Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics: 100 Questions and Answers [Paperback]

 

 

Create your own review

While on a Catholic womens' retreat last October, I bought this edition at the bookstore of the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama. Just three months before I had written a review on the now dated film NOT WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER after seeing a rerun of it on television. After finding out that the book had been co-authored by a convert FROM Islam I became even more interested in reading it.

This book has an interesting format including a Forward, Introduction, 100 uestions and Answers, a chapter on Sharing the Gospel with Muslims, Contradictory Teachings and Commands of Islamic Theology, Notes and Appendix. It answers some very important uestions I myself have asked as a practicing Catholic. One of these was expressed in # 86 where it was asked: "Given Islamic teachings on jihad, how can Muslims claim to be a religion of peace?" This is not only a uestion I may have had but so might many of the suffering thousands (perhaps millions) of those affected by the bombings of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. As Irshad Manji wrote in THE TROUBLE WITH ISLAM TODAY: A MUSLIM'S CALL FOR REFORM IN HER FAITH: "We have to own up to the fact that the Koran's message is all over the bloody map. Compassion and contempt exist side by side. Look to its take on women. Hopeful and hateful verses stand only lines away from each other. So, too with religious diversity. There's no single thrust in this so-called perfect, indisputable and straightforward text. The Koran's perfection is ultimately suspect." In INSIDE ISLAM: A GUIDE FOR CATHOLICS the reader is also informed: "When the Muslim declares that Islam is a religion of peace, he is either ignorant of the Koran or is extending this "peace" only to those within the Muslim community, without telling you that he is the way he means it. According to the Koran, "Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah. Those who follow him are merciful to one another, but ruthless to unbelievers."

As a well educated woman who married later in life and who, if left to fend for herself, could very easily support herself and her family comfortably, I have also often thought on uestion # 94. "What is the position of women in Islamic society? Do they have the same rights as men?" I had already read in the Geraldine Brooks book NINE PARTS OF DESIRE: THE HIDDEN WORLD OF ISLAMIC WOMEN that being married in the Islamic faith meant "the acceptance of a legal code that valued her testimony as half the worth of a man's, an inheritance system that allowed her half the legacy of her brother, a future domestic life in which her husband could beat her if she disobeyed him, make her share her attentions with three more wives, divorce her at whim and get absolute custody of her children." I could not imagine any intelligent, well educated American woman born and raised in a democratic society ever learning to tolerate such injustice. The authors of INSIDE ISLAM; A GUIDE FOR CATHOLICS agreed with Brooks (and myself I might add) that "The treatment of women in Islamic countries is consistently shocking to modern Westerners....Islam views women as innately subordinate to men." This uestion was followed by # 95 which states: "The Koran's teachings on the status of women seem to reflect those of St Paul's in the Bible. Didn't he tell wives to be submissive to their husbands?" The author's response to this mirrors what I have been told by a number of Catholic priests I have spoken with over the years: "St. Paul's teachings for wives to be submissive to their husbands must be read in the entire context of his letter to the Ephesians....Immediately prior to his "wives be submissive" injunction, St Paul tells husbands and wives to "be subordinate (or submissive) to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Eph 5:21). Thus in Christian theology, there is a mutual submission of husbands and wives to each other in love, a submission reflecting the Church's submission to Christ....In fact, rather than exalting the authority of men over women, St Paul goes on to place an even greater burden on men when he says "Husbands,love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her..."....in other words, husbands must give their very lives for their spouses--they must sacrifice themselvesa and their own wills for the good of their wives and their families. The Koran, on the other hand, has a very different view of the relationship that exists between spouses. Husbands, by divine right, have total authority over their wives....the idea that a husband should sacrifice himself or live "in mutual submission" with his wife is entirely foreign to Islam. In fact, the same verse in the Koran that begins by stating that "men have authority over women" goes on to give divine sanction to wife beating." The Koran teaches male superiority, in part, "because they spend their wealth to maintain them." No wonder educated women are such a threat in such a religion. An educated woman CAN support herself and has no NEED to be with a man CHOOSING to be with him instead because she truly loves him.

Thus as a Catholic and a woman I am grateful to the authors for confirming some of what I already knew and adding more information for further clarification. I am grateful also to be a Christian whose faith does NOT promote the subjugation of women. I think many a reviewer doesn't know the fact that half of the women in prison in Pakistan are there because they have been RAPED! This was documented in Manji's book where she wrote how "Pakistani General Zia al-Ha, in an effort to win favor among village leaders, mixed a punitive reading of Islam with tribal customs. It became a reuirement that a rape be witnessed by FOUR MEN before any offender could be charged." With a lack of sufficient witnesses it was concluded that "it must naturally be a case of adultery committed by the woman and therefore to be condemned by the stone." In other words, the VICTIM of a rape would end up being stoned to death (or imprisoned) as a legal punishment for adultery! What a travesty!

I strongly recommend this book if you REALLY want to know what Islam is TRULY about!

Spencer and Ali have assembled an informative, well-written and easily accessible guide to understanding how Islam compares to Catholicism.

Organized in a question-and-answer format, the text is broken into digestible sections that allow readers to read or re-read areas of particular interest.

It is the only guide of its kind to be released in decades and deserves a wide readership.

Discerning readers should ignore the smear campaign being conducted by Islamic apologists against this book.

The format of the book as Q& A is easy to read and understand the depth of the content. I recommend the book for everyone who want to know Islam as realy it is

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 11 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

 

1.0 out of 5 stars You can't rewrite history
Where do we start. Anyone can write a book and defame Islam. But when you try to re-interpret history to suit your agenda, the lies tend to become obvious and cast doubt on the... Read more

Published on Jun 4 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening -- a profoundly important book
After Sept. 11, Robert Spencer's book, "Islam Unveiled," became very popular. As a Catholic, I was hesitant to read a book that I feared would take Koranic passages out of context... Read more

Published on May 29 2004 by just bein' Frank

1.0 out of 5 stars Wow. This is such a monumental work.
It is interesting that anyone could possibly even to purport to know how 1 billion muslims around the globe think and feel. Especially with respect to Catholics. Read more

Published on May 27 2004 by Caravanish

4.0 out of 5 stars Islam: 100 Brief Basics
In this paperback Robert Spencer and Daniel Ali (an ex-Muslim) present brief basics about Islam: the Five Pillars, the Six Articles of Faith, why Muhammad turned against the Jews... Read more

Published on May 8 2004 by William Garrison Jr.

1.0 out of 5 stars Another Distorted View of Islam
This book is another attempt by those who do not grasp the internal meanings of Islam to critique its outer form. Read more

Published on April 29 2004 by Tary L

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy, concise, direct, and brilliantly informative!
If you want to understand the essence of why so much of the Islamic world is at war with Western Secularism, then you need to understand (A) the Koran, and (B) some history of... Read more

Published on April 23 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!
I am struggling with islam since I came to the US and after I read this book, I can see how it has held my people back. Read more

Published on Oct 24 2003 by Leyla

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbiased Analyses of Islam
Ever since September 11, 2001, I have wanted an authoritative analysis of Islam's main tenets. I finally found one I now consider indispensable in this book. I see that Mr. Read more

Published on Oct 24 2003

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

› See all 11 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Search Listmania!