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Sharia versus Freedom: The Legacy of Islamic Totalitarianism [Hardcover]

Andrew G. Bostom
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Book Description

September 18, 2012
Shows indisputably the incompatibility of Sharia with universal human rights

Author Andrew G. Bostom expands upon his two previous groundbreaking compendia, The Legacy of Jihad and The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism, with this collection of his own recent essays on Sharia—Islamic law. The book elucidates, unapologetically, Sharia's defining Islamic religious principles and the consequences of its application across space and time, focusing upon contemporary illustrations.

A wealth of unambiguous evidence is marshaled, distilled, and analyzed, including: objective, erudite studies of Sharia by leading scholars of Islam; the acknowledgment of Sharia's global "resurgence," even by contemporary academic apologists for Islam; an abundance of recent polling data from Muslim nations and Muslim immigrant communities in the West confirming the ongoing, widespread adherence to Sharia's tenets; the plaintive warnings and admonitions of contemporary Muslim intellectuals—freethinkers and believers, alike—about the incompatibility of Sharia with modern, Western-derived conceptions of universal human rights; and the overt promulgation by authoritative, mainstream international and North American Islamic religious and political organizations of traditional, Sharia-based Muslim legal systems as an integrated whole (i.e., extending well beyond mere "family-law aspects" of Sharia)


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Editorial Reviews

Review

"No one writes with greater authority about the totalitarian current that is inseparable from Islam than Andrew Bostom. Accommodationists will not like what he says because it violates the liberal narrative according to which Islam is a 'religion of peace.' Would that it were so. That fantasy cannot survive exposure to the historical record, which Bostom has plumbed with relentless intelligence and unswerving commitment to the truth. This is an uncomfortable but necessary book. The first step in solving a problem is acknowledging that there is a problem. Sharia Versus Freedom is an indispensable aid to that remedial enlightenment." --Roger Kimball, author of Tenured Radicals: How Politics Has Corrupted Higher Education, and The Fortunes of Permanence: Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia

"This is damn powerful stuff and needs to be read by anyone who still believes that a rapprochement with religio-political Islam is possible. Readers will be in for a few surprises, too, as some heretofore immaculate scholarly figures come in for their lumps. It is no blurb-like cliché to say that Sharia versus Freedom is a work of critical importance in today's turbulent political climate and goes a long way toward dispelling the myopia with which the Sharia is generally viewed. With this, his third book in an 'encylopedic' series, Bostom has taken his place beside such major scholars of Islam as Ibn Warraq, Robert Irwin, and Bat Ye'or." --David Solway, poet, literary critic and author of The Big Lie: On Terror, Antisemitism, and Identity

"Regarding the subject of Islam, apologists frequently vilify and marginalize truth seekers. Yet Dr. Andrew Bostom is fearless and now provides a third scholarly historical compendium of valuable articles on Islam's totalitarian nature and its harsh Sharia—all of which unfortunately validate my life experience as a Muslim growing up in a Muslim country. With undeniable chronological data, Bostom covers much of what too many Western leaders and journalists willfully ignore: from the dhimmi status of non-Muslims to the combined effects of jihadism, and the Antisemitic Islamic motifs, all distressing realities with which I am, through life experiences, intimately familiar. Those who dodge Islam's intolerable and discriminatory doctrine—whether for political reasons, professional expediency or naked fear—also choose, to their own detriment, to facilitate the decline of Western civilization." --Wafa Sultan, author of A God Who Hates

"It would be a source of great joy if some of the reports on the contemporary application of the Sharia, Islamic law, Dr. Andrew Bostom describes in this book, are inaccurate. His meticulous documentation of this phenomenon, however, will prove sobering to even staunch optimists—and should be obligatory reading for all who care about Western freedom, and Western understanding of the rule of law." --Johannes J. G. Jansen, Houtsma Professor for Contemporary Islamic Thought Emeritus, Utrecht University, and author of The Dual Nature of Islamic Fundamentalism

