Anyone know any good reading material pertaining to this subject? Constructive criticism against the Islamic faith?
I've read a few books on Islam. Aside from the Koran, they've mostly been typical books you find in libraries that go over the very basics like the five pillars or the various sects. They rarely ever bother going in depth.
My main goal here is finding dissenting opinion; exposing the ills of the religion. Now, the major problem here is that unlike Christianity or Judaism, there's not exactly a lot of available texts that document Islam, mostly because of the religion's traditional values and also because of the need to quell independent thought in some cases, an unfortunate fact. I prefer that it be constructive. I'm not looking reading material that is anti-Islam. I repeat; I am looking for constructive criticism.
Whenever I find something I think is constructive, it's almost always some fodder written by an idiot who just wishes to bash and doesn't know what they're talking about.
So far, I've only really found three good books.
I've finished reading Irshad and Asma's books. I've contacted them for help and of course, they haven't contacted me back. This was almost 2 months ago. Thanks a lot.
A History of Arab Peoples is exactly the type of book I'm looking for. It not only goes over the cultural ties that help form the religion, but also the history of pre-Islam Arabia which is interesting by itself. However, this book is extremely long. It could be a text book if it wanted to be.
Irshad Manji's book was great because while she is obviously a devout Muslim, she criticizes, and analyzes her religion intelligently while backing up facts, sources, and excellent writing.
Asma's really good too. She defends her faith while offering a laundry list of issues she has with the religion, while offering solutions. She doesn't write nearly as well as Irshad, but she uses a simplified style that resonates with the reader. She writes in a matter of fact tone, but you don't even mind it because more often than not...she's pretty much right on the money.
Aside from those three I have trouble finding good material.
There's Ibn Warraq's famous controversial book as well:
But research tells me he's just full of shit.
