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 Interesting, but Unpersuasive Sep 28, 2009
On December 27, 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, mere days after finishing her last book. It is basically propaganda, an extended piece of campaign literature aimed at a western audience to shore up support for an ultimately successful bid to topple dictator Pervez Musharraf. Because of Bhutto's prominent place in world history and Muslim politics, her ideas and influence are inherently interesting to students, scholars, and anyone who wants to understand the world. The book is written to the non-specialist, so it is highly accessible.
Bhutto essentially argues two themes: that Islam is not fundamentally at odds with democracy (indeed, that democracy is a core tenet of Islam), and that a clash between Islam and the West is not inevitable. As subset themes, she also argues that (1) fostering democracy inevitably defeats terrorism, (2) Islam favors gender equality, and (3) Muslims should adopt modernity and abandon reactionary interpretations of sharia.
Obviously I have no problem with those themes, so stated. On the contrary, if every Muslim would read this book and agree with Bhutto's argument, the world would doubtless be a much better place. The problem is that her argument is not very persuasive, and cannot bear even casual scrutiny. Bhutto undermines her argument with glaring errors. Some of these are factual, like her assertion that ISI created the Taliban (p. 14), or that Muslim territorial expansion ended in the 9th century (p. 25; assuredly a surprise to citizens of southeastern Europe, the Crimea, northern India, and Africa), or that the English called Muslims "Mohammedans" to distinguish between Jewish and Christian "Muslims" (p. 34), or that Herat is close to the Southern Pakistani border (p. 55). Some are stylistic oddities, like suggesting that toxic rhetoric is an "opiate that keeps Muslims angry" (p. 4; anger is an unusual side-effect for a narcotic), or that Muslims were the victims of 9/11 (p. 17).
More noxious are her persuasion errors, which undermine the entire purpose of the book. These are of two types. First, her readings of Islamic sources are tenuous at best. She often cites to secondary sources for striking propositions -- Islamic society is "contingent" upon mutual advice (p. 18) -- or offers no cite at all -- the Quran has example after example of respect for women as leaders (p. 19). Her references to "religious freedom," (p. 33) sound hollow in light of the Pakistani Constitution's special protection of Islam against free speech. When she does quote the Quran, the passages have enough wiggle room for an extremist to easily explain it away. Second, she repeatedly makes insulting generalizations about the West, which is her clear audience. In the process of arguing that Islam is inherently tolerant, she argues that Christianity is not (p. 37). Laughably, all of her protestations about Islamic tolerance are restricted to monotheists -- no small detail, considering Pakistan's history with polytheistic India.
 Must read! Jun 10, 2009
This is a must read for anyone interested in current world affairs and where the world has been and where it is going. A great history of democracy in the Islamic world and a superb counter to the "Clash of Civilizations" theory. The more people that read this book, the better the world could be. Buy, read, and share this excellent book.
4 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 Very Dishonest Portrayal Jul 14, 2008
Absolute Total Garbage. I was sent this book from a former foreign office colleague and he added a quick witted remark about how these "ruling families" take the populous as completely dumb and out of touch. The book is written in a post script voice.
You will feel as though you are listening to some uninformed news reporter on CNN or any other NNs of the world. One thing that stands out is her complete misrepresentation about the Liberation war of Bangladesh.
She does not mention that the Pakistani army killed three million Bangladeshies in nine short months. She does not even spell the name of the Capital Dhaka correctly. Perhaps she needed to have this book edited by someone half as credible as a 5th grader to have not made such a mistake. She goes on not mentioning her father's role in prolonging the deaths when Mr. Bhutto (the father) went to the UN to ask that India not come to the rescue of the million of Bengals the Pakistani army was killing.
