Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World's Fastest-Growing Faith (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "ISLAM IS PEACE..." (more)
Key Phrases: temporary marriage, male witnesses, House of Islam, Saudi Arabia, Reliance of the Traveller (more...)

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To proclamations that Islam is a religion of peace, Spencer responds (in chapters entitled with questions such as "Is Islam Compatible with Liberal Democracy?" and "Is Islam Tolerant of Non-Muslims?") with evidence, historical and recent, of harsh treatment of women, other religionists, and social minorities in Islamic societies. Besides the facts Spencer presents, his citations of the Qur'an; the hadiths, or sayings and deeds of Muhammad; and Islamic authorities across the liberal-to-fundamentalist spectrum verify attitudes and practices that secular Westerners and present-day Jews and Christians don't think of as peaceable, just, or decent. For instance, slavery and polygamy may be waning in Islamic societies, but they aren't disapproved of or banned because the Qur'an and hadiths endorse them. Islam hasn't adapted to change nearly as much as Judaism and Christianity have, and that accounts for its savage relations with the West. Spencer doesn't see either Islam moderating or the West regarding Islam realistically any time soon. Barring "some wondrous intervention from the Merciful One," he concludes, the immediate future "will be difficult." Alarmingly cogent. Ray Olson
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"[A] bracing argument that can help Americans think through...the greatest religious, cultural, and political conflict of this century." -- The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, "The Naked Public Square"

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 202 pages
• Publisher: Encounter Books; 1 edition (October 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893554589
• ISBN-13: 978-1893554580
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (145 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #668,245 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

228 of 268 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing but an awareness that we all need to possess., March 15, 2003

By	M. D Roberts (Gwent, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The book's cover displays a chilling photograph of the eyes of Mohammed Atta, one of the Islamic terrorist hijackers involved in the September 11 2001 atrocities. A fitting lead into this study of Islam and the underlying hatred behind these and other acts of terrorism.

The writer has been a student of Islam for some 20 years and tries to explain without bias, what he personally declares as some of the misconceptions surrounding Islam. Whilst I might not agree with everything that the book contains, it is very well written and an extremely useful reference for those wishing to study these issues.

The book states at the outset that most Westerners know very little about Islam and had little or no idea of the depth of hatred and hostility facing the West prior to September 11. The writer proceeds to declare that whilst the very many innocent Moslems should not be held guilty by association following these terrorist attacks, the likes of Osama bin Laden and co. actually meant precisely what they said & far from being extremists or perverters of Islam, they actually interpret Islam's tenets correctly.

The book addresses how for many decades, endless incidents of violence, murder & terrorism have been publicly declared as `having nothing to do with Islam'. Claims still being echoed by senior Western politicians who blindly insist that Islam is a `peaceful religion' ignoring Islamic calls for worldwide domination and the destruction of the West and Israel. The book stating that to bracket Islam and peace is just wishful thinking with reference to the Islamic fighting against it's neighbours along the perimeter of the Islamic world, citing the violence against Hindus in India, Communists & Buddhists, Chinese, Jews and some `Christian' entities.

Islamic `tolerance' of other religions is also studied with reference to the Quranic statement that `anyone who converts from Islam to Christianity deserves to die'. Numerous incidents are mentioned where those refusing to convert to Islam have been instantly executed on the spot.

Amongst the many other issues addressed are the distressing treatment of women & how they are victimised under Shariah or Islamic law plus the appalling human rights record in the Islamic world. Slavery still surviving in some Islamic countries such as Sudan, Saudi Arabia & Mauritania, together with the still present dhimmi status attached to non-Moslems who are still regarded as second class, inferior citizens. There is also an analysis of why the Islamic region is such a fertile breeding ground for violence.

Looking into the Islamic mindset, we see how many modern day Moslems are being fed on a Quranic diet of anti-Jewish/anti-Western diatribe. The book studies the incentives and fervour behind Islamic homicide/suicide bombings, citing the rewards for such actions outlined in the Quran under Sura 56; 15-24. An example is quoted of a 11 year old Palestinian youth publicly declaring to his class-mates, "...I will make my body a bomb that will blast the flesh of Zionists, the sons of pigs and monkeys...I will tear their bodies into little pieces and cause them more pain than they will ever know." -His classmates responding "Allah Akhbar (God is great)" and his Palestinian teacher shouting, "May the virgins give you pleasure!"

