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No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam Paperback – August 30, 2011

by Reza Aslan (Author)

1,709 ratings

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A fascinating, accessible introduction to Islam from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Zealot

FINALIST FOR THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD

In No god but God, internationally acclaimed scholar Reza Aslan explains Islam—the origins and evolution of the faith—in all its beauty and complexity. This updated edition addresses the events of the past decade, analyzing how they have influenced Islam’s position in modern culture. Aslan explores what the popular demonstrations pushing for democracy in the Middle East mean for the future of Islam in the region, how the Internet and social media have affected Islam’s evolution, and how the war on terror has altered the geopolitical balance of power in the Middle East. He also provides an update on the contemporary Muslim women’s movement, a discussion of the controversy over veiling in Europe, an in-depth history of Jihadism, and a look at how Muslims living in North America and Europe are changing the face of Islam. Timely and persuasive, No god but God is an elegantly written account that explains this magnificent yet misunderstood faith.

Praise for No god but God

“Grippingly narrated and thoughtfully examined . . . a literate, accessible introduction to Islam.”—The New York Times

“[Reza] Aslan offers an invaluable introduction to the forces that have shaped Islam [in this] eloquent, erudite paean to Islam in all of its complicated glory.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Wise and passionate . . . an incisive, scholarly primer in Muslim history and an engaging personal exploration.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Acutely perceptive . . . For many troubled Muslims, this book will feel like a revelation, an opening up of knowledge too long buried.”—The Independent (U.K.)

“Thoroughly engaging and excellently written . . . While [Aslan] might claim to be a mere scholar of the Islamic Reformation, he is also one of its most articulate advocates.”—The Oregonian

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Grippingly narrated and thoughtfully examined . . . a literate, accessible introduction to Islam.”—The New York Times

“[Reza] Aslan offers an invaluable introduction to the forces that have shaped Islam [in this] eloquent, erudite paean to Islam in all of its complicated glory.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Wise and passionate . . . an incisive, scholarly primer in Muslim history and an engaging personal exploration.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Acutely perceptive . . . For many troubled Muslims, this book will feel like a revelation, an opening up of knowledge too long buried.”—The Independent (U.K.)

“Thoroughly engaging and excellently written . . . While [Aslan] might claim to be a mere scholar of the Islamic Reformation, he is also one of its most articulate advocates.”—The Oregonian

About the Author

Reza Aslan is an acclaimed writer and scholar of religions whose books include No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam and Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. He is also the author of How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror (published in paperback as Beyond Fundamentalism), as well as the editor of Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three sons.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1. The Sanctuary in the Desert

PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA

Arabia. The Sixth Century C.E.

IN THE ARID, desolate basin of Mecca, surrounded on all sides by the bare mountains of the Arabian desert, stands a small, nondescript sanctuary that the ancient Arabs refer to as the Kaaba: the Cube. The Kaaba is a squat, roofless edifice made of unmortared stones and sunk into a valley of sand. Its four walls--so low it is said a young goat can leap over them--are swathed in strips of heavy cloth. At its base, two small doors are chiseled into the gray stone, allowing entry into the inner sanctum. It is here, inside the cramped interior of the sanctuary, that the gods of pre-Islamic Arabia reside: Hubal, the Syrian god of the moon; al-Uzza, the powerful goddess the Egyptians knew as Isis and the Greeks called Aphrodite; al-Kutba, the Nabataean god of writing and divination; Jesus, the incarnate god of the Christians, and his holy mother, Mary.

In all, there are said to be three hundred sixty idols housed in and around the Kaaba, representing every god recognized in the Arabian Peninsula. During the holy months, when the desert fairs and the great markets envelop the city of Mecca, pilgrims from all over the Peninsula make their way to this barren land to visit their tribal deities. They sing songs of worship and dance in front of the gods; they make sacrifices and pray for health. Then, in a remarkable ritual--the origins of which are a mystery--the pilgrims gather as a group and rotate around the Kaaba seven times, some pausing to kiss each corner of the sanctuary before being captured and swept away again by the current of bodies.

