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{{redirects here|Opposition to Islam||Anti-Islam (disambiguation)}} | |||
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{{Islam |related |width=22.0em}} | {{Islam |related |width=22.0em}} | ||
{{Criticism of Islam}} | {{Criticism of Islam}} | ||
'''Criticism of ]''' can take many forms, including academic critiques, political criticism, religious criticism, and personal opinions. Subjects of criticism include Islamic beliefs, practices, and doctrines. | |||
Criticism of Islam has been present since its formative stages, and early expressions of disapproval were made by ], ], and some ] like ].<ref name="John of Damascus2">De Haeresibus by ]. See ]. '']'', vol. 94, 1864, cols 763–73. An English translation by the Reverend John W Voorhis appeared in ''The Moslem World'' for October 1954, pp. 392–98.</ref> Subsequently, the ] itself faced criticism after the ].<ref name="WarraqPoetry">{{cite book|last=Warraq|first=Ibn |title=Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out |url=https://archive.org/details/leavingislamapos00warr|url-access=limited|publisher=Prometheus Books |year=2003 |isbn=1-59102-068-9 |page=}}</ref><ref name="Ibn Kammuna">Ibn Kammuna, ''Examination of the Three Faiths'', trans. ] (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1971), pp. 148–49</ref><ref name="Oussani">, by Gabriel Oussani, ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 16 April 2006.</ref><ref name="fried1">{{cite book|first1=Yohanan|last1=Friedmann|year=2003|title=Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition|url=https://archive.org/details/tolerancecoercio00frie|url-access=limited|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=, 35|isbn=978-0-521-02699-4}}</ref> | |||
Criticism of Islam has been aimed at the life of ], the prophet of Islam, in both his public and personal lives.<ref name="Oussani" /><ref name="WarraqQuest">Ibn Warraq, The Quest for Historical Muhammad (Amherst, Mass.:Prometheus, 2000), 103.</ref> Issues relating to the authenticity and morality of the ], both the ] and the ]s, are also discussed by critics.<ref name="BibleInQuran">, by Kaufmann Kohler Duncan B. McDonald, ''Jewish Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 22 April 2006.</ref> Criticisms of Islam have also been directed at historical practices, like the recognition of ]<ref name="eois">Brunschvig. 'Abd; '']''</ref><ref name=OEIW>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Dror Ze'evi|title=Slavery|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|editor=John L. Esposito|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|url=http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/214|access-date=23 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223125519/http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/214|archive-date=23 February 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>, in ].</ref><ref>, in ]</ref> as well as ] impacting indigenous cultures.<ref name="Islamic-Imperialism">{{cite book|url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300198171/islamic-imperialism|title=Islamic Imperialism: A History|last=Karsh|first=Ephraim|year=2007|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=9780300198171}}</ref> More recently, ] regarding ], ], ], and God's ] have received criticism for their apparent ] and scientific inconsistencies.<ref> | |||
Objects of criticism include the morality and authenticity of the ] and the ]s,<ref name="BibleInQuran">, by Kaufmann Kohler Duncan B. McDonald, ''Jewish Encyclopedia''. Retrieved April 22, 2006.</ref> along with the life of ], both in his public and personal life.<ref name="Oussani">, by Gabriel Oussani, ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. Retrieved April 16, 2006.</ref><ref name="WarraqQuest">Ibn Warraq, The Quest for Historical Muhammad (Amherst, Mass.:Prometheus, 2000), 103.</ref> Other criticism concerns many aspects of human rights in the Islamic world (in both historical and present-day societies), including the ], ], and religious and ethnic minorities in ] and practice.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2005&country=6825|title=Saudi Arabia|publisher=}}</ref><ref name="IslamInEurope">{{cite news| publisher=] | date=2006-10-05 | title=Islam in Europe | author=Timothy Garton Ash | url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19371}}</ref> In the recent adoption of ], some have questioned Islam's influence on the ability or willingness of Muslim citizens and immigrants to assimilate into ].<ref name="Modood">{{cite book| title=Multiculturalism, Muslims and Citizenship: A European Approach | author=Tariq Modood | publisher=Routledge | edition=1st | date=2006-04-06 | isbn=978-0415355155 | page=29}}</ref> The issues when debating and questioning Islam are incredibly complex with each side having a different view on the morality, meaning, interpretation, and authenticity of each topic. | |||
{{cite book | |||
| last1 = Fitzgerald | |||
| first1 = Timothy | |||
| year = 2000 | |||
| title = The Ideology of Religious Studies | |||
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=R7A1f6Evy84C | |||
| location = New York | |||
| publisher = Oxford University Press | |||
| publication-date = 2003 | |||
| page = 235 | |||
| isbn = 9780195347159 | |||
| access-date = 30 Apr 2019 | |||
| quote = this book consists mainly of a critique of the concept of religion . | |||
}} | |||
</ref><ref name="Ruthven">{{cite web|title=Voltaire's Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet:A New Translation; Preface: Voltaire and Islam|first=Malise|last=Ruthven|url=http://litwinbooks.com/mahomet-preface.php|accessdate=12 August 2015}}</ref> | |||
Other criticisms center on the treatment of individuals within modern ], including issues which are related to ], particularly in relation to the application of ].<ref name="fried1"/> As of 2014, 26% of the world's countries had ], and 13% of them also had ]. By 2017, 13 Muslim countries imposed the death penalty for ] or ].<ref>, ], 29 July 2016.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.indy100.com/article/the-countries-where-apostasy-is-punishable-by-death--Z110j2Uwxb|title=The countries where apostasy is punishable by death|first1=Louis|last1=Doré|date=May 2017|access-date=15 March 2018|newspaper=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2005&country=6825|title=Saudi Arabia|access-date=7 October 2006|archive-date=9 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111109034847/http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2005&country=6825|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="IslamInEurope">{{cite magazine| magazine=] | date=5 October 2006 | title=Islam in Europe | author=Timothy Garton Ash | url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19371}}</ref> Amid the contemporary embrace of ], there has been criticism regarding how Islam may affect the willingness or ability of Muslim immigrants to ] in host nations.<ref name="Modood">{{cite book| title=Multiculturalism, Muslims and Citizenship: A European Approach | url=https://archive.org/details/multiculturalism00modo | url-access=limited | author=Tariq Modood | publisher=Routledge | edition=1st | date=6 April 2006 | isbn=978-0-415-35515-5 | page=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Russia and Islam: State, Society and Radicalism|page=94|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2010}} by Roland Dannreuther, Luke March</ref> | |||
== History == | |||
== Historical background == | |||
] a Syrian ] and ], 19th-century Arabic ]]] | |||
The earliest surviving written criticisms of Islam are to be found in the writings of ]s who came under the early dominion of the Islamic ]. One such Christian was ] (c. 676–749 ]), who was familiar with Islam and ]. The second chapter of his book, ''The Fount of Wisdom'', titled "Concerning Heresies", presents a series of discussions between Christians and Muslims. John claimed an ] ] (whom he did not know was ]) influenced Muhammad and viewed the Islamic doctrines as nothing more than a hodgepodge culled from the Bible.<ref> St. John of Damascus</ref> | |||
The earliest surviving written criticisms of Islam are found in the writings of ] such as ]. He viewed Islamic doctrines as a mix of ideas taken from the Bible and claimed that Muhammad was influenced by an Arian monk.<ref name="Writings by St John of Damascus">{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/stjohn_islam.aspx|chapter= St. John of Damascus's Critique of Islam|title=Writings by St John of Damascus|series=The Fathers of the Church|volume=37|location=Washington, DC|publisher=Catholic University of America Press|year=1958|pages= 153–160|access-date=8 July 2019}}</ref> | |||
Other notable early critics of Islam included: ] and I], two 9th-century critics of Islam and religion in general,<ref name="Doubt">{{cite book|title=Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson|last=Hecht|first=Jennifer Michael|publisher=Harper San Francisco|year=2003|isbn=0060097957|authorlink=Jennifer Michael Hecht}}</ref> along with ], an 11th-century Arab poet and critic of Islam and all other religions who was also known for his ] and ].<ref name="Nicholson319">Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, 1962, ''A Literary History of the Arabs'', p. 319. Routledge</ref> | |||
Other notable early critics included arabs like ] and ].<ref name="Doubt">{{cite book |last=Hecht |first=Jennifer Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/doubthistory00jenn |title=Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson |publisher=Harper San Francisco |year=2003 |isbn=0-06-009795-7 |page=224 |author-link=Jennifer Michael Hecht}}</ref>{{rp|224}} ], an eleventh-century ] and critic of all religions. His poetry was known for its "pervasive pessimism."<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title = Abu-L-Ala al-Maarri Facts|url = http://biography.yourdictionary.com/abu-l-ala-al-maarri|website = biography.yourdictionary.com|access-date = 13 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2021/entries/abu-bakr-al-razi/|title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|first=Peter|last=Adamson|chapter=Abu Bakr al-Razi |editor-first=Edward N.|editor-last=Zalta|date=1 November 2021|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|via=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/150301-aristotle-archimedes-einstein-darwin-ptolemy-razi-ngbooktalk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303021204/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/150301-aristotle-archimedes-einstein-darwin-ptolemy-razi-ngbooktalk|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 March 2021|title=Is Islam Hostile to Science?|date=28 February 2015|website=Adventure}}</ref> He believed that Islam does not have a monopoly on truth.<ref name="WarraqPoetry"/><ref>{{Cite book| last=Moosa| first= Ebrahim | title=Ghazālī and the Poetics of Imagination | publisher=UNC Press | year= 2005 | isbn=0-8078-2952-8| page=9}}</ref><ref name="Doubt">{{cite book |last=Hecht |first=Jennifer Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/doubthistory00jenn |title=Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson |publisher=Harper San Francisco |year=2003 |isbn=0-06-009795-7 |page=224 |author-link=Jennifer Michael Hecht}}</ref>{{rp|224}} ] writings, attributed to the philosopher ] ({{Died in|{{circa|756}}}}), include defenses of Manichaeism against Islam and critiques of the Islamic concept of God, characterizing the Quranic deity in highly critical terms.<ref>Tilman Nagel ''Geschichte der islamischen Theologie: von Mohammed bis zur Gegenwart'' C.H. Beck 1994 {{ISBN|9783406379819}} p. 215</ref><ref>], ], ], ] ''Accusations of Unbelief in Islam: A Diachronic Perspective on ''Takfīr'' '' Brill, 30 October 2015 {{ISBN|9789004307834}} p. 61</ref> The Jewish philosopher ], criticized Islam,<ref name="Ibn Warraq p. 3">Ibn Warraq. ''Why I Am Not a Muslim'', p. 3. Prometheus Books, 1995. {{ISBN|0-87975-984-4}}</ref><ref>Norman A. Stillman. ''The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book'' p. 261. Jewish Publication Society, 1979{{ISBN|0-8276-0198-0}}</ref> reasoning that Sharia was incompatible with the principles of justice.<ref name="Ibn Warraq p. 3"/><ref>Norman A. Stillman. ''The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book'' p. 261. Jewish Publication Society, 1979 {{ISBN|0-8276-0198-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.3390/rel10010063|doi-access=free|title=Muhammad, the Jews, and the Composition of the Qur'an: Sacred History and Counter-History|year=2019|last1=Firestone|first1=Reuven|journal=Religions|volume=10|page=63}}</ref> | |||
During the ], Christian church officials commonly represented Islam as a Christian ] or a form of idolatry.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Erwin Fahlbusch|title=The Encyclopedia of Christianity, Volume 2|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|year=1999|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=yaecVMhMWaEC|page=759}}|page=759| isbn=9789004116955}}</ref><ref name=":1">Christian Lange ''Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions'' Cambridge University Press, 2015 {{ISBN|9780521506373}} pp. 18–20</ref> They viewed Islam to be a material, rather than spiritual, religion and often explained it in apocalyptic terms.<ref name=":1">Christian Lange ''Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions'' Cambridge University Press, 2015 {{ISBN|9780521506373}} pp. 18–20</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Erwin Fahlbusch|title=The Encyclopedia of Christianity, Volume 2|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|year=1999|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=yaecVMhMWaEC|page=759}}|page=759| isbn=9789004116955}}</ref> In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, European academics often portrayed Islam as an exotic Eastern religion distinct from Western religions like Judaism and Christianity, sometimes classifying it as a "Semitic" religion.<ref name="Campo xxi – xxxii">{{cite book|last=Campo|first=Juan Eduardo|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|pages= xxi – xxxii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC|isbn=9781438126968}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Erwin Fahlbusch|title=The Encyclopedia of Christianity, Volume 2|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|year=1999|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=yaecVMhMWaEC|page=759}}|page=759| isbn=9789004116955}}</ref> The term "Mohammedanism" was used by many to criticize Islam by focusing on Muhammad's actions, reducing Islam to merely a derivative of Christianity rather than acknowledging it as a successor of Abrahamic monotheisms.<ref name="Campo xxi – xxxii">{{cite book|last=Campo|first=Juan Eduardo|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|pages= xxi – xxxii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC|isbn=9781438126968}}</ref><ref name="Campo 477">{{cite book|last=Campo|first=Juan Eduardo|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|page= 477|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC|isbn=9781438126968}}</ref> By contrast, many academics nowadays study Islam as an Abrahamic religion in relation to Judaism and Christianity.<ref name="Campo xxi – xxxii"/> The Christian apologist ] criticized Islam as a heresy or parody of Christianity,<ref name="Chesterton 1925">], '']'', 1925, Chapter V, ''The Escape from Paganism'', </ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Villis |first1=Tom |title=G. K. Chesterton and Islam |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336105840 |website=Research Gate |publisher=Modern Intellectual History |access-date=January 16, 2014 |year=2019}}</ref> ] ({{Died in|1776}}), both a ] and a ],<ref>{{Cite book| edition = Summer 2017| publisher = Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|editor= Edward N. Zalta | last1 = Russell| first1 = Paul| last2 = Kraal| first2 = Anders| title = The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy| chapter = Hume on Religion| access-date = 3 December 2018| date = 2017| chapter-url = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/hume-religion/}}</ref> considered ] religions to be more "comfortable to sound reason" than ] but also found Islam to be more "ruthless" than Christianity.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-1-134-60914-7| last1 = MacEoin| first1 = Denis| last2 = Al-Shahi| first2 = Ahmed| title = Islam in the Modern World (RLE Politics of Islam)| date = 24 July 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZQqAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA22}}</ref> | |||
=== Medieval Islamic world === | |||
In the early centuries of the Islamic ], including the period ruled by the four ] (often called the ''rightly guided caliphs)'', ] permitted citizens to freely express their views, including criticism of Islam and religious authorities, without fear of persecution.<ref name=Boisard>{{Cite journal|title=On the Probable Influence of Islam on Western Public and International Law|first=Marcel A.|last=Boisard|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|volume=11|issue=4|date=July 1980|pages=429–50|postscript=<!--None-->|doi=10.1017/s0020743800054805}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.al-islam.org/nahjul/letters/letter53.htm|title=Nahjul Balagha Part 1, The Sermons|work=Al-Islam.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Justice and Democracy|last=Ronald Bontekoe|first=Mariėtta Tigranovna Stepaniants|publisher=]|year=1997|isbn=0824819268|page=251|postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref> As such, there have been several notable critics and skeptics of Islam that arose from within the Islamic world itself. In tenth and eleventh-century Syria there lived a blind poet called ]. He became well known for a poetry that was affected by a "pervasive pessimism." He labeled religions in general as "noxious weeds" and said that Islam does not have a monopoly on truth. He had particular contempt for the '']'', writing that: | |||
The ] bishop ] accepted Muhammed as a prophet, but did not consider his mission to be universal and regarded Christian law superior to Islamic law.<ref>Hugh Goddard ''A History of Christian-Muslim Relations'' New Amsterdam Books, 5 September 2000 {{ISBN|9781461636212}} p. 65.</ref> ], a twelfth-century ], did not question the strict monotheism of Islam, and considered Islam to be a instrument of divine providence for bringing all of humankind to the worship of the one true God, but was critical of the practical ] of Muslim regimes and considered ] and politics to be inferior to their Jewish counterparts.<ref name="Maimonides">, by David Novak. Retrieved 29 April 2006.</ref> | |||
