Reddit mentions of Islam: Past, Present and Future

Brother, link them to the Islam On Demand YouTube channel. There's a wealth of information there for the uninitiated.

Edit: Or how about an introduction written by a leading Christian thinker Hans Küng - Islam: Past, Present, Future

For a comprehensive scholarly book, Hans Küng, Islam: past, present and future.

If you prefer lighter reading to introduce you to the main issues in contemporary islam, I recommend Ziauddin Sardar's [Desperately Seeking Paradise](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Desperately-Seeking-Paradise-Journeys-Sceptical/dp/186207755X
).

If I start asking everyone whether they liked Hitler or not, it wouldn't be long before they figured out the negative connotations of such a question, and not only would the results probably be useless, but it could also cause problems for me at work. "Do you like Hitler" isn't something one generally goes around asking people if one values his job.

Nevertheless, I plan on asking the other strong English speaker (the issue will have to be approached delicately, of course), but he works on another shift, so I will have to wait until I switch shifts to do so. Until then, I'll have to settle for other methods of research. It's something that just sits in the filing cabinet in the back of my head until an opportunity arises for me to do more research, such as SaudiDude's AMA here.

I also bought and am in the process of reading Hans Kung's book on Islam, which is supposed to be excellent and without bias. I was going to buy another one about Nazi propaganda in the Arab world by one Prof. Jeffrey Herf, but decided to first read the one by Kung to lay the foundation for further research.

Note that just because my Iraqi friend claimed this, or that SaudiDude half-heartedly confirmed it comes nowhere near to proving this true in my mind. I require much more evidence than the opinions of two arab Muslims to close the book on this issue. Because this lends itself to politicization so easily, liberals have a tendency to believe I'm an Islamophobe or something when I ask questions such as these (which I'm sure SaudiDude also now believes) - but I just want to know whether it's true or not.

Hell, if it turns out to be true, I probably won't even tell anyone who would really care about it because a) it's such a potentially inflammatory issue, and b) most westerners would probably think I was crazy to claim such a thing anyways. I just want to know for myself.