Understanding Islam: for the non-Muslim (Understanding Religions)

A clear, direct, and historically honest guide to Islam for readers who are not Muslim.

Islam is one of the world's most powerful religious traditions, but it is also one of the hardest for outsiders to understand. It is a faith of prayer, fasting, charity, God-consciousness, family life, scripture, law, civilization, empire, reform, and controversy.

Understanding Islam for the non-Muslim explains Islam first on its own terms: Allah, tawhid, the Qur'an, Muhammad's life, hadith, the Five Pillars, mosque life, Ramadan, halal, family, Sunni and Shia Islam, Sufism, Salafism, and sharia.

Then it addresses the questions many non-Muslims actually carry: Why is the Qur'an not arranged chronologically? Why does Muhammad's life trouble many outsiders? What is jihad? Did Islam spread by the sword? Were non-Muslims protected or subordinated under Muslim rule? What are blasphemy and apostasy laws? Is Islam compatible with modern pluralism? Is Islamic terrorism unrelated to Islam, or does that claim avoid the evidence?

This is not a conversion book. It is not anti-Muslim polemic. It is a practical guide for readers who want to understand Islam without being asked to ignore either its spiritual power or its most difficult historical and moral questions.