Negative Positive
Title: Islam challenged
Review: This book challenges the historical, theological, and theoretical bases of Islam. It is unsparing in its analysis of how the Koran and sharia law came into existence. It portrays an unflattering picture of the prophet Mohammed. Finally, it compares Western philosophy and political theory to that of Islam, and finds Islam to be ossified and lacking in human values.It quotes widely from both Islamic and Western sources and gives the reader an overview of the theological premises discussed in much less detail in Bernard Lewis' books, such as What Went Wrong.A minor criticism is that it is not tightly organized and often overlapping in arguments from one chapter to the next. This is far outweighed by the force of the arguments presented, and the searing criticism of Islam that more timid texts (eg., Karen Armstrong) are unwilling to make.
Is the review positive or negative? 