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Western Civilisation

Until the advent of materialism and 19th c. dogma, Western Civilisation was  superior to anything Islam had developed.  Islam has not aided in the development of the modern world; in fact civilisation has only been created in spite of Islam.  Proof of this resides in the 'modern' world and the unending political-economic and spiritual poverty of Muslim states and regions.  Squatting on richer civilisations is not 'progress'.  Islam is pagan, totalitarian, and irrational.   

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Wednesday, May 2, 2007

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Book Review: Islam The Arab Imperialism, By Anwar Shaikh

Islam is the tool of Arab Imperialism.

by Ferdinand III


Anwar Shaikh was a remarkable man. Born a muslim in the Indian city of Gujarat (now Pakistan) in 1928, he lived in Britain beginning in 1956, where he published several books at his own expense attacking Islam in an uncompromising fashion [he died in 2006]. This activity earned him the hatred of the muslim clergy in Pakistan, who demanded extradition so that he may be publicly hanged. Shaikh's loathing for Islam grew from harrowing personal experiences at the time of independence and partition in 1947. (See "Anwar Shaikh: a staunch critic of Islam", New Humanist, Vol. 113, no. 2)

Shaikh begins by pointing out the inherent absurdities in the concept of prophethood. How it in effect puts belief in prophets above belief in God, since the prophet is supposedly God's messenger and mouthpiece, implying that He is incapable of communicating with humans in any other way. The muslim idea that Muhammad is the final prophet, confirming and fulfilling all previous prophets, is seen as Muhammad's masterstroke, putting the kibosh on any change or innovation.

On the basis of the text of the Quran, underwritten by the traditional biography of the Prophet, Shaikh discerns a progress in Muhammad's expression of his prophetic role. In the beginning, when he was politically weak, he claimed to be a mortal and humble servant of Allah, but when he became strong, after his supposed move from Mecca to Medina: "he began changing his tone, until he was able to claim himself to be Allah's Superior". (75) The proof of this is Q.33:56 "Lo! Allah and his angels shower praises on the Prophet (Muhammad). O ye who believe also shower praises on him and salute him with a worthy salutation". Shaikh claims that the word translated "shower praises on him", really means worship and is usually applied to God.

According to Shaikh the arrogance of Muhammad is fully expressed in the arrogance of the religion he invented toward all non?Arabs, especially the Jews. The notorious episode of the Jewish tribe of the Banu Quraiza, in which Muhammad is supposed to have overseen the slaughter of 800 Jewish men, is seen by Shaikh as: "a pathetic model of ethnic cleansing. The Jews suffered this fate when they refused to become Arabs. We cannot find an example of such extreme nationalism so early in history. Yet the muslims believe that Islam does not recognize nationalism. They insist that it is a message of international brotherhood". (103-4) As regards history this is not quite true of course. It was routine in the ancient world that when a city was conquered the men were killed and the women and children sold into slavery. However that may be, Shaikh is undoubtedly right to emphasize the essentially Arab nature of Islam, and how that ethnic identity was imposed on those they conquered.

The crucial question is how long did this process take and who was responsible for originating it and carrying it out. To attribute it all to the genius of Muhammad is to take for granted the picture of the origin of Islam that the muslims invented for themselves. This pays an unnecessary compliment to the integrity of the Quran and the hadith and the veracity of muslim historiography. Pointing out the contradictions and unpleasantness in the Quran and extracting an unattractive portrait of Muhammad from the hadith is an easy game to play and good for annoying muslims, but it is nowhere near radical enough if the rug is really to be pulled from under Islam.

The interpretation of the origin of Islam in which Muhammad is seen as a wily and lascivious politician and military leader, rather than as a religious figure, was popular in the West in the good old pre-political correctness days of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The intention then was to show the inferiority of Islam to Christianity and of Muhammad to Jesus Christ, but with the spread of unbelief and the advent of ecumenism this approach was toned down and is now only popular amongst evangelicals. In more recent times, since about 1975, any approach to the life of Muhammad and the origin of Islam based on the Arabic sources has been seen as problematic, since it is now widely recognized by scholars how unreliable those sources are.

