Inside Islam: a Guide for Catholics
APRIL 2, 2017
Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics
By Daniel Ali*, Robert Spencer**, Foreword by Fr. Mitch Pacwa SJ
Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics utilizes a popular question-and-answer format so that all Catholics—both the theological novice and the well-catechized—can learn the basics of Islam. Co-authors Robert Spencer and Daniel Ali, a convert from Islam, give you a solid understanding of Islam’s unique teachings including:
The Islamic view of God
The role of Jesus in Islamic theology
Islam’s controversial theology of jihad, or “holy war”
Why Islam’s strong beliefs are so attractive to secularized Western societies
The role of women in Islam
Inside Islam is an essential resource for anyone who wants to know more about this historic religion from the Middle East. After reading this book, you will have a better understanding of the issues discussed every day in the news.
*TESTIMONY OF A FORMER MUSLIM-37DANIEL ALI
ROBERT SPENCER is the director of Jihad Watch, a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and the author of seventeen books, including theNew York TimesbestsellersThe Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)andThe Truth About Muhammad. His latest book isThe Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran. Coming in 2017 areThe Complete Infidel’s Guide to Free Speech (and Its Enemies)andConfessions of an Islamophobe(Bombardier Books).
Spencer has led seminars on Islam and jihad for the FBI, the United States Central Command, United States Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group, the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), the Justice Department’s Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council and the U.S. intelligence community. He has discussed jihad, Islam, and terrorism at a workshop sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the German Foreign Ministry. He is a consultant with the Center for Security Policy and vice president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative.
Spencer is a weekly columnist for PJ Media andFrontPage Magazine, and has written many hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism. His articles on Islam and other topics have appeared in theLos Angeles Times, theSan Francisco Examiner, theNew York Post, theWashington Times, theDallas Morning News,Fox News Opinion,National Review,The Hill, theDetroit News,TownHall.com,Real Clear Religion, theDaily Caller, theNew Criterion, theJournal of International Security Affairs, the UK’sGuardian, Canada’sNational Post,Middle East Quarterly,WorldNet Daily,First Things,Insight in the News,Aleteia, and many other journals. For nearly ten years Spencer wrote the weekly Jihad Watch column atHuman Events. He has also served as a contributing writer to the Investigative Project on Terrorism and as an Adjunct Fellow with the Free Congress Foundation.
Spencer has appeared on the BBC, ABC News, CNN, FoxNews’s O’Reilly Factor, Megyn Kelly’s The Kelly File, the Sean Hannity Show, Geraldo Rivera Reports, the Glenn Beck Show, Fox and Friends, America’s News HQ and many other Fox programs, PBS, MSNBC, CNBC, C-Span, CTV News, France24, Voice of Russia and Croatia National Television (HTV), as well as on numerous radio programs includingThe Sean Hannity Show, Bill O’Reilly’s Radio Factor, The Mark Levin Show, The Laura Ingraham Show, The Herman Cain Show, The Joe Piscopo Show, The Howie Carr Show, The Curt Schilling Show, Bill Bennett’s Morning in America, Michael Savage’s Savage Nation, The Alan Colmes Show, The G. Gordon Liddy Show, The Neal Boortz Show, The Michael Medved Show, The Michael Reagan Show, The Rusty Humphries Show, The Larry Elder Show, The Peter Boyles Show, Vatican Radio, and many others.
Robert Spencer has been a featured speaker at the University of California-Irvine, Temple University, Dartmouth College, Penn State University, the University of California-Los Angeles, Stanford University, New York University, Brown University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Virginia, State University of New York-Binghamton, State University of New York-Stony Brook, Florida State University, DePaul University, the College of William and Mary, Washington University of St. Louis, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Boise State University, Cal Poly, Portland State University, and many other colleges and universities. He has also addressed the Heritage Foundation, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance in New York City, the Hudson Institute, the Temple of the Arts in Los Angeles, the San Diego Jewish Book Fair, the Young Presidents’ Organization, Calvary Chapel Pacific Coast, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), FreedomFest, Young America’s Foundation, Hershey’s Sweet Retreat, the John W. Pope Civitas Institute, the Conservative Forum of Silicon Valley, Train the Trainer, and many other audiences.
