Reza Azlan Analysis

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1 Miguel Professor Aguilar Poli Sci 101 5/19/10 Themes Throughout history society has constantly been faced with severe conflicts that often have to do with them simplest misunderstandings or more commonly our failure to address those misunderstandings. While Reza Aslan does not consider the problems Islam and other religions are facing simple, he certainly believes that misinterpretation is at the core of many of those conflicts. Reza Aslan’s first work, “No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and the Future of Islam is a book that is meant to educate on just what exactly Islam is, and where it is headed. One of the problems he is faced with are the various wide-held misinterpretations on the Islamic faith that alienate it. For example, he states that Islam is a religion firmly rooted in the traditions of Jewish and Christian Scriptures or explains how “Jihad” is originally meant only for defensive purposes. Similarly, How to Win A Cosmic War: Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror, another work by Reza Aslan he explains the realities of many muslims and fundamentalists have come to view the problems in their life, their analytical process and consequently their ideological assumptions. Here also Aslan distinguishes groups like “Hamas” that have political adjectives unlike, the jihadist group “al-Quaida” which are often taught to have the same objectives. The point is clear, if nations want to learn to live with each other 2 without having to go to war they have to, at least understand each other. Another overlapping theme, is challenging the concept that the worlds grievances are based on larger issues like religion as in, “Clash of Civilizations Theory” or taking part in the “Cosmic War” rhetoric. Aslan argues that the world’s problems are based on real grievances consequences of direct actions by other nations. The theme in Aslan’s first
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