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Oct 02, 2011

Santo rated it:

If Islam didn’t exist, would there still be conflict between the West and “another”…? This is the central theme that runs through this excellent, easy-to-read book. Today, when Islam and Muslims have become scapegoats for every problem imaginable in the world, Fuller argues that conflict is purely about religion; it’s usually about land, natural resources, national egos, spheres of influence, and balances of power. Religion is used by people to fan the flames of conflict and hatred to catastro More...

5 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 18, 2011

أشرف marked it as to-read

في ديسمبر ٢٠٠٧، نشر الباحث والاستخباراتي الأميركي د. گراهام فولر مقالة بمجلة (فورين بوليسي) تحت عنوان: (عالم بلا إسلام) ما لبثت أن تحولت لكتاب. وقد كتب الدكتور حمزة المزيني عنها في حينه. وأعيد أنا تناولها هنا على ضوء مقالتي الأخيرة.

أن يكون الإسلام بريئاً من دم ضحايا الإرهاب فهذه نظرية نفهمها أنا وأنت. الإرهابي ليس ممثلاً للقيم الإسلامية الحقيقية، إنه إنسان يحمل مفهوماً خاطئاً لها. هكذا اتفقنا بعد مداولات ونقاشات. لكن (گراهام فولر) يخطو خطوة أبعد حين يقرر بأن هذا الإرهابي الذي يحارب الغ More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 07, 2010

Heina rated it:

Personal note: When reading the description of this book, I was sure that it would be an apologia of some kind. However, the credentials of the author are quite impressive and not exactly that of an overly-liberal apologist for Islam, and so I decided to ignore the book jacket and read the book without any kind of preconceptions about what it was going to be. What I found was a well-researched, well-reasoned, and well-balanced book calling for the United States to take a practical and realistic More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2011

Grissell added it

اگر غرب با پدیده ای به نام "اسلام" مواجه نمیشد دنیای کنونی ما چه وضعیتی داشت ؟ آیا ما شاهد جنگ های صلیبی نبودیم ؟ آیا مسیحیت عالم گیر میشد ؟ دیگر تروریستی وجود نمیداشت و واقعه 11 سپتامبر اتفاق نمی افتاد ؟
"گراهام ای فولر" تحلیلگر پیشین سیا و استاد تاریخ دانشگاه ونکوور خالق کتاب های بیشماری در حوزه تحلیل مسائل خاور میانه است که از ان جمله میتوان به "آینده سیاسی اسلام" اشاره کرد که در سال 2003 به چاپ رسیده است .
فولر در "دنیای بدون اسلام" با تکیه بر More...

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Dec 19, 2010

Matt rated it:

Having lived in the Islamic world for almost two years (and seen most of the middle east from israel/lebanon to iran/afghanistan and many of the surrounding countries), I was looking forward to hearing what someone close to the decision makers in DC had to say. I learned a bit from this book, mainly the history of the Christian church in Europe and the Middle East. But I see many problems with it - problems that shouldn't exist in a book written by a decision maker of such stature:

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2 comments like (10 people liked it)

Aug 30, 2010

Katie rated it:

As someone who already has a general understanding of Islam, and a passion and fondness for this faith, it is so refreshing to see someone try to put things back into perspective, especially given the fact that so many are so ill-informed about Islam and what it teaches. With so many focusing on Islam as "the enemy" merely because they don't know or understand anything more than what their preachers or newscasters have told them, its so important for someone to be the voice that nudges More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2010

Dalton rated it:

First off, I really enjoyed seeing a book that laid the US with it's fair share of the blame for current events with the Middle East over the last several years happened to be written by an ex-employee of the CIA. I must admit I've never read anything by Mr. Fuller before, and honestly know very little about him, I nonetheless must say I think we could use more of him in our government. He was refreshingly moderate in his views regarding Islam and any other religion he happened to mention in his More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 11, 2012

Aziz rated it:

Bacaan hebat yang membawa wacana Islamphobia (dan juga anti-Amerika) yang selalu tersasar perbicaraannya kembali ke landasan yang lebih waras. Dengan mencadangkan hipotesis kepada pembaca (tentunya lebih kepada pembaca barat) akan sebuah dunia tanpa Islam, Fuller membawa pembaca menelusuri sejarah, geopolitik dan agama hingga pada akhirnya memaksa pembaca berfikir, apakah dunia hari ini akan berbeza jika Islam tidak pernah wujud.

Buku ini pada dasarnya ialah satu refleksi pemikiran seo More...

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Sep 04, 2010

Greg rated it:

This is probably the only work I've read recently on the topic of Islam by a western author that actually makes sense. Rather than lump all our problems with the Muslim world under "It's Islam's fault," Mr. Fuller shows quite convincingly that's not necessarily the case. He points out the long history of grievances the East has against the West, predating the foundation of Islam and shows how our current world would be pretty much the same even if Islam never existed. Given the current More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 25, 2010

Gregory rated it:

A World Without Islam shows that we often view others in a similar fashion that the blind man viewed the Elephant. We may see accurately one aspect of Islam, but fall short in seeing Islam as a whole dynamic force. We need to check our assumptions at our proverbial check points. It is not good to call others names or to assume you know their position, just because that's the socially accepted answer. The book does a great deal to cover the historical context of east vs. west.

Ful More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 06, 2011

Phil rated it:

I like it that Graham Fuller was vice-chair of the Nat. Intelligence Council at the CIA (though his liberal opinions rather astonish me, given his profession).

His main thesis (that we ought to "de-Islamize our perceptions of regional issues" page 304) is
attractive to me, & moderately persuasive.

