Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald offers more pedagogical exercises:
A second workshop on Islam. Instructors are again Hugh Fitzgerald and Robert Spencer. There is a bit of overlap with the first course. This is intentional. Some points have to be repeated, and repeated again, and repeated yet again from different angles, in order to be driven home.
This course would be dedicated to answering a series of questions.
Day One:
1) What does recent scholarship on the origins of Islam — Ibn Warraq, John Wansbrough, Patricia Crone, Michael Cook, Yehuda Nevo, Gerd Puin, Christoph Luxenburg et al — tell us about those origins, and why is it relevant to jihad terrorism today?
2) What is the definition of dar al-Islam and of dar al-Harb, and the relationship that is to be established between the two, according to traditional, mainstream Islamic sources?
3) What is the basis for all Muslim jurisprudence pertaining to treaties and agreements with Infidels — that is, the Treaty of al-Hudaibiyya?
Day Two:
4) What is the concept of Muhammad as a “perfect man” (al-insan al-kamil) and the behavior of Muhammad in his 78 military campaigns, including his stated reason for the campaign against the Jews of the Khaybar oasis, and his execution of the Jews of the Bani Qurayza taken prisoner?
5) What does Sura 9:29 of the Qur’an say? How is this relevant to contemporary jihad violence?
6) What is the doctrine of naskh, or abrogation?
Day Three:
7) What does the word “Sunna” comprises? What are the contents of some of the best-known hadith (stories about the acts and sayings of Muhammad) that express the correct Muslim attitude toward Infidels?
8) Can the hadith that are regarded as “authentic” be changed? That is, can one simply get rid of those hadith that say unkind things about Infidels?
9) What do the Qur’anic verses pertaining to women say? What are the most relevant ahadith pertaining to women? What is the story of the women in Muhammad’s life, including the story of his last, and favorite, wife — young Aisha, whom he married when she was 6, but demurely waited to consummate the marriage until she was 9 years old? What is the significance, or lack of it, of this part of Muhammad’s life for Muslims today?
Day Four:
10) What is the Islamic attitude toward the Christian belief in the divinity of Christ? What are the relevant passages in the Qur’an about Christianity, Christ, and the concept of “shirk”?
11) The concept of the kuffar. What is the Bilad al-Kufr? Why is it now permissible, as it once was not, for Muslims to migrate to the Bilad al-Kufr and live there? What do the Muslim websites explain?
12) What does the phrase “umma al-islamiyya” mean? Do whom, or to what, must Muslims owe their allegiance? Are they permitted to owe their allegiance or loyalty to anything else? Could they ever possibly fight on the side of Infidel fellow-citizens against Muslims from another country?
Day Five:
13) What is the concept of “taqiyya”? Does it differ from “kitman”? People of all religions lie, but is there another religion that formally sanctions lying in order to protect that religion or its Believers?
14) How are Moses and the Jews viewed in the Qur’an? What impact does this have on Muslim attitudes toward Jews and Israel today?
15) What are the “djinn” in the Qur’an and where to they come from?
Day Six:
16) When was the Qur’an written? Over what period of time? And who wrote it down, if Muhammad was “unlettered”? And who dictated it? Why are there so many elements of both the Old and the New Testament to be found in the Qur’an? Which came first?
17) Why did the original Arab conquerors have such astounding success in subduing large swaths of territory? Did the belief-system they brought with them help or hinder that success, in the light of what you now know about Islam?
18) Why are those who are Muslims not allowed to change their religion without the threat of severe punishment, including death?
Day Seven:
19) Why do Muslims call Infidels who become Muslims “reverts” rather than “converts”?
20) What does the word “dhimmi” mean? What are the ahl al-dhimma? What is the “pact” that was made between the Muslims and the “People of the Book” who were allowed to live, and even practice their religion, under certain conditions? What requirements were laid upon the dhimmis in order that they might be treated as such? What does it mean to be a “protected people” — “protected” from what, exactly?
21) Was Islamic Spain a paradise of interfaith harmony, that it would be advisable to try to reproduce today, if only we could?
22) What are the vast benefits that either “interfaith dialogue” or a “dialogue of civilizations” can bring to us?
These two courses are just a start, of course. And come to think of it, they are useful not only in New York and Washington, but in Tulsa and Seattle and Dallas. They are useful not just for government and law enforcement officials, but for anyone and everyone.
Here is what I propose. Everybody, anybody, who wishes to utter a word about Islam, or about the relation of the tenets of Islam to how Muslims actually treat non-Muslims, and have done so for 1350 years, should be able to answer these 22 questions accurately.
Contact us to arrange for your week-long seminar with me and Robert Spencer at director@jihadwatch.org.