I have just added a new selection to the Suggested Books list but I must admit I have not read it or been able to find a copy of it as of yet. This book is Sumbul Ali-Karama's The Muslim Next Door: The Qur'an, the Media, and that Veil Thing, recommended by Muslimah Media Watch (click here for the link to the article). I have not read it yet but the website I found this article on is critical of their own religion (these articles are written by Muslim women) and are also wary of how this religion is portrayed. Another article I found was reviewing another book which supposedly stated there is nothing sexist in the Qur'an and the reviewer immediately dismissed this notion. I state this as opening, only because I know very little specific details about this religion and know that I should not just take anything posted online as fact. Also obviously the review I found is written by someone religious but it must be noted that the majority of the site is critical of it. Anyways, I just thought I would include this because even though this blog is meant to critically analyze religion, it is still important to look at some other arguments. I do not mean to say this one book changes my mind on religion nor does it all of a sudden, in my opinion, justify the sexist passages in the Quar'an (which even the author takes issue with), but I think it is worth a look, as well as does the rest of the site I've linked to.

A quick summary of the book, quoted from the review:

"This book is basically what you wish you can give to those people who ask you all those questions that you have to answer over and over again. Now you can just hand them this book and trust that it’ll answer their questions.

Ali-Karamali doesn’t shy away from difficult questions, or gloss over them. She splits up her book into 11 chapters, and tackles the issues the media loves to talk about (veiling, stoning, jihad etc). She takes the major misconceptions about Islam and deconstructs them into base elements before explaining them.

The first half of the book introduces Islam to the non-Muslim reader and delves into more detail as the book progresses. The second half tackles the meaty topics: women in Islam, jihad and fundamentalism, stealing and adultery in Islam, American Muslim reactions to 9/11 and a concluding chapter on why misconceptions persist."

If I can get ahold of this book, I promise my own personal review when I read it.