Reviewed by
an Amazon user,
2002-04-06
I purchased this book as part of my investigation into the teachings of Islam. I looked at several "List Mania's" made up by Muslims and they all recommended this book (as well as others). I truly wanted some books that would give a credible account to someone who is seeking to understand Islam's teaching without any preconceptions (i.e., apart from the media's portrayals). My hopes of finding such with this book were dashed.
What I found was quite disappointing. For example, the authors refer to several "scientific miracles" to substantiate the claim that the Qur'an was divinely inspired. They argue from Qur'an 23:12-14 that in the process by which Allah created a human in the womb, Allah makes it into a "chewed substance." Then they actually have a photo of a chewed piece of chewing gum next to a drawing of an embryo (p. 9) and say that the embryo at this stage looks similar to a piece of chewing gum. THAT is the scientific evidence of the miraculous nature of the Qur'an? Surely this is insulting to anyone who with any kind of education, and I'm sure that this kind of "evidence" is embarrassing to most self-respecting,educated Muslims.
Example #2: Quoting from Qur'an 24:43, "Have you not seen how God makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a stack, and then you see the rain come out of it..." the authors suggest that Mohommed couldn't have known this since it was only recently discovered by science that clouds are pushed by the wind, join, and stack together. Yet could not an uneducated child discern this by watching a storm gather in the distance? In fact, the book has a picture on p. 25 that would suggest to the naked eye causally observing the clouds that they push together, join, stack, and rain comes down. Again, this is supposed to be scientific evidence of the miraculous nature of the Qur'an.
#3. Another embarrassing point in the book. On page 34, it quotes John 1:19-21 when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask John the Baptist if he was the Prophet (spoken of in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18, according to a cross reference in the NIV Study Bible). John the Baptist answered, "No." The authors conclusion: "We conclude from this that Jesus Christ is not the prophet mentioned in Dt. 18:18." But it is obvious from the text itself that John the Baptist was not saying that Jesus wasn't the Prophet, only that he himself was not that Prophet. At best, this is sloppy 'scholarship' in mistaking John the Baptist for Jesus. At worst, this is a sly attempt to pull the wool of the readers eyes.
If you are looking for a good book on Islam that will present its teachings in a clear light (apart from poor attempts at propaganda), pass this one by. If you are looking for an attempt by some Muslims to give crediblity to their way, this might be a good book to get to see what they consider "good" evidence and arguments. It has some other seemingly useful information, but from the above examples, I'm not sure what is reliable in this book. I stand utterly amazed that it has received some rave reviews on this amazon site. I wish I had not bought it.