Gregory

Welcome! I bought your DVD 'Islam: What The West Needs To Know', and do hope that David Horowitz includes it in his Terrorism Awareness Project (Hope Robert can influence that, since it belongs there with 'Obsession'.). I read your interview a while back and was impressed by your insight. Look forward to your contributions here.

Posted by: Infidel Pride at February 9, 2007 12:50 PM

Welcome Greg.....write hard, write long and write often. Fan the flame of Truth to consume the propaganda in the heat of your inspired thoughts.

Posted by: Lame Cherry at February 9, 2007 12:55 PM

Greetings Greg and welcome to the JW neighborhood, where you are already well-known by many readers. For the benefit of those less familiar with your work, I'm posting my current favorite quote from you and looking forward to collecting more. ~Malinois

"The West is guilty of the ages-old error of projection, of imposing its own ideas, beliefs, and aspirations onto the other guy. 

When Westerners approach Islam, they imagine that it is a religion like others that they are familiar with - like, say, Christianity.  

They see Islam as basically another item on the religious menu available in an integrated world. 

What they fail to understand, however, is that Islam is decidedly outside the Western tradition and therefore Western assumptions are inapt when assessing it. 

Posted by: Malinois at February 9, 2007 1:15 PM

Welcome Greg Davis. The more the better!

The media is, of course, filled today with stories of Anna Nicole who ,to me, in some pictures looks amazingly like Nicole Brown Simpson.
Does anyone know where O.J. was yesterday? (sarc.)

The media reports, after her son died, said Anna used to live in a home in Hollywood formerly owned by Jayne Mansfield (I think) and was obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and said she was in contact with Marilyn and they spoke often and thought she would die young also. Her son left the house and wouldnt stay there anymore because he was "weirded out" over items moving around, doors slamming, etc. Her apparent involvement with this form of the occult lead to a fascination with death. Tragically, death brought by demons sometimes follows if that "spiritual" door is left open. Marilyn and Jayne both died young, as of course, Anna's son. Marilyn by overdose or murder, which ever one you believe, and Jayne, who apparantly dabbled in the occult, was decapitated in a car wreck.

When your fascinated with death, SUCH AS THE DEATH CULT CALLED ISLAM, you open doors to spiritual entites you as a mortal cannot control!

Sad, if it envolves one person or millions of muslims. (you thought I was off thread, didnt you)

Posted by: guide inside at February 9, 2007 1:16 PM

Welcome Greg. Islam 101 will be a real asset to JW/DW. All of the readers can benefit from it, from newcomers to experts.

Posted by: Carolyn2 at February 9, 2007 1:41 PM

Welcome to the Watch.

Posted by: wrathofasma at February 9, 2007 2:27 PM

I too, have the DVD "What the West Needs to Know" and recognize that Greg is a wonderful asset. Awesome addition . . .here's a hearty W-E-L-C-O-M-E!

I've learned a tremendous amount here at JW/DW over the last three years often wishing there was a glossary of terms or appendix to help with terminology in the beginning. Islam 101 sounds like just the ticket!

BTW . . .what happened to Ibn Warraq?

Also, although they are not board members, just thought I'd mention that I look forward to contributions (often bookmarked) by D C Watson, Fjordman and Dr. Andrew Bostom as well!

- GO TEAM JIHADWATCH! :D

Posted by: justamomof4 at February 9, 2007 2:29 PM

Justamomof4:

The glossary is something I've long wanted to put here. We'll make sure it is eventually part of Islam 101.

Ibn Warraq is a Jihad Watch Board member. He is involved with several major projects which I believe are of immense value -- but they do not leave him time to write here or elsewhere at this time.

Of course, I'm always happy to hear from D.C., Fjordman, and Andy.

Cordially
Robert Spencer

Posted by: jihadwatch at February 9, 2007 2:35 PM

I caught Greg's appearance on the Fox News program 'Live Desk' a few months back (can't seem to find the video, now) in which he told the 'panelists' the truth about Islamic ideology.

They just couldn't believe what he was telling them.

Betcha not a one of them has ever opened a Qur'an.

I wish I could find that video; it was a real eye-opener.

Posted by: PRCS at February 9, 2007 2:50 PM

I remember in UK a time when I did not know the people dressed in veils were Muslims but Africans of some tribe religions sect and thought Islam was about believing in all religions like some new age type thinking, or an off shoot to the Hindu religion. They keep saying they believe in Jesus I guess if I knew I could have said I believe in Allah too but without Muhammad telling me.

