Publicity Contacts: London King,212-572-2693
loking@randomhouse.com
Advance Praise for NO GOD BUT GOD
"This is a fascinating book.
Reza Aslan tells the story of Islam with one eye on faith and another
on history. The result is a
textured, nuanced account that presents a living, breathing religion,
shaped by centuries of history
and culture."
--Fareed Zakaria
"Reza Aslan tells a story of
Islamic faith, history and culture that comes alive. No god but God is
an engaging, creative, insightful
and provocative book. It is a reminder that beyond the terrorism headlines,
Islam like its Abrahamic cousins has been and remains a rich, dynamic spiritual
path for the
vast majority of Muslims that
live in the West and across the globe."
--John L. Esposito,
University Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian
Understanding, Georgetown University and author of Unholy War: Terror in the
Name of Islam and
What Everyone
Needs to Know About Islam
"No god but God is a
fascinating account of Islam's evolution. Aslan's book should be
required reading for all analysts
and policymakers interested in the Muslim world.
It's a terrific read . . . no
easy feat for such a difficult subject."
--Steven Cook, Next Generation Fellow,
Council on Foreign Relations
"Elegant, accessible, and
informed by historical scholarship, No god but God offers a wonderful
view
into the rich world of early
Islam. Reza Aslan brings to the life of Muhammad and the story of
classical Islam a lyricism and
deft touch reminiscent of Roberto Calasso at his best."
--Noah Feldman,
author of After Jihad and What We Owe Iraq
“Readers will gravitate toward No God But God not only because of its
stimulating arguments, but also because it's so well put together as a literary
work…..An introduction to Islam as evocative as it is provocative.”
--Kirkus Reviews
No god but God
The Origins,
Evolution, and Future of Islam
Reza Aslan
Are Islam and the West on a collision course, or
headed toward a new era of understanding and cooperation? The brilliant young scholar Reza Aslan is
one of a handful of thinkers developing a compelling—and profoundly
hopeful—alternative to the widely accepted “clash of civilization” theory that
pits East against West in an apocalyptic struggle. He makes the powerful and persuasive argument that the violence
and extremism currently seizing the Middle East are the last gasps of small,
doomed religious factions, not the beginning of a horrific future, as many have
predicted. In NO GOD BUT GOD: The Origins,
Evolution, and Future of Islam (Random House; Publication Date: March
22, 2005; $25.95; 1-4000-6213-6), Aslan explains Islam in all its complexity,
beauty, and compassion. He
re-emphasizes, irrefutably, that Islam has as much in common with Christianity
and Judaism and bears seeds of egalitarianism and social reform at its core.
This is a book both timely and timeless. In it the author explains the faith of Islam,
presenting its battles and schisms as part of an ongoing evolution as it responds
to the social, cultural, political, and temporal circumstances of those who are
telling it. Aslan writes that what is
taking place now in the Muslim world is an internal conflict between Muslims,
not an external battle between Islam and the West. The West is merely a bystander—an unwary yet complicit casualty
of a rivalry that is raging in Islam over who will write the next chapter in
its story.
More than one billion Muslims in the world readily
accept the fundamental principles of democracy – constitutionalism, government
accountability, pluralism, human rights.
What is not necessarily accepted is the distinctly Western notion that
religion and the state should be entirely separate, that secularism must be the
foundation of a democratic society. “It
may be too early to know who will write the next chapter of Islam’s story, but
it is not too early to recognize who will ultimately win the war between reform
and counterreform.” NO GOD BUT GOD is an argument for the
Islamic Reformation that is already taking place.
Tour Cities and
Dates
New York Monday,
March 28
Tuesday,
March 29
Washington, DC Wednesday,
March 30
Thursday,
March 31
Chicago Friday,
April 1
Saturday,
April 2 & Sunday, April 3
Monday,
April 4
Iowa City Wednesday, April 6
Los Angeles Tuesday, April 12
Wednesday,
April 13
San Francisco Thursday, April 14
Friday,
April 15
Saturday,
April 16
About
the Author:
Reza Aslan is currently a Robles Fellow at the University of
California, Santa Barbara. He has
studied religions at Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the
University if California. He holds an
MFA in fiction from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he
was also visiting assistant professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern
Studies. His work has appeared in The Nation, Slate, and The New York Times,
and he has been profiled in USA Today
and U.S. News & World Report and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Born in Iran, he lives in Santa Barbara and
New Orleans.
NO GOD BUT GOD: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam
Reza Aslan
Random House; ISBN: 1-4000-6213-6;
Price: $25.95
On Sale Date: March 15, 2005; Publication
Date: March 22, 2005
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