Patrick Sookhdeo's book Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam came out in 2007, and no book before or since has rivaled it as a single-volume resource for Islamic teachings on jihad. That makes this book truly essential reading for anyone who is tired of the politically correct fog of misinformation that envelops us everywhere about the threat we are facing, and who wants to know the truth.
The scope and range of this book is unique. Sookhdeo, who has won justified renown in Britain for his stands in defense of human rights against Islamic supremacism, opens the book with an evaluation of some of the fashionable explanations for Islamic jihad terrorism: the legacy of colonialism, poverty, demographic pressures, local political conflicts, Israel and the Palestinians, a loss of identity among alienated and marginalized youth, honor and shame, the Western invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq and the war on terror and other issues relating to Western foreign policy, the corrupt secular West and its polluting impact, and many others. Then he reproduces a question that a Muslim journalist in the U.K. asked after the July 7, 2005 jihad bombings in London: "Why was it four Muslims who blew themselves up? Why have other marginalised communities not produced suicide bombers?"
Then Sookhdeo answers the question: "The answer to this question lies in the legitimacy that the Muslim source texts, classical Islamic theology, and paradigmatic early Muslim history give to violence against non-Muslims and to the ways in which modern Islamists, drawing on these sources, have formed ideologies which justify violence in a modern context."
Global Jihad then supplies key extracts from the Qur'an and Hadith, as well as from the teachings of early Islamic scholars and jurists from the various Sunni and Shi'ite madhahib -- and they teach, with a remarkable unanimity, the necessity for Muslims to wage war against unbelievers and subjugate them under the rule of Islamic law. Sookhdeo also explains key Islamic doctrines related to that of jihad, including the dar al-Islam/dar al-harb division and the idea that the whole world belongs to Muslims and is only rightly ruled by an Islamic state. He traces the historical development of the theology of jihad, delineates the types of jihad and their objectives, and relates the jihad doctrine to both Sunni and Shi'ite eschatology. This book even contains expositions of Islamic theology regarding matters attendant to jihad, such as the treatment of prisoners and the acceptability of beheading. There are also illuminating sections on the doctrine of taqiyya, the sufferings of dhimmi populations subjugated within the Islamic state, and the Islamic justification for suicide bombing.
But this is much more than simply a book of illuminating Islamic theological and legal texts, however useful these are. Sookhdeo surveys the contemporary Muslim debate on the nature of jihad, profiles modern-day reformers (and some who claimed the title with less than convincing justification for doing so), and explores various responses to modern-day jihad activity.
So this book is a uniquely useful resource for anyone who wants to understand what we are up against, right? Right. So it was no surprise when Sookhdeo began to be attacked by those who want to make sure that non-Muslim Westerners do not come to a clear understanding of the threat we face. The venomous antisemite and historical revisionist Ben White attacked the book in an odd review that noted correctly that Sookhdeo contended that "the primary motivation of terrorists and suicide bombers is theological" and then purported to refute that contention not by showing that Sookhdeo had misrepresented Islamic theology, but that jihadists cited political issues in their communiques -- thus demonstrating only that Ben White has no clue whatsoever about the inherently political character of Islamic theology.
This was enough, however, for the Islamic supremacist blogger Yusuf Smith (Indigo Jo), who showed up here a few years back in a most illuminating exchange (read the comments), to dub Sookhdeo "the Sookhdevil" -- resulting in Sookhdeo being threatened with death by some of Indigo Jo's coreligionists. Yusuf did not, of course, call them devils.
It was all par for the course -- and showed in a particularly vivid manner that Global Jihad, as meticulously researched and exhaustively documented as it is, is right on the mark.
FROM HATED TO LOVED IN ONE EASY STEP
I've suggesed that if Robert Spencer would simply change his name to Rubar al-Amriki and revert to the cult of muhammad, then badda bing badda boom -- he'd become a frikkin muhammadan hero. His books will no longer be islamophobic, but rather, standard source material, to be kept from the prying hands of infidels.
From the threats that Patrick Sookhdeo have received, I would say that the same advice could apply to him.
Oh, the reason Sookhdeo is hated by Muslims is because he's an APOSTATE from Islam.
He was born to a Pakistani Muslim family resident in one of the Surinams in South America; went to the UK to go to University in the 1960s, and there encountered some enthusiastic on-the-ball Christians, and converted to Christianity, becoming...an Anglican priest.
