Product Description

Written in an extremely accessible style by bestselling author Robert Spencer, "The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran" is a fact-based but light-hearted look at the key elements, values, and beliefs in the Koran.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1957 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 260 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781596981041
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Inside Flap
The Koran: It may be the most controversial book in the world. Some see it as a paean to peace, others call it a violent mandate for worldwide Islamic supremacy.

How can one book lead to such dramatically different conclusions? New York Times bestselling author Robert Spencer reveals the truth in The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran: not many Westerners know what's in the Koran, since so few have actually read it -- even among the legions of politicians, diplomats, analysts, and editorial writers who vehemently insist that the Koran preaches tolerance.

Now, Spencer unveils the mysteries lying behind this powerful book, guiding readers through the controversies surrounding the Koran's origins and its most contentious passages. Stripping out the obsolete debates, Spencer focuses on the Koran's decrees toward Jews, Christians, and other Infidels, explaining how they were viewed in Muhammad's time, what they've supposedly done wrong, and most important, what the Koran has in store for them.

From the Back Cover
Praise for The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran

" Meticulous, comprehensive, indispensable. `I read the Koran so you don't have to,' Spencer writes--but even for those of us who have read the Koran, this is a richly illuminating work."
--Bruce Bawer, author of Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom and While Europe Slept

" Governing officials and media spokesmen may ignore Spencer's warnings, but they do so at their own risk, because Islamic jihadists are not ignoring what's in the Koran, and are working to destroy our freedoms in obedience to Koranic dictates. In illuminating for Westerners exactly what the Koran teaches, Spencer has performed a valuable service in the defense of Western civilization against the Islamic jihad."
--Geert Wilders, Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Party for Freedom (PVV), the Netherlands

" Unlike most of today's self-styled experts, Robert Spencer won't tell you that `slay the idolaters wherever you find them' really means `love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.' In The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran, Spencer shows once again that he is America's most informed, fearless, and compelling voice on modern jihadism, insisting that we come to grips with the words behind the ideology that fuels international terror."
--Andrew C. McCarthy, senior fellow at the National Review Institute and author of Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad

About the Author
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch, a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is the author of nine books on Islam and Jihad, a weekly columnist for Human Events and the website Front Page Magazine, and has led numerous seminars for the U.S. military and intelligence communities.

Customer Reviews

Koran Quran Guide
This is not a new translation of the Muslim's holy book: The Koran/Quran. Nor is it a chapter-by-chapter review of the Koran, whereby each chapter is analyzed and explained. Instead, as implied in its title, it is a well-written "Guide" to the Koran. Essentially, the author has selected 75 or so significant topics discussed in the Koran and explains their current significance to Muslims, and how jihadists may use them to justify their attacks against "infidels" (including Muslims whom the jihadists believe are not on the `Straight Path' in following Islam). The author compares passages from both the Koran and the Bible, and explains the many differences of similar stories in them. Some of these topics include: abrogation/changes in Koranic verses (ayats); the devil sleeps in your nose; Adam & Eve; Abel & Cain (why the crow?), the jizya tax, King Solomon's problem with the Queen of Sheba's hairy legs; Jesus and his flying clay birds; some of Muhammad's raids; slavery of the `right hand'; how the Jews and Christians `corrupted' their holy books; the Isaac vs. Ishmael sacrifice dispute; Moses and the Pharaoh differences; did Allah promise Israel to the Jews?; hot hellfire for the kuffars; can Jews and Christians be `tolerated' by Muslims if the former were created from `apes and pigs' by Allah?; did Muhammad actually ride to Jerusalem?; were all Jewish prophets really Muslims?; was Jesus neither divine nor crucified?; wife beating; and much more. Besides selecting topics from just the Koran, the author also discusses current topical-issues being raised by U.S. Pres. Obama, the fundamentalist Osama bin Laden, and miscellaneous Muslim spokesmen. The author discusses the historical development of the Koran. Besides quoting merely from the Koran, the author also quotes from other Islamic sources (such as the hadith) to help explain some poignant topic. As the author himself commented: "This is not a general guide to the Koran" (p. 20). To read a chapter-by-chapter review of Mohammad's "Koran," see the "Bogging the Quran" serial at the author's JIHAD WATCH website. Hopefully, someday this series will be reprinted in book form. If you want more of an analysis of the Quran itself, I suggest "Introduction to the Qur'an" by W. Montgomery Watt (and Richard Bell); Edinburgh Univ. Press, 1970 (ISBN 0-7486-0597-5).

Shining some light into the Koran's opacity and dubiety
While there will never be a level playing field for addressing the contents of the Koran, Spencer goes overboard to present the opinions of apologists for Islam along side the concerns voiced by those who are alarmed by the contents of Islam's sacred book. The readers, at least, are informed of the opposing views and can assess their merits.

As a "Guide," the book pulls together the fragments of themes which are actually scattered in various parts of the Koran, explains illusions which would not be understood by the average English reader -- such as "right hand possesses" and "striving in the way of Allah", highlights the many contradictory themes, and compares the descriptions of events recorded by the "all-knowing Allah" with existing pre-Islamic accounts of the same events. Thanks to Spencer's patient unravelling of the Gordian knot, readers will gain new insights into many of familiar themes in religious history and theology.

But Spencer acknowledges on page 97 that all of this new knowledge may not help Infidels vis-a-vis Muslims: ". . [t]he Koran consistently assumes that the Infidels are not people who have come to a good faith decision that Islam is false. . . In the Koran, those who reject Islam are never acting out of sincere conviction. . . so anyone who rejects it must not be dong so out of intellectual or spiritual conviction, but out of narrow self-interest or desire for material gain. . . In other words, their unbelief in Islam is . . sheer perversity."

If knowledge is power, this book will be very useful for policy makers and opinion leaders.

A Must Read!
This book is a real eye opener. I have known many people who spent a great deal of time in the Middle East, and all of them agree, this is an accurate account of the Muslim Faith. I was surprised how much I learned, and shocked by some of it.

Anyone who wants to understand the Muslim faith needs to read this book. Anyone who believes in a peaceful, one world government should read this book. Those who fear Muslims for various reasons need to read it, too.

The author is a bit verbose, and at times the book reads like a text book, but it is worth the effort. You will learn more than you bargained for.