Understanding Islam

How do we understand the nature of Islam in this 21t century? How do we sort out the varieties of traditions within Islam that transcend ethnic and national boundaries?

Is there a way to see the Qur’an as the book for all Muslims?

I suggest that we need to listen carefully to all the voices within and without the Muslim communities. I suggest it is beneficial to read widely about individuals who chronicle their life experience in the Islamic world.

Here is one such book.

‘Now They Call Me Infidel’ is the memoir of Nonie Darwish. She was born in Egypt in 1948 and lived through the Farouk/Nasser revolution and the sundry hostilities that were the mainstay of middle life through the late 20th century.

Darwish immigrated to America and married an Egyptian Coptic and later left her Islamic tradition.

She writes and lectures on her personal travails and her views on the violence so endemic to many, but not all, followers of the Islamic tradition.