"Indefatigable Andrew Bostom ventures anew into the field of Islam, in which he is supposedly not a specialist, only to accomplish what devoted and committed lifetime professionals did not. After Jihad and Antisemitism in Islam, which have engendered the international terrorism of the past two decades, Bostom now finds that the issue most urgently provocative to deal with is the challenge that Sharia Law has been posing to the countries in the West where Muslim minorities have taken asylum, and where their demands have been ever pressing to adopt the Sharia on a par with the local legal systems. Everyone understands, perhaps save the Archbishop of Canterbury, what a subversive and destructive effect this might have on the legal traditions of those host societies which have accorded the Muslims shelter out of human compassion, and are now asked pitilessly and arrogantly to forego their own civilization in order to accommodate that of their guest." --Raphael Israeli, professor of Islamic, Middle Eastern, and Chinese Studies Emeritus, and author of Islamikaze: Manifestations of Islamic Martyrology, and Muslim Minorities in Modern States: The Challenge of Assimilation

"In his new book, Sharia Versus Freedom: The Legacy of Islamic Totalitarianism, Andrew Bostom has once again given us an impeccably researched, authoritative study of the impact of Islam on the non-Islamic world. Instead of the misleading assurances of Islam's peaceful nature, Bostom has demonstrated how, from its inception, Islam has used both subversion and conquest to achieve its goal of universal global dominion and the humiliating subordination of those non-Muslims who surrendered to it. This book is indispensable reading for all leaders, both public and private, committed to the survival of Western civilization." --Richard Rubenstein, Lawton Distinguished Professor of Religion Emeritus, Florida State University, and author of The Cunning of History, and Jihad and Genocide

"Andrew Bostom has already edited two highly valuable, extended anthologies on Islam. This new monumental collection of his own essays, Sharia versus Freedom, boldly addresses the most important topic of the twenty-first century, and should be widely read, and heeded." --Bat Ye'or, author of The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam, and Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis

"It is a sine qua non of good medical practice that unpleasant symptoms must first be acknowledged and brought into the light before an effective treatment plan can be developed. In Sharia Versus Freedom, Andrew Bostom exposes to the light the condition known as 'sharia,' in all its profuse diversity. This treasure trove is a stirring antidote to the epidemic of ill-founded wishful thinking about Islam that plagues our age. From female genital mutilation to restrictions on freedom of speech, Bostom's relentless forensic analyses will disturb those whose minds are drugged by the mirage of wishful, eyes-closed thinking. To be real, hope must speak the truth: it is for this reason that Bostom's collection of essays makes a major contribution to forging a better future for us all." --Mark Durie, theologian, and author of The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom

"The brave and stalwart Andrew Bostom will change the way you look at our future. Every citizen interested in Western survival should read this book." --Giulio Meotti, journalist with Il Foglio, and author of A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism

"Beltway elites, pseudoscholars, and mainstream media mavens would have us believe that Islamic doctrine and Islamic terrorism have no correlation. Andrew Bostom knows better. For the better part of a decade, Bostom has shown, through a series of brilliant essays, that the driving force behind Islamic jihad is not poverty or occupation, but core Islamic teachings. In Sharia versus Freedom, Bostom, a true 'Watchman on the Wall', fearlessly dissects the end game after all the terror: the totalitarian system known as Islamic sharia law. America, you ve been warned." --Erick Stakelbeck, Host, CBN's Stakelbeck on Terror, and author of The Terrorist Next Door: How the Government Is Deceiving You about the Islamist Threat

"In the years since 9/11, while Islamic Studies professors have continued to whitewash the religion of peace, responsible-minded men and women outside of the Islamic Studies racket have taken up the job of truth-telling, publishing a number of substantial, and in some cases encyclopedic, volumes about Islam. One thinks, for example, of Andrew Bostom, a physician and professor of medicine at Brown University, who in the last few years has somehow found the time to produce massive, definitive books about the history of jihad and the legacy of Islamic Antisemitism." --Bruce Bawer, author of While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within, and Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom

"This unique collection of essays on Sharia, Islamic Law, contains the most brilliant dissection of exactly what constitutes the meaning and practice of Sharia relative to all previous books written on the same subject. Because of a broad disinformation campaign waged by members of Muslim Brotherhood front groups in the United States and abetted by the collusion of the elite leftwing mainstream media, the public is being subjected to a steady diet of deliberate disinformation that Sharia is democratic and nonauthoritarian. As this book so eloquently demonstrates, nothing could be further from the truth. As Muslim populations continue to burgeon in Europe and North America, there has been a corresponding effort to get judges and magistrates to allow the application of Sharia in intra-Muslim disputes instead of applying Western democratic law. Already in the United Kingdom, there are some 100 Sharia courts. Sharia versus Freedom exposes in incontrovertible detail the truth about Sharia, a draconian and authoritarian set of Muslim laws that was created following the death of Mohammed by his followers as Islam began to massively expand its domain throughout the world. The true nature of Sharia's authoritarianism (which allows amputation of limbs, the stoning of women, and the execution of Muslims who convert to another religion) is explained and detailed (with abundant proof) like no other book before. This book is a 'must-read' for American policymakers, Congress, local and regional authorities from coast to coast, as well as for any member of the public who truly seeks the truth behind Sharia. It makes for fascinating reading for anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of the history and unfolding of the Islamic legal system. Once you pick up this book, you won't put it down." --Steven Emerson, journalist, and author of American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us, Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the US

About the Author

ANDREW G. BOSTOM is the editor of the highly acclaimed The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims and of The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History. He has published articles and commentary on Islam in the Washington Times, National Review Online, Revue Politique, FrontPageMagazine.com, American Thinker, and other print and online publications. More on Andrew Bostom's work can be found at andrewbostom.org/blog.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 600 pages
  • Publisher: Prometheus Books; 1St Edition edition (September 18, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1616146664
  • ISBN-13: 978-1616146665
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.7 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
(17)
4.8 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Overarching and complete October 28, 2012
Format:Hardcover
In this overarching analysis, Bostom provides an engrossing and encyclopedic catalog of ideology and history of the naked totalitarianism of Islamic religious and political doctrines -- a diametric opposite to free Western social structure. Sharia prohibits political freedoms, freedoms of conscience, faith, and expression (both oral and written). As applied throughout its history and expressed in internal jurisprudence, Bostom shows, Mohammed's intractable creed suppressed and oppressed all with whom it interacted -- especially non-Muslims.

Intrinsically totalitarian jihadist and Islamic canon neither concerns nor governs only "believers." By Muslim belief, according to scholar Joseph Schacht (d. 1969), the "clear path to be followed" establishes divine, global Islamic order and cannot "be penetrated by the intelligence ... i.e., man has to accept it without criticism." It governs Muslims, and also "activities of the tolerated members of other faiths so far as they may not be detrimental to Islam."

Sharia code requires Muslims to mount regular jihad attacks on unvanquished non-Muslims and permanently, deliberately humiliate "inferior" jihad survivors. Their incorporation into Islamic polity subjects non-Muslims to sharia (pp. 110-112) and its inheritance statutes, requirements and prohibitions and draconian hadd penalties --- including death (by stoning) for adultery, apostasy, and highway robbery (whose victim was murdered); loss of limbs for simple robbery; loss of right hand for simple theft; 100 lashes for "fornication" and 80 lashes for wine drinking. Muslims understand sharia, tracing to Quran passages (like 45:18, 42:13, 42:21, and 5:48) and other Islamic texts, primarily hadith (Mohammed's reputed sayings and deeds) -- as "the totality of Allah's commandments" governing man, Schacht notes.

Islam cements "religion" to its 7th century totalitarian dogma, Bostom shows. For openers, while the Arabic word "hurriyya" translates to "freedom," it refers to "freedom as perfect slavery to Allah," as prescribed by highly dogmatic sharia laws engineered by the same dictatorial chief (Mohammed said, by divine instructions delivered via the angel Gabriel). It means something diametrically opposite to the same word in English -- study of which is now off limits for U.S. military and security officials.

Like Bostom's two previous landmark studies on Islamic jihad and antisemitism, his third adds significantly to our knowledge base. Often, contemporary scholars contend that Islam grew hateful upon absorbing Nazi anti-Semitism in the 20th century. Yet even in the Nazi era, Bostom shows, intellectual luminaries saw the truth as quite opposite. Like "Islam of old," noted a Protestant theologian Karl Barth in 1939, National Socialism's political experiment promised to those willing to participate; but when resisted, it could "only crush and kill." Nazism was best understood as "a new Islam, its myth a new Allah and Hitler as this new Allah's Prophet."

