No god but God

I found this to be a scholarly yet accessible and engaging introduction to Islam. Aslan did a great job describing pre-Islam Arabia, the revelation and struggles of Muhammad, and the issues his followers had after his death to continue and develop his religion, and the emergence and evolution of the many branches of Islam to present day, all with objectivity and basis in research. Islam is the fastest growing religion, and second largest with 1.5 billion adherents worldwide. Much of history is woven with Muslim or Arabic thread. It’s an important religion on those bases alone, but even more so given its prominence in current events. I like Aslan's perhaps optomistic (but maybe not!) hypothesis that what we are witnessing is the Islamic Reformation. I recommend this book to anyone concerned with world events but dissatisfied with the West's over-simplified depiction of Islam.