The Redhunter

What Spencer shows is that if reformers are to succeed they cannot skirt the hard facts of Muhammed's life. The must squarely confront the way the religion was founded and spread and reconcile these with the modern world. They have their work cut out for them, for their job will be much more difficult than it was for Luther and Calvin.

Here, then, are some of the facts that reformers have the face as laid out by Spencer:

The new faith of Islam was spread by Muhammed and his followers by warfare. Muhammed was personally involved in much of the fighting, and is renouned for his prowess on the battlefield. This would only be of academic consequence were it not for the fact that Muslims are supposed to look at Muhammed as their inspiration, as a model to emulate.

From Spencer's book, Muhammed the warrior is the single biggest problem that reformers with have to face. There is much killing by the Jewish tribes in the Old Testament, and it's all sanctioned by God. Much of Joshua, Kings, and Chronicles make for very difficult reading. But neither Jews nor Christians developed an equivalent of jihad that we carried to the present day. The Jews tried to live in peace once they got to the promised land (only the existance of powerful neighbors ensured this didn't happen) . In its first few centuries Christianity was spread peacefully. The apostles used persuasion, not violence.

Islam, though rests almost entirely on the actions of one person. While the Quran does contain many stories also found in the Old Testament (albeit quite different versions of them), Muslims pretty much ignore all prophets except for Muhammed. Neither Judiasm not Christianity face this "single prophet" problem. When your single prophet spent much of his time as a warrior, this is something that you either reconcile with the modern world or accept violence as part of your religion.

There are other problems too, that reformers must face. Muhammed took many wives, one who was quite young, and he made it clear that women were to have second class citizenship. The part of sharia law where it takes 4 male witnesses to convice a man of rape comes from an incident with one of his wives, Aisha. As a result, it is virtually impossible to convict a man of rape in Muslim societies. Muhammed also ordered that a man and woman convicted of adultery be stoned to death.

If Islam is to join the modern world, and integrate itself into small "l" liberal Western society, it must give up poligamy, marriage to virtual children, stoning, and must grant equal rights to women. In order to do so reformers are going to have to reinterpret many of Muhammed's actions, or find some way to explain that "that was then, this is now".

There is also the Muslim "poll tax", or jizya Muhammed instituted dhimmi status, required for Christians and Jews (all others were to be killed immediately). Apologists for Islam today who claim that Jews and Christians can leave peacefully in Muslim lands "forget" that this is only possible when the former two accept dhimmi status. Those who see the exponential increase in the number of Muslims in Europe as no big deal need to consider this fact. It is projected that Europe will be majority Muslim before the end of the 21st century. At the rate things are going, they'll try and force some sort of dhimmi status on non-Muslims as soon as they get the chance.

The last thing I'll mention is the incident of the "satanic verses", made famous by Salman Rushdie in his book of the same name. Essentially, Muhammed instructs his followers to worship pagan gods for one year as part of a deal he struck with a tribe called the Quraysh. Muslim tradition says that Satan spoke the words instead of Muhammed. If this is true, than it is certainly odd that God would let Satan speak through His prophet. If Muhammed was speaking of his own volition, then it is odd that he would instruct his followers to worship false gods, regardless of the political circumstances.

In theory I think it should not be terribly hard to do this. After all, Christians and Jews believe in the Old Testament, and none of us (save a few kooks) want to make Leviticas the law of the land. We know that they did things differently back then and why they had the laws they did. But we've learned how to square them with modern concepts. Although the job of Muslim reformers may be more difficult, it is hardly impossible.

Of course what is easy in theory is difficult in practice. Robert Spencer himself lives at an "undisclosed location", according to the book cover. Critics of Islam such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Irshad Manji, and Bridget Gabriel have their lives threatened. Theo van Gogh was murdered over a movie he made.

Note that none of the issues that I've brought up are relevant to whether Islam is "correct" or not. I am a Christian, and therefore believe that all other ways of seeing God are false. But here we are concerned with Islam as a political tool, as an inspiration to jihad, terrorism, and world conquest. If people want to take Muhammed as their prophet then my argument with them becomes strictly theological.

There is much more in The Truth About Muhammed that I will not be able to cover here. Of the many criticisms of this book, one that I found most curious was the one that Spencer "cherry picks" quotes from the Quran. When reading the book I found that it was not specific quotes that will be problematic for reformers, but rather the general outline of Muhammed's life. The fact that he spead the faith through the sword, was a poligamist, and considered women second-class citizens is not dependand on this or that quote.

Add this book to your library. It shouldn't be your only book about Islam, but is is a necessary addition.

Robert Spencer is also the founder and chief writer for Jihad Watch, and reguarly posts videos at Michelle Malkin's Hot Air.

Update

Raymond Ibrahim takes on Muslim apologist Karen Armstrong over at NRO. Be sure to check it out in order to see what anyone who criticizes Islam is up against.