Islam For Dummies Paperback – May 2, 2003

Islam for Dummies gives a wonderful broad strokes view of Islam with interesting details of history that lead up to Islam as it is today. It also shows where the religion has been perverted from it's original meaning, particularly in politics and the roles of women. It also explains medical ethics of the Muslim people, which was a wonderful bonus that I wasn't expecting. The book not only gives you an understanding of the religion and its customs, law and tradition, but also sexual, social and economic ethics,the differences between Sufis and Shi'ites, and Islam in America. Along that vein, it also describes common complaints of Muslim people against the Western world, the concerns of American Muslims, and the concerns of Americans (usually People of the Book such as Christians and Jews) *about* Muslims. Better still, the book lists Muslim contrubutions to the world that I had no idea about, noteworthy Muslims of both past and present, and countries with large Islamic presence. A wonderful book for both beginners *and* those who have read the Qur'an, which doesn't always translate well into English (like many languages)and, where that occurs - well, you don't scribble notes in the Bible, do you? So very few copies of the Qu'ran come with proper annotations for non-Muslim people, and I suggest you read this beforehand. It explained a lot of things that confused me when I read the Holy Book first, and I suggest re-reading after.

I use this as one of many sources for my Christian Church History class, when Christianity and Islam intersected.

I read this book In 2024. It has a lot of useful information. However, only goes up to 2002. Everything that is happened in the last almost 25 years Is not included. Also, the book tends to concentrate on the history of Islam, and doesn't give as much information on the religious beliefs as I was hoping. All in all, it is a good intro to Islam, but if you want to know more, you'll need to find other books in addition to this one. This is a good starting point.

This is a very intersting and thought provoking book about Islam. It is written in language that is easy to follow for someone who is not familiar with the Religion that seems to be very much misunderstood because of Media and local explanations.The layout of the book makes it easy to follow. The authors are respected academics.I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the religion as well as to those who may be traveling in the Islamic Countries of the world.

This book explains everything about Islam and is very informative for new Muslims. I tried reading the Quran and it was very difficult so I purchased this book and I’m learning a lot more.

I read it to get some background before spending about half of the past seven years in countries where Islam is the prevailing religion. I can't recall anything the book got wrong and it helped immensely in my dealings with locals. TONS of great information in a small package.

Thorough explanation for the uninitiated, well presented. I use mine as a reference often.

Easy to read and being a student of middle eastern language, it is a very helpful tool to get a westerner's insight into this religion especially given whats going on in the world.