Rice University sociologist Craig Considine has studied Arabic for three years, but his “Arabic is not sharp at the moment” and he does not normally interact with Arabs, he stated in a December 5 podcast. Such comments provoke suspicions about the credentials of this previously examined, self-proclaimed “Islamic apologist,” who spoke at the end of a virtual tour for his debunked, new book, The Humanity of Muhammad: A Christian View.
Growing up in the Boston suburb of Needham, Massachusetts, with a mother described by Considine as Catholic and an agnostic/atheist father, little in Considine’s background suggests a religious scholar. “We never learned anything outside of the Catholic faith,” he noted recently online of his upbringing, and in college he originally planned to study sports management before switching to politics after a transfer to Washington, DC’s American University. Now his interviewers present him as an “interfaith activist, who works to build bridges between people of different faiths as a means of promoting deeper understanding, connection, respect, love, and communication.”
Studying Islam and Arabic at American University, Considine found a mentor in the Pakistani Muslim anthropology professor Akbar Ahmed. Considine became the professor’s assistant for his 2009 Journey into America film and book project, which, like the subsequent 2016 Journey into Europe, whitewashes Islam as a benign, multicultural faith. Any observer of Ahmed will clearly see how his acolyte Considine consistently reiterates the dubious tropes of his former teacher.
Usually Considine tells in his autobiography how his “life-changing class” under Ahmed began with his recitation of a hadith or canonical saying from Islam’s prophet Muhammad. This statement that the “ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr” for Considine “shook me to my core…as a person of faith,” even though scholars have contested this hadith’s validity. Even if true, Muslim scholars such as dawa proselytizing clergy are not necessarily more benign than Muslim martyrs, as historically these scholars have justified violence against disbelievers in questionable Islamic doctrines.
Ahmed transformed Considine, who recalls having started college in 2004 with “this viewpoint of the Islamic tradition through the lens of 9/11,” a “terroristic lens, national security lens.” Yet he became “upset about the wars that were happening in our country with Afghanistan and Iraq” and the “demonization of an entire religion,” the “depiction of Iraqis as radical Muslims.” He “wanted to understand why this boogeyman was created,” for he came to believe that Islam “was nothing like I saw in the media” and “almost felt duped” after being “fed a lot of this kind of misinformation and propaganda.”
Today Considine worries that some Americans have taken the “Islamophobic propaganda bait” amidst a “manufacturing of anti-Muslim sentiment.” For him, this is just as much a distortion of what he considers Islam’s true peaceful nature as the Islamic State’s devout jihadists, “two sides of the same coin.” Accordingly, the “Islamophobia industry used to label me as an Islamic apologist and I was just like, I am going to embrace this.”
Although Considine has witnessed more than enough of Islam’s violent history during his brief lifetime, he sees in Muhammad a “very identification with love for humanity” that “allows me to love Prophet Muhammad.” On the basis of a 2012 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology article, Considine has asserted that Muhammad fulfills the Identification with All Humanity (IWAH) scale. This “relates to someone’s concern for human beings” and “their responses in favor of global harmony,” such that “people with higher IWAH are able to transcend tribalism.”
The “importance of interfaith dialogue” with Muslims and others has prompted Considine to coin his own acronym of DEUCE, for Dialogue, Education, Understanding, Commitment, and Engagement. Even though he has hardly ever said an unsettling thing about Islam, the DEUCE process “should be uncomfortable work,” but is for him “spiritual work” and “part of being a Christian.” “I seek out knowledge largely through the prism of Christian and Muslim relations and I find inspiration in Prophet Muhammad and Muslims themselves and the Islamic faith,” Considine has concluded.
Such gauzy accolades of Islam as an enlightened, inclusive, nonjudgmental faith cannot help but remind of the shadowy Hizmet (service) movement of the Turkish Sufi Islamist and onetime Erdogan ally, Fethullah Gülen. Sure enough, Considine proclaims himself a “friend of the Hizmet movement” and has been a “fan” of its Rumi Forum since college. The majority of his online book tour presentations have been with Hizmet institutions, which is unsurprising, given that Blue Dome Press, a Hizmet affiliate, is Considine’s publisher.
