I’m grateful to Matthew Hanley for this fine review of my new book, The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS, which sums up my life’s work in calling attention to the jihad threat, and which you can order here now.
“A Black Book on Jihad,” by Matthew Hanley, The Catholic Thing, October 29, 2018:
Anyone genuinely curious about the history of the 20th century has probably heard about the Black Book of Communism, an exhaustive account of the damage Marxist ideology inflicted around the globe. Its authors estimated that Communism claimed the lives of about 100 million people. That sobering, round figure tends to stick in the mind, even if some seek to explain it away.
Robert Spencer’s new book The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS…[is] a powerful account of the domineering brutality that Jihad has inflicted near and far, from its bloody 7th century origins to the present day. As Spencer makes abundantly clear to anyone willing to take seriously the facts he summons up, “Islamic piety always underlay the jihad.” For this reason, he is only too likely to be belittled or scorned.
There is no firm number of total deaths by way of jihad over the centuries. Might it exceed the 100 million mark? It likely approaches that figure in India alone; the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Will Durant argued in 1935 that the “Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history.” This is hardly on anyone’s radar, and Spencer fills a major gap in our understanding by detailing what occurred in the subcontinent in all its vivid, revolting detail….
In the first (8th century) foray, the instructions were as clear as day: kill all the combatants, arrest and imprison their children, and grant protection only to those who submit. Massacres ensued in rapid succession, but killing so many can get exhausting. When the general on the ground, faced with the practical difficulty of mass extermination, started encouraging surrender and granting protection without conversion, his superior back in Iraq was incensed – and sent word: “God said: ‘Give no quarter to infidels but cut their throats. Then you shall know that this is the command of the great God.’”
When another leader, centuries later, displayed sympathetic inclinations towards non-Muslims, his younger brother (Aurangzeb) had him beheaded and reportedly wept for joy upon receiving his head. This was the guy who gave the capitol of modern day Pakistan its name. In 1670, he not only destroyed the temple at Mathura but renamed it Islamabad. Looting temples, often stocked with precious metals, was a prime source of enrichment and a precursor to razing them to the ground, which jihadists did systematically.
Another little known but highly consequential event was the battle of Manzikert (near Armenia) in 1071 in which the supposedly still stout Byzantines were routed. This paved the way for the Greek peoples inhabiting Asia Minor to be overrun by the Turks (which subsequently gave rise to the Ottoman Empire and modern day Turkey).
Spencer documents the whole history of jihad in a chronological manner. This, surprisingly, had never been done before. He proceeds century by century, which means that different geographical regions are treated side by side. Like a spectator at a tennis match, the reader’s eyes go from west to east and back again, over and over, following sanctioned episodes of execution, plunder, rape, torture, enslavement, destruction, humiliation, and oppression. It is an utterly devastating approach.
He relies heavily on contemporary sources that exhume long buried accounts of great human agonies inflicted upon infidels. They also reveal a mindset that regards killing as a “good action” for which jihadists hope to “receive future reward.” Spencer also includes a telling aside about the jihadist origin of the word Assassins.
The jihad actually reached Rome in 846; invaders looted the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul – both of which were outside its walls, which they were unable to breach. Thereafter, necessary precautions were implemented because:
It had not yet become customary for the Roman Pontiff to proclaim the peacefulness of Islam and benign character of the Qur’an, and to decry the building of walls.
Suffice it to say Spencer has made it his life’s work to follow the counsel of previous popes, such as Sixtus IV (15th century), who warned us “not to remain plunged in. . . inertia” while Islam advances.
Spencer recently left Catholicism for Orthodoxy. It might be more accurate to say Church leaders left him, or prodded him out. This is a man who has been banned from entering the United Kingdom, while radical imams there freely proclaim that Islam will dominate the world. But he has been hardly more welcome to share his erudition in dioceses here or regarded more positively by the U.S. Bishops Conference. Whether it emanates from Church or State, it is utter madness that drives such contempt for the man and his message.
Astute observers such as William Kilpatrick have been warning that the Church’s inadequate and inaccurate stance vis-a-vis Islam today could well lead to a large scale loss of confidence. Spencer apparently decided enough was enough.
This book does us a favor by shining a light on a supremacist creed that stands in opposition not only to the West, but to every other form of governance and law….
