Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions about the World's Fastest-Growing Faith

by Robert Spencer

  15. Dorsey, "Ismaili Shiite Group Seeks an End to Saudi Religious Discrimination."

  16. Shehzad Saleem, "The Condemnation of Slavery in Islam," in Renaissance. A Monthly Islamic Journal, www.renaissance.com.

  17. Quoted in Bernard Lewis, Race and Slavery in the Middle East (Oxford University Press, 1994). Reprinted at www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/ lewisi.html.

  18. Bat Ye'or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996), p. io8.

  r9. Coalition Against Slavery in Mauritania and Sudan, "Sudan Q & A," compiled by the American Friends Service Committee, http://members.aol. com/casmasalc/mauritan.htm, 1998.

  20. American Anti-Slavery Group, "The Baltimore Sun Story," www.anti- slavery.org/misc/usart2,.htm.

  21. American Anti-Slavery Group, "Sudan: Women and Children As the Spoils of `Holy War,"' www.iabolish.com/today/background/sudan.htm.

  22. Aid to the Church in Need, "Religious Freedom in the Majority Islamic Countries 1998 Report: Sudan," wwwalleanzacattolica.org/acs/index.htm.

  23. Brian Saint-Paul, "The Crescent and the Gun," Crisis, January 2002, PP. 13-14.

  24. Lewis, Race and Slavery in the Middle East.

  25. Coalition Against Slavery in Mauritania and Sudan, "Mauritania Q & A," compiled by the American Friends Service Committee, http://members.aol. com/casmasalc/mauritan.htm, 1998.

  z6. David Hecht, " `Slavery' African Style," unpublished letter to the Washington Post, 14 February 1998, The Wisdom Fund, www.twf.org/News/ Y1998/SlaveryAfrica.htm1.

  27. Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, "A Response by Messaoud Ould Boulkheir: Slavery in Mauritania," Coalition Against Slavery in Mauritania and Sudan, http://members.aol.com/casmasalc/boulkhei.htm#Rebuttal.

  28. Reliance of the Traveller, 014.1.

  29. Ibid., e12.8.

  30. But only if the requisite four male witnesses to the act could be found; see chapter four.

  31. Naipaul, Among the Believers, p. 164.

  32. Schwartz, "Despotism in Saudi Arabia."

  33. William J. Bennett, Why We Fight: Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism (Doubleday, 2002), p. 79. For information on these groups in the United States, see Steven Emerson, American fihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us (Simon & Schuster, 2002).

  34. Naipaul, Among the Believers, p. 81.

  35• Ibid., p. 67-

  36. Sura z4:z from The Holy Quran: Arabic Text-English Translation, as explained by Allamah Nooruddin, trans. Amatul Rahman Omar and Abdul Mannan Omar (Noor Foundation International, 2000).

  37. Amnesty International, "Saudi Arabia Report zoos," www.amnesty.org.

  38. Naipaul, Among the Believers, p. 92.

  39. Reliance of the Traveller, OIL 5(l).

  40. Ibid., 014.1. This opinion is held by the Shafi'i, Hanbali and Maliki schools of Islamic jurisprudence. The Hanafi school disagrees.

  41. Quoted in Amir Taheri, Holy Terror: Inside the World of Islamic Terrorism (Adler & Adler, 1987), p. 242.

  42. Felix Onuah, "Nigeria Fears Reprisals after Minister Shot Dead," Reuters, 24 December 2001.

  43. "Analysis: Nigeria's Sharia Split," BBC News, 15 October 2001.

  Chapter 4: Does Islam Respect Women?

  i. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 7, bk. 67, no. 5096.

  2. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 56, no. 2858.

  3. Amatul Rahhman Omar and Abdul Mannan Omar, "Introduction to the Study of the Holy Qur'an," in The Holy Quran: Arabic Text-English Translation, p. 43-A.