{{quotation|They recite their sacred books, although the fact informs me that these are fiction from first to last. O Reason, thou (alone) speakest the truth. Then perish the fools who forged the religious traditions or interpreted them!<ref name="WarraqPoetry">{{cite book|last=Warraq|first=Ibn |title=Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=2003 |isbn=1591020689 |page=67}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last=Moosa| first= Ebrahim | title=Ghazālī and the Poetics of Imagination | publisher=UNC Press | year= 2005 | isbn=0807829528| page=9}}</ref>}} | |||
In his essay ''Islam Through Western Eyes'', the cultural critic ] suggests that the Western view of Islam is particularly hostile for a range of religious, psychological and political reasons, all deriving from a sense "that so far as the West is concerned, Islam represents not only a formidable competitor but also a late-coming challenge to Christianity." In his view, the general basis of ] thought forms a study structure in which Islam is placed in an inferior position as an object of study, thus forming a considerable bias in Orientalist writings as a consequence of the scholars' cultural make-up.<ref>{{cite web |author=Edward W. Said |date=2 January 1998 |title=Islam Through Western Eyes |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/islam-through-western-eyes?page=full |work=The Nation}}</ref> | |||
In 1280, the ], ], criticized Islam in his book ''Examination of the Three Faiths''. He reasoned that the ] was incompatible with the principles of justice, and that this undercut the notion of Muhammad being the perfect man: "there is no proof that Muhammad attained perfection and the ability to perfect others as claimed."<ref>Ibn Warraq. ''Why I Am Not a Muslim'', p. 3. Prometheus Books, 1995. {{ISBN|0879759844}}</ref><ref>Norman A. Stillman. ''The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book'' p. 261. Jewish Publication Society, 1979 {{ISBN|0827601980}}</ref> The philosopher thus claimed that people converted to Islam from ulterior motives: | |||
==Points of criticism== | |||
{{quotation|That is why, to this day we never see anyone converting to Islam unless in terror, or in quest of power, or to avoid heavy taxation, or to escape humiliation, or if taken prisoner, or because of infatuation with a Muslim woman, or for some similar reason. Nor do we see a respected, wealthy, and pious non-Muslim well versed in both his faith and that of Islam, going over to the Islamic faith without some of the aforementioned or similar motives.<ref name="Ibn Kammuna">Ibn Kammuna, ''Examination of the Three Faiths'', trans. ] (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1971), pp. 148–49</ref>}} | |||
===The expansion of Islam=== | |||
In an alleged dialogue between the Byzantine emperor ] ({{Reign|1391|1425}}) and a Persian scholar, the emperor criticized Islam as a faith spread by the sword.<ref>Dialogue 7 of Twenty-six Dialogues with a Persian (1399), for the Greek text see Trapp, E., ed. 1966. Manuel II. Palaiologos: Dialoge mit einem "Perser." Wiener Byzantinische Studien 2. Vienna, for a Greek text with accompanying French translation see Th. Khoury "Manuel II Paléologue, Entretiens avec un Musulman. 7e Controverse", Sources Chrétiennes n. 115, Paris 1966, for an English translation see Manuel Paleologus, Dialogues with a Learned Moslem. Dialogue 7 (2009), chapters 1–18 (of 37), translated by Roger Pearse available at the ] , at , and also {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211201618/http://www.scribd.com/doc/40389472/Manuel-Paleologus-Dialogue-with-a-Learned-Muslim-Scholar-Dialogue-7-15th-century |date=11 December 2013 }}. A somewhat more complete translation into French is found {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210137/http://www.cypress.fr/UserFiles/File/manuel-paleologue.html |date=2016-03-03 }}</ref><!-- It might be good to mention the primary source which cites this dialogue. --> This matches the common view in Europe during the ] about Islam, then synonymous with the ], as a bloody, ruthless, and intolerant religion.<ref name="Hume 2007">{{Cite book| publisher = Clarendon Press| isbn = 978-0-19-925188-9| last = Hume| first = David| title = A Dissertation on the Passions: The Natural History of Religion : a Critical Edition| date = 2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K-VbQ2TPA70C&pg=PA139}}</ref> More recently, in 2006, a similar statement of Manuel II,{{efn|"Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached," he said.}} quoted publicly by ], prompted a negative response from Muslim figures who viewed the remarks as an insulting mischaracterization of Islam.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{Cite news |date=16 September 2006 |title=In quotes: Muslim reaction to Pope |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5348436.stm |via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref><ref name="BBC1">{{Cite news |date=17 September 2006 |title=Pope sorry for offending Muslims |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5353208.stm |via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> In this vein, the ]n social reformer ] ({{Died in|1897}}) thought that Islam was grown through violence and desire for wealth,<ref>"Américo Castro and the Meaning of Spanish Civilization", by José Rubia Barcia, Selma Margaretten, p. 150.</ref> while the ]n author ] considers Islam as a "superstition" that it is mainly spread with violence and force.<ref>"Debating the African Condition: Race, gender, and culture conflict", by Alamin M. Mazrui, Willy Mutunga, p. 105</ref> | |||
This "conquest by the sword" thesis is opposed by some historians who consider the transregional development of Islam a multi-faceted and complex phenomenon.<ref name="Campo xxi – xxxii"/> The first wave of expansion, the migration of the early Muslims to ] to escape persecution in ] and the subsequent conversion of Medina, was indeed peaceful. In the years to come, Muslims defended themselves against frequent Meccan incursions until Mecca's peaceful surrender in 630. By the time of his death in 632, many of the Arabian tribes had formed political alliances with Muhammad and adopted Islam peacefully, which also paved the way for the subsequent conquests of ], ], ] and (the rest of ]) after the death of Muhammad.<ref name="Campo xxi – xxxii"/> Islam nevertheless often remained a minority religion in conquered territories for several centuries after the initial waves of conquest, indicating that the conquest of territories beyond the Arabian Peninsula did not instantly result in large conversions to Islam.{{efn|Scholarly research suggests that there was an inverse relationship between where Muslim political power centres were and where the most conversions occurred, which was on the political periphery.<ref name="Campo xxi – xxxii"/> According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, conquest was just one of several elements that helped Islam spread throughout the world. The systematisation of Islamic tradition, trade, interfaith marriage, political patronage, urbanisation, and the pursuit of knowledge must also be acknowledged. Along trade routes and even in the most isolated regions, Sufis contributed to the spread of Islam. The yearly hajj to Mecca, which brought together scholars, mystics, businesspeople, and regular believers from various nations, should be particularly noted as a contributing factor. Despite taking on more contemporary forms, these factors are still in force today. The expansion of Islam into western Europe, the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand has been facilitated by them.<ref name="Campo xxi – xxxii"/>}}<ref name="Campo xxi – xxxii"/> | |||
According to ], just as it is natural for a Muslim to assume that the converts to his religion are attracted by its truth, it is equally natural for the convert's former coreligionists to look for baser motives and ]'s list seems to cover most of such nonreligious motives.<ref>], ''The Jews of Islam'', p. 95</ref> | |||
=== Scripture === | |||
], one of the foremost 12th-century ]nical ] and philosophers, sees the relation of Islam to Judaism as primarily theoretical. Maimonides has no quarrel with the strict monotheism of Islam, but finds fault with the practical politics of Muslim governments. He also considered ] and politics to be inferior to their Jewish counterparts. Maimonides criticised what he perceived as the lack of virtue in the way Muslims rule their societies and relate to one another.<ref name="Maimonides">, by David Novak. Retrieved April 29, 2006.</ref> In his Epistle to Yemenite Jewry, he refers to Mohammad, as "''hameshuga''" – "that madman".<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Jewish Publication Society | isbn = 978-0827604308 | last1 = Hartman | first1 = David | last2 = Halkin | first2 = Abraham S. | title = Epistles of Maimonides: crisis and leadership | year = 1993 | page = 5}}</ref> | |||
]n Quran]] | |||
{{Main|Criticism of the Quran}} | |||
=== Enlightenment Europe === | |||
{{See also|History of the Quran|The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran|Historicity of Muhammad}} | |||
]]] | |||
In the lifetime of Muhammad, the Quran was primarily preserved orally and the written compilation of the whole Quran in its current form took place some 150 to 300 years later, according to some sources.<ref>] "Towards a Prehistory of Islam," Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, vol.17, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1994 p. 108.</ref><ref>] The Sectarian Milieu: Content and Composition of Islamic Salvation History, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1978 p. 119</ref><ref>], ''Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam,'' Princeton University Press, 1987 p. 204.</ref> Alternatively, others believe that the Quran was compiled shortly after the death of Muhammad in 632 and canonized by end of the caliphate of ] ({{Reign|644|656}}).{{Sfn|Modarressi|1993|pp=16{{ndash}}18}}{{Sfn|Amir-Moezzi|2009|p=14}}{{Sfn|Pakatchi|2015}} The idea that Quran is perfect and impossible to imitate as asserted in the Quran itself is disputed by critics.<ref>See the verses {{Cite quran|2|2|style=ns}}, {{Cite quran|17|88|end=89|style=ns}}, {{Cite quran|29|47|style=ns}}, {{Cite quran|28|49|style=ns}}</ref> One such criticism is that sentences about God in the Quran are sometimes followed immediately by those in which God is the speaker.<ref name="JE">. From the ''Jewish Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 21 January 2008.</ref> The modern historian ] believes that the Quran is in part a ] of other sacred scriptures, in particular the ] scriptures.<ref>Wansbrough, John (1977). ''Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation''</ref><ref name="Wansbrough">Wansbrough, John (1978). ''The Sectarian Milieu: Content and Composition of Islamic Salvation History''.</ref> The Christian theologian ] ({{Died in|1893}}) praises the Quran for its poetic beauty, religious fervor, and wise counsel, but considers this mixed with "absurdities, bombast, unmeaning images, and low sensuality."<ref name="Schaff 1910 4.III.44">Schaff, P., & Schaff, D. S. (1910). History of the Christian church. Third edition. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Volume 4, Chapter III, section 44 "The Koran, And The Bible"</ref> The Iranian journalist ] ({{Died in|1982}}) criticized the Quran, saying that "the speaker cannot have been God" in certain passages.<ref name="Warraq - Why I am Not">{{cite book|last1=Warraq|title=Why I am Not a Muslim|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn=0-87975-984-4|page=106|url=http://download.iranville.com/books/%DA%A9%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8%E2%80%8C%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C%20%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%AF%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%B3%DB%8C/Ibn%20Warraq%20-%20Why%20I%20Am%20Not%20a%20Muslim.pdf|year=1995|access-date=16 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117072713/http://download.iranville.com/books/%DA%A9%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8%E2%80%8C%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C%20%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%AF%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%B3%DB%8C/Ibn%20Warraq%20-%20Why%20I%20Am%20Not%20a%20Muslim.pdf|archive-date=17 January 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Similarly, the secular author ] gives Surah ] as an example of a passage which is "clearly addressed to God, in the form of a prayer."<ref name="Warraq - Why I am Not" /> The orientalist ] believes that the Quran contains many verses which are incomprehensible, a view rejected by Muslims and many other orientalists.<ref name="Lester">{{cite magazine |last=Lester |first=Toby |author-link=Toby Lester |date=January 1999 |title=What is the Koran? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199901/koran |magazine=]}}</ref> '']'', a medieval polemical work, describes the narratives in the Quran as "all jumbled together and intermingled," and regards this as "evidence that many different hands have been at work therein."<ref>Quoted in A. Rippin, ''Muslims: their religious beliefs and practices: Volume 1'', London, 1991, p. 26.</ref> | |||
In '']'', an essay by ], the Quran is described as an "absurd performance" of a "pretended prophet" who lacked "a just sentiment of morals." Attending to the narration, Hume says, "we shall soon find, that bestows praise on such instances of treachery, inhumanity, cruelty, revenge, bigotry, as are utterly incompatible with civilized society. No steady rule of right seems there to be attended to; and every action is blamed or praised, so far as it is beneficial or hurtful to the true believers."<ref name="HumeStdofTste">{{cite web|url=http://www.csulb.edu/~jvancamp/361r15.html |title=Of the Standard of Taste by David Hume}}</ref> | |||
====Pre-existing sources==== | |||
=== Nineteenth and twentieth century === | |||
] | |||
During the 19th and 20th centuries, numerous personalities criticized Muslims and Islam. | |||
Critics point to various pre-existing sources to argue against the ]. Some scholars have calculated that one third of the Quran has pre-Islamic Christian origins.<ref>G. Luling asserts that a third of the Quran is of pre-Islamic Christian origins, see ''Über den Urkoran'', Erlangen, 1993, 1st ed., 1973, p. 1.</ref> Aside from the Bible, the Quran relies on several ]l and sources, like the ],<ref name="Leirvik 2010, pp. 33–34">Leirvik 2010, pp. 33–34.</ref> ],<ref name="Leirvik 2010, pp. 33–34"/> and several ]s.<ref>Leirvik 2010, p. 33.</ref> Several narratives rely on Jewish ] sources, like the narrative of Cain learning to bury the body of Abel in ].<ref>Samuel A. Berman, Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu (KTAV Publishing House, 1996), 31–32.</ref><ref>Gerald Friedlander, Pirḳe de-R. Eliezer, (The Bloch Publishing Company, 1916) 156</ref> ] argues that the dependence of the Quran on preexisting sources is one evidence of a purely human origin.<ref>Geisler, N. L. (1999). "Qur'an, Alleged Divine Origin of". In: ''Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics''. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.</ref> ] regards this reliance on pre-Islamic Christian sources as evidence that Islam derived from a ] sect of Christianity.<ref>, in ''richardcarrier.info''</ref> | |||
==== Criticism of the Hadith ==== | |||
] in 1900, at ]]] | |||
{{Main|Criticism of Hadith}}{{See also|Historiography of early Islam}} | |||
The ] philosopher ] commented on Islam: | |||
It has been suggested that there exists around the ] (Muslim traditions relating to the '']'' (words and deeds) of Muhammad) three major sources of corruption: political conflicts, sectarian prejudice, and the desire to translate the underlying meaning, rather than the original words verbatim.<ref name="fedex">Brown, Daniel W. "Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought", 1999. pp. 113, 134.</ref> | |||
{{quotation|Now, some Mohammedans are the crudest in this respect, and the most sectarian. Their watch-word is: "There is one God, and Mohammed is His Prophet." Everything beyond that not only is bad, but must be destroyed forthwith, at a moment's notice, every man or woman who does not exactly believe in that must be killed; everything that does not belong to this worship must be immediately broken; every book that teaches anything else must be burnt. From the Pacific to the Atlantic, for five hundred years blood ran all over the world. That is Mohammedanism. Nevertheless, among these Mohammedans, wherever there has a philosophic man, he was sure to protest against these cruelties. In that he showed the touch of the Divine and realised a fragment of the truth; he was not playing with his religion; for it was not his father's religion he was talking, but spoke the truth direct like a man.<ref>Complete works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol 4 http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_4/lectures_and_discourses/the_great_teachers_of_the_world.htm</ref>|sign=|source=}} | |||
Muslim critics of the hadith, known as ], reject its authority on theological grounds, arguing that the Quran itself is sufficient for guidance, as it claims that nothing essential has been omitted.<ref>Quran, ]: 38</ref> They believe that reliance on the Hadith has caused people to deviate from the original intent of God's revelation to Muhammad, which they see as adherence to the Quran alone.<ref>Donmez, Amber C. "The Difference Between Quran-Based Islam and Hadith-Based Islam"</ref><ref>Quran, ]: 38</ref> ] was one of these critics and was denounced as a non-believer by thousands of orthodox clerics.<ref>Ahmad, Aziz. "Islamic Modernism in India and Pakistan, 1857–1964". London: Oxford University Press.</ref> In his work ''Maqam-e Hadith'' he considered any hadith that goes against the teachings of Quran to have been falsely attributed to the Prophet.<ref>Pervez, Ghulam Ahmed. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113215748/http://www.tolueislam.com/Parwez/mh/mh.htm |date=13 November 2011 }}, {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004044003/http://www.tolueislam.com/Urdu/mhadith/mh.htm |date=4 October 2011 }}</ref> Kassim Ahmad argued that some hadith promote ideas that conflict with science and create sectarian issues.<ref name="call">Latif, Abu Ruqayyah Farasat. , Masters Assertion, September 2006</ref><ref name="kiss">Ahmad, Kassim. "Hadith: A Re-evaluation", 1986. English translation 1997</ref> | |||
