Islam for Dummies by Malcolm Clark Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Islam for Dummies
Book Review: Islam for all: Human Rights Perspective
Summary: 5 Stars
Prof. Warren Malcolm Clark did an excent job in explaining many fundamental doctrines, ideas, and rituals of Islam. [...] I have to say that Prof. Clark has created a unique approach to Islamic issues. He tried to avoid typical Western attitude toward Islam and Muslims. And he was quite successful in that. I am looking forward to meet him in person to congratulate him for his remarkable academic and popular contribution in an area of such a great importance.Book Review: LOVELY
Summary: 5 Stars
THIS BOOK IS LOVELY AND SO VERY HELPFUL TO ME AND MY FAMILY. I AM ALSO VERY APPRECIATIVE OF HAVING IT AVAILABLE TO ME AT ALL TIMES VIA INTERNET. I HAVE READ IT VIA INTERNET AND THE ACTUAL BOOK AS I HAVE A VERY BUSY LIFESTYLE.Book Review: Too Much Important Information Is Ignored
Summary: 2 Stars
The title, "Islam for Dummies," may well put off those with sophisticated intellectual pretensions, but the book has much to offer. It is well organized and written by a Department of Religion professor named Malcolm Clark who clearly knows the subject matter. After all, he is a professor emeritus at Butler University and it shows in his work. There is a great deal of interesting and helpful information about Islam in "Islam for Dummies." I actually enjoyed reading the book and found it a worthwhile endeavor, but that was only because I already knew the subject matter and knew that while the information that was presented was, for the most part, quite accurate, there are glaring informational gaps such that if one only relied on "Islam for Dummies" as his or her sole source of information about Islam, he or she would be left with a dangerous mis- perception of the religion.
Truth involves far more than saying what is true. The common law has recognized for centuries that when one speaks in certain settings that one is expected to give the whole truth. The greatest legal minds for centuries have understood that when one speaks on a subject one should not be allowed to deceive by careful omission of key information. A popular way to phrase the sentiment in California law is as follows: "Where one does speak he [or she] must speak the whole truth to the end that he [or she] does not conceal any facts which materially qualify those stated. One who is asked for or volunteers information must be truthful, and the telling of a half-truth calculated to deceive is fraud." By the foregoing standard, "Islam for Dummies" perpetrates a fraud upon many of its readers.
A dangerous mis-perception of Islam arises from the book's failure to address any negative information about Muhammad even though most known positive information about Muhammad is discussed as well as his absolute importance to the religion. Islam is a revealed religion that derives exclusively from what Muhammad, Islam's seventh century founder, alleged Allah said were the rules for living and how Muhammad lived his life and instructed others to live. It is impossible to have an accurate understanding about Islam without understanding all that is alleged to have been said and done by Muhammad as described in the earliest biography about him titled "Sirat Rasul Allah," meaning life of God's Messenger in Arabic. The "Sirat Rasul Allah" reveals character attributes of Muhammad that are quite laudable and the mainstream media and academia are very good at presenting those qualities, but the "Sirat Rasul Allah" also reveals Muhammad as a man that slaughtered captives, robbed caravans, sold women and children into slavery, had sexual relations with captive women, tortured prisoners, married a nine-year-old, forced his adopted son to divorce his wife so Muhammad could have her as a wife (she was purportedly quite beautiful), mandated war against non-Muslims for the sole reason that they were non-Muslims, and who had some of his critics and rivals assassinated. An abridged version of the biography can be found and reviewed for free online at faithfreedom.org, but none of the negative information about Muhammad can be found in "Islam for Dummies."
"Islam for Dummies" accurately explains that "[b]elievers know the traditional story of the founder [Muhammad] and an outsider who wants to understand the religion will also need to know the founder's story and its importance in the religion." Despite the foregoing accurate statement, "Islam for Dummies" then proceeds to give only half the story of Islam's founder despite expressly recognizing the importance of the full story. "Islam for Dummies" accurately explains that in Islam, Muhammad's life, as commanded in the Quran, is held up as a perfect, beautiful example for living for all time and how, in Islam, Muhammad is viewed as the light of the world and pole of the universe. One would think that explaining some of Muhammad's acts of violence and how some terrorists justify their violence based on Muhammad's example, just as the Qur'an commands, might help readers better understand Islam and Islamic terrorism, but all the author reveals regarding such violence is the following short passage that does not appear until page 269 of a 327 page book: "Still, the obligation of the Muslim state to wage war on non-Muslim states in order to bring them under the rule of God's law led to negative views in many non-Muslim lands toward Islam."
While the foregoing statement is undeniably true, "Islam for Dummies" offers little, if any, proof for the foregoing statement to assist readers in accepting and understanding the very important principle. The book ignores any details about the violent manner by which Islam spread or the millions slaughtered during Islamic conquests. So much of the negative aspects of Islam are ignored that when readers read the above-quoted material, I suspect that few of them would be any more enlightened as to the full truth about Islam than if the phrase had been deleted from the book. Mere conclusions without factual support are usually neither persuasive nor memorable.
It may well be that the author of "Islam for Dummies," Malcolm Clark, originally wrote a much more balanced work and that he never intended to deceive anyone, but the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc., deleted anything that he or she thought might offend Muslims. Whatever the cause, books like "Islam for Dummies" do more to foster a false perception of Islam than they do to enlighten the public. For that reason, I only recommend this book to those people who will supplement it with an accurate history of Muhammad. I recommend "The Truth About Muhammad" by Robert Spencer. I believe it is now online and can be read for free, but please buy the book and support the author's work if you can.
Book Review: Worst in the Series
Summary: 1 Stars
I've read and own many of the "For Dummies" series, and this one doesn't deserve the title. It's dry, un-entertaining, and the author seems out of touch with his topic, focusing on minority groups and sects, as well as more obscure parts of the religion that don't exactly apply to Muslims as practiced today. I've since gone back and found factual errors or a misleading representation inside it. I wouldn't recommend the book, save your money on someone else.
Instead, I got "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Islam" by Yahiya Emerick, and found him a much more articulate author, who explained it in plain english; something that this "For Dummies" author didn't do so well.
Book Review: You call this a book?
Summary: 1 Stars
This is a horrible representation of Islam. This book openly bashes the shia community as well as misrepresents the sufis. Most importantly, this book has many simplistic errors in interpreting islam. This Christian professor of an author is extremely bias in his writings. I personally recommend The complete idiot's guide to understanding islam. Thank you.