Establishment academic Juan Cole claims here that “the Islamophobes like to argue that Islam is an inherently violent religion, that its adherents are quite literally commanded to such violence by its holy scriptures, the Qur’an. It’s a position that, as I explain in my new book, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires, is both utterly false and ahistorical.”
I haven’t seen his book, and don’t intend to buy it, but his statement here is risible. Muslims are not commanded to violence by the Qur’an? Let’s see.
“And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from where they drove you out; persecution is worse than slaughter. But fight them not by the Holy Mosque until they should fight you there; then, if they fight you, kill them — such is the recompense of unbelievers, but if they give over, surely Allah is all-forgiving, all-compassionate. Fight them until there is no persecution and the religion is Allah’s; then if they give over, there shall be no enmity save for evildoers.” (Qur’an 2:191-193)
“They wish that you should disbelieve as they disbelieve, and then you would be equal; therefore do not take friends from among them, until they emigrate in the way of Allah; then, if they turn their backs, seize them and kill them wherever you find them; do not take for yourselves any one of them as friend or helper.” (Qur’an 4:89)
“This is the recompense of those who fight against Allah and His Messenger, and hasten about the earth to do corruption there: they shall be killed, or crucified, or their hands and feet shall be struck off on opposite sides; or they shall be exiled from the land. That is a degradation for them in this world; and in the world to come awaits them a mighty chastisement.” (Qur’an 5:33)
“When your Lord was revealing to the angels, ‘I am with you; so confirm the believers. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers; so strike the necks, and strike every finger of them!” (Qur’an 8:12)
“Fight them, till there is no persecution and religion is all for Allah; then if they give over, surely Allah sees the things they do.” (Qur’an 8:39)
“Make ready for them whatever force and strings of horses you can, to strike terror into the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others besides them that you know not; Allah knows them. And whatever you spend in the way of Allah shall be repaid you in full; you will not be wronged.” (Qur’an 8:60)
“Then, when the sacred months are over, kill the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms, then let them go their way; Allah is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.” (Qur’an 9:5)
“Fight those who believe not in Allah and the Last Day and do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, and do not practice the religion of truth, even if they are of the People of the Book — until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.” (Qur’an 9:29)
“Allah has bought from the believers their selves and their possessions against the gift of Paradise; they fight in the way of Allah; they kill, and are killed; that is a promise binding upon Allah in the Torah, and the Gospel, and the Koran; and who fulfils his covenant truer than Allah? So rejoice in the bargain you have made with Him; that is the mighty triumph.” (Qur’an 9:111)
“O believers, fight the unbelievers who are near to you; and let them find in you a harshness; and know that Allah is with the godfearing.” (Qur’an 9:123)
“When you meet the unbelievers, strike their necks, then, when you have made wide slaughter among them, tie fast the bonds; then set them free, either by grace or ransom, till the war lays down its loads. So it shall be; and if Allah had willed, He would have avenged Himself upon them; but that He may try some of you by means of others. And those who are slain in the way of Allah, He will not send their works astray.” (Qur’an 47:4)
How have Muslims throughout history understood these passages? They took them as meaning “Give the unbelievers a big hug, chuck them on the shoulder, and buy them a chocolate malt,” right? Unfortunately, the historical record is not quite so full of laughter and sunshine. Find out how Muslims throughout history have actually understood the Qur’an’s exhortations to warfare in my new book, The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS, which you can order here.
It is not irrelevant to note also that Juan Cole is on the Board of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), which has been established in court as a front group lobbying for the Islamic regime in Iran. Said Michael Rubin: “Jamal Abdi, NIAC’s policy director, now appears to push aside any pretense that NIAC is something other than Iran’s lobby. Speaking at the forthcoming ‘Expose AIPAC’ conference, Abdi is featured on the ‘Training: Constituent Lobbying for Iran’ panel. Oops.” According to the Daily Caller: “Iranian state-run media have referred to the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC) since at least 2006 as ‘Iran’s lobby’ in the U.S.” Iranian freedom activist Hassan Daioleslam “documented over a two-year period that NIAC is a front group lobbying on behalf of the Iranian regime.” NIAC had to pay him nearly $200,000 in legal fees after they sued him for defamation over his accusation that they were a front group for the mullahs, and lost. Yet Juan Cole remains on their Board.
I’ve invited Juan Cole to debate in the past; he has, of course, contemptuously refused, which means that he knows who would win if he accepted.
“Trump’s Unwavering Adversary: Islam,” by Juan Cole, The Nation, October 9, 2018:
…Consider it a great irony, then, that some significant part of the turmoil in the greater Middle East that helped provoke waves of refugees and an Islamophobic backlash here and in Europe was, at least in part, the creation of this country, not Muslim fundamentalist madmen.
The Islamophobes like to argue that Islam is an inherently violent religion, that its adherents are quite literally commanded to such violence by its holy scriptures, the Qur’an. It’s a position that, as I explain in my new book, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires, is both utterly false and ahistorical. As it happens, you would have to look to far more recent realities to find the impetus for the violence, failed states, and spreading terror groups in today’s Greater Middle East. Start with the Reagan administration’s decision to deploy rag-tag bands of Muslim extremists (which Al Qaeda was first formed to support) against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s. That set in motion massive turmoil still roiling that country, neighboring Pakistan, and beyond, decades after the fall of the Soviet Union….
gerard says
This author is great at details. Instead of providing facts, he quotes his own conclusions.
Real Persaisive.
Sons of Liberty says
I won’t even call him professor , …this man is a moron ! If Juan Cole is teaching university students that explains the utter ignorance of many of the students of higher learning today.
Charles Martel says
I second that three times! He is a historical liar.
He should become a muslim and go one of those dar el Salam country.
Ned kelly says
what planet is the “professor” on.? Has he even read the quran.? I did, + felt sick for a week.
David Pimentel says
Agreed. At the risk of being offensive, I’m surprised his skin is as white as it is given how far he has shoved it up his butt.