{{quotation|The more selfish a man, the more immoral he is. And so also with the race. That race which is bound down to itself has been the most cruel and the most wicked in the whole world. There has not been a religion that has clung to this dualism more than that founded by the Prophet of Arabia, and there has not been a religion, which has shed so much blood and been so cruel to other men. In the Koran there is the doctrine that a man who does not believe these teachings should be killed, it is a mercy to kill him! And the surest way to get to heaven, where there are beautiful houris and all sorts of sense enjoyments, is by killing these unbelievers. Think of the bloodshed there has been in consequence of such beliefs!<ref>''The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda'', Volume II, p. 352.</ref>}} | |||
] argues that modern Western scholarship has raised doubts about the historicity and authenticity of hadith,{{sfn|Esposito|1998|p=67}} while ] argued that there is no evidence of legal traditions prior to 722. Schacht concluded that the Sunna attributed to the Prophet consists of material from later periods rather than the actual words and deeds of the Prophet.{{sfn|Esposito|1998|p=67}} However, scholars like ] have argued that a complete dismissal of hadith as late fiction is "unjustified".<ref>{{cite book | last=Madelung| first=Wilferd | title=The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1997 | isbn=0-521-64696-0 | page=xi}}</ref> | |||
{{quotation|Why religions should claim that they are not bound to abide by the standpoint of reason, no one knows. If one does not take the standard of reason, there cannot be any true judgment, even in the case of religions. One religion may ordain something very hideous. For instance, the Mohammedan religion allows Mohammedans to kill all who are not of their religion. It is clearly stated in the Koran, Kill the infidels if they do not become Mohammedans. They must be put to fire and sword. Now if we tell a Mohammedan that this is wrong, he will naturally ask, "How do you know that? How do you know it is not good? My book says it is."<ref>''The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda'', Volume II, p. 335.</ref>}} | |||
Orthodox Muslims do not deny the existence of false hadith, but believe that through the scholars' work, these false hadith have been largely eliminated.<ref>By Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza, "Shi'ism", 1988. p. 35.</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Madelung| first=Wilferd | title=The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1997 | isbn=0-521-64696-0 | page=xi}}</ref> | |||
]s of the Quran]] | |||
] calls the concept of Islam to be highly offensive, and doubted that there is any connection of Islam with God: | |||
The traditional view of Islam has faced scrutiny due to a lack of consistent supporting evidence, such as limited archaeological finds and some discrepancies with non-Muslim sources.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opendemocracy.net/faith-europe_islam/mohammed_3866.jsp|title=What do we actually know about Mohammed?|work=openDemocracy|access-date=13 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421171853/http://www.opendemocracy.net/faith-europe_islam/mohammed_3866.jsp|archive-date=21 April 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Donner 1998">Donner, Fred ''Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing'', Darwin Press, 1998</ref>{{rp|23}} In the 1970s, a number of scholars began to re-evaluate established Islamic history, proposing that earlier accounts may have been altered over time.<ref name="Donner 1998">Donner, Fred ''Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing'', Darwin Press, 1998</ref>{{rp|23}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opendemocracy.net/faith-europe_islam/mohammed_3866.jsp|title=What do we actually know about Mohammed?|work=openDemocracy|access-date=13 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421171853/http://www.opendemocracy.net/faith-europe_islam/mohammed_3866.jsp|archive-date=21 April 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> They sought to reconstruct early Islamic history using alternative sources like coins, inscriptions, and non-Islamic texts. Prominent among these scholars was ].<ref name="Donner 1998"/>{{rp|38}} Additionally, ] study of the Sana'a manuscripts revealed some variations in text and verse order, suggesting that the Quranic text may have evolved over time.<ref name="Lester" /> | |||
=== Criticism of Muhammad === | |||
{{quotation|Had the God of the ] been the Lord of all creatures, and been Merciful and kind to all, he would never have commanded the Mohammedans to slaughter men of other faiths, and animals, etc. If he is Merciful, will he show mercy even to the sinners? If the answer be given in the affirmative, it cannot be true, because further on it is said in the Quran "Put infidels to sword," in other words, he that does not believe in the Quran and the Prophet Mohammad is an infidel (he should, therefore, be put to death). (Since the Quran sanctions such cruelty to non-Mohammedans and innocent creatures such as cows) it can never be the Word of God.<ref>''Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research'', Volume 19, Issue 1, publisher : ICPR, 2002, p. 73</ref>}} | |||
{{See also|Criticism of Muhammad}} | |||
The Christian missionary ] and the former Muslim ] have criticized Muhammad's actions as immoral.<ref name="Oussani"/><ref name="WarraqQuest"/> In one instance, the Jewish poet ] provoked the Meccan tribe of ] to fight Muslims and wrote ] poetry about their women,<ref name="Ashraf">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf |encyclopedia=] Online |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |author-link=William Montgomery Watt |editor=P.J. Bearman |issn=1573-3912 |author=William Montgomery Watt |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=] |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs}}</ref> and was apparently plotting to assassinate Muhammad.<ref name="Rubin">Uri Rubin, The Assassination of Kaʿb b. al-Ashraf, Oriens, Vol. 32. (1990), pp. 65–71.</ref> Muhammad called upon his followers to kill Ka'b,<ref name="Ashraf" /> and he was consequently assassinated by ], an early Muslim.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ibn Hisham |title=Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya |year=1955 |volume=2 |location=Cairo |pages=51–57 |author-link=Ibn Hisham}} English translation from Stillman (1979), pp. 125–26.</ref> Such criticisms were countered by the historian ], who argues on the basis of ] that Muhammad should be judged by the standards and norms of his own time and geography, rather than ours.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Watt |first=W. Montgomery |url=https://archive.org/details/muhammadprophets00watt/page/229 |title=Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1961 |isbn=0-19-881078-4 |page= |access-date=27 May 2010}}</ref> The fourteenth-century poem '']'' by the ] poet ] contains defamatory images of Muhammad, picturing him the eighth circle of hell, along with his cousin and son-in-law ].<ref name="auto">G. Stone ''Dante's Pluralism and the Islamic Philosophy of Religion'' Springer, 12 May 2006 {{ISBN|9781403983091}} p. 132</ref><ref name="ReferenceH">Minou Reeves, P. J. Stewart ''Muhammad in Europe: A Thousand Years of Western Myth-Making'' NYU Press, 2003 {{ISBN|9780814775646}} p. 93–96</ref> Dante does not blame Islam as a whole but accuses Muhammad of ] for establishing another religion after Christianity.<ref name="auto" /> Some medieval ecclesiastical writers portrayed Muhammad as possessed by ], a "precursor of the ]" or the Antichrist himself.<ref name="Oussani" /> ']'', an ] manuscript of unknown origins, describes how Muhammad (called Ozim, from ]) was tricked by Satan into adulterating an originally pure divine revelation: God was concerned about the spiritual fate of the Arabs and wanted to correct their deviation from the faith. He then sent an angel to the Christian monk Osius who ordered him to preach to the Arabs. Osius, however, was in ill-health and instead ordered a young monk, Ozim, to carry out the angel's orders. Ozim set out to follow his orders, but was stopped by an evil angel on the way. The ignorant Ozim believed him to be the same angel that had spoken to Osius before. The evil angel modified and corrupted the original message given to Ozim by Osius, and renamed Ozim Muhammad. From this followed the erroneous teachings of Islam, according to ''Tultusceptru''.<ref>J. Tolan, ''Medieval Christian Perceptions of Islam'' (1996) pp. 100–01</ref> | |||
===Islamic ethics=== | |||
] regarded that Islam was grown through the violence and desire for wealth. He further asserted that Muslims deny the entire Islamic prescribed violence and atrocities, and will continue doing so. He wrote: | |||
{{Main|Islamic ethics}} | |||
]]] | |||
According to the ], while there is much to be admired and affirmed in Islamic ethics, its originality or superiority is rejected.<ref>. From the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 21 January 2008.</ref> | |||
Critics stated that the ] allows Muslim men to discipline their wives by striking them.<ref>Kathir, Ibn, "Tafsir of Ibn Kathir", Al-Firdous Ltd., London, 2000, 50–53 – Ibn Kathir states "dharbun ghayru nubrah" strike/admonish lightly</ref> There is however evidence from Islamic hadiths and scholars such as Ibn Kathir that demonstrates that only a twig or leaf can be used by a man to "strike" their wife and this is not allowed to cause pain or injure their wife but to show their frustration.<ref name="Domestic Violence and the Islamic T">{{cite journal|date=2017| title =Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition: Book Review|journal= Journal of Islamic Ethics| volume=1|issue=(1-2)|pages= 203–207| doi= 10.1163/24685542-12340009|doi-access=free}}</ref> Moreover, confusion amongst translations of Quran with the original Arabic term "wadribuhunna" being translated as "to go away from them",<ref>Laleh Bakhtiar, The Sublime Quran, 2007 translation</ref> "beat",<ref>"The Holy Quran: Text, Translation and Commentary", Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Amana Corporation, Brentwood, MD, 1989. {{ISBN|0-915957-03-5}}, passage was quoted from commentary on 4:34 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali in his Quranic commentary also states that: "In case of family jars four steps are mentioned, to be taken in that order. (1) Perhaps verbal advice or admonition may be sufficient; (2) if not, sex relations may be suspended; (3) if this is not sufficient, some slight physical correction may be administered; but Imam Shafi'i considers this inadvisable, though permissible, and all authorities are unanimous in deprecating any sort of cruelty, even of the nagging kind, as mentioned in the next clause; (4) if all this fails, a family council is recommended in 4:35 below." Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Quran: Text, Translation and Commentary (commentary on 4:34), Amana Corporation, Brentwood, MD, 1989. {{ISBN|0-915957-03-5}}.</ref> "strike lightly" and "separate".<ref>Ammar, Nawal H. (May 2007). "Wife Battery in Islam: A Comprehensive Understanding of Interpretations". Violence Against Women 13 (5): 519–23</ref> The film '']'' critiqued this and similar verses of the Quran by displaying them painted on the bodies of abused Muslim women.<ref name=submission_script>{{cite web|url=http://www.opzij.nl/opzij/show?id=23669&framenoid=19755|title=Welkom bij Opzij|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225432/http://www.opzij.nl/opzij/show?id=23669&framenoid=19755|archive-date=27 September 2007}}</ref> | |||
Some critics argue that the Quran is incompatible with other religious scriptures as it attacks and advocates hate against people of other religions.<ref name="BibleInQuran"/><ref>Gerber (1986), pp. 78–79</ref><ref>"Anti-Semitism". ]</ref><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318224903/http://www.hudson.org/files/pdf_upload/saudi_textbooks_final.pdf |date=18 March 2009 }} (pdf), ], May 2006, pp. 24–25.</ref> ] interprets certain verses of the Quran as sanctioning military action against unbelievers as it said "Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled."(])<ref name="Who Are the Moderate Muslims?">Sam Harris </ref> However, the Islamic hadiths and scholars such as Dr Zakir Naik refer to fighting and not to trust "non-believers" and Christians in certain situations or events such as during times of war.<ref>Understanding the Qurán - Page xii, Ahmad Hussein Sakr - 2000</ref> | |||
] is a tax for "protection" paid by non-Muslims to a Muslim ruler, for the exemption from military service for non-Muslims, and for the permission to practice a non-Muslim faith with some communal autonomy in a Muslim state.<ref name=anveremon>Anver M. Emon, Religious Pluralism and Islamic Law: Dhimmis and Others in the Empire of Law, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0199661633}}, pp. 99–109.</ref><ref name="ArnoldPoI3">{{cite book | first=Thomas | last=Walker Arnold | author-link=Thomas Walker Arnold | publisher=] | date=1913 | title=Preaching of Islam: A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith | url=https://archive.org/details/preachingofislam00arno | pages=–1 | quote=This tax was not imposed on the Christians, as some would have us think, as a penalty for their refusal to accept the Muslim faith, but was paid by them in common with the other <u>dh</u>immīs or non-Muslim subjects of the state whose religion precluded them from serving in the army, in return for the protection secured for them by the arms of the Musalmans.}} ()</ref>{{sfn|Esposito|1998|p=34|ps=. "They replaced the conquered countries, indigenous rulers and armies, but preserved much of their government, bureaucracy, and culture. For many in the conquered territories, it was no more than an exchange of masters, one that brought peace to peoples demoralized and disaffected by the casualties and heavy taxation that resulted from the years of Byzantine-Persian warfare. Local communities were free to continue to follow their own way of life in internal, domestic affairs. In many ways, local populations found Muslim rule more flexible and tolerant than that of Byzantium and Persia. Religious communities were free to practice their faith to worship and be governed by their religious leaders and laws in such areas as marriage, divorce, and inheritance. In exchange, they were required to pay tribute, a poll tax (''jizya'') that entitled them to Muslim protection from outside aggression and exempted them from military service. Thus, they were called the "protected ones" (''dhimmi''). In effect, this often meant lower taxes, greater local autonomy, rule by fellow Semites with closer linguistic and cultural ties than the hellenized, Greco-Roman élites of Byzantium, and greater religious freedom for Jews and indigenous Christians."}} | |||
{{quotation|All educated people start looking down upon the ]s and even started objecting to their very basis. Since then some naturalist Mohammadis are trying, rather opposing falsehood and accepting the truth, to prove unnecessarily and wrongly that Islam never indulged in Jihad and the people were never converted to Islam forcibly. Neither any temples were demolished nor were ever cows slaughtered in the temples. Women and children belonging to other religious sects were never forcibly converted to Islam nor did they ever commit any sexual acts with them as could have been done with the slave-males and females both.<ref>"Américo Castro and the Meaning of Spanish Civilization", by José Rubia Barcia, Selma Margaretten, p. 150</ref>}} | |||
