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CRESCENT AND DOVE: PEACE AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN ISLAM Qamar-ul Huda, editor Washington, D. C, United States Institute of Peace Press, 2010 322 + xxvii pages, paper, $19.95
Even prior to the events of September 11, 2011, the suggestions of links between Islam and terrorism often surfaced in North America. As an example, when the Oklahoma City Bombing occurred in 1995, initial reports by US and Canadian media outlets attributed responsibility for the attack to Muslim terrorists. Such an attribution can be viewed as a smaller subset of the larger discourse on religion and violence which often raises the spectre that religious beliefs are ultimately too divisive, exclusivist and cavalier to be a source for peace. Within this discourse, it seems that the connection between Islam and violence is particularly prevalent in the general North American consciousness. This connection can also be internalized within Muslim communities. As a result, for instance, I have attended a number peace studies and inter-faith dialogue lectures in Canada where a member of the authence has posed the question (or a variation thereof) during discussions; "Why is it that we Muslims always turn to violence to solve our problems?"
The present volume invokes another image of connection, one between the crescent and the dove, to illustrate that the Islamic faith has numerous sources to substantively inform efforts at peacebuilding, alternative dispute resolution, and the nonviolent transformation of societies in the service of peace and justice. Included in the volume are useful appendices comprising a glossary of key terms in Arabic and a selection of multi-authored documents that encourage cross-cultural consensus building which enhance...