The ex-Muslim Ibn Warraq, one of the premier experts on Islam in the world today, reviews my new book The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS, which you can preorder here.
“A Salutary Shock from Robert Spencer,” by Ibn Warraq, Townhall, July 11, 2018:
For those who still think — and, alas, there remain many — that Islamic terrorism has emerged only in the last forty years or so, The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS, Robert Spencer’s carefully researched work on jihad from the beginning of Muhammad’s political and prophetical career to the acts of terrorism of September, 11, 2001, will be a salutary shock.
Robert Spencer has been telling, and warning, us of the activities of the jihadists at his website Jihad Watch since 2003. Every single day for fifteen years now, he has kept a vigilant eye on all the barbarisms of the Islamic terrorists, and is surely the best informed and almost the only truly qualified expert capable of analyzing the phenomenon of jihad throughout history. On so many sad occasions when he was not taken seriously enough, Spencer was forced to remind us, “I told you so.” It is time to listen to Robert Spencer.
It will not be at all easy to refute Spencer’s latest book, since he, for the first three Islamic centuries, relies almost entirely on the Arabic sources, that is Muslim historians and scholars, such as Ibn Ishaq, Al-Tabari, Ibn Sa’d, Bukhari, Tirmidhi, and Muslim, who paint a grim picture of the early Islamic conquests.
One of the chief merits of Spencer’s account of Muhammad’s career in this book’s first chapter is that he relies entirely on those earliest extant Arabic sources, and if the picture that emerges of the Prophet of Islam is far from flattering, Muslims, at least, cannot complain that it is a portrait painted by the enemy or infidels. Unfortunately, much of the subsequent bloody history of Islam that is recounted in this book can be seen to derive from the example set by its founder: his intolerance of non-Muslims, his anti-Jewish sentiments, his attitude to women, all are attested to in the Islamic sources.
Thanks to Spencer’s book, we can no longer pretend that Islamic fundamentalism is an aberrant form of Islam. The seeds of violence and intolerance are already there in seventh-century Arabia, and in the life of Muhammad.
For the later Middle Ages, Spencer has also diligently consulted the primary sources where possible, and has relied upon recognized modern scholars such as Ignaz Goldziher, Bernard Lewis, Bat Ye’or, and Steven Runciman, among others. Spanning centuries and continents, from the seventh to the twentieth century, from Spain to India, Spencer takes us on a tour of the global jihad that is Islamic history.
Along the way, he shatters many myths, such as the myth of the Golden Age of Spain, a putative period of ecumenical harmony, a kind of perpetual medieval Woodstock Summer of love. He also puts the Crusades into perspective, and reminds us that the Crusades were a belated response to years and years of jihad, and persecution of Christians. Spencer brings the story up to modern times, not forgetting the Armenian genocides perpetuated by the Turks between 1915 and 1923.
Robert Spencer’s work is essential reading for all of us, for all those who want to defend our values from the relentless jihad that has not ceased for fourteen centuries. We must heed Spencer’s final words if we are to succeed in saving Western Civilization:
“In the twenty-first century, the leaders of Europe, as well as many in North America, having brought almost certain doom on their countries no less unmistakable than that which befell Constantinople on May 29, 1453. Yet instead of taking responsibility for what they have done, they have stayed their course, and would have denounced the doomed Emperor Constantine XI, like his predecessor Manuel II, as “Islamophobic,” and his exhortation to defend Constantinople to the death as “militaristic” and “xenophobic.” In the twenty-first century, as the 1,400-year Islamic jihad against the free world continued to advance, the best allies the warriors of jihad had were the very people they had in their sights.”
Robert Spencer is indefatigable. He is keeping up the good fight long after many have already given up. I do not know what we would do without him. I appreciate all the intelligence and courage it takes to keep going despite the appeasement of the West.
jenny says
Looking forward to the read.
boakai ngombu says
yup
mortimer says
Thanks to Robert Spencer’s HISTORY OF JIHAD, the slogan ‘RELIGION OF PEACE’ is now DEAD.
