Customer Reviews

The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and Its Role in Terrorism

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I found the book a generally good read. However, as someone who knows very little about Islam, I get the feeling that this book is not telling the whole story. He seems to paint the world of Islam in general black and white strokes, with 'good' and 'bad' Muslims. Another problem I had is that Schwartz makes alot of accusations about members of some American Islamic institutions being terrorrists, but buries any information in the footnotes. I felt that such strong accusations deserved more information in the book. One reader says that this should be the one book a person should read, but I would disagree. It is definitely worth the time to read, but it left me looking for some different points of view.

Schwartz did not go out to write an academic treatise on Islam or write an "objective" piece about how terrible they are (much to the chagrin of many). He wrote on his own research and his own experiences, and he says so very directly at the beginning of his book. His sources and experiences are solid. Several reviewers of the book show great disdain that Schwartz either doesn't go into great, gory detail of how awful Islam is compared to their religions or how he seems to take "their" side. Schwartz makes very good points in the book, and anyone who really wants to learn something new will get it.

Schwartz doesn't paint a rosy picture of what Islam has become in many quarters, but he puts a lot of things into understandable context. Someone in another review wrote that Schwartz doesn't ever site the Qu'ran...

Obviously, they didn't read the book. Schwartz quotes the Qu'ran no less than six times by the end of Chapter One.

* * * * * * *

No. It's not an emotionless, totally objective work. Yes. It is partly a history book and partly an explanation of the "sociology of Islam".

Order it if you want to broaden your horizons on the subject. If you want more reasons to hate or dismiss Islam, find another, because Schwartz' book does such a good job all you'll do is get upset.

I tend to agree with the first review on this site by "a reader" who wonders whose side Stephen Schwartz is on. I have read his articles in The Weekly Standard and elsewhere and expected a more Western view of Islam. The acknowledgement section at the end of the text reveals what some chapters implied, that Schwartz is himself a Sufi mystic from a Jewish background. That explains his portrayal of the Shi'ites and Sufis in the Balkans, Caucasus and central Asia in innocuous terms, and his soft treatment of the Iranian Islamist revolution.

That being said, his book is an excellent and detailed portrayal of the rise of the Sa'ud dynasty and its partner, the Wahhabi sect of Islam, which I would describe as a Bedouinized, harsh and austere view of religion. I dislike the terms radical and fundamentalist because they suggest a return to the roots or foundational principles of a movement. Judging rom Schwartz's account of the life and character of Muhammed, there is very little of his basic principles in Wahhabism, which is militant and domineering, practicing a kind of religious colonialism toward all other branches of Islam using oil wealth to export its philosophy through building mosques, complete with Wahhabist imams and schools of indoctrination nearly everywhere. These are the source of mujahadin, who are not the philosopher warriors of the past but brainwashed juveniles who have been turned into suicide bombers in madrassas. They have had their view of life, the normal hope and ambition of young people, stripped away and a vision of martyrdom, resting in the Garden of Allah with 72 dark-eyed virgins, inculcated in its place.

This book left me with unanswered questions about the Iranian version of Islam, which Schwartz says is very strict, but not imperialist like the Wahhabis, but its recent meddling in Iraq and attempting to foment a Shi'ite uprising makes me doubt that.

The book is a collection of Schwartz's past writings as a journalist, and so seems disjointed and erratic at times, but it is nevertheless a good history of the Sa'ud dynasty and its support for terror around the world. More Westerners need to look beyond the assurances from our governments and media that Wahhabism is merely a conservative form of Islam. It's not. It's an apostate doomsday cult with the same kind of aims as Communism and Nazism, to conquer and control the world. It's as hostile to other historic brands of Islam as it is toward Jews and Christians, and it must not be allowed to use our laws and tolerance of religious pluralism as cover for its subversive and deceitful activities.

We in the United States are used to the idea that Islamic extremists may be up to no good. And that some Muslim nations are behaving like enemies to us. But which ones? Iraq, when Saddam Hussein ruled it? Iran? Syria? Afghanistan under the Taliban?

How about Saudi Arabia, which has been an American ally?

This book describes Wahhabi extremism and gives a useful history of Saudi relations with the West.