The pagan Arabs gathered around the Kaaba believe their sanctuary to have been founded by Adam, the first man. They believe that Adam's original edifice was destroyed by the Great Flood, then rebuilt by Noah. They believe that after Noah, the Kaaba was forgotten for centuries until Abraham rediscovered it while visiting his firstborn son, Ismail, and his concubine, Hagar, both of whom had been banished to this wilderness at the behest of Abraham's wife, Sarah. And they believe it was at this very spot that Abraham nearly sacrificed Ismail before being stopped by the promise that, like his younger brother, Isaac, Ismail would also sire a great nation, the descendants of whom now spin over the sandy Meccan valley like a desert whirlwind.

Of course, these are just stories intended to convey what the Kaaba means, not where it came from. The truth is that no one knows who built the Kaaba, or how long it has been here. It is likely that the sanctuary was not even the original reason for the sanctity of this place. Near the Kaaba is a well called Zamzam, fed by a bountiful underground spring, which tradition claims had been placed there to nourish Hagar and Ismail. It requires no stretch of the imagination to recognize how a spring situated in the middle of the desert could become a sacred place for the wandering Bedouin tribes of Arabia. The Kaaba itself may have been erected many years later, not as some sort of Arab pantheon, but as a secure place to store the consecrated objects used in the rituals that had evolved around Zamzam. Indeed, the earliest traditions concerning the Kaaba claim that inside its walls was a pit, dug into the sand, which contained "treasures" magically guarded by a snake.

It is also possible that the original sanctuary held some cosmological significance for the ancient Arabs. Not only were many of the idols in the Kaaba associated with the planets and stars, but the legend that they totaled three hundred sixty in number suggests astral connotations. The seven circumambulations of the Kaaba--called tawaf in Arabic and still the primary ritual of the annual Hajj pilgrimage--may have been intended to mimic the motion of the heavenly bodies. It was, after all, a common belief among ancient peoples that their temples and sanctuaries were terrestrial replicas of the cosmic mountain from which creation sprang. The Kaaba, like the Pyramids in Egypt or the Temple in Jerusalem, may have been constructed as an axis mundi, sometimes called a "navel spot": a sacred space around which the universe revolves, the link between the earth and the solid dome of heaven. That would explain why there was once a nail driven into the floor of the Kaaba that the ancient Arabs referred to as "the navel of the world." As G. R. Hawting has shown, the ancient pilgrims would sometimes enter the sanctuary, tear off their clothes, and place their own navels over the nail, thereby merging with the cosmos.

Alas, as with so many things about the Kaaba, its origins are mere speculation. The only thing scholars can say with any certainty is that by the sixth century C.E., this small sanctuary made of mud and stone had become the center of religious life in pre-Islamic Arabia: that intriguing yet ill-defined era of paganism that Muslims refer to as the Jahiliyyah--"the Time of Ignorance."

TRADITIONALLY, THE JAHILIYYAH has been defined by Muslims as an era of moral depravity and religious discord: a time when the sons of Ismail had obscured belief in the one true God and plunged the Arabian Peninsula into the darkness of idolatry. But then, like the rising of the dawn, the Prophet Muhammad emerged in Mecca at the beginning of the seventh century, preaching a message of absolute monotheism and uncompromising morality. Through the miraculous revelations he received from God, Muhammad put an end to the paganism of the Arabs and replaced the "Time of Ignorance" with the universal religion of Islam.

In actuality, the religious experience of the pre-Islamic Arabs was far more complex than this tradition suggests. It is true that before the rise of Islam the Arabian Peninsula was dominated by paganism. But, like "Hinduism," "paganism" is a meaningless and somewhat derogatory catchall term created by those outside the tradition to categorize what is in reality an almost unlimited variety of beliefs and practices. The word paganus means "a rustic villager" or "a boor," and was originally used by Christians as a term of abuse to describe those who followed any religion but theirs. In some ways, this is an appropriate designation. Unlike Christianity, paganism is not so much a unified system of beliefs and practices as it is a religious perspective, one that is receptive to a multitude of influences and interpretations. Often, though not always, polytheistic, paganism strives for neither universalism nor moral absolutism. There is no such thing as a pagan creed or a pagan canon. Nothing exists that could properly be termed "pagan orthodoxy" or "pagan heterodoxy."

