In FrontPage's feature article today I explain why the government of Pakistan has to get busy banning many more books than just my Truth About Muhammad. (News links in the original.)
The government of Pakistan has banned my book The Truth About Muhammad, confiscating all copies and translations. Why? Because it contains “objectionable material” about Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Said Shahid Ahmed, counselor of community affairs at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington: “The book is very, very damaging — let me tell you.”Objectionable material? Damaging? I confess it: they’re right. There is plenty of objectionable material in this book. Here’s a small sampling:
1. The Truth About Muhammad details the triple choice that Muhammad directed his followers to offer to non-Muslims: conversion to Islam, subjugation without equality of rights with Muslims under the rule of Islamic law, or war. Did I fabricate this? No, it can be found in, among many other places, Sahih Muslim, a collection of hadith – traditions of Muhammad and the early Muslims – that Muslims generally consider reliable. In it, Muhammad says:Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah….When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them….If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya [a special tax levied on non-Muslims]. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them. (Sahih Muslim 4294)Is Sahih Muslim banned in Pakistan? Of course not.
2. In the book, I discuss how Muhammad’s earlier biographer, Ibn Ishaq, explains the contexts of various verses of the Qur’an by saying that Muhammad received revelations about warfare in three stages: first, tolerance; then, defensive warfare; and finally, offensive warfare in order to convert the unbelievers to Islam or make them pay the jizya (see Qur’an 9:29). Qur’anic commentaries (tafasir) by Ibn Kathir, Ibn Juzayy, As-Suyuti and others also emphasize that the ninth chapter of the Qur’an, in which this call to offensive warfare appears, abrogates every peace treaty in the Qur’an.
I didn’t just dig into old books to find this. In the modern age, this idea of stages of development in the Qur’an’s teaching on jihad, culminating in offensive warfare to establish the hegemony of Islamic law, has been affirmed by the jihadist theorists Sayyid Qutb and Syed Abul Ala Maududi, as well as the Pakistani Brigadier S. K. Malik (author of The Qur’anic Concept of War), Saudi Chief Justice Sheikh Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Humaid (in his “Jihad in the Qur’an and Sunnah”), and others. It is, of course, an assertion of no little concern to non-Muslims, since it encapsulates a doctrine of warfare against non-Muslims and their ultimate subjugation under Sharia rules, with all that implies, and is being used by jihadists today in the Islamic world to justify their actions and make new recruits.
Are the works of Ibn Kathir, Ibn Juzayy, As-Suyuti, Qutb, Maududi, Malik or Humaid banned in Pakistan? Of course not.
3. Also in The Truth About Muhammad I discuss Muhammad’s marriage to little Aisha, which is specifically addressed in the hadith collection Sahih Bukhari (generally considered by Muslims to be the most reliable such collection). According to several traditions recorded by Bukhari, “the Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with ‘Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)” (Bukhari 7.62.88; see also 7.62.65; 7.62.64; 5.58.236; 5.58.234).
It is quite obvious that many Muslims take very seriously and act upon the material on which I depended to write the book. Imitating the Prophet of Islam, many Muslims even in modern times have taken child brides. In some places this even has the blessing of the law: article 1041 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran states that girls can be engaged before the age of nine, and married at nine: “Marriage before puberty (nine full lunar years for girls) is prohibited. Marriage contracted before reaching puberty with the permission of the guardian is valid provided that the interests of the ward are duly observed.”[i]
The Ayatollah Khomeini himself married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight.[ii] Khomeini called marriage to a prepubescent girl “a divine blessing,” and advised the faithful: “Do your best to ensure that your daughters do not see their first blood in your house.”[iii]
Time magazine reported in 2001:
In Iran the legal age for marriage is nine for girls, fourteen for boys. The law has occasionally been exploited by pedophiles, who marry poor young girls from the provinces, use and then abandon them. In 2000 the Iranian Parliament voted to raise the minimum age for girls to fourteen, but this year, a legislative oversight body dominated by traditional clerics vetoed the move. An attempt by conservatives to abolish Yemen’s legal minimum age of fifteen for girls failed, but local experts say it is rarely enforced anyway. (The onset of puberty is considered an appropriate time for a marriage to be consummated.)[iv]The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that over half of the girls in Afghanistan and Bangladesh are married before they reach the age of eighteen.[v] In early 2002, researchers in refugee camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan found half the girls married by age thirteen. In an Afghan refugee camp, more than two out of three second-grade girls were either married or engaged, and virtually all the girls who were beyond second grade were already married. One ten-year-old was engaged to a man of sixty.[vi]
This is the price that women have paid throughout Islamic history, and continue to pay, for Muhammad’s status as “an excellent example of conduct” (Qur’an 33:21).
