There are two scholars who seem to me to really have objective, scholarly knowledge about Islam and history. One is Dr. Daniel Pipes, who's often written columns in the Jerusalem Post. The other is Robert Spencer, historian, author and blogger at Jihad Watch.
I don't know about Dr. Pipes but Mr. Spencer has received enough hatred and very serious, credible death threats that he lives at an undisclosed location, has a bodyguard staff and public appearances are very carefully arranged. Such is a consequence of being a prominent serious scholarly critic of "the religion of peace".
Mr. Spencer has just written another book, "Did Muhammad Exist?", a really informative history of the origins of Islam. It's on my "to buy" list. A lot of this history may be already known to many Israelis but ignorance of Islam and its' danger is widespread in N. America and Europe. Many people are uneducated about it and misinformed by the leftard dhimmi MSM.
The book also explains how and why Islam isn't just a religion but a fascist theocratic system of fused religion and state. In that, says Mr. Spencer, the nature of Islam and the Koran itself basically prevent Islam from having a Reformation. There's also a 15 minute video of Mr. Spencer being interviewed about the book by Michael Coren of (Canadian) Sun TV. He outlines the book and answers Mr. Coren's questions about it. It's well worth watching.
Neither Pipes nor Spencer are scholars, and they have no influence where it counts. They preach to the choir, ie. to your bigoted crowd. They have an agenda to promote far right Zionism under guise of a Muslim threat.
There is a whole website dedicated to debunking Robert Spencer,
Robert Spencer’s 15 minutes of fame is centered around the grand deception that he is a world-renowned “Islamic scholar and expert.” But Robert Spencer’s biography and educational background quickly reveal that he is nothing close. Here’s a quick fact check (for a full synopsis read, Is Robert Spencer a Scholar? On Spencer’s Credentials):
How many Ph.D’s does Robert Spencer hold on the subject of Islam, Muslims, Islamic history, or Islamic Studies?
Zero.
How many Master Degrees does Robert Spencer hold on the subject of Islam, Muslims, Islamic history, or Islamic Studies?
Zero.
How many diplomas in Quranic studies, Hadith, Fiqh, or Shariah does Robert Spencer have from Western universities or reputable Islamic houses of learning such as Al Azhar or Qom?
Zero.
How many peer-reviewed academic papers has Robert Spencer published?
Zero.
How many “Real” scholars of Islam – people who actually hold themselves to scientific standards and objectivity in scholarship – agree with Robert Spencer?
Zero.
Robert Spencer is in fact an anti-Muslim polemicist and advocate. He cloaks himself in the presentation of a “scholar” in order to sell his otherwise laughable “scholarship” to the clueless and the gullible.
Going to a fake scholar like him (rather than to a credible scholar of merit) for information on Islam or Muslims is akin to going to a Witch Doctor (rather than to an actual physician) for healing. In other words, Robert Spencer is offering you the intellectual equivalent of frog-eyeball and goat-testicle potion? You call that science, and we have a “Brooklyn Bridge” we would love to sell you.
the nature of Islam and the Koran itself basically prevent Islam from having a Reformation.
Even a broken clock is right once a day. Spencer is spot on there, if he said that.
There will be no reformation of Islam ever.
Islam is the most popular religion in the USA by conversions. Ditto Europe. Ditto Russia.
The 2012 census survery underrepresented the true figures which are higher but it showed that Islam grew (almost two thirds are converts and rising) when every other faith except Mormons are declining,
Another thing, the western finance model is destroying the econonies, the US is the best example of the mess, but Islamic finance is thriving.
Oh and CaptH, Christianity is on the decline especially your 'evangelical' faith. No wonder, with followers like you, bigotry, low IQ, nothing to offer the world except Armeggedon dreams, I don't blame Evangelicals for seeing the light.