Harris argues that ] is simply a consequence of taking the Quran literally, and is skeptical that moderate Islam is possible.{{efn|Various calls to arms were identified in the Quran by US citizen ], all of which were cited as "most relevant to my actions on March 3, 2006" (],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php#009.044|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=4 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604194024/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php#009.044 |archive-date=4 June 2016 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php#009.019|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=4 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604194024/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php#009.019 |archive-date=4 June 2016 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/057-qmt.php#057.010|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=13 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413235435/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/057-qmt.php#057.010 |archive-date=13 April 2016 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/008-qmt.php#008.072|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=30 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230210409/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/008-qmt.php#008.072 |archive-date=30 December 2015 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php#009.120|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=4 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604194024/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php#009.120 |archive-date=4 June 2016 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/003-qmt.php#003.167|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=4 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604194019/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/003-qmt.php#003.167 |archive-date=4 June 2016 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/004-qmt.php#004.066|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=1 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501064500/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/004-qmt.php#004.066 |archive-date=1 May 2015 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/004-qmt.php#004.104|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=1 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501064500/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/004-qmt.php#004.104 |archive-date=1 May 2015 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php#009.081|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=4 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604194024/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php#009.081 |archive-date=4 June 2016 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php#009.093|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=4 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604194024/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php#009.093 |archive-date=4 June 2016 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php#009.100|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=4 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604194024/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php#009.100 |archive-date=4 June 2016 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/016-qmt.php#016.110|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=26 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026012552/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/016-qmt.php#016.110 |archive-date=26 October 2012 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/061-qmt.php#061.011|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=30 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430041717/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/061-qmt.php#061.011 |archive-date=30 April 2016 }}</ref> ]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/047-qmt.php#047.035|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|date=2 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502163036/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/047-qmt.php#047.035 |archive-date=2 May 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |wslink=Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar- Letter to The daily Tar Heel |title=Letter to The daily Tar Heel |first=Mohammed Reza |last=Taheri-azar |authorlink=Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar SUV attack#Perpetrator |year=2006}}</ref>}}<ref name=Harris1>{{Cite book | last=Harris | first=Sam | title=The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason | pages= | publisher=W. W. Norton; Reprint edition | year=2005 | isbn=0-393-32765-5 | url=https://archive.org/details/endoffaithreligi00harr/page/31 }}</ref> | |||
Max I. Dimont interprets that the ]s described in the Quran are specifically dedicated to "male pleasure".<ref>The Indestructible Jews, by Max I. Dimont, p. 134</ref> According to Pakistani Islamic scholar Maulana Umar Ahmed Usmani "Hur" or "hurun" is the plural of both "ahwaro" which is a masculine form and also "haurao" which is a feminine, meaning both pure males and pure females. Basically, the word 'hurun' means white, he says.<ref name="dawn-houri-20">{{cite web |title=Are all 'houris' female? |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/635343 |website=Dawn.com |access-date=22 April 2019 |date=9 June 2011}}</ref> | |||
=== Views on slavery === | |||
The ] ] Sir ] criticised Islam for what he perceived to be an inflexible nature, which he held responsible for stifling progress and impeding social advancement in Muslims countries. The following sentences are taken from the ] he delivered at ] in 1881: | |||
{{Main|Islamic views on slavery|History of slavery in the Muslim world|History of concubinage in the Muslim world|Mamluk}} | |||
] in ]]] | |||
According to ], the Islamic injunctions against the enslavement of Muslims led to massive importation of slaves from the outside.<ref>Lewis, Bernard (1990). Race and Slavery in the Middle East. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-505326-5}}, p. 10.</ref> Also ] believes that Islam seems to have done more to protect and expand slavery than the reverse.<ref>Manning, Patrick (1990). Slavery and African Life: Occidental, Oriental, and African Slave Trades. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-34867-6}}, p. 28</ref> | |||
{{quotation|Some, indeed, dream of an Islam in the future, rationalised and regenerate. All this has been tried already, and has miserably failed. The Koran has so encrusted the religion in a hard unyielding casement of ordinances and social laws, that if the shell be broken the life is gone. A rationalistic Islam would be Islam no longer. The contrast between our own faith and Islam is most remarkable. There are in our Scriptures living germs of truth, which accord with civil and religious liberty, and will expand with advancing civilisation. In Islam it is just the reverse. The Koran has no such teaching as with us has abolished polygamy, slavery, and arbitrary divorce, and has elevated woman to her proper place. As a Reformer, Mahomet did advance his people to a certain point, but as a Prophet he left them fixed immovably at that point for all time to come. The tree is of artificial planting. Instead of containing within itself the germ of growth and adaptation to the various requirements of time and clime and circumstance, expanding with the genial sunshine and rain from heaven, it remains the same forced and stunted thing as when first planted some twelve centuries ago."<ref name="muir"> p. 458</ref>}} | |||
Brockopp, on the other hand believe that the idea of using alms for the manumission of slaves appears to be unique to the Quran ({{Quran-usc|2|177}} and {{Quran-usc|9|60}}). Similarly, the practice of freeing slaves in atonement for certain sins appears to be introduced by the Quran (but compare Exod 21:26-7).<ref name="Brockopp"/> Also the forced prostitution of female slaves, a Near Eastern custom of great antiquity, is condemned in the Quran.<ref name="Esposito">John L Esposito (1998) p. 79</ref> According to Brockopp "the placement of slaves in the same category as other weak members of society who deserve protection is unknown outside the Qur'an.<ref name="Brockopp">], ''Slaves and Slavery''</ref> Some slaves had high social status in the ], such as the ] ] ],<ref name="Levanoni 2010">{{cite book |last=Levanoni |first=Amalia |year=2010 |chapter=PART II: EGYPT AND SYRIA (ELEVENTH CENTURY UNTIL THE OTTOMAN CONQUEST) – The Mamlūks in Egypt and Syria: the Turkish Mamlūk sultanate (648–784/1250–1382) and the Circassian Mamlūk sultanate (784–923/1382–1517) |editor-last=Fierro |editor-first=Maribel |title=The New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 2: The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries |location=] and ] |publisher=] |pages=237–284 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521839570.010 |isbn=978-1-139-05615-1 |quote=The Arabic term ''mamlūk'' literally means 'owned' or 'slave', and was used for the ] ] ] of ], purchased from ] and the ] by ] to serve as soldiers in their armies. Mamlūk units formed an integral part of Muslim armies from the third/ninth century, and Mamlūk involvement in government became an increasingly familiar occurrence in the ] ]. The road to absolute rule lay open before them ] when the Mamlūk establishment gained military and political domination during the reign of the ], al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb (r. 637–47/1240–9).}}</ref> who were assigned high-ranking military and administrative duties by the ruling Arab and ] dynasties.<ref name="Ayalon 2012">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Ayalon |author-first=David |author-link=David Ayalon |year=2012 |origyear=1991 |title=Mamlūk |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C. E. |editor1-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. J. |editor2-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W. P. |editor3-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs |editor4-last=Lewis |editor4-first=B. |editor4-link=Bernard Lewis |editor5-last=Pellat |editor5-first=Ch. |editor5-link=Charles Pellat |encyclopedia=] |location=] |publisher=] |volume=6 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0657 |isbn=978-90-04-08112-3}}</ref> | |||
Critics argue unlike Western societies there have been no anti-slavery movements in Muslim societies,<ref>Murray Gordon, "Slavery in the Arab World." New Amsterdam Press, New York, 1989. Originally published in French by Editions Robert Laffont, S.A. Paris, 1987, p. 21.</ref> | |||
] criticized what he alleged to be the effects Islam had on its believers, which he described as fanatical frenzy combined with fatalistic apathy, enslavement of women, and militant proselytizing.<ref name="Churchill 1899">Winston S. Churchill, from The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pp. 248–50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899)</ref> In his 1899 book '']'' he says: | |||
which according to Gordon was due to the fact that it was deeply anchored in Islamic law, thus there was no ideological challenge ever mounted against slavery.<ref>Murray Gordon, "Slavery in the Arab World." New Amsterdam Press, New York, 1989. Originally published in French by Editions Robert Laffont, S.A. Paris, 1987, pp. 44–45.</ref> According to sociologist Rodney Stark, "the fundamental problem facing Muslim theologians vis-à-vis the morality of slavery" is that Muhammad himself engaged in activities such as purchasing, selling, and owning slaves, and that his followers saw him as the perfect example to emulate. Stark contrasts Islam with ], writing that Christian theologians wouldn't have been able to "work their way around the biblical acceptance of slavery" if ] had owned slaves, as Muhammad did.<ref>Rodney Stark, "For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery", p. 338, 2003, ], {{ISBN|0691114366}}</ref> | |||
] on a ] of the United States in 1900]] | |||
Only in the early 20th century did slavery gradually became outlawed and suppressed in Muslim lands, with Muslim-majority ] being the last country in the world to formally abolish slavery in 1981.<ref name="eois" /> | |||
{{quotation|How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the faith: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.<ref name="Churchill 1899" />}} | |||
Murray Gordon characterizes Muhammad's approach to slavery as reformist rather than revolutionary that abolish slavery, but rather improved the conditions of slaves by urging his followers to treat their slaves humanely and free them as a way of expiating one's sins.<ref>{{cite book|author=Murray Gordon|title=Slavery in the Arab World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5l81hwFPvzYC&pg=PA19|pages=19–20|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=1989|isbn=9780941533300}}</ref> | |||
In ], slavery was theoretically an exceptional condition under the dictum ''The basic principle is liberty''.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|author=Brunschvig, R.| year=1986 | title=ʿAbd |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam| edition=2nd|publisher=Brill |editor=P. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C.E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs|volume=1|pages=26}}</ref><ref name=OEIW/> | |||
Reports from Sudan and Somalia showing practice of slavery is in border areas as a result of continuing war<ref>], ''slavery'', p. 298</ref> and not Islamic belief. In recent years, except for some conservative ] Islamic scholars,{{efn|In a 2014 issue of their digital magazine '']'', the ] explicitly claimed religious justification for enslaving ] women.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.newsweek.com/islamic-state-seeks-justify-enslaving-yazidi-women-and-girls-iraq-277100|title=Islamic State Seeks to Justify Enslaving Yazidi Women and Girls in Iraq|work=]|date=13 October 2014}}</ref><ref>Allen McDuffee, '']'', 13 October 2014</ref><ref>Salma Abdelaziz, '']'', 13 October 2014</ref><ref>Richard Spencer, '']'', 13 October 2014.</ref>}} | |||
most Muslim scholars found the practice "inconsistent with Qur'anic morality".<ref>Abou el Fadl, ''Great Theft'', HarperSanFrancisco, 2005.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/economicHistory/GEHN/GEHNPDF/Islam&SlaveryWGCS.pdf|title=Department of Economic History|access-date=9 March 2022|archive-date=25 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325013630/http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/economicHistory/GEHN/GEHNPDF/Islam%26SlaveryWGCS.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Khaled Abou El Fadl and William Clarence-Smith</ref> | |||
=== Apostasy === | |||
According to historian ], Churchill wrote this during a time of a fundamentalist revolt in Sudan and this statement does not reflect his full view of Islam, which were "often paradoxical and complex." He could be critical but at times "romanticized" the Islamic world; he exhibited great "respect, understanding and magnanimity."<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/churchills-family-begged-him-not-convert-islam-letter-shows-n276786|publisher=NBC News|title=Churchill's Family Begged Him Not to Convert to Islam, Letter Shows}}</ref><ref name="telegraph"/> Churchill had a fascination of Islam and Islamic civilization.<ref name="telegraph">{{citation|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11314580/Sir-Winston-Churchill-s-family-feared-he-might-convert-to-Islam.html|title=Sir Winston Churchill 's family feared he might convert to Islam|author=Patrick Sawer|publisher=The Telegraph}}</ref> ]'s future sister-in-law expressed concerns about his fascination by stating, "lease don't become converted to Islam; I have noticed in your disposition a tendency to orientalism." According to historian Warren Dockter, however, he "never seriously considered converting".<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/sir-winston-churchill-s-family-begged-him-not-to-convert-to-islam-letter-reveals-9946787.html|title=Sir Winston Churchill's family begged him not to convert to Islam, letter reveals|author=Matilda Battersby|publisher=]|others=December 29, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/29/family-of-young-winston-churchill-feared-he-might-convert-to-islam-according-to-long-lost-letter/|title=Family of young Winston Churchill feared he might convert to Islam, long-lost letter says|author=Terrence McCoy|others=December 29, 2014|publisher=Washington Post}}</ref><ref name=Dockter>{{cite web|url=http://warrendockter.com/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-winston-churchill-and-the-islamic-world/|title=5 Things you didn't know about Winston Churchill and the Islamic World|author=Warren Dockter|date=February 24, 2014|accessdate=November 13, 2015}}</ref> He primarily admired its martial aspects, the "Ottoman Empire's history of territorial expansion and military acumen", to the extent that in 1897 he wished to fight for the Ottoman Empire. According to Dockter, this was largely for his "lust for glory".<ref name=Dockter/> Based on Churchill's letters, he seemed to regard Islam and Christianity as equals.<ref>{{cite book|title=Winston Churchill: Politics, Strategy and Statecraft|author=Richard Toye| authorlink = Richard Toye | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=acXIDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA115|page=115|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2017}}</ref><ref name="telegraph"/>{{dead link|date=December 2017}} | |||
])", a painting by ]]] | |||
{{Main|Apostasy in Islam}} | |||
{{See also|Freedom of religion#Islam}} | |||
In Islam, apostasy along with heresy and blasphemy (verbal insult to religion) is considered a form of disbelief. The Qur'an states that apostasy would bring punishment in the Afterlife, but takes a relatively lenient view of apostasy in this life (Q 9:74; 2:109).<ref name="Campo48"/> | |||
], describing what he understood to be the Islamic conception of the ideal society, wrote the following: | |||
While Shafi'i interprets verse ]<ref>{{Quran-usc|2|217|style=ns}}</ref> as adducing the main evidence for the death penalty in Quran, the historian W. Heffening states that ] threatens apostates with punishment in the next world only.,<ref>W. Heffening, in Encyclopedia of Islam</ref> the historian Wael Hallaq states the later addition of death penalty "reflects a later reality and does not stand in accord with the deeds of the Prophet."<ref>Encyclopedia of the Quran, Apostasy</ref> | |||
According to ], ] is identified by a list of actions such as conversion to another religion, denying the existence of ], rejecting the ], mocking God or the prophets, idol worship, rejecting the ], or permitting behavior that is forbidden by the sharia, such as ] or the eating of forbidden foods or drinking of alcoholic beverages.<ref name="relianceA2">{{cite web |author=], ] |date=1368 |title=A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law |url=http://dailyrollcall.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/the-reliance-of-the-traveller.pdf |access-date=14 May 2020 |work=Shafiifiqh.com |page=517, Chapter O8.0: Apostasy from Islam (Ridda)}}</ref><ref name="relianceA1">{{cite web|url=http://www.catheyallison.com/Reliance_of_the_Traveller.pdf |title=Reliance of the Traveller |author=], ] |date =1368|work=Amana Publications |access-date=14 May 2020}}</ref><ref name="Campo48">{{cite book|last=Campo|first=Juan Eduardo|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|page=48|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC|isbn=9781438126968}}</ref> The majority of Muslim scholars hold to the traditional view that apostasy is ] or imprisonment until repentance, at least for adults of sound mind.<ref>{{cite book|author=Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im|title=Toward an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights, and International Law|publisher= Syracuse University Press|year= 1996|page= 183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U4e7Ph4lXzUC&pg=PA183|isbn=9780815627067}}</ref><ref name="KEY">{{cite book|last1=Kecia |first1=Ali |first2= Oliver |last2=Leaman|title=Islam: the key concepts|publisher= Routledge|year= 2008|page= 10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5-CdzqmuXsC&pg=PA10|isbn=9780415396387 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=John L. |last=Esposito|title=The Oxford dictionary of Islam|publisher= Oxford University Press|year=2004 |page= 22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VeCWQfVNjkC&pg=PA22|isbn=9780195125597}}</ref> | |||