Of course, in this as with the other instances I have adduced, other Islamic authorities differ. Some claim that in repeating the traditions from Bukhari, I am perpetuating misunderstandings – despite the manifest fact that these “misunderstandings” are quite widespread in the Islamic world. If they are indeed misunderstandings, the problem lies with Sahih Bukhari, which is very ancient and essentially canonical, not with my book, which has been available for less than three months and will be forgotten before too long.
But is Sahih Bukhari banned in Pakistan? Of course not.
4. Finally, in my book I explain why it is today virtually impossible to prove rape in lands that follow the dictates of the Sharia. False adultery accusations against Aisha led ultimately to the requirement that four male Muslim witnesses must be produced in order to establish a crime of adultery or related indiscretions. In cases of sexual misbehavior, four male witnesses are required to establish the deed — in accord with a revelation that came to Muhammad to exonerate his youthful wife (Qur’an 24:13).[vii] This requirement allows unscrupulous men to commit rape with impunity: as long as they deny the charge and there are no witnesses, they get off scot-free, because the victim’s account is inadmissible. Even worse, if a woman accuses a man of rape, she may end up incriminating herself. If the required male witnesses can’t be found, the victim’s charge of rape becomes an admission of adultery.
That accounts for the grim fact that as many as seventy-five percent of the women in prison in Pakistan are, in fact, behind bars for the crime of being a victim of rape.[viii] Several high-profile cases in Nigeria in recent years have also revolved around rape accusations being turned around by Islamic authorities into charges of fornication, resulting in death sentences that were only modified after international pressure.[ix]
Because they’re rooted in Qur’anic dictates, such abuses are extraordinarily resistant to criticism and reform. Witness the recent situation in Pakistan, the same country where my book has just been banned. The new Women’s Protection Act has reclassified the crime of rape so that it can be prosecuted according to modern standards of evidence and testimony, without relying on the four male witnesses required by the Qur’an. But Muslim hardliners have staged protests against the new law, calling it “un-Islamic, immoral and unconstitutional.” And they have a case, based on Qur’an 24:13 and the story of Aisha’s exoneration.
This is just one indication that what I wrote in The Truth About Muhammad about Muhammad is generally what Muslims believe about Muhammad – even in Pakistan. Since I based the book entirely on Islamic sources, the objection that Pakistani authorities have to it cannot reasonably be based on what I report about Muhammad, but only on the fact that I hold him to a moral standard different from the one he delineated for himself, and do not consider him to be an “excellent example of conduct.” But in a society that is not pathologically insecure, this ought to be not an occasion for banning and confiscation, but for free and open debate. After all, the reform of Islam that is so needed today – in order to mitigate the elements of it that are giving rise to violence and extremism -- cannot possibly begin without acknowledgment of the fact that there are aspects of Islam that need reform. But the banning of The Truth About Muhammad in Pakistan is yet another indication that such reform, despite the immense hopes placed upon it by so many in the West, is not on the horizon.
Notes:
[i] Sarvnaz Chitsaz and Soona Samsami, “Iranian Women and Girls: Victims of Exploitation and Violence,” in Making the Harm Visible: Global Sexual Exploitation of Women and Girls, Donna M. Hughes and Claire M. Roche, editors, The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, 1999. http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/mhviran.htm.
[ii] Amir Taheri, The Spirit of Allah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution, Adler and Adler, 1986, 90-91.
[iii] Taheri, 35.
[iv] Lisa Beyer, “The Women of Islam,” Time, November 25, 2001. Reprinted at http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,185647,00.html.
[v] “Child marriage ‘violates rights,’” BBC News, March 7, 2001.
[vi] Andrew Bushell, “Child Marriage in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” America, March 11, 2002, p. 12.
[vii] See also Bukhari, vol. 3, book 52, no. 2661.
[viii] See Sisters in Islam, “Rape, Zina, and Incest,” April 6, 2000, http://www.muslimtents.com/sistersinislam/resources/sdefini.htm.
[ix] See Stephen Faris, “In Nigeria, A Mother Faces Execution,” www.africana.com, January 7, 2002.
What can you expect in a dark, backward and a barbaric country as this: http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/014757.php#comments
Thank God its not banned in Australia yet,
i shouldnt speak too soon....
Ban the Koran in the west. It contains objectional material.