Andy says
Ex-Muslims of North America
https://www.exmna.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbsapNNkJXA
Andy says
Meet the least trusted press in Europe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmDcBLomTCI
Mark Swan says
Mr. Spencer, thank you for sharing here, what Mr. Warraq wrote.
J D S says
When one uses the enemies accounts of their conquest sometimes the enemy overstates or even understates, their actions to show that they are superior to their foe….It appears though that this is not the case with Roberts book…..Using the enemy’s own words from written testimony he shows their true colors.
God is the only God and is the father of Jesus, the Christ.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
This Ibn warraq is just an ignorant fool. I cannot see any breakthrough either in Mr Spence’s book of fiction stories he titled “jihad from muhammad to Isis ” and writeups attributed to the so-called Ex-Muslim Ibn warraq, the two reproduce the same garbages concocted by orientalists and mithraist Evangelist liars of old. The two could not follow the scholarly debates in Arabic available in abundance, but rely on the scanty literature assumed by orientalists from the scholarly debates due to deficiency in knowledge on Islam.
gravenimage says
What a load of crap–Jihad through the centuries has been amply chronicled, by both surviving victims *and* Muslim perpetrators–including early on in the Qur’an, Hadith, and Sira.
Moreover, Ibrahim itace muhammed *himself* has affirmed that Muslims have the right to conquer, rob, rape, enslave, and mass slaughter Infidels who do not submit to Islam–so his claiming that Jihad has never happened is particularly laughable.
gravenimage says
Also, as long as Ibrahim itace muhammed has been ranting about “garbages concocted by orientalists and mithraist Evangelist liars of old”, he has never actually been able to point to anything they have gotten wrong. No surprise there.
boakai ngombu says
itace, you display your envy, perhaps jealousy, that you cannot be as informed as these two men, you are bitching like a brat kid.
you should buy Spencer’s latest. he says it’s a great read; many are anticipating that. and Warraq has contributed to people’s knowledge about islam (subjugation, or, submission) with his writings. they know more than you.
best you stick with finance matters and money laundering projects … and your wives and whatever you hold in your right hand.
The Istanbulian says
Boakai, they sent ibo here because he was shi’ite at everything else.
gravenimage says
He’s pretty bad at Da’wa here, as well…
mortimer says
Agree with BNgombu. HAS IBRAHIM READ THE BOOK HE IS REVIEWING?
mortimer says
By the way, Ibrahim, Mr. Robert Spencer HAS STUDIED ARABIC … your argument is invalid.
So, you lose, Ibrahim.
VRWC member77 says
Ibn Warraq could run debate circles around someone like Yusuf Qaradawi and any other fool your moronic mind could present. I’m guessing your “scholarly Islamic sources” are written in Arabic. Arabic, the one language that hasn’t created any new words or literary concepts in the last 200 years. That’s why Islam and dimple-witted muslms like you make up the waste water civilizations of the world.
There’s a reason why the British Empire reigned rule in the world for as long as it did. After their reign came America’s. WHAT DOES ENGLAND AND AMERICA HAVE MOST IN COMMON?……LANGUAGE.
The English language has more words than any other language in the world -that includes Mandarin. A society with a rich language has a rich culture. A rich culture produces ideas and that’s what makes them powerful.
Arabic is a stagnant, -literally backward- annoying language……characteristics that describe Islam, perfectly.
mortimer says
VRWC, Robert Spencer studied Arabic.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
VRWC,as ignorant fool how can you determine the level of literary development of Arabic language?you cannot read and understand it, what more of literary criticism known as Naqd in Arabic.
eduardo odraude says
We know enough to know you are in league with totalitarian killers and rapists because you want to spread your fanatical authoritarian belief system.
VRWC member77 says
Ha, touched a diminutive nerve in midget brained Ibrahim,
Hey Ibrahim, I know more about the INFERIOR Arabic language than an illiterate INFERIOR like you knows about the SUPERIOR language of English. Where does a punk like you get off thinking he knows my familiarity level of the Arabic language?
As I’ve said and you prove———-> Arabic = Islam = backward
Blangwort says
If he is such an ignoramus, surely you must know of things that he has misrepresented. What are they?