The last chapter – aptly titled “The West Loses the Will to Live” – is dispiriting precisely because our feeble posture today foolishly dismisses the peril obviously evident from the litany of atrocities Spencer chronicles throughout the book. It substantiates what we are ultimately immersed in: a great spiritual crisis.
mortimer says
“A great spiritual crisis!” Yes, it is. The RCC and Europe are lead by dull-witted, virtue-signalling IDEOLOGUES who are UNABLE TO RE-EXAMINE their COLLOSALLY WRONG PRESUPPOSITIONS.
They present CULTURAL RELATIVISM and MORAL RELATIVISM as if they are SELF-EVIDENT BREAKTHROUGHS in thought. They have not realized that Mussolini, Stalin and Mao Tse Tung were MORAL RELATIVISTS. Mussolini was very SELF-CONSCIOUSLY a moral relativist!! He claimed that if all moralities were relative, then why should he not IMPOSE his views on others?
That is what the MORAL RELATIVISTS are doing. They are IMPOSING THEIR UNTESTED LOONY-TOONS GLOBALISM on all of those of us who DON’T WANT IT and slandering us as they do it.
They are opening the doors for the MORAL SUPREMACIST ISLAMIC DICTATORSHIP that they assure us does not exist and which is in their view a MIRAGE or an ABERRANT VERSION of Islam.
JIHADIC SUPREMACISM is in fact NORMATIVE Islam, rather than an aberration.
mortimer says
correction: are LED
Andy says
I have my copy of The History of Jihad From Muhammad To Isis and have told everyone to buy a copy! Thank you Mr. Spencer.
Meanwhile, why are the Media ignoring Pittsburgh “Jewish leaders” ties to Soros
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8mDGVOyn-A
gravenimage says
There is no excuse for this slaughter.
Andy says
CNN’s Don Lemon: ‘Biggest Terror Threat in This Country Is White Men’
https://www.infowars.com/cnns-don-lemon-biggest-terror-threat-in-this-country-is-white-men/
https://www.brighteon.com/5855021699001
gravenimage says
Andy, of course I don’t agree with CNN–but I *am* condemning the massacre at this Synagogue.
Andy says
Video: CNN’s Lemon Doubles Down On ‘White Man Terror Threat’ Comment
Host says anyone angry at him is ‘missing the entire point’
https://www.infowars.com/video-cnns-lemon-doubles-down-on-white-man-terror-threat-comment/
FYI says
The more people read Mr Spencer’s book the better.
I wish that ALL christians,of ALL denominations,Catholic and Protestant, would wake up to the reality of what is going on:they have a moral obligation,if they claim to be Christians,to preach the Gospel and defend Christendom.
Forget about the dhimmiwit Church leaders like that pro-NWO,pro-islam pope francis:he’s too busy undermining Catholicism{as many,but not most catholics know}.
Be wary too of false prophets WITHIN Christendom…interfaith nonsense: we cannot have interfaith dialog with islam;it is antiChristian and antisemitic.
It is not hard to see the work of the religion of antiChrist,the “religion of peace”, is it?The religion that preaches endless war,violence,hatred of Jews and Christians,Hindus,Buddhists etc
Christians of ALL denominations surely know by now that they must reference what is happening in the World with Biblical prophecy
{Matthew chpt 24,chpt 25,2 Thess 2:There’s no excuse for not knowing or reading the warning signs;unless you want to be the foolish bridesmaids..}
Religious Jews {and Israel} should also be assisted and protected in these times from those who seek to destroy them{and it}.No rabbi would surely permit a muslim “prayer” service in a Synagogue:muslims pray that fatiha pray 20 times a day,a “prayer” to allah that CURSES Jews and Christian!!Yet,naive,idiotic,christian clergymen have done that in their churches in the mistaken belief that allah is the same as the Biblical God..but…
The islamic koranic allah is NOT the Jewish/Christian Biblical God!
consider the following:-
SAHIH MUSLIM 6985 calls for a genocidal war against the Jews.
islamic nations constantly call for the destruction of Israel{ a land,which for anyone who knows Biblical Prophecy will say,was GIVEN to the Jews:it is THEIR homeland..Joel 3}
the koran CURSES Jews and Christians{koran 9:30} and says muslims must not be friends with Jews or christians as “they are friends to one another”{koran 5 v 51}There is no “love thy neighbor” in islam,no Golden rule:only conquest and enslavement through violence and deceit.
