JOURNALfor the STUDYof ANTISEMITISM

But Will It Sell in Islamabad?
Tarek Fatah, The Jew Is Not My Enemy.
(Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2010), 243 pp., $24.95
Khaleel Mohammed*
It is not often that someone gets to review a book in which he is positively
mentioned. I note this at the very beginning in the interests of full
disclosure. I must also point out that, after the publication of this book, the
author and I have blocked each other on our Facebook pages. I chose to do
so because I feel that Tarek Fatah has morphed from someone with reformist
ideas to a person sounding more like a self-hating Muslim, deeming all
who disagree with him as Islamists. My evidence is the material on his
Facebook page and the large following of Islamophobes that form his fan
base, sparing no opportunity to disparage and denigrate Islam. I had also
refused, until sent this copy for review, to read the book because I consider
its title to be pandering to a Jewish readership.
And yet, if I stick to the book and its contents only, I must admit that
from its very first page it rivets the attention. The author is not an academic—perhaps
mercifully so—because he spares us the stultifying pedantry
that is often expected in such a work. Instead, he gives us an eloquent,
well-researched document. The reception that his work has met is precisely
why I, despite having researched the topic of Jewish-Muslim religions at
great length, have chosen not to write a book for the popular press. For the
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