SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

"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"

-- Reza Aslan

• Who is the author?  Why do you think he wrote this book?  What are his own ideas about Islam and what does he think is most important to understanding its history?  How might Aslan's own biography have influenced his shaping of No God But God?  How would you explore the relationship between what he writes in the book and his role as an American public intellectual?

• What most surprised you about this book and why?  What are its strengths and weaknesses?

• How do different groups of Muslims interpret the paradigm of "Muhammad in Medina?"  How does Aslan characterize early Medina and why does it become the model of Islam for him?

• What was revolutionary about early Islam?

• What did you learn about Muhammad from this book?  About the first century of Islam's history?  Why do you think there is so much focus today on that early history?  To what extent does the history of the first caliphs matter in the contemporary world?  How did the split between Sunnis and Shiites develop and what was the significance of this split?

• What comparisons and contrasts would you draw between the issues and divisions that characterized Islam in its first two centuries and in the last two centuries?

• What is Sufism and how has it influenced the history of Islam?

• Why does Aslan think that we are in the midst of an Islamic Reformation?  How do you respond to his claim?  What are the similarities and differences between the issues facing Islam today with those that faced Christianity in 16th-and-17th-century Europe?

• According to Aslan, what role has western colonialism played in the recent development of Islam?  Assess his arguments.

• What does Aslan have to say about Islam and gender relations?  How does he challenge both more traditional Islamic interpretations and western feminist approaches?  How do you respond to his analysis here?

• Why do you think Aslan titles his last chapter "Slouching Towards Medina" and how does this chapter fit into the overall context of the book?

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