Towards an Understanding of Islam: An Intellectual Debate

Abstract

We live in a global world. This has some important implications for cultures and religions. Despite the fact that millions of Muslims live in countries such as Europe, America and Canada, unfortunately, Muslims are lacking in expressing and expressing themselves. During the years I lived in Europe, I felt that there was a huge knowledge gap about Islam. Our interlocutors only express their own prejudices in the name of Islam and try to support this with biased media reports.

While the catechism books written by Muslims for themselves contain practical information for Muslims, the thought books focus on the intellectual problems of Muslims. Both types of publications are far from informing non-Muslims. These books do not take into account the basic assumptions and thoughts of foreigners, nor their prejudices. In fact, when they are unconsciously translated into foreign languages, they do more harm than good. This book, which we have prepared in order to reduce the increasing communication problems and to break the existing prejudices, only aims to give a preliminary information and idea about Islam. The book begins with the background and reasons for the interest in Islam and offers a way and method for understanding Islam. In the following, these problematic issues that foreigners are most curious about and confused about Islam are discussed. These issues undoubtedly require a wider discussion. However, we have provided some insights and ideas that touch the heart of the matter and have taken a first step towards further reading. If the book contributes even a tiny bit to breaking prejudices and presenting a new perspective on Islam, it will have served its purpose.