Religion of Peace? ... (Muslims have evolved But Islam has not)

NRO ^ | January 11, 2007 | Andrew C. McCarthy

[IrishMike]

Islam is quintessentially tolerant. Its adherents are hospitable to liberty, equality, and pluralism, the rudiments of modern democracy. Those committing terror in its name are heretics — a fringe which has “hijacked” a “religion of peace.” This conventional wisdom brims over the mainstream media’s daily servings. It is, moreover, the not-to-be-questioned premise of U.S. policy on a host of paramount issues: everything from how the war on terror is conceptualized and prosecuted, to the wisdom of negotiations with Iran, a sovereign state for Palestinians, agitation for freedom and popular self-determination throughout the Middle East, and the assumption that our own growing Muslim population will seamlessly assimilate.

But is it true?

Emphatically, the answer is “no.” So argues best-selling author and Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer in The Truth about Muhammad — Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion (Regnery, 256 pages, $27.95). And he does not expect you to take his word for it.

Painstakingly, Spencer has crafted a biography Islam’s Prophet from the authentic Muslim Sunnah, comprised of: the Koran, which is taken by believers to be the verbatim word of Allah, dictated to Muhammad in Arabic by the angel Gabriel; the tafsir, or Koranic commentary; the hadith, which are lengthy volumes recording the words and traditions of Muhammad (there are six different collections, dating from the eighth and ninth centuries); and, finally, the sira, authoritative biographies of the Prophet, including what remains to us of Ibn Ishaq’s hagiographic account, written about 150 years after Muhammad’s death in 632.

The picture that emerges is complex but not ambiguous. Muhammad was a dynamic figure — necessarily, among the most dynamic in history, having formed from scratch a movement that ultimately dominated lands from the Near East to Central Asia a movement that today claims over a billion adherents.

[IrishMike]

Good read, long but good.

[mosquewatch.com]

already posted a few minutes ago, but I could read this again and again lol

[IrishMike]

Thanks for the heads up,
I did search but got distracted while posting.
Work interfering with play ... AGAIN

[mosquewatch.com]

I called off of work today lol. It's still an awesome post !

[goodnesswins]

"The foundation of American policy, furthermore, is the conceit that moderates represent the Islamic mainstream, that they reflect the authentic image of a Muhammad — the “highest example of human behavior” — who championed the values of democracy and equality. “But,” as Spencer cautions, “if the jihad terrorists are correct in invoking his example to justify their deeds, then Islamic reformers will need to initiate a respectful but searching re-evaluation of the place Muhammad occupies within Islam — a vastly more difficult undertaking.”

[US admirer]

I was particularly impressed by this Koranic assertion:

'Though fifteen years his senior, Khadija proposed marriage, becoming the first of Muhammad’s many wives (biographers peg the number at between eleven and thirteen, with Muhammad having claimed to be “given the power of sexual intercourse equal to forty men”)'

[brooklyn dave]

I totally agree with Spencer and avidly read his website (if my lefty acquaintances only knew, I would get one hell of a finger wagging). The left always is ready to bring up periods of intolerance in the history of Christianity, but the fact is --Islam is theocratic in it's essence whereas Christianity is not. The only Muslims who are open to democracy (as we in the West define democracy) are thoroughly Westernized. In a sense their Islam has been watered down in order to accomodate a Western outlook. Christianity didn't have to fundamentally change it's theology to accomodate the Enlightenment--Islam will have to fundamentally change it's theology in order to accomodate democracy of whatever stripe.

[brooklyn dave]

So Muhammad was a real stud muffin?

[mosquewatch.com]

Mohammeds wives


Khadija
Sawda
Ayesha ( 6 year old )
Omm Salama
Hafsa
Zainab (of Jahsh)
Juwariya
Omm Habiba
Safia
Maymuna (of Hareth)
Fatima
Hend
Asma (of Saba)
Zainab (of Khozayma)
Habla
Asma (of Noman)
Maria
Rayhana
Omm Sharik
Maymuna (not of Hareth)
Zainab (third one)
Khawla
Duba

[BuffaloJack]

I've read several of Robert Spencer's books.
He has perhaps the best grasp of the problem that exists today.
Consider whatever Spencer says as gospel.

Good write too.

[msnimje]

As long as the bulk of the adherents of Islam allow, aid and abet the so-called "Heretics" they are all suspect.

[brooklyn dave]

That last one Duba----is that the one he smoked reefer with? "dube-a"

[mosquewatch.com]

Pass the dube - eh? lol

[William Terrell]

If Muslims had evolved, they would be Christians.

[IrishMike]

Muhammad having claimed to be “given the power of sexual intercourse equal to forty men”)'

.
.
.
.
Magic Johnson and Kareem Jabar were 'busier'.

[gdaddy]

Tax Islamofacism. It is at a minimum treason.

[indcons]

How is your grand kid doing?

[mosquewatch.com]

Still sleeping thanks for asking. I got a few replies from parents that had the same problem , they said like the doctors did that "it will go away". It just looks really nasty. Just watching him like a hawk. Thanks again for asking. Best of wishes to you and yours.

[attiladhun2]

The problem is not Islamic terrorists, who are seen as heroes in the Muslim world, it is the essentially intolerant nature of Islam itself, which is not so much a relgion, as a political despotism with religious trappings.