What is more, when referring to the paganism of the pre-Islamic Arabs, it is important to make a distinction between the nomadic Bedouin religious experience and the experience of those sedentary tribes that had settled in major population centers like Mecca. Bedouin paganism in sixth-century Arabia may have encompassed a range of beliefs and practices--from fetishism to totemism to manism (ancestor cults)--but it was not as concerned with the more metaphysical questions that were cultivated in the larger sedentary societies of Arabia, particularly with regard to issues like the afterlife. This is not to say that the Bedouin practiced nothing more than a primitive idolatry. On the contrary, there is every reason to believe that the Bedouin of pre-Islamic Arabia enjoyed a rich and diverse religious tradition. However, the nomadic lifestyle is one that requires a religion to address immediate concerns: Which god can lead us to water? Which god can heal our illnesses?

In contrast, paganism among the sedentary societies of Arabia had developed from its earlier and simpler manifestations into a complex form of neo-animism, providing a host of divine and semi-divine intermediaries who stood between the creator god and his creation. This creator god was called Allah, which is not a proper name but a contraction of the word al-ilah, meaning simply "the god." Like his Greek counterpart, Zeus, Allah was originally an ancient rain/sky deity who had been elevated into the role of the supreme god of the pre-Islamic Arabs. Though a powerful deity to swear by, Allah's eminent status in the Arab pantheon rendered him, like most High Gods, beyond the supplications of ordinary people. Only in times of great peril would anyone bother consulting him. Otherwise, it was far more expedient to turn to the lesser, more accessible gods who acted as Allah's intercessors, the most powerful of whom were his three daughters, Allat ("the goddess"), al-Uzza ("the mighty"), and Manat (the goddess of fate, whose name is probably derived from the Hebrew word mana, meaning "portion" or "share"). These divine mediators were not only represented in the Kaaba, they had their own individual shrines throughout the Arabian Peninsula: Allat in the city of Ta'if;

al-Uzza in Nakhlah; and Manat in Qudayd. It was to them that the Arabs prayed when they needed rain, when their children were ill, when they entered into battle or embarked on a journey deep into the treacherous desert abodes of the Jinn--those intelligent, imperceptible, and salvable beings made of smokeless flame who are called "genies" in the West and who function as the nymphs and fairies of Arabian mythology.

There were no priests and no pagan scriptures in pre-Islamic Arabia, but that does not mean the gods remained silent. They regularly revealed themselves through the ecstatic utterances of a group of cultic officials known as the Kahins. The Kahins were poets who functioned primarily as soothsayers and who, for a fee, would fall into a trance in which they would reveal divine messages through rhyming couplets. Poets already had an important role in pre-Islamic society as bards, tribal historians, social commentators, dispensers of moral philosophy, and, on occasion, administrators of justice. But the Kahins represented a more spiritual function of the poet. Emerging from every social and economic stratum, and including a number of women, the Kahins interpreted dreams, cleared up crimes, found lost animals, settled disputes, and expounded upon ethics. As with their Pythian counterparts at Delphi, however, the Kahins' oracles were vague and deliberately imprecise; it was the supplicant's responsibility to figure out what the gods actually meant.

Although considered the link between humanity and the divine, the Kahins did not communicate directly with the gods but rather accessed them through the Jinn and other spirits who were such an integral part of the Jahiliyyah religious experience. Even so, neither the Kahins, nor anyone else for that matter, had access to Allah. In fact, the god who had created the heavens and the earth, who had fashioned human beings in his own image, was the only god in the whole of the Hijaz not represented by an idol in the Kaaba. Although called "the King of the Gods" and "the Lord of the House," Allah was not the central deity in the Kaaba. That honor belonged to Hubal, the Syrian god who had been brought to Mecca centuries before the rise of Islam.

