Customer Reviews

Islam: The Alternative

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Murad Hoffman is a contradictory figure it seems to me. He was a senior German diplomat stationed in a Muslim country while at the same time a Muslim himself by faith. With the long history of Western manipulation and defilement of Muslim countries, I wonder how he reconciled his duties to God and Country.

Be that as it may, in ISLAM: THE ALTERNATIVE, he is simply brilliant. There are hardly any good introductions to Islam by Muslims themselves, in English that is. The latest major effort in this genre, A BRIEF ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO ISLAM, is a vivid, and tragic, reminder of how far behind Muslims are in there presentation skills. Not Murad Hoffman though.

In, Islam: the Alternative, he writes a book for the educated, intelligent, perceptive modern man. This is a book you can unabashedly give to your dentist before surgery or your professor before the finals. Its that good. Hoffman tackles a variety of pop media mis-representations and self-doubts of Muslims in this frank potrayal of Islam. And the title, Oh! the title! "Islam, the Alterantive" simply a beautiful representation. For indeed Islam is the only alternative lifestyle to what is increasingly becoming a homogenous defacto materialistic model. No other religion can stand up and offer a viable alternative, and the failure of Christianity to do so is for all to see.

STRUGGLING TO SURRENDER by Dr. Jefferey Lang is the other book that comes to mind of similar intelligent forthrightedness.

"We Hate what we do not Know." Such is how the book starts. Mr Hofmann sheds the lignt in a very concise and summarized manner to some of the major misconcetpions about Islam, a religion so much misunderstood by the West. This book,written by a German dignitary convert,is an excellent introduction to Islam to the West.Simply put: a Must Read.

gives an insight to the religion islam as well as a summary of the other faiths .

a good book to read even if religion is not of your main intrests .

This is a very very beautiful book written by a German Muslim (an ex-ambassador and Director of NATO Information Directorate) who has a very beautifully balanced sunni/salafi (meaning Ashari) understanding. This is a must read for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

As the name of the chapters show the book tries to cover all the "main issues" about Islam ; Islam and the West; The Complete Faith; The Islamic View of Christianity; Belief and Knowledge;Mysticism; Fatalism; Fundamentalism; Tolerance of Violence; Republic orMonarchy; Integrism: The Islamic State; Islamic Market Economy, Islam and the Environment; Art and the Prohibition of Images; Islamic Jurisprudence; Human Rights; Women in Society; The Veiled Orient,Criminal Law; "Holy War"; International Law; When Denigration becomes Tradition.

The Presentation chapter was written by Annemarie Schimmel- a lady who has always amazed me with her capability of clear and deep vision about a different civilizition in an age of information (even scholarship) chaos. Her mentioning a Turkish mother who received the news of her last and tenth child's death and was trying to calm her still crying friends tells what I mean about her ability to SEE. Mr Hofmann also has such an ability to SEE with only a different tone. And the book is full of these little enlightenments, "aha" feelings ( for me after having been reading on Islam for 18 years as well).

His ability and knowledge at approaching to tawhid/triniti issue is impressive. His gentleness and understanding to Islamic fields he does not agree (Shia and partially sufism) gives one feeling of great beauty.

He does not write with the manner of apologizing (as critics of Orientalists made some Muslim authors) but with the manner of discovering this super thing which is a bit hard to see due to its modesty.

The chapter of "When Denigration becomes Tradition" both hurts and gives great hopes to a Muslim and anyone who wants a better world. Mentioning Norman Daniel's "Islam and the West: The Making of an Image" and Ekkehart Rotter's "Abendland und Sarazenen. Das Okzidentale Araber bild und seine Entstehung im Frühmittelater" he says we know now that the Christian propaganda even at Middle Ages was very consciously designed so that people do not receive healthy knowledge on Islam. That very pious Christians (Peter the Venerable in this case) deformed translations of Quran about the very core code of Islam (There are no gods other then God (Allah) and Muhammed is his messanger) as "There is no god other then Muhammed" freezes my blood even months after reading this book. Muslims I tell this also freeze unable to understand this kind of hatred.

These are the reasons I believe it is a must for responsible people to read this book and although I have not read them yet I believe we must all read Daniel's and Rotter's books too.

Muslims also must open their hearts to gentle criticisms of this beautiful German Muslim and his suggestions on what we can do for a better world. I believe it is an Islamic virtue to accept that Islam is perfect but we individual Moslems or Moslem groups are not.

Mr Hofmann is a very well eductaed man who belongs to both Islam and the west. In his book Islam the aternative he takes us into a wonderful well reviewed journey of both Islam and the western world. In it Mr Hofmann uses an elaquont language to describe the hidden treasures of Islam that the west does not know. He also tries to narrow the gap between both ways of life showing that there are common pathways that they both share. It is worth every minute to read as you will gain access through it to a wealth of reviewed literature by Mr. Hofmann. My God reward him.

Are we a product of our enviourment, loving to hate what our religious cults have been teaching us over centuries ?
A mind that is completely shilded from other ideas and thougthts is like a room with no windows.
The book opens many windows, letting us see outside And also helping us look inside ourselves.
A MUST READ.

Few non-Muslims are even aware of the Hadith, a huge collection of the sayings of Mohammed and episodes from his life. However, reading those documents is very revealing. The misogyny is unrelenting. Mohammed is directly quoted as stating that women are deficient in intellect and that is why the Koran counts their testimony as being half the value of that of a man.
Islam is suffused with the cruelty of slavery. Mohammed left many rules for slaveowners and over 11 million Black Africans were kidnapped from their homes for service in the Ottoman empire and its precursors.
The Hadith reveal Mohammed as the violent war lord that he was.