Is Islam an Enemy of the West?

by Tamara Sonn

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.

152 pages, Hardcover

Published December 5, 2016

Reviews

[Sabeeha Rehman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tamara Sonn dismantles this theory by making a compelling argument that it is politics, not religion that informs the grievances of Muslims. Her argument is grounded in facts, Quranic references, and data. She challenges the theory of 'clash of civilizations' and provides evidence on the position of mainstream Muslims on violence, extremism, and terrorism. This book is for anyone and everyone who wants to know where Muslims stand in their relationship with people of other faiths.

[I Read, Therefore I Blog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tamara Sonn's essay sets out the basic tenets driving Al Qaeda and Daesh's campaign against the West. It's an interesting read and a good summary for those seeking an introduction to the subject but anyone who has been following this subject in the press won't find anything new here and while Sonn argues that the terrorists' beliefs are incompatible with Islam, there is no analysis about whether they are nevertheless sincerely held beliefs that use some Islamic teaching to support them and not is there any mention of the Saudis' funding of Wahhabism and how that feeds into Daesh recruitment.