A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot's Fight to Save His Faith

by M. Zuhdi Jasser Ph.D.

Overview

A conservative American Muslim and former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander provides an alternate voice to radical Islam, providing “a candid, patriotic pushback against Muslim stereotyping” (Kirkus Reviews).

Can a Good Muslim Be a Good American?

Among the unsettling social shifts in the wake of 9/11 was a division here in the United States, often sadly along party lines, between those who believed every Muslim was a potential threat and those who believed no Muslim could do wrong. In a compelling and balanced must-read, “one of the most controversial Muslims in the United States” (Jerusalem Post)—a recognized expert on terrorism and a patriotic American—lays bare the crucial differences between Islam and the spiritual cancer known as Islamism and persuasively calls for radical reformation within the Muslim community in order to preserve liberty for all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451657968
Publisher:	Threshold Editions
Publication date:	03/05/2013
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser is the founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD). Dr. Jasser is a first generation American Muslim whose parents fled the oppressive Assad regime of Syria in the mid-1960s for American freedom. A devout Muslim, Dr. Jasser founded AIFD in the wake of the 9/11 attacks as an effort to provide an American Muslim voice advocating for the preservation of the foundation principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, and the separation of mosque and state.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I Muslim in America 23

1 American Patriots from Syria 25

2 Two Islams 51

3 A Muslim in the U.S. Navy 77

4 Islam in My Life 93

Part II America and Islam After 9/11 109

5 Changing the Paradigm 111

6 Arab Responses to 9/11 133

7 American Responses to Fort Hood 147

8 The Threat of Homegrown Islamic Radicalism 171

9 Engaging Congressman Ellison and the Islamists 201

Part III Islam and Islamism Today 217

10 Defeating Political Islam 219

11 How the Qur'an Is Misinterpreted 241

12 An Islam Compatible with American Principles 267

Epilogue: A Letter to My Children 283

Acknowledgments 291

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Zuhdi Jasser is a brave American patriot, a faithful Muslim and a good man. Dr. Jasser's Battle for the Soul of Islam proposes a cure for one of the greatest problems facing the world today: the violence and extremism of radical Islam." —Mark R. Levin, New York Times bestselling author of Ameritopia

"Dr. Jasser is one of the most courageous and relentless pursuers of truth and freedom in the Muslim world. Battle for the Soul of Islam takes you beyond the sound bites to show you what it really means to be a moderate Muslim fighting against those who have perverted your religion.” —Glenn Beck, New York Times bestselling author of Being George Washington

"A candid, patriotic pushback against Muslim stereotyping...a strident call to energize Muslim Americans to promote notions of pluralism, toleration and equal rights for women." —Kirkus

"Dr. Jasser is an American hero in the war radical Islam has declared on us. Whether we prevail in this long war may very well depend on how closely we listen to him." —William J. Bennett, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Man and former US Secretary of Education

Editorial Reviews

"Zuhdi Jasser is a brave American patriot, a faithful Muslim and a good man. Dr. Jasser's Battle for the Soul of Islam proposes a cure for one of the greatest problems facing the world today: the violence and extremism of radical Islam." —Mark R. Levin, New York Times bestselling author of Ameritopia

"Dr. Jasser is one of the most courageous and relentless pursuers of truth and freedom in the Muslim world. Battle for the Soul of Islam takes you beyond the sound bites to show you what it really means to be a moderate Muslim fighting against those who have perverted your religion.” —Glenn Beck, New York Times bestselling author of Being George Washington

"A candid, patriotic pushback against Muslim stereotyping...a strident call to energize Muslim Americans to promote notions of pluralism, toleration and equal rights for women." —Kirkus

"Dr. Jasser is an American hero in the war radical Islam has declared on us. Whether we prevail in this long war may very well depend on how closely we listen to him." —William J. Bennett, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Man and former US Secretary of Education

From the Publisher

A candid, patriotic pushback against Muslim stereotyping by a deeply anti-Islamist Navy veteran and physician in Arizona. Born in 1967 to Syrian refugees in Ohio, raised in Wisconsin, a committed conservative and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, Jasser has been moved to speak out by what he believes is the Muslim community's inadequate stand against Islamist terrorism and political tribalism. He believes in the separation of mosque and state and is often horrified to hear Muslim Americans assert the supremacy of the Qur'an over the principles of the U.S. Constitution. He details his background and family, including his unease serving in the Navy, which was dominated by a hard-drinking, womanizing culture while he was abstemious and chaste, according to his religion; and his early professional tensions with his physician father, who was overbearing, proud and disputatious. Married in a traditional fashion to another high-achieving young Syrian American, Jasser settled down to start a family and private practice in Phoenix as a primary care physician, chosen as part of his dedication to the "holistic appreciation of the patient" urged by his Islamic faith. The attacks of 9/11 shattered his complacency, and Jasser looks hard at the Arab responses, dictated by what he sees as lingering effects of tribalism. He weighs the eerie parallels between himself and the Army psychiatrist who went on a murderous shooting spree at Fort Hood, a tragedy he blames on Islamist ideology. Branded an "Uncle Tom Muslim," Jasser spoke to the House Committee on Homeland Security against what he calls "PC blindness" to the threat. His paranoia aside, the author draws from his father's own translations of the Qur'an for an intelligent reassessment of its message along the lines of Jeffersonian democracy. A strident call to energize Muslim Americans to promote notions of pluralism, toleration and equal rights for women.

Kirkus Reviews