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Robert Spencer, FP: Brandeis Denies Muslim Prof. Tenure – He Blames ‘Islamophobia’

May 31, 2016 10:57 am By Robert Spencer

What else could it possibly be? Incompetence? My latest in FrontPage:

May 31, 2016:

Joseph Lumbard

An article in The Islamic Monthly explains at wrist-slitting length how Muslim professor Joseph Lumbard was denied tenure at Brandeis University because of “Islamophobia” among administrators there. I can’t imagine that anyone beyond Lumbard’s mom would care to read in such detail about his academic fortunes, so I’m not including any lengthy excerpts in this article; this suffices to capture the absurdity of the piece:

Even still, Lumbard’s case of denied tenure raises more questions than answers, and brings to the fore the tenuous relationships other Muslim educators may be having with their own administrations in the current atmosphere of normalized Islamophobia.

The idea that there is an “atmosphere of normalized Islamophobia” in academia today is so wildly ludicrous that it raises the question of whether The Islamic Monthly is a parody site; but of course, the author of the piece, Davide Mastracci, is po-faced, aggrieved, and utterly serious. A Muslim professor was denied tenure; what else could it possibly be but “Islamophobia”?

Well, how about opposition to the freedom speech and freedom of inquiry? Lumbard led the successful effort to intimidate Brandeis into rescinding an honorary degree it had planned to give to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, bringing Brandeis unwelcome international attention as a bastion of political correctness that capitulated to Islamic supremacists.

Or how about arrogant puffery? Lumbard once promised to “dominate” me in debate, and then, after demonstrating an embarrassing lack of knowledge of how to formulate a debate thesis properly, backed out of the debate. Did Brandeis administrators get wind of this incident and wonder why their boastful, chest-thumping professor didn’t just take on the debate and “dominate” the “ignorant Islamophobe” as he had promised to do? Did they wonder why he lost his nerve on what should have been (as no doubt both he and they would have thought) such an easy challenge?

If those two weren’t enough, how about – above all — incompetence? Lumbard was General Editor of The Study Quran, a cynical exercise in deception, with half-truths and word-twistings scattered across every page.

For example, The Study Quran translates Qur’an 48:29 as: “Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Those who follow him are harsh against the disbelievers, merciful to one another.” That’s fine as a translation of the Arabic, but the commentary on the verse, after dismissively granting the obvious, offers a particularly preposterous attempt at whitewashing the passage and convincing the hapless reader that it means the opposite of what it says: “That they are harsh against the disbelievers implies that they never relent in their opposition to them and fight them when necessary (IK [Ibn Kathir]). In this context it also reflects an aspect of mercy, for just as the sunlight is most intense on black surfaces and less so on white surfaces, so are the believers harsher or ‘more intense’ with the disbelievers. In this sense, the believers must display the truth to them with a greater intensity of light and insight. Among each other, however, there is less need for such intensity, because the truth is manifest as gentle warmth.”

So you see, this Qur’an passage is really all about tough love. When the Qur’an says be “harsh” with non-Muslims, it really means be merciful to them. It doesn’t mean burn their churches and drive them from their homes and demand from them the jizya or conversion to Islam. No, no: all that would be…harsh. Instead, it just means be “intense” in telling them about Islam. But the believers don’t need this, as they are already Muslim.

The Study Quran, therefore, would have you believe that being harsh equals being merciful, and that one must therefore be merciful to unbelievers when the Qur’an says to be harsh to them. But the passage in question also says that Muslims must be “merciful to one another” — but The Study Quran says that to be merciful equals “display[ing] the truth,” and since Muslims have the truth already, they need not be “intense” in displaying it to one another. So by the time The Study Quran is through, it has rendered the verse that says “Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Those who follow him are harsh against the disbelievers, merciful to one another” as “Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Those who follow him are intense in mercy toward the disbelievers, and less merciful to one another.”

Elsewhere, The Study Quran does so much not deny the ugly reality of violence and hatred in the Muslim holy book as bury it under mountains of irrelevant commentary. Often, The Study Quran hides the ugliness in plain sight by not addressing the obviously problematic content of particular verses.

