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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Reza Aslan’s evening prayer

Oct 14, 2015 4:06 pm By James Beverley

Reza Aslan

Reza Aslan is known for his creative writing. I wonder if he puts his evening prayers to paper. Here is one prayer for his consideration:

“In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. Allahu akbar. I seek forgiveness from Allah for all my sins and turn to Him.”

In asking for your mercy I am trying harder to obey the command of your holy word: “Confound not truth with falsehood, nor knowingly conceal the truth.” (Surah 2:42)

Allah, I have not been fully truthful in my scholarship and in my media work. Here, Ar-Rahim, are the issues where I seek your guidance for the sake of truth.

  1. Even after two years I still feel bad about Lauren Green, that Fox News anchor. Her interview with me went viral, she got slammed in the media, while my book Zealot shot to #1. You know, O Allah, that I sort of misled her about my research. Why didn’t she just accept my four degrees including a Ph.D. and move on? I panicked a bit and told her I used about 1000 books for my work on Jesus. It was only 159. That’s really a lie, isn’t it?
  2. I’m feeling worse about another thing I told her. Allah, it was a tough interview. But I should not have said that my endnotes cite “every scholar who disagrees with me and every scholar who agrees with me.” The truth, O God, as you know, is that Zealot was based a lot on my Harvard work from years earlier. I did not keep up with the scholarship on Jesus. I only quote three articles on Jesus from the decade before Zealot came out. I don’t even refer to Bart Ehrman, Richard Bauckham, Dale Martin or Paula Fredriksen and a whole bunch of other big name scholars. Maybe I can say I had a Brian Williams moment.
  3. Allah, your Word commands me not to conceal truth. Lionsgate wants to turn Zealot into a movie. Should I tell them that my book got absolutely creamed by scholars, whether evangelical and mainline Christians (Robert Gundry, Craig Evans, Simon Joseph, Anthony le Donne), Jewish (Allan Nadler) or secular (Ehrman)? I hate to admit it but if I corrected all the errors they point out I would have to rewrite my whole book. The movie is due out next year. These scholars even show that my views of Jesus as a zealot are outdated, overstated and contradictory. More important, I admit it seems weird and kind of unethical to push Jesus as a Jewish jihadist given the crazy Muslim jihadists today. Maybe, O Allah, David Heyman doesn’t care if Zealot is inaccurate as long as the movie sales are great. Random House might be uptight, though, since they have their scholarly reputation to watch.
  4. Speaking of Random House, I’m even having second thoughts about my book with them on Islam. Yes, praise you, No god but God is an international bestseller. You are indeed Ar-Razzaq, The Provider. But, O Allah, I concealed stuff about scholarship on Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him. Here I am a critic of American torture and I did not have the courage to mention that Islamic sources say Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, had that Jewish guy Kinana tortured. I defend free speech, Lord, but I did not raise one peep that the earliest biographies of the Prophet record that he sanctioned the death of critics, like that woman Asma. I argue that Muhammad liberates women but why do the traditions say he hit one of his wives, took his stepson’s wife in marriage, and condoned raping of female slaves? Help me with your great mercy.
  5. Allah, sometimes in defending Islam I let my zeal blind me. I wrote in No god but God that Iran is the most “significant experiment in nation building” since the time of Muhammad. Thankfully, no reviewers picked up on that one. On CNN I said that “women are absolutely 100 percent equal to men” in Indonesia. What was I thinking? Indonesia is in 97th place on the Gender Gap Index.
  6. Allah, here’s a final problem. I told Lauren Green that “my book about Jesus overturns pretty much everything that Islam also thinks about Jesus as well.” Well, even when I said it to her I realized I had to conceal the thought that popped into my head. “We revere Jesus as prophet but don’t get Jesus right? If Islam is wrong about Jesus, how do we know Islam is right about Muhammad and the Qur’an?” Help me, O Allah, despite my anxiety, help me to be a person who faces truth.
  7. Allah, maybe I should send Lauren Green some of my royalty money. I love irony but the thought of me supporting Fox!

James A. Beverley is Professor of Christian Thought and Ethics at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, Canada and Associate Director, Institute for the Study of American Religion, Woodway, Texas. He and Craig Evans, a specialist in the study of the historical Jesus, have just written Getting Jesus Right: How Muslims Get Jesus and Islam Wrong (Castle Quay, 2015). They analyse Reza Aslan in their work. Jihad Watch readers can get 15% off at the publisher’s site by putting Jim in for a discount. See www.gettingjesusright.com

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Filed Under: academia, Featured, War is deceit Tagged With: Reza Aslan


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Comments

  1. Gary says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 4:18 pm

    “Confound not truth with falsehood, nor knowingly conceal the truth.” (Surah 2:42)

    Yet it’s O.K. for Reza to hold falsehood and knowingly conceal the truth about the Islamic agenda…..

    Al-Taqiyya: Deception; the islamic word for disguising one’s beliefs, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions, and or strategies.

    What a messed up belief system!

    Islam; The lie from the pit of hell. Demons laugh at the millions around the world blinded by darkness!

    • Huck Folder says

      Oct 14, 2015 at 5:39 pm

      “In the name of Merkel, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Merkel, Lady of the Worlds. Merkelhu akbar. I seek forgiveness from Merkel for all my sins and turn to Her.”

      • Benedict says

        Oct 15, 2015 at 3:58 am

        Merkel thinks allowing so many refugees into Germany, she is righting the wrongs of Hitler. How lost she is. Years down the line Germany will regret its decision in allowing these refugees into Germany

        • crankywhitewoman says

          Oct 15, 2015 at 11:34 am

          Years down the line? Many Germans are already regretting that decision.

  2. Westman says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 4:46 pm

    Humpty-dumpty has made it to the top of the wall. I see visions of coeds batting their eyelids as if Aslan was Indiana Jones.

    Let’s hope zealot, the movie, gets a great deal of attention, like Mel Gibson’s Passion Of Christ and a thorough scholarly discussion. The biggest problem with informing people about the threat of Islam to freedom is too many are distracted. Too bad the book wasn’t titled, Fifty Shades Of Islam.

  3. Dhimmiwit says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 4:50 pm

    Dear Reza,

    You are deceiving the Kuffar, so everything is cool.

    Love from Allah ta’la.

  4. ZAHEER HUSAIN KHAN says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 4:58 pm

    THE ATTACKERS CAN’T BE MUSLIMS . HOW CAN THEY BE ?. WILL THEY NOT REMEMBER WHAT THE PROPHET (s) OF ISLAM SAID ?
    THE PROPHET (s) SAID NO YAHOOD O NASARAH SHOULD FEEL UNPROTECTED IN THE COMPANY OF MY UMMAH . IT IS THE DUTY OF EVERY MUSLIM TO PROTECT THE PLACES OF WORSHIPS OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS . ARE THESE INDONESIANS ARE NOT MUSLIMS ?, I HAVE COME TO KNOW THAT LOT OF INDONESIANS HAVE BECOME WAHABIS, THEY ARE NO MORE MUSLIM , THEY ARE APOSTATES , FOLLOWERS OF IBNE TAYMIYYAH , FOLLOWERS OF ABU BAKAR BAGHDADI , THE CROPS BIN LADEEN SOWED.

    • jayell says

      Oct 14, 2015 at 5:22 pm

      Good evening, Mr. Khan. On your computer keyboard there should be a key which says ‘Caps Lock’. Be a good chap and learn how to use it, will you? And while you’re on the job, try to think of something sensible to write next time? Thanke you ever so much!

    • Abdullah says

      Oct 14, 2015 at 11:20 pm

      Can you write properly? What’s this all caps stuff bruzzer. Go back to India and stop watering down my religion with your taqiah Hindu filth

      • gravenimage says

        Oct 15, 2015 at 12:40 am

        Always amusing when a thuggish Mohammedan pretends to be less unhinged than his coreligionists.

        And note the usual–he has to accuse Khan–apropos of nothing–of being “Hindu”. Very similar to Khan’s false claim that Muslims he is embarrassed by are “apostates”.

      • jayell says

        Oct 15, 2015 at 7:25 am

        Good morning Mr Abdullah. Are you trying to pinch my ideas? Just in case you didn’t realise, my little offering was supposed to have been a send-up of the stock ‘english-upper-class-twit/public-schoolmaster/incompetent-British-army-officer’ caricature telling some floundering junior/pupil off for getting bad marks in their prep. (‘must do better’/’see me after school’….). We in the west are familiar with this kind of character from comedy films/TV programmes (we Brits know it’s a hackneyed joke but some of our American cousins might actually believe it’s for real, like ‘Parker’ in ‘Thunderbirds’, cor blimey, m’lady) but I get the impression that perhaps you’re not so familiar with this kind of thing.

        The subtext for Mr Khan was supposed to have been something like:- ‘There are some very clever and well-informed people on this site, so one should take care with presentation and content’ (not that I’m a shining example, I hasten to add!). Sadly, your reply seems to be operating on a similar level. I’m not sure how Mr. Khan was ‘watering down’ Islam, or how you know that he’s from India, or a Hindu, and it is news to me that ‘taqiah’ (is that how you spell it?) is practised by anyone other than muslims. Since I know very little about the Hindu religion, perhaps you had obviously better enlighten me this and other aspects of it, and certainly expound on its ‘filth’ content. I await your reply.

        • Abdullah says

          Oct 15, 2015 at 8:38 am

          Im sorry sir I didn’t read your comment before posting. Hindu wasn’t meant in the religious sense here. I meant it in the sense of bilad al-Hind. I have a deep seeded prejudice against Pakistanis due to business dealings, their linguistic butchering of Arabic, rote memorization, systemic boy rape (inherited from their past Persian occupiers) and a history of Arab racism which I have inherited that causes me to look down on them as lesser people

        • jayell says

          Oct 15, 2015 at 10:32 am

          Good afternoon again, Mr Abdullah, and thanks for replying. Sadly, I am more mystified than ever. As far as 99.9% of the global population are concerned ‘Hindu’ would mean a religion. I have no idea whatever what you mean by “bilad al-Hind”; if it’s a technical term, many over here would never have heard it before, and as it’s not in English it’s pretty meaningless. So, an explanation, please.

          May I quote you?

          “I have a deep seeded prejudice against Pakistanis due to business dealings, their linguistic butchering of Arabic, rote memorization, systemic boy rape (inherited from their past Persian occupiers) and a history of Arab racism which I have inherited that causes me to look down on them as lesser people”…..

          Oh dear, oh dear, if one wishes to be regarded kindly in the civilised world, one is digging oneself into a rather deep hole here, isn’t one?

          1. We generally don’t go in for ‘deep-seated prejudices’ in this part of the world, even with people who butcher the English language (note the correct phrase ‘deep-SEATED’, not your version).

          2. We also have people over here in the UK who don’t quite understand the accepted concept of ‘honesty’ in business or any other sense and – to be brutally honest – these people seem to be amongst those now over here whose roots don’t quite go back to Henry VIII, to put it diplomatically. (Henry VIII was one of our kings about 400 years ago?). And a lot of these strangely follow the example of a gentleman named ‘Mohammed’, who I believe, according to official writings on the subject, appeared to be quite proud of going in for this sort of thing. (Don’t try to argue that point – it’s down clearly in ‘Holy Writ’, unless Arabic and English translate into opposite meanings, that is). But we don’t (as we say over here) ‘slag them off’ for it. Even if we think they might deserve it.

          3. What is wrong with ‘rote memorisation’? I learned my mathematical tables and Latin declensions that way. Virtually everyone who’s been through school has done something like that at some time. So virtually the entire global population is a lesser species because ‘certain people’ don’t like people who learn some things by rote. Or perhaps you haven’t explained your meaning very well, in which case it would be nice to hear what you DO mean.

          4. ‘Systematic boy rape’ – as has been known to occur in the Middle East, I believe?

          5. “…..and a history of Arab racism which I have inherited that causes me to look down on them as lesser people”…. I really don’t believe you really wrote that intending it to be viewed kindly on a civilised international web site. Do you realise what people will think of you after writing THAT??? Now, there is a country about an hour and a half flying time from where I am now where, about 80 or so years ago, a man with a small moustache, who liked his soldiers to march in a funny way, and thought he ought to rule the world, also thought that no-one else was as good as him or his kind. If I understand you correctly, it would appear that the two of you might have got on very well. I would very much like you to reply and tell me that I do not understand you correctly.

        • Abdullah says

          Oct 15, 2015 at 11:36 pm

          Seems the chickens certainly are coming home to roost. The man with the little moustache-Is it Charlie Chaplin, good sir? My historical memory was traumatized not by a man with a little moustache but by a fat sonuvabitch Britisher with a cigar dangling from his clever mouth. One man’s hero is another man’s murderer. On the topic of Christianity I don’t consider British mission work as recent as 200 -75 years ago as a historical Christianity in the culture. That is an imposition. Middle Easterners and North Africans were the first Christians before Muhammad and we still have traditional songs about the birth and life of Christ that we Muslims sing around Christmas time. We can understand most of the language Jesus spoke. He is like our brother. Your British Christianity is just an adaptation to your pre-Christian pagan roots dressed up as Christianity. We are connected all the way back to Gilgamesh all the way back to the Elohim and the Annunak.

        • jayell says

          Oct 16, 2015 at 7:51 pm

          Hello Mr Abdullah. I’ve just come across your reply of October 15, 2015 at 11:36 pm.

          This is more what I was expecting from you! May I quote you?

          “The man with the little moustache-Is it Charlie Chaplin, good sir?”

          No, it isn’t, because, as I said, the gentleman with the small mosutache was in a country about one-and-a half hours flying time from me (I’m in London, so we’re talking about somewhere 7-800+ miles east or south of here, can’t be anywhere else or you’re in the sea), so he can’t be British. He had soldiers, therefore he was a national leader. Mr. Chaplin never fitted that description. My ‘gentleman with the small moustache’ had clearly stated aims to rule the world. Mr Chaplin didn’t. Also my ‘gentleman with the small moustache’ said that certain people were inferior, and had ways of disposing of them. Now look at an atlas, find a likely country, and see if it ever had a leader who fitted that description. Another clue; Mr. Chaplin actually played this particular gentleman in a film called ‘The Great Dictator’ Got it now? Good!

          I quote again…”My historical memory was traumatized not by a man with a little moustache but by a fat sonuvabitch Britisher with a cigar dangling from his clever mouth. One man’s hero is another man’s murderer.” Now, there have been quite a few overweight gentlemen over here who have smoked cigars and may have been quite clever, but I’m hazarding a guess that you’re refering to Sir Winston Churchill. Now, I don’t think there was a canine element in Mr. Churchil’ls background, but I agree he WAS very talented, and most people in the free world (and that’s a lot of people) are of the opinon that he did rather a good job in thwarting a rather nasty murderous dictator who was threatening to spread a rather nasty kind of genocidal evil over the world. If this is correct, it’s rather odd that anyone should be ‘traumatised’ by a character like this. By the way, although he had a military background, I’m not sure that Mr. Churchill actually killed anyone, although in his role as a wartime leader he would, by definiton have to have had some kind of involvement with ‘professionals’ who were ipso facto into that business – because other people were trying to kill them, perhaps? And also, Mr Churchill was half-American. Or are you going to say that that fact makes it worse for some reason? But maybe you’re not talking about Mr. Churchill, in which case I’m totally lost here.

          I Quote you again….”On the topic of Christianity I don’t consider British mission work as recent as 200 -75 years ago as a historical Christianity in the culture. That is an imposition. Middle Easterners and North Africans were the first Christians before Muhammad and we still have traditional songs about the birth and life of Christ that we Muslims sing around Christmas time.”….
          Well, Christian missionary work was undertaken in the Indian subcontient area by all sorts of agencies, not just British, and the fact that Indian music utilises small ‘harmoniums’ is a direct result of the work of French missionaries. It was British policy NOT to impose any religious culture wherever they went, which is why India/Pakistan/Bangla Desh have retained their non-Christian identity. And since Christianity started in the ‘Middle East’ it’s hardly surprising that there were Christians there before anywhere else. However, you seem not to realise that Christianity actually spread quite quickly because of the Roman Empire, and there were plenty of Christian in parts of the now-UK before Mohammed’s time. I’m surprised that you have traditional songs about the Christmas events, because I’m surprised that you sing at all – we’re told over here the in Islam, music is ‘verboten’. And in the West we have a Christmas Carol tradition that includes material from all over the world (I’ve been involve in it for 60 years), but I’ve never come across any of the material that you suggest. Odd.

          I quote you again…”We can understand most of the language Jesus spoke.”
          Good for you! But you seem to ignore his words!

          I quote you again – “He is like our brother.” We hear a lot these days from people of an islamic persuasion, and one increasingly gets the impression that EVERYONE is EVERYONE ELSE’S brother! Amazing! Someone’s mother has been doing overtime!
          Pity that one so easily forgets what one’s ‘brother’ is supposed to have taught one.

          I quote you again…”Your British Christianity is just an adaptation to your pre-Christian pagan roots dressed up as Christianity.” Well, actually there’s a lot of Greek and Roman mythology mixed in with eccesiastical doctrines that we have here, and there is evidence that bible texts themselves include elements from philsosophical and mythological ideas from around the middle east that actually predate Christianity, so maybe the whole thing wasn’t as ‘pure’ as some people think in the first place. Paganism is still alive in the UK and is quite separate from Christianity. The only pre-Christian relgious elements that appear in the practice of British Christianity are the pantheistic references that crop up in Christmas carols and symbols of renewed life that are mixed up with the more commercial Easter celebrations, but these AREN’T considered to be ‘liturgically correct’. Otherwise, we go straight back to the biblical texts, and if THAT isn’t ‘authentic’ what is? At least the texts we have are fairly complete and (shall we say?) ‘unabridged’, unlike the scraps that are to be found in Qu’ran.

          ” We are connected all the way back to Gilgamesh all the way back to the Elohim and the Annunak.” Using a similar argument, a lot of us in the UK might reasonably claim to be related at many removes to King Henry VIII, but if we try to lay claim to Buckingham Palace on that pretext, we’d be arrested.

      • Abdullah says

        Oct 15, 2015 at 10:59 am

        I love to read your writing good sir. It is beautiful. You are correct most Muslims are dishonest cheats amongst themselves and others, however Pakistanis are the worst because the don’t have any historical connection to Christianity and no traditional folklore concerning the Christ. That’s my hypothesis. Bilad al-Hind is the land of India. All Indians are Hindu by ethnicity. Good day sir

        • jayell says

          Oct 15, 2015 at 2:52 pm

          No, my writing isn’t ‘beautiful’. I come from the Land of Monty Python where we don’t tolerate idiots, charlatans and liars, nothing is sacrosanct and everything is fair game for intellectual demolition if it seems to deserve it – done in the politest possible terms with loosely-veiled acid wit just short of sarcasm, if we can do it. (I’ll bet you’ve never heard of ‘Monty Python’, so you probably don’t really know what I’m talking about). Shakespeare (the bald bloke who wrote all those plays) wrote beautiful English. I don’t.

          We know all about islam. That’s where you’re told to lie and cheat, which is why islamic economies never get anywhere, because you can’t sustain business that way. We know all about Pakistanis, because there are a lot of them here in the UK and they’ve introduced themselves to thousands of our young girls in a way that we would not call ‘helpful’, ‘polite’ or ‘considerate’. We’re just starting to pick up the pieces now and wishing that we hadn’t been so free with the passports to create a situation where this sort of thing could happen. And we also know how they would like to conduct business, but we have strict laws over here to stop that.

          You’re actually wrong about Pakistanis having no historical connection with Christianity. You may recall that us wonderful Brits had the pleasure of administering what is now Pakistan for a couple of centuries, during which time the locals would have had contact with the Gospels. There would have been missionaries over there, but the official line was ‘cultural non-intervention’ except in dire circumstances (e.g., stopping people burning their surplus widows, etc.). So, by and large, they were left alone to enjoy their islam (what a shame they didn’t just keep it to themselves!) or their Hinduism, or whatever.

          Thanks for telling me that ‘Bilal al-Hind’ means India, but in English (according to the Oxford Dictionary) ‘Hindu’ is the religion,’Hindi’ is the language, ‘Indus’ is the river and ‘Indians’ are ‘Indians’ – that’s if you’re speaking English. Therefore, for us, there is no ‘Hindu’ ethnicity. Don’t mix the terms up because it gets confusing.

          I was really rather expecting you to become rather annoyed about my mentioning the gentleman with the small moustache and the soldiers with the silly march, with reference to one of your statements. So I trust that you concur.

          It’s now evening here (despite the American time shown in these posts), so Good Evening, sir.

        • Joseph says

          Oct 16, 2015 at 12:40 pm

          @ Abdullah
          Read the Bible, this is the REAL JESUS CHRIST, not the perversion in the Koran.
          JESUS CHRIST is the Son of GOD who died on the cross and rose from the dead for all mankind. This includes you Abdullah, but you continue to deny Him and he will deny you when you die. In short YOU will go to hell where your Mohammad is.
          Another thing; Muslims have NO historical connection to Christianity, all the writings that the Muslims follow are a perversion to GOD’S word and a stain on the history of mankind. The Koran comes straight from Satan’s mouth.

          BTW You also owe me a keyboard, your rhetoric makes me puke.

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 15, 2015 at 12:38 am

      More ALL CAPS ranting from an unhinged Mohammedan:

      ZAHEER HUSAIN KHAN wrote:

      THE ATTACKERS CAN’T BE MUSLIMS . HOW CAN THEY BE ?. WILL THEY NOT REMEMBER WHAT THE PROPHET (s) OF ISLAM SAID ?
      THE PROPHET (s) SAID NO YAHOOD O NASARAH SHOULD FEEL UNPROTECTED IN THE COMPANY OF MY UMMAH . IT IS THE DUTY OF EVERY MUSLIM TO PROTECT THE PLACES OF WORSHIPS OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS
      ……………………………….

      What Zaheer Husain Khan will not tell you is that such “protection” only extends to the oppressed dhimmis–Infidels virtually enslaved under Shari’ah law as third-class citizens who pay the crushing Jizya.

      And even then such “protection” is regularly broken when any Infidel is accused of “blasphemy”, where Muslims attack and murder Kuffar–and why not? Such organized oppression can only be enforced by fear.

      More:

      . ARE THESE INDONESIANS ARE NOT MUSLIMS ?, I HAVE COME TO KNOW THAT LOT OF INDONESIANS HAVE BECOME WAHABIS, THEY ARE NO MORE MUSLIM , THEY ARE APOSTATES , FOLLOWERS OF IBNE TAYMIYYAH , FOLLOWERS OF ABU BAKAR BAGHDADI , THE CROPS BIN LADEEN SOWED.
      ……………………………….

      Why is Zaheer Husain Khan ranting about Indonesia here? Who knows–this is probably some other story covered on Jihad Watch. But pious Muslims are incapable of reasoned thought.

      And the above is the usual–the idea that anything that is embarrassing to Muslims must be done by “apostates”.

      The fact is, though, that everything done by ISIS and bin Laden is orthodox Islam–and all on the model of the foul “Prophet”.

      • ECAW says

        Oct 15, 2015 at 3:54 am

        Excellent and amusing thread. Thanks to Mr Khan, Justus, Abdullah, Jayell and gravenimage.

        • gravenimage says

          Oct 15, 2015 at 3:26 pm

          Thank you, ECAW.

          And I agree with you regarding Justus and the very witty Jayell–but I’m not sure I’d praise the vicious Muslim trolls–although their posts here are, as always, quite enlightening as to the appalling state of the Muslim mind-set.

          Hope you are well.

        • ECAW says

          Oct 15, 2015 at 3:40 pm

          Gravenimage – They play their part!

          BTW I wonder if you or anyone else have come across this Salafi dawah outfit:

          http://www.islam-guide.com/

          They do a chat thing. It can be quite interesting to ask an innocent question like “Does Allah hate non-Muslims?” or “Is it true that Allah intends to burn me forever?” and see where the conversation leads.

        • Joseph says

          Oct 16, 2015 at 3:15 pm

          ECAW… You are so very devious. I like your idea.

        • Cecilia Ellis says

          Oct 16, 2015 at 3:44 pm

          ECAW wrote: “BTW I wonder if you or anyone else have come across this Salafi dawah outfit: http://www.islam-guide.com/”

          ECAW, did you notice this title of one of the links on the website you provided:
          “The Great Challenge to Produce One Chapter Like the Chapters of the Holy Quran”?

          Now there’s a challenge . . . to be taken after imbibing a couple of six-packs . . .

        • ECAW says

          Oct 16, 2015 at 4:20 pm

          Just as an example (I trust no one would undertake this sort of outreach with any mischievous intention):

          Please wait for a site adviser to respond.
          You are now chatting with ‘Dina’.
          Dina: Hello. Welcome to our live chat. How can I assist you today?
          you: Hello. I have been looking into Islam and I find that Allah intends to burn me, a non-Muslim, forever with frequent changes of skin so I can feel the pain all over again. Can this be true?
          Dina: Hi
          Dina: You see there’s a difference between a non-Muslim who knows the truth and insists on denying it. and a non-Muslim who never received the message of Islam and died on that state.
          Dina: Can I have your e-mail address, please? I’d like to send you some recommended readings.
          you: Give my email address to someone who thinks I deserve to be burned forever? I don’t think so. Now, about Allah – I see him referred to in the quran as a God of mercy but this attitude towards me and my children and parents and everyone I care about seems to point in exactly the opposite direction. In fact he seems to be a vengeful sadist. Is this not so?
          Dina: I didn’t say you will burn in Hell.. it’s not for me or anyone to say so. Only God knows this. And you don’t have to share your email I understand..no problem! As for your last statement, that’s the worst thing to say about God.. But I see your lack of understanding who God is. God doesn’t punish anyone until a CLEAR message was brought to such a person and he was so stubborn to accept it. Out of justice God will give each person his/her due right.. those who did good and believed will be rewarded and those who disbelieved and did bad they will be punished.. that’s of of justice. Otherwise would it be fair to have those who disbelief and those who believe get equal reward!?
          Dina: The question should be – how can a person choose hellfire over a loving God!?
          Dina: You may find this useful – http://www.islamreligion.com/videos/3434/most-merciful-part-1-ar-rahman-god-names-series/
          Dina: Here are 5 brief ebooks that I recommend you to start reading for getting a good understanding of Islam:
          Dina: 1) A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam: http://www.islamreligion.com/ebooks/islam-guide.pdf
          Dina: 2) Islam is…: http://www.islamreligion.com/ebooks/Islam-Is.pdf
          Dina: 3) The True Religion: http://www.islamreligion.com/ebooks/True-Religion-of-God.pdf
          Dina: 4) The True Message of Jesus Christ: http://www.islamreligion.com/ebooks/The-True-Message-of-Jesus-Christ.pdf
          Dina: 5) Did God Become Man: http://www.islamreligion.com/ebooks/Did-God-Become-Man.pdf
          you: You didn’t say I will burn in hell but you presumably support Allah who says it all the time in the quran. Most views of justice involve the idea of proportionality. Clearly burning forever in hell for simply coming to a different conclusion about how the universe came into being is disproportionate in the extreme. As me choosing hellfire over a loving God, that’s hardly a fair proposition, more like an offer I can’t refuse from a vicious bully. Still, you’ve clarified the position for me.
          Dina: It’s time for prayer here I will be back in 20 minutes

        • ECAW says

          Oct 17, 2015 at 3:17 am

          Cecilia – Yes, what would literary critics make of the gibberish if it wasn’t for the gun at their heads?

          I like the novelist Sebastian Faulks’ assessment. He said the Koran was clearly the rantings of a schizophrenic. Within a couple of days he very sensibly recanted (in the Guardian, where else?)

  5. jayell says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 5:16 pm

    “Reza Aslan is known for his creative writing.” Nice one, Mr. Beverley. Just like Mr. Aslan’s hero, Mohammed, is best known for his own creative tome, ‘The Qu’ran’. Oh sorry, Mohammed couldn’t write, could he? Must have been some contemporary hack who took down the ‘Great Prophet’s’ meandering revelations, not an easy job when he kept changing the plot all the time. Still, that’s the sad lot of ghost writer, but at least there’s steady money in the gutter press, as royalties from the ‘Qu’ran’ must surely testify.

  6. somehistory says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 5:35 pm

    There’s an old song, “Shout”. This persona makes me think of the one word, “Puke” and I can sing it in my head to the tune of “Shout.” If I ever swallow poison, I’ll just imagine this person and his face and, “Puke.”

  7. Gary says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 5:43 pm

    Pssst…. Reza. Answer this question, and you’re well on the road to “Confound not truth with falsehood, nor knowingly conceal the truth.”

    Of whom is this passage written?

    The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

    Was it Mohammad or The Anointed One?

  8. Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 6:01 pm

    Haha, this is great! The “open letter” is one genre of literature, but here we have another, the “open prayer”. And to one of our favorite deities. Thank you, Professor Beverley.

  9. Alarmed Pig Farmer says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 6:04 pm

    The idea of objective truth passed under the bridge years ago. You see that with known liars and cheats Prez Barack Hussein and next-Prez Hildebeast both polling with near half favorability. So the success of Reza Aslan is to be expected; the man is a fraud and a liar, but so what his statements make sense, feel right, and hell nobody checks facts anymore.

  10. Angemon says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 6:09 pm

    I object to that piece of fine reading on the basis that Reza Aslan doesn’t strike me as the kind of person capable of feeling shame or even considering the idea that something he did could perhaps happen to be wrong.

  11. JawsV says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 6:14 pm

    Muslims believing allah is God shows unequivocally that they’re out of their gourd.

  12. Kepha says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 8:08 pm

    I saw Gibson’s _Passion of Christ_ only because the linguist got the better of the Puritan in me–I wanted to hear Neo-Aramaic being spoken, even if the accent was probably off. I plan to neither read nor watch Aslan’s _Zealot_. From the reviews, it impresses me as a rehash of S.G.F. Brandon’s 1960’s vintage version of Jesus-as-Zealot-Leader; a position excellently rebutted by Martin Hengel. My guess is that Aslan probably throws in a bit of romantic Palestinianism to charm the Leftists, who will doubtlessly lap it up the way the Cat Who Walked by HImself lapped up the warm, white milk in the cave woman’s cracked pots (three guesses which author I’ve just been reading to my granddaughter).

    There was also an even earlier “scholar” or the so-called “Jesus the Revolutionist”: it was Walter Grundmann, one of the premier theological supporters of the Third Reich, who then shifted colors when the Soviets occupied the Mecklenburg-Thuringia region. Grundmann’s [not-]”historical Jesus” was a rip-roaring Aryan Galilean (has anyone else heard of such a thing?) rebelling against the perfidious JOOOOOOZ. Read one scruffy brawler masquerading as a biblical scholar, and you’ve read them all.

    Both Aslan, being a Muslim, and Grundmann, being a “positive Christian” (which seems to be a species of early 20th century sub-Christian) slight the cross and resurrection and see man as having little need of redemption apart from the shedding of other sinners’ blood.

    Frankly, if you have to read a non-Christian study of Jesus and early Christianity, Rabbi Daniel Boyarin’s _Jewish Gospels_ is a much more interesting and even provocative book. There are things in it with which I do not agree, but much that surprised me and made me think.

    • Abdullah says

      Oct 14, 2015 at 11:35 pm

      Passion of the Christ is an excellent film and probably the best tool for Christian outreach to Arabs. I almost became a Christian after watching it and so did so many people I know. Arabs can understand most every word of the Aramaic and have no need for subtitles. So it really speaks to us. Such a moving and beautifully made film. Had me in tears.

      • gravenimage says

        Oct 15, 2015 at 12:42 am

        If you were moved by a depiction of Christ, why do you still adhere to a savage creed like Islam?

        • Michael Copeland says

          Oct 15, 2015 at 2:00 am

          He may be rather attached to his head.

      • Kepha says

        Oct 15, 2015 at 9:47 pm

        Given the atonement for our sins that we have in Jesus and his resurrection from the dead, is it any wonder that Christians doubt a Qur’an that denies Jesus’ death on the cross?

    • Kepha says

      Oct 15, 2015 at 9:48 pm

      De Doc:

      I have little use for Brandon’s original work as well.

  13. Linde Barrera says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 9:27 pm

    I normally do not like sarcasm, but Professor Beverley wrote a fine piece of writing with this one. 2 thumbs up!

  14. mortimer says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 10:32 pm

    If the Koran is inaccurate, confused and contradictory about Jesus, the most important figure in the Roman world at the time of Mohammed, why would the Koran be right or sensible about anything else?

    It is clear that the Aslan’s creative writing is an attempt to make Jesus a carbon copy of Mohammed, the revolutionary desert pirate. He takes the ‘violent sayings’ of Jesus (that all scholars claim were figurative) and spins a WEB to trap and seduce those who have not studied the New Testament carefully.

    Aslan’s tricks and traps are meant to depict Jesus as a Jewish JIHADIST…a serious manipulation of fact and truth.

    The greatest critics of Jesus (the Jews legists who wrote the Talmud) depicted him as a faith healer and conjurer, but never a revolutionary.

    Alsan’s fluff is not worthy of serious consideration.

  15. Abdullah says

    Oct 14, 2015 at 11:41 pm

    Aslan! Take your faggot ass back to Iran and get hanged

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 15, 2015 at 12:44 am

      More random aggression from Abdullah against his fellow Muslims. *This* is Muslims being “merciful to one another”. *Ugh*.

    • Jay Boo says

      Oct 15, 2015 at 1:52 am

      However, Reza doesn’t where an Islamic man dress and have a beard with that very peculiar shaved upper lip.

      I would ask why do Muslim men have ” a beard with that very peculiar shaved upper lip.” but something tells me that I really would rather not know the sordid details of what goes on in the wash room behind the mosque doors.

      • Abdullah says

        Oct 15, 2015 at 5:42 am

        Because we copy the Jews – and it’s only the Hanafis and Hanbalis that shave the moustache off. Imam Malik said that if it wasn’t for a particular Hadith which can be interpreted as shave the moustache as well as trim the moustache he would have every man who shaved his moustache beaten. And the only thing Muslims hate more than infidels is each other. And Pakistanis are dirt the most low life dishonest cheating scum I’ve ever met and Reza Aslan is obviously a homo who denies basic tenants of Islam and probably would be convicted and executed for blasphemy before gay sex

        • gravenimage says

          Oct 15, 2015 at 3:28 pm

          Abdullah wrote:

          And the only thing Muslims hate more than infidels is each other.
          ……………………

          Some actual honesty from a “slave of Allah”.

          Abdullah, why do you continue to adhere to such a hateful creed?

      • Abdullah says

        Oct 15, 2015 at 5:17 pm

        #1 – Don’t want to lose my children
        #2 – Don’t want to lose my head
        #3 – There are a whole bunch of interesting stories and it’s better than Brothers Grimm
        #4 – I like the food
        #5 – Recitation of the Book is mesmerizing
        #6 – I don’t have to fully commit to much of it while living in the West
        #7 – The creed is simple and straightforward without the mysterious nature of Christian or Hindu belief and if I become Jew then I’m never fully accepted in their hierarchy and I have a deep faith in God and the unseen although at times I lean more toward being a God obsessed Spinozian pantheist- Ethics blew my mind
        #8 – It gives me a feeling of power when I see people fear me
        #9 – I identify with the Muhammad painted throughout the books of sira – He is the most human Prophet – his likes, dislikes, complaints, love of his people even to the point of going against God at on point (satanic verses episode) – the agony it caused him – I feel his pain and his struggle and can relate. His marriage to ‘Aisha I can easily dismiss as a cultural norm at the time and as a political alliance with Abu Bakr as he made alliance by marriage with all four of the first caliphs. He was either son-in law (Abu Bakr, Omar) or father in law (Othman, Ali) – His marriage to Zaynab who had been married to his maula and adopted son Zaid I understand as being necessary to erase the lie of sonship by adoption and establish him as last Prophet in the mind of all Muslims with no successor.
        #10 – Because I enjoy the mental instability

        • gravenimage says

          Oct 15, 2015 at 11:29 pm

          Abdullah wrote:

          #1 – Don’t want to lose my children
          #2 – Don’t want to lose my head
          ……………………..

          And you don’t have any problems with this oppression and violence?

          More:

          #3 – There are a whole bunch of interesting stories and it’s better than Brothers Grimm
          #4 – I like the food
          ……………………..

          You do realize that you can still read Middle Eastern stories and enjoy food from Dar-al-Islam without being Muslim? I made a Moroccan Tagine last Wednesday, and I’m a “filthy Infidel”.

          More:

          #5 – Recitation of the Book is mesmerizing
          #6 – I don’t have to fully commit to much of it while living in the West
          ……………………..

          Not *yet*, perhaps–but that will all change if your supremacist coreligionists gain the upper hand in the free West. Will you do *anything* to prevent a Muslim takeover and enslaving of us?

          More:

          #7 – The creed is simple and straightforward without the mysterious nature of Christian or Hindu belief and if I become Jew then I’m never fully accepted in their hierarchy and I have a deep faith in God and the unseen although at times I lean more toward being a God obsessed Spinozian pantheist- Ethics blew my mind
          ……………………..

          Well and good–but do the violent and oppressive diktats of your creed disturb you? What if your Imam declares violent Jihad against us to be Fard Ayn, rather than just Fard Kalifa? Will you violently turn on us, or risk violence against your self and family by refusing or ducking this demand?

          More:

          #8 – It gives me a feeling of power when I see people fear me
          ……………………..

          Should we take this seriously? If true, it means you *enjoy* the fruits of being associated with your more violent coreligionists–which makes it quite unlikely that you would do anything to oppose Muslims subjugating us.

          More:

          #9 – I identify with the Muhammad painted throughout the books of sira – He is the most human Prophet – his likes, dislikes, complaints, love of his people even to the point of going against God at on point (satanic verses episode) – the agony it caused him – I feel his pain and his struggle and can relate.
          ……………………..

          Do you also consider it “human” that he robbed, raped, enslaved, and mass-murdered anyone who balked at submitting to his thuggish violence?

          More:

          His marriage to ‘Aisha I can easily dismiss as a cultural norm at the time and as a political alliance with Abu Bakr as he made alliance by marriage with all four of the first caliphs…
          ……………………..

          Interesting that Jesus didn’t rape nine-year-old children, even though he also lived during a time with brutal cultural norms. And isn’t a prophet supposed to attempt to rise above the savagery of his times–rather than adopt the very worst aspects of it?

          And the fact is that Muhammed’s rape of poor little Aisha is *not* an obscure historical artifact–pious Muslims are abusing children *right now*, and all on the model of the “Prophet”. His example is held to be the model for all time. Does this ongoing suffering of children bother you at all? Here is just one terrible story:

          “Afghanistan: 8-year-old bride of mullah bleeds to death on her wedding night”

          http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/05/afghanistan-8-year-old-bride-of-mullah-bleeds-to-death-on-her-wedding-night

          You say you have children. Do they include girls? Would you be all right with their being raped before they reach puberty?

          More:

          His marriage to Zaynab who had been married to his maula and adopted son Zaid I understand as being necessary to erase the lie of sonship by adoption and establish him as last Prophet in the mind of all Muslims with no successor.
          ……………………..

          Any “Prophet” who has to steal his adopted son’s wife and render it virtually impossible for Muslims to adopt orphaned children so as to ensure his status as the last of his line is of a very questionable moral stature.

          More:

          #10 – Because I enjoy the mental instability
          ……………………..

          This last may, of course, be an attempt at humor.

          Assuming we are to take most of the above seriously, Abdullah seems a fairly common Muslim in Dar-al-Harb–someone who enjoys his increased freedom in the West, but will do nothing to oppose his savage coreligionists and the terrible threat they present to all civilized people.

        • Angemon says

          Oct 16, 2015 at 7:24 am

          Abdullah posted:

          “#9 – I identify with the Muhammad painted throughout the books of sira – He is the most human Prophet – his likes, dislikes, complaints, love of his people even to the point of going against God at on point (satanic verses episode) ”

          That’s not how the satanic verses episode went, is it? First, I’d like to point out that the satanic verses incident is widely regarded by muslims as a fabrication. As for the episode itself, muhammad was eager to convert his tribe to islam and had a “revelation” telling him that the goddesses worshiped by his tribe ( al-Lat, al-Uzza
          and Manat) were daughters and intermediaries to allah. This caused a problem, since muhammad preached that there was no god but allah and that he had no children, so eventually muhammad had another “revelation” telling him that the verses describing the goddesses of his tribe were in fact revealed by satan.

          Hardly the same as having muhammad going against allah.

  16. gravenimage says

    Oct 15, 2015 at 12:53 am

    Only somewhat off-topic: I don’t watch a lot of television, but I had become rather intrigued by the show “The Leftovers” (despite its unmelodic name, which makes one think of cold meatloaf). It is set up around a rapture-like event, where 2% of the population simply disappears into thin air all at once, and the remaining people have to deal with their confusion and grief.

    I knew it was likely that, like so many other shows set around a mystery, that it would probably come to no coherent resolution, rather like “Lost” or “The X-Files”–still, it is well done and seemed worth giving a chance.

    Well, there were a lot of changes with the second season, which has just begun–much of this seems quite random.

    But what *really* concerned me is that the appalling Reza Aslan is listed as “consultant”. That certainly does not bode well…

  17. Jay Boo says

    Oct 15, 2015 at 1:44 am

    Don’t all Muzzies pray with a choreographed display?

    What is an Islamic prayer with out a Reza Aslan prayer dance.

    Reza Aslan doing his disco dogma

  18. Kasey says

    Oct 15, 2015 at 7:57 am

    The truth is that Reza and all Muslims get it right in at least for only half of what they say: “There is no god…….” That’s where it really ends.

  19. Keith Jordan says

    Oct 15, 2015 at 10:17 am

    Is this person famous? I’m not familiar with him. Please explain who he is.

    • skeptic2000 says

      Oct 15, 2015 at 3:18 pm

      http://rezaaslan.com/about/

      Reza Aslan is a self described author and religious scholar. He is one of the media’s go-to-guys for all things Islam. He flaunted his intellectual prowess by being interviewed by Miss Piggy on ABC’s September 29, 2015 airing of “The Muppets.” Which brings up the question, “While Sharia prohibits eating pork, does it condone being interviewed by pork?”

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 15, 2015 at 3:35 pm

      Keith, Reza Aslan is a meretricious apologist for Islam–especially Iran. He appears plausibly “moderate” and regularly fools Infidels, including those in the media.

      You can look for stories about him in the archives here–depressing but very enlightening.

      Here’s just one recent piece:

      “Reza Aslan: US, Iran ‘more alike than they are different,’ Iran ‘forward-thinking, modern and educated’”

      http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/08/reza-aslan-us-iran-more-alike-than-they-are-different-iran-forward-thinking-modern-and-educated

  20. steve says

    Oct 16, 2015 at 12:35 am

    When you are an inbred society and you have a cash co…uh goat, milk it for all its worth!

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