modernity itself.
In the public mind, Islam is a religion of extremes: it is the world's fastest growing faith; more than three-quarters of the world's refugees are Islamic; it has produced government by authoritarian monarchies in Saudi Arabia and ultra-republicans in Iran. Whether we are reading about civil war in Algeria or Afghanistan, the struggle for the soul of Turkey, or political turmoil in Pakistan or Malaysia, the Islamic context permeates all these situations.
Karen Armstrong's elegant and concise book traces how Islam grew from the other religions of the book, Judaism and Christianity; introduces us to the character of Muhammed; and demonstrates that for much of its history, the religion has been a force for enlightenment that promoted liberties for women and allowed the arts and sciences to flourish.
ISLAM shows how this progressive legacy is today often set aside as the faith struggles to come to terms with the economic and political weakness of most of its believers and with the forces of modernity itself.
Ratings and reviews
4.1
32 reviews
A Google user
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May 2, 2012
Please research Karen Armstrongs background and critics before reading any of her books. Armstrong has been criticised for her portrayal of Islam, which historian Efraim Karsh considered "ahistorical"[26] while librarian Raymond Ibrahim characterised her work as Islamic apologetics.[27] Much of Armstrong’s howling is rooted in her own anti-Christian bigotry, especially her hostility against the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, Islam has apparently done much to aid her “convalescence”: supposedly, she is recovering from a bad religious experience during her time as a nun, or something. As she put it in an interview with Al-Jazeera on December 20, 2005: “I really admire the Muslim tradition so much…it was the study of Islam and Judaism, but Islam particularly, that brought me back to a sense of what religion could be at its best…I have absorbed so much of Islam that it has become a part of me…I would describe myself as convalescent; recovering from a bad religious experience by the study of these other traditions which continue to inspire me and feed me.” Reread the parts highlighted in bold, and before your eyes unfolds a picture of a deeply and hopelessly confused woman.
MH Nadzri Abdullah
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November 20, 2023
Dont writing if not good father and dignity. Muslim must help each and pray wth mosque... Not condem Arab fault.
Ahmed Alfadheel
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April 20, 2021
Hi, I refund request of SAR 56.03 for Islam please
2 people found this review helpful
About the author
Karen Armstrong spent seven years as a Roman Catholic nun, an experience she recollected in her two volumes of best-selling autobiography, Through the Narrow Gate and Beginning the World. She is the author of the world-wide best-seller, A History of God (which has now appeared in more than thirty languages), the acclaimed History of Jerusalem and, most recently, The Battle for God. She is a teacher at the Leo Baeck College for the Study of Judaism and, in 1999, she received the Muslim Public Affairs Council Media Award.
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