PREFACE
This is a free book. It is based on current media reports as well as decades of study and research into issues surrounding Islam. I thank several academic institutions for the basic background in dealing with Middle Eastern issues. I was fortunate as well to have studied, lived and worked in areas of the Middle East. Time spent most notably in the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Iran along with lesser visits to other areas such as Turkey, Jordan and elsewhere added to my basic knowledge of the region.
There are many individuals I would like to thank as well, but the names and list would be too exhausting, so I just say, thank you all.
This is my personal journal. It is not an academic compilation or book subject to the strictures of the Academy (such as they may be), It is also not a media report in the traditional sense based on any confidential or need-to-protect sources. It is a compilation of images with running commentary of my own making. Any and all errors are mine.
Readers may do with this book as they please. Many of the images bear copyrights. They were openly presented for view and copy off of internet sources. I respect the copyrights which is why, in part this an unofficial and free picture book.
The more important part is that the book and its contents are designed to celebrate freedom and allow others to do the same by freely sharing the information the picture book contains. One of my most lasting and important lessons about Islam came from a very celebrated professor wellversed in Islamic and Middle Eastern affairs.
I was researching and gathering information about an Islamic subject of interest to me. He pointed out that if I wanted to substantiate and affirm any suspicion I held about where the evidence was leading, it would need to have supporting conclusive grounding in the Qur'an. He was of course right and the subject I was researching did have a little-recognized Qur'anic base.
I was amazed and still am at how many Muslims either overlook or fail to focus on some primary aspects of the Qur'an. The Qur'an teaches that Arabs and Arabic have primacy in all things Islam.
The Qur'an must be read in Arabic to truly understand Islam--by its own declaration. The Arabic Qur'an is very clear in naming as well the Arab tribe that stands most favored and primary at the pinnacle of Islam. That revelation in the Qur'an led me to understand that Islam began from a base of inequality--religiously, and that, for me, in this day and age was a problem.
The question of freedom under Islam was another problem. Once one submits, one cannot change one's mind or have a change of heart.
To do so is labeled apostasy and apostasy is punishable by death. The freedom to question, explore, make errors, learn and move on has harsh Islamic strictures—another problem for me. Imagine a child "born to Islam" who is as curious as I was. Imagine that child being unable to freely--for fear of death from circumstances of place of birth only--being unable to seek knowledge without fear. Such a state did exist widely in the Dark Ages. Mankind has moved beyond that and that is a good thing, I believe.
For readers of this picture book, as stated, do with it as you please after going through it. Enjoy! (or not).