booklogging

A very interesting book of a London lad with a Muslim background. He journeys from the sufi Islam of his family to radical Islamist movements and back again. On the way, we gain insights into how and why Islamism has gained such a hold on young and not-so-young minds. We see some of the fractures within the Islamist world and what they are about, and we can begin to understand why it is that more peaceful varieties of Islam find it hard to put their heads above the parapet. It is also useful to be reminded of these more tolerant varieties and to see some of the ways that they begin to handle the issues around the 'texts of terror' in the Qur'an and Sunna.

One of the interesting things is also the insight into the psychology and sociology of extremism. There are some interesting questions, too, by implication, for evangelical Christians.

I am also interested in the relative ignorance of Christian teaching even for a Muslim brought up in the British context. It as also interesting to think about the Sufi experience of the things of God and how different it is to the kind of Islam which we are used to seeing and hearing presented -which is precisely the kind that Ed Husein left.

I would say that this is an important book to have read if you are trying to understand the Islamic world today. It only claims to be one person's view, but because of the experience, perspective and insider knowledge, a valuable one.

It is a shame that Mr Husein's view of Christianity was so limited to a conundrum about the Trinity that he was unable to see Christ and respond to him. What do we make, in turn, of the 'Christification' of Muhammed that can be clearly seen in the Sufism Husein re-embraces?
Amazon.co.uk: The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left: Books: Ed Husain

Labels: Christian, Islam, religion