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The Muslim Next Door: The Qur'an, the Media, and That Veil Thing | 
| Author: Sumbul Ali-karamali
Publisher: White Cloud Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $11.01
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Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 30408
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 260
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0974524565
Dewey Decimal Number: 297
EAN: 9780974524566
ASIN: 0974524565
Publication Date: September 1, 2008 (New: This Week)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
Excellent book September 5, 2008
This is an interesting and educational explanation of what it means to be Muslim. If you are ready to leave the media stereotypes behind and truly get insight into a world religion with billions of followers, this is the book to read. I highly recommend it. Growing up as a Muslim American, I can finally recommend a book that explains, with sensitivity and intelligence, to my friends that Islam is not a religion of hate and intolerance, but a religion of peace.
enlightening and necessary September 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As a Christian, I would recommend this book to learn about Islam. I found this book to be enlightening and necessary. I realized that I knew very little about Islam and that what I knew was not based on any real information, but just perceptions and media images. I love that Islam means submission and peace - "gaining peace in your soul through submission to God, to the will of God and to His laws" (page 33). I also love the historical explanation of Islam and that it is a non-violent religion. This book is an important step in building bridges through understanding and knowledge.
Finally!!!! August 29, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have spent the better part of the last 8 years traveling and working in predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia. I am neither a scholar nor expert but an average guy who has a deep appreciation for the wonderful diversity of this world. For years, I have observed the media and numerous authors paint Islam with a single authoritarian brush.
I could never figure out how these experts were describing something so different than my personal experience (with the exception of a few hardcore zealots but I guess every religion has those).
Finally, there is a book that honestly describes the people that I know and have come to love. This book so beautifully describes the loving, funny, thoughtful people who embrace Islam for their spiritual guidance. It clearly shows how diverse the people are in their lives and their worship yet maintaining scholarly integrity.
I think this should be required reading for every American.
An Informative, Personal, and Entertaining Insight Into the Muslim World August 29, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Not too many years ago, ordinary Americans all but ignored the religion of Islam. It was generally perceived as that "strange" religion "over there"; some sort of "Eastern" religion (which it is not) whose adherents had all the oil that the United States depended on to run its economy. Virtually all Americans were, more or less, intimately acquainted with Christianity, of course, as it is the dominant and most influential religious belief system in a culture with many versions of it; and many Americans were somewhat familiar with Judaism, if not directly at least indirectly, because they had some friends who celebrated the Jewish holy days. Buddhism (which is an "Eastern" belief system) was also familiar to many Americans because its influence had been growing for decades, especially among the younger avant-garde thinkers who were always searching for something different from the traditional churches.
Islam, for the most part, was not a daily topic of conversation for Americans, its beliefs and practices were generally unfamiliar, and, at least as a religion, seldom made the national news on a regular basis. All of this changed after September 11th, 2001. Within days, once the terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center were identified as Muslims, a campaign of misunderstanding and fear was initiated against Islam, resulting in both institutional and personal attacks against the religion itself and those who practiced it. I manage a philosophy website which includes a section devoted to the Islamic philosophers and I received numerous emails suggesting I might want to delete that section from my website. I replied in the negative, arguing that if I did such a thing I might as well delete the Christian philosophers because Timothy McVeigh (an alleged Christian Identity follower) blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City or remove the Jewish philosophers because a few Jewish terrorists have bombed mosques.
Fear and ignorance are powerful influences. After 9/11, the media went wild. Videos and books about Islam and the Muslim culture, most of them negative, were appearing everywhere. There was a definite need to produce material which explained Islam and the lives of ordinary Muslims and get this material into the hands of ordinary Americans. However, few of the materials subsequently produced seemed to connect on a personal basis with the general American public. Sumbul Ali-Karamali has now resolved that conundrum, I think, with the publication of "The Muslim Next Door: The Qur'an, the Media, and that Veil Thing." It is not only an excellent exposition about Islamic faith and practice; it is written as a personal memoir from a highly-educated, California-raised American Muslim woman of South Asian ancestry (and a lawyer educated at Stanford and UC-Davis) who intimately describes many of the problems she encountered as she grew into maturity and the difficulties she has faced since the 9/11 incident.