“The Hizmet movement is a class act when it comes to engaging in interfaith,” Considine has proclaimed. He is a “real admirer of Hizmet. I consider myself part of it as well, just because I am involved, even though I am Christian. My values and my ideals line up with Hizmet. I support it 100 percent.” In Texas, Hizmet’s “Harmony Schools are unbelievable,” he has stated in praise of Hizmet charter schools that worldwide have spawned corruption scandals and fears of cultic Turkish-Islamic indoctrination.
Like their Georgetown University colleagues, Turkish Rice University students with more intimate knowledge of their homeland have exposed Considine himself to unsettling questions about Hizmet’s nefarious character. Yet he remains unfazed, dismissing these students as having “been infused with some type of propaganda,” an example of “a lot of misunderstanding around the Hizmet movement.” For further critical perspectives on the Hizmet movement, he could have also, like this author, interviewed Islam’s German-Turkish Apostate Prophet, the ex-Muslim atheist Ridvan Aydemir.
Instead, Considine wants to continue to appear as a truth-teller about all things Islamic who battles against misinformed bigots. His moderator for an interview with Hizmet’s Niagara Foundation, Presbyterian pastor Dirk Ficca, quoted “you shall not bear false witness” from the Ten Commandments in the context of defending Islam against defamation. This honesty, Ficca claimed, is also a “central tenet of Islam” and not any taqiyya doctrine of deception in Islam’s name.
Invoking the Decalogue on behalf of Considine’s “fantasy Islam” is a serious reference to authority. He, however, is no Moses, but a millennial former student of sports management who has embraced modern Ivory Tower nostrums about the West victimizing Muslims. As Considine’s Turkish students have indicated and as future articles will continue to examine, reality does not justify his carefully constructed reputation.
Wellington says
He does not normally interact with Arabs?
Uh, Considine has a much bigger problem, to wit, he does not normally interact with the truth wherever Islam is concerned.
Stunning that a man like Considine can approve of a religion whose founder said, “I have been made victorious with terror” {Bukhari Hadith 4.52.220} and whose chief holy book requires death for apostasy {Sura 4:89} and actually sanctions rape—“what the right hand possesses” {Suras 4, 23, 33 and 70}.
No knowledgeable and sensible person can defend such rot. All who do have something wrong with them. Considine is no exception.
gravenimage says
+1
mortimer says
Wellington: “No knowledgeable and sensible person can defend such rot.”
Spoken by the university scholar … Wellington.
We are greatly beholden to university scholars like Wellington and Andrew Harrod who are exposing this con artist Considine.
mortimer says
It looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.
We observe: Considine is a secret Muslim, a verbal jihadist and a taqiyya artist shovelling hot, steaming piles of farm fresh absurdity.
Considine would be demolished in only two minutes of debate with the mighty Robert Spencer.
gravenimage says
+1
Patrick White says
An examination of Considine’s bank account will explain fully why he has such allegiance to Islam, and to its unholy ‘prophet’.
gravenimage says
Money is not the *only* motivating factor. “Political correctness” is also a major issue these days, especially in academia.
James Lincoln says
According to the feature article, Craig Considine:
“…sees in Muhammad a “very identification with love for humanity” that “allows me to love Prophet Muhammad.”
Dr. Considine holds a PhD from Trinity College (University of Dublin), MSc from Royal Holloway (University of London), & BA from American University in Washington, DC.
All this education and he lacks the ability to think clearly.
And this is what Rice University sociology students are being subjected to.
http://drcraigconsidine.com/about.html
Brando says
There are 2 possibilities: French scholar ALEXANDRE DEL VALLE says many Westerners suffer from STOCKHOLM SYNDROME.
They identify with the Anti-Human Rights Islam out of FEAR.
Or he is just saying all he does about Islam for MONEY.
gravenimage says
Yes–or he may be deliberately spouting apologia for Islam.
Brando says
One author who I think is a self-deluded apologist for Islam is Catholic writer GARY WILLS.
He wrote: “What The Qur’an Meant and Why It Matters” (2017) ,
very boring book, he rambles and rambles and OMITS to comment on some Koran passages that go AGAINST his pro-Koran arguments.
