Fascinating and apt opening line. Sexier than I expected.

I was fascinated by the opening line and thought it was very apt: If human beings understood the essence of their own religions, there would have been no wars, no concentration camps, no Third Reich, no Imperial Japan, and no al-Qaida or ISIS. The prologue is set in in Palestine in 1920. Kareem is an eligible bachelor who marries the beautiful Amine who is considered the princess of the village, having turned down many other suitors for her hand. She and Kareem have a beautiful love story for only two years before she dies during childbirth, bringing twins Rasheed and Rasheeda into the world. From there, the narrative moves to the twins as they grow up and reach young adulthood as very tightly knit siblings. Rasheeda is liberal in inquisitive from the start and her ideologies eventually rub off on Rasheed. I didn't think that I would be interested in this story, but it was much sexier than I anticipated and I am curious to hear what happens next.