Some of the history at the beginning was a bit tedious (esp. the religious parts, which I knew already); but I grant him the necessity of setting the historical stage.
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Aug 15, 2011

Nura rated it:

We live in an age of labels. We need labels to simplify what is complex. The Middle East is complex. With plenty of problems. Unfortunately, all these problems are being labelled as 'Islam'. At the end of the book, The author came up with a list of possible actions that the West might adopt to solve this "Islam" problem but I think one big one is missing. Reduce dependency on oil. That's the ticket. For as long as big corporations have need for this resource to oil the machines of indu More...

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Sep 24, 2010

Will rated it:

I received this book from a Goodreads Giveaway.

And I am glad that I did.

A World Without Islam presents an inflammatory title, and I truly wish that the editor would have reconsidered the title before publishing.

The title refers to a hypothetical question of what would the relationship between the west and the middle east be like had Islam not come into existence.

The author, Graham Fuller is the former Vice Chair of the CIA Intelligence committee, a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 17, 2010

1.1 rated it:

This was another one won through this site's awesome giveaway system (well, it's awesome when you manage to win the draw), so thanks to goodreads, where thanks are due.

While this book doesn't say anything radically new, and isn't really a thought experiment about what the world would be like if Islam didn't exist, I still found it deeply interesting because of its unbiased look at religion as a state tool and the origin of east-west tension, which Fuller often attributes to geopoliti More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 22, 2010

Angela rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 14, 2012

Mike rated it:

"A World Without Islam" is an eye-opener. It taught me to view the Muslim world from a different perspective. I, for one, was guilty with the "why are Muslims violent nowadays compared to the Christians" mentality. This book helped me dismiss that question as nonsense. It instead explained to me that Muslims are looked at and projected to the world unfairly by the West. Policies by the West are partly to blame for what the Muslims are facing right now, so they should share th More...

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Feb 28, 2011

John rated it:

I had hopes that this book would be interesting, but it wasn't. I struggled through to the end to determine whether I was imagining the author's bias, but the more I read, the more convinced I became. In a nutshell: the misfortune in today's middle east is pretty much the fault of Western Society. Lip service is paid to Muslim fundamentalists, every so often, and then deflected back to The Bad West. Maybe the truth, but not nearly "the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" by a long More...

3 comments like

Sep 29, 2010

Shana rated it:

While it is a bit academic in writing, Graham Fuller provides an excellent history lesson as well as a perspective which was refreshing to read. I was fortunate to hear the author speak on the book just after finishing my read and much enjoyed the conversation he had with a rabbi and Islamic expert. My hope is that this book sparks more conversations. Graham Fuller should be commended for having the courage to voice these ideas.

I do believe that including maps and a timeline in th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 05, 2010

Carolyn rated it:

This book is utterly fascinating and eye-opening. A general understanding of the basic precepts of Islam probably helps to enjoy it, but even those who begin with little knowledge of Islam will finish the book with fewer prejudices and a greater appreciation for the cultural and historical significance of Islam. Definitely recommended.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2012

Fariz Danial rated it:

I have read this book 3-4 times before i bought it from the book store.

The author had done research on 3 abraham's faith and focus on the ideology of Islam and to make clear that Islam is not encouraging terrorism.

Highly recommended to anyone who are searching for truth.

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Nov 16, 2011

Adrienne rated it:

I had to review this book for a Comparative Islamic Law class. It was a counterfactual argument, which along with many other reasons, made it weak. It was a nice refresher course on non-Western religious history, but that's not what you want to read it for.

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May 05, 2011

Putri marked it as to-read

judulnya kontoversial tapi kayanya liat re-viewnya bukunya bagus dan ga sekontroversial judulnya deh
mungkin ga ya diterjemahin ke bahasa indonesia (males baca inggrisnya)? *lbh tepatnya dijual disini? secara FPI agak lebay ttg hal begini...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 18, 2012

Zulhanief rated it:

"Nemu" buku ini di bandara. Fantasi yang hebat, membayangkan dunia tanpa Islam. Judul yang provokatif juga. Semoga bisa mereview-nya kembali setelah selesai baca semua bagiannya.

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Feb 12, 2012

Gabriel marked it as to-read

I discovered this while on a hunt for another, apparently obscure book I read on Islam.

The title of the volume grabbed me. I must read it.

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Jul 20, 2011

Steve rated it:

"Thought provoking--much of what we hear from talking heads about the "Islamic question" is just plain false. Much of the Middle East situation is based in millenia of geopolitical forces, of which Islam is only one."

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Jan 23, 2011

Bill rated it:

I knew most of the historical facts that Mr. Fuller presented but based on his thesis, I had to re-think all of them. Very interesting.

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Aug 23, 2010

Aloud is currently reading it

Graham Fuller in conversation with Rabbi Reuven Firestone, and Dr. Maher Hathout on September 28th. Free reservations at www.aloudla.org

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Nov 21, 2011

Corinne rated it:

Fuller's thesis is that without Islam, the world wouldn't be that different. His argument is that a lot of the issues we associate with Islam come from ethnic disputes and political decisions, nothing to do specifically with the existence of the religion.

A well thought out book. At some points it had me engaged, at others not. Some conclusions would be made at the end of the chapter in which I didn't agree the chapter supported. Still, an interesting thought process.

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Sep 12, 2011

Abrar rated it:

Is it so hard to imagine that Arabs would be so angry at imperialism's constant invasions ,that they would resort to terrorism ?..

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Feb 15, 2012

Odil rated it:

WOULD LIKE TO READ THIS BOOK

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