I have read 'Global Jihad'. Half the time, while reading it, I had a sort of weird deja vu feeling...because the 'voice' coming through it was so much like Mr Spencer's. And yet so far as I know, the two men - one an ex-Muslim turned Christian, the other a born-and-raised Christian, one a British citizen, the other an American - researched and wrote their books in complete independence from one another, though with reference to roughly the same Islamic source texts (I think Sookhdeo, being of Pakistani ancestry, may have awareness of, and access to, a somewhat wider range of those sources - I also suspect he's made very good use of Old Scholarly Books in the excellent older libraries of Britain).
The book complements Spencer's work very well, because it hammers home essentially the same central points, while providing all kinds of interesting extra insights and nuggets of information. It's a good reference volume.
All of Sookhdeo's other books are well worth reading: I've got 'Faith, Power and Territory', which I highly recommend (it exposes the extent to which Islam is a land-grab operation, a 'geopolitical cult' as Mr Fitzgerald has said), along with 'Islam in Britain' (good companion piece to Spencer's 'Stealth Jihad', since it describes exactly the same process as operative in the UK) and 'Understanding Shari'a Finance: the Muslim Challenge to Western Economics' (this is short, sharp, easy to read, cheap to buy, and should be on the desk of *every* non-Muslim finance minister and Treasury official, and of every non-Muslim person engaged in any way with business, finance and economics, be they the CEO of a large bank, or merely a humble suburban accountant).
Sookhdeo has also just written 'Freedom to Believe: Challenging the Islamic Apostasy Law'. I have yet to get that one, but it's on my must-get must-read list; it sounds as though Sookhdeo has written the modern companion volume for Samuel Zwemer's classic, 'The Law of Apostasy in Islam'. Being an apostate from Islam himself, Sookhdeo has, shall we say, an absorbing interest in this particular topic...
Anything that annoys, irritates, insults, humiliates, angers or outrages muslims can only be good.
Pursuant to the above: Canon Dr Patrick Sookhdeo has a New Zealand-born wife, Rosemary, who has herself written two books focusing on women and Islam - 'Stepping into the Shadows', about Western women who convert to Islam (mostly as a result of the coldly calculated and deliberate 'marriage jihad'...) and 'Secrets Behind the Burqa' (about Muslim women in Britain, and what Islam does to women. It is based on academic research Mrs Sookhdeo undertook some years ago...and guess what, the British university under whose auspices she conducted the research, *tried to force her to change her thesis* because they thought it was too critical of Muslims...).
Both of Mrs Sookhdeo's books - which are inexpensive, brief, clear, cool and factual - should be set circulating among Western non-Muslim women as widely as possible. Though 'Stepping into the Shadows' is written from a Christian pastoral POV, and primarily aimed at Christians, it could I think be read with profit by Jews, Hindus, and any other community whose womenfolk are being targeted by Muslim seducers.
"they teach, with a remarkable unanimity, the necessity for Muslims to wage war against unbelievers and subjugate them under the rule of Islamic law. Sookhdeo also explains key Islamic doctrines related to that of jihad, including the dar al-Islam/dar al-harb division and the idea that the whole world belongs to Muslims and is only rightly ruled by an Islamic state."
Their ideas, their doctrine, and theirs alone.
Ideas that any rational adult must agree are based upon the lie that the Qur'an is God's literal, eternal word and that Muhammad is His final prophet.
The belief, that Muslim clerics--who represent no real nation--have God's authority to wage an ongoing 1300 year old war against twenty-first century secular nations; declarations of 'war' that we must logically reject as religious beliefs that mean nothing to us and about which the actions of Allah's warriors against us or our interests must always be referred to--and punished--not as acts of war, but as acts which violate our man-made laws.
Criminal acts.
IMO.
As a placard carried by a Muslim at a demonstration over the
Muhammad cartoon,"DEATH TO THE ENENEMIES OF THE RELIGION OF
PEACE." This book is a must read.They will threaten anyone
who exposes the true side of this religion.
Patrick Sookhdeo is someone I have to read.
Kepha - start with his masterly dissection of that 'A Common Word' letter that a whole bunch of Muslim 'scholars' sent to the leaders of every significant Christian group, in October 2007. It's online.
http://barnabasfund.org/news/archives/text.php?ID_news_items=342
28th November 2007 - FEATURED ARTICLE.
