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Synopsis
A uniquely accessible introduction to Islam, by the celebrated author of Racism Explained to My Daughter.
In an accessible question-and-answer format, Islam Explained clarifies the main tenets of Islam, the major landmarks in Islamic history, and the current politics of Islamic fundamentalism. The book also sheds light on the key words that have come to dominate the media—terrorist, crusade, jihad, fundamentalist, fatwa—offering lucid and balanced explanations, not only for youngsters but also for the general reader.
Islam Explained is at once an essential introduction to one of the world's great religions and a cry for tolerance and understanding in deeply troubled times.
Author Biography: Winner of the 1994 Prix Maghreb, Tahar Ben Jelloun was born in 1944 in Fez, Morocco, and emigrated to France in 1971. A novelist, essayist, critic, and poet, he is a regular contributor to Le Monde, La Répubblica, El Pais, and Panorama. His novels include The Sacred Night, which received the Prix Goncourt in 1986, Corruption, and This Blinding Absence of Light. Translator Franklin Philip is winner of the 1989 Translation Prize of the French-American Foundation for The Statue Within: An Autobiography. He lives in Paris.
Publishers Weekly
From the author of Racism Explained to My Daughter comes this slender but ambitious treatise designed to make sense of Islam to young Western readers in the wake of September 11. Jelloun organized his book in a simple question-and-answer format, imagining the questions to come from his own children. The format and largely simple language makes it a quick read and easily digestible. Jelloun tells the tale of Muhammad and the origins of Islam, then dwells largely on Islam's Golden Age by emphasizing its openness to the knowledge of other cultures and by enumerating some of its own contributions to world science and philosophy. Jelloun tries not to whitewash Islamic history by mentioning the violent wars that characterized its expansion, but in doing so he raises more questions than he answers. He explains terrorists as "bad men" who are "not real Muslims." He also defines a range of terms from "humility" and "decadence" to "martyr" and "jihad," but often uses fairly sophisticated vocabulary in his explanations (which could be a translation issue from the original French: Jelloun is a Moroccan-born Muslim transplanted to France). For this reason, the book would work better for adult readers looking for simple ways to answer their children's questions. Although billed as being of interest to the general reader, it will certainly be frustrating to those who want more than a superficial overview of Islam. This book only whets the appetite. (Oct. 10) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.