Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue

by Sam Harris, Maajid Nawaz

Overview

“A civil but honest dialogue…As illuminating as it is fascinating.”
—Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Is Islam a religion of peace or war? Is it amenable to reform? Why do so many Muslims seem to be drawn to extremism? And what do words like jihadism and fundamentalism really mean? In a world riven by misunderstanding and violence, Sam Harris—a famous atheist—and Maajid Nawaz—a former radical—demonstrate how two people with very different religious views can find common ground and invite you to join in an urgently needed conversation.

“How refreshing to read an honest yet affectionate exchange between the Islamist-turned-liberal-Muslim Maajid Nawaz and the neuroscientist who advocates mindful atheism, Sam Harris…Their back-and-forth clarifies multiple confusions that plague the public conversation about Islam.”
—Irshad Manji, New York Times Book Review

“It is sadly uncommon, in any era, to find dialogue based on facts and reason—but even more rarely are Muslim and non-Muslim intellectuals able to maintain critical distance on broad questions about Islam. Which makes Islam and the Future of Tolerance something of a unicorn…Most conversations about religion are marked by the inability of either side to listen, but here, at last, is a proper debate.”
—New Statesman

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674241480
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	611,055
Product dimensions:	3.90(w) x 6.80(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Sam Harris is the author of The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, and Free Will, among other writings.

Maajid Nawaz is the author of Radical and a cofounder and the chairman of Quilliam—a globally active think tank focusing on religious freedom, extremism, and citizenship.

Table of Contents

Cover
Title
Copyright
Islam and the Future of Tolerance
The Roots of Extremism
The Scope of the Problem
The Power of Belief
The Betrayal of Liberalism
The Nature of Islam
Finding the Way Forward
Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Index

Editorial Reviews

How refreshing to read an honest yet affectionate exchange between the Islamist-turned-liberal-Muslim Maajid Nawaz and the neuroscientist who advocates mindful atheism, Sam Harris… Their back-and-forth clarifies multiple confusions that plague the public conversation about Islam.

Irshad Manji

Back in Islam’s formative centuries, the engagement of Muslims with their ideological opponents helped them to forge the doctrines and traditions of their nascent faith—and perhaps now, as Maajid Nawaz locks horns with Sam Harris, we are at the start of another stage in Islam’s evolution. It is certainly a privilege to read their conversation, and to enjoy a flavor of those great debates between rival scholars that were once staged for the entertainment of the Caliph in Baghdad.

Tom Holland

The reform of Islam is shaping up to be the most important issue in political ideology of the twenty-first century. This honest and intelligent dialogue is a superb exploration of the intellectual and moral issues involved.

Steven Pinker

Free thought and rational inquiry once characterized the relative liberalism and humanism of ancient Muslim societies and civilizations: the leading Sunni Imam, Abu Hanifa, would debate atheists inside the great mosques of Iraq; the Abbasid caliphs hosted debates amongst the leaders of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam at their courts in Baghdad; the Mughal emperors engaged in debate with Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists. Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz should be commended for conducting a frank and wide-ranging conversation about a number of key issues around religion, reform, and Islam in the modern world. Nawaz’s approach is based upon detailed familiarity with extremist worldviews, and with the history and tradition of reform theology and renewal within Islam that desperately needs to be amplified. I hope that this debate will be a fruitful endeavor, and illustrate that, in our increasingly-polarized world, it is possible and even normal for people with different viewpoints to have a civilized conversation and to learn from each other.

Sheikh Dr. Usama Hasan

[A] wise little volume.

Booklist - Ray Olson

Provocative and profane… Islam and the Future of Tolerance exemplifies the virtues of open dialogue… All Harris and Nawaz seek is to give voice to the spirit of rebellion and reformation smoldering in the lands of Islam. Forcing it into flame will doubtless be a long time coming, but these two men should be lauded for endeavoring to provide a spark.