Despite Allah's minimal role in the religious cult of pre-Islamic Arabia, his eminent position in the Arab pantheon is a clear indication of just how far paganism in the Arabian Peninsula had evolved from its simple animistic roots. Perhaps the most striking example of this development can be seen in the processional chant that tradition claims the pilgrims sang as they approached the Kaaba:

Here I am, O Allah, here I am.

You have no partner,

Except such a partner as you have.

You possess him and all that is his.

This remarkable proclamation, with its obvious resemblance to the Muslim profession of faith--"There is no god but God"--may reveal the earliest traces in pre-Islamic Arabia of what the German philologist Max Muller termed henotheism: the belief in a single High God, without necessarily rejecting the existence of other, subordinate gods. The earliest evidence of henotheism in Arabia can be traced back to a tribe called the Amir, who lived near modern-day Yemen in the second century B.C.E., and who worshipped a High God they called dhu-Samawi, "The Lord of the Heavens." While the details of the Amirs' religion have been lost to history, most scholars are convinced that by the sixth century C.E., henotheism had become the standard belief of the vast majority of sedentary Arabs, who not only accepted Allah as their High God, but insisted that he was the same god as Yahweh, the god of the Jews.

The Jewish presence in the Arabian Peninsula can, in theory, be traced to the Babylonian Exile a thousand years earlier, though subsequent migrations may have taken place in 70 C.E., after Rome's sacking of the Temple in Jerusalem, and again in 132 C.E., after the messianic uprising of Simon Bar Kochba. For the most part, the Jews were a thriving and highly influential diaspora whose culture and traditions had been thoroughly integrated into the social and religious milieu of pre-Islamic Arabia. Whether Arab converts or immigrants from Palestine, the Jews participated in every level of Arab society. According to Gordon Newby, throughout the Peninsula there were Jewish merchants, Jewish Bedouin, Jewish farmers, Jewish poets, and Jewish warriors. Jewish men took Arab names and Jewish women wore Arab headdresses. And while some of these Jews may have spoken Aramaic (or at least a corrupted version of it), their primary language was Arabic.

Although in contact with major Jewish centers throughout the Near East, Judaism in Arabia had developed its own variations on traditional Jewish beliefs and practices. The Jews shared many of the same religious ideals as their pagan Arab counterparts, especially with regard to what is sometimes referred to as "popular religion": belief in magic, the use of talismans and divination, and the like. For example, while there is evidence of a small yet formal rabbinical presence in some regions of the Arabian Peninsula, there also existed a group of Jewish soothsayers called the Kohens who, while maintaining a far more priestly function in their communities, nevertheless resembled the pagan Kahins in that they too dealt in divinely inspired oracles.

The relationship between the Jews and pagan Arabs was symbiotic in that not only were the Jews heavily Arabized, but the Arabs were also significantly influenced by Jewish beliefs and practices. One need look no further for evidence of this influence than to the Kaaba itself, whose origin myths indicate that it was a Semitic sanctuary (haram in Arabic) with its roots dug deeply in Jewish tradition. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Aaron were all in one way or another associated with the Kaaba long before the rise of Islam, and the mysterious Black Stone that to this day is fixed to the southeast corner of the sanctuary seems to have been originally associated with the same stone upon which Jacob rested his head during his famous dream of the ladder.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Trade Paperbacks
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 30, 2011
Edition ‏ : ‎ Updated
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812982444
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812982442
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 0.8 x 7.97 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #116,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #42 in History of Islam
- #106 in General History of Religion
- #134 in History of Religions

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Reza Aslan

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Dr. Reza Aslan’s bachelor’s degree is in religious studies, with an emphasis on scripture and traditions (which at Santa Clara University means the New Testament). His minor was in biblical Greek. He has a master of theological studies degree from Harvard University, in world religions, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in the sociology of religions. UCSB’s doctoral program is an interdisciplinary one that draws from religion, history, philosophy, and sociology, among other fields. Aslan’s doctorate in the sociology of religions encompasses expertise in the history of religion. Reza also has a master of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa.

