Book Reviews 

Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look 

at Muslim Life and Beliefs 

Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner 
Grand Rapids, Ml: KregeL Publications� 2002. 256 pages. 

213 

Many books have been written on Muslims and Islam since 9/1 I. A 

majority of them have tried to show Islam's negative side in an attempt to 
prove that Islam teaches violence and that Muslims love to engage in 
jihad to become martyrs. Such contentions are generally made by anti­

Muslim interest groups, certain religious organizations, and politicians 
under the influence of such extremists. These people stir up anti-Muslim 
sentiments to influence public opinion and bend government policies in 
favor of such groups. This book is a similar attempt to gain popularity for 

the authors and arouse anti-Muslim sentiment at a time that is trying for 
most Americans. The authors, Ergun Caner and Emir Caner, are brothers. 
The senior author is professor of theology at Criswell College, Dallas, 
Texas, and the second author teaches at the Baptist Seminary in Wake 

Forest, North Carolina. 
The book contains a preface and introduction, I 6 chapters on various 

aspects of Islam, and four appendices, including an index to the Qur'an 
and a glossary of Arabic terms. The preface is a story of the clash ofcul­
tures between the authors' Muslim (Turkish) father and Swedish mother, 
which resulted in a divorce when the Caner brothers were still very 

young. The father had visitation rights and would take Ergun and Emir to 
the Islamic Center in Columbus, Ohio, on weekends "to do the prayers, 

celebrate Ramadhan and read the Qur'an." This was the children's only 
exposure to Islam, until Ergun was I 5 and visited a church after his best 

friend invited him to do so. Ergun found the people at church warm and 
"didn't mock when he stumbled through the hymns." He joined the 
gospel ministry in 1982 and has since been preaching (against Islam) in 
order "to bring salvation for 1.2 billion Muslims." Thus the title of the 
book is itself deceiving, as it conveys that a practicing Muslim became a 
Christian, when, in fact, the authors actually became Christians in their 
early teens and had almost no education in Islam. 

It is appalling that the introductory chapter opens with a threat from 

"Shaikh" Osama bin Laden to the Americans and blessings for those who 
gave their lives to k.ill the 9/1 I victims. The authors portray bin Laden as 
a typical Muslim who is out to get all people who refuse to accept Islam, 





Book Reviews 215 

a novice reader. The culprits to such lies are the priests who wrote glow ­
ing reviews and a foreword, as well as the publisher, all of whom have 

teamed up to foster anti-Islamic sentiment in America. The book is even 
anti-Christian and anti-American, for it denigrates a major world religion, 
including its Prophet, a practice that is despised in Christianity and that 
goes against the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. It attempts 
to divide a society that is in need of mutual understanding and support at 
a time of great hurt. 

The book is obviously revengeful and comes out of frustration as 
Islam continues to grow in the West. Such works actually serve Islam bet­
ter, as readers get turned off by the lies and seek to know Islam from the 
real sources. There must be an effort to compile a list of such works and 
organizations behind such anti-Muslim hate campaigns and to unveil 
their real agenda. For now, the authors must at least change their Muslim 
names to stop deceiving the public that they were ever Muslims in the 
past. The Caner brothers suffered from the childhood trauma of parental 
divorce and turned against Islam, the religion of their Muslim father, a 
man of principle who did not compromise his religion for his family. 

Amber Haque 

Department of Psychology 
lntemational Islamic University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia