Is Islam an Enemy of the West [Paperback]

New York, Washington, Madrid, London and now Paris Ð the list of Western cities targeted by radical Islamic terrorists waging global jihad continues to grow. Does this extreme violence committed in the name of Islam point to a fundamental enmity between the Muslim faith and the West?

In this compelling essay, leading scholar of Islam Tamara Sonn argues that whilst the West has many enemies among Muslims, it is politics not religion that informs their grievances.  The longer these demands remain frustrated, the more violence has escalated and recruitment to groups like Islamic State has increased.  Far from quelling the spread of Islamic extremism, Western military intervention has helped to turn nationalist movements into radical terrorist groups with international agendas.  Islam, Sonn concludes, is not the problem, just as war is not the solution.

“It is no surprise that this lucid and insightful treatment of such a fraught topic should come from none other than Tamara Sonn, one of the leading scholars of Islam today. The author subjects some of the most pervasive stereotypes of Muslims current today - especially their alleged proclivity for violence - to trenchant analysis and confronts lurid depictions of Islam with sober facts. The result is a highly accessible and valuable study that compellingly undermines the all-too-common view that ‘Islam’ and ‘the West’ are at war with one another.”
Asma Afsaruddin, Indiana University

Tamara Sonn's new book dispels the myths that portray Islam as inherently violent and antagonistic toward the West. She offers a compelling response and an essential antidote to the crude caricatures of Islam that pervade our post-9/11 world.
Todd Green, Luther College, author of The Fear of Islam: An Introduction to Islamophobia in thlþ