Why Do they Hate Us?: Making Peace with the Muslim World

by Steve Slocum

Overview

With Americans still in shock after watching packed airliners slam into the twin towers, George W. Bush asked America, “Why do they hate us?”

After 9/11, the world became more fearful, and acts of terrorism were prominent in the news cycles. In Why Do They Hate Us?, author Steve Slocum takes the spotlight off the extremists and instead exposes the heart of the everyday Muslim through Christian outreach.

Why Do They Hate Us? brings the story of Mohammed to life and unveils the storied history of Islam with refreshing detail. Slocum clears up common misconceptions about jihad, Sharia law and the role of women in Islam. He then connects the dots for readers of all faiths between cause and effect for the rise in Islamophobia. Finally, Slocum suggests practical ways to overcome societal fears by face-to-face interaction with our Muslim neighbors.

Why Do They Hate Us? is sprinkled with stories from the lives of everyday Muslims and anecdotes from Slocum’s time in Kazakhstan, allowing the reader to catch a glimpse of a different side of Muslims than portrayed in the media.

“Before reading this book I knew very little about Islam despite a pastoral career. I now feel like I know much more. It left me with a hunger to befriend Muslims.” - Pastor Martha Freeman, M.Div.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780998683867
Publisher:	Top Reads Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	07/16/2019
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	1,218,437
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Steve Slocum took the adventure of a lifetime when he disappeared with his family of five in the Central Asian steppe as Christian missionaries to Kazakhstan. During their five years there, they were often on the receiving end of the iconic Muslim hospitality. It left a lasting impression. Once back in the states, Slocum resumed his engineering career, but grew uneasy with the growing levels of animosity towards practicioners of Islam.

In 2018, he founded Salaam, a non-religious, non-partisan nonprofit organization. Salaam's mission is creating mutual understanding between Muslims, Christians, Jews and the non-religious. Salaam's first workshop took place at All Souls' Episcopal Church in San Diego. Afterward, the rector, Rev. Joseph Dirbas, said, "In a world full of division, ignorance and hate, Salaam builds the bridge of peace with education and fellowship as we share our stories and work for the common good."

Slocum is a frequent speaker at churches and civic groups, and creates awareness events, mosque visits, and other connections through Salaam. Why Do They Hate Us? is his first book.

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Figures xii

Preface 1

Introduction 5

1 Jihad and Sharia Law Are Evil… Right?: Islam's Roots in Social Justice 11

No Help for the Helpless - Mohammed's Tragic Childhood 13

Love for the Unloved - Mohammed's Career and Marriage 22

Islam Is Born - Mohammed's Prophetic Calling 29

Mohammed Comes Out - Persecuted by the Quraysh 34

Sharia Law - Justice for the Poor and the Weak 36

Winning in Self-Defense - The Meaning of Jihad 47

2 Meteoric Rise - Demeaning Fall: The Islamic Empire 60

A Perfect Storm - Two Empires Fall 61

Hijacked! The Dynastic Takeover of the Islamic Empire 69

Islam Defines Itself- The Evolution of Sharia Law 71

Islam Shines - The First Renaissance 75

Under the Cruel Hand of Colonialism 82

The Birth of Radical Terrorism The Terrifying Story of Mohammed Al-Wahhab 91

3 Who Is Your Muslim Neighbor?: Present-Day Teaching and Practice of Islam 97

The Four Major Divisions in Islam 99

The Quran 103

The Five Pillars 107

Islam, Judaism, and Christianity 117

Refugees 119

Who Speaks for Islam? Islam's Moderate Mainstream 122

4 Why Do They Hate Us? 134

They Hate Our Freedom? 134

We Hate Their Freedom? The British, The CIA, and Iranian Oil 138

The CIA Goes jihadist in Afghanistan From Single Shot Rifles to Stinger Missiles 148

On Reaping and Sowing and the Creation of Monsters The Taliban 157

Osama Bin Laden Finds Sanctuary 158

Will Godzilla Be Tamed? The U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan 162

