By Kim Riddlebarger
In light of the Academy series on Islam at Christ Reformed (Click here: Christ Reformed Info - MP3's and Real Audio (of Academy Lectures)) and the current White Horse Inn series, "Christianity Confronts Islam" (Click here: The White Horse Inn: Know What You Believe & Why You Believe It), I thought it might be helpful to list some books which deal with various aspects of Islam and which may be of interest to readers of this blog.
While Hugh Hewitt (Click here: Townhall.com::The Indispensable Bookshelf: The Books You Absolutely, Positively, Must Read::By Hugh Hewitt) and others have recently posted outstanding reading lists in light of the five-year anniversary of 911 and the release of the movie Path to 911, I will focus on more specialized topics.
A number of you have asked me, "where do I start if I wish to share the gospel with my Muslim neighbor?" A great place to begin is with Samuel Zwemer's book Islam and the Cross, which has been recently published by P and R. Samuel Zwemer was born in 1867, died in 1953, and was widely-known as the "Apostle to Islam." This book contains a number of helpful selections from his writings, long out of print. (Click here: P & R Publishing: Individual Title). The best chapter is entitled "the Way to a Muslim Heart." Good stuff. The prayer for Muslims in the final chapter is worth the price of the book.
Now, for those of you interested in Muslim eschatology--which is a complex and fascinating subject in its own right--there are two books which may be of interest to you. The first book is a comparative study of Christian and Islamic eschatology, written by Samuel Shahid, and entitled The Last Trumpet. The book is very informative about Islamic views of the coming Messiah (the Mahdi), the Muslim version of the Antichrist (the Dajjal), Gog and Magog (no, its not Russia!), Jesus' return, and Islamic doctrines like the resurrection, the judgment, and paradise. While the book is very poorly edited, it is quite informative. (Click here: Amazon.com: The Last Trumpet: A Comparative Study in Christian-Islamic Eschatology: Books: Samuel, Ph.D. Shahid).
It may come as a surprise, but the booming publishing trend in the Muslim world is end-times books, in which various and bizarre apocalyptic scenarios are set forth. These books explain to the Muslim faithful how the great Satan (Israel and/or the United States) is soon to come under Allah's judgment. There are a number of Islamic apocalyptic writers (who write in Arabic, so that English readers never see them), who spell out all kinds of bizarre predictions about the War in Iraq, nuclear conflagrations between nations of the West (i.e., the US and France--one guys thinks France will nuke New York), all part of a giant Jewish conspiracy. While mainline Shia and Sunni clerics dismiss this stuff--much the way serious evangelical theologians dismiss the Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye stuff--nevertheless, these books sell gazillions of copies throughout the Islamic world. A great treatment of these books and their various prophetic scenarios can be found in David Cook's, Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature (Click here: Amazon.com: Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature (Religion and Politics): Books: David Cook). This one is highly recommended.
Last, but not least, the most informative book I have yet seen on the current state of Islam, is the book by Vali Nasr, The Shia Revial. Click here: Amazon.com: The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future: Books: Vali Nasr. Nasr, who teaches at the Naval post-graduate school, explains the "story behind the story" regarding a number of major events in the Middle East over the last forty years, in a fascinating and illuminating way.
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