J D S says
I don’t know if he is a teaching professor anywhere but I’m sure have has left a trail of his way of thinking at any university that he has ever taught in..spewing his thoughts to our young people wherever he is it has been……NO people like him will debate Mr. Spencer because they know they would loose.
Kimberly Palmer says
@ Sons of Liberty… I think those terms are now synonymous. professor = moron.
Westman says
So why isn’t he discrediting Reza Aslan who admits that Muhammad was a caravan robber? There is a peaceful religion started by a caravan robber?
This is no “born again” story of “I was a caravan robber and then I got religion and repented”, no, this is a story of, “I got religion and Allah wanted me to be a caravan robber and I have been made victorious with terror.”
Why do these “men”, who use educational institutions as a deferment from physical labor and military service, persist in undermining the very nation who afforded them that privilege? In re-writing history they forget that whether Islam or Marxism prevails they will ultimately find themselves in forced re-education or deceased. Neither movement, once ensconced, has any use for them.
Although Agnostic, I recognize this truth:
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7
Wisdom is in short supply in our greatest universities; where angry misfits preach anarchy and mobocracy to sustained adolescents.
gravenimage says
So true.
Lydia Church says
“to argue that Islam is NOT an inherently violent and evil religion is both utterly false and ahistorical”
To disagree with this comment, one would have to be utterly stupid, like this professor of poppycock!
6woods says
“Why do these “men”, who use educational institutions as a deferment from physical labor and military service, persist in undermining the very nation who afforded them that privilege?”
They’ve been bought and paid for. End of story.
Roderick MacUalraig says
Well said.
mortimer says
ISLAM HAS MOST VIOLENT PRIMARY TEXTS OF ANY RELIGION
Danish researcher Tina Magaard, Ph.D. concluded that Islam is the most warlike religion. After three years analyzing the original texts of ten different religions, Tina Magaard concluded that the Islamic texts stand out by encouraging terror and violence to a larger degree than other religions do. She stated that ‘Islamic texts encourage terror and fighting to a far larger degree than the original texts of other religions. The texts in Islam distinguish themselves from the texts of other religions by encouraging violence and aggression against people with other religious beliefs to a larger degree.’
“What is striking is not in itself that one can find murderous passages in the Islamic texts, as such passages can also be found in other religions. But it is striking how much space these passages take up in the Islamic texts, and how much they focus on an us-and-them logic in which infidels and apostates are characterized as dirty, rotten, criminal, hypocritical and dangerous. It is also striking how much these texts demand that the reader fight the infidels, both with words and with the sword. In many passages, Muhammad plays a central role as one who encourages the use of violence, whether it comes to stonings, beheadings, acts of war or execution of critics and poets.”
Tina Magaard finds it particularly objectionable that so many Islamic scholars in her opinion knowingly fail to disclose these facts, and use their positions of power to create specific standards for what you can say. Often, they also blame Danish racism rather than objectively stating that extremists actually find justifications for using violence and threats in Islam’s holy scriptures.…
mortimer says
The Koran’s 164 Jihad Verses: K 002:178-179, 190-191, 193-194, 216-218, 244; 003:121-126, 140-143, 146, 152-158, 165-167,169, 172-173, 195; 004:071-072, 074-077, 084, 089-091, 094-095,100-104; 005:033, 035, 082; 008:001, 005, 007, 009-010, 012, 015-017, 039-048,057-060, 065-075; 009:005, 012-014, 016, 019-020, 024-026, 029,036, 038-039, 041, 044, 052, 073, 081, 083,086, 088, 092, 111, 120, 122-123; 016:110; 022:039, 058, 078; 024:053, 055; 025:052; 029:006, 069; 033:015, 018, 020, 023, 025-027, 050; 042:039; 047:004, 020, 035; 048:015-024; 049:015; 059:002, 005-008, 014; 060:009; 061:004, 011, 013; 063:004; 064:014; 066:009; 073:020; 076:008.
Case closed.
FYI says
Could you send that list to pope saint francis?It seems he missed those bits..
“Authentic islam and a proper reading of the koran show it to be opposed to every form of violence”
pope francis
164 Jihad verses:how could he have missed that…unless he didn’t really read it:that would require a “proper reading”.
Kimberly Palmer says
FYI – I wouldn’t put much faith in the Pope being able to read the Koran any better than he’s read the Bible. With doctrines such as purgatory and infant baptism being non-existent in the text of the Bible, it’s not difficult to see how he also misread the Koran.
StellaSaidSo says
Juan Cole (born John Cole) is a prominent pro-Palestinian anti-Trump leftist academic who regularly appears on MSM as a guest of the likes of Anderson Cooper, Rachel Madcow, and Keith Olbermann. Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the Univ of Michigan. Richard P. Mitchell wrote a sympathetic history of the Muslim Brotherhod, published in 1969. I don’t know who funds Cole’s professorship, but I’m guessing it’s not a conservative outfit.
Sun says
Juan Cole is on the Board of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), which has ties to Georg Soros.
https://www.businessinsider.com/george-soros-taking-heat-over-ties-to-pro-iranian-group-2009-11
StellaSaidSo says
Yep. No surprises there. Soros probably pays his salary.
Kimberly Palmer says
@StellaSaidSo – Thanks, I was wondering how he got the name Juan. Isn’t that cultural misappropriation at it’s height? Makes you wonder why he hasn’t done more to tone down his ‘white male privileged’ look more, maybe a wig and a wardrobe change would help.
Lillibet says
At the end of his life Muhammad said, “I have been successful through terror.” As the perfect example in Islam, he is the model to follow. He didn’t say I have been successful through peaceful and well reasoned discussion. This motivating figure contradicts Juan Cole in one sentence as he inspires all Islam.
Louis says
Interestingly, referring to one’s own conclusions as means of validating one’s own argument is a fraudulent tactic frequently used by that poster boy of the left, Noam Chomsky. One can only wonder at what parallel universe these academics must inhabit when their arguments are so demonstrably self-serving. When one is a political sock puppet, the truth is subservient to the message.
JOHN says
Another educated idiot.
SB says
When professor Cole (or anyone for that matter) says Islam is a peaceful religion, got things to do, don’t have much time to waste.