{{quotation|Not only are the varieties of morality innumerable, but some of them are conflicting with each other. If a Mahommedan, for instance, is fully to realize his ideal, to carry out into actual fact his experiment of living, he must be one of a ruling race which has trodden the enemies of Islam under their feet, and has forced them to choose between the tribute and the sword. He must be able to put in force the law of the Koran both as to the faithful and as to unbelievers. In short, he must conquer. Englishmen come into a country where Mahommedans had more or less realized their ideal, and proceed to govern it with the most unfeigned belief in the order of ideas of which liberty is the motto.<ref>James Fitzjames Stephen, from Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, pp. 93–94 (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, Edited by Stuart D.Warner. 1993)</ref>}} | |||
Also ] and ] scholars, agree on the difference of punishment between male and female.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam | year=2003 | title=Murtadd}}</ref> | |||
Some widely held interpretations of Islam are inconsistent with Human Rights conventions that recognize the right to change religion.<ref>, in Human Rights Library - University of Minnesota</ref> In particular article 18 of the ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html|title=UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights}}</ref> | |||
]]] | |||
Some contemporary Islamic jurists, such as ]<ref>, by Mahdi Jami, In Persian, ''BBC Persian'', 2 February 2005. Retrieved 25 April 2006.</ref> have argued or issued ]s that state that either the changing of religion is not punishable or is only punishable under restricted circumstances.<ref>, by Mahdi Jami, In Persian, ''BBC Persian'', 2 February 2005. Retrieved 25 April 2006. | |||
] writer ] regarded Islam as the corrupter of Iran, he said: | |||
* , by Magdi Abdelhadi, BBC Arab affairs analyst, 27 March 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2006. | |||
* S. A. Rahman in "Punishment of Apostasy in Islam", Institute of Islamic Culture, Lahore, 1972, pp. 10–13 | |||
* {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926233750/http://www.islamicperspectives.com/Apostasy1.htm |date=26 September 2009 }}, View of Dr. Ahmad Shafaat on apostasy. | |||
* Religious Tolerance.org, , by B.A. Robinson, ''Religious Tolerance.org'', 7 April 2006. Retrieved 16 April 2006.</ref> | |||
According to ], "The real predicament facing modern Muslims with liberal convictions is not the existence of stern laws against apostasy in medieval Muslim books of law, but rather the fact that accusations of apostasy and demands to punish it are heard time and again from radical elements in the contemporary Islamic world."<ref name="Yohanan Friedmann p.5">Yohanan Friedmann, ''Tolerance and Coercion in Islam'', Cambridge University Press, p. 5</ref> | |||
] noted that "state officials could not punish an unmanifested belief even if they wanted to".<ref name="kadri-249">{{cite book|last1=Kadri|first1=Sadakat|title=Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia ..|date=2012 |publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9780099523277 |page=249 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztCRZOhJ10wC&q=Heaven+on+Earth%3A+A+Journey+Through+Shari%27a+Law}}</ref> | |||
{{quotation|Every aspect of life and thought, including women's condition, changed after Islam. Enslaved by men, women were confined to the home. Polygamy, injection of fatalistic attitude, mourning, sorrow and grief led people to seek solace in magic, witchcraft, prayer, and supernatural beings.<ref>"Words, Not Swords: Iranian Women Writers and the Freedom of Movement", p. 64, by Farzaneh Milani</ref>}} | |||
The kind of apostasy which the jurists generally deemed punishable was of the political kind, although there were considerable legal differences of opinion on this matter.<ref name="afsaruddin1">] (2013), ''Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought'', p. 242. ]. {{ISBN|0199730938}}.</ref> | |||
] states that " a culture whose lynchpin is religion, religious principles and religious morality, apostasy is in some way equivalent to high treason in the modern nation-state".<ref name="waelhallaq">{{cite book|last1= Wael|first1= B. Hallaq|title= Sharī'a: Theory, Practice and Transformations|date= 2009|publisher= ]|isbn= 978-0-521-86147-2|page= 319|author1-link= Wael Hallaq}}</ref> | |||
Also ] consider the apostasy as a treason and "a withdrawal, a denial of allegiance as well as of religious belief and loyalty".<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite magazine| last=Lewis | first=Bernard | title=Islamic Revolution | date=1998-01-21 | magazine=The New York Review of Books | url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/4557}}</ref> | |||
The English historian ] suggests the traditional view of apostasy hampered the development of Islamic learning, like philosophy and natural science, "out of fear that these could evolve into potential toe-holds for ], those people who reject God."<ref>C. E. Bosworth: Untitled review of "The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West by George Makdisi", ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'', No. 2 (1983), pp. 304–05</ref> | |||
While in 13 Muslim-majority countries atheism is punishable by death,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/10/atheists-death-penalty-_n_4417994.html|title=Atheists Face Death Penalty In 13 Countries, Discrimination Around The World According To Freethought Report|date=12 October 2013|work=The Huffington Post}}</ref> | |||
according to legal historian ], executions were rare because "it was widely believed" that any accused apostate "who repented by articulating the '']''" (''LA ILAHA ILLALLAH'' "There is no God but God") "had to be forgiven" and their punishment delayed until after Judgement Day.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904045814/http://www.sunnah.org/aqida/forty_hadith_merits_tahlil.htm |date=4 September 2015 }}| Compiled by Dr. G.F. Haddad| (Hadith 26, Narrated by Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad, Tayalisi, Abu Dawud, Nasa'i, al-`Adni, Abu `Awana, al-Tahawi, al-Hakim, and Bayhaqi.)</ref><ref name="kadri-239">{{cite book|last1=Kadri|first1=Sadakat|title=Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia ..|date=2012|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9780099523277|page=239|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztCRZOhJ10wC&q=Heaven+on+Earth%3A+A+Journey+Through+Shari%27a+Law|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202174508/https://books.google.com/books?id=ztCRZOhJ10wC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Heaven+on+Earth:+A+Journey+Through+Shari%27a+Law&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAWoVChMIob7syrnZxwIVhg6SCh0fYg3Z#v=onepage&q=Heaven%20on%20Earth%3A%20A%20Journey%20Through%20Shari'a%20Law&f=false|archive-date=2 December 2016}}</ref> | |||
] states that "In Islamic teaching, such penalties may have been suitable for the age in which Muhammad lived."<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807045042/http://www.alastairmcintosh.com/articles/2000_watt.htm |date=7 August 2011 }}, by Bashir Maan & Alastair McIntosh</ref> | |||
=== Islam and violence === | |||
The ] ] described Islam as spread by violence and fanaticism, and producing a variety of social ills in the regions it conquered.<ref name="Schaff 1910 4.III.40">Schaff, P., & Schaff, D.S. (1910). ''History of the Christian church''. Third edition. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Volume 4, Chapter III, section 40 "Position of Mohammedanism in Church History"</ref> | |||
{{Main|Islam and violence|Supremacism#Islamic}} | |||
] led to debate on whether Islam promotes violence.]] | |||
Quran's teachings on matters of war and peace have become topics of heated discussion in recent years. On the one hand, some critics claim that certain verses of the Quran sanction military action against unbelievers as a whole both during the lifetime of Muhammad and after.<ref name="Who Are the Moderate Muslims?"/><ref name="BAR">''Warrant for terror: fatwās of radical Islam and the duty of jihād'', p. 68, Shmuel Bar, 2006</ref> | |||
], an ], is a religious duty of ]s meaning "striving for the sake of God".<ref>{{cite book|title=Essential Islam: a comprehensive guide to belief and practice|last=Morgan |first=Diane|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-36025-1|page= |url=https://archive.org/details/essentialislamco0000morg|url-access=registration|access-date=5 January 2011}}</ref><ref name="Merriam">{{cite encyclopedia | editor=] | title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions | publisher=] | year=1999 | isbn=0-87779-044-2 | url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440 }}, ''Jihad'', p. 571</ref><ref name="MIC">{{cite encyclopedia | editor=] | title=Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia | publisher=] | year=2005 | isbn=0-415-96690-6}}, ''Jihad'', p. 419</ref><ref name="jih">](2005), ''Islam: The Straight Path,'' p. 93</ref><ref name="ember">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of diasporas: immigrant and refugee cultures around the world. Diaspora communities|volume= 2 |last1=Ember |first1=Melvin |first2=Carol R. |last2=Ember|first3= Ian |last3=Skoggard |year=2005 |publisher=Springer|isbn=0-306-48321-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QEjPVyd9YMC&pg=PA183}}</ref> | |||
It is perceived in a military sense (not spiritual sense) by ]<ref>Bernard Lewis, ''The Political Language of Islam'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), p. 72.</ref><ref>Lewis, Bernard, '']'', 2001 Chapter 2</ref> and David Cook.<ref name="Cook166">Cook, David. ''Understanding Jihad''. ], 2005. Retrieved from ] on 27 November 2011. {{ISBN|0-520-24203-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-520-24203-6}}.</ref> Also Fawzy Abdelmalek<ref>{{cite book |title=The Turning Point: Islam & Jesus Salvation|first=Fawzy T. |last=Abdelmalek |publisher=AuthorHouse |year=2008 |page=210 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REW7sYxFyBYC&q=Quran+violence&pg=PA210|isbn=9781468534290 }}</ref> and ] argue against Islam being a ] and not of violence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/436571/orlando-shooting-left-gives-islam-free-pass|title=What If the Orlando Murderer Had Been a Christian?|website=]|date=13 June 2016}}</ref> John R. Neuman, a scholar on religion, describes Islam as "a perfect anti-religion" and "the antithesis of Buddhism".<ref>John Newman, ""{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 21, No. 2, 1998</ref> ] argued that role of ] literature in Saudi schools contributing suspicion and hate violence against non-Muslims as non-believers or infidels and anyone who "disagrees with Wahhabism is either an infidel or a deviant, who should repent or be killed."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7093423.stm|title=Jihad and the Saudi petrodollar|date=15 November 2007|via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> | |||
Most Muslim scholars, on the other hand, argue that such verses of the Quran are interpreted out of context,<ref name="Boundries_Princeton">Sohail H. Hashmi, David Miller, ''Boundaries and Justice: diverse ethical perspectives'', Princeton University Press, p. 197</ref><ref name="www-rohan.sdsu.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~khaleel/|title=Khaleel Mohammed|publisher=San Diego State University Religious Studies Department|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708102707/http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~khaleel/|archive-date=8 July 2008}}</ref> and argue that when the verses are read in context it clearly appears that the Quran prohibits aggression,<ref name="aaiil.org">Ali, Maulana Muhammad; {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421092242/http://aaiil.org/text/books/mali/religionislam/religionislammuhammadali.shtml |date=21 April 2018 }} (6th Edition), Ch V "Jihad" p. 414 "When shall war cease". Published by '']''</ref><ref name="Sadr-u-Din, Maulvi page 8">{{cite book|last=Sadr-u-Din|first=Maulvi|title=Qur'an and War|page=8|publisher=The Muslim Book Society, Lahore, Pakistan|url=http://www.aaiil.org/text/books/others/sadrdin/quranwar/quranwar.shtml|access-date=8 October 2012|archive-date=8 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308202015/http://www.aaiil.org/text/books/others/sadrdin/quranwar/quranwar.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829203630/http://www.aaiil.org/uk/newsletters/2002/0302.shtml |date=29 August 2017 }} by Dr. G. W. Leitner (founder of The Oriental Institute, UK) published in Asiatic Quarterly Review, 1886. ("Jihad, even when explained as a righteous effort of waging war in self-defense against the grossest outrage on one's religion, is strictly limited..")</ref> and allows fighting only in self-defense.<ref name="The Qur p. 228-232"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426223211/http://www.aaiil.org/text/articles/bash/quraniccommandmentswarjihad.shtml |date=26 April 2018 }} An English rendering of an Urdu article appearing in Basharat-e-Ahmadiyya Vol. I, pp. 228–32, by Dr. Basharat Ahmad; published by the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam</ref><ref name="Ali, Maulana Muhammad Pages 411-413">{{cite book|first=Ali|last=Maulana Muhammad|title=The Religion of Islam (6th Edition), Ch V "Jihad"|pages=411–13|publisher=The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement|url=http://www.aaiil.org/text/books/mali/religionislam/religionislammuhammadali.html}}{{Dead link|date=April 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> | |||
{{quotation|Mohammedanism conquered the fairest portions of the earth by the sword and cursed them by polygamy, slavery, despotism and desolation. The moving power of Christian missions was love to God and man; the moving power of Islâm was fanaticism and brute force.<ref name="Schaff 1910 4.III.40"/>}} | |||
Charles Mathewes characterizes the peace verses as saying that "if others want peace, you can accept them as peaceful even if they are not Muslim." As an example, Mathewes cites the second sura, which commands believers not to transgress limits in warfare: "fight in God's cause against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits ; God does not love transgressors" (2:190).<ref name=Mathewes>{{cite book |title=Understanding Religious Ethics |first=Charles T. |last=Mathewes|publisher=John Wiley and Sons |year=2010 |page=197 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EyCsZE_iHp4C&q=Koran+%22sword+verses%22&pg=PA197|isbn=9781405133517 }}</ref> | |||
] ] described the ] as the "stage at which Islam became a menace to the whole world".<ref name="Margoliouth 1905 p. 362-363">], D. S. (1905). Mohammed and the Rise of Islam (Third Edition., pp. 362–63). New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons; The Knickerbocker Press.</ref> In the battle reportedly Muslims beheaded Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Faizer |first=Rizwi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZknAAAAQBAJ |title=The Life of Muhammad: Al-Waqidi's Kitab Al-Maghazi |date=5 September 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-92114-8 |pages=252 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ashath |first=Hafiz Abu Dawud Sulaiman |url=http://archive.org/details/SunanAbuDawudVol.111160EnglishArabic |title=Sunan Abu Dawud |date=12 October 2014 |volume=5 |pages=45 |language=en, ar}}</ref> Margoliouth argues that the Jews of Khaybar had done nothing to harm Muhammad or his followers, and ascribes the attack to a desire for ]<ref name="Margoliouth 1905 p. 362-363"/><ref> | |||
] priest, scholar and hymn-writer ]]] | |||
He wrote that this became an excuse for unfettered conquest."That plea would cover attacks on the whole world outside Medinah and its neighbourhood: and on leaving Khaibar the Prophet seemed to see the world already in his grasp. This was a great advance from the early days of Medinah, when the Jews were to be tolerated as equals, and even idolators to be left unmolested, so long as they manifested no open hostility. Now the fact that a community was idolatrous, or Jewish, or anything but Mohammedan, warranted a murderous attack upon it: the passion for fresh conquests dominated the Prophet as it dominated an Alexander before him or a Napoleon after him." ] (1905). Mohammed and the Rise of Islam (Third Edition., p. 363). New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons; The Knickerbocker Press.</ref> | |||
Schaff also described Islam as a derivative religion based on an amalgamation of "heathenism, Judaism and Christianity".<ref name="Schaff 1910 4.III.45">Schaff, P., & Schaff, D.S. (1910). ''History of the Christian church''. Third edition. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Volume 4, Chapter III, section 45 "The Mohammedanism Religion"</ref> | |||
] on the other hand, believes Jews' intriguing and use of their wealth to incite tribes against Muhammad left him no choice but to attack.<ref>Watt 189</ref> | |||
Vaglieri and ] concur that one reason for attack was that the Jews of Khaybar were responsible for the Confederates that attacked Muslims during the ].<ref name="EI">Veccia Vaglieri, L. "Khaybar", ]</ref><ref name="Nomani 1979, vol. II, pg. 156">Nomani (1979), vol. II, pg. 156</ref><ref name="Sameul">Samuel Rosenblatt, ''Essays on Antisemitism: The Jews of Islam'', p. 112</ref> Rabbi Samuel Rosenblatt has said that Muhammad's policies were not directed exclusively against Jews (referring to his conflicts with Jewish tribes) and that Muhammad was more severe with his pagan Arab kinsmen.<ref name="Sameul">Samuel Rosenblatt, ''Essays on Antisemitism: The Jews of Islam'', p. 112</ref><ref name="Rosenblatt">Pinson; Rosenblatt (1946) pp. 112–119</ref> | |||
The ] have resulted in many non-Muslims' indictment of Islam as a violent religion.<ref>{{cite book |title=Religion, power & violence: expression of politics in contemporary times|first=Ram |last=Puniyani |publisher=SAGE |year=2005 |pages=97–98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fd5Fm79VMk8C&q=Islam+%22violent+religion%22&pg=PA98 |isbn=9780761933380}}</ref> | |||
{{quotation|Islâm is not a new religion...t is a compound or mosaic of preëxisting elements, a rude attempt to combine heathenism, Judaism and Christianity, which Mohammed found in Arabia, but in a very imperfect form.<ref name="Schaff 1910 4.III.45"/>}} | |||
In the European view, Islam lacked divine authority and regarded the sword as the route to heaven.<ref name="Hume 2007"/> | |||