Terror also pervaded "heavenly," peaceful Andalusia. Spain's purportedly enlightened Umayyad conquerors were notoriously brutal, and established fierce, "immobile" Malikite Sunni doctrine and that "suspected and condemned in advance for the slightest attempt at rational speculation" (p. 368). In 1914, Miguel Asin Palacois saw Muslim Spain similarly, as had Cordovan "scholar of Spain par excellence" Ibn Habib (d. 853) and his student Muslim al-Kinani (d. 901), the latter noting that Jews must wear patches bearing the image of an ape, and Christians, patches picturing a pig. (pp. 368-375).

In Granada, Jewish viziers appointed to protect their community were assassinated between 1056 and 1066, after which a fiery anti-Jewish "ode" by Muslim jurist and poet Abu Ishaq filtered through Muslim Granada that very possibly incited the Muslim pogrom that then annihilated Granada's entire Jewish population of up to 5,000 -- as many or more than the number of Jewish people reportedly killed during the First Crusade's pillage of the Rhineland some thirty years later (pp. 176-177).

In Ottoman Turkey 400 years later, celebrated Hanafi jurist and court cleric Molla Khosrew (d. 1480) rested his jihad directives on Islamic totalitarian dogmas. Based on Q 9:5 and Q 9:29, Khosrew instructs, religious obligation (fard al-kifaya) requires jihad, which one must "begin the fight against the enemy, even when he [the enemy] may not have taken the initiative to fight." (p. 178).

In 1948, English-speaking Arab League Office member Aboul Saud described Islam to investigative journalist John Ray Carlson as "a religious form of State Socialism," granting the state "the right to nationalize industry, distribute land, or expropriate" those rights and property. (p. 256). After interviewing Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al Banna, Carlson understood the sensational MB rise and near universal popularity of Nazism in Egypt. Average Egyptians, he concluded, "worshiped the use of force" since "terror was synonymous with power."

The Ottoman empire's 1918 demise only raised Muslim fervor for a new, stronger translational religious superstate -- and with it, individual and Islamic societal yearning for a totalitarian, sharia-based cultural regimen, including discriminatory governance of non-Muslims.

A 1979 treatise on jihad by Pakistani Brigadier S.K. Malik reflected bedrock Islamic ideology and its preface described the "bipolarized" Islamic world view designed by Hanafi school founder Abu Hanifa (d. 767) -- of "two opposing camps-- Darul-Salam (Islam) facing Darul-Harb," one submissive, the second "engaged in perpetuating defiance" of Allah (p. 201). Muslim historian and Quranic commentator Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 923) cites Hanafi, "affirming the impunity with which non-combatant `harbis' -- women, children, the elderly, the mentally or physically disabled -- may be killed" (p. 62).

Modern Muslim jurists also espouse foundational doctrines, Bostom shows. In July 2003, revered "moderate" Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader chief Yusef Qaradawi approved pillage, noting that "Islamic law [determined] the blood and property of the people of Dar al-Harb [the Domain of Disbelief where the battle for domination of Islam should be waged] is not protected." All Muslims should mobilize, aid war and provide its "material and human fuel..." (p. 64).

Muslim public opinion avidly supports such views. An April 2007 University of Maryland/ WorldPublicOpinion.org survey of 4,384 recent interviews with Muslims reported, nearly 2/3 (2,872) wanted: "To unify all Islamic countries into a single Islamic state or Caliphate"; 65.5% also wanted "every Islamic country" to require "strict application of Shari'a law."

A Dec. 2010 Pew poll in Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, and Nigeria also documented support for hadd punishments: 82% of Egyptians and Pakistanis wanted adulterers stoned, as did 70% in Jordan and 56% in Nigeria; 82% of Pakistanis, 77% of Egyptians, 65% of Nigerians, and 58% of Jordanians supported whipping and amputation for theft. Most Muslims also want execution for apostates (Jordan, 86%; Egypt, 84%; Pakistan, 76%; Nigeria, 51%). A concurrent secret cable from London's U.S. Embassy revealed of 600 British Muslim students polled, 40% want to replace British law with sharia.

--- Alyssa A. Lappen
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An Expose' For The Ages November 23, 2012
Format:Hardcover
Should books which critically examine Islam's doctrines still be in existence one-hundred years from now - granted the Third Wave of Jihad currently in progress be somehow prevented from burning all of them - Andrew Bostom's new #1 best-seller Sharia Versus Freedom will surely be the subject of discussion among the future's brightest scholars and historians, as they examine (and wonder) how the Free World managed to dodge Muhammad's well-aimed bullet.