He also wrote:
“Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit” (2000),
which has mostly reliable info but later I learned Extra Info that makes Some of his claims to be wrong or partly wrong.
gravenimage says
Agreed, Brando.
mortimer says
No, Brando, Considine speaks lovingly of Mohammed, so he is a secret Muslim.
However, the ISLAMIC Stockholm Syndrome is clearly visible in many Muslim women.
Brando says
Very possible, in the redpill/blackpill they say: “Almost Anything is Possible,but Not Equally Probable”.
AN EXAMPLE
There is the book:
“Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror” ( 2004)
originally published ANONYMOUSL but later revealed to have been by MICHAEL SCHEUER, a CIA analyst.
BOOK PRAISED BY OSAMA BEN LADEN
In his video of September 7th 2007, bin Laden says that
“if you would like to get to know some of the reasons for your losing of your war against us, then read the book of Michael Scheuer in this regard.”
HIS POSITION
Scheuer DISMISSES Religious Reasons as to why Ben Laden committed terrorism, he said it all POLITICAL,Islam was just a pretext.
RAYMOND IBRAHIM
He is an American scholar who speaks ARABIC (his parents were from EGYPT), Christian and he has read BEN LADEN messages to Muslims in ARABIC.
They even say,the writings in Arabic, that the messages given in ENGLISH that say the reason for their terrorism is Mainly POLITICAL, are
Not the Real reasons,but it is religious.
It appears in his book: “The Al Qaeda Reader” ( 2007)
His best book is:
“Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West ” ( 2018 )
AGAIN ON SCHEUER
You would think Sheuer,an INTELLIGENCE gatherer,would have accepted the proof but NO, he rejected the new info given by Raymond Ibrahim, saying it does not mean anything.
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness says
Follow da money.
mortimer says
Who pays the Islamist Pied Piper Considine?
gravenimage says
Becoming Craig Considine
………………
Nasty apologist for Islamic savagery.
mortimer says
Well done, Andrew Harrod. Harrod observes with nice acuity that merely being a writer does not make one or one’s cause ‘benign’.
Ibn Khaldun was a leading Muslim scholar who highly praised and strongly encouraged Muslims to participate in kinetic, military jihad:
“In the Muslim community, the holy war is a RELIGIOUS DUTY, because of the universalism of the [Muslim] mission and [the obligation to] convert everybody to Islam either BY PERSUASION OR BY FORCE … The other religious groups did not have a universal mission, and the holy war was not a religious duty for them, save only for purposes of defense… Islam is under obligation to GAIN POWER OVER OTHER NATIONS.”
-Ibn Khaldun, (d. 1406), Islamist, jurist, renowned philosopher, historian, and sociologist.
It will be noted in the above quote that Ibn Khaldun approved of the FORCED RELIGIOUS CONVERSION of people INTO Islam.
mortimer says
Andrew Harrod has clearly demonstrated from Considine’s own words, that Considine is a secret Muslim pretending to be a Christian.
Considine is certainly aware that he is deceiving the unenlightened by spreading the false report that Islam is benign.
Islam is in fact the religion of jihad, not of peace.
A truly Christian scholar of Islam, Fr Henri Boulad SJ, sets the record straight about the meaning of jihad:
“Jihad is not a fringe part of Islam or an appendage. It constitutes a main obligation for a believer. Islam is imposed by force and generally has only yielded to force.” – Fr Henri Boulad SJ
gravenimage says
Considine *may* be a secret Muslim. But he and those like Karen Armstrong may instead be so in love with the idea of their being “broadminded” that they spend much of their careers whitewashing this evil creed. Hard to tell–and beyond a point it may not even much matter.
James Lincoln says
gravenimage,
Yes, very hard to tell.
But consider this:
A “broad-minded” islam apologist receives a *lot* of positive reinforcement from both muslims and Leftists. Also lucrative speaking engagements, media deals, etc.
Likely lots more money to be made in that *evil* arena then going against the current as an anti-jihadist…
gravenimage says
Also true, James.
That’s why it is so luicrous when Muslims and Muslim apologists say that Anti-Jihadists cannot *reall* oppose the horrors of Islam, but are just interested in making money. Just grimly laughable.
OLD GUY says
Yet another example of the failure of higher education. He probably wants his student loans forgiven also, which is a rip off of the tax payers again.