Online Book Club - The Muslim Next Door, Week 1

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The Muslim Next Door coverFor February 2012, our new Online Book Club is discussing The Muslim Next Door: The Qur'an, the Media, and that Veil Thing, by Sumbul Ali-Karamali.  This is one of the books chosen for the community reading program, Silicon Valley Reads, which this year focuses on the theme "Muslim and American."

 

Each week, we'll put forth a different question to prompt reflection on the book and its ideas.  We hope you will participate in the discussion by leaving comments below!

 

For Week 1, we'd like to ask:
What information, anecdote, or argument in The Muslim Next Door surprised or left a deep impression on you?

 

Before reading this book, I had some exposure to the very basics of Islam from overview-history courses in college and Muslims I've known; things like the five pillars, prayers, fasting, dietary restrictions, how Islam fit into the Judeo-Christian tradition, Muhammad's life, and the Sunni/Shi'a split. 

 

I appreciated the chance to learn much more from this book.  As basic as this may sound, I don't recall ever reading translated portions of the Qur'an before - and found it wasn't what I expected. Several things surprised me about the Qur'an:

  • It's actually a very lyrical work (more so in Arabic, it would seem) that appeals to the heart as much as the head.  Hearing so much about "Islamic law", that is basically what I expected the Qur'an to be - dry "laundry lists" of rules.
  • Many of the translated verses (at least, those Ali-Karamali chose here) sound like they could fit right into the Bible without any difficulty; in their tone, subject matter, and message.
  • The Qur'an is not translated in order to avoid altering its meaning.  This is an interesting approach for a religion to take. Seems it might make it more difficult to convert followers if they have to learn another language too.

 

There's much more I could bring up, but what did you think?  What information, anecdote, or argument in The Muslim Next Door surprised or left a deep impression on you? Let us know!

 

See our Online Book Club page for more information about this book and to preview the next weeks' questions



Posted by tim reif on Jan 31, 2012 | Comments: 4 |
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Comments from our readers...

I have been surprised by the

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, February 06.
I have been surprised by the high regard which Muslims hold both Christianity and Judaism according to the author. Although all three religious traditions have significant differences in regards to such things as who Jesus is, they do share a monotheistic world view.

Yes, I got the impression

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, February 06.
Yes, I got the impression there were really more commonalities than differences. And (although this isn't a commonality), I was surprised to read that they don't believe you necessarily have to be a Muslim to get into Heaven (page 43).

Muslim next door,week1 question

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, February 08.
I am surprised to read in a reader's comment that you do not necessarily have to be a Muslim to get into heaven(page 43 of the book)so one of my questions to the author when I meet her in April at the Cambrian library would be to ask for the translated verse from the Q'uran which says that.

Dating.

Submitted by Sandra Stewart on Thu, February 02.

I have only just gotten the book and was interested in learning more about dating and marriage.  It was enlightening to learn that though dating is not encouraged, young people go out in groups to get to know each other.  This harkens back to a time not so long ago in our own American culture and made sense to me.