This deflection begins right at the beginning, with The Study Quran’s treatment of the Fatihah. The Fatihah is the first chapter of the Quran, and is also the most commonly recited prayer in Islam. The translators opted for pseudo-King James Bible archaisms, rendering the last two verses of the Fatihah as follows:

Guide us to the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast blessed, not of those who incur wrath or those who are astray.

Sounds reasonable. But virtually all mainstream and authoritative commentators on the Quran identify “those who incur wrath” as the Jews. Similarly, “those who are astray” are overwhelmingly accepted to be the Christians.

The Study Quran doesn’t deny this; in fact, it acknowledges it … but only after seven windy paragraphs about what it means to be blessed and other related matters. Anyone who is still reading after all that chloroform in print, to borrow Mark Twain’s phrase, will come to this:

Based upon a saying attributed to the Prophet, though not considered to be of the highest degree of authenticity, one interpretation given by a number of commentators is that those who incur wrath and those who are astray refer to Jews and Christians, respectively (IK, JJ, Q, T, Z).

(“IK, JJ, Q, T, Z” are shorthand for Muslim commentators on the Qur’an: Ibn Kathir; Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, “the two Jalals,” authors of the Tafsir al-Jalalayn; al-Qurtubi; al-Tabari; and al-Zamakhshari.)

The Study Quran doesn’t offer a single alternative interpretation of this verse (the editors could have invoked al-Nisaburi, to whose commentary they do refer on occasion. He says that “those who have incurred Allah’s wrath are the people of negligence, and those who have gone astray are the people of immoderation”). By introducing the interpretation by claiming it was based on a doubtful statement of Muhammad, and by only mentioning it at all after lengthy commentary about matters of slight import, the authors reveal an agenda of hiding the causes and justifications of “extremism”; of keeping readers from learning the reality of the verse’s historical and present significance.

This pattern continues on throughout The Study Quran. For example, Qur’an 98:6 reads:

Truly the disbelievers among the People of the Book and the idolaters are in the Fire of Hell, abiding therein; it is they who are the worst of creation.

The “disbelievers among the People of the Book” are those Jews and Christians who do not become Muslims. This near-unanimously accepted description can be found in numerous Muslim commentaries on the Qur’an, notably the Tanwir al-Miqbas min Tafsir Ibn Abbas.

The Study Quran, however, doesn’t want the reader to learn of that. Instead, it offers a lengthy disquisition into mankind’s “unique place in the cosmos.” It never gets around to pointing out that the Qur’an just called Jews and Christians the “worst of creation,” or explaining the implications of that declaration throughout history, including the current purges and slaughter of Jews and Christians happening today.

Might Brandeis administrators be aware of what a ridiculous farrago The Study Quran really is? Were they annoyed at Lumbard for trying to pass off a work of Islamic apologetics as an academic exercise?

Perhaps if Lumbard had really wanted tenure, he could have published an honest commentary on the Qur’an, and not revealed himself so nakedly to be the arrogant pseudo-academic puffball he is.

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Filed Under: "Islamophobia", academia, claiming victim status, Featured Tagged With: Brandeis, Joseph Lumbard


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Comments

  1. jihad3tracker says

    May 31, 2016 at 11:20 am

    Lombard is just the iceberg’s tip: below, deep in the ocean of Leftist America-haters, are thousands of “academics” like him — intellectually high-school students unable to rigorously defend, without ad hominems, their points of view if a subject is debated.

    This pork-bellied fellow brought on himself the major bad luck of temeritously challenging Robert to a wrestling match, and when our Expert Summa Cum Laude on Islam accepted, the mandatory scream of “Islamophobia” of course comes out of his mouth.

    • jihad3tracker says

      May 31, 2016 at 1:05 pm

      By the way, if you want to see BOTH THE AUTHOR AND LUMBARD getting their testicles shredded by commenters, go to that link for the Islamic Monthly article.

    • Shane says

      Jun 1, 2016 at 9:42 am

      Hey, why don’t liberals want to ban the Koran because of all the hate speech in it?