Tom says
What utter nonsense this myopic view is purporting to espouse. This “Professor” is extremely biased in his selective writing if he thinks that the inherently violent nature of Islam stems from actions taken in recent decades.
There is historical fact that shows the violent and invasive nature of the Islamic hordes which invaded Europe in the name of Allah. For hundreds of years Muslims raided, plundered and killed in the name of Islam. It was in response to these invaders that the crusades happened.
There is ample evidence to confirm the violence in Islam since the time of Mohammad and throughout the centuries.
As usual the appeasers of Islam are trying to change history to suit the “Religion of Peace” narrative.
underbed cat says
The irony is that he is a professor…..if he read the Quran how does he not see and read the calls to violence that is used to create fear and submission, If he listens to a follower he may be told another interpretation….know that sharia law does not allow slander which actually includes those same verses and no questioning is not allowed of this book with heavy consequences. “I have been made victorious thru terror” has an name, add to that the use of deception and silencing (islamophobia and hate speech) and the magical doors and tolerance for terror is now defensive wars and islamophobia is the cause especially for the clueless it appears to me.
eduardo odraude says
Reading the Qur’an is not enough to understand it. Spencer has pointed out that the Qur’an is impossible to understand without the Hadith, the Sira, and the Tafsir.
eduardo odraude says
By the way, the Hadith (reports of the sayings and doings of Muhammad and his associates), the Sira (earliest Muslim bios of Muhammad), and Tafsir (Islamic interpretations of Qur’an, Hadith, Sira by top Muslim scholars such as Ibn Kathir), are all available online for free.
Spencer’s own tafsir for each chapter of the Qur’an is available here:
https://www.jihadwatch.org/quran-commentary
gravenimage says
Yes–Spencer’s “Blogging the Qur’an” is a treasure.
eduardo odraude says
infidellover,
go here and look at the upper right — you’ll see something that says PDF — you can try that to get the Ibn Ishaq bio. If you read it, I suggest you skip the first hundred pages, as those deal with the time before Muhammad.
https://archive.org/stream/TheLifeOfMohammedGuillaume/The_Life_Of_Mohammed_Guillaume#page/n132/mode/1up
There are tons of Qur’an PDFs for free. Just google that and you’ll see them.
There also seem to be some PDFs that come up from a google search for the Bukhari hadith collection.
Here’s a free tafsir of Ibn Kathir (perhaps the most popular tafsir of all time) — but it looks like you have to download a PDF of his tafsir for each Qur’an chapter, if you want the whole work. https://archive.org/details/TafseerIbnKathirenglish114SurahsComplete/page/n0
Richard says
Absolutely! But we also have to remember it depends of what “translation” of the Qu’ran you are reading. Lots of them are carefully scrubbed of anything offensive to the non-Muslim reader. The same thing is going on now with Bibles. I am a traditional Catholic and when I have to go to Mass at our local cathedral I go early and mark in my Bible all the day’s readings so I can follow them. Quite often, any condemnation of sins they think might offend the congregation are studiously removed. On one occasion, the reading was from St. Paul and contained three condemnations of adultery. Two of those condemnations were removed by the reader entirely and the third changed the word “adultery” to “sin”. Then the reader finishes with: “The Word of the Lord!” and we are expected to respond with “Thanks be to God!” when it is not. Nor is it the Catholic faith! Neither is what you read in many edited Qu’rans Islam.
Cunamarra says
This is correct. HOWEVER, before reading the Koran for the first time I only new that Islam was a wonderful exotic religion of peace and tolerance that resembled Christianity in many ways and only the good ways. I’d never heard of the Hadith, or tafsirs, or Sirat and much of what I read I later discovered had flown over my head. What I did immediately recognize was that it wasn’t peaceful. The whole tone is bellicose. It is a rant. Many times as I read I was thinking “someone must have just enfuriated the author before writing this down.”
gravenimage says
With the greatest respect, Eduardo, I think the Qur’an all on its own is incredibly vicious. It is the first Islamic text I read, and even without knowing at time about abrogation or chronology or the Hadith and Sira I was quite horrified.
I think that those who read the Qur’an and say they consider it peaceful are either lying, in complete denial, or have extremely poor reading comprehension.
Richard says
With the greatest respect, No, they are gullible, uneducated and looking for something beautiful and holy, so they take what they read in the best sense they can and write off what they can’t as their own suspicious bigotry. I count myself in that class, as I read a “translation” of the Qur’an many years ago which had been written by a Muslim for non-Muslims. It was lovely and inspiring. Of course, it also wasn’t true, but how would I know? Years later, after having read much more on the subject, I was asked by a Catholic web site to do a quick piece on the Pope kissing the Qur’an, which I concluded with the line: “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” The response to the piece was an outpouring of rage by countless Catholics who regarded the idea of the Pope kissing the Qur’an as a despicable lie. “It could never happen!” That is the same way most people take the evil truth about Islam which appears on this web site, the Glazov Gang, etc. Nobody wants the truth! Everybody wants sweetness and light. It’s a lot easier. Ask the Jews who walked happily into the gas chambers during World War II.
Garfield says
They didn’t walk happily.
Unlike western and European liberals who seem to be welcoming hell and death.
gravenimage says
Richard, that is what I meant by complete denial.
