Yasin T. al-Jibouri

Okay. I read this version because I don't understand Arabic. I don't know if I am missing something by not being able to understand it and reading a translation, but hey whatever. I have several issues with this book, but the main one is that although it knows of the Creation Story, Adam and Eve and all of that Genesis stuff, it jumps around from one focus to another. One chapter talks about Abraham, the next might talk about Jesus, then it goes back to the Fall and how we left the Garden of Eden. It doesn't really have a great amount of cohesion to it. Since it talks of Biblical Characters, the only relation I can come up with is The Bible. In that sense, the Bible is far superior. At least the Bible is Chronological or ordered in a way that I can understand.

I don't know why it is like this. It seriously irks me. Then there are the chapter titles. Chapter one is called Introduction, the next chapter is called "The Cow." It didn't have much to do with a cow. One of the chapters is called "The Bee." In it, they mention bees once. Interspersed throughout the book are edicts from Allah about giving to the poor and how he made it so that the unbelievers wouldn't convert and be saved. I am sure there is more to it, but every few chapters talks about how Allah's wrath is great and how his forgiveness is also great.

Then there is the dialogue. I am sure that something is lost in translation here, but I didn't know who was talking half the time. They make use of a great deal of Pronouns, which is weird because 'Allah' is used thousands of times in this book. It seems that they could have put Proper Names in, but no.

So all in all it was okay. I don't really feel like reading it again.… (mehr)

Disclaimer: I received this book free from Smith Publicity in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive any form of compensation.

As a Unitarian Universalist, I believe that all religions lead to the path of redemption. It's just that there are so many languages and so many cultures that it would be impossible for there to be only one version that can be the true path. So in order to better understand others and myself, I strive to understand other religions.

This lead me to finding this book to review. I have always been fascinated with the Muslim religion. I know that after 9/11, many people started immediately associating Muslim with terrorism. This is not true in any way shape or form. If that were true, then Christianity would be considered terrorism as well since it was the Christians who slaughtered people during the Spanish Inquisition and the Witch Hunts of yore. No matter what culture or religion you look at, you will find zealots and extremists. These people should not dictate how we see the whole of that religion.

One thing that I really liked about this book was that the author was able to draw correlations between Christianity and Muslim religions. They share much of the same stories and heritage. It is just that Christianity doesn't always follow everything to the letter of the law as written in the Bible. Very few Christians abstain from eating pork even though it is stated in the Old Testament that you shouldn't. Whereas, Muslims feel that in order to be pure or clean, you need to live life the way that it is described in the Holy Qur'an.

The Messenger of Allah, Muhammed, stated "For everything there is a path, and the path to Paradise is knowledge." To me knowledge, means to not only know ourselves, but to know others as well. By learning of various religions, we can gain more knowledge.

There is a sort of "FAQ" about Allah. It consists of questions such as "How can you describe Him?". The author answers each of these questions through the use of verses from the Holy Qur'an.

The book also lists all 99 attributes of Allah. It was interesting to read them and gain greater understanding. It shows which parts of the Holy Qur'an that demonstrate these attributes as well as English translations of the words that are used for the attributes.… (mehr)