Islam Without Illusions: Its Past, Its Present, and Its Challenge for the Future (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East) - Hardcover

Hotaling, author and former Middle East bureau chief for CBS News, offers a fine book that lives up to its title: it covers a variety of topics, focusing on Islamic history and politics, in an honest and fair fashion. The book is admirably succinct, addressing core beliefs of Islam, the prophecy and life of Muhammad (probably the strongest portion of the book), Muhammad's wives and daughter Fatima, jihad, and more in fewer than 200 pages, drawing on credible sources and exemplifying a skilled understanding of Islam and Muslims. His juxtaposition of the widely accepted Yusuf Ali translation of the Qur'an with the more political and extremist Saudi Arabian translation is rarely done, and shows how interpretation diverges greatly in the Islamic world. Anecdotes from his days as a correspondent and bureau chief are enjoyable. He even compares President Nixon's directing Air Force One to avoid flying over the then-enemy airspace of Israel with Muhammad's miraculous night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. Hotaling concludes with a chapter that addresses several common "illusions" Americans have about Islam. The book does lack a strong guiding theme, as some sections seem to serve no purpose, and Hotaling's discussion of jihad is weak. These shortcomings, however, can easily be overlooked. Hotaling's bold observations-for example, giving reasons why Muhammad would want to be an American if he were alive today-will engage the reader.

Few books acknowledge the complexity of the contemporary Islamic world. Hotaling, who has spent decades covering the Islamic world as a journalist, manages to avoid academic infighting in this balanced introduction to the diverse responses to Muhammad's seventh-century revelations. Examining such controversial subjects as Islam's history of evangelism, jihad, and Islam's relations with Christianity and Judaism, Hotaling mixes history with glimpses into how contemporary Muslims have interpreted their scripture and history. This is best illustrated by his compelling analysis of two English translations of the Qur'an, a moderate version by the Washington Islamic Center and a more radical, Wahhabite translation by the Saudi government. The differences in translation expose the deep rift in contemporary Qur'anic interpretations among Muslims. Although it isn't quite a comprehensive introduction to Islam as a civilization and religion, Hotaling's balanced, unusually approachable examination of Islamic faith and history examines many questions that matter most to lay readers in America. John Green
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