Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys Of A Sceptical Muslim

I enjoyed this book so much that I purchased one for all my friends and family. Zia does a good job taking jabs at Muslim intransigence and the challenges facing the Ummah to tackle its problems. Very entertaining.

As a student who is constantly searching for answers on the things around, i find this that not only does solves most of the questions but also inspires me a lot. When i came upon this book, i was having my "darkest moment". i was inspired by the likes of Ibn Rusyd, Imam Bukhari and Sardar himself on their quest for knowledge. As we know, knowledge is power and i felt really powerful physically, mentally and spiritually after reading this book Another thing brought forward in this book is don't be afraid to question things as that is how Islam works. You have got to question things so that we can understand it fully and don't except things as black and white. We are to engrossed categorizing things as good and bad that we overlook that nothing is perfect; everything has its good and bad. Sure, we always SAY nothing is perfect but do we really acknowledge it? the issue Sardar brought forward such as the iranian revolution, afghanistan and so on is such an eye opener for me. there's so much to take into, so much lessons to be learned and so much to be understand this book really inspired me a lot and the questions brought forward made me really ponder hard... if anything that can make a difference, i believe this book really does

At long last, a book that presents the Islam of the optimistic, socially compassionate critical thinker! I'd always known that Islam was not the malicious, vengeful, monolithic bloc that it is often seen to be in the West, but I now know much more about what it IS like, at least through Sardar's eyes -- he illustrates its rich diversity of thought and practice, past and present, and teases out its complexities with elegance and deftness of touch, peppering it liberally with hilarious anecdotes from his many 'journeys'. As such, despite the gravity of the issues he and his friends wrestle with in such heartfelt fashion, the whole thing is both enlightening and eminently readable.

Ziauddin Sardar is a British Muslim and knows it. His writing is very English, full of dry humour and is very subtle. This is his autobiography, but written in a way to educate the reader about contemporary Islam as well. He writes for a number of newspapers in the UK, including the Guardian. The first movement he experiences growing up - the bane of many a Desi Muslim - is the Tablighi Jama'at. He documents his experiences with them and from my own dealings with them, it seems that everyone must share a similar experience so it is worth reading! In his student years he experiences a number of different groups, including Sufism and the Muslim Brotherhood as well as being educated in traditional Islamic subjects. Not content with that he gets mixed up in the Iranian Revolution, insults a Pakistani prime minister and meets Osama bin Laden, amongst other things. The best part of the book is later in his life, when he and a group of other 'misfit' Muslims come together to begin writing and developing their understanding of modern Islam. He meets (and argues with) such noteable figures as Ismail al-Faruqi and Anwar Ibrahim, recounting many memorable moments. It is a great read... sometimes incredibly sad, sometimes shocking, but a fascinating account of one man's life and the state of contemporary Islam. With people like him at the helm, I feel very that Islam will be safe from the hands of the extremists.

The book presents Ziauddin Sardar's autobiographical survey of contemporary Islam in all of its diverse forms, antecedents and components; truly a whirlwind tour. In sequence the reader enounters the Tablighi Jemaat, the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat-e-Islami, the Qur'an, classical Islamic studies, Sufism, al-Ghazali, the Shia (Jafaris), the Ismailis, Baathism, the Hajj, Wahhabism, the Iranian Revolution, Islamization, the role of Shariah, Mutazilla, Secularism, the Rushdie affair, and Multiculturalism. All the while Sardar makes references to key individuals, organizations, and places that help the casual student of contemporary Islam to piece everything together. Sardar frames all of this information in his own personal search for an expression of Islam that responds to the present and addresses his spiritual needs. He relays this journey in a humorous and ironic style that makes the book a delight to read. I highly recommend this work for those who seek insight into Islam's adaptation to the contemporary world and for Muslims who grew up in the West.