I owe a big debt to former nun Karen Armstrong - as well as to the AB member who brought her to my attention. But more about that later.
I like Ms Armstrong's writing: she has a very clear and uncluttered style. She appears to be a good researcher too.
Is she an apologist for Islam? Most certainly: she's received
awards for her advocacy on behalf of the religion of peace.
And my debt to her? A poster (who would never be described as a "muslim apologist") mentioned Ms Armstrong's biography of Mohammed. And I read it.
Despite Armstrong adulatory hagiography (almost totally devoid of criticism of her hero) I realised two things that I (along with most other people in the West) had got wrong about Islam. Firstly that Islam is not a religion as we define the word: it's a complete political and judicial system mandated and prescribed in detail by God (that's sharia. the "total solution"). Secondly, that from its very beginnings, as seen in the words and actions of its founder, it had the divine mission to impose this divinely ordained social order on the unbelieving world, and that (if and when necessary) this end should be attained through pious acts of war (jihad).