The Secret of Islam: Love and Law in the Religion of Ethics

Rating:
Summary: Compelling introduction to Islam
Review: Henry Bayman has done a remarkable job explaining the core teachings of Islam. He explores the principles of love and social justice which have held together the Muslim community for over 1400 years, and reveals how modern "fundamentalist" movements, and their terrorist offshoots, are anathema to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, and to the way Islam has actually been practiced over the centuries.

Bayman has a sophisticated understanding of Western idelogies, from Nietzsche to Marx and the modern global capitalists. He effectively shows how all these post-Enlightenment ideologies ultimately fail because they are not based in the deep-rooted spiritual longing that is core to the human condition.

This book is a great reminder for Muslims as to why their faith continues to offer reliable answers to the challenges faced by men and women in the modern world. And it is a wonderful introduction for non-Muslims, who may come to understand that nobody "converts" to Islam. Everyone is already a Muslim -- that is, every man and woman was created with the same Divine spark, and our destiny is to harness that unlimited potential by becoming fully developed human beings. The journey of life is simply about coming to realize that the teachings of the Qur'an are nothing more than a reminder of what we always knew, deep inside our hearts -- we are the beloved representatives of God on Earth.

Rating:
Summary: Authentic Islam
Review: The Prophet Muhammad came to the world as a mercy for all mankind, not as a war-monger determined to annihilate everything that is not Islamic/Muslim. To be a Muslim is to follow the Prophet as closely as possible with a keen eye on what the true essence of his actions and words are. Therefore in essence, as this book fundamentally states "The Heart Of Islam Is The Love Of God, Of One's Fellow Human Beings And Of All Creation".

Although Prophethood has come to an end (Muhammad being the last of the Prophets), there have been many special beings "Saints", who continued to follow the way of the Prophet and practice/teach authentic Islam. The great Sufi master Ahmet Kayhan was one of these special beings. His teachings were directly from the universal garden of the Prophet.

Like its predecessor (The Station Of No Station), "The Secret Of Islam" is based on the teachings of Master Ahmet Kayhan. In this book one can rediscover this universal garden of the Prophet, which flowers the highest understanding of authentic Islam and leads one to the flowering of the perfect human being.

This wide-ranging anthology by Henry Bayman is not only inspiring, uplifting and extremely valuable for contemporary wo/man, but also fundamentally important. The book ends with "Warning: A Call To Peace". Apart from showing us that Master Ahmet Kayhan was sincerely active in promoting world peace, this content reminds us that world peace can only be achieved without the burden of all weapons of mass destruction. Or our potential to be higher than an Angel or lower than an Animal, will surely result in the latter!

Like my review for "The Station Of No Station", I shall end this review with the same words... This book is without any doubt, essential for anyone interested in Spirituality, Religion, Mysticism and Love. In the words of the great Sufi Saint "Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi"... "I follow the Religion of Love: whatever way Love mounts take, that is my Religion and my faith".