Through a ‘conference of the books’, an imagined conference of Muslim intellects from centuries past, El Fadl speaks of the contemporary ugliness which he feels pervades the Islamic world and attempts to reclaim the moral value of beauty. El Fadl asks the question, ‘What does God command other than ihsan? And, ihsan is derived from the word hasan, which means the good, proper, and beautiful’.2 El Fadl is passionate about what he considers the current societal problems within the Islamic tradition which stem from an epistemological crisis. He writes that while many Muslims have been touched by this book, for the non-Muslim, ‘The Conference offered an opportunity to gain an insider’s view to the struggles, problems, and pains of contemporary Muslims as well as to understand what the Islamic tradition had to offer humanity’. El Fadl sees that faith in God enables humankind to reach out for the transcendent and the beautiful and that we should seek the beautiful because God is beautiful.