Her logic about clash of civilization is half baked. She does not really make a point as to what her views are in a concise manner. She tries to give her family, specially her father a nice face to history. But she neglects to point out that while her family was sitting at the ivory tower, there were millions killed in the name of "Pakistan". She does not reconcile how the cult of Jinnah and their philosophy is a complete sham and how it is responsible for the death of millions of people even before the war of 1971. Through Jinnah's work we now have two distinctly undemocratic countries in South Asia. Ms. Bhutto does not reconcile why and how Jinnah ruined the 1947 liberation movement and created this whole debacle only for personal ego and greed. She does not mention how Jinnah collaborated with the British to divide India for his personal gain and egotistical monomaniacal personality. Civilizations collide when we have leaders such as Jinnah who are easily purchased by the western influences.
This book is factually incorrect and full of inaccuracies that you can't really overlook. If you want to give a charity to the Bhutto family by buying this book then go ahead. But, don't blame anyone when you feel that your intellect is being abjectly disrespected when you do start reading.
This book should have been titled "IT'S NOT OUR FAULT" versus reconciliation. It blames everyone else and that's that. Very very intellectually dishonest and perhaps dishonest altogether.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Rest in Peace for a Job Well Done Jul 11, 2008
The author portrays a sharp contrast between the
peaceful Arabs and the extremists who seek to
foster continued clashes with the West.
Mrs. Bhutto provides an excellent portrayal of
early Islamic accomplishments in the arts, sciences
and engineering. Shamefully, this progress has been
stultified because the radical Islamic dogma seeks
continued war with the West on a number of important
fronts. The 9-11 terrorist attack is seen as a Crusade
in reverse by the extremist Arabs and potentially Al Qaeda.
Mrs. Bhutto returned to large crowds during 1986 in Lahore,
Pakistan. The author took great pains to demonstrate how
the Quran respects women generally. Despite this, printing
was not allowed in Muslim lands until 1727. For this
reason, the intellectual period of Arab advancement slowed.
The book is sectionalized so that there is an extensive
discussion of the various Middle Eastern spheres of
influence. For instance, General Zia pitted the Sh'ia
against the Sunnis in order to halt the spread of the
Iranian Revolution. In Pakistan's Sh'ia Northern Region,
Sunnis joined the Afghan Mujahideen fighting the Soviets
in Afghanistan. Anti-Sh'ia sentiment was encouraged to
motivate Mujahideen to fight. Ultimately, the Sh'ia
retaliated against the Sunnis.
Mrs. Bhutto shows how Islam and democracy are inevitable.
Without the extremists, Islam is about the consent of
the governed, as well as universal participation.
In the Quran, the election of a Chief Executive is by the
uncoerced will of the people.
Democratic institutions undermined the authority of the
Shah of Iran. Independence did not bring economic or
social reforms to North African nations. In 1922, Britain
installed Hashimite King Faisal (Sunni) to rule Iraq.
Local people viewed him as a foreigner.
Afghanistan hosted both a Cold War against the Soviet Union
and a terrorist campaign of Islamic extremists against
the West. Hamas embraced a formal charter of violence
aimed at creating a Palestinian State. Ultimately, the
West Bank standard of living has exceeded Gaza.
Indonesia has the greatest number of Muslims on earth.
In August, 1990, extremists brought down the Pakistani
government. The Nawaz administration tried to reverse
much of Mrs. Bhutto's social programs. Toward the end
of the volume, the author called for new ideas and a
distinctive bold commitment.
Overall, the book is a masterpiece. Every politician in
Washington, DC should read the volume and learn from it !
Superb and excellent!! May 31, 2008
Benazir represented the moderate face of Islam. In this book she has attempted to highlight how democracy and Islam are mutually compatible, in the light of the Holy Quran. She had a broad vision and laid down her life fighting for her ideals. This book is a sincere effort on her part to reconcile the differences between the Western and the Muslim world. She has to be commended for bringing forth the point that the rise of militancy and fundamentalism poses the greatest threat to Islam itself; to put the blame solely on US imperial policy and the Cold War is unjustified. Islam has been hijacked by the elements with political ambitions, who seek to justify violence in the name of Jihad -a very noble concept which has been misconstrued for selfish motives. This book is a testimony to Benazir's wisdom, intellect and broad vision.
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