Dr. Aslan is currently professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, with a joint appointment in the department of religion, and he teaches in both disciplines. He was previously Wallerstein Distinguished Visiting Professor at Drew University, where he taught from 2012 to 2013, and assistant visiting professor of religion at the University of Iowa, where he taught from 2000 to 2003. He has written three books on religion.

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Customers find this book provides an informative history of Islam, offering understandable explanations of the dominant Islamic factions. Moreover, the book reads like a novel and is written for the layman, with a well-balanced perspective. However, the author's bias receives mixed reactions from customers.

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Introduction to islam Readability Pacing Perspective Author bias

302 customers mention "Introduction to islam"273 positive29 negative

Customers appreciate the book's informative history of Islam and its understandable explanations of the dominant Islamic factions.

"...Religion “…is an institutionalized system of symbols and metaphors (read rituals and myths) that provides a common language with which a community..." Read more

"...the radical fervor of the converted, he does have a genuine heartfelt love for Islam that informs his writing...." Read more

"...Despite claims made about it The Koran is a wonderful book of Faith with no mention of Sha'aria Law, subjugation of women, wearing of the Burka, or..." Read more

"...current state of his religion, Islam, thus making its crazy-quilt history perfectly accessible and understandable to the rest of us...." Read more

199 customers mention "Readability"190 positive9 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as a must-read in our time that reads like a novel.

"...history is complex and frankly confusing, but Reza does a heroic job in sorting things out." Read more

"...it is wonderfully written; like all good history it's an amazing action adventure story. Enjoy." Read more

"This book is a fascinating read...." Read more

"...A clear and careful writer, he is a pleasure to read and listen to...." Read more

152 customers mention "Pacing"132 positive20 negative

Customers appreciate the pacing of the book, describing it as thoughtfully written and readable, with one customer noting how it helps readers understand the subject matter in very accessible terms.

"...Reza is a born storyteller and this book really is at its best when he is telling the story of Muhammad and his journey and the events that followed..." Read more

"...His message, and regime, were just and merciful, respectful to women and quickly adopted outside the Arabian Peninsula...." Read more

"...his religion, as any religionist should, and thus writes eloquently regarding its beauties, but at the same time he is certainly not blind to its..." Read more

"...Refreshing, & reinvigorating too, was the chapter on the Sufi - I think the author deliberately changed the tone of his writing in this chapter to..." Read more

15 customers mention "Perspective"15 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's well-balanced perspective.

"...I'd recommend this book very highly to anyone interested in a balanced, honest & unapologetic history of Islam. @souvikstweets" Read more

"...and heart-felt, No God but God delivers the unthinkable: a truly balanced, perceptive portrayal of a topic we thought we have understood for so long...." Read more

"...His writing is thoughtful, balanced in perspective, and easy to follow...." Read more

"...simple yet comprehensive fashion, with apparent objectivity and detached perspective...." Read more

13 customers mention "Author bias"8 positive5 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the author's bias in the book, with several noting that it is hardly surprising.

"...It's well written, an exemplary vocabulary, an amazing cast of names, and you will recognize some of the names if you were born between1930 and1980...." Read more

"...author tried to be objective, I detected, throughout the read, the author's bias, which sometimes struck me like rationalization of the violence of..." Read more

"...The author took pains, in my opinion, to avoid blatant favoritism in laying out the history of the religion he was born into, and presented the..." Read more

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arthur v neis
Perspectives on today's global conflict
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2016
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Less than 300 reviews on Amazon, compared to more than 2,600 for his book Zealot, the Historical Jesus!! One would have hoped for just the opposite statistic, considering the timeliness of the topic is Islam, and the necessity to understand a non-Western culture and tradition. Perhaps the length of this review is this reviewer’s attempt to correct the lack

No god but God, written 10 years before Zealot, includes a rather definitive discussion of the definition of “religion” as the story of faith. This definition is informative of the author’s perspective and will continue into his later work about the historical Jesus. Religion “…is an institutionalized system of symbols and metaphors (read rituals and myths) that provides a common language with which a community of faith can share with each other their numinous encounter with the Divine Presence. Religion is concerned not with genuine history, but with sacred history, which does not course through time like a river.”

Aslan dismisses the “clash of culture” arguments and focuses on the “clash of monotheisms” (much the same as the clash between Christians and Jews is a clash of monotheisms).

The book seems to be three monographs, woven together, very effectively.

First Aslan discusses Arabia in the Period of Innocence, from which Mohammad emerges and develops the Islamic traditions.(Chapters 1-2) Second, Aslan takes the reader through the trials, tribulations and triumphs of his tribe and his followers. (Chapters 3-5) as Islam is developed into its own unique set of symbols and myths. These chapters carry stories of the Islamic traditions through Mohammad’s death and for centuries to today (chapters 6-7), including a wonderful chapter on Sufism. (Chapter 8). And the third “monograph” brings the reader to about 2010, the story of Islam in these latter centuries (Chapters 9-11), perhaps more rightly focused on the colonialized period of Arabia. In this “monograph”, Aslan seems to be caught up in his own dream for the future, and that dream is highly influenced by his being born in Tehran and then (my words), in exile for some 24 years before his return for a visit. His hopes anddream does not change the wisdom of his scholarship, however.

Aslan develops clearly and historically the roles of Mecca and Medina within the both the Arabic and the Muslim traditions.

Regardless of the Arabic traditions of retaliation and restitution, Aslan perceives Islam as focused on community, inclusiveness (equality) and love. Mohammad, as Aslan describes, extended the Arab concept of tribe as the fundamental organizing unit of society, to be a “neo-tribe” that “because neither ethnicity or culture nor race nor kinship had any significance to Muhammad, the Ummah (tribe), unlike a traditional tribe, had an almost unlimited capacity for growth through conversion.” With regard to traditional tribal concepts of retribution, Mohammad’s revelation of the Word of God as written in the Qur’an states, “The retribution for an injury is an equal injury, but those who forgive the injury and make reconciliation will be rewarded by God.” The community of Islam was being created on the basis of moral and egalitarian ideals.

These positive attributes are overshadowed in the past several hundred years by colonialism, Western evangelization (of culture and religion and faith), which does not recognize the combination of Arabic tribes and Muslim community perspectives. Western installed and supported tribal leaders have only force by which to maintain legitimacy.

BUT, Aslan does not provide a one-sided argument. He clearly states the failure of Islam to evolve into the Modern world is the result of its theology being controlled by a small group of clerics, who position themselves as the only credible interpreters of the Qur’an. They are responsible for making the body politic subservient to the religion of Islam. This is not consistent with Mohammad’s teachings, or the Qur’an. While Aslan perceives Islam to be in a prolonged period of reformation, today, he notes the conflict between the role of a Caliphate as defined by Mohammad being limited to secular functions, and the role of clerics being limited to religious functions.

Until this internal conflict is resolved, globally, there will be splinter groups who claim power in the name of Islam.

A very valuable perspective on the world today.

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stuartm
Excellent and very readable history of Islam
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2015
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
I had seen this book for years and while I always wanted to fill in my gap in understanding around Islam, I was daunted by its size and density.

Turn the clock ahead a few years and I wind up picking up and reading Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan and saw him on the Daily Show a few times to boot. Eventually the dots connect and I realize that this was Reza's first book. Doh!

So I grabbed it for my Kindle (where the size and density are at least masked) and have enjoyed it quite a bit. Reza is a born storyteller and this book really is at its best when he is telling the story of Muhammad and his journey and the events that followed his death.

Though it is not Reza's intent, reading the story of Islam following the death of Muhammad is like reading about a train wreck in slow motion - a slowly unfolding series of events that fractured and politicized a religion in shockingly little time.

