Publications by Davi Barker

Voluntary Islam and Other Essays

Reviews:

March 17, 2013
By Asif Shiraz

Very Engrossing. Thoroughly enjoyed David’s style of writing.

Fresh. A lot of books on Islam that I had read came from an outsider’s perspective. In true universal spirit of Islam, this book gives you the feel of a true and patriotic American writing about issues that are important for Americans, from a perspective which they can better appreciate and understand. In this book, I felt like Islam actually at play to solve real world issues in cultures and soceities vastly different from that in which it was revealed. This is a wonderfully fresh approach to applying Islamic principles to American soceity, while at the same time evaulating Islamic principles from this soceities’ norms and customs. In both cases, author successfully delineates a lot of congruence on many common sense and common principles that both hold, but never knew that they do.

Original. Also, I found a lot of ideas in this book that I had not heard before in Eastern Islamic literature. This is indeed another example of Quran 36:20 which the Murabitun cite as a process of enrichment of the core Islamic tradition through new and outside influences. However, perhaps because I am not a “full” libertarian, or maybe for simply being unfamiliar with some of the anarchist ideals, there are a few things that I would hesitate to fully agree to yet, but still, I can appreciate the direction which this book takes, and am confident that further research on it will surely bring out brilliant new ideas and conclusions.

Best of luck to David in his future endeavours and writings. And fully recommend this book for every American and every Muslim.

February 24, 2013
By Abdol

This book offers very refreshing, honest, and insightful essays about Islam from an obviously very well read and independent minded individual. I am currently reading the book and appreciate the author’s personal perspectives and methodical explanations when dealing with contemporary issues related to Islam, Muslims, and society. So far from what I have read, he does a very good job at dispelling common misconceptions about Jihad, the treatment of apostasy, and early Islamic history. Moreover, he lays out his views dissecting Qur’anic passages and hadith in a manner that the layman can both appreciate and enjoy reading.This work is a very valuable contribution. I highly recommend that people read it.

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