“Big Ideas Simply Explained” is a series of books that takes on large topics and provides a comprehensive overview of the aforementioned topic. I was familiar with the format as I’ve read the one on Psychology in the series already. When beginning to read this book, you’re greeted by beautiful illustrations and maps to help you visualize the time in which Islam became prominent in history.

You start with the Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. You get a timeline of his life and some background about what made him the perfect person to start a religious movement in an area where polytheism was the norm.You get to see a side of Muhammad that you wouldn’t normally see. In religious dialogue, it can often be not so loving and peaceful to talk about one another’s religious figures.

I think we should recognize that Islam and Christianity have some similarities. We can acknowledge these as peaceful starters to dialogue, without compromising either of our belief systems. As a Christian, I’ll still affirm Christian distinctives that the Qu’ran denies and I expect my Muslim friend to still hold to his/her distinctives. The media can sometimes be unfair to both belief systems, whether it’s calling adherents anti-science, or posing them as violent, we both know what it’s like to be unfairly represented. Let’s not continue that trend with each other.

This book keeps a very matter-of-fact approach that shouldn’t be controversial with anyone, it’s merely stating the beliefs and origins of those beliefs in the islamic religion. Despite being mainly introductory, It has a lot of useful information and some things I didn’t know and It’s always good to learn.

I know I mentioned it in the beginning, but the illustrations truly are beautiful. They’re placed throughout the book and I always like to stop and look at pictures while I’m reading. It helps the reader immerse into the story, at least from my perspective it does. I felt like I was really there when the historical events occurred and I could see why so many love their religion. I think this book is a must read for my fellow Christians, because if we are only reading about other religions from hostile sources, we won’t be learning much and like the source, we will be hostile towards others.

This is an excellent Introduction.

I was offered an early copy in exchange for an honest review. ( )