-----------------
May 2, 2012 12:07am BST
CHICAGO (Reuters) - American Muslims grew in number over the past decade, outnumbering Jews for the first time in most of the Midwest and part of the South, while most mainline churches lost adherents, according to a census of American religions released on Tuesday.
The number of Muslim adherents rose to 2.6 million in 2010 from 1 million in 2000, fueled by immigration and conversions, said Dale Jones, a researcher who worked on the study by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.
-----------------
U.S. Religion Census 2010: Summary Findings May 1, 2012
Daniel Pipes, and his wet dreams. Little does he or you, CaptH realise, that within ten years, a nuclear mushroom will end your zionist dreams and your dreams of 'reforming' Islam.
As if any Muslim would pay attention to Spencer. You neocons have been trying to destory Islam for the last 11 years, and all you have acheived is a third world status for the US, countless bloodshed, but no Armeggedon no Jesus return, wasn't that supposed to happen with the Iraq war?
Bin Laden won his war, he said the US would be destroyed exactly as he predicted. He'd bankrupt them.
The US is destroyed. But..Islam goes from strength to strength,
Dream on Pipes, Spencer CaptH,
Your Zionist dreams will go up in a nucealr mushroom.
The revisionist account is no idle academic exercise but, as when Judaism and Christianity encountered the Higher Criticism 150 years ago, a deep, unsettling challenge to faith. It will likely leave Islam a less literal and doctrinaire religion with particularly beneficial implications in the case of Islam, still mired in doctrines of supremacism and misogyny. Applause, then for plans to translate Did Muhammad Exist? into major Muslim languages and to make it available gratis on the Internet. May the revolution begin.
I don't know about Dr. Pipes but Mr. Spencer has received enough hatred and very serious,
Liar.
Pipes is Jewish, and so won't rewrite his own history that's why you prefer Spencer who rewrites both Jewish history and Muslim history.
Do you know Spencers background? He is Greek, with a grudge against Turkey for kicking his ancestors out. He promotes Zionism and Islamophobia in exchange for funds from David Horowitz, a jewish commie Zionist fascist.
He also refuses to debate people who challenge his lies, real scholars that is, he refused a debate with the Spencer Watch founders who document his lies.
One example is when he said Jews fared better under Christian rule than Muslim. Daniel Pipes writes the opposite on his blog.
Christian Zionists don't like Daniel Pipes, because he doesn't lie about his own history even if he does about Islam.
-------------------
Robert Spencer is on the Ropes; Spencer’s Bumbling Reply to LoonWatch
For those of you just joining us, let’s recap: Robert Spencer wrote a book entitled The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades. Chapter four of this book is entitled “Islam: Religion of Intolerance.” On p.47, he summarizes the chapter into three points:
*Islamic law mandates second-class status for Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims in Islamic society.
*These laws have never been abrogated or revised by any authority.
*The idea that Jews fared better in Islamic lands than in Christian Europe is false. [1]
--------------------- My article was rigidly fair, speaking of the discrimination prevalent in the Islamic world. The issue here, however, is you, who speaks so much on the topic, yet downplays and completely ignores the even greater abuses in Christian history.
The reason that you are forced to downplay and ignore the abuses in Christian history is obvious: it would completely neutralize your argument which could then no longer be used as a stick to beat the Muslims over the head with. I don’t have a problem with discussing history. I do, however, have a problem with weaponizing history, which is what you do; you downplay and ignore one side’s abuses, exaggerate the other sides, and then top it off with sensationalist fear mongering. In your own words on the cover of your book: “Muslim persecution of Christians has continued for 13 centuries.” I guess replacing that with the more balanced “Muslims and Christians persecuted each other” would not sell as many books, eh?
-------------
Spencer, this is now getting frustrating. Yes, the Church had a doctrine; they are the ones who founded it! The doctrine of Witness, and of Perpetual Servitude of the Jews, was enunciated by the Church, and the state later adopted it into their concept of Serfs of the Royal Chamber. This was adopted virtually “universally” in the realm of Christendom. Perhaps you ought to read my rebuttal again. Clearly, it was the Church who originated the concept of Perpetual Servitude, propagated it, and championed it. In fact, as I discussed in my rebuttal the Church competed with the state over which would own the Jews.
