God in the Qur'an
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Who is Allah? What does He ask of those who submit to His teachings? Pulitzer Prize-winner Jacke Miles gives us a deeply probing, revelatory portrait of the world’s second largest, fastest-growing and perhaps most tragically misunderstood religion. In doing so, Miles illuminates what is unique about Allah, His teachings, and His resolutely merciful temperament, and he thereby reveals that which is false, distorted, or simply absent from the popular conception of the heart of Islam.
So, too, does Miles uncover the spiritual and scriptural continuity of the Islamic tradition with those of Judaism and Christianity, and the deep affinities among the three by setting passages from the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Qur’an side by side. In the spirit of his two previous books, God and Christ, and with his characteristic sensitivity, perspicacity and prodigious command of the subject, Miles calls for us all to read another’s scriptures with the same understanding and accommodating eye that we turn upon our own.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pulitzer-winner Miles (for God: A Biography) provides a generous, if critical, literary interpretation (or "theography," as he calls it) of Allah, the god of Islam, in this engaging yet disappointing book. It is largely a comparison between the god of the Bible and Allah in the Koran, focusing on how major figures (such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Jesus, and Mary) experience God across the texts. For instance, when considering how God worked through Moses, Miles writes: "Yahweh Elohim wants to defeat the Pharaoh; Allah wants to convert him." Such an approach plays to Miles's strengths, allowing the book to relish the literary majesty of all three scriptures. But readers will leave the book feeling that there is much more to be said about Allah outside of the narratives that the Koran shares with the Old Testament and New Testament. Missing from this picture of Allah are many ethical and legal topics, historical events of Muhammad's era, and exhortations to prayer and charity that dominate the text of the Koran. Although Miles's attempt is admirable, it lacks authority and its limited appeal only extends to a non-Muslim audience.