If the earliest biography (sira) of Muhammad, compiled by Ibn Ishaq over one hundred years after the Prophet's death, is taken at face value, it provides a life situation for the revelation of the Quran and the hadith. Taking this life story in combination with the texts of the Quran and the hadith it is possible to construct various scenarios in explanation of the origin of Islam alternative to that favored by muslim traditions. The problem is that if the sources are tendentious and unreliable no reconstruction based upon them is more likely to be true than any other. Abstracting a Muhammad who is an unscrupulous politician, ruthless military leader, and cynical lecher, is no more likely to represent true history than that of a saintly prophet chosen by God as an example for humanity. The lust for positive results in historical investigations is usually the handmaid of some ideological agenda, whether acknowledged or not.

Admitting that we simply do not know what Muhammad was like, if he existed, that the writers and compilers of the Quran will remain for ever unknown, and that none of the so called prophetic traditions represent authentic sayings or doings of the Prophet, is not much fun and provides no grist for anybody's mills, rather, it calls for an intellectual ascesis without appeal, but at the same time it shows the traditional account of the origin of Islam to be a baseless fiction.

In addition to his writings on Islam Anwar Shaikh is also the editor of the humanist journal Liberty, available from the same address as his books. Volume six, issue nineteen is a special edition containing an excellent article on Islam and human rights.

Shaikh rightly points out the absurdity of the muslim notion of "God's rights", since: "rights are required to protect one's entity, interest and future, threatened by aggression and fear of usurpation. Allah, who is projected as the Almighty, the Absolute, the creator, the All-wise and Free of desires, does not need the shield of right to shelter, secure and screen Himself from man, whom he is supposed to have created and whose every movement He is said to control".

Shaikh also considers the rights of muslim men, infidels, and muslim women under Islam. It follows that if God has rights man has no substantive rights at all, since any rights he has are derived rights and only accrue to him from his abject submission to the primary rights of God. Infidels, because they do not acknowledge God's rights, have no rights at all and are only fit for extermination. As for the rights of women under Islam they are practically non-existent.

Even the much trumpeted rights to inherit property and to divorce men are nullified by the overriding law of purdah, forbidding their participation in social life. Whereas men can divorce their wives quite independently and at will, a woman is forced to go through a long legal process, almost impossible in a male dominated society used to treating women as second class citizens. In effect, women's rights are limited to her maintenance provided she obeys her husband. The article closes with a devastating point by point analysis of the derogatory muslim attitude to women derived from the Quran and the hadith.

Shaikh's work deserves more attention than it has so far received. It is an act of courage and carries more weight coming from someone born a muslim. It should be especially effective amongst those coming from muslim families and living in the West.


Article Comments:

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9/4/2023:  'The Templars', by Michael Haag

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7/30/2023:  Simon Webb: ‘The Forgotten Slave Trade; The White European Slaves of Islam’

7/5/2023:  Scanderbeg: A History of George Castriota and the Albanian Resistance to Islamic Expansion

6/29/2023:  Defenders of the West. Raymond Ibrahim. Another must-read.

6/21/2023:  A must read book, Raymond Ibrahim’s ‘Sword and Scimitar’.

5/29/2023:  Judith Herrin, ‘Byzantium. The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire’.

5/26/2023:  Review: 'Byzantium and the Crusades', by Johnathan Harris.

5/18/2023:  Johathan Harris, The Lost World of Byzantium

5/13/2023:  History of the Byzantine Empire, Sir Charles Oman, 272 pages, 2018

11/7/2022:  Christopher Dawson 'Religion and the rise of Western culture'

8/26/2022:  Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity. By Peter Brown

4/14/2022:  Henri Pirenne, 'A History of Europe: From the Invasions to the XVI Century'

1/22/2022:  ‘Through the Eye of A Needle’ by Peter Brown

11/28/2021:  Peter Hammond: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam. Exposing the moon cult and Jihad

11/14/2021:  The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200–1000. Peter Brown.

10/4/2021:  Henri Pirenne: Mohammed and Charlemagne

9/27/2021:  Henri Pirenne: Mohammed and Charlemagne. Rome never 'Fell'. It was replaced.