The anti-Jewish laws were based in Church doctrine. Again, read my rebuttal again before saying something so absolutely false. It leads me to believe that either (1) you don’t possess adequate reading comprehension abilities, or (2) you’ve been refuted so thoroughly that you can’t come up with any counter-point.
Think Progress, has more extensive details about the funders and frontment of behind Robert Spencer and the Islamophobia Industry.
but Mr. Spencer has received enough hatred and very serious, credible death threats that he lives at an undisclosed location,
I can get you Robert Spencers address within 3 days, along with his entire history, so stop lying, hypocrite. Nobody is 'anonymous'. nor can remain 'hidden'. I can out you publicy if I choose to.
Spencer is nothing more than a paid shill,
How much do you want to bet that if were were to triple what the Horowitiz Foundation paid him, he wouldn't switch sides?
He also pretends to be Hugh Fitzgerald, another name he writes under. Robert Spencer is supposed to be the 'academic' one, but he can be more his own self under 'Hugh Fitzgerald'
---------------
http://spencerwatch.com/about-david-horowitz-spencers-boss/ About David Horowitz (Spencer’s Boss) David Horowitz was born on January 10, 1939 in Forest, Hills, N.Y. and is an ex-Marxist convert to Neo-Conservatism, a history which is interesting in and of itself but a distraction from the main theme of this page, though for those interested please read, David Horowitz’s Long March by Scott Sherman of the Nation Magazine.
Horowitz is the growing anti-Muslim movement’s “premier promoter.” He not only funds JihadWatch, (paying Robert Spencer $132, 537 for blogging) but has also directed anti-Muslim campaigns such as “Islamofascism Awareness Week“, which brought leading Muslim-bashers to more than a hundred college campuses in October 2007.
He is a prolific builder of far right institutions and organizations. Sourcewatch lists his affiliations as, David Horowtiz Freedom Center (DHFC), Center for the Study of Popular Culture, FrontpageMag, Discover the Networks, Encounter Books, Individual Rights Foundation, Wednesday Morning Club, Matt Drudge Defense Fund, and Students for Academic Freedom.
Horowitz’s website, FrontPage Magazine, features the anti-Muslim movement’s leading writers and thinkers and links to other anti-Muslim sites, essentially casting Horowitz in the dubious role of “chief publicist of the Islamophobic movement.”
As pointed out by FAIR’s “Smearcasting” document, FrontPage Magazine “has been exposed for inaccuracy by, among other outlets, the New Yorker magazine–4/14/08.”
But David Horowitz is more than a promoter and publicist of Islamophobia, he is also a participant in the anti-Muslim movement. He has written and contributed to a whole host of publications and venues, including his own on the topic of Islam and Muslims
Horowitz has been most vocal on the Israel-Paelstine conflict which leads to him stepping on many Islamophobic land mines. Horowitz is on the record stating that “Palestinians are Nazis,” and blames them for any violence or conflagration in the region. He links the secular PLO to “Islamic radicalism.”
David Horowitz is an important pillar in the cottage industry of Islamophobia, making sure that the wheels of hate are well-oiled and moving. By creating and erecting the new enemy, Islam and Muslims, he ensures that his institutions will be continously funded and that neo-Conservatism will remain a powerful force in the American political landscape.
There are two scholars who seem to me to really have objective, scholarly knowledge about Islam and history. One is Dr. Daniel Pipes, who's often written columns in the Jerusalem Post. The other is Robert Spencer, historian, author and blogger at Jihad Watch.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about Dr. Pipes but Mr. Spencer has received enough hatred and very serious, credible death threats that he lives at an undisclosed location, has a bodyguard staff and public appearances are very carefully arranged. Such is a consequence of being a prominent serious scholarly critic of "the religion of peace".
