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871 of 1,047 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fills readers' deficit, October 5, 2006
Since September 2000, at the beginning of the latest phase in the Arab Muslim jihad against the Jewish people in Israel, I have done extensive reading on the history of Islam in a concerted effort to determine the cause. During my early months and years of research, I felt confounded by Islam, which scholars often described as a faith, at its core, moderate and peaceful. Lord knows, I long believed them.
Unfortunately, the more I read, the more discouraged I have become as to the true nature of Islam, and its founder.
Much, though hardly all, of my expanding base of knowledge, has come from Robert Spencer, whose books I have read both with pleasure and dismay--pleasure, because he writes and researches so well, and dismay, because his books so discourage one regarding the onerous tasks that now face Western civilization. Like it or not, we are increasingly imperiled by, and simultaneously, oblivious to the global political ambitions of resurgent Islam.
These dangers appear genuinely contemporary after one learns the details of Muhammad's dealings with the Jewish Banu Qurayzah tribe of Yathrub (Medina).
After sending a secret Muslim convert, Nu'aym bin Mas'ud, to sabotage a Qurayzah alliance with the pagan Quraysh, Muhammad debased the Jews as "brothers of monkeys." This language, as Spencer dutifully notes, "also made its way into the Qur'an"--in chapters 2 (verses 62-65), 5 (verses 59-60) and 7 (verse 166)--and is routinely invoked by current-day Muslim leaders.
Citing the famed A. Guillaume's 1955 translation of Ibn Ishaq's Life of Muhammad (Sirat Rasul Allah), Spencer notes that Muhammad's forces "laid siege to the Qurayzah strongholds for twenty-five days, until... 'they were sorely pressed' and, as Muhammad had warned, 'God cast terror into their hearts'." At this juncture, the leader of the Qurayzah offered his people three choices--to accept Muhammad and Islam, to kill their wives and children and fight Muhammad unencumbered, or to ambush Muhammad on the Sabbath.
The Qurayzah ignored their leader's counsel and, instead, surrendered to the Muslims. Muhammad asked Sa'd bin Mu'adh to determine their fate--and he in turn ruled that "their warriors should be killed and their children and women be taken as captives." Muhammad himself then went into the Medina market and dug trenches into which some the heads of at least 600 or 700 Qurayzah men (possibly, 800 or 900) would be struck. One boy who had not yet "begun to grow hair" later reputedly explained that this factor determined whether a boy was deemed a boy--and spared--or a man, and killed.
Every drop of non-Muslim blood Muhammad spilled, he deemed to have set "a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for any one whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the praise of Allah" (Qur'an, chapter 33, verse 21).
It's all too clear, five years after 9/11, that most Americans lack the motivation to read the Koran--which is neither long, nor impregnable. If they had it, the public would soon discover that even the mildest of translations, which omit the most offensive verses and explicit terms, prove enlightening.
But Spencer's 224-page biography of Muhammad, based entirely on the most important and authentic of Muslim sources, is well-positioned to fill the deficit for even those readers most devoid of educational motivation.
--Alyssa A. Lappen
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564 of 677 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A respectul but hard hitting discussion of the sources of intolerance in Islam, October 21, 2006
Robert Spencer is one of the voices speaking clearly about where the Jihadists derive their core beliefs and patterns for their actions. The title of this book is not speaking against Islam or saying that Muslims are hiding some secret about their faith (although there are some difficult points they do not like to discuss much). What the title of the book is referring to is the false notion that the Western multi-culturalists like to peddle: that Islam is principally a religion of peace and that our conflict with them comes from not treating them as if they were another kind of Congregationalist sect.
Because of the centrality of Muhammad to Islam, Spencer takes us through what can be known about the life of Muhammad. However, the Qur'an alone is not enough for that task. The author also uses the Hadith (traditions about Muhammad), and the Sira (a biography of Muhammad written down 150 years after his death). Using these secondary sources helps illuminate what the Qur'an is saying to the believers through their Prophet.