Further, which scholarly debates do you refer to? What do they say that invalidates Ibn Warraq’s point of view?
gravenimage says
+1
mortimer says
Blangwort, Ibrahim reviewed a book he has not read. How stupid and arrogant is that?
gravenimage says
True, Mortimer. The book is not out yet except to selected reviewers.
But Ibrahim itace muhammed has–absurdly–been claiming for months now that everything in it is false. What a tool.
mortimer says
Ibrahim, Islamic history is well-documented in many languages… by the victims of jihad particularly. You are claiming that thousands of historians over 14 centuries are ALL 100% inaccurate about the effects of jihad.
That is not believable that THOUSANDS of historians are wrong.
So, Ibrahim, you lose.
Terry Gain says
Yo Muhammad
Please explain how Islam spread from Arabia to the Levant, Spain, France, Italy, North Africa, India, and Turkey. And please explain what Islam was doing at the Gates of Vienna in 1683.
Both in terms of its doctrine and its history it is inarguable that Islam is an evil ideology of conquest.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Terry Gain, all parts of the world Muslims went were under Mithraist christian Roman oppressive rules and were liberated.In other parts like India it was the indigenous people who spread the light of Islam there, not foreign invasions like that of mithraist christian colonisations and deprivations.Remember,mithraist christians erased the original inhabitants of Americas and settled there. wicked scums of evil!!
Terry Gain says
MuhamMAD
And after being liberated, non-muslims were privileged to pay the Jizya and enjoy an inferior status. You are too funny.
Mark Swan says
Yep—they liberated—that is the term.
gravenimage says
The repulsive Ibrahim itace muhammed wrote:
Terry Gain, all parts of the world Muslims went were under Mithraist christian Roman oppressive rules and were liberated.
……………………….
Ibrahim itace muhammed has made this grotesque assertion before–even claiming that Christians welcomed having their cities sacked by violent Muslims.
More:
In other parts like India it was the indigenous people who spread the light of Islam there, not foreign invasions like that of mithraist christian colonisations and deprivations.
……………………….
Actually, Muslims invaded India and waged the bloodiest Jihad in history there. Some *80 million* Hindus were butchered by the Muslim invaders.
That’s what the “light of Islam” looked like there.
More:
Remember,mithraist christians erased the original inhabitants of Americas and settled there. wicked scums of evil!!
……………………….
Several points here–firstly, the West is capable of self criticism. Few here today fail to acknowledge that the treatment of the Native Americans was overall very bad.
Note that Ibrahim itace muhammed has no such criticism for Islamic conquest, claiming that the victims *welcomed* being raped, oppressed, enslaved, and murdered.
Then, the idea that Muslims would have treated Native Americans well is absurd–they would have regarded them as pagans, just as they did Hindus. Ibrahim itace muhammed refers to them as “filthy Hindu barbarians”.
Lastly, the idea–which Ibrahim itace muhammed has put forward here before–that Native Americans were “erased” is ludicrous. I noted that I live in the city in the US with the largest Native American population, and he called me a liar and said that there are no American Indians.
Is he this really this ignorant, or does he just hope that we are?
garry pollack says
they chased all the snakes out?
mortimer says
Ibrahim, Islam is the greatest genocidal force in history … THE HISTORY OF JIHAD PROVES IT.
270,000,000 KILLED / 1400 years = 192,857 deaths per year since Mohammed began his attacks.
192,857 KILLED / 365 = 528 deaths per day since Mohammed began his attacks.
528 KILLED / 24 (hours) = 22 deaths per hour since Mohammed began his attacks.
22 KILLED / 60 minutes = 0.3669 persons killed by Islam every minute since Mohammed began his attacks.
1 KILLED / 3 minutes = one person was killed by Islam every 3 minutes since Mohammed began his attacks.
The tears of jihad: 270 million killed by political Islam. Ibrahim … you lose.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
mortimer, you just say it with references from liars. But there has been no cogent and irrefutable historical evidence support them. It is rubbish
eduardo odraude says
Muhammad said, “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.”