A complete listing of Robert Spencer’s books:
Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics(with Daniel Ali) (Ascension Press)
Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World’s Fastest Growing Faith(Encounter Books)
Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West(Regnery Publishing)
The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims(Prometheus Books)
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)(Regnery Publishing)
The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion(Regnery Publishing)
Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn’t(Regnery Publishing)
Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs(Regnery Publishing)
The Complete Infidel’s Guide to the Koran(Regnery Publishing)
The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War On America(with Pamela Geller) (Threshold Editions/Simon & Schuster)
Did Muhammad Exist? An Inquiry Into Islam’s Obscure Origins(ISI Books)
Not Peace But A Sword: The Great Chasm Between Christianity and Islam(Catholic Answers Press)
Arab Winter Comes to America: The Truth About the War We’re In(Regnery Publishing)
The Complete Infidel’s Guide to ISIS(Regnery Publishing)
The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran(Regnery Publishing)
The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Free Speech (and Its Enemies)(coming in 2017 from Regnery Publishing)
Confessions of an Islamophobe(coming in 2017 from Bombardier Books)
Spencer’s books have been translated into many languages, including Spanish, Italian, German, Finnish, Korean, Polish and Bahasa Indonesia. His Qur’an commentary at Jihad Watch,Blogging the Qur’an, has been translated into Czech, Danish, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
Spencer (MA, Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history in depth since 1980. His work has aroused the ire of the foes of freedom and their dupes: in October 2011, Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups wrote to Homeland Security Advisor (and current CIA director) John Brennan, demanding that Spencer be removed as a trainer for the FBI and military groups, which he taught about the belief system of Islamic jihadists; Brennan immediately complied as counter-terror training materials were scrubbed of all mention of Islam and jihad. Spencer has been banned by the British government from entering the United Kingdom for pointing out accurately that Islam has doctrines of violence against unbelievers. He has been invited by name to convert to Islam by a senior member of al-Qaeda.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Why should I believe what you say about Islam?
RS: Pick up any of my books, and you will see that they are made up largely of quotations from Islamic jihadists and the traditional Islamic sources to which they appeal to justify violence and terrorism. My work sheds light on what these sources say.
The evidence stands by itself; readers can evaluate it for themselves. I would, of course, be happy to debate any scholar about Islam and jihad; this is a standing invitation.
Q: Have you debated Islamic scholars and spokesmen?
RS: Yes, I have debated imams and Islamic scholars including Anjem Choudhary, Omar Bakri, Moustafa Zayed, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, Mubin Shaikh, and many others. I have discussed and/or debated various aspects of it with Jaafar Siddiqui and Salam Al-Marayati (twice) on the Michael Medved Show; Al-Marayati again on the Alan Colmes Show and Radio Islam; Hussam Ayloush on the Dennis Prager Show and another show; Hussein Ibish on CNN radio; As’ad AbuKhalil (the “Angry Arab”) on a station in San Diego; Muqtedar Khan on a Jamaican radio station; Ibrahim Hooper on MSNBC TV with Keith Olbermann; Abdul Malik Ali on Pax TV; two Islamic scholars on Michael Coren’s TV show in Toronto; Abdulaziz Sachedina and an Iranian scholar on the Lou Dobbs show; and Ayloush and AbuKhalil, as well as Khaleel Mohammed, in print. Others also.
Q: Why have you studied Islam for so long?
RS: It has been an enduring fascination. Since childhood I have had an interest in the Muslim world, from which my family comes. When I was very young my grandparents would tell me stories about their life there, and I always heard them with great interest. When I met Muslim students as a college undergraduate I began reading and studying the Qur’an in earnest. That led to in-depth forays intotafsir(interpretations of the Qur’an),hadith(traditions of the Prophet Muhammad), and much more about Islamic theology and law. While working on my master’s thesis, which dealt not with Islam but (in part) with some early Christian heretical groups, I began to study early Islamic history, since some of these groups ended up in Arabia and may have influenced Muhammad. In the intervening years I continued these studies of Islamic theology, history, and law out of personal interest.
This led to my consulting privately with some individuals and groups about Islam, but I had never intended to do such work publicly. However, after 9/11 I was asked to write my first book,Islam Unveiled, in order to correct some of the misapprehensions about Islam that were widespread at that time.
Q: I’ve read that you are actually a white supremacist neo-Nazi.
RS: No. I have consistently opposed racism and supremacism of all kinds — otherwise, I wouldn’t oppose the global jihad.
Q: I’ve read that you are actually ignorant of Islam.
RS: Such a charge is a common, albeit empty, rhetorical tactic of jihadist apologists. I am ready to defend my statements about Islam and jihad in discussion or debate with virtually anyone.
Q: Do you hate Muslims?
RS: Of course not. Islam is not a monolith, and never have I said or written anything that characterizes all Muslims as terrorist or given to violence. To call attention to the roots and goals of jihad violence within Islamic texts and teachings, and to show how jihadists use those texts and teachings, says nothing at all about what any given Muslim believes or how he acts. Any Muslim who renounces violent jihad and dhimmitude is welcome to join in our anti-jihadist efforts. Any hate in my books comes from Muslim sources quoted, not from me. Cries of “hatred” and “bigotry” are effectively used by American Muslim advocacy groups to try to stifle the debate about the terrorist threat. But there is no substance to them.
