3. Maxime Rodinson, Europe and the Mystique of Islam (London: I.B. Tauris, 1988).

4. Associated Press, “Islamic Nations Vow to Combat Extremist Ideology,” December 12, 2005.

5. Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy, Dynamism in Islamic Activism, Amsterdam University Press, 2006.

6. Neil MacFarquhar, “Abandon Stereotypes,” New York Times, September 4, 2007.

For Further Information

Armstrong, Karen. Islam: A Short History. New York: Modern Library, 2002.

Barks, Coleman, Trans.The Essential Rumi. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1995.

El Fadl, Khaled Abou. Islam and the Challenge of Democracy, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.

Esposito, John. What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Lings, Martin. Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International Ltd., 1983.

Smith, Huston. Islam: A Concise Introduction. San Francisco, Harper, 2001.

Acknowledgments

At Groundwood Books, Patsy Aldana, for asking me to write the book; and Jane Springer, Shelley Tanaka, Nan Froman and Sarah Quinn, for editing it.

My niece, Yasmin Siddiqui, a teacher, for the research and the fact-checking; and sons, Fahad and Faisal, for help in writing the portions on politics and popular culture respectively.

My informal focus group — Peter Carpenter, Jill Goodreaugh, Lauren Larsen and Sher Singh — for feedback through various stages of writing.

Islamic scholar Zahid Abu Ghudda of Toronto, for guiding me through the religious references.

Canadian historian Desmond Morton of McGill University, Middle East expert James Reilly of the University of Toronto, and Toronto Starcolumnist Carol Goar, for wading through the manuscript and straightening me out on several points.

At the Toronto Star, my bosses for the last sixteen years, publishers John Honderich until 2004, Michael Goldbloom until 2006 and Jagoda Pike since, for letting me write freely; colleague Linda Larsen, for her endless considerations; and the many editors I have worked for at the paper since 1978, for providing me unparalleled opportunities to travel the world, cover the big stories and meet some of the most influential newsmakers of the age. Some of the ideas and interviews in this book first appeared in the Star.

Index

Abba, Dimi Mint, 81

abortion, 122

Abou El Fadl, Khaled, 25, 122, 123

Abu Bakr, 58, 86

Abu Ghraib, 14–15

adan, 59–60

Afghan Victim Memorial Project, 9

Afghanistan civilian death toll, 9

failure of reconstruction effort, 14

requirement that women be veiled, 53

Soviet invasion, 127

Aga Khan, 24

Ahmad, Mirza Ghulam, 95

Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud, 29–30

Ahmadis, 95

Alawites, 95

Albright, Madeleine, 12

Alevis, 95

Ali, Ayaan Hirsi, 46

Ali, Muhammad, 86

Ali, Syed Mirza, 95

Ali, Tariq, 22

Alliance of Civilizations, 141–42

Aly, Waheed, 120

Amnesty International, 105

Annan, Kofi, 20

anti-hate laws, 46, 48–49

Anwar, Zainah, 121

Arab League, 48

Arab nations

poverty of, 27–28

treatment of guest workers, 34

Arafat (site of Muhammad’s sermon), 75–76, 77, 88

Arar, Maher, 18–20

Arla Foods, 48

Ashcroft, John, 23

Ataturk, Kamal, 53

Ayesha (wife of Muhammad), 32, 116–17

Aznar, Jose Maria, 148

Badawi, Abdullah, 147

Badawi, Jamal, 100

Badran, Margot, 124

Bahais, 95

Baha’Ullah, 95

Bahrain, 98

Bangladesh, 97, 144

Barlas, Asma, 100, 120

Benedict XVI, Pope, 43–44

Berlusconi, Silvio, 42, 148

Bewley, Aisha, 118

Bhutto, Benazir, 97

Biko, Steve, 50

bin Laden, Osama, 24, 136, 142

Blair, Tony, 148

Bloomberg School of Public Health, 10

Bogert, Carroll, 15

Bouyeri, Mohammed, 140–41

Bukhari, Imam, 32

burqa, 53, 55, 114

Bush, George W. manipulation of public opinion, 50

Muslim anger at, 12

shifting rationale for war, 13–14

Canada

complicity in torture, 19–20

conservatism of imams, 124

detention of Muslims without charge, 18–19

and sharia, 22

Cavaluzzo, Paul, 20

Central Intelligence Agency, 15, 127

chador, 114

Chechnya, 12–13, 15, 27, 30, 141