Mr. Spencer has just written another book, "Did Muhammad Exist?", a really informative history of the origins of Islam. It's on my "to buy" list. A lot of this history may be already known to many Israelis but ignorance of Islam and its' danger is widespread in N. America and Europe. Many people are uneducated about it and misinformed by the leftard dhimmi MSM.
The book also explains how and why Islam isn't just a religion but a fascist theocratic system of fused religion and state. In that, says Mr. Spencer, the nature of Islam and the Koran itself basically prevent Islam from having a Reformation.
There's also a 15 minute video of Mr. Spencer being interviewed about the book by Michael Coren of (Canadian) Sun TV. He outlines the book and answers Mr. Coren's questions about it. It's well worth watching.
CaptH
ReplyDeleteNeither Pipes nor Spencer are scholars, and they have no influence where it counts. They preach to the choir, ie. to your bigoted crowd. They have an agenda to promote far right Zionism under guise of a Muslim threat.
There is a whole website dedicated to debunking Robert Spencer,
Robert Spencer’s “Scholarly” Credentials
http://spencerwatch.com/real-scholars-experts-on-islam/
Robert Spencer’s 15 minutes of fame is centered around the grand deception that he is a world-renowned “Islamic scholar and expert.” But Robert Spencer’s biography and educational background quickly reveal that he is nothing close. Here’s a quick fact check (for a full synopsis read, Is Robert Spencer a Scholar? On Spencer’s Credentials):
How many Ph.D’s does Robert Spencer hold on the subject of Islam, Muslims, Islamic history, or Islamic Studies?
Zero.
How many Master Degrees does Robert Spencer hold on the subject of Islam, Muslims, Islamic history, or Islamic Studies?
Zero.
How many diplomas in Quranic studies, Hadith, Fiqh, or Shariah does Robert Spencer have from Western universities or reputable Islamic houses of learning such as Al Azhar or Qom?
Zero.
How many peer-reviewed academic papers has Robert Spencer published?
Zero.
How many “Real” scholars of Islam – people who actually hold themselves to scientific standards and objectivity in scholarship – agree with Robert Spencer?
Zero.
Robert Spencer is in fact an anti-Muslim polemicist and advocate. He cloaks himself in the presentation of a “scholar” in order to sell his otherwise laughable “scholarship” to the clueless and the gullible.
Going to a fake scholar like him (rather than to a credible scholar of merit) for information on Islam or Muslims is akin to going to a Witch Doctor (rather than to an actual physician) for healing. In other words, Robert Spencer is offering you the intellectual equivalent of frog-eyeball and goat-testicle potion? You call that science, and we have a “Brooklyn Bridge” we would love to sell you.
CaptH
ReplyDeletethe nature of Islam and the Koran itself basically prevent Islam from having a Reformation.
Even a broken clock is right once a day. Spencer is spot on there, if he said that.
There will be no reformation of Islam ever.
Islam is the most popular religion in the USA by conversions. Ditto Europe. Ditto Russia.
The 2012 census survery underrepresented the true figures which are higher but it showed that Islam grew (almost two thirds are converts and rising) when every other faith except Mormons are declining,
Another thing, the western finance model is destroying the econonies, the US is the best example of the mess, but Islamic finance is thriving.
Oh and CaptH, Christianity is on the decline especially your 'evangelical' faith. No wonder, with followers like you, bigotry, low IQ, nothing to offer the world except Armeggedon dreams, I don't blame Evangelicals for seeing the light.
-----------------
May 2, 2012 12:07am BST
CHICAGO (Reuters) - American Muslims grew in number over the past decade, outnumbering Jews for the first time in most of the Midwest and part of the South, while most mainline churches lost adherents, according to a census of American religions released on Tuesday.