StellaSaidSo says
@ Richard
You are right, Richard, a lot depends on the translation. Islamic bookshops sell versions of the Koran which are especially designed for ‘infidel’ readers. If you are shopping for a Koran in an Islamic bookshop, ignore the display at the front, and go to the back of the shop, where the ‘real thing’ can be found.
eduardo odraude says
gravenimage,
All respect to you also, gravenimage. Still, those who do not know some of the mainstream Muslim tafsir (interpretation) of the Qur’an can easily be fooled, for reasons I’m sure you are aware of. 1) The Qur’an chapters are not in narrative or chronological order. They have been put in order according to the length of chapters, and thus the whole narrative is totally scrambled. 2) Often reading the Qur’an is like suddenly stepping into a conversation taking place between people who have known each other for years and who say many things that they understand but that an outsider finds totally obscure and opaque — unless the outsider has the tafsir or hadith to give the context of “revelation,” in other words, to explain what the participants and Allah were talking about. Since the Qur’an is thus rather obscure in many ways, outsiders can be easily disinformed by Muslim leaders seeking to spread Islam. They tell people that the violence in the Qur’an was only in self-defense or against an aggressor, and make no mention of the abrogation of the peaceful tolerant verses, nor say anything of the context of the peaceful verses, namely that Muslims at that time were a very small group and weak, and therefore for their own survival needed tolerance. Perhaps one can read the Qur’an and, as you say, zero in on its totalitarian character, but there seems a great deal of evidence that great numbers are not capable of doing that, and if they get so far as to suspect problems, are easily fooled because of the Qur’an’s scrambled arrangement and assumption that the reader has or can access the context of revelation.
gravenimage says
I suppose this is true in many cases, Eduardo. Worse, though, many Infidels never bother to read it in the first place, and just accept the claim that the Qur’an is all sweetness and light.
eduardo odraude says
True, gravenimage.
Or they read a chapter and, understandably, get bored and give up.
Jaladhi says
And to cal this man a “professor” is also inherently false! Only brain dead can come with this nonsensical conclusion that Islam is peaceful despite the overwhelming historical facts that is nothing but violent and murderous!!
CogitoErgoSum says
He is a professor who has learned all about taqiyya, hopes that you have not and wants to keep it that way in order to advance his concept of the ideal of society.
gravenimage says
Spot on, CogitoErgoSum.
Richard says
Gravenimage: Yes, except many never see the things that rightly sicken you for them to deny. The Muslims usually deny the things we read on this and other sites. They’re like Groucho Marx’s line: “Who are you going to believe; me or your lying eyes?” We are very privileged and blessed to have access to the truth on this site – but even more so to have found this site. What is it scripture says about heaven: “Narrow is he door and few are those who find it.” You have a wonderful mind, but you had to find the information to use it. Then, thank God, to properly analyze that information and accept it as true and deny the Islamic lies in spite of enormous public pressure to the contrary, which has effected Cole. Then you spend much of your time online fighting to propagate this truth.That is not only laudable; it is heroic. There is a Jewish saying that if you save one soul, it is as if you had saved the whole world.
tim gallagher says
No doubt true, CogitoErgoSum and gravenimage. But what is his “concept of the ideal of society”? If Cole, or anyone else, knows how violent and evil Islam is, but refuses to expose that truth, but, instead, lies and runs a protection racket for Islam, which he knows is violent and evil, then I wonder what that person’s motive is. I suppose Cole must be one of the left wingers who hate the western world and want to undermine it. Islam is their friend because it is also an enemy of the western world. Look at how he seems to blame Reagan for the violence. As if Islam wasn’t always violent. Or has Cole become a Muslim? I can’t understand these types of people. If you know something is violent and evil, such as Islam or some other movement, you have to call it out as what it is. You don’t protect it. Whatever his motives, Cole has to be a lying bastard. He can’t be so dumb that he doesn’t see the violence that has always been in Islam. I agree with what you say, Jaladhi, surely Islam is neverendingly violent and has never been any other way.
gravenimage says
It’s hard to know what Cole’s ultimate goals are in whitewashing Islam, Tim. He may indeed hate the West and so whitewash Islam; or he may be in denial about the threat of Islam.
Certainly, he regularly sneers at the idea that Islam could possibly be a threat, either historically or in the modern world.
tim gallagher says
gravenimage, imagine anyone reaching such a level of ignorance that, despite the murderously violent history of Islam, they (as you put it) “sneer” at the idea that Islam could possibly be a threat. And especially someone like Cole, a professor (good God!) which means he has all the time in the world to do research and find out the truth about Islam. I sort of get it when average people, very busy with work and raising families, etc, don’t have time to find about Islam’s nature, but academics, like Cole, have no excuse. I guess Cole must know the truth and, as I said above, he must be a lying and traitorous bastard. You mention that Cole may be in denial about the threat of Islam. Maybe you’re right, but how does that work? I mean, he must know much of the evidence of Islam’s violence throughout history. How does such denial work?
Peggy says
You left another possibility out. He is one of them. He knows exactly what he is dealing with and is trying to convince us that all’s well until it’s too late for us to do anything about it.
He didn’t become a professor by not being able to study and do research.
So that rules out brain dead and ignorance.
What’s left?
StellaSaidSo says
What’s left is Left. Cole is an ideologue.
tim gallagher says
You may be right, Peggy. I mentioned up above that, maybe, Cole has become a Muslim. And, if he has, a person who obviously lies about the violent nature of Islam, would be likely to keep a conversion to Islam a secret if it helps his cause. StellaSaidSo, you’d be right about Cole being a leftist ideologue. I guess he is knowingly spreading disinformation, complete bullshit, all aimed at trying to destroy western civilisation. Probably, he’s got some globalist dream in his head. I think leftists like Cole will be killed off pretty quickly if the Muslims they spend their time supporting attain power, unless they have become Muslims. Even then, I think they’d be seen as once useful idiots who have outlived their usefulness to the Muslim cause. What strikes me about people like Cole is the extreme level of lying they indulge in. It’s not slight fudging of the truth. The Koran’s commands to “kill the non-believers wherever you find them”, etc, are so obvious. Yet, these bare-faced liars like Cole dare to proclaim, “Oh, no, Islam is not violent”. It’s the shamelessness of their lies that gets me.
No Muzzies Here says
Islam is an inherently violent religion. It promotes murder, rape and mutilation.
Benedict says
The professor is right: Islam is not a violent religion if you don’t believe in it. Apparently the professor is an infidel and in this respect he is only to be congratulated. We need more Muslims of his kind.
gravenimage says
He is an apologist for Islam, Benedict. Few actual Muslims think way–so he is just offering Islam cover.
gravenimage says
think that way
Guy Macher says
I will debate Cole! If anyone knows him, pass my challenge along.