"RESPONSE TO OPEN LETTER AND CALL FROM MUSLIM RELIGIOUS LEADERS TO CHRISTIAN LEADERS, 13 OCTOBER 2007"
Also - try googling 'Patrick Sookhdeo' and 'The Australian Presbyterian' and 'Islam' - you should turn up an interview that was published in 'The Australian Presbyterian' magazine, which will give you an idea of what he's been steadily, patiently telling Christian churches in a significant portion of the Anglophone world.
Global Jihad then supplies key extracts from the Qur'an and Hadith, as well as from the teachings of early Islamic scholars and jurists from the various Sunni and Shi'ite madhahib -- and they teach, with a remarkable unanimity, the necessity for Muslims to wage war against unbelievers and subjugate them under the rule of Islamic law. (my bold)
Once you understand this simple Islamic 'inherent truth' the rest is easy. There is no mystery to the misery of Islamic Jihad worldwide. It's the Islam, as it had been for 1400 years, as it is today. With Global Jihad we are a 'world at war' with criminal minded primitives who must be rounded up, arrested, and prosecuted, if not killed outright first.
Global Jihad should be a valuable book source for all academicians, journalists, and politicians, including State Dept., to understand why we are at war with Islam, from the Islamic point of view (as seen by an Islamic apostate). And why we as a free nation must defend ourselves against this persistently primitive AllahCult/Sharia, an ideology hostile to our modern freedoms and civilization. Agreed, their Jihad are criminal acts.
Hi DDA..
We never did hook up..i sent my personal email to robert so we could at least exchange stuff.
I was touring with my band and being a little bit slack on the anti-jihad front.
I know all about Patrick Sookhdeo and his sterling stuff. I've been a little bit distracted recently with my own career. But i'm back ready to go...
be great to swap ideas...
HI mate.
Actually, you did email me awhile ago, via New English Review. I'll try sending you another note now. I hope you haven't changed your e-address!
I haven't forgotten you; indeed, I was thinking I should try to get in touch again. Hope all is well.
To keep up with where I'm at, just peek in at NER every now and again. Esmerelda Weatherwax and I are in frequent communication. I send stories in from Down Under, every now and again.
Yusuf here.
The reason I called Patrick Sookhdeo "Sookhdevil" is because his published articles (as in the Spectator in November 2005) contain outright falsehoods, such as the claim that Muslims were engaged in "sacralising new areas -- first the inner private spaces of their homes and mosques, and latterly whole neighbourhoods (e.g., Birmingham) by means of marches and processions".
Apart from the geographical absurdity (Birmingham is not a "neighbourhood", it's a large city), marches are not used to "sacralise" areas at all. They are used for political demonstrations and by one section of the community to celebrate the Prophet's birth. This is a plainly false, baseless and malicious claim and was obviously made to stoke hostility. How do his supporters explain this?
As for why I didn't call the people who supposedly made the threats "devils", I have no idea if they even exist or if any threats were made. It was just a claim made by Sookhdeo or his supporters which Melanie Phillips repeated as if it were fact.
Matthew Scum, its time you were deported from Britain. We don't need terrorist-defending trash like you here.
Ladies and gentlemen
the poster claiming to be Yusuf Smith, reiterates his accusations against Sookhdeo.
Now: I have read Global Jihad, and also Faith, Power and Territory. Sookhdeo has a detailed grasp of a very wide range of Islamic sources both ancient and modern. Sookhdeo was *also* born and brought up within an Islamic milieu, converting to Christianity as a young adult; and he has continued his reading and study, since.
I therefore think that Sookhdeo knows whereof he speaks. I am sure he has not forgotten whatever it was that was said around him, within the Ummah, before he made his break for freedom.
As for 'Yusuf', let's remember two things. First, the standard Islamic hostility and aggression toward the apostate from Islam. We should *expect* a Muslim to attack and curse Sookhdeo and call him all kinds of names and accuse him of lying, etc.
Secondly: we should remember Isabellathecrusader's dictum - 'Muslims lie'.
If I have to choose between trusting Sookhdeo's word about such things as the Muslim attitude toward 'territory' and the staking of a spiritual and physical claim, and trusting Yusuf's, I choose Sookhdeo's. As a publicly declared apostate from Islam who has been working as a Christian evangelist for some thirty or forty years - evangelising *Muslims* as well as others - he has a great big target painted on his shirt.