REVIEW: Ask Brother Shah by Shah Kirit bin Kakulal Govindji © The Malaysian Reader

I had the opportunity to hear Shah Kirit speak at my local mosque in February. He was a Hindu who reverted to Islam because, he said, “I wanted to marry a Malay Muslim girl. That was the actual reason I started to learn about Islam“. However, the more he studied the more convinced he was of Islam until he told the religious teacher who was instructing him that even if his marriage to the Malay girl was not to be, he would still embrace Islam.

He was very eloquent and knew what he was talking about and his specialty subject was comparative religion. In other words, Shah Kirit is Malaysia’s own Ahmed Deedat.

This book is a compilation of his “Ask Brother Shah” articles in the now defunctCriteria weekly newspaper. It is defunct because no one bought it. The Criteriawas an English language newspaper primarily focusing on Islamic issues and his “Ask Brother Shah” articles tackle questions that may be frequently asked by Muslims and non-Muslims alike (but since no one read the paper, no one knew of the articles).

There are twenty topics compiled here ranging from the philosophical “The Concept of God in Islam” and “The Unity of God” to the more practical “What is Polygamy?’ and “Tudung – Oppressive or Liberating?” Shah Kirit writes simply and to the point.

Ask Brother Shah is a good book that should be read by all Malaysians regardless of faith (or lack thereof). In these end times, when our leaders are more hypocritical than ever, when society is more insular than ever, when religion is abandoned for secular beliefs, it is important that publications such as these are made more available to the public. This book is important for the Muslim who seeks to understand his or her faith and it is doubly important for the non-Muslim who doesn’t know a thing about Islam but is too afraid to ask.

It is not a book that will answer all your questions about Islam but it is able, hopefully, to shine some light on it. The only unfortunate aspect about this book is that is quite slim (just 85 pages) but the price is RM25.00. I say unfortunate because the typical Malaysian will probably balk at the idea of spending RM25 for a slim book on Islam. Malaysia Boleh, my foot!

The topics covered in the book:

1. Between Islam and Muslim
2. Worship in Islam
3. The Concept of God in Islam
4. The Unity of God
5. God’s Attributes
6. Why does God Punish?
7. Is Religion Difficult?
8. Is God Really Loving and Just?
9. Blind Faith?
10. Do We Need Religion?
11. Why Polygamy?
12. The Islamic Law of Inheritance – Justice Ensured
13. Is Polygamy Outdated?
14. Why Islam Prohibits Polyandry
15. No Gender Bias in Matters of Spirituality in Islam
16. Tudung – Oppressive or Liberating
17. Is God to be Blamed for the Tsunami?
18. Prophet Muhammad: Pray As You See Me Pray?
19. The Wisdom of Fasting
20. Blessed Ramadan & ‘Idul-fitr in Malaysia

I bought this book from Saba Islamic Media, 1st Floor, Plaza PKNS, Shah Alam but I’ve also seen it at Kinokuniya@SuriaKLCC.

copied from : http://themalaysianreader.com/2010/03/10/45/