8/9/2021:  The Catholic Enlightenment, Ulrich L. Lehner. Nicholas Bergier, defender of the Church.

8/8/2021:  The New World Order, by A. Ralph Epperson

7/15/2021:  The Catholic Enlightenment, Ulrich L. Lehner. From the 16th century to Pope Francis.

7/9/2021:  The Catholic Enlightenment, by Ulrich L. Lehner

3/29/2021:  The Clock and the Camshaft, J. W. Farrell

3/20/2021:  Bearing False Witness, by Rodney Stark, #2.

3/17/2021:  Bearing False Witness, by Rodney Stark, #1.

2/5/2021:  ‘Slavery, Terrorism and Islam’ by Peter Hammond

1/27/2021:  Emmet Scott 'The Impact of Islam' and the mythical Golden Age of Muhammadan Spain

1/24/2021:  The Impact of Islam, by Emmet Scott (part two)

1/20/2021:  The Impact of Islam, by Emmet Scott (part one)

11/20/2020:  The Light Ages: A Medieval Journey of Discovery, by Seb Falk. Science and sphericity.

11/11/2020:  The Light Ages: A Medieval Journey of Discovery, by Seb Falk

10/16/2020:  The Age of Plunder, by W. G. Hoskins

10/11/2020:  Michael Wood's 'In Search of The Dark Ages'. Plenty of light, the basis of civilisation

9/8/2020:  The Glory of the Crusades, Steve Weidenkopf (2014)

8/5/2020:  C.S. Lewis and 'The Abolition of Man' by Steve Turley

12/18/2019:  The Palestinian Delusion: The Catastrophic History of the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Spencer

12/11/2019:  Islam: Religion of Peace?: The Violation of Natural Rights and Western Cover-Up, Fr. Portella

11/25/2019:  2030: Your Children's Future in Islamic Britain, by David Vincent

4/28/2016:  History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution - James MacCaffrey

2/24/2016:  Morris Bishop, 'The Middle Ages'

11/6/2015:  “Medieval Lives” by Alan Ereira, Terry Jones and the 'other side' of the Monkish orders

11/6/2015:  Medieval Lives by Alan Ereira, Terry Jones

8/18/2015:  Dr. Robert Morey, 'Islam Unveiled' – The Real Desert Storm

8/16/2015:  R. A. Morey, 'Islam Unveiled', 1991

1/18/2015:  Ataturk in the Nazi Imagination, by Stefan Ihrig

11/28/2014:  The poorly named Enlightenment - James Hitchcock, History of the Catholic Church

11/27/2014:  Michael Coren's 'Hatred: Islam's war against Christianity' Read it.

11/20/2014:  "The Catholic Church and Science" by Benjamin Wiker

11/14/2014:  Michael Coren: 'Hatred; Islam's war on Christianity'. Stating the obvious.

11/11/2014:  Collins and Christian-Catholic Culture in the West

11/4/2014:  The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, the Creation of Europe in the 10th Century P. Collins

7/25/2014:  James Hitchcock, The History of the Catholic Church

7/19/2014:  William Muir, 1868, 'Life of Mahomet' - the madness revealed

6/30/2014:  Garwood: 'Flat Earth' - a belief only held by atheists and evolutionists

5/1/2014:  How the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity by Rodney Stark

4/23/2014:  The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, + Western Success - Rodney Stark

3/31/2014:  John Freely: 'Before Galileo', Kuhn and the real history of real science.

3/25/2014:  John Freely: 'Before Galileo', Diophantus to Bradwardine, review 2

3/15/2014:  Book Review: John Freely and 'Before Galileo'

2/19/2014:  Christianity, Islam and Atheism by William Kilpatrick (2)

2/18/2014:  Christianity, Islam and Atheism by William Kilpatrick

6/28/2013:  Raymond Ibrahim 'Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War on Christians'

4/24/2013:  Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church by George Weigel

4/21/2013:  Robert Spencer: 'Moslem Persecution of Christians'

4/13/2013:  Book Review: Islam: Evil in the name of God

3/31/2013:  The Triumph of the Risen. The Truth of Christianity.