As Spencer takes us through Muhammad's life and conquests, we learn the sources and traditions for what the Jihadists do today. Rather than twisting or hijacking the faith as some claim, there is a reason that so many within Islam feel proud and agree with the way the Jihadists act towards non-believers, what is preached against believers in their mosques, and the constant work to establish Sharia as a replacement for established law all over the world. This is what Muslims have done since their beginning and what they feel their mission is today. To them, all non-Muslim culture is inferior and all non-believers deserve second-class status at best. Tolerance and equality with non-believers is not possible according to Muhammad's teachings, even on his deathbed.
This paragraph of Spencer's sums up the core of the book:
"It is nothing short of staggering that the myth of Islamic tolerance could have gained such currency in the teeth of Muhammad's open contempt and hatred for Jews and Christians, incitements of violence against them, and calls that they be converted or subjugated. While human nature is everywhere the same and Muslims can, of course, act as tolerantly as anyone else, the example of Muhammad, the highest model for human behavior [according to Muslim belief - CSM], constantly pulls them in a different direction. The fact that Western analysts ignore all this demonstrates the ease with which people can be convinced of something they wish to believe, regardless of overwhelming evidence to the contrary." (pp. 182-183)
The author also provides a chapter showing how the examples from Muhammad's life are preached and lived today, including jihad, violence against unbelievers, death penalty for apostates, and the marriage of young (very young) girls in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Spencer is quite clear that the marriage of young girls was not unusual in Muhammad's life and place, but despite the changes in the modern world it is the power of these traditions that keeps such practices alive.
This is a respectful book, but does not shy away from difficult examples or teachings. Spencer does not go out of his way to try and create a kinder and gentler Muhammad, but he doesn't create a negative caricature of the man a billion people regard as a great prophet. Spencer is also clear about the inferior status of Jews, Christians, and Pagans in the Muslim view of the world. He even shows how Muhammad "corrected" Christian teaching about Jesus in the Qur'an. Among other things, the Muslim scripture declares that Jesus was not the Son of God nor was he crucified.
This is a very interesting and informative book. Yes, it scares the heck out of the mainstream media, but that only shows the intolerance of Islam towards anyone who even raises difficult issues about the faith in even a respectful way. There are thousands of books on Christianity that are much harsher and are actually virulent and no one thinks twice about promoting them everywhere. But if you get the imams railing against you, well, like Spencer, Steve Emerson, and others, you need to live in "secure undisclosed locations". I don't know why you even need any more proof than that for the thesis of this book about the intolerance of Islam towards non-believers.
Recommended.
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144 of 172 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The "perfect man" may not be considered so exemplary by Westerners, October 2, 2006
Mr. Spencer has written an excellent new biography of Mohammed based entirely on early Islamic sources. This is not a replacement for the classic "The Life and Times of Mohammad" by Sir John Glubb but rather supplements that book with a careful discussion of those themes in Mohammad's life that had greatest impact on Islam and have fomented controversy in modern times.
It is easy to see why Mr. Spencer was reluctant to write this book as the Jihadists recently honored him by elevating him to the list of the 5 people they most want to murder. He may just be reciting the facts as reported by Muslim sources, but giving English speaking Westerners additional information about the worlds most "perfect man" and exemplar for a major religion certainly does not help promote that religion to people with Western sensibilities. Westerners do not generally subscribe to the notion that anything that promotes Islam is "good" and anything that puts Islam in a less popular light is "bad."
The sayings and character of Mohammad are very important since fundamental Islam considers his revelation from Allah via Gabriel to be the final unchanging commandments of God to all the people on earth. They further consider Mohammed's life to be the perfect example of how people should live, and his sayings an essential addition to the revelation in the Qu'ran.
Mohammad's treatment of critics, his promotion of raiding and Jihad, his attitude toward women, his provisions for Jews and Christians, and his prescribed punishments for crime, are all treated at some length.
It's very apparent from Mr. Spencer's description that the invariance in fundamental Islam, coupled with Mohammad's extensive prescriptions, and the utter lack of a prescribed mechanism for adjustment and change, lead directly to his subtitle of Mohammad as "Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion."
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