Review: My Year Inside Radical Islam
Jan. 13th, 2008 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI noticed this memoir in the library. The front cover says:
I picked it up thinking about becoming more aware of current events and wondering how he got sucked into that religion.
The simple answer to the latter question is that at first he was attracted to the tolerance of moderate Islam, then he became attracted to the idea of knowing exactly what to do with fundamentalist Islam.
Lots of times, a sense of humor helps make a nonfiction book easier to take, but this is all about a guy's attempt to serve God as well as he can. So the book is mostly about him researching religion. He certainly did a lot more research than I did when I was making decisions, even though I also have been three religions. The difference is that I let go of the idea that there must be a God who would tell us what He wanted us to do.
Still, I found myself getting sucked into the book. You know he's going to escape, but it seems just impossible. And you wonder which of his relationships are doomed. This is a very suspense-filled book.
I don't feel I know much more about current events, but I do feel that some of the knowledge I had is a bit more solidified.
So, if this sounds good to you, now you know this book exists (written by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, copyright 2007).
At twenty-three, I was a devout believer in radical islam. I worked for a Saudi-funded charity in Ashland, Oregon, that was accused of funding al-Qaeda. Funny thing, I was born Jewish. At the time, it all seemed pretty normal.
I picked it up thinking about becoming more aware of current events and wondering how he got sucked into that religion.
The simple answer to the latter question is that at first he was attracted to the tolerance of moderate Islam, then he became attracted to the idea of knowing exactly what to do with fundamentalist Islam.
Lots of times, a sense of humor helps make a nonfiction book easier to take, but this is all about a guy's attempt to serve God as well as he can. So the book is mostly about him researching religion. He certainly did a lot more research than I did when I was making decisions, even though I also have been three religions. The difference is that I let go of the idea that there must be a God who would tell us what He wanted us to do.
Still, I found myself getting sucked into the book. You know he's going to escape, but it seems just impossible. And you wonder which of his relationships are doomed. This is a very suspense-filled book.
I don't feel I know much more about current events, but I do feel that some of the knowledge I had is a bit more solidified.
So, if this sounds good to you, now you know this book exists (written by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, copyright 2007).