Book Review of Unveiling Islam

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BOOK REVIEW OF

Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs. Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2002, 251 pp., $12.99 paper. (The Spanish edition is entitled Desenmascaremos El Islam.)

This book is more than a Christian description of Islam. It is also something of a story. Unveiling Islam includes an incredible, captivating, bittersweet story about two devout Muslim brothers who made Jesus Christ their Lord. A relationship with Christ cost them a relationship with their Muslim father. Acar Mehmet Caner reluctantly disowned his sons as an act of submission to Islam's Allah. Ergun and Emir Caner not only became Christians, they became Christian pastors and Christian academics that equipped themselves to help others do what they were not able to do for their hero and father.

The Caner brothers have delivered what they promised. They accomplished their two-fold stated purpose and they did so in the manner they desired. They sought to help Christian readers "understand Islam more clearly and to present Christ more effectively" (p. 20). They were motivated to help Christians understand Islam more clearly because of their own Muslim background, and they were motivated to help Christians present Christ more effectively because their own deceased Muslim father never accepted Christ as Lord (p. 20). The Caners also wanted to show "the human side of religion" (p. 15) "without a diatribe filled with invective" (p. 20). They succeeded on this front as well. This book is deliberately more than a book of facts. It is a book of facts with a face. It puts a haunting human face on Islam, a beating human heart in Islam's people, and a humble broken heart in the Christian reader.

The preface, introduction, sixteen chapters and four appendices of Unveiling Islam offer a variety of information and analysis including personal testimonies, current events, politics, history, doctrine, culture, evangelistic strategies, and reference data. The preface tells the story of the Caner's spiritual journey from the crescent to the cross, and their paternal estrangement. The introduction puts the teachings of Islam in the context of the tragic events of 9/11. Chapter one shows how the insecurity and fatalism of Islam informs its politics and its doctrine of jihad. This chapter also identifies the "greatest difference" between Islam and Christianity as the "personal quality of God" (p. 31). Muhammad and the historical development of Islam are the subjects of chapters two and three. Here, the Caners portray Muhammad as a "militant messenger" and the history of Islam as one that has left a "trail of blood." A controversial description of Muhammad's marriage to a six-year-old girl (a marriage consummated when she was only nine) may be found on pages 59-60, and insightful conclusions about Islam's pattern of war appear on page 78.

Chapter's four and five are devoted to Islamic authority and scripture. They describe and analyze important features of the Qur'an, the Sunnah and the Hadith. Perhaps the most helpful portions of chapter four are the sections on the Qur'anic view of the Bible, Qur'anic conflicts with the Bible, and internal contradictions of the Qur'an (pp. 89-93). Page 99 of chapter five also shows a listing of ninety-three topical chapter headings in the Hadith. The sixth chapter sets forth the Islamic doctrine of God by identifying and describing the various names of Allah. The Caners raise an important question here. Disagreeing with Norman Geisler and many other evangelical apologists and missiologists, they discourage interchanging the words "God" and "Allah" on the grounds that these two words signify very different kinds of deity.

Chapters seven and eight survey the "Five Pillars of Islam" and Islamic teachings on family and property. And chapter nine focuses on the Islamic view of salvation. The Caners coin a phrase here naming the Islamic view "mathematical salvation." They write, "In Islam sin is not paid for, it is weighed on a balance scale" (p. 150). The Islamic calendar is presented in chapter ten. The Caners appeal to the Christian reader to learn Islam's traditions and culture without validating them. They write, "Respecting other religious traditions enables us to witness more effectively. Validating their traditions waters down the gospel witness" (p. 160).

Chapter eleven identifies the major and minors sects of Islam. Islamic and Christian views of religious liberty and Islam's teaching on jihad are the subjects of chapters twelve and thirteen. And chapter fourteen sets forth a very helpful portrayal of Christianity from the perspective of Muslims together with a Christian response. A list of five Muslim perceptions of Christianity may be found on pages 203-206, and a list of five Christian responses follow. Chapter fifteen offers Qur'anic documentation on Islamic teachings about Jesus, and the final chapter suggests several very helpful strategies for presenting the gospel to Muslims. Reference material in the four appendices include a topical index to the Qur'an, the Qur'an's teaching on fatalism, a comparison of Christian and Islamic beliefs and a glossary of Arabic Islamic terms.

Unveiling Islam is truly a unique book that provides a rich and rewarding reading experience, but there is room for a few slight improvements in future editions. On at least two occasions, Muhammad is described as "writing" the Qur'an (pp. 83, 85) even though he is also described as illiterate (p. 85). This apparent contradiction begs for an explanation. The Caner's description of the sectarian Nation of Islam (pp. 166-167) and Scientology's view of "god in terms of engrams" (p. 108) may not be entirely accurate. A few minor editorial corrections may also be needed. These few imperfections, however, are insignificant in comparison with the sum total of this very fine work. Unveiling Islam is a valuable tool for both the classroom and lay library, a tool that will likely serve to open many eyes to a Great Lie and open many hearts to a Great Lord.

Cky J. Carrigan; North American Mission Board, Alpharetta, GA; Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, NC; 9/02