Thursday, April 22, 2010

Book Review: Unveiling Islam: An Insider’s Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs by Ergun and Emir Caner

If you are a Christian who would like to learn more about Muslim practices, ethics, and beliefs, this is the book for you. The brothers who wrote this book were raised in a Muslim home but became Christians as teenagers, and this book is their attempt to help Christians understand Islam. It’s very approachable and easy to read with just the right balance of detail and summary for someone new or newish to Islam. It talks about Muhammad’s life, the Qur’an, how Islam spread, the view of women in Islam, the Five Pillars, different sects of Islam, and what jihad is, among other topics. I particularly liked the direct comparisons between Christianity and Islam: Who is Yahweh (according to the Bible) and Who is Allah (according to the Qur’an); Jesus’ life and Muhammad’s life; beliefs about how one goes to heaven in Islam vs. Christianity; what the Bible says about who Jesus was vs. what the Qur’an says about who Jesus was. Good stuff. I learned a lot from this book and would highly recommend it.

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