Mustafa Akyol is a Turkish journalist and a devout Muslim with a compelling argument for reconciling Islam with the values of secular societies. Islam Without Extremes is an accessible, informative book that's both a crash course in Islamic history and a case for Islam's uncorrupted, freedom-friendly future.
It is Turkey, Mustafa argues, that provides us with a symbol of what that future could look like. "Turkey cannot alone shape the future of the Muslim world," Akyol writes. "But what it can and does do is present an example of a synthesis of Islam, democracy, and capitalism."
Rooting this assertion in bases both Qur'anic and historical, Akyol uses clear, straightforward language to make his case. He traces the "war of ideas" between rationalist and traditionalist schools in Islam that have characterized the religion for centuries and draws out the economic and political motivations behind them. This foundation in Islam leads to a thorough examination of Ottoman and Turkish history, in which Akyol explains how the economic and political climate of his home country creates the conditions for a society that is both Islamic and democratic.
A large part of his argument relies on drawing a striking parallel between rigidly dogmatic religious extremists and the equally rigid and totalitarian secularist (as opposed to secular) powers that ruled Turkey by turn. Akyol convincingly argues that a liberal, secular state, in which its citizens are free to practice (or not practice) the religion of their choosing, is the only state in which Islam can flourish as it is truly intended. --Hannah Calkins, blogger at Unpunished Vice