Review
"I think this book is a positive contribution to the
discussion about contemporary Islam and certainly a valuable
addition to the voices that are critically looking at
Islam's right-wing. . . . I don't think there is any other
public intellectual in the North American arena -- Muslim or
other -- who could have written this book." (HuffingtonPost.com,
April 15th, 2008)
Review
"Tarek Fatah has written a provocative and challenging
book, which is a must-read for anyone who cares about these
issues."--Janice Gross Stein, Director, Munk Centre for
International Studies, University of Toronto
"Chasing a Mirage is an extremely valuable contribution to the fight by progressive Muslims against Islamic fascism. This book should be required reading for the Left in the West who have mistakenly started believing that Islamists represent some sort of anti-imperialism."--Farooq Tariq, Secretary General, Pakistan Labour Party
"Fatah argues passionately for universalism instead of exclusivism, integration instead of ghettoism, and makes a powerful appeal for the silent majority of Muslims to speak out before it is too late. This work of courage and daring needs to be read widely."--Pervez Hoodboy, Professor, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
"This fascinating work by brave and brilliant Tarek Fatah is simultaneously thought-provoking, instructive and enlightening for laymen and scholars, Muslim and non-Muslim ... an invaluable and rare addition to the corpus of Islamic literature in the post 9/11 world, a bold step towards Islamic Reformation and Enlightenment."--Taj Hasmi, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, Honolulu
"Tarek Fatah's is a voice that needs to be heard. Canada needs a healthy, reasoned debate about the issues he is raising, and indeed, so does the world."--Bob Rae, Member of Parliament, Canada
From the Inside Flap
In Chasing a Mirage, Tarek Fatah opens a window on the Muslim world that reveals a blighted landscape. Fatah, a Canadian Muslim born in Pakistan, argues that Islam has been hijacked by radicals who falsely invoke the Quran and Prophet Muhammad for their own political purpose that offends the spirit of Islam.
At the heart of the matter is the duplicity of imams who decry the West for the ills that affect Muslims. Such invective deflects the failure of most Muslim countries to offer a modicum of freedom, human rights and equality--not ideas that are the purview of western countries, but indeed are inherent in the spirit of Islam. Where did things take such a wrong turn?
In the author's assessment, the Quran did not prescribe that Islam should take on a political form--an entity that is the Islamic State. Yet in the aftermath of the Prophet's death, two streams of Islam emerged. One was political and imperial, seeking power and domination, reverberating though the ages and resulting in war bloodshed among Muslim brothers. The other Islam was spiritual, which unleashed the human spirit, triggering an age of enlightenment that once was the hallmark of science, literature, music, and mathematics. The author suggests that the crashing end to Islam's era of intellectual supremacy was a direct result of political Islam inflicting a crushing defeat on the spirit of Islam.
In a global movement, Islamists have worked to establish the Islamic State, while Muslims continue to be sacrificed for a cause that s rooted in deceit and delusion.
Can a millennia of aggression be brought to a halt? Chasing a Mirage is unequivocal in its answer and in its remedy to end political violence that is inimical to Islam and its state of grace and peace. The book urges Muslims to give up on the Islamic State and strive for the state of Islam.
- [Source: Amazon.com]