Since 9/11 and the global focus on Islamic life, the "Veil Thing," oddly enough (or maybe not!), appeared to be one of the most discussed topics among my female friends and their attitude was substantially negative toward this "Veil Thing." They thought it was "weird" and "oppressive" for women to wear a head-covering, and downright "insane" to wear a "burqa" which covers virtually the entire body. I pointed out to them (and the author of this work uses similar examples) that I remember when my mother and, for that matter, all Catholic females wore a head-covering (usually a hat, sometimes simply a piece of cloth) when attending Mass or some other church event within the church building itself. I pointed out to my female friends that back in my younger days the vast majority of the nuns teaching me covered their entire body with a "habit," including a head-covering which covered their entire head, exposing only their face to the public. Until the late 1960s, the only body-parts I ever saw on a nun were a pair of hands, two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Now, were the nuns "strange" to us? Not in the least. It was just part of our "Christian culture."
Does one detect a double-standard here? Yes. Has one forgotten the peculiarities of one's own culture? Yes. Do most Americans know that Islam is every bit as much a "Western" religion as Christianity or Judaism are? Probably not. Do most Americans know that the practices of Islam are not that different from those of the other two great Western religions. Apparently not. And this is why this book is very important. We are not at war with Islam. We are not at war with Muslims. We are at war with terrorists, both international and, I might point out, domestic. It is vital that all of us understand what Islam is all about. Islam is, according to many sources, the fastest-growing religion in the world today. It seems only reasonable to have a genuine understanding of its beliefs and practices, whether we agree with them or not.
I highly recommend "The Muslim Next Door" to all readers, especially those who still have doubts or questions about Islam and the Muslim culture. The writing is sometimes witty and humorous, but always interesting and informative. For those readers looking for a deeper understanding of the religion itself or a more scholarly approach, I also highly recommend "No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam," by Reza Aslan, a book which I have previously read and reviewed.
Finally a little personal note, and I hope the author isn't offended. A photograph of Sumbul Ali-Karamali, the author of "The Muslim Next Door," appears on the cover of the book. Had her biography not informed me about her ancestry and religion, I might have guessed she was an Italian-American Catholic (she looks very much like one of my sisters-in-law who is just that). Furthermore, as far as I am concerned, she and her family are welcome to move into my neighborhood anytime and become our "Muslims next door."
A Breath of Fresh Air August 28, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Sumbul Karameli, an attorney and an Islamic Scholar, provides a refreshing insight into re-discovering Islam. In an easy-to-read narrative, the author uses personal anecdotes to bring out the most frequently asked questions and misconceptions about Islam. Relying on a conversational style, the author illustrates the answers, giving the reader pause for thought and deliberation, and with the contemporary setting as a backdrop, educates the reader on what every non-Muslim should know about Islam.
Sumbul's approach to educating the reader about Islam is to share anecdotes, which become the springboard for discussion of the Islamic perspective. In her discourse, she may be arguing with friends, or with herself, and through those arguments, questions are asked, more questions are raised, and explanations offered. Her explanations are rational, sensible, and substantive. She relies on her legal background, and logically builds her case with a seamless progression of thought. But it is the personal touch and the emotion in her arguments that makes her more compelling. The reader may or may not agree with her logic, but is certainly moved by her passion. The explanations are carefully referenced, relying primarily on `Western sources' such as John Esposito, Michael Sells, Amina Wadud, etc. Her style is conversational and the reader finds herself getting into an argument with the author, only to find herself pre-empted. Brilliant!
In her book, Sumbul has covered contemporary and high profile issues and dealt with them with a frankness and candor seldom seen.
Her honesty is a breath of fresh air!
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