Product Description

In "Islam Unveiled," Robert Spencer dares to face the hard questions about what the Islamic religion actually teaches--and the potentially ominous implications of those teachings for the future of both the Muslim world and the West. Going beyond the shallow distinction between a "true" peaceful Islam and the "hijacked" Islam of terrorist groups, Spencer probes the Koran and Islamic traditions (as well as the history and present-day situation of the Muslim world) as part of his inquiry into why the world's fastest growing faith tends to arouse fanaticism.

"Islam Unveiled" evaluates the relationship between Islamic fundamentalism and "mainstream" Islam; the fixation with violence and jihad; the reasons for Muslims' disturbing treatment of women; and devastating effects of Muslim polygamy and Islamic divorce laws. Spencer explores other daunting questions--why the human rights record of Islamic countries is so unrelievedly grim and how the root causes of this record exist in basic Muslim beliefs; why science and high culture died out in the Muslim world--and why this is a root cause of modern Muslim resentment. He evaluates what Muslims learn from the life of Muhammad, the man that Islam hails as the supreme model of human behavior. Above all, this provocative work grapples with the question that most preoccupies us today: can Islam create successful secularized societies that will coexist peacefully with the West's multicultural mosaic?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #270085 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 202 pages

From Booklist
To proclamations that Islam is a religion of peace, Spencer responds (in chapters entitled with questions such as "Is Islam Compatible with Liberal Democracy?" and "Is Islam Tolerant of Non-Muslims?") with evidence, historical and recent, of harsh treatment of women, other religionists, and social minorities in Islamic societies. Besides the facts Spencer presents, his citations of the Qur'an; the hadiths, or sayings and deeds of Muhammad; and Islamic authorities across the liberal-to-fundamentalist spectrum verify attitudes and practices that secular Westerners and present-day Jews and Christians don't think of as peaceable, just, or decent. For instance, slavery and polygamy may be waning in Islamic societies, but they aren't disapproved of or banned because the Qur'an and hadiths endorse them. Islam hasn't adapted to change nearly as much as Judaism and Christianity have, and that accounts for its savage relations with the West. Spencer doesn't see either Islam moderating or the West regarding Islam realistically any time soon. Barring "some wondrous intervention from the Merciful One," he concludes, the immediate future "will be difficult." Alarmingly cogent. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"[A] bracing argument that can help Americans think through...the greatest religious, cultural, and political conflict of this century." -- The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, "The Naked Public Square"

About the Author
Robert Spencer is an adjunct fellow of the Free Congress Foundation and a Board member of the Christian-Islamic Forum. His articles on Islam and a wide variety of other topics have appeared in "Human Events," CNSNews.com, National Review Online, "Chronicles," and "Crisis." He has studied Islam for over twenty years.

Customer Reviews

Disturbing but an awareness that we all need to possess.
The book's cover displays a chilling photograph of the eyes of Mohammed Atta, one of the Islamic terrorist hijackers involved in the September 11 2001 atrocities. A fitting lead into this study of Islam and the underlying hatred behind these and other acts of terrorism.

The writer has been a student of Islam for some 20 years and tries to explain without bias, what he personally declares as some of the misconceptions surrounding Islam. Whilst I might not agree with everything that the book contains, it is very well written and an extremely useful reference for those wishing to study these issues.

The book states at the outset that most Westerners know very little about Islam and had little or no idea of the depth of hatred and hostility facing the West prior to September 11. The writer proceeds to declare that whilst the very many innocent Moslems should not be held guilty by association following these terrorist attacks, the likes of Osama bin Laden and co. actually meant precisely what they said & far from being extremists or perverters of Islam, they actually interpret Islam's tenets correctly.

The book addresses how for many decades, endless incidents of violence, murder & terrorism have been publicly declared as `having nothing to do with Islam'. Claims still being echoed by senior Western politicians who blindly insist that Islam is a `peaceful religion' ignoring Islamic calls for worldwide domination and the destruction of the West and Israel. The book stating that to bracket Islam and peace is just wishful thinking with reference to the Islamic fighting against it's neighbours along the perimeter of the Islamic world, citing the violence against Hindus in India, Communists & Buddhists, Chinese, Jews and some `Christian' entities.

Islamic `tolerance' of other religions is also studied with reference to the Quranic statement that `anyone who converts from Islam to Christianity deserves to die'. Numerous incidents are mentioned where those refusing to convert to Islam have been instantly executed on the spot.

Amongst the many other issues addressed are the distressing treatment of women & how they are victimised under Shariah or Islamic law plus the appalling human rights record in the Islamic world. Slavery still surviving in some Islamic countries such as Sudan, Saudi Arabia & Mauritania, together with the still present dhimmi status attached to non-Moslems who are still regarded as second class, inferior citizens. There is also an analysis of why the Islamic region is such a fertile breeding ground for violence.

Looking into the Islamic mindset, we see how many modern day Moslems are being fed on a Quranic diet of anti-Jewish/anti-Western diatribe. The book studies the incentives and fervour behind Islamic homicide/suicide bombings, citing the rewards for such actions outlined in the Quran under Sura 56; 15-24. An example is quoted of a 11 year old Palestinian youth publicly declaring to his class-mates, "...I will make my body a bomb that will blast the flesh of Zionists, the sons of pigs and monkeys...I will tear their bodies into little pieces and cause them more pain than they will ever know." -His classmates responding "Allah Akhbar (God is great)" and his Palestinian teacher shouting, "May the virgins give you pleasure!"

Speaking with a deep concern, I consider that this book is valuable in alerting people to the dangers of Islam which have impacted our lives and will no doubt impact our lives even more in the near future. There are two reasons which we must all be knowledgeable about this religion. Despite what many people say, what politicians and the media profess, Islam can here be seen as indeed a religion of war and bloodshed & that it is intent upon world domination. This is confirmed throughout many sections of the Quran and Hadith, the two main literary sources of Islam. To blindly ignore this, irrespective of how honourable the motives might seem, invites disaster.

Might I respectfully recommend to those interested in these issues, another book on this subject by two learned professors Ergun Caner & Emir Caner, both of whom have converted from Islam to Christianity entitled " Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs" and also "The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude: Seventh-Twentieth Century" by Bat Ye'or. Thank you.

The Muslim Problem: Literal Interpretation of the Qur'an

Islam has been described as "The heaviest chains that ever shackled humanity." The Qur'an's authority in the Muslim world far surpasses the authority the Bible has held in the West. These direct quotes (mostly the Dawood translation from Arabic) are from the Qur'an via "Islam Unveiled:"

Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate. (Sura 9:73)

The true believers fight for the cause of God. But the infidels fight for the devil. Fight then against the friends of Satan. (Sura 4:76)

When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield, strike off their heads...(Sura 47:4)

Slay them wherever you find them. (Sura 2:190)

Arrest them, besiege them. And lie in ambush everywhere for them. (Sura 9:5)

Mohammad is God's Apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another. (Sura 48:29)

But he forbids you to make friends with those who have fought against you on account of your religion and driven you from your homes or abetted others to do so. Those that make friends with them are wrongdoers. (Sura 60:9)

He that leaves his dwelling to fight for God and his apostle and is then overtaken by death, shall be rewarded by God. (Sura 4:100)

And theirs shall be the dark-eyed houris, chaste as hidden pearls: a guerdon for their deeds. (Sura 56:15-24)

The righteous shall recline on couches lined with thick brocade...Therein are bashful virgins whom neither man nor jinnee (spirit beings) will have touched before...Virgins as fair as coral and rubies. (Sura 55:54, 55, 56) (no mention is made in the Qur'an of what heaven is like for women).

Forbidden to you are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your paternal and maternal aunts...Also married women, except those whom you own as slaves. (Sura 4:23-24)

Blessed are the believers...who restrain their carnal desires (except with their wives and slave-girls, for these are lawful to them). (Sura 23:1)

As for the man or woman who is guilty of theft, cut off their hands to punish them for their crimes. (Sura 5:38)

Women are your fields; go, then, into your fields whence you please. (Sura 2:223)

Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them. (Sura 4:34)

Just for comparison, the Old Testament has numerous passages that no Jew nor Christian would take as marching orders for today, nor do these stories have the status of divine commands. Both Jews and Christians have developed highly refined methods of allegorical interpretation through which they view bellicose scriptural passages - but for the Muslim, all of the Qur'an's commands are valid for all time. There have been many, many unsuccessful attempts throughout the history of Islam to temper the aggressive understanding of the Qur'an.

There is no Muslim version of "love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you," or "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn him the other, also." (Matthew 5:39 & 43)

Khomeini's vision of Islam: "Allah did not create men so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious."

There are other written interpretations of law (Reliance of the Traveller, hadiths) worse and more specific than these quotes, but I have limited this review to the Qur'an. The natural human tendency for mercy has prevented the letter of the law from being followed in all times and places, but violent tenets are central to its text. Militants will always be able to make the case that they are standing for a return to purity in Islam.

Spencer considers the issues of peace vs war, moral values, human rights, respect for women, compatibility with democracy, compatibility with secularism, compatibility with science, and Muslim tolerance toward non-Muslims. In all cases, a literal interpretation of the Qur'an would result in Islam not only receiving a failing grade, but being expelled from school.

Khomeini: "Everything human beings can possibly know is already contained in the Qur'an and the hadith; only naive people can be made to believe there is knowledge beyond them."

"Unveiling Islam" should be read with the realization that it represents one of the more critical amongst the books about Islam you could choose. I still highly recommend this chilling synopsis of the problems associated with this fast growing religion.

Denial in Glass Houses
I am sure that those mono-star reviewers that have attacked Mr. Spencer have not gotten beyond the cover of the book. To anyone who saw Mr. Spencer on CSPAN, it is clear that he is not anti-Muslim or anti-Islam. Mr. Spencer was adament in his talk that he was not referring to the one billion plus Muslims in the world, but a minority of radicals/fundamentalists (he said 10-15%) that were interpreting the Quuran too narrowly or selectively for their own political gain. Muslims would be wise not to call what Mr. Spencer says rubbish as most of his arguments are gleaned directly from the Holy Quuran itself. Mr. Spencer is not advocating any religion as superior or denegrading Islam. He is bringing up important points that most would like to ignore for fear of appearing politically incorrect. Radical Islam can never be a minor issue in a religion with over a billion adherents. Mr. Spencer's figure of 10% would still mean over a million Muslims demonizing the West.
The cries on this board to remove Mr. Spencer's book say far more about the mindset of some Muslims than anything meaningful about the work itself. They clarify one of Spencer's main themes-
moderate Muslims prefer to stick their heads in the sand instead of confronting the radicals in their midst.