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The World Trade Center bombings on September 11, 2001, unleashed a worldwide reaction against the perpetrators of this heinous act and drew attention to the ongoing conflict between the Western world and the Muslims. Soon the 1.3 billion Muslims in the world also began to feel the repercussions of the September 11 tragedy and now find themselves a frequent target of prejudice, ignorance and slander in the Western world. Biased representations of them include every aspect of their life, from their religious beliefs through their attire and eating habits to their treatment of women and children.
This is the topic of the book Who Speaks for Islam by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed. In the easy to read and information-packed book, the authors attempt to debunk the attitudes and convictions held by many American people and undo the damage done by such ignorance. The resulting damage is captured well in the following statement from their book
Forty-four percent of Americans say Muslims are too extreme in their religious beliefs … 22% say they would not want a Muslim as a neighbor and 32% of Americans say they admire nothing about the Muslims world and 25% admit they simply “don't know”. (p. 155)
These findings are alarming since they ignore the wide cultural diversity of Muslims (the majority of Muslims live in Indonesia and over 200 million in India, the largest democracy in the world!) and the enormous artistic and creative contributions of the Muslims people (who amongst us has not marveled at the great Taj Mahal and savored the richness of a beautiful Persian rug!).
The authors' timely contribution attempts to bridge this gap between what people know (or think they know) about the Muslims of the world and what the facts actually are. Their analysis is systematic, planned and thoughtfully executed. Their book is based upon a large scale Gallup research study, spanning six years in which tens of thousands of intensive interviews were conducted with residents from over 3