And I would LOVE to hear Church bells more:to drown out the islamic call to “prayer”{a call to worship the god of islam,a god who admits to being a champion deceiver k3;54,does not subscribe to God’s 2 chief Commandments,and curses Jews and Christians,preaches violence and hatred to non-muslims}
Good news for Christianity in Prophecy:It is guaranteed to survive{2 Thess 1 v 5-10}and here’s the funny thing:
In the koran,the Gospel’s author is given as …allah
“WE gave unto Jesus the Gospel”koran 5 v 46
Even allah does not dispute the veracity of the Gospel{within which are those very prophecies that promise the survival of Christianity..}
Lydia Church says
Only JESUS gave the GOSPEL to the muslims, not vice versa, and of course the Bible predates the deceptive koran of satan.
FYI says
True.
And in fact allah cannot possibly have given the Gospel to Jesus as the Gospel was written by HUMAN PROPHETS,not God Himself.Besides,it was written AFTER Jesus Christ had died{it could not have been completed otherwise}Also,these human prophets were guided by God’s Holy Spirit{something which allah DENIES exists in koran 4:171}
allah doesn’t even know the source of God’s Wisdom and the origin of prophecy!!{see 2 Peter 1 v 20-21}
Jesus could not possibly have received the Gospel{ if you think about it }when He was on earth:it didn’t exist at the time!
Yet allah is himself claiming to be its author!
This of course is NOT true.
allah is merely claiming to be its author…that doesn’t mean allah actually inspired the Gospel!
infidel says
My humble request Lydia: PS DROP THIS CHRISTIAN FANATICISM…. U are in no way different from these mad Muslims EXCEPT that U do not indulge in violence. This 21st Century and beyond has NO PLACE for supremacist.. Ps consider and I say this RESPECTFULLY…
boakai ngombu says
let not your zeal for the GOSPEL wane, LC. the mosque is pourous
gravenimage says
Yes–everyone should read this book.
Leocardia Emanuel says
Robert Spencer is Orthodox Christain? I was under the impression he’s Jewish?
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
Robert is not Jewish, nor is he Orthodox. He is, if I am not mistaken, a member of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.
Robert frequently talks about his Christian grandparents who were forced to leave the Turkish caliphate because they would not convert.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Spencer_%28author%29#Background)
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
“Pakistan’s Islamist party says judges who acquitted Christian woman ‘deserve death’”
https://www.rt.com/news/442708-islamist-death-judges-pakistan/
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
You won’t see this on MSM:
“‘They all look alike’: Hillary Clinton corrects moderator who mixed up black Democrats”
https://www.rt.com/usa/442585-hillary-clinton-racist-joke/
Leocardia Emanuel says
Thank you. For years I thought he,was Jewish. What about Jihad Watch? I thought Jihad Watch was run by Spencer? And I thought Jihad Watch was run by Spencer?
Leocardia Emanuel says
I mean I thought Jihad Watch was run by Jews.
gravenimage says
No, Jihad Watch is not “run by Jews”. You do not have to be Jewish to oppose Jihad.
Robert Spencer says
Why didn’t you guys read the review above?
Karen says
Robert, this is a fabulous review, describes your book perfectly! I keep rereading sections, almost in disbelief, to be clear in my mind.
I shall be forwarding this post and printing it off for a resource at my ‘Demystifying the Koran’ classes I have led for the past 3 years.
A number of your books hold ‘pride of place’ on my lecturn. And I might add that it was your voice, along with Dr. Warner’s, which inspired me to try in my own way to bring knowledge of Islam to my sleepy town after a terribly one-sided talk I had attended.
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
That’s why I included the “if I am not mistaken” phrase. I fact-checked and there were lots of contradictions. For example, Alex Jones called you Jewish in an recent interview.
I’ll assume you are Orthodox from now on. Not that it matters. Facts are facts, no matter who they come from.
gravenimage says
Flavius, Robert Spencer was Melkite Greek Catholic for many years. Now he is Greek Orthodox. He has spoken about this in his video with David Wood.
eduardo odraude says
A lot of people assume Robert is Jewish, perhaps because he’s brilliant and “looks” sort of Jewish, but in fact his ethnic background is Greek and he comes from a Christian family. One should not make assumptions of course based on how people “look.” I have seen anti-Semites assume I have no Jewish blood because I have blue eyes and light hair, but in fact my father is Jewish. He has deep blue eyes, as did his father before him.
gravenimage says
True, Eduardo. And I did not know you had Jewish heritage.
Lydia Church says
All the puzzle pieces are falling into place for the big picture of the end times.
Yet, marvel not that the ‘churches’ with power beat down those who speak the truth concerning Christianity and God, it has been so throughout most of church history.
Just the fact that they do that, and feel justified in doing so, goes to show how far from God they are.
Consider what the Lord said:
“These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them.” John 16; 1-4