NYT's Sunday Book Review: The Islam Issue

Nice Sunday read.

Oliver Munday

Sunday Book Review: The Islam Issue

Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

Ahead of the United States’ invasion of Iraq in 2003, Saddam Hussein’s policemen dressed as suicide bombers for a parade in Baghdad.

'The Suicide of Reason'

By LEE HARRIS
Reviewed by AYAAN HIRSI ALI

Arguing that the West’s “fanaticism of reason” is no match for the fanaticism of radical Islam.

Essay

Reading the Koran

By TARIQ RAMADAN

The Book of all Muslims, Tariq Ramadan writes, can be understood on many levels.

'The Adventures of Amir Hamza'

By GHALIB LAKHNAVI AND ABDULLAH BILGRAMI
Reviewed by WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

The “Iliad” and “Odyssey” of medieval Persia is presented in a hefty new English translation.

• First Chapter

'Arguing the Just War in Islam'

By JOHN KELSAY
Reviewed by IRSHAD MANJI

A professor of religion traces the thinking behind Islamic holy war.

'The Great Arab Conquests'

By HUGH KENNEDY
Reviewed by MAX RODENBECK

How Muslims redrew the map of ancient civilization.

'American Crescent'

By HASSAN QAZWINI
Reviewed by RASHID KHALIDI

From his mosque in Michigan, a cleric argues that Muslims can be integrated into national life.

• First Chapter

'Jihad and Jew-Hatred'

By MATTHIAS KÜNTZEL
Reviewed by JEFFREY GOLDBERG

A German scholar argues that Muslim anti-Semitism can be traced to a project of the Nazi Party.

• First Chapter

'God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570 to 1215'

By DAVID LEVERING LEWIS
Reviewed by ERIC ORMSBY

David Levering Lewis’s history of Arab rule in Spain focuses on its ethic of mutuality.