I hesitate to introduce a book on religion to a "pleasure reading group", but this is a very different book. Please humor me for a moment and let me explain it.No God but God; The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, by Reza AslanFor those of us who are not Muslim there are many mysteries about the faith. It is to be expected, given the age of Islam, that there are different branches with slightly different beliefs. If you are familiar with Christianity, the analogy of the hundreds of Protestant sects and Catholicism, can give a little insight into the diversity of beliefs in Islam. Most other great religions have also branched out a bit over time if you take a look at them in detail.The author is more liberal than some muslims and more conservative than others. If you don't mind reading something where some parts you may not agree with, then I think you will like it. I have searched out reviews from practicing Muslims and found nobody in 100% agreement with him, but they were not in agreement with each other either. My eyes have been opened to an even greater diversity in belief within the Islamic community. Aslan presents a view more liberal in many ways, yet the miracles he describes are poetic in their beauty. It is moving to read this part. He personally, seems to be unable to fully believe that miracles can happen, but does not let that stop telling them beautifully.My feeling is that here is a 20th to 21st century man who is trying to come to terms with his own beliefs and to square them with his own experiences and knowledge of modern inventions and discoveries. he like all of the modern world faces conflicts from within and without. He did not try to persuade the reader to take one view or another of Islam and really just educated me with more history than I knew.I didn't really know that much about Arabia before Islam. He tells this and helps us understand the changes that people would have to make in their lives at the time to embrace Allah instead of the numerous gods/idols they worshiped and kept at the Kaaba. How exciting this was to me to read of those days as if I were there. Even If I do not agree with everything said by Aslan, and even if you don't either, you will enjoy the beauty of the story.I have always heard that the Quran is incredibly beautiful in Arabic, but loses much of the poetic quality when trying to take the original words and making them fit a foreign language. Perhaps the reason the Aslan's book reads so well is that he grew up speaking English after his parents left the Mid East. Therefore he was able to tell the history of Islam beginning with English words. The book is not a translation of the Quran and was not intended to be. It is instead just a history of Islam and the author's own view of possibilities for the future. it naturally has passages from the Quran in it.The discussion is temporarily closed for editing. I hope you liked it and I will try to have a better one soon.
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I hope you like reading it. Just remember that it is the point of view of this one author and everything can be debated. I found parts I didn't like much and other parts I found really very interesting.
Overall, the book was very much worth the time I spent reading it.
thnk you Monika it worked for me i will try to read it as my english is not very good but i will try coz it can help me also improve my english and my knowlege :)
Hi Bob
Thank you to inform me of this useful book.
I appreciate this very much..and i will send it's name for my friends to read it .
It is "a good book" which helps the world to know more about Islam in a good way.
And Iam thankful to you caz you post the name of this book here.
I saw that Amazon has it as an E-book for their Kindle but that reader is soooo expensive that the real book would be easierto afford.
Dreamer Man said:
hi Bob , you really imprssioned me to show us this book , I would like to read it , I will look at it in English or in frensh cos my english reading is not very easy to understand it all or maybe it will e the first book i will read it in English I love reading about religion books , many amazing things we can find and enrich our knowlege , thank you so much and if you find any electronic version tell us , thanks lot :)
hi Bob , you really imprssioned me to show us this book , I would like to read it , I will look at it in English or in frensh cos my english reading is not very easy to understand it all or maybe it will e the first book i will read it in English I love reading about religion books , many amazing things we can find and enrich our knowlege , thank you so much and if you find any electronic version tell us , thanks lot :)
Replies
Thanks Bob for presenting us this book that sounds so interesting and thanks also to Monika for the tip about downloading it here. It's great.
Wishing you a happy weekend.
Hello Bob,
According to your review I am very interested in this book.
I found it downloadable from Megaupload in pdf format to your own Pc from here:
No god but God-and it can be read immediatly.
Thank you for sharing,this was a good idea.
Hello Dear Manuela,
The link worked for me,so I downloaded it to my PC,and copy it here,hope everyone will be able to open it in this form(with Adobe Reader)
No%20god%20but%20God%20-%20Aslan_%20Reza.pdf
Enjoy this great book!
I hope you like reading it. Just remember that it is the point of view of this one author and everything can be debated. I found parts I didn't like much and other parts I found really very interesting.
Overall, the book was very much worth the time I spent reading it.
p.s.:To succeed your free download,you have to wait 45 seconds,after push on the REGULAR DOWNLOAD button,and start your download.
save to your PC and Enjoy your book.
I had a look in it,it is really great,thank you Bob once again!
Thank you to inform me of this useful book.
I appreciate this very much..and i will send it's name for my friends to read it .
It is "a good book" which helps the world to know more about Islam in a good way.
And Iam thankful to you caz you post the name of this book here.
Dreamer Man said:
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