], tracing what she believes to be the West's long history of hostility toward Islam, finds in Muhammad's teachings a theology of peace and tolerance. Armstrong holds that the "holy war" urged by the Quran alludes to each Muslim's duty to fight for a just, decent society.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Armstrong | first=Karen | title=Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet | url=https://archive.org/details/muhammadbiograph00kare | url-access=limited | publisher=HarperSanFrancisco | year=1993 | isbn=0-06-250886-5 | page=}}</ref> | |||
] criticized Islam in terms similar to those of Schaff, arguing that it was made up of a mixture of beliefs that provided something for everyone.<ref name="Neale 1847 V.II p.68">] (1847). A History of the Holy Eastern Church: The Patriarchate of Alexandria. London: Joseph Masters. Volume II, Section I "Rise of Mahometanism" (p. 68)</ref> | |||
According to ], the leader of the 20th-century Indian independence movement, although non-violence is dominant in the Qur'an, thirteen hundred years of imperialist expansion have made Muslims a militant body.<ref>''The Gandhian Moment'', p. 117, by Ramin Jahanbegloo.</ref><ref>''Gandhi's responses to Islam'', p. 110, by Sheila McDonough</ref><ref>''Cold War Assemblages: Decolonization to Digital'', p. 81, ], Routledge.</ref> | |||
Other self-described Muslim organisations have emerged more recently, and some of them have been associated with jihadist and extreme Islamist groups. Compared to the entire Muslim community, these groups are sparsely populated. They have, however, received more attention from governments, international organisations, and the international media than other Muslim groups. This is as a result of their participation in actions intended to combat alleged enemies of Islam both at home and abroad.<ref name="Campo xxi – xxxii"/> | |||
{{quotation|...he also infuses into his religion so much of each of those tenets to which the varying sects of his countrymen were addicted, as to enable each and all to please themselves by the belief that the new doctrine was only a reform of, and improvement on, that to which they had been accustomed. The Christians were conciliated by the acknowledgment of our LORD as the Greatest of Prophets; the Jews, by the respectful mention of Moses and their other Lawgivers; the idolaters, by the veneration which the Impostor professed for the Temple of Mecca, and the black stone which it contained; and the Chaldeans, by the pre-eminence which he gives to the ministrations of the Angel Gabriel, and his whole scheme of the Seven Heavens. To a people devoted to the gratification of their passions and addicted to Oriental luxury, he appealed, not unsuccessfully, by the promise of a Paradise whose sensual delights were unbounded, and the permission of a free exercise of pleasures in this world.<ref name="Neale 1847 V.II p.68"/>}} | |||
Years later however, Al-Qaeda has yet to succeed in gaining the support of the majority of Muslims and continues to differ from other Islamist organizations in terms of both philosophy and strategy.<ref name="Campo xxi – xxxii"/> | |||
], the moral leader of the 20th-century Indian independence movement, found the history of Muslims to be aggressive, while he pointed out that Hindus have passed that stage of societal evolution: | |||
==== Temporary and Contractual Marriages ==== | |||
{{quotation|Though, in my opinion, non violence has a predominant place in the Quran, the thirteen hundred years of imperialistic expansion has made the Muslims fighters as a body. They are therefore aggressive. Bullying is the natural excrescence of an aggressive spirit. The Hindu has an ages old civilization. He is essentially non violent. His civilization has passed through the experiences that the two recent ones are still passing through. If Hinduism was ever imperialistic in the modern sense of the term, it has outlived its imperialism and has either deliberately or as a matter of course given it up. Predominance of the non violent spirit has restricted the use of arms to a small minority which must always be subordinate to a civil power highly spiritual, learned and selfless. The Hindus as a body are therefore not equipped for fighting. But not having retained their spiritual training, they have forgotten the use of an effective substitute for arms and not knowing their use nor having an aptitude for them, they have become docile to the point of timidity and cowardice. This vice is therefore a natural excrescence of gentleness.<ref>The Gandhian Moment, p. 117, by Ramin Jahanbegloo</ref><ref>Gandhi's responses to Islam, p. 110, by Sheila McDonough</ref>}} | |||
{{Main|Nikah mut'ah|Nikah Misyar}} | |||
{{transliteration|ar|DIN|Nikāḥ al-Mutʿah}} is a fixed-term or short-term contractual ] in ]. The duration of this type of marriage is fixed at its inception and is then automatically dissolved upon completion of its term. For this reason, nikah mut'ah has been widely criticised as the religious cover and legalization of ].<ref>, by ], BBC News, Last Updated: 2 June 2007. | |||
* , by Nancy Trejos, The Washington Post, 20 January 2007.</ref><ref>, by Shahla Haeri, p. 6. | |||
* , by Malcolm Clark. | |||
* , by ].</ref> Shi'a and Sunnis agree that Mut'ah was legal in early times, but Sunnis consider that it was abrogated.<ref>], Volume 1 p. 74 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120502030724/http://www.answering-ansar.org/answers/mutah/en/chap4.php |date=2 May 2012 }}</ref> Currently, however, mut'ah is one of the distinctive features of ].<ref name="Mutahhari7">{{cite web |url=http://www.al-islam.org/rightsofwomeninislam/7.htm |title=The rights of woman in Islam, Fixed-Term marriage and the problem of the harem |first=Morteza |last= Motahhari |publisher=al-islam.org |access-date=10 January 2011}}</ref> | |||
]s believe that Muhammad later abolished this type of marriage at several different large events, Most Sunnis believe that Umar later was merely enforcing a prohibition that was established during Muhammad's time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.zawaj.com/articles/mutah.html|title=ZAWAJ.COM: Articles and Essays|website=www.zawaj.com}}</ref> | |||
Shia contest the criticism that nikah mut'ah is a cover for prostitution, and argue that the unique legal nature of temporary marriage distinguishes Mut'ah ideologically from prostitution.<ref name=Iranica>, '']''</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.al-islam.org/muta-temporary-marriage-islamic-law-sachiko-murata|title=Muta', Temporary Marriage in Islamic Law|date=27 September 2012|website=www.al-islam.org}}</ref> | |||
], the first ], in his book ''Discovery of India'', describes Islam to have been a faith for military conquests. He wrote "Islam had become a more rigid faith suited more to military conquests rather than the conquests of the mind", and that Muslims brought nothing new to his country. | |||
Children born of temporary marriages are considered legitimate, and have equal status in law with their siblings born of permanent marriages, and do inherit from both parents. Women must observe a period of celibacy (idda) to allow for the identification of a child's legitimate father, and a woman can only be married to one person at a time, be it temporary or permanent. Some Shia scholars also view Mut'ah as a means of eradicating prostitution from society.<ref>Said Amir Arjomand (1984), ''From nationalism to revolutionary Islam'', page 171</ref> | |||
Nikah Misyar is a type of ] (marriage) in Sunni Islam only carried out through the normal contractual procedure, with the provision that the husband and wife give up several rights by their own free will, such as living together, equal division of nights between wives in cases of ], the wife's rights to housing, and maintenance money (''"]"''), and the husband's right of homekeeping and access.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fiqh.islamonline.net/en/misyar-marriage/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104035953/http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaE&cid=1119503544160|url-status=dead|title=Misyar Marriage|date=6 July 2006|archivedate=4 January 2011|website=Fiqh}}</ref> Essentially the couple continue to live separately from each other, as before their contract, and see each other to fulfil their needs in a legally permissible (]) manner when they please. | |||
{{quotation|The Muslims who came to India from outside brought no new technique or political or economic structure. In spite of religious belief in the brotherhood of Islam, they were class bound and feudal in outlook.<ref>"Narrative Construction of India: Forster, Nehru, and Rushdie", p. 160, by Mukesh Srivastava, 2004</ref>}} | |||
Misyar has been suggested by some western authors to be a comparable marriage with ] and that they find it for the sole purpose of "sexual gratification in a licit manner"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zEkmJAeJYBkC&q=misyar+muta&pg=PA59|title=Islam and the West|isbn=9781612046235|last1=Lodi|first1=Mushtaq K.|date=1 July 2011|publisher=Strategic Book }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S2kZfdrEBlAC&q=campaigns+Encyclopedia+&pg=PA51|title=The Islamic Shield|isbn=9781599424118|last1=Elhadj|first1=Elie|year=2006|publisher=Universal-Publishers }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n4Eye4ilLVkC&q=Mutah&pg=PA50 | title=Muslim World: Modern Muslim Societies | publisher=Marshall Cavendish | date=1 September 2010 | access-date=5 April 2013 | author=Pohl, Florian | pages=52–53| isbn=9780761479277 }}</ref> | |||
Islamic scholars like ] or ] claim that misyar marriage may be legal, but not moral.<ref name="BinMenie">, ]{{dead link|date=March 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}) (in Arabic) {{dead link|date=March 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> | |||
=== Modern world === | |||
], a historian who lived in ] at the beginning of the 20th century, studied the customs and manners of the North African people. He became one of the few French intellectuals to study the ] of ] in depth, and his research included the ] and the ]. He criticized Islam in his book ''L'islam et la psychologie du musulman''.<ref name="L'islam et la psychologie du musulman">Andre Servier – ]. London. Chapman Hall LTD. 1924, pp. Preface, 2, 18, 61, 153, 191 Ch XVI</ref> Servier argued that "Islam is Christianity adapted to Arab mentality," and that it is "incapable of adapting itself to civilization."<ref name="L'islam et la psychologie du musulman"/> Similarly, he argued that Islamic law "is only the Roman Code revised and corrected by Arabs," Islamic science "nothing but Greek science interpreted by the Arab brain," and Islamic architecture "a distorted imitation of the Byzantine style."<ref name="L'islam et la psychologie du musulman"/> Servier described Islam as "a doctrine of death" and concluded that it had "broken the impulse towards progress and checked the evolution of society" in the Muslim world.<ref name="L'islam et la psychologie du musulman"/> As Servier put it: | |||
{{quotation|To sum up: the Arab has borrowed everything from other nations, literature, art, science, and even his religious ideas. He has passed it all through the sieve of his own narrow mind, and being incapable of rising to high philosophic conceptions, he has distorted, mutilated and desiccated everything. This destructive influence explains the decadence of Musulman nations and their powerlessness to break away from barbarism…<ref name="L'islam et la psychologie du musulman"/>}} | |||
==== Modern Christianity ==== | |||
The early 20th-century ] James L. Barton argued that Islam's view of the sovereignty of God is so extreme and unbalanced as to produce a fatalism that stifles human initiative:<ref name="Barton 1918">Barton, J. L. (1918). The Christian Approach to Islam (p. 139). Boston; Chicago: The Pilgrim Press.</ref> | |||
{{quotation|Man is reduced to a cipher. Human agency and human freedom are nullified. Right is no longer right because it is right, but because Allah wills it to be right. It is for this reason that monotheism has in Islam stifled human effort and progress. It has become a deadening doctrine of fate. Man must believe and pray, but these do not insure salvation or any benefit except Allah wills it. Why should human effort strive by sanitary means to prevent disease, when death or life depends in no way on such measures but upon the will of Allah? One reason why Moslem countries are so stagnant and backward in all that goes to make up a high civilization is owing to the deadening effects of monotheism thus interpreted. ... even in the most extreme forms of the Augustinian and Calvinistic systems there were always present in Christianity other elements which prevented the conception of the divine sovereignty from paralyzing the healthy activities of life as the Mohammedan doctrine has done.<ref name="Barton 1918"/>}} | |||
] criticized Islam as a derivative from Christianity. He described it as a heresy or parody of Christianity. In '']'' he says: | |||
{{quotation|Islam was a product of Christianity; even if it was a by-product; even if it was a bad product. It was a heresy or parody emulating and therefore imitating the Church...Islam, historically speaking, is the greatest of the Eastern heresies. It owed something to the quite isolated and unique individuality of Israel; but it owed more to Byzantium and the theological enthusiasm of Christendom. It owed something even to the Crusades.<ref name="Chesterton 1925">], '']'', 1925, Chapter V, ''The Escape from Paganism'', </ref>}} | |||
During a ] given at the ] in 2006, ] quoted an unfavorable remark about Islam made at the end of the 14th century by ], the ]: | |||
{{quotation|Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"></ref><ref name="BBC1"></ref>}} | |||
As the English translation of the Pope's lecture was disseminated across the world, many ] protested against what they saw as an insulting mischaracterization of Islam.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"/><ref name="BBC1"/> Mass street protests were mounted in many Muslim-majority countries, the '']'' (]i parliament) unanimously called on the Pope to retract "this objectionable statement".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3632287/The-Popes-message-of-greater-dialogue-achieves-the-opposite.html|title=The Pope's message of greater dialogue achieves the opposite|author=Melanie McDonagh|date=16 September 2006|work=Telegraph.co.uk}}</ref> | |||
==== Modern Hinduism ==== | |||
]-winning novelist ] stated that Islam requires its adherents to destroy everything which is not related to it. He described it as having a: | |||
{{quotation|Calamitous effect on converted peoples, to be converted you have to destroy your past, destroy your history. You have to stamp on it, you have to say 'my ancestral culture does not exist, it doesn't matter'.<ref>, 4 Oct 2011</ref>}} | |||
==== Modern African traditional ==== | |||
]-winning playwright ] stated that Islam had a role in denigrating African spiritual traditions. He criticized attempts to whitewash what he sees as the destructive and coercive history of Islam on the continent: | |||
{{quotation|Let those who wish to retain or evaluate religion as a twenty-first project feel free to do so, but let it not be done as a continuation of the game of denigration against the African spiritual heritage as in a recent television series perpetrated by Islam's born again revisionist of history, Professor Ali Mazrui.<ref>"Debating the African Condition: Race, gender, and culture conflict", by Alamin M. Mazrui, Willy Mutunga, p. 105</ref>}} | |||
Soyinka also regarded Islam as "superstition", and said that it does not belong to Africa. He stated that it is mainly spread with violence and force.<ref>"Islam and the West African Novel: The Politics of Representation", p. 25, by Ahmed S. Bangura</ref> | |||
== Truthfulness of Islam and Islamic scriptures == | |||
=== Reliability of the Quran === | |||
]n Qur'an]] | |||
{{See also|History of the Quran|The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran|Criticism of the Quran|Historicity of Muhammad}} | |||
'''Originality of Quranic manuscripts'''. According to traditional Islamic scholarship, all of the Quran was written down by Muhammad's ] while he was alive (during 610–632 CE), but it was primarily an orally related document. The written compilation of the whole Quran in its definite form as we have it now was completed around 20 years after the death of Mohammed.<ref name="Leaman 2006 136–139">{{cite book|last=Leaman|first=Oliver|title=The Qur'an: an Encyclopedia|year=2006|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=0415326397|pages=136–39|chapter=Canon}}</ref> ], ] and ] argue that all the primary sources which exist are from 150–300 years after the events which they describe, and thus are chronologically far removed from those events.<ref>] "Towards a Prehistory of Islam," Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, vol.17, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1994 p. 108.</ref><ref>] The Sectarian Milieu: Content and Composition of Islamic Salvation History, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1978 p. 119</ref><ref>], ''Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam,'' Princeton University Press, 1987 p. 204.</ref> | |||
'''Imperfections in the Quran'''. Critics reject the idea that the Quran is miraculously perfect and impossible to imitate as asserted in the Quran itself.<ref>See the verses {{Cite quran|2|2|style=ns}}, {{Cite quran|17|88|end=89|style=ns}}, {{Cite quran|29|47|style=ns}}, {{Cite quran|28|49|style=ns}}</ref> The 1901-1906 '']'', for example, writes: "The language of the Koran is held by the Mohammedans to be a peerless model of perfection. Critics, however, argue that peculiarities can be found in the text. For example, critics note that a sentence in which something is said concerning Allah is sometimes followed immediately by another in which Allah is the speaker (examples of this are suras xvi. 81, xxvii. 61, xxxi. 9, and xliii. 10.) Many peculiarities in the positions of words are due to the necessities of rhyme (lxix. 31, lxxiv. 3), while the use of many rare words and new forms may be traced to the same cause (comp. especially xix. 8, 9, 11, 16)."<ref name="JE">. From the ''Jewish Encyclopedia''. Retrieved January 21, 2008.</ref> More serious are '''factual inaccuracies'''. For instance, Sura 25.53 claims that ] and salt water do not mix. While there may be cases in which these two bodies of water mix only slowly, every (fresh water) ] that reaches an ocean will mix with salt water. Such areas of mixing are called ] (e.g. at the mouth of the ]). | |||