He is quoted thus in the most authoritative hadith collection, Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 84, Hadith 57. See muflihun.com/bukhari/84/57
Various other authoritative hadiths attest that Muhammad called for death to those who leave Islam. That’s why even today all the schools of Islamic law prescribe death for apostasy from Islam. See the David Wood video on this subject:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju3HsWLyVlQ
eduardo odraude says
Muhammad affirms that those who do not follow him will be slaughtered
On page 222 (326 in the Arabic) of the earliest Muslim biography of Muhammad:
https://www.goo.gl/G78Rbj
This is what the cruel, brutal Ibrahim Itace Muhammad stands for: slaughter of non-Muslims. Everything else from Ibrahim is lies and excuses.
eduardo odraude says
Not just that. Because when he was a child his mommy and some people in his mosque told Ibrahim the “prophet” Muhammad was the best man ever in the world, Ibrahim thinks slaughtering non-Muslims is a ticket to heaven and 72 virgins. Ibrahim should be pitied because when young he was brainwashed and never had the opportunity to seriously question Islam or look at the evidence that Muhammad was a fake — why, because Muhammad told people Allah hates when you ask too many questions:
In Sahih al-Bukhari, the most canonical hadith collection:
http://cmje.usc.edu/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/024-sbt.php#002.024.555
You can get yourself killed in the Islamic world if you are too persistent in asking questions. That’s why Ibrahim doesn’t have a clue. He’s grown up in a community where no one asks too many questions, because anyone who did is weeded out, brutalized, or killed. So pity Ibrahim — he may lack the inner resources to do anything but follow the track that his been laid down for him by other mental slaves.
gravenimage says
This from Ibrahim itace muhammed is absurd–he himself has affirmed that Muslims have the right to conquer, enslave, and slaughter Infidels.
eduardo odraude says
For some of the most brutal and shocking examples of “prophet” Muhammad’s words and deeds, as recorded in the core Islamic texts themselves, see http://www.quotingislam.blogspot.com
A careful perusal of those sources shows why Islam leads to closed authoritarian societies. That is where the pitiable mental slave Ibrahim wants to lead us. May he wake up one day.
gravenimage says
Spot on, Eduardo.
J D S says
Hmmmmm Speak of the devil and up pops someone who is always condemning others…Ibrahim! Who always has something to say When someone is telling it like it is and poP.
Ibrahim you really need Jesus in your life…and not the Jesus mentioned in your fake book of poems.
Ibn Warraq know more about Islam than you will ever know in your lifetime. He could put down any big wig Muslim that would dare debate him…would you like to try? I’m sure he would accommodate you even though you would not even give him 5 minutes and you would be DONE! Jesus is the answer or…The Lake of Fire awaits you. and nothing you can say it do will change that.unless you find Jesus the Christ.
mortimer says
Ibrahim, ISLAM IS A RIVER OF BLOOD.
The “tears of jihad” are a rough estimate of the number of deaths of non-Muslims by the political act of jihad.
Africa 120 million Africans
Christians 60 million Christians
Hindus 80 million Hindus
Buddhists 10 million Buddhists
Jews many thousands
This gives a rough estimate of 270 million killed by jihad.
So, Ibrahim, you lose.
Elisha says
“I cannot see any breakthrough either in Mr Spence’s book of fiction stories he titled “jihad from muhammad to Isis”
LOL!! RS quotes ISLAMIC SOURCES. Therefore you admit islam is false. Is there anyone more ignorant or retarded than a muslim? Stop marrying your sisters! Heaven help us …
sam says
Ibrahim Itace, it is insensible using ad hominem remarks against you, for clearly you have an agenda. Critical thinking is not one you have neither does any Muslim scholar or academic. While many readers of this site may regard themselves as Christians it is evident from their remarks that they are attuned to the demands and rigours of modern scholarship. The Qur’an and its prophet is not above criticism and it will serve you well to read critically. You need not be overtly critical because you are an apologist to what is gravely wrong.But, in the same way as you articulate your in criticism of the Bible and Western news sources I am sure with a little bit of intellectual adjustment you will be able to fit into a largely articulate fraternity
Joe says
Itrace, if you want to be taken seriously, you should learn how to write. It is not that hard.
don vito says
itace, how is your study coming along? You remember, don’t you? You asked the question, “when did Jesus (Yeshua) become the Son of God”? If you keep asking that question, and look for answers you will become a wonderful apostate. Good luck in your search.