1/12/2013:  Book Review 2: God and Reason In the Middle Ages, by Edward Grant

1/7/2013:  Book Review 1: God and Reason In the Middle Ages, by Edward Grant

1/3/2013:  The Early Middle Ages 400-1000, Editor Rosamund McKitterick, Short Oxford History of Europe

12/17/2012:  Heresy: Ten Lies They Spread About Christianity, by Michael Coren

12/10/2012:  Medieval Technology and Social Change, Lynn White Jr., Oxford Press, 1968

11/29/2012:  Book Review: Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War on America, Kenneth Timmerman

11/28/2012:  Book Review: Islamophobia, by Robert Spencer.

11/25/2012:  Part 2: The Gies' - Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel, Review

11/23/2012:  The Gies': Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel, Review.

11/13/2012:  Book: The cult of the Moon God, by Brian Wilson

10/31/2012:  Review 2: Islam Dismantled, Sujit Das, Ali Sina

10/29/2012:  Book Review 1: Islam Dismantled by Sujit Das, Ali Sina

9/22/2012:  Book Review: Michael Coren, 'Why Catholics are Right'.

9/3/2012:  Book Review, Why the West is Best, by Ibn Warraq, Part Two

8/29/2012:  Book Review, Why the West is Best, by Ibn Warraq, Part One

6/12/2012:  Book Review: Poitiers AD 732, Charles Martel turns the Islamic tide. David Nicolle.

6/6/2012:  Review 2: Diane Moczar, Islam at the Gates, How Christendom defeated the Ottoman Turks

5/31/2012:  Review 1: Diane Moczar, Islam at the Gates, How Christendom defeated the Ottoman Turks

5/26/2012:  The Early Middle Ages 400-1000, Editor Rosamund McKitterick, Short Oxford History of Europe

4/13/2012:  Review, Emmet Scott: 'Mohammed and Charlemagne'

4/10/2012:  Henri Pirenne, 'Mohammed and Charlemagne' – Part 2

4/7/2012:  Book Review: Henri Pirenne, Mohammed and Charlemagne – Part One

1/29/2012:  Andrew Wheatcroft's, 'The Enemy at the Gate'

1/22/2012:  Book Review: Defenders of the Faith, by James Reston Jr.

1/11/2012:  Book Review: Norman Berdichevsky, 'The Left is not always Right'

12/10/2011:  Book Review, Nigel Cliff's 'Holy War' – good but flawed.

11/7/2011:  'How Civilizations Die', D. P. Goldman, 2011, 270 pgs.

10/21/2011:  'Religion and the Rise of Western Culture' – Christopher Dawson [Kindle Edition]

9/29/2011:  Book Review: Bynum's 'Allah is Dead'

9/16/2011:  Middle Age Dynamism

8/13/2011:  Malise Ruthven, 'Islam in the World' and the Kabaa-Hajj paganism.

8/12/2011:  EJ Brill and the Ka'ba

8/11/2011:  F.E. Peters and the pagan origins of the Kabaa Shrine

7/14/2011:  Benjamin Walker, Foundations of Islam: The Making of a World Faith 

4/12/2011:  Martin Gilbert: 'In Ishmael's House: A History of Jews in Muslim Lands', part 3.

4/6/2011:  Martin Gilbert: 'In Ishmael's House: A History of Jews in Muslim Lands', part 2.

4/3/2011:  Review part 1: Martin Gilbert 'In Ishmael's House'. A History of Jews living in Muslim lands.

3/31/2011:  Book Review: Susan Bauer, 'The History of the Medieval World'

3/24/2011:  Book Review: Empires of the Sea, by Roger Crowley. [The Final Battle for the Mediterranean]

3/22/2011:  Book Review: Will Israel survive? By Dr. Mitchell Bard, expert on Israel's political-economy.

3/20/2011:  Book Review ‘The Great War for Civilization', by Robert Fisk

3/18/2011:  Book Review: Bruce Bawer's “Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom”, Doubleday, May 2009.

3/15/2011:  Book Review: World War IV and Beyond, by Richard Hobbs.

