Book review – ‘The Truth about Mohammad’, by Robert Spencer

I have read all of Mr. Spencer’s books on Islam and he is remarkably clear-sighted and consistent. He does not engage in mindless politically correct double-talk, nor does he avoid saying the obvious. His latest book, ‘The Truth about Mohammad’ is essential reading if you want to understand the historically depraved depths of the political-ideological construct called Islam. Without understanding a cult’s leader, you fail to understand what motivates the cult in question. To understand Hitlerism, understand Hitler. To understand fascist pagan Arabianism, understand Mohammad.

There are two essential elements to Spencer’s work. One is the narrative of the historical Mohammad based on Islamic sources. It is very hard for Muslims to deny the insanity of their cult’s founder since they themselves are the sources used to outline his conduct. Spencer uses only Islamic primary sources to outline Mohammad’s life and the creation of his political tool ‘Islam’ which unified pagan, backwards and illiterate Arab tribes into a loosely formed empire.

Second, Spencer criticizes throughout his text the insipid and irrational approach the Western world has in dealing with Islam. We deny the fascist elements in Islam, seek out appeasement, engage in politically correct suppression of free speech [don’t criticize this great ‘religion’ please], and have basically unchecked Muslim-Arab immigration. We are sowing the seeds of a future disaster. Turning the other cheek while Muslims war, destroy, hate and use propaganda to weaken our resolve is rather moronic. Reading Spencer’s book only reinforces this fact.

Spencer’s account is loosely chronological starting with Mohammad’s birth in about 570 AD. He deals first with the search for the historic Mohammad using Muslim sources. Then he moves on to explain how he became a ‘prophet’; how he used Judaism and Christianity to build his ideas; his revelations [amongst which he imagined he flew to Jerusalem on a white horse which Muslims use as the main excuse to control this city]; his conversion to war in place of peaceful preaching; his use of terror to cow his enemies; and the establishment of dhimmi [second class] status for Jews and Christians and non-Muslims within a Muslim community.

In reading Spencer’s book three things became apparent. First, Mohammad was a politician cum warrior. He was not a prophet of peace. Second, the Koran which is a jumble of dissociated gibberish, was written to justify war, violence and the subjugation of non-believers. Third, the main intention of ‘Islam’ was never divine – it was the quintessential project to increase the power and wealth of Muslims at the expense of the ‘unbelievers’.

Mohammad’s life reinforces the truisms of the above.

The central book of Mohammad’s political project is the Koran. As Spencer relates it borrows heavily from the Bible, the Talmud, Hindu and Zoroastrian [Persian] scripture and ideas. The purpose of the Koran which was written down by Muslims during and after the lifetime of the illiterate ‘prophet’, was to portray Mohammadism as the natural heir to the Jewish and Christian beliefs. By so doing they could invalidate their more commercially and cultured monotheist rivals and claim higher status.

In this sense Islam is dialectic. The faiths of Moses and Jesus run into Islam and its interpreter Mohammad. Islam is therefore a continuation of the Jewish tradition and Mohammad the last and most important prophet [as Spencer relates one of Mohammad’s more insane revelations is when he is taken to heaven by the angel Gabriel and meets the other prophets including Moses who is crying in the 6th circle of heaven, bewailing the fact that Mohammad is the latest and greatest prophet and would take up residence in the 7th and highest circle of heaven].

Mohammad was introduced [by himself of course], as the successor of Jesus, and the Islamic community as the superior cult of monotheistic contemplation supplanting any and all earlier religions. This means that Jews and Christians are beneath Muslims. Allah or ali-ilah which was the moon cult of Mecca, was declared to be the same as the Christian God [there is no similarity of course].

A monotheistic faith was central to create Arab unity and establish the leadership cult of Mohammad. By using the Jewish idea of a single God in the form of the Arabian moon deity the ‘prophet’ would gain the support of pagan Arabs who would understand the moon cult and accept Mohammad’s ali-ilah as their own. It was either this or be butchered by Mohammad’s men.

