Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is Founder and CEO of the American Sufi Muslim Association (ASMA Society) and Imam of Masjid Al-Farah, a mosque in New York City twelve blocks from Ground Zero. He has dedicated his life to building bridges between Muslims and the West and is a leader in the effort to build religious pluralism and integrate Islam into modern American society. Imam Feisal is also the architect of the Cordoba Initiative, an interreligious blueprint for improving relations between America and the Muslim world, and he is on the board of One Voice, a group pursuing peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He is the author of Islam: A Search for Meaning and Islam: A Sacred Law, What Every Muslim Should Know About the Shari'ah. He has spoken at many churches, synagogues, seminaries, and interfaith centers about what unites all of the world's religions.

In this ambitious work, Imam Feisal points out what went wrong in the relationship between Islam and the West and discusses the common ground that can serve as a launch pad for a renewed relationship based on an abiding respect for the fundamental values of a pluralistic, free society. He provides a succinct look at the life and work of the Prophet Muhammad, describes the five epochs of Islamic history, and notes the five principles affirmed by all divine revelations. He also explores the reasons for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and explicates the condemnation of terrorism in Islamic law.

Islamophobia is rampant in American society with many people describing Muslims as enemies of civilization, extremists, militants, or terrorists. Imam Feisal reminds us that early Muslim societies were far more tolerant of other religions than were the communities of European Christendom. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity as Abrahamic religions have received two great commandments: to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors (no matter what their race or religion) as we love ourselves.

Imam Feisal believes that many Muslims admire the liberty, equality, and fraternity enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and would embrace their own brand of democratic capitalism. "The world wants to like America," he states, yet in many parts of the world, "hostility toward the United States is the rule rather than the exception." It is time for Jews, Christians, and Muslims to work together in "a renewed vision of what the good society can look like," especially since these religions share a passion for justice. Imam Feisal calls America back to its older function in the world, one that takes a different path that it is currently pursuing through the fields of fear:"It ascends the highlands of trust and faith, conveying us to a place where America acts as the Great Conciliator — instead of the Great Policeman — for the world's family of nations. This is the path of cooperation, of multilateralism, of dialogue, of building friendships. On this path, America sleeps well because it has many friends and few enemies. This is the path of hope. Americans must outgrow the unbecoming arrogance that leads us to assert that America somehow owns a monopoly on goodness and truth — a belief that leads some to view the world as but a stage on which to play out the great historical drama: the United States of America versus the Powers of Evil."

The author firmly believes that this vision is possible once both Muslims and Americans reconnect with "faith in the basic goodness of humanity and trust in the power of sincerity and dialogue to overcome differences with our fellow human beings." Given the entrenched views of original sin held by the majority of Christians and the reigning dualistic view of the world as divided between the good guys and the bad guys, this new paradigm seems to us a long way off, but we have to join Iman Feisal in saying, God willing, it will come to pass.