Juan Cole offers an interpretation of the Qur’an and the Islamic tradition that is grounded in the concept of peace and respect for a pluralistic society, both ethnically and religiously. I learned a lot— just know that the book is fairly dense and not necessarily very accessible to folks without a foundational understanding of Middle Eastern history.

I would characterize this as a book that deals primarily with the early history of Islam, and secondarily with the history of the life of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) himself. It’s also important to keep in mind that Juan Cole is a historian, not a theologian, so this should appropriately be understood as a history book. For that reason, I would advise caution when reading reviews that disagree with and discard the author’s thesis on a doctrinal basis— Cole is clear that his is one out of a multitude of interpretations and he warns that it squarely contradicts the positions of both classical and modern exegetes.