The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and Its Role in Terrorism

by Stephen Schwartz and Stephen Schwartz

Book Overview

ASK ANYBODY AROUND East Scranton High School: Michael Kerrigan is almost too good to be true. Dedicated athlete, captain of the track team, editorial assistant (obituary writer) at the Scranton... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400030455
• ISBN13: 9781400030453
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

pretty good work - NOT necessarily "objective" though

Schwartz did not go out to write an academic treatise on Islam or write an "objective" piece about how terrible they are (much to the chagrin of many). He wrote on his own research and his own experiences, and he says so very directly at the beginning of his book. His sources and experiences are solid. Several reviewers of the book show great disdain that Schwartz either doesn't go into great, gory detail of how awful Islam is compared to their religions or how he seems to take "their" side. Schwartz makes very good points in the book, and anyone who really wants to learn something new will get it. Schwartz doesn't paint a rosy picture of what Islam has become in many quarters, but he puts a lot of things into understandable context. Someone in another review wrote that Schwartz doesn't ever site the Qu'ran... Obviously, they didn't read the book. Schwartz quotes the Qu'ran no less than six times by the end of Chapter One. * * * * * * * No. It's not an emotionless, totally objective work. Yes. It is partly a history book and partly an explanation of the "sociology of Islam". Order it if you want to broaden your horizons on the subject. If you want more reasons to hate or dismiss Islam, find another, because Schwartz' book does such a good job all you'll do is get upset.

If you read only one book on Islam, make it this one.

In the very short space of several hundred pages, Schwartz does something really remarkable: Out of the backdrop of a solidly-researched and tautly-written history of Islam emerges the picture of a river splitting in two. One branch, the original river of Islam, having emerged from earlier wars and the Crusades, meanders on, mostly peacefully. But another branch diverges and becomes a virulent strain of psychopathically-distorted religious fundamentalism. This nightmare began to take shape from 1703 with the birth of Mohammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the world's first Islamist terrorist, and descends to the present in its alliance with the Al Sa'ud. The Wahhabis -- the Haters of Music -- have always claimed all other forms of Islam to be heretical and have waged a 250-year war against all those who have resisted its ultra-puritanical doctrine -- Shi'as, Sufis, Christians, Jews. Now that war comes to us. In a brilliantly, and often beautifully, written book, we watch the two rivers separate and flow down into our time. Schwartz's condemnation of Wahhabism is unapologetic, as is his antipathy for the duplicity of the Royal House of Sa'ud. But it is condemnation and antipathy irrefutably supported by the facts. And in this time it is a book of unmatched value: For with the information contained within this masterpiece on contemporary Islam, we are able to separate mainstream Islam from its evil twin and fight a more intelligent and more compassionate War on Terror. It is a profound and often lyrical book, and Schwartz is remarkably brave to have written it (after you read it, you'll understand why). If you read only one book on Islam in our time, let it be this one.

Queer eye for the Wahhabi guy!

To Schwartz Islam itself is not the problem, but the militant interpretation of Islam is, as practised and preached by the Wahhabis and the Sa'udi monarchy. This is what needs to be stopped. While admiring Schwartz's book and agreeing to almost all of what he states, there are some statements that are completely wrong or misleading. For example, Schwartz says, 'Ibn Taymiyyah also declared total war on Sufism...'(pg.55). Although Ibn Taymiyyah has never been representative of orthodox Sunni Islam (or the science of Sufism), it has been noted in his own books that he not only praised Sufis at times, but also claimed to be an adherent of the Qadiri Sufi order of Abdl-Qadir Jeelani (found in Ibn Taymiyya's 'Mas'ala at Tabriziyya'). Hamza Yusuf and Wahhabis should not be put in one and the same light of intolerance and unorthodoxy. Overall, Schwartz's book is a welcome contribution and eye-opener to both Muslim and non-Muslim audiences that I recommend without hesitation. Also recommended: For a fun alternate read I recommend Keshner's COCKPIT CONFESSIONS OF AN AIRLINE PILOT, which is a bigotted, raw slice of life. He condemns arabs in general and Saudis in particular... what a guy.

An eye opener

Stephen Schwartz's book does an excellent job of explaining the history of Islam and its various sects for those of us who are neophytes on the subject. He then spends plenty of ink explaining the rise of the Wahhabi sect and what hatred it has preached in the last 300 years. Not only is Wahhabism anti western civilization, it is even militant against other Muslim sects. Schwartz saw the nefarious side of the Wahhabi sect while reporting on the Bosnian conflict. He witnessed first hand the Wahhabi clerics sent to Bosnia to help rebuild the Muslim community try to take over and change the culture of Bosnian Muslims and their religious beliefs. They were sent with plenty of money from the Saudi royal family to rebuild mosques that were destroyed but only if the mosques were rebuilt using Wahhabi architectural standards and modes. He focuses in on the relationship between the militant Wahhabi sect and the Saudi royal family. Schwartz, a Moslem himself, does a good job of exposing the Saudi ruling family's efforts in using its vast wealth in promoting this militant hateful sect's teachings in Muslim day schools throughout the world including right here in the U.S. This book goes a long way to shedding light on the disturbing fact that the Saudi royal family is supporting this kind of hatred throughout the world.

Islamic Religion Good/Bad

The Two Faces of Islam is a compelling analysis of the Wahabi (bad) elements and the accepting,usually Sufi,(good) elements of the Islamic religion. Enough facts are presented to make an excellent case that the Saudi Arabian Wahabbi Islamic religion is very repressive and does not correspond to the teachings of Muhammad. The Wahabbi drive to require all Islamic sects to practice Islam as per the Wahabbi interpretations is fascistic.The book presents the thought that the other Islamic sects might throw out the Wahabbis one day. The author also compares Saudi Arabia to Yugoslavia in terms of ethnic dislike between Saudi factions.I enjoyed the book very much.