I read JihadWatch daily. I have only a BA only, so Prof Cole should mop the floor with me– if he has the verses to prove his contentions. I am serious. He can even set the rules.
gravenimage says
Guy, Cole refuses to debate Robert Spencer:
“Juan Cole shows himself to be another cowardly pseudo-academic, ducks offer to debate Spencer”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/08/juan-cole-shows-himself-to-be-another-cowardly-pseudo-academic-ducks-offer-to-debate-spencer
I doubt he will debate you, either, or any knowledgeable Anti-Jihadist.
Jayell says
This character should get a job writing screenplays for the Disney Corporation.
eduardo odraude says
It’s not this professor’s opinion that bothers me so much. What bothers me is that he and most of those who think with him do not care that those who disagree have been largely silenced or restricted to anonymous venues like the internet because of death threats and violence from Muslims and because of career-destroying slander by parts of the Left. This professor, and those who think with him, if they had any sense of fairness and decency, would insist on representing not only their own views but the views of those who have been silenced by death threats and by the potential for public slander. But instead, this professor takes advantage of the fact that violence and threats have been used against his opponents. At best, that is unconscionable negligence on the professor’s part, at worst, he is himself complicit in the atmosphere of violent intimidation against those who criticize Islam.
Examples of public figures and institutions that have admitted to self-censorship because of death threats from Muslims:
http://quotingislam.blogspot.com/2011/06/are-lights-going-out.html
gravenimage says
Important points, Eduardo.
Peggy says
This professor, and those who think with him, if they had any sense of fairness and decency, would insist on representing not only their own views but the views of those who have been silenced by death threats and by the potential for public slander
========================
You are asking a servant of the Devil to have a sense of fairness?
Both the mask and gloves are off and we have no more room for guessing. We must see these people for what they are and show them no mercy.
mortimer says
The mask Cole wears is his degree and title. He cannot defend his ideas … and runs from debate in a cowardly fashion.
He is pontificating under the cover of his TITLE.
Other professors have a duty to call him out and refute his EXTRAVAGANT and UNFOUNDED remarks.
Those UNFOUNDED and UNSUPPORTABLE CLAIMS show Cole is not worthy of his position.
His students are being cheated by his LACK OF CRITICAL THOUGHT and LACK of INTELLECTUAL HONESTY.
FYI says
muhammed a prophet of peace?Seriously?And this guy is somehow a professor?You are having a laugh if you say…. History!How is that possible?Why are so many colleges and universities today staffed by the ignorant,the Leftards and the unacademic?Who pays them?…..follow the money!
Did he read the koran,the hadith?Did he notice “the absence of peace” in islam ,”the religion of peace”?
1.muhammed:Mr ” I have been made victorious through terror”;Bukhari 4:52:220
2.muhammed:The mass-murderer of Jews [abu Dawud 4390]
These 2 facts demolish the prof’s idiotic thesis that muhammed is a “prophet” of peace.
An avowed terrorist and mass-murderer cannot possibly be a “prophet of peace”.
Whoever thinks that muhammed was even a genuine prophet is ill-educated and woefully ignorant of the subject matter.
“Establishment academic”;well now,that says it all.
What an inexcusably stupid man…..at least if he had done some research in Theology and HISTORY he would realize how wrong he is..the History of islam and its mass-murdering “prophet” is replete with violence justified by the koran and its prophet.
What will the prof’s next book be?
“How I became a Professor of History without apparently understanding the concept of accurate intelligent research”?
Voytek Gagalka says
Does this guy posse some “other” Qur’an than everybody else to make such claims? Or, perhaps, he lost the ability to read and comprehend what he is reading? As long the academias keep such “professors” on tenures, they should not be regarded as institutions of knowledge.
Jaladhi says
Does this braindead know as soon as Mo established this murderous “religion” he and his followers went attacking neighbors if they did not accept his invitation to become a Muslim nation. Anybody or a nation did not accept it was attacked and a murderous rampage was started. This has continued to this day and is still continuing! Murder, rape, loot, steal, lie, incest,… are sure signs of a “peaceful” religion!!
Now ask the village idiot – who went attacking in three directions – Africa, Asia and Europe after establishing this religion?
mgoldberg says
I guess those 600-900 jews who were beheaded for not chaning in front of Mo and his child bride were influenced by Reagan and other ‘colonialists’. I guess when Kinana was tortured and slaughtered and his daughter raped and taken as booty by Mo’ the peaceful that was due to future colonialists seen in the mystical eye of Mo’ he who never worked a day after his first rich wife died, he was busy foretelling the future and homciding folks for the benefit of all mankind. Oh… all those other slaughters? Ask Asma bin Marwan about all the millions slaughtered over 1400yrs.
Yes Yuan…. you are a convincing man.
And to think, they pay you be be a full professor…..
Jaladhi says
I am sure he is pleasing his masters in Saudi Arabia!
Jaladhi says
He doesn’t want to be confused with facts which conflict with his alternative reality, parallel universe!
Jay says
There’s no fool like an old professor fool.
gravenimage says
Professor claims that “to argue that Islam is an inherently violent religion is both utterly false and ahistorical”
……………………..
It does not surprise that this is Juan Cole, long-time apologist for Islam. Of course, Islam was spread by the sword from the days of the “Prophet”.
That his new book is titled “Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires” is simply grotesque. Really, what could be more ‘peaceful’ than caravan raiding, kidnapping and raping Infidels, and beheading up to 900 unarmed Jewish men and boys? *Ugh*.
Here he is, flogging his ludicrous tome:
“Muhammad and Islamic Peace Studies: Interview with Juan Cole”
https://www.juancole.com/2018/08/muhammad-islamic-interview.html
At one point he says, “Muhammad saw himself as an ally of the West”–I think he means he saw himself as a *conqueror* of the West. Later he hilariously touts Muhammed as an ally of the Eastern Roman Empire–never mentioning the tradition of Muhammed threatening to conquer “Rum” (Constantinople), nor his followers constantly attacking Byzantium for 700 years until they accomplished exactly that.