The number of Muslim adherents rose to 2.6 million in 2010 from 1 million in 2000, fueled by immigration and conversions, said Dale Jones, a researcher who worked on the study by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.
-----------------
U.S. Religion Census 2010:
Summary Findings
May 1, 2012
http://www.rcms2010.org/press_release/ACP%2020120501.pdf
-------------
Daniel Pipes, and his wet dreams. Little does he or you, CaptH realise, that within ten years, a nuclear mushroom will end your zionist dreams and your dreams of 'reforming' Islam.
ReplyDeleteAs if any Muslim would pay attention to Spencer. You neocons have been trying to destory Islam for the last 11 years, and all you have acheived is a third world status for the US, countless bloodshed, but no Armeggedon no Jesus return, wasn't that supposed to happen with the Iraq war?
Bin Laden won his war, he said the US would be destroyed exactly as he predicted. He'd bankrupt them.
The US is destroyed. But..Islam goes from strength to strength,
Dream on Pipes, Spencer CaptH,
Your Zionist dreams will go up in a nucealr mushroom.
----------------
http://www.danielpipes.org/11280/uncovering-early-islam
The revisionist account is no idle academic exercise but, as when Judaism and Christianity encountered the Higher Criticism 150 years ago, a deep, unsettling challenge to faith. It will likely leave Islam a less literal and doctrinaire religion with particularly beneficial implications in the case of Islam, still mired in doctrines of supremacism and misogyny. Applause, then for plans to translate Did Muhammad Exist? into major Muslim languages and to make it available gratis on the Internet. May the revolution begin.
CaptH
ReplyDeleteI don't know about Dr. Pipes but Mr. Spencer has received enough hatred and very serious,
Liar.
Pipes is Jewish, and so won't rewrite his own history that's why you prefer Spencer who rewrites both Jewish history and Muslim history.
Do you know Spencers background? He is Greek, with a grudge against Turkey for kicking his ancestors out. He promotes Zionism and Islamophobia in exchange for funds from David Horowitz, a jewish commie Zionist fascist.
He also refuses to debate people who challenge his lies, real scholars that is, he refused a debate with the Spencer Watch founders who document his lies.
One example is when he said Jews fared better under Christian rule than Muslim. Daniel Pipes writes the opposite on his blog.
Christian Zionists don't like Daniel Pipes, because he doesn't lie about his own history even if he does about Islam.
-------------------
Robert Spencer is on the Ropes; Spencer’s Bumbling Reply to LoonWatch
http://spencerwatch.com/2009/12/03/robert-spencer-is-on-the-ropes-spencer%E2%80%99s-bumbling-reply-to-loonwatch/
For those of you just joining us, let’s recap: Robert Spencer wrote a book entitled The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades. Chapter four of this book is entitled “Islam: Religion of Intolerance.” On p.47, he summarizes the chapter into three points:
*Islamic law mandates second-class status for Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims in Islamic society.
*These laws have never been abrogated or revised by any authority.
*The idea that Jews fared better in Islamic lands than in Christian Europe is false. [1]
---------------------
My article was rigidly fair, speaking of the discrimination prevalent in the Islamic world. The issue here, however, is you, who speaks so much on the topic, yet downplays and completely ignores the even greater abuses in Christian history.
The reason that you are forced to downplay and ignore the abuses in Christian history is obvious: it would completely neutralize your argument which could then no longer be used as a stick to beat the Muslims over the head with. I don’t have a problem with discussing history. I do, however, have a problem with weaponizing history, which is what you do; you downplay and ignore one side’s abuses, exaggerate the other sides, and then top it off with sensationalist fear mongering. In your own words on the cover of your book: “Muslim persecution of Christians has continued for 13 centuries.” I guess replacing that with the more balanced “Muslims and Christians persecuted each other” would not sell as many books, eh?