  4. Karen Armstrong, Islam: A Short History (Modern Library, 2000), p. 16.

  5. Ibid.

  6. "Saudi Police `Stopped' Fire Rescue," BBC News, 15 March 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk.

  7. The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an, trans. and with commentary by `Abdullah Yusuf 'Ali, loth ed. (Amana Publications, 1999).

  8. From Sura 4:34 in The Holy Quran: Arabic Text-English Translation.

  9. Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (New American Library, 199i).

  io. Abu-Dawud Sulaiman bin Al-Aash'ath Al-Azdi as-Sijistani, Sunan abuDawud, trans. Ahmad Hasan, bk. I1, no. 2138. See also no. 2139. www.usc. edu/dept/MSA/reference/searchhadith.html.

  1i. Sunan abu-Dawud, bk. 11, no. 2141.

  12. Ibid., bk. 11, no. 2142.

  13. There are several passages of the Qur'an that have been abrogated and replaced by other passages. This is the origin of the "Satanic verses" made infamous by Salman Rushdie: in Muslim tradition there is a story saying that Muhammad, trying to appeal to the polytheists around him, proclaimed a revelation naming some of their gods as "daughters of Allah." Not long afterward, however, he had a change of heart and corrected the verse, attributing the original to Satan's influence. The Qur'an itself refers to its changeable nature: "If We abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten, We will replace it by a better one or one similar" (Sura 2:1o6). The abrogation of verses in the Qur'an is a fascinating study with important implications for Muhammad's status as a prophet, but in any case the "wifebeating verse" is not among those abrogated.

  r4. Reliance of the Traveller, m1o.12.

  15. "Row over Turkey's Wife-Beating Book," BBC News, 1o August 2000.

  16. Flora Botsford, "Spanish Women's Fury at Islamic Advice," BBC News, 24 July 2000.

  17. Jamal Badawi, Ph.D., Gender Equity in Islam: Basic Principles (American Trust Publications, 1995), endnote 14. Reprinted at www.jannah.org/genderequity/.

  18. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 7, bk. 67, ch. 94.

  19. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, and ed. (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), no. 1604. Although the source quoted is Catholic, it expresses a sentiment to which Protestants and Orthodox would readily subscribe, and which even secular Westerners should appreciate for its articulation of love and mutuality.

  20. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 7, bk. 67, no. 5193.

  21. Reliance of the Traveller, mn.9.

  22. Amir Taheri, The Spirit ofAllah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution (Adler & Adler, 1986), p. 9o.

  23. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 1, bk. 6, no. 304. Those who point out similar statements by medieval Church Fathers should remember that no one follows any of those Fathers the way Muslims follow Muhammad.

  24. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 7, bk. 67, no. 5196.

  25. Reliance of the Traveller, p42.2(4).

  z6. Jamal Badawi, Ph.D., Polygamy in Islamic Law, 1998, www users.globalnet. co.uk/-iidc/qalam/html/poly.html.

  27. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Ideals and Realities oflslam (ABC International Group, 2000), p. 105.

  28. "Dhaka Sex Workers Celebration," BBC News, 30 March 2000.

  29. Philip Mansel, Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453-1924 (St. Martin's Griffin, 1998), p. 105.

  30. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 5, bk. 62, no. 3662.

  31. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 3, bk. 52, no. z661.

  32. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 5, bk. 63, no. 3816.

  33. Mansel, Constantinople.

  34. Kevin Peraino and Evan Thomas, "Odyssey into Jihad," Newsweek, 14 January 2002, p. 45-

  35. Michael Slackman, "The TV Polygamist Legions of Arab Women Love to Hate," Los Angeles Times, 16 December 2001.

  36. Akbar S. Ahmed, Islam Today: A Short Introduction to the Muslim World (I. B. Tauris Publishers, 2oo1), p. 74.

  37. Nast, Ideals and Realities oflslam, p. 105.

  38. Some Muslim sources render this as "I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you."

  39. Naasira bint Ellison, "Distorted Image of Muslim Women," republished from Hudaa magazine at www.islamzine.com/women/distort.htm.

