Are there any books that you would recommend for just factual history of Islam?
Thanks so much!!
“Among The Believers” - V.S. Naipaul emphasizes their fatalism, an attitude we cannot fathom.
Pick up a copy of Secrets of the Koran by Don Richardson. It’s not a ‘history book’ per se so perhaps it might not be exactly what you are looking for but it sure enlightened me a lot as far as understanding what islam is all about, where it comes from etc..... http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Koran-Don-Richardson/dp/0764215620/182-4291472-4673667?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion
Spencer, Robert, Regnery Publishing
I believe this radio program is a great resource for understanding islam. There are many programs for you to choose from.
http://www.fortressoffaith.org/
Bernard Lewis is probably a good start.
Well, you’ll run into books by people who looked at Islam from the outside or inside. And there’s the set of books that come after Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations.” (late 70s, IIRC).
I’d look for Robert Spencer or someone else now. I’d also search out web sites for info. The problem is that so many are now in support, albeit sometimes subtly.
One issue currently is the merger between Wahabbi extremism and Salafist violence. Al Qaradawi is an example.
tellthechildrenthetruth.com will give you a sense of the rise of modern jihad.
There’s just all these little bits and pieces scattered all over that make for having to take some time to get a factual sense of things. Good luck.
Oh. Don’t read the Koran. It’s long.
The “founder” of islam was a thief, pedophile and mass murderer. Take these recommendations from there.
Glad you care and are interested.
Islam is one of the greatest existential threats we face.
Muslims have murdered and enslaved hundreds of millions of souls since it’s 7th century inception.
India is half the size it once was, and conservative historical record estimates 80,000,000 India inhabitants were murdered by muslims.
Hitler admired Islamic brutality.
Learn and spread the word.
Fight back for our children’s sake.
Jihad: Islam’s 1,300 Year War Against Western Civilisation
By Arthur Kemp
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2014/05/the_greatest_murder_machine_in_history.html
RE: “We live in such a politically correct world, and since Muslims are being coddled all over the world, I’m sure history books abound that give a softer view of the religion of “peace.”
Are there any books that you would recommend for just factual history of Islam?
Thanks so much!!”
and for an excellent outtake-
You can't do better than start here. Then Read the Koran in a Saudi official translation. Everything else follows from that.
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One of my favorite references is a site called The Center for the Study of Political Islam by Dr. Bill Warner. He studies directly from Islamic sources and provides scientific analysis of source materials.
Any book by Dr. Bill Warner would be a good option as it sourced directly to doctrinal and cleric authorized material.
Bill Warner holds a PhD in physics and math, NC State University, 1968. He has been a university professor, businessman, and applied physicist.
He was a Member of the Technical Staff in solid-state physics at the Sarnoff Princeton Laboratories in the area of integrated circuit structures. During the energy crisis of the 80’s he founded and ran a company that specialized in energy efficient homes. For eight years he was a professor at Tennessee State University in the Engineering School.
Dr. Warner has had a life-long interest in religion and its effects on history. He has studied the source texts of the major religions for decades. Even before the destruction of the World Trade Center he had predicted the war between Islam and America. The day after 9/11 he decided to make the source texts of Islam available for the average person.
Dr. Warner’s training in scientific theory and mathematics shaped how he analyzed Islamic doctrine. The first step was realizing that the Islamic texts had been made deliberately difficult to read and comprehend. A program, the Trilogy Project (see below), was created to strip away the confusion in the texts. It became clear that Islam is not constructed on the same civilizational principles as the rest of the world. Simple statistical methods revealed that dualism and submission were the foundational principles of Islamic doctrine.
Statistical methods applied to the Islamic texts showed that:
Dr. Warner coined the term, Foundational School of Islamic studies, which holds that Islam is found in the Trilogy of Koran, Sira and Hadith. All evaluation of Islamic history and current activity is caused by the doctrine found in this Trilogy. Therefore, it is impossible to understand any Muslim or Islamic action without knowing the doctrine that is its cause.
Dr. Warner postulates that there are three independent views of Islam that are not reconcilable. The three views are believer-centric, apologist-centric and Kafir-centric. The believer-centric view is the view of a Muslim. Apologist-centric is based upon the apologetic view of non-Muslims. Kafir-centric is the view of the non-Muslim. A comprehensive knowledge of Islam must include all three. These views cannot be resolved, but each must stand-alone.
Dr. Warner founded the Center for the Study of Political Islam (CSPI) and is its director. He has produced a dozen books, including a Koran, a biography of Mohammed and a summary of the political traditions of Mohammed. He also developed the first self-study course on Political Islam. He has given talks nationally and internationally about Islamic political doctrine.
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Dr. Andrew Bostom provides scholarly reference tomes on the subject which are also based on Islamic sources and historic archives.
Andrew G. Bostom is an American author and Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown University Medical School. Bostom is the author of The Legacy of Jihad (Prometheus, 2005), a work which provides an analysis of Jihad based on an exegesis of translations of Islamic primary sources done by other writers on the topic, and the editor of 2008 anthology of primary sources and secondary studies on the theme of Muslim antisemitism, and The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism ” (Prometheus, November, 2008). In October 2012, Bostom published his third compendium Sharia versus Freedom: The Legacy of Islamic Totalitarianism. He has published articles in New York Post, Washington Times, The New York Daily News, National Review Online, The American Thinker, Pajamas Media, and FrontPage Magazine.
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Robert Spencer also has a number of highly readable books for consideration:
Empires of the Sea
http://smile.amazon.com/Empires-Sea-Battle-Lepanto-Contest-ebook/dp/B001BADGJA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1462373906&sr=1-1&keywords=empires+of+the+sea
Or anything else by Rodney Stark:
http://smile.amazon.com/Rodney-Stark/e/B000APQGM6/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Read the koran yet? Actually, just find verses they cite as verses of peace... like Surah 5:32
“whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely.”
But then read the full verse and you find out that this means if a Jew kills a muslim, it will be as if that Jew killed every muslim. This verse actually starts with “Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel” - and reading verses prior to that reveals even more. It is just one big lie. At least they are honest about worshiping the antichrist though.
I recommend Tom Holland’s, “In the Shadow of the Sword” for a good historical overview of birth of Islam. He sets out the historical context for the development of Islam, and scrutinizes the evidentiary basis for “what we know” about Mohammad and even the real location of Mecca. This is a skeptical, historical approach, not an attempt to explicate Islamic “theology”.
And as for more Historical background - ask an American about the Crusades and they will go on a tirade about how evil Christians murdered people in their primeval blood-thirst. Ask an American about the invasion of Spain in the 700s and they won’t have a clue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_conquest_of_Hispania
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Spot on. Spend 40 minutes with Bill Warner as he explains that “radical islam” is a myth. There is ONLY ISLAM and it is ALL RADICAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjBDDC4wVxk
I would add, for an understanding of the past and modern threat, an easy to read 200 page book by a former Muslim called:
"Islam and Terrorism,Revised and Updated Edition"
By Mark A. Gabriel.
Another good book about 300 pages long is:
"What every American Needs to Know About the Qur'an by William J. Federer.
You could get the sense of the book by watching this clip, copy and paste it in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YpJjRzQDIM
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades by Robert Spencer
I highly recommend that you visit this website.
While the “front end” of the site is formatted to address current news, they have archived virtually all of their work.
It’s my understanding that the site is the creation of a former Muslim, Ali Sina.
It is a tremendous resource.