Virgins? What Virgins?: And Other Essays [Paperback]

Ibn Warraq (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2010

In this wide-ranging collection of insightful, controversial, and often-witty essays, the renowned author of Why I Am Not a Muslim has created a representative selection of his best work on the Koran and various problems posed by the interaction of Islam with the West. The title of the collection comes from an article that originally appeared in the London Guardian on recent textual studies of the Koran. This research suggests that, contrary to a longstanding Muslim belief about the afterlife, a harem of beautiful virgins may not be waiting for the faithful male departed in heaven.

For the many readers of his books who have wondered about his background, the author begins with a charming personal sketch about his upbringing in England and his unabashed Anglophilia.

A section on Koranic criticism includes excerpts from two of his books, What the Koran Really Says and Which Koran?

No stranger to controversy and polemics, the author devotes two sections to articles that consider the totalitarian nature of contemporary political Islam and explore the potential for an Islamic Reformation comparable to the Protestant Reformation in the West.

The concluding section is composed of Ibn Warraq's journalism, including a critique of reputed Muslim reformer Tariq Ramadan, a defense of Western culture ("Why the West Is Best"), an article about the Danish cartoons that provoked widespread Muslim outrage, and even a commentary on heavy metal music in a Muslim setting.

This thoughtful, engaging collection on diverse topics will interest both longtime readers of Ibn Warraq and those new to his work.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ibn Warraq has done a signal service for all wishing to understand Islam and Muslims, their apologists and their critics, by collecting some of his most learned, literate, and compelling writings in a single sparkling volume." --Daniel Pipes, director, Middle East Forum

"Ibn Warraq's new collection is charming, witty, erudite, diverse, intellectually magnificent, and is definitely the 'go to' work for all questions about what the Koran really says and what Koranic critics have said that it says. The opening essay in Virgins? What Virgins? And Other Essays is an original and autobiographical piece titled 'On Becoming English'. Here, Ibn Warraq reveals himself as more British than Pakistani or Indian, and as a serious and life-long lover of British and European novels, paintings, poems, philosophical tracts, history, nature, architecture, and street life. Throughout, Ibn Warraq reveals himself as a great lover of freedom, an opponent of totalitarianism, and of fakery of all kinds, especially that wrought by the very influential Edward Said. Here, you will find Ibn Warraq's prepared remarks when he debated Tariq Ramadan in a widely heralded public debate, (Ibn Warraq won), his views on the Danish cartoon controversy death threats to dissidents and on whether Islam can or cannot be reformed. This deeply informative volume should be assigned reading in universities, both here and abroad." --Phyllis Chesler Ph.D, author of Woman's Inhumanity to Woman and The Death of Feminism

About the Author

Ibn Warraq is the highly acclaimed author of Why I Am Not a Muslim and Defending the West. He is also the editor of The Origins of the Koran, What the Koran Really Says, The Quest for the Historical Muhammad, Leaving Islam, and Which Koran?.

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (April 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1616141700
• ISBN-13: 978-1616141707
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #436,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it. You'll like it., October 18, 2010

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Ronald E. Parsons "Ancient Reader" (Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Virgins? What Virgins?: And Other Essays (Paperback)

I bought <Virgins? What Virgins?> on the strength of one of Warraq's previous books, <Why I Am Not A Muslim>, which I consider to be one of the most informative of the many books about Islam currently circulating. <Virgins>, which is a collection of Warraq's essays and articles previously published elsewhere, did not disappoint. (I had not previously seen any of them).

Warraq (a pseudonym) was born and reared Muslim in India/Pakistan and was sent off at an early age to the UK for education. While there he began to question the faith (or politico-religions system) he was brought up in. Eventually he turned away from it.

Warraq is a very bright fellow who writes masterfully in English. His writing flows like a beautiful, clear brook. If you begin your inquiries into Islam with Warraq's two books above-mentioned, you will be ahead of the pack in your quest for such knowledge, and pleasantly so -- unless you are a committed follower of the Prophet. In that case you might start out as seeing Islam insulted. But if you pay close attention and keep an open mind, you could attain a level of clear thinking approaching that of Warraq.

I am glad that I stumbled upon Warraq's writings. They are among the best. From them I learned much. I keep them as reference works.

38 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Islam Critique 2010, August 26, 2010

By 

William Garrison Jr. (Bellevue, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Virgins? What Virgins?: And Other Essays (Paperback)

"Virgins? What Virgins? and Other Essays" by Ibn Warraq, (April 2010), Prometheus Books, 544 pgs , English. This `anthology' is a collection of 18 of his "previously published works in newspaper and print and Web-based journals" - even for us long-time Ibn Warraq readers these reprints are suitable `collectables' still worthy of perusing. Chapter topics are: (1) On becoming English (growing up as a Muslim in Karachi c. 1950); (2) Apologia Pro Vita Sua; (3) Some aspects of the history of Koranic Criticism; (4) Introduction to "What the Koran Really Says"; (5) The importance of variants: Introduction to "Which Koran?"; (6) Virgins? What Virgins? (a 2002 article regarding the Houri); (7) Islam, the Middle East, and Fascism; (8) Apologists of Totalitarianism: From Communism to Islam; (9) Apostasy, human rights, religion, and belief; (10) Islam on Trial: Reasons for leaving Islam; (11) Reason, not revelation; (12) Honest intellectuals must shed their spiritual turbans: Islam--The Final Taboo; (13) Brother Tariq and the Muslim Hoods; (14) Rock, humanitarian causes, political commitment, and Islam; (15) The Regent's Canal and the trail to the British Raj, Parsis, and Sir Cowasjee Jehangir Readymoney; (16) Why the West is Best: My response to Tariq Ramadan; (17) Democracy in a cartoon (re Danish Muhammad cartoons); (18) Allawi and the `Crises of Islamic Civilization' (book review). There is an extensive, detailed 33-page-long index of topics from all articles. Ibn Warraq is of the Muslim Murtadd sect.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What the qu-ran really says and preaches, February 3, 2011

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Lorna - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Virgins? What Virgins?: And Other Essays (Paperback)

Ibn Warraq is without a doubt the most authoritative scholar and historian of Islam and Muslim society. Born as a Pakistani Muslim, he has distinguished himself in his honest, comprehensive and intellectually disciplined books as well as his insightful critiques and dissection of dissemblers like the late Edward Said. Like other disaffected Muslims who also live under pseudonyms in adopted countries, Warraq eschews ideology as indeed any serious credible critic and public intellectual must do to solidify his or her reputation and credentials. Along with his critique of Said in "Defending the West", this book should form part of the base of anyone's library or research on Islam and the Muslim mind. In a time of mindless extremism that puts ideology before truth, Warraq's books stand out as antidotes to intellectual dishonesty and mendacity.