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Passionate Believing: The "Fundamentalist" Face of Islam

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From the back cover: "Passionate Believing has three sections. First. Dr. Musk introduces Islamic fundamentalism, explaining how, from a Muslim perspective, life should be organised. Part Two presents, in detail, three developing models of fundamentalism, as expressed in Pakistan, Egypt, and Iran. The third - and most disturbing - section evaluates fundamentalism in its Muslim and Christian forms. Why do the ayatollahs have such power? How have western Christians retreated from the confrontation with humanist and pagan forces? If the differences between Christianity and Islam revolve around the person of Jesus, just how does Christ require Christians to challenge the faithlessness and corruption of much western culture?" [The Rev. Dr Bill A. Musk studied history at Oxford and theology in London, Bristol, Los Angeles and Pretoria. He has worked with Operation Mobilisation, Living Bibles International, Middle East Media, Interserve, the Church Missionary Society, and the Episcopal Church in Egypt. He and his wife Hilary have four children and live in Liverpool, where he is team vicar of an Anglican church.] This is not some light-weight, `follow the Bible or else' book. The author first explains that westerners need to understand how their secular world differs from the Muslim perspective that their religion's `commandments' should govern "Allah's state." He reviews the components of the Islamic state: the umma (Muslim community), the sharia (Islamic law), and the khilafa (a community's leadership). True, this is not an extensive scholarly Brill-like analysis tome. Nonetheless, this book is a good beginners-level work in understanding how various 20th-century Islamist proponents (Egypt's Banna & Qutb, Iran's Jalal Ahmad, Pakistan's Jinnah, and Syria's Rida) sought to create Islamic states. He clarifies the differences between the original `Alid Shi'sim from the late `Safavid Shi'ism. A good, quick read in trying to understand a Muslim's 'passion' for his religion.