Craig Considine depends upon the ignorance of his audience about Islam.
“Catholic Scholar Spins Jihadi Beheading,” by Jules Gomes, ChurchMilitant.com, October 19, 2020:
PARIS (ChurchMilitant.com) – A Catholic sociologist is whitewashing Muhammad’s violent response to people who mocked him as thousands rallied across France Sunday to honor a schoolteacher who was beheaded for showing cartoons of Muhammad to his students.
“Prophet Muhammad was defamed, insulted, mocked and violently attacked by those who opposed him. How did he respond?” asks Dr. Craig Considine, lecturer at Rice University, Houston, Texas.
“By remaining calm, ignoring the insults and focusing on his mission. Responding with violence was never an option,” Considine replies.
“The Paris beheading is an affront to his teachings,” declared the Catholic scholar, who has become a well-known apologist for Islam….
“What Considine says is flatly false,” distinguished Islamic scholar Robert Spencer told Church Militant.
Spencer explained:
Islam mandates death for non-Muslim subjects of the Islamic state who mention “something impermissible about Allah, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), or Islam” (‘Umdat al-Salik, o11.10), and such laws are based upon passages in the Hadith and Sira in which Muhammad orders the murders of people who have insulted him.
Spencer told Church Militant he could cite numerous instances of such executions ordered by Muhammad in sacred texts revered by Muslims.
“These include Abu ‘Afak, who was over 100 years old, and the poetess Asma bint Marwan,” noted Spencer, author of 21 books on Islam.
Spencer quoted Ibn Ishaq, 674-676:
Abu ‘Afak was killed in his sleep, in response to Muhammad’s question, “Who will avenge me on this scoundrel?” Similarly, Muhammad on another occasion cried out, “Will no one rid me of this daughter of Marwan?” One of his followers, Umayr ibn Adi, went to her house that night, where he found her sleeping next to her children. The youngest, a nursing babe, was in her arms. But that didn’t stop Umayr from murdering her and the baby as well. Muhammad commended him: “You have done a great service to Allah and His Messenger, Umayr!”
Spencer also cited the example of Ka’b bin al-Ashraf from Sahih al-Bukhari, volume 5, book 59, number 369.
Muhammad asked: “Who is willing to kill Ka’b bin al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?” One of the Muslims, Muhammad bin Maslama, answered, “O Allah’s Apostle! Would you like that I kill him?” When Muhammad said that he would, Muhammad ibn Maslama said, “Then allow me to say a (false) thing (i.e. to deceive Ka’b).” Muhammad responded: “You may say it.” Muhammad bin Maslama duly lied to Ka’b, luring him into his trap, and murdered him.
Church Militant contacted Considine, asking if he was willing to go on record to “confirm there are absolutely no instances in the Qur’an, Hadith or Sunnah where Muhammad reacts with violence to people who mock him for various reasons.”…
Considine did not respond to our requests for comment….
Church Militant asked Spencer how Considine could lie so blatantly in public and think he could get away with it — assuming his readers were “all fools.”
“He is relying on the ignorance of Americans about Islam. Yes, he does think we are all fools,” Spencer responded.
Wellington says
“Responding with violence was never an option.”
Either breathtaking ignorance by Considine or breathtaking mendacity. No third alternative.
Ecosse1314 says
Probably both. The man is an ignorant liar
mortimer says
Indeed, Craig Considine’s mendacity is TRULY ‘BREATHTAKING’ … his lies are easily exposed by reference to Islam PRIMARY SOURCE TEXTS.
The hadiths and Sira describe how Mohammed approved the contract MURDERS of many people … over 43 such murders are mentioned in the hadiths.
List of Killings Ordered or Supported by Muhammad
https://wikiislam.net/wiki/List_of_Killings_Ordered_or_Supported_by_Muhammad
Mohammed’s critics were so frightened that most of them left Arabia to save their lives.
FYI says
” over 43 such murders are mentioned in the hadiths”
I often wonder how muhammed despatched his victims.
By sword i imagine.
Say,do you think muhammed might EVER have used ………an AXE…..
……..to chop wood?
