Table of Contents

Part I. Jihad: 1. War and peace in the foundational texts of Islam; 2. Jihad in Islamic law; Part II. Violent Radicalism: Bin Laden, 9/11, and ISIS: 3. 'So we kill their innocents': Bin Laden and 9/11; 4. 'Our hearts bleed': 9/11 and contemporary Muslim thought; 5. 'We will take revenge': a word on ISIS; Part III. The New Atheism: 6. 'We are at war with Islam': the case of Sam Harris; 7. 'It Is about Islam': the case of Ayaan Hirsi Ali; 8. 'Imagine a world with no religion': a word on Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett.

Promotional Information

This book compares the conflicting and consequential interpretations of jihad offered by mainstream Muslim scholars, violent Muslim radicals, and New Atheists.

About the Author

Mohammad Hassan Khalil is Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Adjunct Professor of Law, and Director of the Muslim Studies Program at Michigan State University. He is the author of Islam and the Fate of Others: The Salvation Question (2012) and editor of Between Heaven and Hell: Islam, Salvation, and the Fate of Others (2013). In 2015 he received the Michigan State University Teacher-Scholar Award.

Reviews

'Mohammad Khalil's critique of the 'new atheists' is compelling, rational, and hard-hitting without veering into polemics. The result is a highly lucid, carefully argued and engaging book on a very timely topic that has been begging for such a level-headed, scholarly treatment.' Asma Afsaruddin, Indiana University

'… [N]o work has to this point looked at jihadist discourses on war and New Atheist discourses on Islam together as a shared narrative around what it means to be genuinely motivated by religion in modern Islam. Mohammad Khalil's book does just that, and it should be required reading for anyone looking for a way out of the Manicheanism of both jihadism and certain kinds of anti-religious discourse.' Andrew F. March, Law and Social Change Fellow, Islamic Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School, Massachusetts