Islam, muslim and arabs are often misused when we turn on our TV or when we open any of our social media feeds.
Growing up not learning much about the religion of islam, or the over 24% of world population that identify themselves as muslims nor the over 400 million people that speak arabic is, to a certain extent, a gap I was not proud of having.
This book helped me merge part of this gap by understanding the religious differences between sunnis and shias, the way the borders between 24% of world population have been drafted and their political evolution as well as the arabic evolution and mix with other languages.
The different elements of these pieces of knowledge allow one to understand better the charcoal left behind in Afghanistan since world war I with British, Soviet and American forces playing their cards destabilising a diverse country.
The story is not very different in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and other countries whose people suffering is way to often shared in our screens.
This book was the beginning of my journey to learn more about this quarter of the population with whom I share this planet but whose knowledge of their ancestors is so limited.
Unfortunately, Jaime's book is of 2015, meaning the last 100 pages of book dedicated to ISIS are unfortunately outdated and not worth reading.