{when I say AXE,I mean in the entirely innocent sense of “to chop Wood” and when I say ‘to chop Wood’ i don’t mean to AXE anybody called Wood or that anybody named Wood should be attacked with an AXE as some simple fool might interpret that as ‘incitement to murder’ ,but i am referring to the material in Trees and when i mention AXE there is no suggestion that i am saying it should be used to murder anybody.Now That should satisfy the lawyers}
I have a big AXE:Now i WILL use my AXE and you cannot stop me …to chop….some wood tomorrow.
I have a bit of land and a forest and honestly,i thoroughly enjoy wielding the AXE to chop……timber.
{Don’t worry.Just because i said AXE doesn’t mean there is anything sinister about it or that it is an incitement to murder or anyone should use an AXE for an evil purpose although muhammed possibly DID use an AXE when chopping up infidels like those Jews{Abu Dawud 4390}
It seems considine has an AXE to grind{in a metaphorical sense,not in the sense of using an AXE to do something nefarious}
Wellington says
Thanks for that, mortimer. A “neat” and damning list indeed.
Keith O says
Mortimer, as a side note. Did Mo do ANY of the dirty work himself or did he con one of his idiot followers to do it for him?
I haven’t been able to find any references to him doing it himself.
b.a. freeman says
thanks for that link, mortimer. it just goes to show that what U need is really out there if U look for it. and ironically, i have been using wikiislam for several years now; i just haven’t read everything there yet.
Wellington says
In agreement with you, Ecosse 1314, and why I think writing “and/or” is perfectly acceptable, although manuals of English composition and grammar say this is not acceptable. Well, to Hell with that.
I’m sure these same manuals would have instructed Shakespeare that he just can’t make up words—but he did, hundreds, like “embrace,” “excitement,” “grime,” and “hint.” He also used double negatives, e.g., the character, Polonius, in Hamlet saying, “Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
Not an ally of sub-standard speech (e.g., Ebonics), but this doesn’t mean one has to be a linguistic slave to conformity either.
Hope you’re doing well over there in Scotland. Have been there but not to the Highlands or the Hebrides. Want to see both before I die. Take care, astute commenter.
Ecosse1314 says
Ha ha wasn’t picking up on your post..was just agreeing in shorthand. Things not good in Scotland with covid. Though you would be safe from it in the Highlands and Island and it is fairly Islam free. Win win
mgoldberg says
Those jewish people of Yathrib would no doubt have an issue with Considine’s lying. There, some 600-900 Jewish men and or boys were slaughtered for not proclaiming Mo as the prophet of Allah. Imagine- the Jews were murdered for not supporting the hegemony of Mo’ and this slaughter was totally unnecessary except of course, that the slaughtering and homicidism was what the killijng was about- sacralized slaughter of kaffir. For Considine to utter falsehoods as he did here is his being an accomplis to those and all the other murders.
James Lincoln says
Wellington,
Neither alternative is acceptable for any clear thinking person, let alone a lecturer at Rice University, Houston, Texas…
Wellington says
Agreed, James. After all, massive, willful ignorance of evil and rank complicity with evil so very often produces the same deleterious results.
JamesC. says
If Mohammed never existed, and/or the sources are unreliable, I can see how he might defend his case. But if he accepts the sources as valid sources of info about Mo, I do not see how he can make his case,
Maybe he accepts the sources by and large, but not the hadiths that show Mo in a bad light ?
Peter Buckley says
Thanks to the Internet, muslims can now read online the first biography of Muhammad, by the devout muslim Ibn Ishaq:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Ishaq
If you read the biography, you will understand why so-called “extremists” do what they do (they are copying Muhammad), and why so many muslims are leaving Islam now they are finding out the truth.
Muhammad orders his son-in-law Ali, to behead Al-Nadr bin al-Harith on page 136.
Muhammad says that those who follow him will be given paradise; those who refuse will be slaughtered and sent to hell on page 222
Muhammad approves the stabbing of Uqba bin Abu Muayt on page 308.
Muhammad arranges the beheading of Kab bin al-Ashraf on page 364-9.