      • LB says

        Jun 1, 2016 at 10:10 am

        Because hate speech and racism can only come from white christians. It’s called “struggle of the oppressed minorities for their religious rights” (or something along those lines) when it’s the other way around. Don’t you watch the news?

  2. Angemon says

    May 31, 2016 at 11:40 am

    It’s islamophobia because he’s a muslim – if he was black it would be racism, if he was a woman it would he sexism, if he was gay it would be homophobia, if he was transgendered if would be transphobia, if he was disabled it would be ableism, etc.

    And if he was a black, disabled, transgendered muslim morbidly obese women, he’d be the Messiah of all those “intersectional” “civil rights” “activists” – at least until they turned on one another…

    • Mirren10 says

      May 31, 2016 at 2:45 pm

      ”And if he was a black, disabled, transgendered muslim morbidly obese women, he’d be the Messiah of all those “intersectional” “civil rights” “activists”

      🙂 Love it.

    • Robeaver says

      Jun 1, 2016 at 2:45 am

      Yepper. They are still only one point a piece in the poor me lexicon. It is not additive and certainly not logorithmic. Until our reason start to bleed.

  3. RonaldB says

    May 31, 2016 at 11:57 am

    I think the biggest danger is that somehow, the awarding of tenure will become a right, rather than a privilege. Therefore, a university will have to have a reason, defensible in court, why tenure was not granted, if the professor in question is a member of a protected class. Muslims are working hard to make Islam a protected class, so they can reap the benefits of lower standards and unjustified legal protections.

    I should mention my gratitude to Robert Spencer, a man of intellect who focuses his attention on the details of Islam for the purpose of warning non-Muslims of the dangers of the Islamic world view. It is mind-numbing to explore Islamic theology, practice, or legal doctrines.

    “The Study Koran” described and examined by Spencer is an example of the voluminous output possible to a “scholar” who has done away with the time it takes to actually focus on verifying and communicating the truth, rather than convenient homilies.

  4. KrazyKafir says

    May 31, 2016 at 11:58 am

    This man is far more dangerous to western freedoms and culture than any hardcore Jihadist. At least the Jihadists tell the truth about their religious teachings. It’s the so called moderates who perpetuate this evil ideology by lying about it, constantly. The moderates are the tip of the Jihadist spear.

  5. Jay Boo says

    May 31, 2016 at 12:01 pm

    Only when Alahu Akbar carpet kissers “feel totally subdued” and a have need to look over their own shoulders as they bend over to do their arrogant prayer dance display at the local mosque will they be cure of the Islamic induced affliction of “Not our Problem” syndrome.

    “Not our Problem” syndrome in Muslims never gets better from the groveling apology tours by Obama and company, it only gets worse.

    more at:

    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/05/pope-francis-might-jettison-idea-of-a-just-war/comment-page-1#comment-1446928

  6. Nathanael Hoernlé says

    May 31, 2016 at 1:45 pm

    This sentence:

    “Elsewhere, The Study Quran does so much not deny the ugly reality of violence and hatred in the Muslim holy book as bury it under mountains of irrelevant commentary”,

    looks like it was meant to be

    “Elsewhere, The Study Quran DOESN’T so much deny the ugly reality of violence and hatred in the Muslim holy book as bury it under mountains of irrelevant commentary”.

    In case anyone found the flow to be a bit interrupted. Not a criticism. These things happen. Excellent article.

    • citycat says

      May 31, 2016 at 7:41 pm

      I think you are taking the emphasis away from “so much” that is applied to “not deny”
      difficult to say really, have a word with the author.
      Just a thought.

  7. JawsV says

    May 31, 2016 at 3:17 pm

    Islam sucks. There shouldn’t be any Moslem “professors” in America.

    • eagle says

      Jun 1, 2016 at 4:02 pm

      I concur with JawsV says so much that I have a roll of toilet paper with the Quran on it. Do the Musheads know what toilet paper is for? You know why our Muslim president smiles ear to ear when he shakes hands with an infidel? Does Obama use toilet paper?

  8. mortimer says

    May 31, 2016 at 4:05 pm

    Joseph Lumbard’s whitewash of the kafir doctrine, jihad doctrine and misogyny doctrine of the Koran make him a propagandist, rather than a scholar.

    He is writing mendacious and deceitful advertising for Islam, rather than making a book to reflect the consensus of 1,000 years of Islamic jurisprudence.

    Joseph Lumbard…uncritical propagandist for Islam.

    • Keys says

      May 31, 2016 at 8:36 pm

      Ultimate taqiyya ….. lying about Allah’s immutable, uncreated, eternal word.

      I am the lost, the lie, and the death. He who believes in me shall have eternal death.

  9. Champ says

    May 31, 2016 at 4:32 pm

    “Guide us to the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast blessed” …

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Well, the “straight path” cannot be found within islam …

    Question: “What did Jesus mean when He said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life’ (John 14:6)?”

    Answer: “I am the way and the truth and the life” is one of the seven “I Am” statements of Jesus. On the last night before His betrayal and death, Jesus was preparing His disciples for the days ahead. For over three years, these men had been following Jesus and learning from His teaching and example. They had placed their hopes in Him as the Messiah, the promised deliverer, yet they still didn’t understand how He was going to accomplish that deliverance. After the Last Supper, Jesus began speaking about His departure, which led to questions from His disciples.

    Excerpt here: http://www.gotquestions.org/way-truth-life.html

    • mortimer says

      May 31, 2016 at 5:49 pm

      Champ wrote: ‘the “straight path” cannot be found within islam.’

      Islam is filled with detours, contradictions, incoherence, errors, preposterous illogic, absurd explanations, moral nonsense, absolute foolish. There is nothing ‘straight’ about this crooked path.

      • Champ says

        May 31, 2016 at 5:59 pm

        All true, Mortimer; indeed, islam is *wholly* evil!

  10. Norger says

    Jun 1, 2016 at 1:02 am

    Being “harsh” with non-believers is ultimately merciful because the non-believer gets the privilege of receiving the awesome benefit of exposure to true Islamic wisdom. Probably the mostself-centered, egotistical, entitled, arrogant, hate-filled totalitarian cult ideology of all time.

    This attitude reminds of the following quote from Raymond Ibrahim’s Al Quaeda reader: “Battle, animosity, and hatred–directed from the Muslim to the infidel–is the foundation of our religion. And we consider this a kindness to them”

  11. Richard Paulsen says

    Jun 1, 2016 at 6:27 am

    In Sweden there is no islamophobia. Welcome to family day meeting in Nyköping,Sweden. Some 30.000 citizens.

    http://www.sn.se/nyheter/nykoping/1.4098120-manga-besokare-pa-familjedagen-pa-rosvalla

  12. Samuel barthis says

    Jun 1, 2016 at 8:57 am

    It irks me that his name is still “Joseph” it should be “Yusuf”. His involvement with the Muslims converted him. As a “scholar” did he not read Eliade, suggesting that that scholar ought to suspend their judgment of other religions. Lumbard converted. I do not think this is how one ought to see the “other.” Suspension of judgment affords the scholar space to reflect, yet in Lumbard’s articulation he felt it necessary to decry the erudition of others focusing rather on his spiritual ascendancy. Western perspectives are now inherently evil while a jahadi temperament raised his narcissistic self importance to that of the conceited levels of his adopted religion.

  13. Florida Jim says

    Jun 1, 2016 at 9:00 am

    Perhaps it is the foul religion that preaches hatred to three year olds and beheads women who disobey their husbands?
    Or this:
    https://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/294950-This-is-a-real-eye-opener-very-sad!

  14. BC says

    Jun 1, 2016 at 4:00 pm

    It is wonderful to have the excuse of Islamofauxbia to rely on in all of life’s adversities. Muslims are so lucky to have discovered it.

    • Peggy says

      Jun 1, 2016 at 7:26 pm

      That’s all they are capable of discovering.

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