National Review - Brian Stewart

It is sadly uncommon, in any era, to find dialogue based on facts and reason—but even more rarely are Muslim and non-Muslim intellectuals able to maintain critical distance on broad questions about Islam. Which makes Islam and the Future of Tolerance something of a unicorn. Nawaz and Harris discuss Islamism and jihadism from a historical as well as a philosophical angle, with no trace of sentiment or dogma. Most conversations about religion are marked by the inability of either side to listen, but here, at last, is a proper debate.

New Statesman

The ideas it leaves behind—about religion, politics, values and interpretation—linger long after the book is finished. They seem a vital contribution to the current conversation, so often defined by the real or imagined divides that the authors encourage us to cross… Islam and the Future of Tolerance deepens our understanding of religion, ideology, politics and the possibility of common ground. It could hardly come at a better time.

Post and Courier - Jeremy Rutledge

In this conversation, Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz achieve what so many who take part in the debate on Islam and the West fail to accomplish: a civil but honest dialogue. The result is as illuminating as it is fascinating. Courteous and at times even chivalrous, the two men address every thorny issue on Islam, issues that lead so many others into wild shouting matches, personal attacks, and accusations of Islamophobia. In this gem of a book the authors lay it all out and set the rest of us a great example: that an incisive debate on Islam between a believer and a non-believer is attainable. Given the importance and the urgency of the topic, we must all read it and follow in their footsteps.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

…an honest yet affectionate exchange between the Islamist-turned-liberal-Muslim Maajid Nawaz and the neuroscientist who advocates mindful atheism, Sam Harris…Their back-and-forth clarifies multiple confusions that plague the public conversation about Islam. We learn the difference between Islam and Islamism, as well as the fascinating distinctions among political Islamists, revolutionary Islamists and militant Islamists.

The New York Times Book Review - Irshad Manji

10/19/2015
In this slim volume, Harris (The End of Faith) and Nawaz (Radical) enter into a respectful exchange of ideas on Islam and its place in the world from perspectives of secularism and reform. Harris, maintaining his provocative persona, asks questions and tosses ultimatums in the direction of Nawaz, who deftly replies with well-reasoned and thoughtful responses that will inform and inspire. The book's brevity is refreshing in a genre too-often categorized by dense tomes. While Harris may direct the conversation, Nawaz is the one who gives it shape and provides the nuanced analysis that makes this book a worthwhile read on the state of Islam and religious tolerance in the world today. However, even more nuance would be welcome with regard to the many forms of Islamism, including those that support human rights and pluralism; some of Harris's critiques deserve more unpacking and less bombast. Those interested in a deferential and detailed dialogue about human rights, Islam, jihadism, and pluralism will find this book both enlightening and engaging. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

How refreshing to read an honest yet affectionate exchange between the Islamist-turned-liberal-Muslim Maajid Nawaz and the neuroscientist who advocates mindful atheism, Sam Harris… Their back-and-forth clarifies multiple confusions that plague the public conversation about Islam.
-- Irshad Manji New York Times Book Review

Provocative and profane… Islam and the Future of Tolerance exemplifies the virtues of open dialogue… All Harris and Nawaz seek is to give voice to the spirit of rebellion and reformation smoldering in the lands of Islam. Forcing it into flame will doubtless be a long time coming, but these two men should be lauded for endeavoring to provide a spark.
-- Brian Stewart National Review

It is sadly uncommon, in any era, to find dialogue based on facts and reason—but even more rarely are Muslim and non-Muslim intellectuals able to maintain critical distance on broad questions about Islam. Which makes Islam and the Future of Tolerance something of a unicorn. Nawaz and Harris discuss Islamism and jihadism from a historical as well as a philosophical angle, with no trace of sentiment or dogma. Most conversations about religion are marked by the inability of either side to listen, but here, at last, is a proper debate.
-- New Statesman

The ideas it leaves behind—about religion, politics, values and interpretation—linger long after the book is finished. They seem a vital contribution to the current conversation, so often defined by the real or imagined divides that the authors encourage us to cross… Islam and the Future of Tolerance deepens our understanding of religion, ideology, politics and the possibility of common ground. It could hardly come at a better time.
-- Jeremy Rutledge Post and Courier

