On Islam

This book is the culmination of a decade of work examining and challenging the representation of Islam and Muslims in the media. The main motivation of the editors was to put the image of Islam and Muslims in a proper and correct perspective. The book essentially addresses non-Muslims in the US and Europe. In her short prologue, Hilary Kahn explains how she conceived the idea of this book, expecting that it will ‘find its way into news rooms, living rooms, and class rooms’ (p. 7). On the other hand, in her introduction under the title, “Reflecting on Muslim Voices”, Rosemary Pennington explains how, in the US and the Western world, Muslims are stereotyped and fear is produced ‘leading to firebombing of mosques and banning of headscarves and burkinis’ (p. 10). She criticises Donald Trump for making ‘wild accusations about the beliefs of the family of a deceased Gold Star soldier and also suggests that maybe Muslims should not be allowed into the United States’ (p. 11).

The book has two separate sections. The first section, “Essays”, comprises ten papers by Muslims and non-Muslims. Elizabeth Pool’s paper gives an interesting description of how the British press represented British Muslims during 1994–1996 under the caption, “British Islam” while discussing topics ranging from education and fundamentalism to immigration and Muslim beliefs (p. 75). She then lists a number of topics covering terrorism, the war in Iraq, education, discrimination, relations to Christianity and crime to show how the media shifted its stance beginning from 2003 (p. 75). The second section of the book, “Muslim Voices”, includes ten papers written by Muslims only. These papers deal with topics such as Muslim beliefs, the role of women in Islam, women converts to Islam and mosques. The last section of the book, “Crash Course in Islam”, lists a number of courses on Islam. The topics covered under this section range from Islamic beliefs, the pillars of Islam, the Qur’an, Muslim’s belief about Jesus ([Isa) (peace be upon him) to Islamic prayers and Muslim greetings.