-------------
Spencer, this is now getting frustrating. Yes, the Church had a doctrine; they are the ones who founded it! The doctrine of Witness, and of Perpetual Servitude of the Jews, was enunciated by the Church, and the state later adopted it into their concept of Serfs of the Royal Chamber. This was adopted virtually “universally” in the realm of Christendom. Perhaps you ought to read my rebuttal again. Clearly, it was the Church who originated the concept of Perpetual Servitude, propagated it, and championed it. In fact, as I discussed in my rebuttal the Church competed with the state over which would own the Jews.
The anti-Jewish laws were based in Church doctrine. Again, read my rebuttal again before saying something so absolutely false. It leads me to believe that either (1) you don’t possess adequate reading comprehension abilities, or (2) you’ve been refuted so thoroughly that you can’t come up with any counter-point.
CaptH
ReplyDeleteThink Progress, has more extensive details about the funders and frontment of behind Robert Spencer and the Islamophobia Industry.
but Mr. Spencer has received enough hatred and very serious, credible death threats that he lives at an undisclosed location,
I can get you Robert Spencers address within 3 days, along with his entire history, so stop lying, hypocrite. Nobody is 'anonymous'. nor can remain 'hidden'. I can out you publicy if I choose to.
Spencer is nothing more than a paid shill,
How much do you want to bet that if were were to triple what the Horowitiz Foundation paid him, he wouldn't switch sides?
He also pretends to be Hugh Fitzgerald, another name he writes under. Robert Spencer is supposed to be the 'academic' one, but he can be more his own self under 'Hugh Fitzgerald'
---------------
http://spencerwatch.com/about-david-horowitz-spencers-boss/
About David Horowitz (Spencer’s Boss)
David Horowitz was born on January 10, 1939 in Forest, Hills, N.Y. and is an ex-Marxist convert to Neo-Conservatism, a history which is interesting in and of itself but a distraction from the main theme of this page, though for those interested please read, David Horowitz’s Long March by Scott Sherman of the Nation Magazine.
Horowitz is the growing anti-Muslim movement’s “premier promoter.” He not only funds JihadWatch, (paying Robert Spencer $132, 537 for blogging) but has also directed anti-Muslim campaigns such as “Islamofascism Awareness Week“, which brought leading Muslim-bashers to more than a hundred college campuses in October 2007.
He is a prolific builder of far right institutions and organizations. Sourcewatch lists his affiliations as, David Horowtiz Freedom Center (DHFC), Center for the Study of Popular Culture, FrontpageMag, Discover the Networks, Encounter Books, Individual Rights Foundation, Wednesday Morning Club, Matt Drudge Defense Fund, and Students for Academic Freedom.
Horowitz’s website, FrontPage Magazine, features the anti-Muslim movement’s leading writers and thinkers and links to other anti-Muslim sites, essentially casting Horowitz in the dubious role of “chief publicist of the Islamophobic movement.”
As pointed out by FAIR’s “Smearcasting” document, FrontPage Magazine “has been exposed for inaccuracy by, among other outlets, the New Yorker magazine–4/14/08.”
But David Horowitz is more than a promoter and publicist of Islamophobia, he is also a participant in the anti-Muslim movement. He has written and contributed to a whole host of publications and venues, including his own on the topic of Islam and Muslims
About David Horowitz (Spencer’s Boss)
ReplyDeletehttp://spencerwatch.com/about-david-horowitz-spencers-boss/
Horowitz has been most vocal on the Israel-Paelstine conflict which leads to him stepping on many Islamophobic land mines. Horowitz is on the record stating that “Palestinians are Nazis,” and blames them for any violence or conflagration in the region. He links the secular PLO to “Islamic radicalism.”
David Horowitz is an important pillar in the cottage industry of Islamophobia, making sure that the wheels of hate are well-oiled and moving. By creating and erecting the new enemy, Islam and Muslims, he ensures that his institutions will be continously funded and that neo-Conservatism will remain a powerful force in the American political landscape.