Review - Allah: The Concept of God in Islam

Disclaimer:  I received this book free from Smith Publicity in exchange for an honest review.  I did not receive any form of compensation.

As a Unitarian Universalist, I believe that all religions lead to the path of redemption.  It's just that there are so many languages and so many cultures that it would be impossible for there to be only one version that can be the true path.  So in order to better understand others and myself, I strive to understand other religions.

This lead me to finding this book to review.  I have always been fascinated with the Muslim religion.  I know that after 9/11, many people started immediately associating Muslim with terrorism.  This is not true in any way shape or form.  If that were true, then Christianity would be considered terrorism as well since it was the Christians who slaughtered people during the Spanish Inquisition and the Witch Hunts of yore.  No matter what culture or religion you look at, you will find zealots and extremists.  These people should not dictate how we see the whole of that religion.

One thing that I really liked about this book was that the author was able to draw correlations between Christianity and Muslim religions.  They share much of the same stories and heritage.  It is just that Christianity doesn't always follow everything to the letter of the law as written in the Bible.  Very few Christians abstain from eating pork even though it is stated in the Old Testament that you shouldn't.  Whereas, Muslims feel that in order to be pure or clean, you need to live life the way that it is described in the Holy Qur'an.

The Messenger of Allah, Muhammed, stated "For everything there is a path, and the path to Paradise is knowledge."  To me knowledge, means to not only know ourselves, but to know others as well.  By learning of various religions, we can gain more knowledge.

There is a sort of "FAQ" about Allah.  It consists of questions such as "How can you describe Him?".  The author answers each of these questions through the use of verses from the Holy Qur'an.

The book also lists all 99 attributes of Allah.  It was interesting to read them and gain greater understanding.  It shows which parts of the Holy Qur'an that demonstrate these attributes as well as English translations of the words that are used for the attributes.