This stealth growth of Islam in the UK has been brought about from being complacently naive by the kinder natured religions that for one don't demand a take over plan and change in prior existence of the host nations culture and freedoms.
If people say that is not the plan then why demand so much separatist behaviour all across the globe where Islam meets 'other' cultures or law?

Posted by: jesusisthelamb at February 9, 2007 2:54 PM

Hey Greg,

Good to have you on 'The Watch'.

Just a OT comment - it may be better to call UK national papers the 'UK xxx' rather than the 'London xxx'. I don't know about international readers, but no one in the UK calls them the London xxx. And we do have other papers with London in their title (like London Evening Standard) so there may be some confusion.

Am I being pedantic??

Posted by: parker at February 9, 2007 3:23 PM

Thanks for the islam watch - you all have sharp eyes.

As to the Convention - any way you can put it thru on youtube or transcribe it?

Posted by: allat at February 9, 2007 4:11 PM

Oh, my apologies.

Welcome MR. Greg Davis. Blessings!

Alalt

Posted by: allat at February 9, 2007 4:12 PM

Long may you run, Greg!

Posted by: dennisw at February 9, 2007 4:17 PM

I also have the "What the West Needs to Know" DVD. If there is a "WTWNTK" 2, any chance Dr. Wafa Sultan could be included speaking in it?

Posted by: darcy at February 9, 2007 5:58 PM

Welcome Greg.

I look forward to reading your posts. You'll be mostly preaching to the choir here, but the good news is the choir is growing; not always in harmony but growing.

Posted by: USBeast at February 9, 2007 6:38 PM

Spread the word, brotha Greg. I think Islam 101 is a great idea. Hopefully it makes the facts easily digestible for people who aren't willing or interested in spending time to read jihadwatch regularly.

Posted by: eff at February 9, 2007 7:32 PM

Greg's comments are interesting and composed similarly to Robert's, so much so that I can't easily tell them apart by style alone. But I find them too frontally aggressive in terms of reviling Islam.

Now I'll confess that much of what I find in Islam is repugnant to me, and that which I don't find repugnant, I find in greater measure in other major religions, so it would seem a natural conclusion that Islam is a redundant religion with some bad stuff added on. I imagine it is from a starting point like this that Greg comes to the conclusion that the way to fix things is to place blame at the door of Islam for the evils done by bad muslims. Thus, on the subject of the veil, when a moderate muslim rejects it as something from the 7th century, he replies,

Of course, it is a 7th century garment but one with full Islamic authority

I don't think it's helpful to articulate things in such black and white terms, especially when weighing down one's statements by extensions that undercut what genuine progress the moderates are able to make. It is a stand that is likely to unnecessarily inflame negative responses from muslims -- and not only extremists.

It is likely true true that Robert, Hugh and Greg (I'm not sure haven't read much of his stuff yet) know much more about Islam than the average muslim, and can see evil therein that is not apparent either in a typical muslim's head or life. But presenting this knowledge as a frontal attack the religion will only be construed as an attack on the people themselves.

Now I do not believe that Greg's approach is intended to be an attack on people, but upon ideology that is grounded in their religion, but the way he is articulating this I can't see that they will take it any other way. I hope the final objective is to reduce the threat of Jihad (both the violent and "peaceful" political variety) and encourage moderates within muslim to support common values with the west, in opposition to the radical islamists. However, this sort of talk is more likely to draw the line between the west and anyone who defines themselves as muslim.

I think Robert has the right approach -- he leaves room within which Islamic reformers can acknowledge evil that is sourced from within the religion by evil men, but does not force their hand. It is then within the court of those who call themselves moderate muslims to demonstrate that such a thing as moderate islam exists, by showing that a clean separation from the Jihadists can be made and how Islamic sources can be reworked in a manner consistent with peaceful and respectful coexistence in a pluralistic world.

It may be true that there is no moderate Islam. But it is certainly and demonstrably true that there are moderate muslims (and I don't mean the posers like CAIR and MAS). They appear to still be a majority in America, even though the mosques and Islamic schools appear to be dominated by Salafis -- we should not confuse the leadership with the grassroots). Like a politician looking for the swing vote, it is this group that is most important to win, and volatile language will not do so.

I am not saying that it is realistic to expect moderate muslims to carve out a meaningful existence within this niche Robert carves out -- I refuse to make that judgement; let those muslims who believe in their own moderation prove that it can be done. But I am saying that refusing any such ground can only be taken as inciteful, and cannot be constructive.

I hope Greg can find Robert's balance.

And Robert -- do what you can to change your book's title. Beating on the overworked assertion that Islam is a "Religion of Peace" has been overdone. You've done the "provocative title" thing a few times now; I'd like to see your next book, where you delve somewhat into comparative religion, take a more neutral posture.

Thinking about your project again, I realised that it is really unnecessary to "analyse" this stuff -- just present it; any rational reader will come to the necessary conclusions himself. Then I decided that the best title I could think of is a quote from the Qur'an itself.

Yes, quote from the most grossly abused (by Islami Apologists) verse in the book -- but quote they generally don't mention.

Truth Stands out from Error (repeated in Arabic):
A comparison of the teachings of Islam and Christianity on peace and violence

And the content? Just the facts. Give your audience some credit.

Posted by: Archimedes2 at February 9, 2007 8:10 PM

Islam 101 sounds like a great idea. I'm not exactly sure what it will entail but I am hoping that it will cover various topics of the sort that usually come up as the most common "myths" that Muslim apologists frequently espouse - such as "Islam means peace" and "Islam respects women" and "Jihad is defensive only" and "Islam was not spread by the sword" and "Islam forbids slavery" (the latter being something I just saw Reza Aslan baldly state on C-Span this weekend in a debate with Sam Harris - my mouth literally dropped open). Then there are those other common myths about the "Golden Age of Islam" and "Anti-semitism has no real basis in Islam" and is a western influence etc.

This site has been an absolutely indispensable source for rebutting all that nonsense. The only problem is - how would the uninitiated (or even the initiated without a photographic memory) - scroll through thousands of posts on all these topics to find the exact Koranic suras and hadiths and sira and current examples that would give them the tools they need to take this out into their communities (including on-line communities) and confront this with confidence, and with the arguments readily at hand?

God knows that there are excellent sites out there with all the basic information one needs - sites like faithfreedom and answeringislam - but the average person isn't going to be able to scroll through all that information (much of it overlapping) in order to glean very quickly 1) what are the releveant Koranic suras 2) which hadiths with the strongest chains of narration are the ones which back up the interpretations of those suras (the ones which are so widely accepted as to leave the average apologist tongue-tied in response) 3) what is the evidence from the sira which reinforces both and 4)current examples from the news that clearly shows how all these things are linked together and are playing out now in real time.

That's a pretty tall order. One could probably dispense with #4 because that's what this site does everyday - show the current evidence. At some point one needs to count on reasonable people to connect the dots. And there's no doubt that this site tries repeatedly to demonstrate by quoting from Islamic sources and history the context that makes sense of these current events. The only problem is that each of those posts disappear into the webosphere, sometimes within merely a day's time. And so they are lost. They aren't gathered in a single location that is easily accessible.

But if the goal of Islam 101 is to combine points 1,2 and 3 on any number of issues that apologists typically bring up and to make those points simultaneously available in a format which doesn't require scrolling through thousands of posts here, but which can be found all in one place at any time - then I really feel it will be absolutely invaluable. Then everyone can come to this one place for what they need to know about islam and the Global jihad.

www.jihadwatch
The one-stop shopping place for fighting the global jihad.

I definitely like the idea of the glossary. Of course there is the glossary of basic terms like "taqiyyah" or even "sunnah" and "dar-al-harb" etc. - but above and beyond that there is the specifically "Orwellian" meaning of so many Islamic terms like "peace" and "justice" and "oppression". It would be very helpful to have a section of the glossary which explains this orwellian twist on the meanings of many terms which mean one thing to us and another thing altogether to a great many Muslims.

That was all by way of saying that I am very much looking forward to this new feature, "Islam 101". It's without a doubt a desperately needed feature of this site for "one-stop" anti-jihad shopping. The more that one can trust that one will find what one is looking for by visiting a site, the more convenient it is for the information consumer. (I'm not a Wal-Mart fan but shopping for information is an entirely different thing altogether).

Posted by: Caroline at February 9, 2007 8:47 PM

Just a brief comment to the effect that I don't mean to sound disparaging in that long post, I'm just concerned that we not alienate people unnecessarily. Greg looks like a great contributor, I'm just hoping he controls his pen.

I am keen on the Islam 101 idea, esp. if it is concise and fair. Overstatement out of zeolousy may be fun and help the blood boil but it will not help one's case in the long run. Again, I defer to Spencer, who has made fantastic mileage by sticking to unassailable facts that can't be refuted because they are acknowledged by his greatest opponents -- so they are reduced to name-calling and threats. Keep to the high road, Greg.

The glossary is an excellent idea. I would recommend this, and some permanent trace of the main topics of Islam 101 should become a separate "compartment" of the site so one doesn't have to scroll through blogs and reader comments to get to it. In fact, it probably shouldn't have a lot of reader input (maybe none).

The glossary will be particularly helpful if it contains an exhaustive interpretive list of English terms that have different meanings to most muslims, or at least to the Islamists. Like "combatant", "martyr", "witness", "mischief", and so on. Each time I learn how such a word is used by apologists for terror and sharia it's like the scales fall from my eyes. It is this mastery of doublespeak that allows Islamists to hijack the whole machinery of liberalism right under our noses. Unmask the doublespeak and bring a few intelligent liberals on board.

Posted by: Archimedes2 at February 10, 2007 1:06 AM

Greg, welcome to JW.

I have a concern, as seen in the following video from a different thread -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJweJ02Ar0c Posted by: wrathofasma at February 9, 2007 01:28 AM

The Muslims appear to be going and making a round in local communities, for instance they organize local meetings in local libraries. As usual they will use the system to throw out any individual asking hard questions. They put fear into peoples minds, for example in this video, one of the Muslims stated that a woman gets raped every 43 secs in the USA! These kind of concoctions are left unanswered hence a listener takes them home.

A simple calculation shows that figure is absurd, for instance that would imply about 3 rapes per two mins; 90 rapes per min; whooping 130, 000 rapes over the year.

When you look at the audience, they are mostly young mothers and old folks. Both are vulnerable. If they could convince about 10% of them, then we could have a tipping point problem.
I don't know how to tackle this kind of problem - one suggestions would be to arrange a similar anti-Jihad talks a week after the Muslim visitors been to the local library. I feel it is important that we do something about them before they dilute minds and hearts of our good folks.

Posted by: MusHuntCowboy at February 10, 2007 3:39 AM

Greg,

I look forward to reading your work, esp. the "Islam 101" project.

A few of us are working on another similar project aimed at refuting popular Islam apologist myths, partial truths, and misleading statements. The project's list of myths to be rebutted can be found here. An example of a rebuttal to a common myth can be found here. We are not Islamic scholars but are ordinary citizens who perceived a strong need for such a project but, alas, none of the experts have yet taken on anything of this scope.

Posted by: Kab bin Ashraf at February 10, 2007 7:20 AM

Hey Kab - do I know you? Are you perhaps Arch with a new name? If so, that would be pretty funny after our little discussion about atheism a few days ago. I really didn't have a clue.

Posted by: Caroline at February 10, 2007 11:08 AM

Welcome, Greg. I have not yet read the book, and didn't know you were involved with the 'Islam: What the West Needs to Know' film. I caught this in Chicago (and bought the DVD)and it was excellent. I also thanked the theater for showing the movie, as I know a lot of places were not willing.

Thanks once again to all everyone at Jihad Watch. Your work is invaluable. I'm sure sometimes it feels like slogging through with little effect, but I don't think that's true. It may be slow going, but I think people are waking up. And if not, well then, the information will always be available if people would only choose to see.

Posted by: Mo at February 10, 2007 12:09 PM

Welcome, Greg.

Posted by: DCWatson at February 10, 2007 2:20 PM

Welcome to the Last Crusade Greg. The influence of this forum will extend well beyond the boarders of Infidel Land and become a revolutionary force to break the shackles of Islam on peoples minds and liberate the billion enslaved by it now world wide.

A bold and noble undertaking, more significant than the collapse of Eastern Europe. It takes people with vision and clear logic to see such a thing. To the outside world we may appear as kooks at best and bigots at worst. To over turn the Islamic Empire an intellectual and moral objection must be raised. If that question cannot be raised in the West then how will it ever be raised among the Islamic Nations?

Our task here is very important. Give it our best.

----Nossy

Posted by: Nostrodamus at February 10, 2007 3:23 PM