Muhammad personally beheads over 600 Jewish prisoners of war on page 464
Muhammad orders the torturing of treasurer of Khaybar tribe, Kinana on page 515
Muhammad orders the killing of Abdullah bin Katal’s and one of his singing-girls on page 550-1
Muhammad approves the murder of Asma bint Marwan on page 675-6.
Muhammad arranges the assassination of the old man Abu Afak on page 675.
Muhammad approves the murder of an old one-eyed Bedouin man, by Amr bin Umayya, one of his Jihadist thugs on page 674-5.
http://www.justislam.co.uk/images/Ibn%20Ishaq%20-%20Sirat%20Rasul%20Allah.pdf
Note: JW readers are free to copy and paste the above onto any article relating to Muhammad. No other words are necessary……
b.a. freeman says
thanks for the link to the scanned version of sirat rasul allah, Peter!
i would add that if anybody wants a copy of it, he should download it *N*O*W*, because on PDF page 2, the publication date is 2004. publishers won’t typically print a book in the public domain unless there is a high demand for it; since so few people here in amrikistan and across the pond in eurabia know about islam, it is doubtful that the market is very large for this book. the original copyright appears to be 1957, which is before the 1978-01-01 copyright law, which brought u.s. law into line with the berne convention; this would make its likely date of copyright expiration be 2024, so i believe it is probably still copyrighted. i got a PDF of another copyrighted work (“umdat al-salik wa ‘uddat an-nasik,” also known as “the reliance of the traveler and tools of the worshiper”), but it took a while to find a link that wasn’t dead, and i suspect that the link i eventually found is dead by now, too. i’m sure that lawyers and the lawfare nazis who pay them can tell U why, and would be glad to search your home and hard drive if they could get away with it.
get it while U can!
Tricia E Stuercke says
Wow… This guy’s either willingly lazy in his lack of research or arrogantly Francis-like in his so-called “expertise”/revisionist history.
Either way, he might wanna have a fresh read of “The 10 Commandments”/The Decalogue, especially that pesky little 1,
“Thou shalt not bear false witness…”!
mortimer says
PRIMARY ISLAMIC SOURCES THAT LIST THE CONTRACT MURDERS OF MOHAMMED:
Notable Primary Sources
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[5]
• Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, Volume 2[2]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[5]
• Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, Volume 2[8]
• Quran 83:13[12]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[12]
• Sahih Bukhari 1:9:499, Sahih Bukhari 6:60:339
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[13]
• Tabari, Volume 9, The last years of the Prophet[14]
• Sahih Bukhari 5:59:369, Sahih Muslim 19:4436
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[18]
• Ibn Kathir’s Sira al-Nabawiyya[21]
• Sahih Bukhari 4:52:264, Sahih Bukhari 5:59:370, Sahih Bukhari 5:59:371, Sahih Bukhari 5:59:372 and more[24]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[25]
• Tabari, Volume 7, The foundation of the community[26]
• Musnad Ahmad 3:496[29]
• Sunan Abu Dawud 1244 (Ahmad Hasan Ref)
• Ibn Hisham, Sirat Rasul Allah[27]
• Tabari, Volume 9, The last years of the Prophet[30][31]
• Tabari, Volume 7, The foundation of the community[34]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[36]
• Quran 3:86-88[39][38]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[36]
• Tabari, Volume 7, The foundation of the community[43]
• Quran 33:26,[46] Qur’an 33:09 & 33:10[58][59]
• Sunan Abu Dawud 38:4390
• Sahih Bukhari 4:52:68, Sahih Bukhari 4:57:66 and more
• Tabari, Volume 8, Victory of Islam[60]
• Quran 63:7-8
• Sahih Bukhari 6:60:424
• Sahih Bukhari 5:59:462
• Ibn Hisham, Sirat Rasul Allah[65]
• Tirmidhi no. 3923[70]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[71]
• Quran 5:33-39[72][74]
• Sahih Bukhari 1:4:234, Sahih Bukhari 5:59:505, Sahih Bukhari 7:71:623 and more
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[77]
• Tabari, Volume 8, History of Islam[78]
• Sahih Bukhari 5:59:582, Sahih Bukhari 3:29:72
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[82]
• Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, Volume 2[83]
• Sunan Abu Dawud 14:2677
• Sunan Abu Dawud 14:2678