It is not an act of hatred against Muslims to point out the depredations of jihad ideology. It is a peculiar species of displacement and projection to accuse someone who exposes the hatred of one group of hatred himself: I believe in the equality of rights and dignity of all people, and that is why I oppose the global jihad. Those who make the charge use it as a tool to frighten the credulous and politically correct away from the truth.
Some time agohere at Jihad WatchI had an exchange with an English convert to Islam. I said: “I would like nothing better than a flowering, a renaissance, in the Muslim world, including full equality of rights for women and non-Muslims in Islamic societies: freedom of conscience, equality in laws regarding legal testimony, equal employment opportunities, etc.” Is all that “anti-Muslim”? My correspondent thought so. He responded: “So, you would like to see us ditch much of our religion and, thereby, become non-Muslims.”
In other words, he saw a call for equality of rights for women and non-Muslims in Islamic societies, including freedom of conscience, equality in laws regarding legal testimony, and equal employment opportunities, as a challenge to his religion. To the extent that they are, these facts have to be confronted by both Muslims and non-Muslims. But it is not “anti-Muslim” to wish freedom of conscience and equality of rights on the Islamic world — quite the contrary.
Q: Do you think all Muslims are terrorists?
RS: See above.
Q: Are you trying to incite anti-Muslim hatred?
RS: Certainly not. I am trying to point out the depth and extent of the hatred that is directed against the United States, because efforts to downplay its depth and extent leave us less equipped to defend ourselves. Anyone who targets innocent Muslims in the USA is not only evil, but is playing into the hands of the jihadists who are trying to fan the flames of anti-American hatred. Also, one of the reasons why the war on terror is so important is that those who would destroy Western civilization do not believe in the principles of due process and justice that are central elements of the American system.
Q: Are you deliberately ignoring more liberal schools of thought in Islam?
RS: Certainly not. Any Muslim individual or group who works for genuine reform of the Islamic doctrines, theological tenets and laws that Islamic jihadists use to justify violence, is to be commended. But this reform must be undertaken honestly and thoroughly, confronting the texts of the Qur’an, Hadith, and Sira that are used to justify violence against unbelievers, and decisively rejecting Qur’anic literalism. Not all self-proclaimed moderates are truly moderate: many deny that these elements of Islam exist at all — hardly a promising platform for reform. It is important to make proper distinctions and speak honestly about the roots of the terrorist threat.
Q: Can you recommend a good English translation of the Qur’an?
RS: N. J. Dawood’s is the most readable in English. However, most versions do not mark the verse numbers precisely. Some non-Muslims don’t like it because he uses “God” for Allah, although since Arabic-speaking Christians use “Allah” for the God of the Bible, and have for over a millennium, this is a problem for poseurs and pseudo-scholars but is not really a serious objection to anyone who knows both languages. Also, many Muslims dislike this translation because Dawood was not a Muslim, and doesn’t sugarcoat any of the passages. Two translations by Muslims, those by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, are generally reliable, although both write in a stilted, practically unreadable pseudo-King James Bible English. Of the two, Ali’s contains more liberties with the text — such as adding “(lightly)” to Sura 4:34 after the directive to husbands to beat their disobedient wives. The Arabic doesn’t say to beat them lightly, it just says to beat them. Pickthall’s is generally accurate.
There are other good translations. For years I have liked Arberry’s for its audacious literalism and often poetic English. Compare, for example, 81:15-18:
فَلَا أُقْسِمُ بِالْخُنَّسِ الْجَوَارِ الْكُنَّسِ وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا عَسْعَسَ وَالصُّبْحِ إِذَا تَنَفَّسَ
…in Pickthall and Arberry: Pickthall: “Oh, but I call to witness the planets, the stars which rise and set, and the close of night, and the breath of morning…” Arberry: “No! I swear by the slinkers, the runners, the sinkers, by the night swarming, by the dawn sighing…” Shades of the Symbolists. Arberry gives a hint of how the book sounds in Arabic, in which it is full of beguiling rhymes and rhythms.
Q: What can we do about this threat?
RS: Many things, but what we must do above all is remain true to our principles of freedom and equality of rights and dignity for all. These ideas and related ones are what set us apart from global jihadists. If we discard them in order to fight the jihadists, we risk erasing the distinction between the two camps.
Q: What is Jihad Watch?
RS: Jihad Watch is an attempt to raise awareness about the activities of the global jihadists. We are a 501c3 organization affiliated with the David Horowitz Freedom Center.