Word: muhammad
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...Armstrong, "Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet" Bernard Lewis, "The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years...
...read. The most notable of the new and recently released books can be divided into four main categories. 1)Taliban Tomes, Rashid's "Taliban" and Michael Griffin's "Reaping the Whirlwind." 2)Guides to the Muslim World and the Middle East, Armstrong's "Islam" and her stronger, earlier book "Muhammad"; Bernard Lewis' authoritative "The Middle East," and Geneive Abdo's insightful "No God But God." 3)Bin Laden Bios, "Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America" by Yossef Bodansky and Bergen's "Holy War, Inc." and 4)Relevant History, including "Five Days in London May 1940" by John...
...Ignorance about the Middle East runs even deeper, and has a long history. Armstrong, in "Muhammad", notes that during the time of the First Crusades, many Westerners believed that Muslims were idol-worshippers (actually, the Prophet tore down the idols in Mecca). And Dante, in "The Divine Comedy," placed Muhammad in the Eighth Circle of Hell with the schismatics (even pagans such as Plato and Aristotle got relatively better treatment, with placement in the more scenic Limbo). Much more recently, the novelist Fay Weldon ("Affliction") wrote this about Islam: "The Koran is food for no-thought...
...generally follows the prescriptions of scripture. This is so even in a country like Egypt, where much of the legal code has been secularized. In Islam, women can have only one spouse, while men are permitted four. The legal age for girls to marry tends to be very young. Muhammad's favorite wife, A'isha, according to her biographer, was six when they wed, nine when the marriage was consummated. In Iran the legal age for marriage is nine for girls, 14 for boys. The law has occasionally been exploited by pedophiles, who marry poor young girls from the provinces...
...widespread in sub-Saharan Africa and in Egypt, with scattered cases in Asia and other parts of the Middle East. The World Health Organization estimates that up to 140 million girls and women have undergone the procedure. Some Muslims believe it is mandated by Islam, but the practice predates Muhammad and is also common among some Christian communities...