The most interesting portion of the book is the chapter titled "Religious Colonialism," which describes what Schwartz describes as the Wahhabi conquest of American Islam. The author states that American Muslims are a rather diverse community. However, Wahhabis and Wahhabi money have taken over the leadership of many Muslim organizations. These include the Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR), the American Muslim Council (AMC), the American Muslim Alliance (AMA), and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Wahhabi money also supports some Hamas operational groups such as the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF).

In addition, the Wahhabis have successfully lobbied to get non-Muslims to see them as the premier representatives of American Muslims. Schwartz notes a letter from a number of Christian organizations, including representatives of the United Church of Christ, the National Council of the Churches of Christ, the Presbyterian Church, the National Council of Catholic Bishops and a leading body of the Methodist Church. That letter protested alleged unfair media scrutiny of AMC activites and referred to AMC in its first line as "the premier, mainstream Muslim group in Washington."

The author concludes that we ought to search for reconciliation among the major monotheistic religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Of course, as a Pagan, I see not merely the need but also the difficulty of accomplishing this. Pagan religions are generally compatible, while monotheistic ones generally are not. Schwartz also concludes that America ought not try to maintain any political alliance with a Wahhabi Saudi Arabia. He looks forward to an overthrow of the Wahhabis there.

I'm deducting a star from my evaluation, because I think Schwartz goes a little overboard in his positive evaluations of all non-Wahhabi versions of Islam. But I think that those who have been unaware of the nature of Saudi Islam ought to read this book.

As I read this book, I began to wonder what side the author was really on. While his criticisms of wahabbi islam are both poignant and well researched, he also seems equally obsessed with proclaiming the "innocence" of every other islamic sect thus giving this book a tone of part attack, part islamic propaganda piece. For example, he makes the shi'ites out to be peace loving victims of wahabbis and all but cannonizes the terrorist ayatolla khomeni as a "man of vision" (conveniently failing to mention that the 1983 bombings of american millitary barracks in beruit were perpetrated by shi'ites and funded by the iranians). Schwartz also puts way to much effort in giving the reader his opinion of how "superior" muslim societies were during the ottoman empire (again conveniently failing to mention the ottoman brutality, invasions, forced tax on non muslims and destruction of churches in western europe). In short, he attempts to give islam a pass by detailing the brutality of a sect that has only existed for a fraction of the 1300 years of islamic history (perhaps in an attempt to justify his own conversion?). While there is no denying Wahabbism is a grave danger to western civilization (and all other civilization for that matter), do not be swayed by the authors attempt to pin all of the global violence perpetrated on behalf of islam as a purely wahabbi phenomenon. With that in mind I recommend "Onward Muslim Soldiers" by Robert Spencer for a clearer picture of what the world is up against.

In the very short space of several hundred pages, Schwartz does something really remarkable: Out of the backdrop of a solidly-researched and tautly-written history of Islam emerges the picture of a river splitting in two. One branch, the original river of Islam, having emerged from earlier wars and the Crusades, meanders on, mostly peacefully. But another branch diverges and becomes a virulent strain of psychopathically-distorted religious fundamentalism. This nightmare began to take shape from 1703 with the birth of Mohammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the world's first Islamist terrorist, and descends to the present in its alliance with the Al Sa'ud. The Wahhabis -- the Haters of Music -- have always claimed all other forms of Islam to be heretical and have waged a 250-year war against all those who have resisted its ultra-puritanical doctrine -- Shi'as, Sufis, Christians, Jews. Now that war comes to us. In a brilliantly, and often beautifully, written book, we watch the two rivers separate and flow down into our time. Schwartz's condemnation of Wahhabism is unapologetic, as is his antipathy for the duplicity of the Royal House of Sa'ud. But it is condemnation and antipathy irrefutably supported by the facts. And in this time it is a book of unmatched value: For with the information contained within this masterpiece on contemporary Islam, we are able to separate mainstream Islam from its evil twin and fight a more intelligent and more compassionate War on Terror. It is a profound and often lyrical book, and Schwartz is remarkably brave to have written it. (After you read it, you'll understand why.) If you read only one book on Islam in our time, let it be this one.