'''Judaism and the Quran'''. According to the ''Jewish Encyclopedia'', "The dependence of Mohammed upon his Jewish teachers or upon what he heard of the Jewish Haggadah and Jewish practices is now generally conceded."<ref name="JE">. From the ''Jewish Encyclopedia''. Retrieved January 21, 2008.</ref> ] believes that the Quran is a ] in part of other sacred scriptures, in particular the ] scriptures.<ref>Wansbrough, John (1977). ''Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation''</ref><ref name="Wansbrough">Wansbrough, John (1978). ''The Sectarian Milieu: Content and Composition of Islamic Salvation History''.</ref> ] writes that "Despite John Wansbrough's very cautious and careful inclusion of qualifications such as "conjectural," and "tentative and emphatically provisional", his work is condemned by some. Some of this negative reaction is undoubtedly due to its radicalness...Wansbrough's work has been embraced wholeheartedly by few and has been employed in a piecemeal fashion by many. Many praise his insights and methods, if not all of his conclusions."<ref>{{cite book|title=The development of exegesis in early Islam: the authenticity of Muslim literature from the formative period|last=Berg|first=Herbert|authorlink=|year=2000|publisher=Routledge|location=|isbn=0700712240|page=83|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8oYLyS_pIAgC&pg=PA83|accessdate=}}</ref> Early jurists and theologians of Islam mentioned some Jewish influence but they also say where it is seen and recognized as such, it is perceived as a debasement or a dilution of the authentic message. ] describes this as "something like what in Christian history was called a Judaizing heresy."<ref>Jews of Islam, Bernard Lewis, p. 70: </ref> According to ], the story of Muhammad having Jewish teachers is a legend developed in the 10th century CE.<ref>Studies in Islamic History and Civilization, ], p. 347: </ref> ] described the Quran as having "many passages of poetic beauty, religious fervor, and wise counsel, but mixed with absurdities, bombast, unmeaning images, low sensuality."<ref name="Schaff 1910 4.III.44">Schaff, P., & Schaff, D. S. (1910). History of the Christian church. Third edition. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Volume 4, Chapter III, section 44 "The Koran, And The Bible"</ref> | |||
'''Mohammed and God as speakers'''. According to ], the Persian rationalist, ] criticized the Quran on the basis that for some passages, "the speaker cannot have been God."<ref name="Warraq - Why I am Not">{{cite book|url=|title=Why I am Not a Muslim|last1=Warraq|first=|publisher=Prometheus Books|year=|isbn=0879759844|location=|page=106|pages=}}</ref> Warraq gives Surah ] as an example of a passage which is "clearly addressed to God, in the form of a prayer."<ref name="Warraq - Why I am Not"/> He says that by only adding the word "say" in front of the passage, this difficulty could have been removed. Furthermore, it is also known that one of the companions of Muhammad, ], rejected Surah Fatihah as being part of the Quran; these kind of disagreements are, in fact, common among the companions of Muhammad who could not decide which surahs were part of the Quran and which not.<ref name="Warraq - Why I am Not"/> | |||
'''Other criticism''': | |||
* The Quran contains verses which are difficult to understand or are perceived contradictory.<ref name="Lester">{{cite magazine |last=Lester |first=Toby |authorlink=Toby Lester |date=January 1999 |title=What is the Koran? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199901/koran |magazine=]}}</ref> | |||
* There is a story that Shaytan tricked Mohammed into praising the idols of the Quraysh known as the ]. However the account is incredibly weak and there is no ] source which suggests this claim to be true.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://islamqa.info/en/4135|title="Satanic Verses" |last=|first=|date=|website=islamqa.info|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709170657/https://islamqa.info/en/4135|archive-date=2018-07-09|dead-url=|access-date=2018-07-09}}</ref> | |||
* Some accounts of the history of Islam say there were two verses of the Quran that were allegedly added by ] when he was tricked by Satan (in an incident known as the "Story of the Cranes", later referred to as the "]"). These verses were then retracted at angel Gabriel's behest.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{Cite book| last=Watt | first=W. Montgomery | title=Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman| year=1961 | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=0-19-881078-4 | page=61}}</ref><ref>"The Life of Muhammad", Ibn Ishaq, A. Guillaume (translator), 2002, p. 166 {{ISBN|0-19-636033-1}}</ref> | |||
* The author of the '']'' Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi (not to be confused with the famed philosopher ]) claimed that the narratives in the Quran were "all jumbled together and intermingled" and that this was "an evidence that many different hands have been at work therein, and caused discrepancies, adding or cutting out whatever they liked or disliked".<ref>Quoted in A. Rippin, ''Muslims: their religious beliefs and practices: Volume 1'', London, 1991, p. 26</ref> | |||
* The companions of Muhammad could not agree on which surahs were part of the Quran and which not. Two of the most famous companions being ] and ].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Warraq|first1=Ibn|title=The Origins of the Koran|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn=978-1573921985}}</ref> | |||
=== Reliability of the Hadith === | |||
{{Main|Criticism of Hadith}} | |||
]]] | |||
] are Muslim traditions relating to the '']'' (words and deeds) of Muhammad. They are drawn from the writings of scholars writing between 844 and 874 CE, more than 200 years after the death of Mohammed in 632 CE.<ref> by Frank Zindler</ref> Within Islam, different ] have different opinions on the proper selection and use of Hadith. The four schools of Sunni Islam all consider Hadith second only to the Quran, although they differ on how much freedom of interpretation should be allowed to legal scholars.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Goddard | first=Hugh| author2=Helen K. Bond (Ed.), Seth Daniel Kunin (Ed.), Francesca Aran Murphy (Ed.) | title=Religious Studies and Theology: An Introduction | publisher=New York University Press | year=2003| isbn=0814799140 | page=204}}</ref> Shi'i scholars disagree with Sunni scholars as to which Hadith should be considered reliable. The Shi'as accept the Sunnah of Ali and the Imams as authoritative in addition to the Sunnah of Muhammad, and as a consequence they maintain their own, different, collections of Hadith.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Esposito| first=John | title=Islam: The Straight Path | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1998| isbn=0195112342 | page=85}}</ref> | |||
It has been suggested that there exists around the Hadith three major sources of corruption: political conflicts, sectarian prejudice, and the desire to translate the underlying meaning, rather than the original words verbatim.<ref name="fedex">Brown, Daniel W. "Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought", 1999. pp. 113, 134</ref> | |||
Muslim critics of the hadith, ], reject the authority of hadith on theological grounds, pointing to verses in the Quran itself: "''Nothing have We omitted from the Book''",<ref>Quran, ]: 38</ref> declaring that all necessary instruction can be found within the Quran, without reference to the Hadith. They claim that following the Hadith has led to people straying from the original purpose of God's revelation to Muhammad, adherence to the Quran alone.<ref>Donmez, Amber C. "The Difference Between Quran-Based Islam and Hadith-Based Islam"</ref> ] (1903–1985) was a noted critic of the Hadith and believed that the Quran alone was all that was necessary to discern God's will and our obligations. A ], ruling, signed by more than a thousand orthodox clerics, denounced him as a 'kafir', a non-believer.<ref>Ahmad, Aziz. "Islamic Modernism in India and Pakistan, 1857–1964". London: Oxford University Press.</ref> His seminal work, ''Maqam-e Hadith'' argued that the Hadith were composed of "the garbled words of previous centuries", but suggests that he is not against the ''idea'' of collected sayings of the Prophet, only that he would consider any hadith that goes against the teachings of Quran to have been falsely attributed to the Prophet.<ref>Pervez, Ghulam Ahmed. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113215748/http://www.tolueislam.com/Parwez/mh/mh.htm |date=2011-11-13 }}, {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004044003/http://www.tolueislam.com/Urdu/mhadith/mh.htm |date=2011-10-04 }}</ref> The 1986 Malaysian book "Hadith: A Re-evaluation" by ] was met with controversy and some scholars declared him an ] from Islam for suggesting that ""the hadith are sectarian, anti-science, anti-reason and anti-women."<ref name="call">Latif, Abu Ruqayyah Farasat. {{dead link|date=November 2011}}, Masters Assertion, September 2006</ref><ref name="kiss">Ahmad, Kassim. "Hadith: A Re-evaluation", 1986. English translation 1997</ref> | |||
] notes that "Modern Western scholarship has seriously questioned the historicity and authenticity of the ''hadith''", maintaining that "the bulk of traditions attributed to the Prophet Muhammad were actually written much later." He mentions ], considered the father of the revisionist movement, as one scholar who argues this, claiming that Schacht "found no evidence of legal traditions before 722," from which Schacht concluded that "the Sunna of the Prophet is not the words and deeds of the Prophet, but apocryphal material" dating from later.<ref>{{cite book | last=Esposito| first=John | title=Islam: The Straight Path | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1998| isbn=0195112342 | page=67}}</ref> Other scholars, however, such as ], have argued that "wholesale rejection as late fiction is unjustified".<ref>{{cite book | last=Madelung| first=Wilferd | title=The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1997 | isbn=0521646960 | page=xi}}</ref> | |||
Orthodox Muslims do not deny the existence of false hadith, but believe that through the scholars' work, these false hadith have been largely eliminated.<ref>By Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza, "Shi'ism", 1988. p. 35.</ref> | |||
=== Lack of secondary evidence === | |||
]s of the ]]] | |||
{{See also|Historiography of early Islam}} | |||
The traditional view of Islam has also been criticised for the lack of supporting evidence consistent with that view, such as the lack of archaeological evidence, and discrepancies with non-Muslim literary sources.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opendemocracy.net/faith-europe_islam/mohammed_3866.jsp|title=What do we actually know about Mohammed?|work=openDemocracy}}</ref> In the 1970s, what has been described as a "wave of sceptical scholars" challenged a great deal of the received wisdom in Islamic studies.<ref name="Donner 1998">Donner, Fred ''Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing'', Darwin Press, 1998</ref>{{rp|23}} They argued that the Islamic historical tradition had been greatly corrupted in transmission. They tried to correct or reconstruct the early history of Islam from other, presumably more reliable, sources such as coins, inscriptions, and non-Islamic sources. The oldest of this group was ] (1928–2002). Wansbrough's works were widely noted, but perhaps not widely read.<ref name="Donner 1998"/>{{rp|38}} In 1972 a cache of ancient Qurans in a mosque in Sana'a, Yemen was discovered – commonly known as the ]. The German scholar ] has been investigating these Quran fragments for years. His research team made 35,000 microfilm photographs of the manuscripts, which he dated to early part of the 8th century. Puin has not published the entirety of his work, but noted unconventional verse orderings, minor textual variations, and rare styles of orthography. He also suggested that some of the parchments were ]s which had been reused. Puin believed that this implied an evolving text as opposed to a fixed one.<ref name="Lester" /> | |||
== Morality == | |||
{{main|Morality in Islam}} | |||
=== Muhammad === | |||
{{Main|Criticism of Muhammad}} | |||
] drew Muhammad in his work '']'', depicting him as being tortured in Hell.]] | |||
] is considered as one of the ] and as a model for followers. Critics such as ] and former Muslim ] see some of Mohammed's actions as immoral.<ref name="Oussani"/><ref name="WarraqQuest"/> | |||
] wrote a poetic eulogy commemorating the slain Quraish notables; later, he had traveled to Mecca and provoked the Quraish to fight Muhammad. He also wrote ] poetry about Muslim women, which offended the Muslims there.<ref name="Ashraf">{{cite encyclopedia |author=] |editor=P.J. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=] |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs | encyclopedia =] Online|title=Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |issn=1573-3912}}</ref> This poetry influenced so many<ref>Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, 10th edition (Macmillan Press, 1970), p. 90.</ref> that this too was considered directly against the ] which states, ''loyalty gives protection against treachery'' and ''this document will not (be employed to) protect one who is unjust or commits a crime.'' Other sources also state that he was plotting to assassinate Muhammad.<ref name="Rubin">Uri Rubin, The Assassination of Kaʿb b. al-Ashraf, Oriens, Vol. 32. (1990), pp. 65–71.</ref> | |||
Muhammad called upon his followers to kill Ka'b. Muhammad ibn Maslama offered his services, collecting four others. By pretending to have turned against Muhammad, Muhammad ibn Maslama and the others enticed Ka'b out of his fortress on a moonlit night,<ref name="Ashraf"/> and killed him in spite of his vigorous resistance.<ref>{{cite book|author=] |title=Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya | volume=vol. 2 |location=Cairo |year=1955 |pages=51–57}} English translation from Stillman (1979), pp. 125–26.</ref> The Jews were terrified at his assassination, and as the historian ] put it "...there was not a Jew who did not fear for his life".<ref>Ibn Hisham (1955). English translation from Stillman (1979), p. 127.</ref> | |||
====Age of Muhammad's wife Aisha==== | ====Age of Muhammad's wife Aisha==== | ||
{{See also|Criticism of Muhammad#Aisha|l1=Criticism of Muhammad (Aisha)|Child marriage}} | {{See also|Criticism of Muhammad#Aisha|l1=Criticism of Muhammad (Aisha)|Child marriage}} | ||
According to Sunni ] sources, Aisha was six or seven years old when she was married to Muhammad and nine when the marriage was consummated.<ref name=armstrong157>{{harvnb|Armstrong|1992|p=157}}</ref><ref name=spellberg40>{{harvnb|Spellberg|1996|p=40}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Watt|1960}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Barlas|2002|pp=125–26}}</ref> The Muslim historian ] ({{Died in|923}}) reports that she was ten,<ref name=spellberg40/> while ] ({{Died in|845}}) and ] ({{Died in|1282}}), two other Muslim historians, write that she was nine years old at marriage and twelve at consummation.<ref name="Afsaruddin2014">{{harvnb|Afsaruddin|2014}}</ref> ] ({{Died in|1951}}), a modern Muslim author, argues that a new interpretation of the Hadith compiled by ], Wali-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Khatib, could indicate that Aisha would have been nineteen.<ref>{{harvnb|Ali|1997|p=150}}</ref> Similarly, on the basis of a hadith about her age difference with her sister ], some have estimated Aisha's age to have been eighteen or nineteen at the time of her marriage.<ref>{{cite book |first=Asma |last=Barlas |date=2012 |title="Believing Women" in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur'an |publisher=University of Texas Press |page=126 |quote=On the other hand, however, Muslims who calculate 'Ayesha's age based on details of her sister Asma's age, about whom more is known, as well as on details of the Hijra (the Prophet's migration from Mecca to Madina), maintain that she was over thirteen and perhaps between seventeen and nineteen when she got married. Such views cohere with those Ahadith that claim that at her marriage Ayesha had "good knowledge of Ancient Arabic poetry and genealogy" and "pronounced the fundamental rules of Arabic Islamic ethics.}}</ref>{{sfn|Ali|1997|p=150}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.valiasr-aj.com/fa/page.php?bank=question&id=699 |title=Ayesha married the Prophet when she was young? (In Persian and Arabic) |last=Ayatollah Qazvini |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100926234317/http://www.valiasr-aj.com/fa/page.php?bank=question&id=699 |archive-date=26 September 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=A.C. Brown |first1=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan A.C. Brown |title=Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy |date=2014 |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-78074-420-9 |pages= |url=https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/146 }}</ref> At any rate, Muhammad's marriage to Aisha may have not been considered improper by his contemporaries, for such marriages between an older man and a young girl were common among the ]s.<ref>C. (Colin) Turner, ''Islam: The Basics'', Routledge Press, p.34–35</ref> In particular, ], an author on comparative religion, writes, "There was no impropriety in Muhammad's marriage to Aisha. Marriages conducted in absentia to seal an alliance were often contracted at this time between adults and minors who were even younger than Aisha."<ref name=":0">Karen Armstrong, ''Muhammad: Prophet for Our Time'', HarperPress, 2006, p. 167 {{ISBN|0-00-723245-4}}.</ref> | |||
