No God but God
Reza Aslan
Arrow Books,
The Random House Group Ltd.,
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London, SWIV 2SA
Pages: 338
Price: £ 8.99
Reviewed by WAQUAR HASAN
The modern age has been unfortunate for Islam because during this period it has been widely misrepresented, misinterpreted and misunderstood. It has been subjected to blasphemy and propaganda to defame Islam and its followers. The hostility and prejudices against Islam led to misconceptions and misunderstandings. Illiteracy, ignorance and religious monopoly and Islamophobia led to misrepresentation and misinterpretation. In order to deal with this problem and challenges, Islamic scholars kept a close eye and attempted to minimise it by writing books and articles, organising seminars and public discussions and by using all other available means of communication. The book No God but God by Reza Aslan is a great service to humanity in this regard.
It is incredible and outstanding on this subject in regard of explanation, objectivity and broad analysis.
The spirit of the book is a brief and rational introduction of Islam from its origin to the present time. The author begins from Prophet Adam, explaining the alteration and modification that took place before Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) in Islam, and elucidates the present Islamic movement. Elaborating the alteration, he writes that Judaism and Christianity is an old version of Islam but Muhammad’s movement is final version of it.
Then, he explains the ups and downs of Islam, shedding light on the life of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) in which the author proves how peaceful and justice-loving Islam is. Analysing the objections raised by the Orientalists, he deals with all the controversial issues in a broad sense.
The target of the author is to present raw material of Islam and brush off the garbage that is served in the name of Islam. So, the author delves deep into all the controversial and critical issues such as polygamy of Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be to him), his marriage with Aisha, Veil (Hijab), women’s right, civil conflicts and wars after the death of Muhammad, division of sects, Muslim emperors, etc. The author tries his level best to be unbiased while analysing these issues.
The author does a marvellous analysis of women rights in which he contends that Islam has given women all the rights they deserve. Veil is not the code of dress that Islam prescribed for women; it has been fabricated during the period of Muslim emperors. Islam guides some rules and etiquette of clothing.
The author’s evaluation of the complicated history of civil war just after the death of Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be to him) is definitely praiseworthy. He tries to get into the roots of the civil war. He also sheds light on the causes of sectarian division in the Muslim Ummah. He pinpoints weaknesses and faults of all sects and concludes that there is no need of any sect to follow Islam. We should only follow Islam, not sects.
He also describes the tragedy of deviation of Khilafah to monarchy, referring to the tragic story of Hasan bin Ali. He also expresses concern over weak-reported Hadith (zaeef-Hadith) that draws a wrong picture of Islam and life of Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be to him).
The author strongly objects to any type of monopoly on Islam. He warns that Muslims began to follow the path of Jews and Christians in practising Islam. As the religions of Jews and Christians were in the hands of their clerics for a long time, Islam is also in the hands of Ulema. The emergence of the modern age challenges this monopoly. People have begun to seek information on Islam without consulting Ulema. They are studying the Qur’ān directly. The development of technology has played a great role in this regard. Nowadays, all sources of knowledge and information are reaching everywhere through internet. It is open for each and every one. Islam is taking the shape as the religion of the modern age. It has very bright future.
The best quality of the book is that it is beneficial at every level and stage. Academicians, students, scholars and those who want to understand Islam, it has material for all of them. The fluency, clarity and simplicity of language used in the book are noteworthy. The reader can easily grasp the message of the writer. If there is any ambiguity and complication in understanding something, the author explains it with examples. He mentions all the academic references and evidences.
But, while introducing Islam, the author depends on controversial and negative issues. In doing so he left the positive and golden aspects of Islam. The period of Khulfa-e-Rashedeen (Four Rightly Guided Caliphs) has many positive aspects such as Justice, Peace, Fraternity and law and order, all of which are not found in the book.
Islam lays much emphasis justice and peace. But the author did not render them due importance in the book. Sometime, it seems that the negative advertisement of media about Jihad has left an impact on the author. So, in reaction of it, he tries to remove politics from Islam. He presents an Islam that is limited to individual matters and not interferes into collective matters. But one who studies the holy Qur’ān will be definitely aware that Islam guides in each and every sphere of life. Then, it will be against the spirit of the Qur’ān to side-line politics from Islam. As a whole, the book contributes a lot to the service of mankind.