I still find it utterly amazing that "The Truth About Muhammed" is considered objectionable when it is based on all of Islam's "holy" texts. To find this book objectionable one would also have to find those texts to be equally objectionable-this is logic in its simplest form. Apparently, Islamaniacs either are completely illogical or they would rather hear pretty lies about Mo that sugarcoat the truth (making them out to be enemies of the truth and lovers of lying in the process). Either way, Islam does not look good at all-one would have to be a complete idiot or utterly lacking in morals to be an adherent of such a philosophy.
"I still find it utterly amazing that "The Truth About Muhammed" is considered objectionable when it is based on all of Islam's 'holy' texts."
Then you know little about Pakistan!
You beat me to it Motor!
I would find it "utterly amazing" if Robert's book were accepted in any Muslim country!
"The Truth About Muhammad" should be mandatory reading for all priests and deacons worldwide. Actually it should be mandatory reading for all incoming freshmen in colleges… Never has a book been so concise and clear.
Robert does a great job revealing the facts about the Religion of Peace.
I think I will deposit a copy of the book on the doorsteps of the local mosque.
Congratulations, Mr. Spencer! Tyrants and totalitarians only ban people they are afraid of. I'd say the Imans are scared to death of you but, then again, when have they ever not been scared of somebody telling the truth. :)
Thanks for taking in my e-mail message Robert.
Motor City Madman-
Actually, the thing that amazed me was the fact that some copies of the book made it into Pakistan at all before the ban. Someone probably lost their head (literally) for that oversight!
I would have thought it would have been banned as soon as a publication date was announced. Can't smear Mr. Perfect by portraying him truthfully now can we?
Ban will be soon coming to Thailand
Jihad is increasing
Provoking for another coup
CNS not yet fully exercise power
“We [CNS members] discussed if we have fully used the martial law. We have a lot of power in all aspects but we haven’t used it,” Sonthi said.
He added that the CNS would have to fully exercise its extensive power allowed by the martial law if there was more violence. - What do you mean by that Mr Sonthi?
Another coup? - and you’re on top of it? - No violence in the South, nothing to do there? Is it now martial law in Bangkok? Please advice we so are confused by your your tactics.
Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont had admitted that a new round of bomb attacks was imminent in the wake of the New Year’s Eve bombings in Bangkok. On Monday night, he had a meeting with officials involved with security measures, where he asked whether more legislation was needed in a bid to prevent further violence, according to a source.
http://civoc.com/society/?p=130
... and business moving out of the country ...
Foreign investors did not know why the government wanted to change the law, but felt it should separate political problems from business
http://civoc.com/society/?p=131
Well at least we in th free world have roberts books. islam must be understood by all freedom lovin peoples.
Truth, justice not the Pakistani way.
"The book is very, very damaging..."
Yes indeed. It is always very damaging when the people of a nation that is sought after by another nation, wake up and smell the coffee and sound the alarms. It must be very damaging to the cause of totalitarian Islam to have people still living in somewhat free countries, like ours, who have brains, and courage, and are not willing to just roll over and play dead because some psychos thing they can scream louder than us or scare us with their rampant displays of cruelty and disregard for other people's lives. Screw them! I have absolutely no respect for Islam because their tactics while dangerous, are so juvenile, and their attitudes are so petty and insecure.
What are we afraid of? These people are a joke. And if Robert Spencer's clear, concise exposition of THEIR truth can cause such a ruckus, let's shine the lights brightly and let the chips fall where they may.
Patient, never-ending, relentless application of the facts. It's working, you guys.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Spencer, but isn't it the case that a dhimmi under Islamic law was not allowed to own a Koran and/or teach his children about what the Koran is all about?
Only since the last couple of hundred years the contents of the Koran have been translated and widely disseminaed amongst the infidels of this world, who should be rightly horrified about its contents. The Muhammedans rightly believe us infidels to be 'ignorant'- and keep telling us that if we only read enough Koran we 'would see the light' and join them in perverting the world to Islam.
Those who are not 'ignorant' like us here who are taking a keen interest in Islamic history and teachings and don't 'accept' Islam are no longer just ignorant, if we don't accept Islam we then become 'enemies of Islam'-, and 'unbelief is worse than slaughter'- which means we must be killed.
I chose to spread the word!
I wonder has anyone followed up on this?
http://sheikyermami.com/2006/12/28/censorship-in-europe/
"Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings." --Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)
Thank God its not banned in Australia yet,
i shouldnt speak too soon....