From Islamic law's history of barbaric treatment of non-Muslim men and all women, to the relentelss, gradual invasion of its tentacles into the very foundations of present-day America's culture, Bostom turns a blinding floodlamp of truth onto a subject that Western Journalists and political leaders abjectly refuse to acknowledge - the brutal realities of Sharia and why it is irreconcilable with our civilization.

With a command of the English language surpassed by few, Dr. Bostom walks his readers through astonishing barriers to truth which have been erected by such famous men as Fox News' Bill O'Reilly (chapter 31). The title of the chapter is Educating Bill O'Reilly on the Rape Factor in Islam. During a televised O'Reilly Factor interview with author Wafa Sultan (A God Who Hates), Sultan stated:

"Any sexual activity is considered the given right of a male...A Muslim woman cannot report being raped because she will be asked to provide four witnesses otherwise she will be accused of committing adultery, and she will be stoned to death..."

O'Reilly's response?

"I find it hard to believe that the prophet Muhammad would preach a doctrine where any woman can be abused at any time by any Muslim man and be held not accountable."

Indeed. This blind refusal to examine the historical evidence, and summary dismissal of the same, by a reporter with an international following is but one example among many similar issues that Bostom incisively addresses. He's taken on an immense mission - to enlighten citizens of free nations who are unknowingly in grave jeopardy of losing their freedoms to Muslim law. And I can't think of anyone who is more up to the task than Andrew Bostom, M.D.

Bostom's prior work The Legacy of Jihad provided an indipensable historical foundation for my third book, A Summons To Perdition. Sharia Versus Freedom is available at Amazon Books. I highly recommend its addition to your personal library.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars With Surgical Precision... October 29, 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Dr. Bostom dissects analyzes and in the process taught me to reconsider the idea 'shari'a is just like Amercan legal system'. The answer is a resounding NO! Shari'a originates from the moslem view there are two types of people, moslems and non-moslems. Since the koran says the moslems are the best of people, it stands to reason non-moslems are the 'worst of people'. That being true, they have no right to expect to be treated as moslems are in the legal system. This being true, there is no guilt in killing them.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Your wake up call.
Reading this book will have you realize who’s been jeopardizing our National Security since the early 90’s. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Rudythegreat
5.0 out of 5 stars Curious about Islam?
Andrew Bostom's "Sharia versus Freedom" is an excellent and thorough explication of Islam's Sharia Law, and much more. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Nepenthes Author
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
By reading this book, one can discover in detail how hostile and subversive Islam is to the U.S. Bill of Rights and the entire Constitution. Read more
Published 1 month ago by James E. Obrien
5.0 out of 5 stars Understanding Islam
A great chronological capture of Islamic thought, practices and beliefs that the free World better learn to combat to prevent the lose of our freedoms!
Published 3 months ago by Jimmie L. Gesner
3.0 out of 5 stars A great read but overdone
I'm glad I got it but by the time I've gottrn halfway through it it is abundantly clear that he repeats himself several times. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Gene Wisdom
5.0 out of 5 stars foundational book
Andrew Bostom is an accomplished scholar. The truth about the subject material, Jihad, is being rendered illegal by "hate speech" laws, which makes this book all the more... Read more
Published 3 months ago by David M. Petteys
5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book
John Brennan is quoted to have said some things about Jihad that I questioned. Should I believe him or Egypt's Al-Azhar University? Read more
Published 4 months ago by S. D. Hayes
5.0 out of 5 stars Andrew Akhbar! Bostom is great!
The only other person on Earth who exposes the islamic crime-syndicate in such pleasantly exhaustive detail is Ibn Warraq! Read more
Published 4 months ago by Vladd Basarab
5.0 out of 5 stars Is Sharia compatible with the U.S. Constitution?
Based on the information in this book, the answer to the above question is a resounding "no". Of course I was well aware of this fact before I read the book but the facts and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Kilfincelt
5.0 out of 5 stars An in-depth analysis of an enormous problem
a hard dollars and cents, in-depth analysis of an enormous problem, that is all too often being
deliberately ignored by the west as it is depicted as congruent with the US... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mark S. Goldberg
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