• Sunan an-Nasa’i 5:37:4072
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[85]
• Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, Volume 2[83]
• Al-Waqidi, Kitab al-Maghazi[86]
• Sunan Abu Dawud 14:2677
• Sunan Abu Dawud 14:2678
• Sunan an-Nasa’i 5:37:4072
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[85]
• Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, Volume 2[83]
• Al-Waqidi, Kitab al-Maghazi[86]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[82]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[82]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[82]
• Tabari, Volume 8, History of Islam[88]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[82]
• Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, Volume 2[90]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[82]
• Sahih Bukhari 5:59:662, Sahih Bukhari 4:56:817
• Tabari, Volume 9, The last years of the Prophet[91]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[82]
• Tabari, Volume 8, History of Islam[94]
• Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, Volume 2[95]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[98]
• Ibn Kathir’s Sira al-Nabawiyya[99]
• Al-Waqidi’s Kitab al-Maghazi[102]
• Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir[103]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[101]
• Tabari, Volume 39, Biographies of the Prophet’s companions and their successors[104]
• Al-Waqidi’s Kitab al-Maghazi[102]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[101]
• Sunan Abu Dawud 33:4153
• Tabari, Volume 8, History of Islam[105]
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[108]
• Sunan Abu Dawud 19:3031
• Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, Volume 2[114]
• Tabari, Volume 9, The last years of the Prophet[111]
• Sahih Bukhari 4:56:826
• Sunan Abu Dawud 38:4348
• Sunan an-Nasa’i 5:37:4075
• Sunan Abu Dawud 19:2996
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[121]
• Sunan Abu Dawud 38:4346, Sunan Abu Dawud 14:2677
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[85]
• Al-Tabari, History Vol.9[123]
• Sunan Abu Dawud 14:2756
• Tabari, Volume 10, Conquest of Arabia[127]
• Sahih Bukhari 4:52:286
• Sunan Abu Dawud 38:4414
• Sunan Abu Dawud 19:3000
• Ibn Hisham & Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah[135]
• Sahih Bukhari 5:59:641, Sahih Bukhari 4:52:262, Sahih Bukhari 4:52:310
• Hisham ibn al Kalbi, The Book of Idols[136]
Wellington says
Can regularly count on you, mortimer, for the details.
I take the broad picture of matters with some details and you take the broad picture of matters with extraordinarily detail. Each has their merit but, frankly, I think you supersede my approach because facts aplenty serve as the rock bottom factor respecting where truth resides—and you provide this in large amounts and I for one thank you for this.
I know a good bit about Islam, at least enough to know that it is bad news for the human species, but you fill in the gaps I leave behind. Thank you much for this. Take care, pal.
Wellington says
“…extraordinary detail…” and not “…extraordinarily detail…” Damn.
Aussie Infidel says
Mortimer, That sure is some list of Mo’s savage exploits. What a blood-thirsty excuse for a ‘holy man’.
It backs up what the Quran says:
“It is not for a prophet to have captives [of war] until he inflicts a massacre [upon Allah’s enemies] in the land”. (Q8:67).
“Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah ; and those with him are forceful against the unbelievers, merciful among themselves.” (Q48:29).
“Accursed wherever they are found, [being] seized and massacred completely.” (Q33:61).
And the Hadith:
“Anyone who kills an infidel is guaranteed Paradise.” Sahih Abu Dawud vol.2 no.2489.
And the Sira:
“Muhammad, however, insisted that war was a sacred duty, demanded by
Allah”. (Ishaq, Introduction, p3).
And Tabari:
“Killing unbelievers is a small matter to us” (History of Tabari 9, p69).
Patrick White says
Considine is taking Saudi money and laughing all the way to the bank. After that, there will be a slow and painful spiral down into Hell.
Hugh Fitzgerald says
His department head, the Dean, and the President’s office at Rice ought to be informed that Craig Considine is either a liar or a fool, but whatever the case, he has no business teaching at Rice.
