Listen to any news broadcast today and the message comes through loud and clear: Islam is a religion of violence and behind every Muslim there lurks a potential terrorist. Islam is a threat to values of the Christian West. They are like oil and water. Clearly, they don’t mix.
Oil & Water: Two Faiths One God confronts these popular perceptions head-on. With keen insight and gentle understanding, it explores the differences between Christianity and Islam, as well as the many things these two enduring faith traditions hold in common – including, first and foremost, their belief in and desire to be faithful to the one, true God; their shared roots and scripture (from the Jewish faith); and the spiritual values of peace and social justice.
Written for Christians by Muslim world-religions scholar Amir Hussain, the book is divided into two parts. Part 1, provides an overview of the Islamic faith and of the lives of Muslims in North America today. Chapters focus on the place and identity of Muslims in society, as well as on the importance and role of Muhammad, the Qur’an, and basic beliefs and practices (The Five Pillars of Islam).
Having provided a foundation for understanding, the book moves on, in Part 2, to explore key points for dialogue today, including issues of violence and jihad, the roles of women and men, and the mystical tradition within Islam.
The final two chapters look at interfaith dialogue and the practical aspects of being good “neighbours.”
In all of this, the book invites the reader to a place of reconciliation, to a place where the truth and value of each of these great faith traditions can be recognized and honoured by the other. In the end, the metaphor of oil and water is an interesting one for the reality of conflict and the hope for reconciliation between Islam and Christianity today.
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Reviews in the Media
Publishers Weekly -- Religion BookLine
Juli Cragg Hilliard
A Muslim author and Loyola Marymount University associate professor confronts Christian perceptions of Islam.
RBL: What is the significance for a Muslim writer’s book to be published by a Christian press?
Hussain: Many of my teachers and friends have been Christian, so the interfaith stuff is not just something I do in an academic setting. To me, it’s incredibly powerful that the book is going out to a Christian audience from a Christian publisher.
RBL:What do you hope to achieve with this book?
Hussain: There are lots of introductions to Islam out there. There are not a lot of books written for a Christian audience. Secondly, it’s to help a Muslim audience understand about Christianity.
RBL: How do you explain violence by Muslims in the name of Islam?
Hussain: It troubles me tremendously. I’d like to say that it’s extremists and misguided people. The danger is people—Muslim, Christian, Jewish or whatever religion—who understand their tradition in such a narrow and extreme way. The day-to-day reality of American Muslims is that we are not plotting the downfall of America.
RBL: What do you have to say about author Robert Spencer's assertion (RBL Q&A Sept. 6) that Muhammad founded the world’s most intolerant religion?
Hussain: The Muhammad that he describes is not my Muhammad.
RBL: Do you think he faces danger in writing a biography of Muhammad?And do you, in writing this book, put yourself in peril?
Hussain: If the book puts me in peril, it’s only because it puts me in touch with a larger audience. I think there might be people that are offended by the portrayal Spencer makes of Muhammad. Is there danger? Yes, there is. Will it happen? Probably not in North America.
Customer Reviews
slee_hkchina@yahoo.com.hk
from: Hong Kong
on: Mar 16, 2007
*****
Islam, Christianity and Judaism Bounded
The author has painted a laudable word picture of two of the world's great religions, Islam and Christianity as being fundamentally bounded ideologically just as is the form of a work of oil on canvas or water-color on paper.
samersamer@yahoo.com
from: Minneapolis,MN
on: May 17, 2007
*****
A Must for those of ignorance
Concise, credible, and clarifies those who are CREDULOUS of the deceiving, mainstream media!.