Afghanistan - The Long View 163

A War of Aggression - The Invasion of Iraq 165

On the Morality of an Unprovoked Invasion 166

The Real Source of Terrorism - Religion or Politics? 167

Do Muslims Hate Us? 177

The Human Cost 178

Conclusion 181

5 Peace IS Possible 186

The Perception of Hostility 186

Can YOU Respect a Muslim? 197

On an Ethical Foreign Policy 203

Appendix: People and Places of the Muslim World 209

The Middle East 210

Saudi Arabia 211

Yemen 213

The Gulf States 214

Iraq 214

Syria 215

Lebanon 217

Jordan 218

Israel and the Palestinian Territories 219

Persia Speaking Region - Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan 222

The Indian Subcontinent - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh 224

The Turkic Speaking World 226

Southeast Asia and Oceania 229

North Africa 231

Egypt 232

Libya 233

Tunisia 234

Algeria 234

Morocco 235

The Horn of Africa 235

Sub-Saharan Africa 236

Europe 238

Acknowledgments 242

Glossary 243

Works Consulted 254

Index 266

About the Author 275

Editorial Reviews

05/27/2019

In his comprehensive, helpful debut, Slocum, an aircraft design engineer and former missionary, encourages Christians to establish friendly relationships with Muslims. He begins by exploring the origins of Islam, introducing readers to the life of Muhammad, before delving into Koranic passages. Concentrating mainly on passages often cited as inciting violence, Slocum argues that the vast majority of Muslims view their religion as nonviolent. He then moves briskly through a history of the Middle East, covering the Islamic Empire, colonialism, and the rise of pan-Arabism. Exploring how Islam emerged from the Middle East to become a global religion, Slocum shares personal experiences from living in the U.S. and, as a missionary, in Kazakhstan, to highlight facets of the everyday lives of Muslims (“I know of no force more powerful than that of face-to-face interaction” to dispel unfounded fears, he writes), including a particularly affecting story of visiting a San Diego imam. While his sections discussing aspects of Islam that most Christians are fearful of or may be misinformed about—notably, jihad and sharia—are instructive, they often read like study guides. Slocum’s most valuable contribution is his highly critical discussion of U.S. foreign policy, including a concise history of American involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, which he uses to answer President Bush’s question, “Why do they hate us?” Effectively countering pernicious, misinformed narratives, this is an essential contribution to interfaith studies. (July)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2019-05-17
An exploration of Islamic beliefs and history that aims to challenge American Islamophobia.

Debut author Slocum, a former Christian missionary to Kazakhstan, writes that he was horrified at ignorant depictions of Muslims in American media after the 9/11 attacks. During his years as a missionary, he "never changed anyone's mind to become a believer in the Bible," he says, but his newfound Muslim friends left an indelible mark on his own life—particularly, the fact that their culture prized hospitality toward strangers. The book begins by subverting popular American conceptions of Sharia law by rooting it in social justice, centered on protecting the poor and weak. Similarly, Islam's "greater jihad," he says, is not a literal holy war (a term first coined by Christian Crusaders) but rather "the internal struggle of living a life that is pleasing to God." The book's middle chapters offer a survey of Islamic history from Muhammad through the present day, highlighting both the wonders of the Islamic Golden Age and the horrors of European colonialism. To Slocum, the birth of the "dark blight" of Wahhabism in the 18th century marked a decisive turning point. Although the moderate Muslim majority rejected this absolutist ideology, he says, it gained traction in Saudi Arabia at the same approximate time that the West undergirded a Saudi monarchy linked with Wahhabism. Central to the book's analysis of radical Islam is the notion that it's a force of the West's own making, from their support of the mujahedeen in Afghanistan to their installation of a brutal monarch in Iran. In doing so, Slocum is particularly deft at challenging the tropes that Islamic radicals hate American freedom or that Islam is an inherently violent religion. Although many in the West tend to associate Islam with Arabs, this book highlights not only the faith's ideological diversity, from Sunnis to Shias to Ahmadis, but also Muslims' ethnic diversity; only about 10 percent of the world's Muslims hail from Arabic nations. Of course, none of this will be new to Islamic scholars or historians of the Middle East, but to many Americans who are unfamiliar with the topic, this is a first-rate primer.

A clear, concise, and thoughtful introduction to Islam.

Kirkus Reviews

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