Thanks arifsali for the link:
Summary/Abstrac

The other Islam : Sufism and the road to global harmony


Many Americans today identify Islam with hatred of the West. This book transforms this image and opens the way to finding common ground in our troubled times. Sufism, a blend of the mystical and rational tendencies within Islam, emerged soon after the revelation of Muhammad. A reforming movement against the increasing worldliness of Muslim society, it focuses on Islam's spiritual dimension. Described as "Islam of the heart," Sufism has attracted adherents among both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims, as well as Jews, Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists. Journalist Schwartz traces the origins and his...

Thanks arifsali for the link:
Summary/Abstrac

The other Islam : Sufism and the road to global harmony


Many Americans today identify Islam with hatred of the West. This book transforms this image and opens the way to finding common ground in our troubled times. Sufism, a blend of the mystical and rational tendencies within Islam, emerged soon after the revelation of Muhammad. A reforming movement against the increasing worldliness of Muslim society, it focuses on Islam's spiritual dimension. Described as "Islam of the heart," Sufism has attracted adherents among both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims, as well as Jews, Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists. Journalist Schwartz traces the origins and history of Sufism, elucidates its teachings, and illustrates its links to the other religions. He comments on celebrated Sufi poets and philosophers and narrates their influence on the Kabbalah, on the descendants of the Jewish philosopher Maimonides, and on Christian mystics, as well as the American transcendentalists. He also presents a fresh survey of Sufism in today's Islamic world.--From publisher description.

Very informative comment.

Many Americans today identify Islam with hatred of the West.

When and how this perception started is what is most important. IMO, the US has held in a special place by Muslim/Arabs. It was not identified with the rightly distrusted European colonialist powers that always used and abused them.

The Suez Crisis in Oct 1956 was probable the zenith of American prestige - it having stood up to the scheming Brits, French and Zionists - to stop an illegal invasion without firing a shot. Yet my 1967 and the USS Liberty atrocity, the US was total in-bed-with the murderous Zionists. What happe...

Very informative comment.

Many Americans today identify Islam with hatred of the West.

When and how this perception started is what is most important. IMO, the US has held in a special place by Muslim/Arabs. It was not identified with the rightly distrusted European colonialist powers that always used and abused them.

The Suez Crisis in Oct 1956 was probable the zenith of American prestige - it having stood up to the scheming Brits, French and Zionists - to stop an illegal invasion without firing a shot. Yet my 1967 and the USS Liberty atrocity, the US was total in-bed-with the murderous Zionists. What happened between 1956 and 1967 to have the Americans start its slide into Islamophobia?

Well, in July 1956 the US and the bust Brits welshed on their deal with Egypt over the Aswan Dam as part of the secret US-led 'OMEGA' policy to marginalize Nasser. When he turned to the USSR to compete the otherwise white elephant, extraordinaryly, the US nose was out of joint, badly. Like Hamas today, the US does not often like what democracy produces. The CIA assassination in Iran is another case.

So the US proved to the Arabs to be just as untrustworthy as the the European colonists. Greed for Arab oil on the cheap probably played a large part. By 1967 the US was prepared to nuke Cairo on the false flag pretext of the USS Liberty incident. If the USS Liberty was sunk as intended, then WW3 was under way! Maybe it might have been for the best in hindsight to have rid the Middle East of the snake in its bosom. A USSR nuclear lay off Israel with orders to nuke Tel Aviv once WW3 commenced.

All this for the price of a Dam with the US selling its soul by reneging on a deal and siding with the Zionists, who constantly spy on their 'allies'!

Was this backing of the wrong horse the start of...

So the US proved to the Arabs to be just as untrustworthy as the the European colonists. Greed for Arab oil on the cheap probably played a large part. By 1967 the US was prepared to nuke Cairo on the false flag pretext of the USS Liberty incident. If the USS Liberty was sunk as intended, then WW3 was under way! Maybe it might have been for the best in hindsight to have rid the Middle East of the snake in its bosom. A USSR nuclear lay off Israel with orders to nuke Tel Aviv once WW3 commenced.

All this for the price of a Dam with the US selling its soul by reneging on a deal and siding with the Zionists, who constantly spy on their 'allies'!

Was this backing of the wrong horse the start of the US slide from the most prestigious, the shining light of freedom, to the worldwide reviled Bush of lies and deception, even in the States. 2009 so far and Gaza indicates that Americans never learn, even what is their own best interest.