This book review first appeared in Sharing the Practice, Spring 2008, published by the Academy of Parish Clergy.

OIL & WATER: Two Faiths – One God. By Amir Hussain. CopperHouse, Woodlake Publishing, 2006. 224 pages.

The age of interfaith dialogue arrived a decade or two ago, as it became evident that the world was shrinking and the United States was becoming increasingly diverse, but it took the tragedy of September 11, 2001, to energize the moral imperative for interfaith dialogue. Now interfaith discussion has become a staple in the diet of many Christian churches and has expanded to include a trialogue of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in many communities.

Like a timely package arriving in the mail, comes the book Oil and Water: Two Faiths-One God by Professor Amir Hussain of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Hussain is a Pakistani-born, Canadian Muslim, and his book is a must-read primer for Christians, who want to understand Islam and be guided in interfaith dialogue with Muslims.

Listen up, Christian world, there are many progressive, peace-loving Muslims. Professor Hussain is one of them, and he'll introduce you to a constellation of Muslims like himself. He will also tell you that many of these Muslims condemned the 9-11 attacks.

Dr. Hussain will introduce you to the mystery of the Qur'an, too. Christians will appreciate his holistic approach to reading it. He points out that the Qur'an begins in every chapter but one with the words, In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, and witnesses overwhelmingly to the mercy of God over-against the wrath of God. He also relies upon context to explain the role of women in Islam. Hussain uses ways of dealing with sacred text with which Christians are familiar. Viewing the Qur'an as the last and truest revelation of God's Word (Muslims believe that New Testament texts were corrupted in their transmission of Jesus' words), one wonders how the growing interest in the use of critical textual scholarship by Muslim scholars might some day alter understanding of its authority. "This century may see some interesting developments in the ways in which Muslims will read and understand the Qur'an," he writes.

From Hussain, who regularly attends Christian worship, especially in Toronto, where he became an "adherent" in a United Church of Canada congregation "but without converting," you will learn of the respect of Islam for Jesus and the Christian faith. He will clarify the true meaning of jihad, not "holy war" but "struggle in the path of God." Jihad, which Hussain points out, appears only four times in the Qur'an, has its inner character and outer manifestation. Its inner meaning is "familiar to people of any religion who try to temper inclinations toward evil with an ongoing commitment to righteousness," and its outer expression can be compared to the "faithful witness" of Christians to justice in society.

Christians may be surprised to learn of the importance of justice for women and the extended role which women have held in the history of Islam since its beginning in the sixth century of the Common Era. Muslims trace the beginning of their faith to the birth of Muhammad in 570 C.E., but the first revelation to Muhammad occurred in 610 C.E. This book helps readers to make theological distinctions about the complex of Islamic belief that reaches beyond popular impressions, prejudices, and rumors, and charts the differences between various Muslim groups.

As stated, this book is a must-read for Christians who want to learn and engage in dialogue with Muslims. It is also a must-read book for Christians who up to now have talked only to themselves about the nature of Islam and for those who live and work in places where it is difficult to meet and talk with Muslims about their beliefs and lives. For all of us Amir Hussain holds out this challenge and hope: "We must choose to walk that path [of reconciliation] together; we have no other choice. As Muslims and as Christians, we are called to a common future based on our common heritage. We both hear the call from God to transform our lives."

William C. Youngkin, APC
United Church of Christ, retired
Dayton Ohio