  40. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 7, bk. 67, no. 5206.

  41. David Pryce-Jones, The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs (1989; Ivan R. Dee, zooz), p. 127.

  42. "Pope Urges Judges, Lawyers to Shun Divorce Cases," Reuters, 28 January 2002.

  43. Pruce-Jones, The Closed Circle, p. 127.

  44. Encyclopedia of Islamic Law: A Compendium of the Major Schools, adapted by Laleh Bakhtiar (ABC International Group,
1996), p. 415.

  45. Taheri, Spirit ofAllah, p. 51.

  46. "Life after Early Marriage," UNICEF Web feature, www.unicef.org/ noteworthy/earlymarriage/3.htm, 12 January 2002.

  47. Pryce-Jones, The Closed Circle, p. 124.

  48. Jamal Badawi, Ph.D., "Is Female Circumcision Required?" in Gender Equity in Islam: Basic Principles.

  49. Ahmad ibn Hanbal 5:75, quoted in Hamdun Dagher, The Position of Women in Islam (Light of Life, 1997). Reprinted at www.light-of-life.com/eng/ reveal/r5405efc.htm.

  50. Sunan abu-Dawud, bk. 41, no. 5251.

  51. Reliance of the Traveller, e4.3.

  52. Tantawi's quasi-papal status is bestowed upon him by Frank Gardner, "Grand Sheikh Condemns Suicide Bombings," BBC News, 4 December 2001, www.bbc.co.uk. Tantawi's view of female circumcision is quoted in Geneive Abdo, No God but God: Egypt and the Triumph of Islam (Oxford University Press, 20oo), p. 59.

  53. Quoted in Pryce-Jones, The Closed Circle, p. 131.

  54. Reliance of the Traveller, 024.9.

  55 Lisa Beyer, "The Women of Islam," Time, 25 November 2001. Reprinted at www.time.com/time/world/article/o,8599,185647,oo.html.

  56. Naipaul, Among the Believers, p. 165-

  57. The whole story is told in Sahih Bukhari, vol. 3, bk. 52, no. 2661. As Muhammad loved Aisha above all his other wives, the accusation no doubt grieved him, and he was reluctant to side with her accusers. This is not the only time that Muhammad was favored with a revelation from Allah that granted him the desires of his heart.

  58. Sisters in Islam, "Rape, Zina and Incest," 6 April zooo, www.muslimtents. com/sistersinislam/resources/sdefini.htm.

  59. Sisters in Islam, "Rape and Incest As Penal Code Offences," 3o November zooo, www.muslimtents.com/sistersinislam/resources/spenal.htm.

  6o. Mark Goldblatt, "Why the West Is Better," New York Post, 30 January 2002.

  6r. "Nigerian Woman Still in Danger of Stoning," Feminist Daily News Wire, to January 2002, www.feminist.org.

  62. Goldblatt, "Why the West Is Better."

  63. Obed Minchakpu, "Kill Me Instead of Muslim Mother, Nigerian Archbishop Says," National Catholic Register, io-i6 March 2002, p. 6.

  64. Sisters in Islam, "Rape, Zina and Incest."

  65. Chicago Tribune, 3 May 1998, quoted in Yotam Feldner, "`Honor' Murders-Why the Perps Get off Easy," The Middle East Media Research Institute, 16 April zoos, www.memri.org.

  66. Andrew Bushell, "Child Marriage in Afghanistan and Pakistan," America, it March zooz.

  67. "Two Saudis Beheaded for Rape," Arab News, 9 May zooz, www. arabnews.com.

  Chapter S: Is Islam Compatible with Liberal Democracy?

  i. "`Islam Is Peace' Says President," White House Press Release, 17 September 2001.

  2. Dilip Hiro, Holy Wars: The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism (Routledge, 1989), p. 54.

  3. Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, 1 January 18oz. http://w3.trib.com/FACT/ist.jeffers.z.html.