He also cites the “Constitution of Madinah”, which is almost certainly a later forgery. It is grotesque, in any case, because if Muhammed *did* set up such a constitution, he began regularly violating it in the most bloody manner almost immediately.
He later says that “ideologues”–“radical” Muslims? “Islamophobes”? Who knows?–“interpreted late verses on warfare as permitting aggression (they don’t)”. Is he *really* saying that the “Sura of the Sword”, Qur’an 9:5, which reads “And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush…” is actually peaceful?
Lots more claptrap in this shirt interview.
del says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wujVMIYzYXg
Sobieski says
In related news, mathmatics professor has concluded that 1 + 1 = 5,227.8533
He commented that any suggestion that the answer is “2” would be both utterly false and illogical.
Kufar1 says
spence (pbuh) is master debater. note to islamists who want to reserve the honorific only to muhamad kindly move to somalia
Terry Gain says
It’s not just that the Koran contains all these Jihad verses, it’s that Muslims have been following them for 1398 years and no one in authority has denounced them. No wonder Cole is afraid to debate Spencer.
gravenimage says
Yes–it is not just the texts of Islam but its vicious history that prove the violence of Islam.
Edmund Carey says
May we hope that you (Robert Spencer) DO eventually see Cole’s book, and give it the treatment it deserves – by which I mean honest, informed, unrelenting analysis, as per the usual jihadwatch practice – and leave us to draw our own conclusions? Not that I don’t know what those will be.
Michael Copeland says
“Violence is the heart of Islam”
Ayatollah Yazdi
eduardo odraude says
Islam is not inherently violent?
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
eduardo odraude says
More examples of how “non-violent” Islam is:
http://www.quotingislam.blogspot.com
eduardo odraude says
The overwhelming preponderance of evidence goes against Juan Cole’s position. Three aspects dovetail to point toward Islam’s totalitarian character:
1. The human rights situation in the Muslim world is worse than in any other part of the world. This can easily be discovered simply from reading the reports of numerous global human rights organizations.
2. Polls of Muslims around the globe show that very large numbers support totalitarian aspects of Islamic law.
3. The core texts of Islam and the life of Muhammad show an obvious totalitarian character not manifest to anything like the same extent in other major religions. See http://www.quotingislam.blogspot.com
That those three factors all match is very unlikely to be an accident. The agreement of all that evidence shows that the impression people have of Islam as a deeply totalitarian system is very likely correct, and that therefore it is reckless to continue with some of the current immigration policies. Even if we entertain the unlikely possibility that Cole, despite all the evidence, is correct, a responsible approach to immigration would be something like the following: “Until a majority of Muslim-majority nations protect freedom of speech and freedom of religion, there should be a moratorium on further immigration of Muslims to non-Muslim nations.”
nicholas tesdorf says
Juan Cole is an academic deongo. Islam is the religious equivalent of Organised Crime founded by a Caravan Robber and his henchmen.
Spiro says
He’s just a blossom in the field of
Fools
sidney penny says
“Establishment academic Juan Cole claims here that “the Islamophobes like to argue that Islam is an inherently violent religion, that its adherents are quite literally commanded to such violence by its holy scriptures, the Qur’an. ”
Scriptures in Islam is more than just the Qur’an.
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Islam-through-Hadis-Fanaticism/dp/068249948X
Understanding Islam through Hadis: Religious Faith or Fanaticism? 1st Edition
by Ram Swarup
gary fouse says
I saw Cole speak at Cal State Long Beach a few years ago and videotaped it. When a student asked him during q and a about British IS terrorists like Jihad John, Cole condemned the British government for alerting the public that 400 Brits had traveled to Iraq and Syria to join ISIS, calling it racist and Islamophobia. Cole said that 400 British IS fighters was a “minuscule” number compared to the total number of Muslims in the UK.
It doesn’t look so minuscule now. Imagine what 400 returned IS terrorists could do in any one country.
Cole is a total dolt. His latest article in his blog (Informed Comment) says that the elevation of Kavanaugh to the SC may take us back to the Dark Ages. There are no words to adequately describe what an ignoramus this guy is.
gravenimage says
Disgusting, Gary.
Peggy says
I don’t believe that he’s ignorant at all.
He’s most likely part of the Satanic cult sweeping the world today.
His job is to deceive us and his qualifications will help him do just that to most.
Wellington says
Dostoyevsky (or was it Turgenev?) said that without God anything is possible (not of course meant in an up-beat way). Well, without common sense, moral intelligence and proper knowledge, anything is possible, for instance asserting, as Juan Cole does, that Islam is not an inherently violent religion.
Yes it is. And denying this is not only wrong but egregiously and reprehensibly irresponsible.
eduardo odraude says
Dostoyevsky: Without God, everything is permitted.
My fav Dostoyevsky: Notes from Underground.
Beautiful Turgenev: First Love, and also Fathers and Sons.
eduardo odraude says
Great one by Vladimir Solovyev: Three Dialogues on War, Progress, and the End of History
The dialogues are fictional but based to some extent on real people. One of the characters is apparently based on Tolstoy and argues for extreme pacifism, and purports to base that on Christianity. Another character, who I gather represents Solovyev’s own views, argues that Christianity does not in all cases support pacifism. For example, in many cases it would be immoral not to come to the defense of someone who is being attacked by an aggressor. That debate makes up the main content of the book’s dialogue about war. The book also includes “A Short Story of the Anti-Christ”.
Solovyev’s The Meaning of Love is also a classic, a somewhat difficult one too.
StellaSaidSo says
‘Without God, everything is permissible’
Dostoyevsky himself did not say this. His character, Ivan Karamazov said it, in the famous ‘Grand Inquisitor’ scene in the novel ‘The Brothers Karamazov’.
Lydia Church says
“to argue that Islam is NOT an inherently violent and evil religion is both utterly false and ahistorical”
NOW it makes sense, unless one (like him) is utterly stupid!
Lydia Church says
For some reason some of my comments are either not showing up or being delayed, not sure why.
Sometimes I repost them and they do appear. So if there are doubles or very similar ones, that is why.