Reza is originally from Iran and fled to the US with his family following the revolution that deposed the Shah. He was an avowed atheist for many years before coming back to his religion. While he doesn't evince the radical fervor of the converted, he does have a genuine heartfelt love for Islam that informs his writing. That said, I cannot judge whether his Iranian background in any way has "prejudiced" this account. It certainly FEELS like Reza is working mightily to be even-handed and factual.

That said, Reza clearly abhors the political radicalization that has permeated much of Islam. He is clear that the true values of Islam do not support this turn. He is also clearly attracted to the passionate mysticism of the Sufis, something that Westerners like myself will appreciate, but may offend more traditional Muslims.

If you liked Zealot and felt you learned something from it, then I heartily recommend this book. Islam's history is complex and frankly confusing, but Reza does a heroic job in sorting things out.

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Moumsinette
Great book!
Reviewed in France on October 2, 2013
Verified Purchase

This book really helped me understand what is happening in Islam. Every muslim should read it because it's a very good start for any healty debate about Islam.

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Luca
Islam, explained
Reviewed in Italy on December 8, 2015
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Easy to read, complete, it explains how Islam was born, how it evolved, how it was divided in several branches, and how we got to today's situation and troubles. Plus: the author comes from an Islamic background (and is a Muslim himself), so we have an "inside" vision of the matter. Well worth the purchase.

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Rommel
Lectura obligada para entender el Islam
Reviewed in Mexico on October 27, 2017
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Es interesante saber él origen y evolución a través del tiempo del Islam. Un pasado caótico lleno de violencia,sangre y mal interpretación y también ver su cambio ahora con las redes sociales.

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Yash Sharma
Let the truth prevails : The Unraveling of Islam
Reviewed in India on July 17, 2018
Verified Purchase
It is not prophets who create religions. Prophet are, above all, reformers who redefine and reinterpret the existing beliefs and practiced of their communities, providing fresh sets of symbols and metaphors with which succeeding generations can describe the nature of reality. Indeed, it is most often the prophet's successors who take upon themselves the responsibility of fashioning their Master's word and deeds into unified easily comprehensible religious systems.

- Reza Aslan
-------------------------------------------------

Hello there! I hope you are doing good.

That's my views about this wonderfully written book on Islam.

This book is multidimensional. It covers nearly all the aspects of Islam.

* Like from its origins, and how it evolved and spread throughout the world.

*The message which Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) preached throughout his Life i.e compassion, social and economic justice, egalitarianism.

*And how this message is hijacked by the ulemas ( self proclaimed religious scholars ) and the best example of this is the 1979 Iranian revolution.

*The difference between Shia's and Sunnis.

*About the most mystic part of islam i.e Sufism.

*And the various conflicts within islam.

And the author rightly mentioned that whatever problems the Muslims are facing worldwide has to be resolved by themselves and the best way to reform is to reinterpret the Holy Qur'an again in the present context.

After reading this book I can surely say that this book deserves to be read by every rational human irrespective of his/her religion.

I hope you like this, Thanks for Reading, Jai Hind.

With Regards,

Yash Sharma

For more information You can visit -

Dontbignorant.in

My Ratings : 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 ( 5/5 )

Table of contents :-
---------------------

1. The sanctuary in the desert(pre-islamic Arabia )

2. The keeper of the keys(Muhammad in Medina )

3. The city of the prophet(the first Muslims )

4. Fight in the way of God(the meaning of jihad )

5. The rightly guided ones(the successors to Muhammad )

6. This religion is a science(the development of islamic theology and law )

7. In the footsteps of martyrs( from shi'ism to khomeinism )

8. Stain your prayer rug with wine(the sufi way )

9. An Awakening in the East(the response to colonialism )

10. Slouching towards Medina( the quest for islamic democracy)

11. Welcome to the Islamic Reformation ( the future of islam )

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Yash Sharma

Let the truth prevails : The Unraveling of Islam

Reviewed in India on July 17, 2018
It is not prophets who create religions. Prophet are, above all, reformers who redefine and reinterpret the existing beliefs and practiced of their communities, providing fresh sets of symbols and metaphors with which succeeding generations can describe the nature of reality. Indeed, it is most often the prophet's successors who take upon themselves the responsibility of fashioning their Master's word and deeds into unified easily comprehensible religious systems.