Jay says
The robot speaks again…..repeat after , me….”kill them wherever you find them, behind a rock or s tree, etc…”
Stendec says
The last paragraph by Ibn Warraq expresses my thoughts exactly about Robert Spencer, although with a much better choice of words than I could ever assemble. We are truly blessed to have this courageous man defending the flame of liberty. I am reminded of Churchill’s proclamation (concerning the heroic pilots of the Battle of Britain), in paraphrase: “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few””–in this case, to one man. We live in an age of propaganda. And the Islamic dawa (verbal jihad) machine exploits to the fullest the modern technology that enables a conniving disinformation campaign. Wave after wave of deceitful Islamic propaganda matches the Muslims’ relentless campaign of global persecution and genocidal slaughter of “the other.” And behold, there is Robert Spencer, standing against this onslaught armed only with the light of truth, like Gandalf standing against the balrog in the Mines of Moria.
gravenimage says
+1
Terry Gain says
+100
As I’ve said countless times, Spencer is our generation’s Churchill. The only thing missing is Hitler and Lady Astor.
mortimer says
Kaddafi, Sadam Hussein, Ayatollah Khomeini, Erdogan … they are the Hitlers. Lady Astor is Hillary Clinton.
mortimer says
How about Theresa May for the modern verstion of Lady Astor and Neville Chamberlain?
infidel says
Oh do not worry Terry.. We have our share of Hitlers in the guise of mad Edrogan, ISIS chief, other terror mongers and their enablers like MAD MAAMA MERKEL. THE TURD, STUPID MAY and the mad LEFT LIBs.. and all those and many dhimmi Hindu leaders in India as well.. We have ENOUGH on our hands..
Mal Feesence says
+1000
obama, soros, clinton and the entire hollywood/washington sewers…I contend there is more evil today than ever before…
Vicky says
A question: what did Lady Astor do?
Christian says
Meanwhile, in Scotland, a Muslim thug tries to evade justice by hiding behind Ramadan. The thug was part of a violent group rampaging through the streets which ended with someone being murdered.
Fortunately, in this case, the judge rejected the excuse, but still passed a non-custodial sentence regarded by many outraged people as much too lenient:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/shaun-woodburn-yob-who-used-12896781
gravenimage says
Thanks for the link.
Terry Gain says
Vicky
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/03/10/churchill_lady_astor_and_the_sisters_langhorne_pioneers.html
jewdog says
To help counter the ignorance about Islam among American Jews, I would like to see Chabad add a course on Islamic history and doctrine featuring Robert’s book. The Rebbe would have approved. I’ll suggest that.
UNCLE VLADDI says
Did Ibn Warraq just escape from the 1970s, or is that just a very old photo of him?!
UNCLE VLADDI says
Re: ” Spencer’s final words: “In the twenty-first century, the leaders of Europe, as well as many in North America, having brought almost certain doom on their countries no less unmistakable than that which befell Constantinople on May 29, 1453.”
THIS IS NOT A REAL SENTENCE, GRAMMATICALLY SPEAKING.
Still some editing work to be done before the book is finally released in a few days, eh, Robert?
😉
Robert Spencer says
The book is already printed and that has been fixed.
Matthieu Baudin says
“…Robert Spencer is indefatigable. He is keeping up the good fight long after many have already given up. I do not know what we would do without him. I appreciate all the intelligence and courage it takes to keep going despite the appeasement of the West…”
Ibn Warraq is a thoroughly dedicated scholar. He is commenting on Robert Spencer’s integrity and fortitude. It doesn’t come sweeter than this – to receive such an endorsement from the man who has dedicated his life’s work to making visible the lives of the worlds millions of apostates from Islam.