Demystifying Islam: Tackling the Tough Questions Hardcover – May 29, 2014

This is a wonderful book on Islam that explains the true teachings and concepts of Islam. Islam has been hijacked by extremists and maligned by the misconduct of many Muslim countries who have distorted the image and message of Islam for their own selfish and political gains. There is a huge need to hear from the perspective of a moderate muslim. The author, an American muslim has used an open, logical and rational approach. He brings you back to the basics of Islam and also removes the widespread misunderstandings that are associated with this second largest religion of the world. He has demystified ambiguities about the concept of Jihad, Shariah law, treatment of women and many others. He has based his arguments on Quran and the conduct of Muhammed the founder of Islam. Harris has demonstrated a wonderful writing style and he continues to engage the reader throughout the bookI would highly recommend this book as a must read for all those who want to learn about Islam in an unbiased rational way. Muslims should also read this book to gain a better understanding of their own religion.

This book is a fantastic one for knowing about Islam with truth and basics without false interpretations and references. I recommend to all who wants to learn about Islam this book is a gem.

I have had the great pleasure of hearing Harris Zafar speak at interfaith gatherings and other such occasions. He is articulate, informed, and interesting.Unfortunately, these qualities are not apparent in his book,  Demystifying Islam: Tackling the Tough Questions . He has chapters that explain the basics about Islam and tackle a series of difficult issues: Jihad, Shariah, Religious Freedom, Free Speech, Women's Rights, Jesus Christ, and the various sects of Islam. Over and over again one learns that Muslims and Muslim-majority countries have misinterpreted Islam and are acting against its dictates. I was left more than a bit mystified as to why so many Muslim political entities fail to follow the teachings of Islam.The author has to engage in sometimes extremely convoluted linguistic and logical work in order to justify Islamic positions in these areas. This was particularly true in two chapters. In the chapter on women's rights for example, we learn that men and women are equal before God, but men must protect the honor of women (who should wear head coverings). Men are also responsible for earning a living while women have an equal responsibility for rearing children. In the chapter on Jesus Christ, we learn that Jesus survived his crucifixion and lived quietly the remainder of his life teaching the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel.There are other difficult claims as well, including that the text of the Quran has never been altered. Zafar notes that Muslims accept and revere the prophets of other religions - such as Confucius, Buddha, Socrates, etc. I am unaware that Socrates, the Buddha, or Confucius thought that they were founding religions. I was also surprised to read that it was the Jews that tried to execute Jesus on the cross. This libel was rejected by the Catholic Church at the Second Vatican Council and I was sorry to see it repeated in this book.The final chapter of the book, on the sects of Islam, was by far the best. Zafar does an excellent job giving the historical and theological background on the split between the Sunnis, Shias, and other sects, as well as a good update on more recent sects such as the Sufis and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the author's own group. This sect believes that the messiah returned in the late 1800's in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India. He advocated "Jihad by the pen," i.e. defending the faith through writing, wisdom, and intellect. Zafar is following just that path with this book.Ahmad also re-established the Khilafat (Caliphate). This is particularly interesting at a time (I wrote this review in July, 2014) when ISIS in Iraq and Syria has just declared a Caliphate. An issue of The Economist this month talks about "The tragedy of the Arabs" who once had a dynamic civilization and led the world in learning, tolerance, and trade - a thousand years ago. This book sheds a little light on how that tradition was lost but offers no hope for recovering it.

A wonderfully clear book. Zafar was able to address the common misconceptions and critics allegations about Islam.

Very enlightening for someone who wants to understand Islam. A good read.

This book claims to Demystify Islam, but the author only takes into account one sect of Islam. He seems to say that the only true Islam is the group he belongs to, which corresponds to about 1% of Islamic people.

An absolute must read.

I did not like the price of the book, so I headed to the local library and borrowed the book. Indeed, the price is ridiculously high for a two hundred pages book. I wonder why the publisher set it so out of line compared to other books on Amazon. May be they felt that the issues discussed in the book are so important for modern readers that they be willing to pay any amount to be persuaded that Islam does not threated our Westarn civilization.Indeed, the author tries to persuade the reader that the clash of civilizations does not exist. He says that our fears of Jihad are based on misunderstanding, that imposition of Shariah is voluntary and not by force, that religious freedom, free speech and women's rights are protected under Islam. On each of these issues the author states that the original Islam hold the views we all would find agreeable, but evil and cruel despots hijacked Islam interpretation and usurped Islamic governments. And yes, he admits that these despots do wage Jihad to make the whole West Islamic, they do impose the Shariah by force, they suppress religious freedom, free speech and wonen's rights. He is very sorry about that. So where all this leaves the reader? Before reading the book I was afraid the Jihad would conquer the West, would impose Shariah, suppress religious freedom, free speech and women's rights. This is why I wanted to read the book to begin with - to find our whether there are any forces within Islam and Islamic nations that are able to change the course of Jihad. After reading the book I see that my fears were well founded. Yes, they want to wage Jihad, impose Shariah, suppress religious freedom, free speech and women's rights. Too bad. I am not even saying anything about Jews and Judaism - the book does not try to persuade me that they will survive.

Easy to understand breakdown of some seemingly very complicated matters,great for RE teachers & students of Islam in general

Excellent book!

Thank you for prompt delivering. Book is brand new. Heard a lot about the author so look forward to reading it.