  4. Hiro, Holy Wars, p. 56.

  5. Mohamed Elhachmi Hamdi, "Islam and Liberal Democracy: The Limits of the Western Model," Journal of Democracy 7.2 (1996), pp. 81-85.

  6. V. S. Naipaul, Among the Believers: An Islamic journey (Vintage Books, 1982), p. 178.

  7. Ibid., pp. 85, 101-

  8. Hamdi, "Islam and Liberal Democracy."

  9. Dinesh D'Souza, What's So Great aboutAmerica (Regnery Publishing, zooz), P. 97.

  10. Quoted in David Pryce-Jones, The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs (1989; Ivan R. Dee, 2002), p. 362.

  it. Tore Kjeilen, "Sharia," Encyclopedia of the Orient, http://lexicorient.com/r-gi- bin/eo-direct-frame.pl?http://i-cias.com/e. o/sharia.htm.

  12. Quoted in Amir Taheri, The Spirit ofAllah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution (Adler & Adler, 1986), p. 163.

  13. Quoted in Naipaul, Among the Believers, p. 113.

  14. Quoted in Bassam Tibi, The Challenge ofFundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder (University of California Press, 1998), p. 169.

  15. Abdul Qader Abdul Aziz, "Perfection of the Shari'ah," al Jumu'ah Magazine, reprinted at www.islamtoday.com.

  16. Hamdi, "Islam and Liberal Democracy."

  IT Bernard Lewis, "Islam and Liberal Democracy: A Historical Overview," Journal of Democracy 7.2 (1996), pp. 52-63.

  18. Hiro, Holy Wars, p. 39.

  19. Lewis, "Islam and Liberal Democracy."

  zo. Pryce-Jones, The Closed Circle, p. xi.

  Chapter 6: Can Islam Be Secularized?

  i. Caesar E. Farah, Islam, 6th ed. (Barrons, 2000), p. 236.

  z. Bill Clinton, Remarks by the President to the Opening Session of the 53rd United Nations General Assembly, White House Press Release, 21 September 1998.

  3. Charles Glass, Tribes with Flags: A Dangerous Passage through the Chaos of the Middle East (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990), p. 468.

  4. Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew Poems, trans. Bernard Lewis (Princeton University Press, 2oo1), p. 105.

  5. Dinesh D'Souza, Whats So Great aboutAmerica (Regnery Publishing, 2002), p. 83.

  6. V. S. Naipaul, Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey (Vintage Books, 1982), p. 13.

  7. David Pryce Jones, "An Arab Moment of Truth: Which Way the Islamist Fantasy?" National Review, 15 October 2001. Reprinted at www.nationalreview.com.

  8. "Kabul Residents Relish New Freedoms," 14 November 2001, wwwcnn.com.

  9. Lewis, What Went Wrong? (Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 115-16.

  1o. Mohamed Elhachmi Hamdi, "Islam and Liberal Democracy: The Limits of the Western Model," Journal of Democracy 7.2 (1996), pp. 81-85.

  ii. Naipaul, Among the Believers, p. 117.

  12. Quoted in Amir Taheri, The Spirit ofAllah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution (Adler & Adler, 1986), p. 20.

  13. Institute for the Secularization of Islamic Society, "Our Mission," www secularislam.org.

  14. Daniel Pipes, "Roll over, Rushdie," Weekly Standard, 22 January 1996. Reprinted at wwwsecularislam.org/reviews/pipes2.htm.

  15. Osama bin Laden videotape, U.S. government transcript, trans. George Michael, Associated Press, 14 December zoos.

  16. Andrew Mango, Ataturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey (Overlook Press, zooo), p. 438.

  17. Farah, Islam, p. 355.

  ,8. Paul Dumont, "The Power of Islam in Turkey," in Islam and the State of the World Today, ed. O. Carte, p. 77; quoted in Farah, Islam, p. 355.