Speaking with a deep concern, I consider that this book is valuable in alerting people to the dangers of Islam which have impacted our lives and will no doubt impact our lives even more in the near future. There are two reasons which we must all be knowledgeable about this religion. Despite what many people say, what politicians and the media profess, Islam can here be seen as indeed a religion of war and bloodshed & that it is intent upon world domination. This is confirmed throughout many sections of the Quran and Hadith, the two main literary sources of Islam. To blindly ignore this, irrespective of how honourable the motives might seem, invites disaster.

Might I respectfully recommend to those interested in these issues, another book on this subject by two learned professors Ergun Caner & Emir Caner, both of whom have converted from Islam to Christianity entitled " Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs" and also "The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude: Seventh-Twentieth Century" by Bat Ye'or. Thank you.

59 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Denial in Glass Houses, December 9, 2002

By A Customer

I am sure that those mono-star reviewers that have attacked Mr. Spencer have not gotten beyond the cover of the book. To anyone who saw Mr. Spencer on CSPAN, it is clear that he is not anti-Muslim or anti-Islam. Mr. Spencer was adament in his talk that he was not referring to the one billion plus Muslims in the world, but a minority of radicals/fundamentalists (he said 10-15%) that were interpreting the Quuran too narrowly or selectively for their own political gain. Muslims would be wise not to call what Mr. Spencer says rubbish as most of his arguments are gleaned directly from the Holy Quuran itself. Mr. Spencer is not advocating any religion as superior or denegrading Islam. He is bringing up important points that most would like to ignore for fear of appearing politically incorrect. Radical Islam can never be a minor issue in a religion with over a billion adherents. Mr. Spencer's figure of 10% would still mean over a million Muslims demonizing the West.
The cries on this board to remove Mr. Spencer's book say far more about the mindset of some Muslims than anything meaningful about the work itself. They clarify one of Spencer's main themes-
moderate Muslims prefer to stick their heads in the sand instead of confronting the radicals in their midst.

199 of 239 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars honest & thought provoking, September 23, 2002

By A Customer

This is a deeply unsettling little volume, because it offers scant hope that the West can live at peace with Islam unless the religion changes radically, and even less hope that that is possible. Still, the questions Islam Unveiled poses and the answers it provides are hard to dismiss, and given the urgency of the times, necessary to ask.

If Spencer is right, the West faces a primitive, violent, and fiercely chauvinistic religion whose followers, to the extent that they are pious adherents to its teachings, cannot be reasoned with, only resisted. Islam is at its core inimical to democracy and human rights as we in the West understand them. To expect Muslims to drop their belligerence toward the West, which has existed since Islam's founding in the 7th century, is to expect them to jettison core values of their faith - something for which there is no precedent in Islamic history.

The Koran, writes Spencer, is more central to the Islamic faith than the Bible is to Christianity. Muslims believe it was revealed directly from God to the Prophet Muhammad. He will find there many divine instructions to make constant war on the infidel, who is only to be given the choice of conversion, slave-like subjugation (in historian Bat Yeor's word, dhimmitude) - or death. And throughout Islamic history, that's exactly how Muslim societies have behaved toward non-Muslims, who are by the very fact of their unbelief not considered innocents in the eternal, divinely mandated conflict.

Undeniably, Christians have in the past committed many despicable acts in the name of God, but they did so in violation of scriptural teaching, not in fulfillment of it, as in Islam.

This literalism has profound consequences for the way Muslims live. Unlike in Christianity, there is no scriptural mandate for separation of church and state in Islam, making secular democracy an alien and hostile concept. Women have few rights over and against their husbands, who may legally beat them, and men in general.

Enslaving infidels and raping infidel women are justified under Koranic law (and still occur in some Muslim lands).

Spencer does not believe that Islam can be tamed. While Muslims in the West live in peace, prosperity and religious liberty, Christians and other non-Muslims are persecuted, sometimes unto death, throughout the Muslim world today.

Because Islam demands death for heretics, moderate Muslims will always risk their lives by offering more liberal interpretations of their faith.

And most crucially, in his view, Islam cannot be other than a religion of violence. "Of course, most Muslims will never be terrorists. The problem is that ... Islam's violent elements are rooted in its central texts," Spencer writes. His final verdict on Islam is sobering, particularly when one considers the rapidly increasing Islamic presence in Europe.

Is Islam Unveiled pessimism, or realism? We can only know for sure if we have a serious public discussion of the issues Spencer raises in this important (but unsatisfyingly brief) book
Spencer may be wrong - until we hear from this supposed vast silent majority of peace-loving Muslims, the answers Spencer gives go a long way to explain the hatred, violence, backwardness, and fanaticism endemic to the Islamic world.