Author: Robert Spencer
Publisher: Unistar
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 226
ISBN/UPC (if available): N/A
Description
Going beyond the shallow distinction between a true peaceful Islam and the hijacked Islam of terrorist groups. Robert spender probes the Qur’an and other sacred documents, as well as Islamic traditions and history and the present-day situation of the Muslim world, to find out why the world’s fastest-growing faith tends to arouse extremism.
A student of the religion for the last twenty years, Spencer brings a knowledgeable and critical sensibility to this brave, searching work. Cutting through the touchy and sentimental relativism of so much current discussion about the subject, he rigorously interrogates Islam:
Were Osama bin Laden and his followers perverting Islam when they claimed to find sanction for their attack against the United States in the Qur’an?
How did the hard-line Wahhabi seet spread so quickly through the Muslim world and again such great influence?
What did Muslim leaders worldwide actually say about the September 11 terrorist action?
Do the events surrounding the Crusades really justify Islamic hostility toward the West?
What do Muslims learn from the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the man that Islam hails as the supreme model of human behavior?
What are the reasons for Muslims’ disturbing treatment of women, and the consequences of harshly misogynistic Muslim polygamy and Islamic divorce laws?
Why did science and high culture wane after their early flourishing in the Islamic world, and is this decline a source of Muslim resentment?
Does the explanation for the grim human rights record of Islamic countries lie in basic Muslim beliefs?
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, can Islam create successful secularized societies that will coexist peacefully with the liberal, multicultural worlds?
In this captivating, carefully researched book, Robert Spencer asks the hard questions about Islam and gives the hard answers, providing a profoundly needed antidote to the wishful thinking and willful distortions that have swamped the media since September 11.
Contents
FOREWORD (by David Pryce-Jones)
AUTHOR’S NOTE
PROLOGUE
What Does Islam Really Stand For?
ONE
Is Islam a Religion of Peace?
TWO
Does Islam Promote and Safeguard Sound Moral Values?
THREE
Does Islam Respect Human Rights?
FOUR
Does Islam Respect Women?
FIVE
Is Islam compatible with Liberal Democracy?
SIX
Can Islam Be Secularized and Made Compatible with the Western Pluralistic Framework?
SEVEN
Can Science and Culture Flourish under Islam?
EIGHT
The Crusades: Christian and Muslim
NINE
Is Islam Tolerant of Non-Muslims?
TEN
Does the West Really Have Nothing to Fear from Islam?
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index