Posted by: W_D_J_D
We Aussies have not got an organization called CAIR whining and lying pulling the wool over our eyes, our prime minister has not said 'islam is a religion of peace' like Bush & Blair have, our youth rioted not long ago because these muslim lebs were attempting to take over a Cronulla beach, I e-mail journalists all the time reminding them why iSlam is incompatible with democracy, I have a blog smearing iSlam at every turn and I drive a taxi telling people who are prepared to listen about the threat iSlam presents. So what is it, is your suburb looking down the barrel and you have nothing better to do than throw slurs at a country that you perceive is worse off? You could'nt be more wrong...
Look at it this way, Robert - in Pakistan, most people would be familiar with the Sunnah, and would in fact have it in the original Arabic/Urdu. Therefore, your book would be redundant in terms of telling them anything they didn't already know. The people who do need to read it are Infidels everywhere - Americas, Europe, Russia, Israel, non-Islamic Africa, India, Thailand, Phillipines, China, et al.
Translations of your book? Has your book already been translated? Wouldn't Sirat Rasul Allah be the translation of your book, with some Bukhari thrown in? Only thing they'd be missing would be the main thing - the introduction and the last chapter.
For your next book, please consider having online e-book versions available for sale. Finalized the title as yet?
Brovo s_sgt7,
That’s the folly of democracy; she seats looking pretty and giggling while Muslims are reaching in under her petticoat.
s_sgt7,
The good news is that in this present age, we have the wonderful world wide web and because of this high tech, it is possible for non-Muslims to do the needed research into the truth about Muhammed and Islam. The internet is a wonderful tool and a real blessing in this very dangerous age. Because of the presence of this high tech is that little brother is keeping a much more closer watch on big brother. This also includes handhelds and even cell phones that can take both pictures and do videos. We have this high tech use it!
Non-Muslims have more time to go the ball games than to read. They have no time to cook in their own kitchen, let alone research. Americans in general are too indulgent to bother, unless it’s entertaining. Yeah, just sit in front of the TV’s and let it entertain, why bother to use their head. Household inter-net technologies are most busily being used for X-Box computer games. Just look at the statistic, many boys in America fail to enter college because of the time spent on computer games has over taken their interest in reading, let alone write. It’s self-denial for one to say all the great things, and ignoring the helplessness against the mainstream media.
I came from the 3rd word, I was on 7 when wanted to be an engineer. Many American kids said, “Yeah, I like that job. How nice to be riding on the train all day.”
Yeah, right!
Bury you head under the sand.
seriously Robert, did you expect anything less? These poor victims of iSlam are butchered and mamed all the time for questioning the motives of the profit.
Naseem is busy doing her happy dance!
"But in a society that is not pathologically insecure, this ought to be not an occasion for banning and confiscation, but for free and open debate."
Therein lies the rub, eh?
"Naseem is busy doing her happy dance!"
...big baggy burka dancing around a funeral pire with at least four males to make sure she knows her place... must be a real sight.
LOL!!!
Naseem dancing around in a "big baggy burqa" is what should be banned -- chuckle.
so the paks can stand the truth about their beloved prophet mohummad, then they should ban the koran.
anyhow who gives a rats ass if muslim countries ban this book, the truth need only be seen by us Kaffirs. and when more find out this religion of death and murder is not the peaceful smokescreen that is perpetuated, islam will eventually be outlawed among the civilized.
Speaking to my fellow Australians: We will prevail. We are moving forward. We are not hindered by the cultural issues that our friends in USA and Europe have and I believe the tide has turned for us even in the last 2 years.
I do think our success is underwritten by the solid leadership on this matter from the government as well as apparently very successful intelligence services.
My only concern is if we have a change of government towards Labor in 2007 will it change?
More from Pakistan:
‘Green cards’ for loyal Muslim League workers
Ummah News Links
I came from the 3rd word, I was on 7 when wanted to be an engineer. Many American kids said, “Yeah, I like that job. How nice to be riding on the train all day.”
Yeah, right!
Bury you head under the sand.
Posted by: ssa
It shows. The American kids you belittle were simply responding with a very subtle humor which obviously went right over your head.
They just couldn't be bothered wasting more energy than needed when they encountered your arrogant tone. I am judging by several of your previous posts here. Including your absolutely rude behavior toward one of the most distinguished and long-standing members of this forum.
Maybe you need to get your head out of your *donkey*.
Being banned by Islam is not necessarily a bad thing.
.......hmmm. Banned by Islam......a nifty title for a new book.