The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity Paperback – August 17, 2004

This book is so full of wisdom and just written so beautifully. So many people are so ignorant to the teachings of islam and have a totally warped idea of muslims and what I love about this book is that it educates you about the religion without putting the others down. In fact it teaches you how most religions are related to each other. Its the best book for anyone wanting to know the truth about islam.

Everywhere, this book was rated above 4 stars, can't believe in Amazon is bellow 4.He bridged common sense with sufism. Love this book, owned it before, now bought the Kindle version for re-reading several chapters.

I am not Muslim, but I respect for Islam. I have a better understanding of Islam after reading this book. Prof. Nassr is a good writer and explains the "heart" of Islam well. Especially powerful is his epilogue which he writes how Muslims and others can help build a better world. It's definitely worth reading.

This is a great informative book on Islam for devout Muslims to recent convert, to people just interested learning the truth about Islam and not the misconceptions. I reccommend this book to anyone looking for a in-depth view of what Muslims believe and what the faith of Islam teaches without cultural influences.

I enjoyed the Heart of Islam, however, it reads more like an academic textbook with a lot of history and interpretation of historical events.

Good to know that Islam, like christianity, has a lot to offer for humanity. Political events and extreme individuals tend color the 99% silent majority with something different than their true values.

Presents clear and concise overview of mainstream Muslim beliefs and practices

I am generally skeptical about one star reviews. Often people who have never read the book being reviewed simply want to register their disapproval for the ideas contained therein. That is certainly not the case here; I have read the book and, having read it, feel obligated to warn the readers about some of the distortions contained in the book, and some of the distortions being made in some of the positive reviews.First, I turn to the factual distortions. (I apologize for the lack of page numbers, I have the Kindle version.) The book is simply chocked full of falsehoods. Nasr claims, without any qualification whatsoever, that "there has never been an inquisition in Islam." The famous ultra-conservative Islamic legal expert Ibn Hanbal, who suffered at the hands of the inquisition lead by Caliph al-Ma'mun, might have begged to differ. So might have Ibn Rushd, whose books were burned in his lifetime. Other examples could be given. Nasr also claims that Islamic extremism didn't exist before Western colonialism. What about the Kharijites or the hasheesheen, the group of men from whose name we get the English word "assassin?"Nasr claims that there has been no persecution of Iraqi Christians, while Muslims in the West suffer terribly because of discrimination. He does not quite say, but implies very heavily, that Islam was involved with slavery primarily because it learned that bit of behavior from Westerns. And on, and on, and on. In short, anyone who has studied the Middle East and Islam at any length at all, as I have, will recognize falsehoods and distortions throughout this book. I might write this off as sloppiness if it were from anyone else, but Nasr is a serious scholar who has done some very good work. He knows better, but clearly doesn't want YOU to know better.Second, I am surprised to see reviewers claiming that this book defends a version of Islam compatible with liberalism and modernism. Did any of these reviewers read the chapter on law, in which Nasr states explicitly his preference for literal Koranic law and punishment? He believes that the Koran and only the Koran can be a source for legitimacy in government. He also, we find out later, favors laws against blaspheme and he has the audacity to style this as "freedom of speech." But Muslim freedom of speech, he cautions, isn't like Western freedom of speech. Damn right it isn't."In the Islamic perspective," he writes, "Divine Law is to be implemented to regulate society and the actions of its members rather than society dictating what laws should be... to speak of Shari'ah as being simply the laws of the seventh century fixed in time and not relevant today would be like telling Christians that the injunctions of Christ to love one's neighbor and not commit adultery were simply the laws of the Palestine two thousand years ago and not relevant today, or telling Jews not to keep the Sabbath because this is simply an outmoded practice of three thousand years ago."There you have it, Islam, in Nasr'c mind, does not, has not, will not cannot change. Nasr's version is therefore no more humane than the 7th century version. This involves the death penalty and punitive amputation for a host of infractions, and Nasr doesn't shy away from that conclusion. His candor here in biting such unsavory bullets may be the one thing that makes the book at least partially worth reading, hence a case can be made for two-stars instead of one.And again: "Since God is the creator of all things, there is no legitimate domain of life to which His Will or His Laws do not apply."So where is the room for religious pluralism or the many freedoms we take for granted? It doesn't exist.