Send a page that includes both his quoted remarks about Muhammad never punishing those who mocked him, and Robert Spencer’s Hadith-based reply.
Finn N says
“Considine did not respond to our requests for comment….”
Heh! His silence speaks volumes.
Shirley Ann says
Has Craig Considine recently become a Convert to the Religion of Peace? You usually see these Apologists Surface, trying to present Islam as a “Normal” Religion. Apologists “WhiteWash” the most Violent of all Cults. Americans will Not be fooled again, on the “Religion of Peace” as we once were, when the Pro-Muslim President, GW BUSH, scolded us like Children. We’re All Grown-Up NOW!
Aussie Infidel says
Shirley Ann, I hope you are right. But I fear that only a minority of Americans – and Aussies – understand yet what the real issues are. One erstwhile academic here in my country, told me personally – and with a straight face – that there is no violence in the Quran. Her students – and Considine’s – will grow up completely misinformed.
J.P. Travis says
Next question: why does Rice employ this yahoo? They are clearly defrauding their students by having somebody so ignorant about his subject matter lecturing students.
ScienceABC123 says
If sociology was a real science then please explain why we still have all the problems in society?
DavidS says
This guy is the king of Muslim apologists, although not far behind him are Karen Armstrong, Leslie Hazleton, Juan Cole, John Esposito, and Gary Willis. It’s a unique club.
Guy Macher says
Craig Considine, you are a liar. Sue me.
john smith says
Nice one,
john smith says
Such people as Craig Considine and Pope Francis, who probably believe themselves to be the most virtues of Christians, are anything but. By telling lies to their followers (over 2 billion in Francis’s case) they have inadvertently allied themselves with the forces of darkness.
Whether the lies are intentional or just through ignorance of the truth, they have chosen the side of evil.
john smith says
Meant to say, virtuous of Christians.
Wellington says
Though an agnostic, john smith, I value the Judeo-Christian tradition as the most enlightened religious tradition in history because of its emphasis on the dignity and worth of the individual, which works so well with the democratic tenets which the ancient Greeks invented (as they invented so much else).
But now, Christians and Jews aplenty are aligning as allies with the Islamic faith, defending this faith for a myriad of faulty reasons. What a giant mistake because, while Judaism and Christianity in their theological blueprint are not enemies of liberty, Islam in its theological blueprint most surely is many times over.
When the best of mankind goes into stupid mode, another example being the coddling of Hitler in the late 1930’s by the UK and France, disaster is highly likely to be the result—as it was from 1939-1945.
Exculpating evil is never a good move. Never.
Aussie Infidel says
Wellington, As a fellow agnostic, I agree completely. If we want free societies, we have to allow everyone to believe whatever they like, as long as they don’t harm others – like Islam, the most evil creed ever conceived.
DavidR says
And he helped camels by taking most of their baggage they had been forced to carry.
Hoi Polloi says
You’d better watch it, Mr. Spencer. Before long this guy, some judges, a few reporters, and a slew of useful idiots will Tommy Robinson you and tell the world that you have led the believers astray with false teachings. You betrayed them and convinced them that their book isn’t peaceful. It will all be laid at your feet.
Mykejohn says
Please Mr Catholic Scholar if you have collected anything (money wise) behind our back, do the honourable thing, return it and teach in and out of season. This obtuse union with the mohammedans will expose you as all the islam texts state otherwise.
Zimriel says
The Ka’b al-Ashraf narrative is suspect:
https://www.academia.edu/44254864/The_Murder_of_the_Jewish_Chieftain_Kab_b_al_Ashraf_A_Re_examination
b.a. freeman says
thank U *very* much for that link, Zimriel!
this is what islamic historical analysis desperately needs: analysis of the sources to see if they are coherent, or mythical. regardless of whether the murder was concocted to protect a supporter of the rashidun caliphs or actually the truth, however, the fact remains that b. maslama was a thug. he may have protected jewish relatives (in the same way that mafia thugs might protect their family members), or he may have murdered them, but either way, he was still a gangsta.
f*** islam.