The GOOD about "THE TWO FACES..." is that it is superbly researched, well organized, and eloquently presented. FACES gives us a brief historical overview of the progression of Islam since its founding by the prolific self-annointed messenger of God - Muhammad - through the imprinting of Wahabbism by the early band of nomadic criminals we now refer to as Saudi Royalty. It is compelling reading for, and a "MUST read" by, every American in a position of political influence who's otherwise sheltered perspective needs a refreshing slap in the face. The verifiable facts on current Saudi and Islamic undercurrents makes Stephen Schwartz FACES an essential backdrop to our understanding of the route causes of 911, and renders nonsensical the oft repeated question: "Why do they hate us?"

The BAD has nothing to do with the facts as presented by Mr Schwartz. It has everything to do with his confounded objective of telling us that Islam is a wonderful religion that fell victim to Saudi shenanigans on the one hand, while on the other painting Islam's history of perverse anal-retentive dark-ages mentality. Mr Schwartz would have been much better off sticking to the abundant evidence disclosing Saudi complicity, both direct and tangential, in the spread of fundamentalist Islam to further their Imperial appetites rather than trying to defend Islam as a gentle loving religious movement in which we infidels all might want to partake.

The UGLY is Mr Schwartz' high browed dismissal of anyone who dares to question whether Islam rises to the level of a bonafide religion. "Self styled experts", he writes, "claim to have found the proof of deep flaws in Islam itself... These essayists and columnists sketched the image of an Islam that is intrinsically aggressive, contemptuous of modernity and the West, fearful of women, and hateful of reason and individuality." My God! What heady lamb's blood have you been imbibing Stephen? The very nature of Islam's pagan practices in Iran, in Iraq, in Pakistan, in Saudi Arabia, in Gaza, and in every corner of the world where fundamentalist Islam is the backbone of local society, screams of contempt for modernity and for the West.

The last straw of UGLY is Mr Schwartz omission of any reference from the Qur'an. The UGLY truth is that Fundamentalist Islam, as the name implies, is most directly correlated to the writings of the manic depressive Muhammad. Fundamentalist Islam became an instrument of the Saudi family to ensure control over their subjects. It is not, as Mr Schwartz tries to prove, a creation of the Saudi's. Anyone who takes the time to read the monosyllabic treatise of Muhammad will recognize where the Islamic world garners its hate for Jews, for non-Muslims, and most recently for non-fundamentalist Muslims.

Stephen Schwartz is an intelligent, articulate author. He could have done so much better by focusing on the facts, and not appending his personal agenda of favoring his few rational Muslim friends.

From the preface forward, Schwartz spins a tale that would have the believer swallow the nonsense that Wahhabists are hijacking this peaceful religion called Islam (submission). He misses few opportunities to insult conservatives and even compares Christians who embrace the fundamentals of Christianity as similar to Wahhabism (p. 79). There must be some value to this work, but it is disheartening to wade through the muck contained in this book to find an occasional gem.

How come I am the first person to review this great book - it ought to have had loads of favourable reviews by now! It is a great book and all too true - the Wahhabi School of Islam not only discredits mainstream moderate Islam but also fuels the kind of terror that generated 9/11. It is thus an essential book to read in these troubled times. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)

To Schwartz Islam itself is not the problem, but the militant interpretation of Islam is, as practised and preached by the Wahhabis and the Sa'udi monarchy. This is what needs to be stopped. While admiring Schwartz's book and agreeing to almost all of what he states, there are some statements that are completely wrong or misleading. For example, Schwartz says, 'Ibn Taymiyyah also declared total war on Sufism...'(pg.55). Although Ibn Taymiyyah has never been representative of orthodox Sunni Islam (or the science of Sufism), it has been noted in his own books that he not only praised Sufis at times, but also claimed to be an adherent of the Qadiri Sufi order of Abdl-Qadir Jeelani (found in Ibn Taymiyya's 'Mas'ala at Tabriziyya'). Hamza Yusuf and Wahhabis should not be put in one and the same light of intolerance and unorthodoxy. Overall, Schwartz's book is a welcome contribution and eye-opener to both Muslim and non-Muslim audiences that I recommend without hesitation.

Also recommended: For a fun alternate read I recommend Keshner's COCKPIT CONFESSIONS OF AN AIRLINE PILOT, which is a bigotted, raw slice of life. He condemns arabs in general and Saudis in particular... what a guy.