Also, I heard over on Infowars about the censorship program dragonfly being possibly launched in a few months on today’s headlines. This could have an impact, just fyi.
gravenimage says
Jihad Watch had a lot of technical problems a couple of months ago. It seems as though some people are still having issues.
You can always contact Marc Louis at the “Contact Us” box on the right hand side of the page, He might be able to help.
Peggy says
I have this happen at times too. Most of my comments go through straight away but some take a few seconds. I find that if I refresh my page they tend to appear but not always.
I thought it was a glitch at my end.
Marc has a big job to do if they are sabotaging the site.
mortimer says
Allah did not say what he said.
Mohammed did not say what he said.
The conquistatorial caliphs did not slaughter as they assuredly slaughtered millions.
None of the Muslim scholars meant a word they wrote about jihad.
Yeah, right. Tell us another one, Cole.
Peggy says
Unfortunately people are going to believe this vessel for evil.
I wonder what he gets out of this. He can’t possibly believe it so there has to be another reason.
Could it be money? Could it be climbing up the corporate satanic ladder? More children given to him to abuse and kill?
Maybe all of the above. This danger should be eliminated.
Old Sweden says
He`s already a Dhimmi!
dumbledoresarmy says
Who knows? He might be a closet convert; a Nuaym bin Masud.
I suspect there might be a fair few of *those* around… persons particularly inclined to evil, drawn in by the spiritual suction of one of the most thoroughly-evil belief systems ever invented by humans at their worst.
Kasey says
Technically, maybe if you fit it with a definition of religion.
Certainly not if it is classified as an ideology, which it is!
Learning islam says
Please, Google
“Is Islam a religion of peace?” Iraqi-Spanish professor gives you the answer [ENGLISH SUBS]
Paul Nielsen
Published on 29 Sep 2018
http://www.debatetheleft.com Support Paul Nielsen via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/debatetheleft Your SUPPORT is GREATLY appreciated.
This video is protected by Article 19 – Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Raad Salam s a philologist, translator and Iraqi writer, nationalized Spanish. He is currently a professor at the Oriental Biblical Institute in León.
He spent his early years in Basra, raised in a Catholic Christian family (Chaldean). He holds a degree in Arabic Philology and Islamic Studies (1981) and Economic Sciences (1983) from the University of Basra.
He has been the victim of persecution (in which 25 people of his family, including his father, were murdered) as a result of his status as a Chaldean Catholic and his positioning against Islam. Fled from his country, he applied for asylum in Spain in 1991; in 1999 he was granted Spanish nationality. He is author of several articles and books,.
In this video, he answers the question “Is Islam a religion of peace?” and in his long answer, he refers to prophet Muhammad, Islamic history, the Quran and the other Islamic texts.
#islam #religionofpeace #raadsalam #englishsubs #middleeast
learning islam says
mmmikeyyy1 week ago
On one side, we have terrorists who claim to act in accordance with the tenets of Islam, we have Islamic politicians and scholars who proclaim that Islam must prevail, and that the Quran is the unalterable word of Allah, and we have the Quran that says clearly that unbelievers must be either killed or subjugated. We have actions based on beliefs, beliefs based on writings, writings we can read ourselves. It’s all observable; it’s reality.
On the other side, we have western politicians and media who recite their mantra that Islam is peace. The proof? Look around! Don’t you see peaceful Muslims? #notall Muslims are bad! Therefore Islam is good!
If we accept our politicians’ “logic”, no ideology is bad. In Nazi Germany, you could take a stroll in a park and see nice, well dressed Germans doing the same with their children. So peaceful! #notall Germans were Nazis! Therefore Nazism is an ideology of peace!
Same thing while the Mongols were conquering Asia. If you visited some conquered area whose original inhabitants had been brutally massacred (but only anti-Mongol bigots would point that out…), you might have been struck by the peaceful atmosphere, the children playing, commerce flourishing. Mongols, don’t they bring peace wherever they go? When they show up at the gate saying ‘either you surrender now or we kill you all later’, you must certainly understand that this is not to be taken literally. These words must be interpreted in the proper context, which is that Mongols bring peace, #notall are brutal and sadistic.
Europe in the 20th century paid dearly for its anti-Nazism bigotry. Just like large swaths of Asia did when they refused a generous injection of diversity proposed by the Mongols. Nowadays, we know better. Diversity is good. It is our strength.
μολὼν λαβέ1 week ago
»It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.« ~ Hassan al-Banna
Manny Unez1 week ago
OMG, any one still under the impression that islam is peaceful, is living under a rock. It’s terror track record speaks volumes. More likely the “religion ” of pieces, coz after its moved thru, everyone is in pieces, literally.
Herbert Sauerkraut.1 week ago
Great, we all know this. The question is, how do you convince the people that believe Islam is just a religion of peace?
Free Thought1 week ago
• The year of the move to Medina is correct, but not Mohammad’s birth year … if he was born in 610, he would only be 12 years old in 622. The entire Arabian peninsula is Muslim conquered when he dies in 632. He was born in 571. Is said to receive his revelations at age 40, and tries to peacefully spread his religion in Mecca. When he is expelled from Mecca for insulting the other religions, he has less than 150 followers. In Medina he turns to politics and violence, a decision that ends in great success. The left ignores this fact, and claims that Islam can become peaceful … but that would be abandoning the part of Islam that makes it successful, something that will never happen. Becoming peaceful would also mean having to disobey Allah and Mohammad, also something that will never happen, as it would be apostasy. The religion protects itself from reformation by killing aposates.
ivar olsen1 week ago
5 strong analytical questions to Muslims (do this at your work for instance) to open the eyes of Westerners and Muslims as well:
1. The Suna of Muhammad says that Muslims must be punished for leaving Islam. Sahih al-Bukhari 4:52:260, 6878, 6922 Do you agree with this? Or do you condemn this teaching of Muhammad?
2. Muhammad was a killer of pagans, Jews and Christians who did not agree with him. bn I 464 Tabi 8: 27-41 Do you agree with his example? Or do you condemn Muhammeds example?