[A] wise little volume.
-- Ray Olson Booklist

Readers with a knee-jerk opinion of Islam will learn a lot.
-- Kirkus Reviews

A worthwhile read on the state of Islam and religious tolerance in the world today… Those interested in a deferential and detailed dialogue about human rights, Islam, jihadism, and pluralism will find this book both enlightening and engaging.
-- Publishers Weekly

In this conversation, Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz achieve what so many who take part in the debate on Islam and the West fail to accomplish: a civil but honest dialogue. The result is as illuminating as it is fascinating. Courteous and at times even chivalrous, the two men address every thorny issue on Islam, issues that lead so many others into wild shouting matches, personal attacks, and accusations of Islamophobia. In this gem of a book the authors lay it all out and set the rest of us a great example: that an incisive debate on Islam between a believer and a non-believer is attainable. Given the importance and the urgency of the topic, we must all read it and follow in their footsteps.
-- Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Infidel, Nomad, and Heretic

Free thought and rational inquiry once characterized the relative liberalism and humanism of ancient Muslim societies and civilizations: the leading Sunni Imam, Abu Hanifa, would debate atheists inside the great mosques of Iraq; the Abbasid caliphs hosted debates amongst the leaders of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam at their courts in Baghdad; the Mughal emperors engaged in debate with Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists. Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz should be commended for conducting a frank and wide-ranging conversation about a number of key issues around religion, reform, and Islam in the modern world. Nawaz’s approach is based upon detailed familiarity with extremist worldviews, and with the history and tradition of reform theology and renewal within Islam that desperately needs to be amplified. I hope that this debate will be a fruitful endeavor, and illustrate that, in our increasingly-polarized world, it is possible and even normal for people with different viewpoints to have a civilized conversation and to learn from each other.
-- Sheikh Dr. Usama Hasan, Islamic scholar

Back in Islam’s formative centuries, the engagement of Muslims with their ideological opponents helped them to forge the doctrines and traditions of their nascent faith—and perhaps now, as Maajid Nawaz locks horns with Sam Harris, we are at the start of another stage in Islam’s evolution. It is certainly a privilege to read their conversation, and to enjoy a flavor of those great debates between rival scholars that were once staged for the entertainment of the Caliph in Baghdad.
-- Tom Holland, historian and author of In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire

The reform of Islam is shaping up to be the most important issue in political ideology of the twenty-first century. This honest and intelligent dialogue is a superb exploration of the intellectual and moral issues involved.
-- Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature

From the Publisher

2015-06-16
Can an American atheist who has said that "the West is at war with Islam" and a secular, former Islamist Muslim find common ground? This book is written as a "dialogue" rather than a debate between the bestselling Harris (Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion, 2015, etc.) and the activist author Nawaz (Radical: My Journey Out of Islamist Extremism, 2013, etc.), who went from imprisonment for his extremist recruiting to co-founding and directing the London-based Quilliam, "the world's first counter-extremism organization." The exchange is civil and marked by mutual respect, more informative (particularly from the latter) than argumentative. The two agree on far more than they don't, seeing pluralism and secularism as the paths to tolerance and condemning "liberal apologists [who equate] any criticism of Islamic doctrines with bigotry, ‘Islamophobia' or even ‘racism.' " Those are the words of Harris, frequently tagged as such for his criticisms of Islamic violence. Nawaz calls such apologists "regressive leftists" and "reverse racists." The primary illumination of the exchanges in the book are Nawaz's clarifications for those who—like Harris, perhaps—tend to paint Islam with too broad a brush, to see the religion as monolithic and bent on war against Western values. "Islam is just a religion," he explains. "Islamism is the ideology that seeks to impose any version of Islam over society. Islamism is, therefore, theocratic extremism. Jihadism is the use of force to spread Islamism." He further explains how conservative Muslims may in fact be anti-jihadis while still opposing the liberal freedom of the secular West and how al-Qaida was the result of Islamic extremism, not the cause. Even when Harris offers a surprising semidefense of the Crusades, Nawaz refuses to take the bait, seeming more concerned with promoting understanding than winning points. A wider range of viewpoints might have made this discussion even more valuable, but readers with a knee-jerk opinion of Islam will learn a lot.

Kirkus Reviews