Sadly for the history of man, the Islamic cult could have been destroyed many times but wasn’t. Through luck, hard fighting and a lack of resolve on the part of their enemies the Muslims survived and within 20 years had conquered Arabia. In so doing they eradicated Jewish and Christian competition; destroyed villages; plundered towns and caravans; engaged in slave trading; and extended Arab pagan practices to the borders of Byzantium and Persia. It was a colossal achievement.

In reading Spencer’s description of Mohammad’s preaching and his establishment of ‘Islam’ [submission] it is hard not to write in the book’s margins the word ‘insane’ beside Mohammad’s actions, revelations and announcements. As Spencer relates, “..even during cold days, his forehead perspired….and then the divine inspiration descended upon him…The Prophet’s face was red and he kept on breathing heavily for a while and then he was relieved.” [p.59] Clearly Mohammad had some psychological problems.

Would a stable personality be visited by dreams; make up stories about flying to heaven on a horse; or have revelations to justify war, incest, rape, slave-trading; polygamy; pedophilia and looting? Even Satan supposedly spoke through Mohammad [allowing Muslims to justify some mistakes made by their ‘great’ leader] giving rise to the famous ‘Satanic verses’. Are we to accept the mental legitimacy of someone who really believes that the moon God [ali-ilah] and Satan spoke through them?

Without relating in detail the story of Mohammad and the rise of Islam, there are important points from Spencer’s book that should be emphasized which have informed Islamic actions throughout history:

-Through Mohammad’s revelations and the Koran it is clear that whatever furthers Muslim power is good and whatever hinders it is bad [Koran 2:218 for example]. This means that lying, war or hypocrisy in the name of Islam is fine.

-Jews and Christians are to be converted or killed [Koran 2:89, 5:51, 5:52: ‘The curse of Allah is on disbelievers’]. This is an obligation on all Muslims to remind the Saturday and Sunday people of their inferior status [Koran 9:29]. This includes the dhimmi [2nd class status] tax and other obligations by the kaffirs [unbelievers] to the Muslims. This means that Islam has no concept of peaceful co-existence with other beliefs.

-Islam was born in war and jihad, and jihad is a necessary obligation since Mohammad adjured Muslims before he died, to convert the world to the ideology of Allah and that by following Allah Islam would triumph [Koran 3:149-151; 24:62-63].

-Muslims then and now believe in predestination ‘the power of Allah’ and that ‘Allah’ will help Islam win over the world [Koran 8:9, 12-13, 3:123]. Muslims for example believe that their first major victory at Badr in 622 was aided by 3000 angels sent down by Allah to help Mohammad and his smaller army defeat their enemies [‘smite their necks’ in the Koran].

-Great booty and riches are in store for the Islamic conquerors [Koran 8:60].

-Muslims are only defeated when they are not pure to Islam [Koran 3:152]. If Muslims follow Allah and the Koran nothing can defeat them [Koran 3:145].

Mohammad’s actions reinforced his puritanical, fundamentalist and dialectical view of the world. These views have shaped Islam for over 1400 years. Islamic actions flow from their leader’s deeds and words. Spencer gives recent examples of Islamic jihadists quoting from the Koran and invoking Mohammad as they kill, destroy and war.

For example Mohammad actively led his men into battle. After conquering an undefended Jewish oasis; he slaughtered with his own hands [and with help from his men], 700 Jewish men and boys and kicked their bodies into a dug trench. The massacre took 3 days. The town was wealthy and Mohammad and his men loaded up on women, gold, and assorted riches. To a poor, pagan Arab tribesman, it must have indeed appeared that heaven was present in Islamic doctrine and power.

When your leader is a violent hate-filled pagan politician-warrior, the ethos of the cult is clear. If Mohammad was a prophet so was Hitler.

I could go on but one gets the idea. Give Spencer a lot of credit. It takes courage to write politically incorrect truths about Islam and the leader of its cult. He is ridiculed in the mainstream media; constantly attacked by Arab and Muslim organizations; has been sued a few times; and is probably afraid for his own personal safety. Yet he soldiers on.

Reading his books is a necessary antidote to the crass stupidity that permeates the ‘Islam is Peace’ coverage we are assaulted with. His website is www.jihadwatch.org and he deserves support from anyone who is concerned with the truth and the maintenance of our great civilization. A good book from a good man.