Why I Am a Muslim

[rootedinsong]

15. Why I Am a Muslim, by Asma Gull Hasan

Comments

[sheafrotherdon]

I both learned an enormous amount and really enjoyed Reza Aslan's [No god But God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam]. It's so well written - the prose is so beautiful, especially for a book of its type (explaining the history of an entire religious system / movement.)

[rootedinsong]

Thanks for the recommendation!

[sanguinity]

I liked Haroon Siddiqui's Being Muslim, but you might find it to similarly be an attempt to convince Westerners that certain things are un-Islamic. (I don't have it at hand, but I don't think he so much says, "these things are categorically un-Islamic" as he says, "it's hard to make any sweeping generalizations about Islam beyond the Five Pillars, some reformers use Islam to argue that $badthing is anti-Islamic, and that some $badthings that are associated with Islam (or intensified by Islam) have roots in things like colonialism." It's definitely written as a response to anti-Islam propaganda, but it did make a nice primer.

[rootedinsong]

That does sound a lot better than this.

[sanguinity]

Also, you should have tag-space. We're trying to hold on until after IBARW to do the major overhaul.

[bkworm9]

Seconding Reza Aslan's No god but God.
Also:

Islam: A Short History by Karen Armstrong
Islam: A Straight Path by John L. Esposito
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings