Kamala reviews my new book at Revuse:
As Robert Spencer explains in Chapter One, Muhammad’s “importance to hundreds of Muslims worldwide is rooted in the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book. In brief, he is an ‘excellent model of conduct’ (Qur’an 33:21).” Spencer cites one Muqtedar Khan of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, who in 2003 wrote, “‘Muslims, as a part of religious observance, not only obey, but also seek to emulate and imitate their Prophet in every aspect of life.’”Beyond Spencer’s references, other Muslims and Islamic organizations make the same point. Sajid Iqbal, editor of The Revival, a magazine and web site for young Muslims in the UK, said in August, 2006: “Muslim youth don’t have any role models. In Islam, our role model is the holy prophet Mohammad.” In the United States, consider the web site IslamAmerica.org, produced by a New Mexico organization named Dar al Islam that describes itself as “Building Bridges with the American Community and among the Muslims of America.” In an article titled “The Voice of Moderate Islam,” author Zakariya Wright writes, “Muhammad is for Muslims the beloved of God and the creation, and there is no seemingly insignificant characteristic of his unworthy of emulation. His example is what guides and facilitates our life in this world.”
Who is this “role model” that Muslims around the world wish to emulate? This is the question Robert Spencer’s book aims to answer.
Since Spencer is not a Muslim and his writings have been criticized by numerous Muslims, I wanted another perspective as well—one written and accepted by most Muslims. I decided on Yahiya Emerick’s “Muhammad (Critical Lives)”; it’s relatively new (2002), it sets out to be concise, and most importantly it’s endorsed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which claims to be “America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group.” CAIR is distributing copies of Emerick’s book for free on its Web site as part of a campaign called “Explore the Life of Muhammad,” a “year-long educational effort prompted by the Danish cartoon controversy.”
Both books rely on some of the same ancient Islamic sources. Both cite Ibn Ishaq’s “The Life of Muhammad,” one of the earliest biographies of Muhammad. Both books also use al-Bukhari’s 9th century compendium of “anecdotes from the life of Muhammad,” as Emerick describes it. To my surprise Spencer specifically mentions the sources used in Emerick’s book; Spencer writes that he relies primarily on the same sources used by respected Muslim Muhammad biographers. Note: Spencer provides hundreds of citations throughout his book; Emerick does not provide any specific citations in the body of the book.
Beyond its concise, readable recounting of key events and decisions of Muhammad’s life, two aspects of Spencer’s book stand out.
Firstly, Spencer does exactly what I set out to accomplish by buying Emerick’s book: as Spencer describes events from Muhammad’s life, he often includes direct quotes and summaries of those same events from other contemporary biographies of Muhammad (including Emerick’s). Secondly, Spencer consistently demonstrates how Muslims today justify their actions and views by evoking comparisons to the Prophet’s life.
One example concerns the Banu Qurayzah, a Jewish tribe that Muhammad had battled and defeated. After surrendering to the Muslims, Spencer writes, “Muhammad decided to put the fate of the tribe in to the hands of the Muslim warrior Sa‘d bin Mu‘adh.” Sa‘d issued the judgment that all men of the tribe be killed, and that all children and women be taken as captives. Emerick writes, “Muhammad did not intervene because he had already given up his right to alter the judgment.” He writes that Muhammad stipulated that no mothers and children be separated, and warriors were to be offered a chance to convert to Islam before execution. Emerick makes no further mention of Muhammad’s involvement. In contrast, Spencer explains that according to Bukhari, Muhammad “confirmed Sa‘d’s judgment as that of Allah himself: ‘You have decided in confirmation to the judgment of Allah above the seven heavens.’” Further, Spencer quotes Ibn Ishaq’s account of Muhammad’s participation: “The apostle went out to the market of Medina and dug trenches in it. Then he sent for [the men of the Qurayzah] and struck off their heads in those trenches as they were brought out to him in batches.”
As Spencer writes, another Muhammad biographer named Karen Armstrong argues that “‘it is not correct to judge the incident by twentieth-century standards.’” Spencer responds: “That is true, but Armstrong misses the larger issue; as in all the incidents of Muhammad’s life, he is still held up by Muslims around the world as ‘an excellent model of conduct’ (Qur’an 33:21).” Spencer continues: “In July 2006 … a writer on a British Muslim Internet forum declared: ‘I’m so fed up with these dirty, filthy Israeli dogs. May Allah curse them and destroy them all, and may they face the same fate as Banu Qurayzah!’ No one accused him of illicitly importing seventh-century models into the present day.”
Spencer elucidates other key aspects of Muhammad’s life, such as his marriage to a very young girl named Aisha; death sentences for those who leave Islam; and clear statements about the second-class status of Jews and Christians under Islam. In each case, Spencer shows how modern biographers or analysts sugarcoat, contradict, or ignore these issues, while other Muslims cite these same examples to justify their actions—emulating the model set by Muhammad.
Spencer, Emerick and other biographers leverage the same historical Islamic sources. So why would Emerick and others paint an incomplete and unrealistically benign picture of Islam’s prophet? Draw your own conclusions, but the answer seems quite simple. As described above, there appears to be a broad consensus among Muslims today that Muhammad’s life and ways continue to serve as the perfect example of human behavior. Thus, any dissemination of the darker side of Muhammad does not bode well for presenting Islam as a peaceful and tolerant way of life: what does it mean if the perfect man isn’t so perfect after all?
In an article titled “The Voice of Moderate Islam,” author Zakariya Wright writes, “Muhammad is for Muslims the beloved of God and the creation, and there is no seemingly insignificant characteristic of his unworthy of emulation. His example is what guides and facilitates our life in this world.”
Well I'll be Allah damned! Mo isn't dead, he just changed his address and goes by the name of Kim Jong Il (aka "The Dear Leader")judging from this statement.
POP QUIZ
Who said the following?
"I am the most Allah fearing, and know Allah better than all of you do."
Funny I went to Borders to buy a couple copies..But they were not in the front with the new books so I ask the clerk,he looked it up and showed me where to find them...In the back and just three copies..I ask why they were in the back since it was a new book?..He said he didnt know...I laughed and said I did know.
Kamala
Great job.
I was reading the reviews on Amazon.com, and apparantly, the only ratings Robert gets is 5 stars - by those who agree, or 1 star from those who disagree. Of the latter category, the bulk of them are Muslims who slam the book on the grounds that it doesn't promote harmony. Aside from the basic question of whether or not Islam itself does, the idea that the goal of a book is to promote harmony, rather than be accurate, is an interesting one given the PC template in which so much of society exists.
I received the book, along with PIG yesterday; hope to be through with it soon. Just finished 'The Sword of the Prophet' yesterday, so hope to run through these very quickly. And can't wait for 'Islam - what the West needs to know.'
Robert,
Can you put a shot of that video and Amazon link on the cover page?
Storagemanager
I went to Borders the day before yesterday, and didn't see it in the front. In the Islam section, Robert's old book 'Islam unveiled was there, but this book about Mohammed I ultimately found in the Middle Eastern History section. Like you, I saw just 3 books there, and one on the display shelf on the side of that section. Still no PIG - that book seems to be absent not only from bookstores, but also from libraries, which intriguingly do have Islam Unveiled, Onward Muslim Soldiers, Sword of the Prophet, Leaving Islam, Why I am not a Muslim, and so on. The good part - in the religion section, the Jewish books, like Kabalah, were above the Islam books. No top shelf Qurans.
Well, I got my copy, and don't care what the bookstores do.
Spencer consistently demonstrates how Muslims today justify their actions and views by evoking comparisons to -Islam's- prophet’s life.
There - fixed that.
Thus, any dissemination of the darker side of Muhammad does not bode well for presenting Islam as a peaceful and tolerant way of life: what does it mean if the perfect man isn’t so perfect after all?
What does it mean?
It means - that a whole bunch of people are going to suffer beyond what words can explain
Beheadings
Gang Rape
Crucifixions
Cutting off limbs
Theft
Unless "We the people" take to the streets? this is the future
It's not pretty
The review was excellent but what I'm really looking forward to are rebuttals from the Western apologists of Islam. However, I don't expect to see them, because it's in their interests to completely ignore Robert's book. If one of them are to write a review, it will be the one that concentrates on nitpicking and finding small errors or omissions from the text.
On the other hand, there will be reviews made by critics with superficial knowledge of Islam. These reviews are really not worth reading at all.
Meanwhile I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive.
POP QUIZ
Who said the following?
"I am the most Allah fearing, and know Allah better than all of you do."
Posted by: Ynkedoodl2 at October 11, 2006 02:12 PM
Jacques Chirac?
This the critical issue of our time. Got Christmas gifts to buy? Get the book for all. Nothing beats a dollar in moving things that sell to the front of the store. Of course there’s nothing wrong with a little individual reorganization. In the interests of free speech of course.
POP QUIZ… Hugo?
All you can do is keep getting the word out Robert! Although I am afraid our future is looking gloomy because it will be too late before our western leaders take action for fear of being politically incorrect. Our Muslim problem is only going to get much much worse, and before we know it, we'll all be defending ourselves in the street. I'm starting to firmly believe the Anti-Christ will be Muslim.
@islamsforlosers
@tgusa
SORRY KIDS
The correct answer is:
Master Muhammed, Allah's servant and His messenger, His dear one and His beloved, the best of all created beings
NOT
"Emerick makes no further mention of Muhammad’s involvement. In contrast..."
Kamala, that was an great point in a great review.
But how many of those who've received Emerick's book, through CAIR, will ever know the truth?
@islamsforlosers
@tgusa
SORRY KIDS
The correct answer is:
Master Muhammed, Allah's servant and His messenger, His dear one and His beloved, the best of all created beings
NOT
Posted by: Ynkedoodl2 at October 11, 2006 03:45 PM
Uh oh, me bad. I stretch my neck to the will of Allah in shame.
I am just about finished with the book and my first thought is: How could anyone idolize this barbaric loser?
Iam so thankful that I was born into the Christain side of the equation and at least I had the Christ to emulate, study and pray to.
Robert's book will open the eyes and hearts of born Muslims who really want to hear. I think it is a tremendously compassionate book for them.
It will also rile and expose the evil Mohammedans who blindly follow the beast so all can see what we are up against. We are truly in a time of history where our Faith will be tested in a very deep sense.
I can't wait for the reviews to stack up. I got the book yesterday and am half through with it. I, too, cannot fathom how any decent human could have anything to do with this monster MoHAMmed. As for the Antichrist being a moslem, I wonder if Mo himself wasn't the Antichrist. If there's anyone worse than him in our future, it will be bitter indeed.
I have read the Koran several times - at first with a very open mind. Thereafter, as an honest exercise in attempting to find anything appealing. It astounds me how an intelligent or educated person can take such a jumbled incoherent mess and regard it as a prophecy. It seems more like the rambling testimony of an insane man, more to be pitied. Emperor Paleologos was a gentleman in his remarks about the prophet. And H.H. Benedict was a gentleman and a scholar.
Seeing as how serial killers (Manson, et al) engender disciples and cults of personality, Islam seems to be the illogical but expected conclusion of people being exposed to the drivel of a blood-thirsty madman.
Re: "Who is this “role model” that Muslims around the world wish to emulate? This is the question Robert Spencer’s book aims to answer."
Lies are far easier to detect and to confront than the diabolical deception of half-truths that are meant to deceive. The CAIR people have a track record of speaking half-truths or supporting those who speak half truths that tell whole lies. Spencer's book upsets them for good reason-it tells the whole truth.
If there are any good websites and blogs about the life of Mohammed, please post them on Jihad Watch.
Goebbels said that all effective propaganda must be part truth in order for the "big lie" to work. In other words, he was saying that it was necessary to tell the half-truth in the big lie. (He thought the most effective propaganda was done via entertainment because the critical-thinking mind was least on guard when entertained.) This is a cynical view that believes the ends justify the means, that is more concerned with perception than truth. Gobbles believed that war is deception. No wonder why so many Nazis (particularly Hitler and Himmler) thought that Islam was compatible with Nazism. (Hither called Christianity, "The Jewish Christ creed with its pity ethics".) In very many ways the ideology and methods of the Islamic belief-system are similar to the Nazi belief-system.
Muhammad with a swastika fits better than Jesus with a swastika. Soon that truth will be "shouted from the rooftops". Though many people are uncomfortable with organized religion because of the dogmatic nature of belief-systems, most people see that Jesus did not inspire fear. Mohammad spread a sick fear because he was a killer. That's the truth.
An excellent review, and Robert Spencer was right to criticize the Karen Armstrong whitewash. But such disinformationists are plentiful and selling books. The influential author Karen Armstrong writes in her latest tome “ The Great Transformation” that the basic message of the Koran (and hence of Islam) is the command to practice compassion (!)(pg 386).
But hey, if you can tell enough dummies of the world the rosy slop they like to hear & believe you can, like K. A., get appointed to a high level position in the UN!:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/sgsm10073.doc.htm
Disgusting.
The more The Truth About Muhammad is read the more the whole truth and not half truths re the Islamic belief-system will become public opinion. I've already bought the book and will buy more and make it a Christmas present to several people. The best way to get the JihadWatch message out is to make certain that this book is blockbuster best seller. Buy the book, folks.
I am just about to the end of The Truth.. and what I find most striking is this: The number of times a revelation comes to Muhammad to legitimize his behavior (which occurs first!) It has become so obvious to me from his borrowings from other religions, after the fact revelations, etc. that Islam is a made-up religion!! How much more obvious can it be?
The guy got nowhere and had very few followers until he forced it on everyone. How legitmate could it be?
MakaLakaJihad!!
Robert,
It is obvious to me that Karen Armstrong has really not read or studied Qur'an and Sunnah. Very obvious, because if she had I am certain that only a psychotic could not fail to see the contradictions, justifications of bad behavior, and obvious LACK of compassion of the part of Allah - and by extension, his erstwhile inventor Muhammed.
I have faith that with the passage of time your work, and the work of those like you, will crack open the mind of the academy. Having been a student of Philosophy in my seminary days, I could see how compelling ideas/truths do not make rapid inroads during the time period that they are laboriously brought to light. With time and with the crisis of failing paradigms do these ideas begin to make serious inroads into mainstream life. I happen to think that most people in the modern world we live in (not the Islamic one)have a 19th century mindset. Their cosmological imaginations are still stuck in a Newtonian universe and a mechanistic reality. But, here we are in the beginning of the 21st century and it is only now that many good discoveries, truths, and ideas brought to light in the last century are starting to make inroads in universities and colleges. From there they spread to the wider society.
There is an obvious reason for this and I am sure you know what it is. But for the benefit of some of our readers here at Jihad Watch I'll spell it out. Academicians are heavily invested in the ideas they received and labored to understand. Very, very few push the envelope to let new questions take them beyond the mainstream. And right now the mainstream ideas about Islam are mostly a patois of political correctness, revisionist history cross-fertilized from the Eurabian project, and a fuzziness about the nature of religion and how we are to treat it as a motivator of human action.
Your day will come. People like Armstrong have their following, but they are not on the cutting edge and are not academically rigorous. Rigor, ultimately, is what matters in academia and you will get a fair hearing. Might not be in your lifetime, but the seeds you have sown will bear fruit in time.
Fred writes: "It is obvious to me that Karen Armstrong has really not read or studied Qur'an and Sunnah."
I don't know about Armstrong, but Emerick's book is filled with enough detail to convince me that he indeed has read the Qur'an and the Sunnah, or at least he has read the works of others who have.
To me, that fact is all the more disturbing: I see in his book intentional (and careful) efforts to obscure and/or omit any bits of Muhammad's life and ways that might be off-putting to a non-Muslim or a recent convert. In my view, Emerick did not write a biography but instead crafted a tool of da'wa and Taqiyya.
By the way, thanks for all the positive feedback about the review, and thanks Robert for posting a link.
I purchased the book hoping to learn more than i
could find on the internet and i have just
finished it.
I too want to know how any sane , rational human
being could see Muhammad as a role model.
He was just another megalomaniac who founded a
"religion" to excuse his henious crimes.
Obviously his followers did not question his
orders , they were too excited about the booty
they would share.
Wasn`t it just too convenient to receive
revelations from Allah telling him to sack a city or if there may have been any guilt over such actions to receive revelations after it saying it was Allah`s will anyway ?
On the paedophile issue the book mentions that it
was acceptable at that time but that does NOT make it right.
Anyone with a shred of decency knows it is wrong
now and it was wrong then.
As another contributor suggested i will now
donate my copy of the book to the local library.
Everyone owning a copy should do the same.
I purchased the book hoping to learn more than i
could find on the internet and i have just
finished it.
I too want to know how any sane , rational human
being could see Muhammad as a role model.
He was just another megalomaniac who founded a
"religion" to excuse his henious crimes.
Obviously his followers did not question his
orders , they were too excited about the booty
they would share.
Wasn`t it just too convenient to receive
revelations from Allah telling him to sack a city or if there may have been any guilt over such actions to receive revelations after it saying it was Allah`s will anyway ?
On the paedophile issue the book mentions that it
was acceptable at that time but that does NOT make it right.
Anyone with a shred of decency knows it is wrong
now and it was wrong then.
As another contributor suggested i will now
donate my copy of the book to the local library.
Everyone owning a copy should do the same.
I purchased the book hoping to learn more than i
could find on the internet and i have just
finished it.
I too want to know how any sane , rational human
being could see Muhammad as a role model.
He was just another megalomaniac who founded a
"religion" to excuse his henious crimes.
Obviously his followers did not question his
orders , they were too excited about the booty
they would share.
Wasn`t it just too convenient to receive
revelations from Allah telling him to sack a city or if there may have been any guilt over such actions to receive revelations after it saying it was Allah`s will anyway ?
On the paedophile issue the book mentions that it
was acceptable at that time but that does NOT make it right.
Anyone with a shred of decency knows it is wrong
now and it was wrong then.
As another contributor suggested i will now
donate my copy of the book to the local library.
Everyone owning a copy should do the same.
I purchased the book hoping to learn more than i
could find on the internet and i have just
finished it.
I too want to know how any sane , rational human
being could see Muhammad as a role model.
He was just another megalomaniac who founded a
"religion" to excuse his henious crimes.
Obviously his followers did not question his
orders , they were too excited about the booty
they would share.
Wasn`t it just too convenient to receive
revelations from Allah telling him to sack a city or if there may have been any guilt over such actions to receive revelations after them saying it was Allah`s will anyway ?
On the paedophile issue the book mentions that it
was acceptable at that time but that does NOT make it right.
Anyone with a shred of decency knows it is wrong
now and it was wrong then.
As another contributor suggested i will now
donate my copy of the book to the local library.
Everyone owning a copy should do the same.
I purchased the book hoping to learn more than i
could find on the internet and i have just
finished it.
I too want to know how any sane , rational human
being could see Muhammad as a role model.
He was just another megalomaniac who founded a
"religion" to excuse his henious crimes.
Obviously his followers did not question his
orders , they were too excited about the booty
they would share.
Wasn`t it just too convenient to receive
revelations from Allah telling him to sack a city or if there may have been any guilt
over such actions to receive revelations after them saying it was Allah`s will anyway ?
On the paedophile issue the book mentions that it
was acceptable at that time but that does NOT make it right.
Anyone with a shred of decency knows it is wrong
now and it was wrong then.
As another contributor suggested i will now
donate my copy of the book to the local library.
Everyone owning a copy should do the same.
I purchased the book hoping to learn more than i
could find on the internet and i have just
finished it.
I too want to know how any sane , rational human
being could see Muhammad as a role model.
He was just another megalomaniac who founded a
"religion" to excuse his henious crimes.
Obviously his followers did not question his
orders , they were too excited about the booty
they would share.
Wasn`t it just too convenient for Muhammad to receive revelations from Allah telling him to sack a city or if there may have been any guilt
over such actions to receive revelations after them saying it was Allah`s will anyway ?
On the paedophile issue the book mentions that it
was acceptable at that time but that does NOT make it right.
Anyone with a shred of decency knows it is wrong
now and it was wrong then.
As another contributor suggested i will now
donate my copy of the book to the local library.
Everyone owning a copy should do the same.