  19. Mango, Ataturk, p. 471.

  20. Philip Mansel, Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453-1,924 (St. Martin's Griffin, 1998), p. 27.

  21. Ibid., p. 140-

  22. Ibid.

  23. Reliance of the Traveller contains a note from the modern Muslim scholar Muhammad Hamid, declaring that "the fact that it is widespread among people" does not justify the taking of photographs, which is tantamount to image-making and hence idolatry. "It is no different than interest (riba), adultery, drinking, gambling, or other blameworthy acts whose night has overspread the people and darkness enveloped them" (Reliance of the Traveller, w50.9).

  z4. Mansel, Constantinople, p. 350.

  25. Farah, Islam, p. 356.

  z6. Ibid., p. 357-

  27. "Albright Says U.S. Not Happy about Turkey's Islamic Drift," CNN, 12 February 1997.

  28. "'Black Voice' Kaplan Dead," Turkish Press Review, 17 May 1995.

  29. Daniel Pipes, "Islam's Intramural Struggle," National Interest, Spring 1994, reprinted at www.danielpipes.org.

  30. Taheri, Spirit ofAllah, p. 287.

  31. Sadeq el Mahdi, "Iran: the Message of Revolution," in Arabia: The Islamic World Review, February 1981, p. 29. Quoted in Farah, Islam, p. 373.

  32. Taheri, Spirit ofAllah, p. 45.

  33. Ibid., p. 46.

  34. Farah, Islam, p. 354.

  35• Ibid., pp. 339-40.

  36. Ibid., pp. 365-66.

  37. Sayyid Qutb, Social Justice in Islam, trans. John B. Hardie and
Hamid Algar, rev. ed. (Islamic Publications International, 2000), p. i9.

  38. Lewis, What Went Wrong? p. 23.

  39. Naipaul, Among the Believers, p. 88.

  40. Ibid., p. 204.

  41. D'Souza, What's So Great about America, p. 194.

  Chapter 7: Can Science and Culture Flourish under Islam?

  i. Philip K. Hitti, The Arabs: A Short History (Regnery Publishing, 1996), p. 120.

  2. Ibid., p. I.

  3. Ibid., p. no.

  4. Ibid., p. 5.

  5. Ibid., p. 145.

  6. Ibid., p. 104.

  7. Ibid., p. 93.

  8. Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana (Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 176.

  9. Ibid., p. ,8o.

  io. Ibid., p. 256.

  11. Hitti, The Arabs, pp. 141-42.

  iz. Ibid., pp. 142-44.

  13. Ibid., pp. 146-47.

  14. Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew Poems, trans. Bernard Lewis (Princeton University Press, 2001), p. 208.

  15. Nesimi's verses, while exquisite, strayed from Islamic orthodoxy to such an extent that he was ultimately executed. While announcing his fatwa on Nesimi, the Mufti of Aleppo cried, "He is unclean! His death is unclean! If any one drop of his blood touches any limb, that limb must be cut of!" But when the execution began, some of Nesimi's blood stained the Mufti's finger; he escaped mutilation by explaining that the blood "fell while I was citing an example, so no legal consequence follows." Nesimi, flayed alive and on the point of death, said: "If you want to cut one finger of the zealot he turns and flees from the truth / See this poor devotee who when they flay him head to foot does not cry out." Ibid., pp. 208-9.

  16. Bernard Lewis, The Arabs in History (Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 147. A. Zahoor, "Abu `Uthman cAmr ibn Bahr al-Basri al-Jahiz," http:// users.erols.com/gmqm/)*ahiz.htmi.

  IT Hitti, The Arabs, p. 181.

  18. Lewis, The Arabs in History.

  19. Hitti, The Arabs, p. 146.

  20. Ibid., p. 158.

  21. Reliance of the Traveller, r4o.i.

  22. Dilip Hiro, Holy Wars: The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism (Routledge, 1989), p. 38.

  23. Andrew Marshall, "The Threat of Jaffar," New York Times Magazine, io March 2002.