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What I Believe (2009)

by Tariq Ramadan(Favorite Author)

4.02 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0195387856 (ISBN13: 9780195387858)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

review 1: I put this on my want-to-read list so long ago, I didn't remember why. Written by a prominent intellectual in Europe (barred from the US by Bush for reasons that remain unclear), it explores the role of Muslims in modern society. In particular, the question of how Muslims fit within secular society. He makes many good observations and asks a lot of good questions, but the reading was a bit dense for my taste. I sometimes felt like I was not quite smart enough to be reading the book, never a good feeling.
review 2: In this book, Tariq Ramadan attempts to summarize his ideas about religious, political and social trends that affect the life and status of Muslims in the West, in particular in Europe. Very briefly, Ramadan deconstructs some of the theories and preco... morenceptions that both Muslim immigrants and Western societies hold towards each other.The book puts a lot of dense ideas into a few short chapters and allows the reader to get a glimpse into the mind of an intellectual who has defied the stereotype time and time again and who has become quite controversial in the last few years.In trying to defend himself against some of his detractors, Ramadan comes across occasionally as self absorbed and the book comes across in some of its chapters as revolving mainly around him. That said, the book still offers an alternative and worthy point of view on why the divide has become so wide and how we can bridge it. My main concern with the book is the focus on what Western societies need to change within themselves to achieve real inclusiveness and accept Muslims but it does not put enough emphasis on what kind of critical review Muslims need to go through to reform their own approach to religion. It also completely ignores the role oil wealth in propagating the literalist/extremist views of countries like Saudi Arabia and this influence on the collective thinking of Muslims worldwide. less

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