3/11/2011:  Alan Dershowitz's: 'The Case for Israel.'

3/5/2011:  Leaving Islam, by Ibn Warraq

2/18/2011:  Review part 2: D. S. Margoliouth, 'The Early Development of Mohammedanism', 1913.

2/12/2011:  Review: D. S. Margoliouth, 'The Early Development of Mohammedanism', 1913.

12/21/2010:  Robert R. Reilly, 'The Closing of the Muslim Mind'. The Communal Fascism of Islam.

12/19/2010:  Robert R. Reilly, 'The Closing of the Muslim Mind'.

10/22/2010:  Rodney Stark, 'For the Glory of God'

10/20/2010:  Andrew McCarthy, 'The Grand Jihad, How Islam and the Left Sabotage America'.

10/18/2010:  Book Review: 'The Dhimmi. Jews and Christians under Islam.' Bat Ye'or.

10/8/2010:  Jamie Glazov: 'United in Hate'. Indeed they are. The Leftards and Muslims that is.

8/31/2010:  'The Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs', Robert Spencer

8/9/2010:  Amil Imani: Iranian and former-Muslim writes about the pagan savagery that is Islam.

7/15/2010:  Book Review: Baran's 'The Other Muslims: Moderate and Secular'. A fantasy novel.

6/29/2010:  Serge Trifkovic: 'The Sword of the Prophet'. Jihad, Jihad and endless Jihad.

6/28/2010:  Serge Trifkovic: 'The Sword of the Prophet'. The Madness of Muhammad.

6/5/2010:  Review, 'Medieval Civilization 400-1500' by Jacques Le Goff.

5/31/2010:  Fregosi and Islam's endless Jihad.

5/27/2010:  Book Review, 'The Civilization of the Middle Ages', by Norman Cantor, 1993.

5/21/2010:  Book Review: 'Islam's Black Slaves', by Ronald Segal, 2001.

5/9/2010:  Book Review: 'Race and Slavery in the Middle East.' by Bernard Lewis, 1990.

5/6/2010:  Book Review: 'Slavery in the Arab World', by Murray Gordon, 1987.

5/5/2010:  Book Review: R. C Davis; 'Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters', 2004 edition.

5/1/2010:  Book review: The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran, by Robert Spencer.

4/28/2010:  Book Review; Thomas Cahill, 'Mysteries of the Middle Ages', 317 pages.

4/9/2010:  Book Review: 'The Islamic Anti-Christ', Joel Richardson, 2009, WND Books.

3/26/2010:  Book Review: Wafa Sultan, 'A God Who Hates'. 2009, 244 pages.

3/19/2010:  Book Review: Brigitte Gabriel, “They Must be Stopped”. 2009. 240 pages.

3/1/2010:  Book Review; M. A. Khan “Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism and Slavery”

2/22/2010:  Book Review: 'Defeating Political Islam' by Moorthy Muthuswamy

2/13/2010:  'Holy Warriors' – the Arab devastation of the Mediterranean

2/10/2010:  Henri Pirenne and why the 'Dark Ages' occurred.

2/20/2009:  Book Review: 'The Great Arab Conquests', by Hugh Kennedy.

1/22/2009:  Book Review - 'Chasing a Mirage' by Tarek Fatah. [2008, Wiley and Son, 410 pages.]

6/15/2008:  Book Review: 'Islamic Imperialism – A History.' By Efraim Karsh.

1/7/2008:  Book Review: Ed Husain, 'The Islamist'

11/22/2007:  Book Review: 'The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy', by Walid Phares

10/16/2007:  Robert Spencer's superb book: 'Religion of Peace: Why Christianity is and Islam isn't'

9/21/2007:  Book Review: 'Infidel' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali- a Somalian-Dutch Muslim Apostate

5/2/2007:  Book Review: Islam The Arab Imperialism, By Anwar Shaikh

4/9/2007:  Book Review: ‘Religion of Peace? Islam’s War Against the World’, by G.M. Davis

2/12/2007:  Book review – ‘The Truth about Mohammad’, by Robert Spencer

2/11/2007:  Book review of 'Because they hate' by Brigitte Gabriel