- Reza Aslan
-------------------------------------------------

Hello there! I hope you are doing good.

That's my views about this wonderfully written book on Islam.

This book is multidimensional. It covers nearly all the aspects of Islam.

* Like from its origins, and how it evolved and spread throughout the world.

*The message which Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) preached throughout his Life i.e compassion, social and economic justice, egalitarianism.

*And how this message is hijacked by the ulemas ( self proclaimed religious scholars ) and the best example of this is the 1979 Iranian revolution.

*The difference between Shia's and Sunnis.

*About the most mystic part of islam i.e Sufism.

*And the various conflicts within islam.

And the author rightly mentioned that whatever problems the Muslims are facing worldwide has to be resolved by themselves and the best way to reform is to reinterpret the Holy Qur'an again in the present context.

After reading this book I can surely say that this book deserves to be read by every rational human irrespective of his/her religion.

I hope you like this, Thanks for Reading, Jai Hind.

With Regards,

Yash Sharma

For more information You can visit -

Dontbignorant.in

My Ratings : 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 ( 5/5 )

Table of contents :-
---------------------

1. The sanctuary in the desert(pre-islamic Arabia )

2. The keeper of the keys(Muhammad in Medina )

3. The city of the prophet(the first Muslims )

4. Fight in the way of God(the meaning of jihad )

5. The rightly guided ones(the successors to Muhammad )

6. This religion is a science(the development of islamic theology and law )

7. In the footsteps of martyrs( from shi'ism to khomeinism )

8. Stain your prayer rug with wine(the sufi way )

9. An Awakening in the East(the response to colonialism )

10. Slouching towards Medina( the quest for islamic democracy)

11. Welcome to the Islamic Reformation ( the future of islam )

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Adrian J. Smith
Revealing, insightful, and highly readable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2016
Verified Purchase
Having read various works on both the history of Islam, and Islam's current issues over it's own identity, this work in particular, stands out.
The book has many strengths, but perhaps what stands out is the insight given into the life of Mohammad, and how he was a genuinely universal social reformer. From the early chapters, a portrait of Mohammad as a genuinely tolerant man with universal and all inclusive aspirations, is unveiled, in stark contrast to the intolerant vision of Islam such contemporaries present in the world today.
The chapters about the prophets succession, and the Sunni-Shi'a divide are of particular strength, and a notable feature of Aslan's style is how he juxtaposes the work with examples from the present, or recent history.
The last chapter is a work on Islam's current identity issues, and how there are many Islam's out there. For a work examining Islam's identity and current issues, it is best to read Ali A Alawi's Crisis of Islamic Civilization, however the strength of Reza Aslan's work is an overall history of Islam.
The current edition has been updated and rewritten very well, and it shows that Aslan takes great care in keeping his work up to date.
On the whole, this book can be recommended to both those who are familiar with Islam, or those who are just curious, as this book sheds much more light on the history that most contemporary scholarship, and is both readable, accessible, and highly informative. In short, a masterwork!

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No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam Paperback – August 30, 2011

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5.0 out of 5 stars Perspectives on today's global conflict

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and very readable history of Islam

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5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!

5.0 out of 5 stars Islam, explained

5.0 out of 5 stars Lectura obligada para entender el Islam

5.0 out of 5 stars Let the truth prevails : The Unraveling of Islam

Let the truth prevails : The Unraveling of Islam

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5.0 out of 5 stars Revealing, insightful, and highly readable

Perspectives on today's global conflict

Excellent and very readable history of Islam

Great book!

Islam, explained

Lectura obligada para entender el Islam

Let the truth prevails : The Unraveling of Islam

Revealing, insightful, and highly readable