A Jihad for Love
A Jihad for Love is a plea for tolerance and compassion, a rejection of fanaticism, and it is a heartbreaking book. Mohamed El-Bachiri shows how an argument for treating each other with kindness and respect can survive even the most brutal atrocity. For him, Islam should be a struggle for love, and the struggle for love should involve us all.
'A brave, sad, heartrending book, that makes the case all too well for common humanity, and treats extremist terrorism with contempt, but recognises its perpetrators as human too. El-Bachiri, a Muslim, lost his wife in a terrorist attack carried out by a fanatical jihadist. This is his jihadist response – a jihad of love and humanity'
Julia Neuberger
'This magnanimous appeal from a widower deserves many readers: both the young and the old, and those wishing to drive out immigrants from our country'
De Volkskrant
'In clear, concise sentences and chapters of at most a few pages, David Van Reybrouck publishes El Bachiri’s message, “an homage to his wife and a humanist message of love and humanity'
NRC Handelsblad
'This book is the best about Islam, but also about Christian belief, that the father and widower could write'
Nederlands Dagblad
In A Jihad for Love—written down and arranged by David Van Reybrouck—Mohamed speaks about his growing-up years in Molenbeek, his love for his wife and his life after the attacks. As an homage to Loubna, Mohamed channels the pain he suffered with resilience and bravery into a message of love and humanity, in which he appeals to western Muslims for a more humanist approach to Islam. The result is a sober text of astonishing wisdom. A Jihad for Love is the answer to the hatred of those who wish to divide us, of those who propagate violence and terrorism.