3. Muhammad repeatedly adviced Muslims to deceive Kafirs to advance Islam. Qur´an 3:28 The Qur´an has over ninety verses that say that Muhammad is the perfect example to follow. Do you follow the perfect example of Muhammad at this point? Have you ever deceived a Kafir? Or do you condemn it?
4. Both the Qur´an, the Suna of Muhammad and Shariah of all schools says that a husband can beat his wife. Qur´an 4: 34 Ibn Majah 1986 Do you ever beat your wife? Or do you condemn the Qur´an, Suna and Hadith on this point?
5. Shariah says that it must rule over the Kafirs. Qur´an 9:29 Do you agree with this? Or do you condemn it?
Have a look at Dr Bill Warner, who formulated these questions. He explains about political Islam.
rod of discipline6 days ago (edited)
Muslims will vehemently deny this information, why? Not because have studied the history of Islam but because they have been so brainwashed that they can’t see truth.
This video should be compulsory viewing for all thinking of converting
Wytze vd Ploeg1 week ago
The one thing I miss in all of this as a Christian is the proclamation that Islam is the religion of the Anti-Christ. The religion of Satan.
Surah 4:157 – And [for] their saying, “Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah .” And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.
I’m not surprised that the religion of the Anti-Christ will play a big role in these end times.
Tatoke kokipa1 week ago
He is not getting one aspect of the Quran.. the Shia/Sunni conflict is urban warfare. it is a method to draw in the Kafir/infidel/Enemy i am 100% sure of this. when the forces that maybe think they can use it. they will use it.
Roland Tours22 hours ago
The wonder is how Islam has conquered more advanced or wealthier societies in the past. Today, it is digesting Western Europe through immigration and terror. This is happening more slowly in North America. The chattering classes refuse to see what is happening in front of them because of fear, an unwillingness to acknowledge that they have unappeasable enemies, and an aversion to assertive action. Islam is a successful, unrelenting system of conquest.
Philo sophy1 year ago
Islam, which must meant ‘Quran’ which is believed to be God’s order to its believers, is not religious book like others, but a war book, that order how to kill non-believers, how and when to declare war and capture enemy and make them slave etc etc…..in essence, Islam is war against …. to be exact….Civilization, that is pagan culture of its time, later pagan is conceptualized in to philosophy….Science of Civilization. Consider Islamic Jihad… Boko Haram,….which meant Science is not acceptable. Bioko means science….or scientific education.
To destroy Islam, one what is needed? A Nation which is product of Civilization and not of Religion, can decide pure and secular State, means Islam free State. Citizen will never ever allow to practice Islam.. This is the only solution
and understanding .
Good Samaritan1 year ago
Excellent discussion… Islam and the Quran actually endorse lying and deceit. After all, Allah is the greatest of deceivers. Can you image a religious belief and holy book that promotes lying and deceit and actually gives it a name …Taqiyya? He forgot to mention the Quran is bipolar, which actually gives legitimacy to the outright lying. Therefore Islam can be considered both the religion of peace and the religion of death, violence and destruction. Islam has 1.6 billion followers….hard to fathom? Thankfully, most of these followers are passive, reformists or just plain ignorant of the religion and ideology they subscribe to….
learning islam says
Please, Google
imam tawhidi
He presents the historical evidence , chopping the head, cooking and eating
aingel strong says
Juan Cole, establishment academic and hopeless deceiver. The West did not create havoc in the ME, rather they intervened to break up the galvanising pacts forming to war on the West, as per islams aims post 1979 … and in reality since the 7th Century.
StellaSaidSo says
The West has created plenty of havoc in the ME. But the West is not responsible for 1400 years of Islamic jihad.
WPM says
The followers of Mohammed created havoc everywhere they go for the last 1400 years , Europe, Asia, Africa, all before America was even founded as the country it is today. Europe was a bunch of small kingdoms went the Moslems first invaded over a 1000 years ago. The truth hurts Juan Cole idea that everything evil in the world started with the rise of Western civilization .That anything outside of western civilization must be good ,that is the pledge of all libtards take with there methods of higher education.
Jim says
So what was the reason for all of the Islamic terrorism which occurred prior to the 1948 creation of the State of Israel?
Peggy says
Still the “Jooos”as usual.
It’s always the Jews. Their default setting.
kouldb says
What’s he a professor in, bullshit & propaganda?
Peggy says
That would be it.
Gjallarhornet says
Persons like him are why I left academia. What happens when you know, see, or even feel that the prevailing consensus (agreement) on what is true in the humanities and social sciences is, for the most part, wrong? If you get traction and attention saying your contradictory opinion (if not, they will just silence you to death) they send out a snug guy with an authoritative air – look at the picture. This person’s task is not only to contradict you – it is to shut you down. To make the world, and yourself, believe that you are an imbecile. Because you have stepped out of line.They want to stop you, and they are both sophisticated and ruthless along the way.
Political academia have numerous techniques for distortion. If you point to sources for instance, as to why islam is so belligerent, they may accuse you of falsifying the sources, of using the WRONG sources (they are the authorities, so their sources are automatically better than yours), of being a ‘nazi’, or they may be using loaded words in their attack so as to label you – tag you. etc.etc
You get the point. Unless we are talking about ‘hard sciences’ like physics or medicine, many sciences are basically just a political machine, a tool repeating the politically approved message, They say the same as state, public and newspapers, just in a more authoritative and slow way, so as to lend themselves credibility.
Oh, by the way: islam is bad. Really, really bad.
Gjallarhornet says
And why has he not engaged in a debate with Spencer? What he has done is to write in a subtle way that people critical of islam are imbeciles. That’s what his message is. This is not debate. It is the academic way of saying ‘fuck of’ to poeple who hold a different opinion on vital matters.
Gary fouse says
Cole forgets that Islam has a 1400 year history of violence. Ever since Mohaamad died Shia and Sunni have been killing each other over who should have been the heir to the prophet. In addition recent events can hardly explain the words of hate directed at Jews and Christians in the Koran and Hadith.
Cole is a classic example of a phd who has been educated out of the last ounce of common sense he was born with.