According to scriptural Sunni's ] sources, Aisha was six or seven years old when she was married to Muhammad and nine when the marriage was consummated. However Shia Muslims tend to differ as to the age of Aisha.<ref name=armstrong157>{{harvnb|Armstrong|1992|p=157}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{Hadith-usc|Bukhari|usc=yes|5|58|234}}, {{Hadith-usc|Bukhari|usc=yes-usc|5|58|236}}, {{Hadith-usc|Bukhari|usc=yes-usc|7|62|64}}, {{Hadith-usc|Bukhari|usc=yes-usc|7|62|65}}, {{Hadith-usc|Bukhari|usc=yes-usc|7|62|88}}, {{Hadith-usc|usc=yes|muslim|8|3309}}, {{Hadith-usc|muslim|8|3310}}, {{Hadith-usc|muslim|8|3311}}, {{Hadith-usc|abudawud|41|4915}}, {{Hadith-usc|abudawud|usc=yes|41|4917}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite magazine |title=Mountain Rigger |url=http://www.economist.com/node/8148621 |magazine=] |date=November 11, 2006}}</ref><ref name=spellberg40>{{harvnb|Spellberg|1994|p=40}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Watt|1960}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Barlas|2002|pp=125–26}}</ref> | |||
], born in Persia 200 years after Muhammmad's death, suggested that she was ten years old.<ref name=spellberg40/> Six hundred years after Muhammad, ] recorded that she was nine years old at marriage, and twelve at consummation. ], born about 150 years after Muhammad's death, cited ] as saying that she was nine years old at marriage, and twelve at consummation,<ref name="Afsaruddin2014">{{harvnb|Afsaruddin|2014}}</ref> but ]'s original source is otherwise unknown, and ]'s work does not have the high religious status of the ]. | |||
In the twentieth century, Indian writer ] challenged the ] showing that Aisha was as young as the traditional sources claim; arguing that instead a new interpretation of the ] compiled by ], Wali-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Khatib, could indicate that Aisha would have been nineteen years old around the time of her marriage.<ref>{{harvnb|Ali|1997|p=150}}</ref> | |||
Colin Turner, a UK professor of ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dur.ac.uk/sgia/profiles/?mode=staff&id=494|title=Dr CP Turner |publisher=Durham University}}</ref> states that since such marriages between an older man and a young girl were customary among the ]s, Muhammad's marriage would not have been considered improper by his contemporaries.<ref>C. (Colin) Turner, ''Islam: The Basics'', Routledge Press, pp. 34–35</ref> ], the British author on comparative religion, has affirmed that "There was no impropriety in Muhammad's marriage to Aisha. Marriages conducted in absentia to seal an alliance were often contracted at this time between adults and minors who were even younger than Aisha."<ref name=":0">Karen Armstrong, ''Muhammad: Prophet for Our Time'', HarperPress, 2006, p. 167 {{ISBN|0007232454}}</ref> | |||
=== Morality of the Quran === | |||
{{See also|Criticism of the Quran|Islamic ethics}} | |||
]]] | |||
According to some critics, the morality of the Quran appears to be a moral regression when judged by the standards of the moral traditions of Judaism and Christianity it says that it builds upon. The '']'', for example, states that "the ethics of Islam are far inferior to those of ] and even more inferior to those of the New Testament" and "that in the ethics of Islam there is a great deal to admire and to approve, is beyond dispute; but of originality or superiority, there is none."<ref>. From the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. Retrieved January 21, 2008.</ref> | |||
* Critics stated that the Quran{{Cite quran|4|34}} allows Muslim men to discipline their wives by striking them.<ref>Kathir, Ibn, "Tafsir of Ibn Kathir", Al-Firdous Ltd., London, 2000, 50–53 – Ibn Kathir states "dharbun ghayru nubrah" strike/admonish lightly</ref> (There is however confusion amongst translations of Quran with the original Arabic term "wadribuhunna" being translated as "to go away from them",<ref>Laleh Bakhtiar, The Sublime Quran, 2007 translation</ref> "beat",<ref>"The Holy Quran: Text, Translation and Commentary", Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Amana Corporation, Brentwood, MD, 1989. {{ISBN|0915957035}}, passage was quoted from commentary on 4:34 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali in his Quranic commentary also states that: "In case of family jars four steps are mentioned, to be taken in that order. (1) Perhaps verbal advice or admonition may be sufficient; (2) if not, sex relations may be suspended; (3) if this is not sufficient, some slight physical correction may be administered; but Imam Shafi'i considers this inadvisable, though permissible, and all authorities are unanimous in deprecating any sort of cruelty, even of the nagging kind, as mentioned in the next clause; (4) if all this fails, a family council is recommended in 4:35 below." Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Quran: Text, Translation and Commentary (commentary on 4:34), Amana Corporation, Brentwood, MD, 1989. {{ISBN|0915957035}}.</ref> "strike lightly" and "separate".<ref>Ammar, Nawal H. (May 2007). "Wife Battery in Islam: A Comprehensive Understanding of Interpretations". ''Violence Against Women'' 13 (5): 519–23</ref> The film '']'', which rose to fame after the murder of its director ], critiqued this and similar verses of the Quran by displaying them painted on the bodies of abused Muslim women.<ref name=submission_script>{{cite web|url=http://www.opzij.nl/opzij/show?id=23669&framenoid=19755|title=Welkom bij Opzij|publisher=|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225432/http://www.opzij.nl/opzij/show?id=23669&framenoid=19755|archivedate=2007-09-27|df=}}</ref> ], the film's writer, said "it is written in the Koran a woman may be slapped if she is disobedient. This is one of the evils I wish to point out in the film".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dnd.nl/showarticle.php3?newsID=15018|title=Dutch News Digest|publisher=|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320233336/http://www.dnd.nl/showarticle.php3?newsID=15018|archivedate=2012-03-20|df=}}</ref> | |||
* Some critics argue that the Quran is incompatible with other religious scriptures as it attacks and advocates hate against people of other religions.<ref name="BibleInQuran"/><ref>Gerber (1986), pp. 78–79</ref><ref>"Anti-Semitism". ]</ref><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318224903/http://www.hudson.org/files/pdf_upload/saudi_textbooks_final.pdf |date=2009-03-18 }} (pdf), ], May 2006, pp. 24–25.</ref> For instance, ] interprets certain verses of the Quran as sanctioning military action against unbelievers as a whole both during the lifetime of Muhammad and after. The Quran said "Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – until they give the ] willingly while they are humbled."<ref name="Who Are the Moderate Muslims?">Sam Harris </ref> In '']'' Harris argues that Muslim extremism is simply a consequence of taking the Qur'an literally, and is skeptical that moderate Islam is possible.<ref name=Harris1>{{Cite book| last=Harris | first=Sam | title=The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason | pages=31, 149 | publisher=W.W. Norton; Reprint edition|year=2005| isbn=0393327655}}</ref> Various calls to arms were identified in the Quran by US citizen ], all of which were cited as "most relevant to my actions on March 3, 2006" (, , , , , , , , , , , , , ).<ref>{{cite wikisource|wslink=Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar- Letter to The daily Tar Heel|title=Letter to The daily Tar Heel|first=Mohammed Reza|last=Taheri-azar|authorlink=Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar SUV attack#Perpetrator|year=2006}}</ref> | |||
* Max I. Dimont interprets that the ]s described in the Quran are specifically dedicated to "male pleasure".<ref>The Indestructible Jews, by Max I. Dimont, p. 134</ref> Henry Martyn claims that the concept of the Houris was chosen to satisfy Muhammad's followers.<ref>Controversial Tracts on Christianity and Mohammedanism, by Henry Martyn, p. 131</ref> | |||
=== Slavery === | |||
{{Main|Islamic views on slavery}} | |||
] in ]]] | |||
Bernard Lewis writes: "In one of the sad paradoxes of ], it was the humanitarian reforms brought by Islam that resulted in a vast development of the ] inside, and still more outside, the Islamic empire." He notes that the Islamic injunctions against the enslavement of Muslims led to massive importation of slaves from the outside.<ref>Lewis, Bernard (1990). Race and Slavery in the Middle East. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0195053265}}, p. 10.</ref> According to ], Islam by recognizing and codifying the slavery seems to have done more to protect and expand slavery than the reverse.<ref>Manning, Patrick (1990). Slavery and African Life: Occidental, Oriental, and African Slave Trades. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0521348676}}, p. 28</ref> | |||
Unlike Western societies which in their opposition to slavery spawned anti-slavery movements whose numbers and enthusiasm often grew out of church groups, no such grass-roots organizations ever developed in Muslim societies. In Muslim politics the state unquestioningly accepted the teachings of Islam and applied them as law. Islam, by sanctioning slavery, also extended legitimacy to the traffic in slaves.<ref>Murray Gordon, "Slavery in the Arab World." New Amsterdam Press, New York, 1989. Originally published in French by Editions Robert Laffont, S.A. Paris, 1987, p. 21.</ref> | |||
It was only in the early 20th century (post ]) that slavery gradually became outlawed and suppressed in Muslim lands, largely due to pressure exerted by Western nations such as Britain and France.<ref name="eois">Brunschvig. 'Abd; ]</ref> Gordon describes the lack of homegrown Islamic abolition movements as owing much to the fact that it was deeply anchored in Islamic law. By legitimizing slavery and – by extension – traffic in slaves, Islam elevated those practices to an unassailable moral plane. As a result, in no part of the Muslim world was an ideological challenge ever mounted against slavery. The political and ] in Muslim society would have taken a dim view of such a challenge.<ref>Murray Gordon, "Slavery in the Arab World." New Amsterdam Press, New York, 1989. Originally published in French by Editions Robert Laffont, S.A. Paris, 1987, pp. 44–45.</ref> | |||
The issue of slavery in the Islamic world in modern times is controversial. Critics argue there is hard evidence of its existence and destructive effects. Others maintain slavery in central Islamic lands has been virtually extinct since mid-twentieth century, and that reports from Sudan and Somalia showing practice of slavery is in border areas as a result of continuing war<ref>], ''slavery'', p. 298</ref> and not Islamic belief. In recent years, according to some scholars,<ref>Khaled Abou El Fadl and William Clarence-Smith</ref> there has been a "worrying trend" of "reopening" of the issue of slavery by some conservative ] Islamic scholars after its "closing" earlier in the 20th century when ] banned slavery and "most Muslim scholars" found the practice "inconsistent with Qur'anic morality."<ref>Abou el Fadl, ''Great Theft'', HarperSanFrancisco, 2005.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/economicHistory/GEHN/GEHNPDF/Islam&SlaveryWGCS.pdf|title=Department of Economic History|publisher=}}</ref> | |||
Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri of ] expressed the view in 1993 that the enforcement of servitude can occur but is restricted to war captives and those born of slaves.<ref>In 'The Elements of Islam' (1993) cited in Clarence-Smith, p. 131</ref> | |||
In a 2014 issue of their digital magazine '']'', the ] explicitly claimed religious justification for enslaving ] women.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.newsweek.com/islamic-state-seeks-justify-enslaving-yazidi-women-and-girls-iraq-277100|title=Islamic State Seeks to Justify Enslaving Yazidi Women and Girls in Iraq|work=]|date=2014-10-13}}</ref><ref>Athena Yenko, {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018222114/http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/569402/20141013/islamic-state-dabiq-magazine-isis-slavery.htm#.VD7r9EnD_Gg |date=October 18, 2014 }} '']-Australia'', October 13, 2014</ref><ref>Allen McDuffee, '']'', Oct 13 2014</ref><ref>Salma Abdelaziz, '']'', October 13, 2014</ref><ref>Richard Spencer, '']'', 13 Oct 2014.</ref> | |||
=== Apostasy === | |||
])" a painting by ]|thumb|250px]] | |||
{{Main|Apostasy in Islam}} | |||
{{see also|Freedom of religion#Islam}} | |||
According to ] ] is identified by a list of actions such as conversion to another religion, denying the existence of ], rejecting the ], mocking God or the prophets, idol worship, rejecting the ], or permitting behavior that is forbidden by the sharia, such as ] or the eating of forbidden foods or drinking of alcoholic beverages.<ref>''Reliance of the Traveller and Tools of the Worshipper'', trans. Nuh Ha Mim Keller, o5,17</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Campo|first=Juan Eduardo|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|page=48|url=https://books.google.com/?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|isbn=978-1438126968}}</ref> The majority of Muslim scholars hold to the traditional view that apostasy is ] or imprisonment until repentance, at least for adult men of sound mind.<ref>{{cite book|author=Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im|title=Toward an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights, and International Law|publisher= Syracuse University Press|year= 1996|page= 183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U4e7Ph4lXzUC&pg=PA183|isbn=978-0815627067}}</ref><ref name="KEY">{{cite book|last1=Kecia |first1=Ali |first2= Oliver |last2=Leaman|title=Islam: the key concepts|publisher= Routledge|year= 2008|page= 10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5-CdzqmuXsC&pg=PA10|isbn=978-0415396387 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=John L. |last=Esposito|title=The Oxford dictionary of Islam|publisher= Oxford University Press|year=2004 |page= 22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VeCWQfVNjkC&pg=PA22|isbn=978-0195125597}}</ref> | |||
Laws prohibiting ] run contrary to Article 18 of the ], which states that "veryone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."<ref>{{cite web|publisher=United Nations|title=The Universal Declaration of Human Rights|date= September 22, 2012 |url=https://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a18}}</ref> | |||
The English historian ] suggests the traditional view of apostasy hampered the development of Islamic learning, arguing that while the organizational form of the ] allowed them to develop and flourish into the modern university, "the ] remained constricted by the doctrine of ] alone, with their physical plant often deteriorating hopelessly and their curricula narrowed by the exclusion of the non-traditional religious sciences like philosophy and natural science," out of fear that these could evolve into potential toe-holds for ], those people who reject God."<ref>C.E. Bosworth: Untitled review of "The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West by George Makdisi", ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'', No. 2 (1983), pp. 304–05</ref> | |||
In 13 Muslim-majority countries atheism is punishable by death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/10/atheists-death-penalty-_n_4417994.html|title=Atheists Face Death Penalty In 13 Countries, Discrimination Around The World According To Freethought Report|date=12 October 2013|publisher=The Huffington Post}}</ref> | |||
==== Islamic law ==== | |||
{{see also|Sharia}} | |||
] committee on the case of a convert to ]: "Since he left Islam, he will be invited to revert. If he does not revert, he will be killed pertaining to rights and obligations of the Islamic law." The fatwa outlines the same procedure and penalty for the male convert's children, on reaching the age of puberty.]] | |||
] summarizes: | |||
{{quotation|The penalty for apostasy in Islamic law is death. Islam is conceived as a polity, not just as a religious community. It follows therefore that apostasy is treason. It is a withdrawal, a denial of allegiance as well as of religious belief and loyalty. Any sustained and principled opposition to the existing regime or order almost inevitably involves such a withdrawal.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{Cite news| last=Lewis | first=Bernard | title=Islamic Revolution | date=1998-01-21 | publisher=The New York Review of Books | url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/4557}}</ref>}} | |||
The four ] schools of ], as well as ] scholars, agree on the difference of punishment between male and female. A sane adult male apostate may be executed. A female apostate may be put to death, according to the majority view, or imprisoned until she repents, according to others.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam | year=2003 | title=Murtadd}}</ref> | |||
The ] threatens apostates with punishment in the next world only, the historian W. Heffening states, the traditions however contain the element of death penalty. Muslim scholar Shafi'i interprets verse {{Quran-usc|2|217|style=ns}} as adducing the main evidence for the death penalty in Quran.<ref>W. Heffening, in Encyclopedia of Islam</ref> The historian Wael Hallaq states the later addition of death penalty "reflects a later reality and does not stand in accord with the deeds of the Prophet." He further states that "nothing in the law governing apostate and apostasy derives from the letter of the holy text."<ref>Encyclopedia of the Quran, Apostasy</ref> | |||
], in response to a question about Western views of the Islamic Law as being cruel, states that "In Islamic teaching, such penalties may have been suitable for the age in which Muhammad lived. However, as societies have since progressed and become more peaceful and ordered, they are not suitable any longer."<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807045042/http://www.alastairmcintosh.com/articles/2000_watt.htm |date=2011-08-07 }}, by Bashir Maan & Alastair McIntosh</ref> | |||
Some contemporary Islamic jurists from both the ] and ] denominations together with ] Muslims have argued or issued ]s that state that either the changing of religion is not punishable or is only punishable under restricted circumstances.<ref>, by Mahdi Jami, In Persian, ''BBC Persian'', February 2, 2005. Retrieved April 25, 2006. | |||
* , by Magdi Abdelhadi, BBC Arab affairs analyst, 27 March 2006. Retrieved April 25, 2006. | |||
* S.A. Rahman in "Punishment of Apostasy in Islam", Institute of Islamic Culture, Lahore, 1972, pp. 10–13 | |||
* {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926233750/http://www.islamicperspectives.com/Apostasy1.htm |date=2009-09-26 }}, View of Dr. Ahmad Shafaat on apostasy. | |||
* Religious Tolerance.org, , by B.A. Robinson, ''Religious Tolerance.org'', April 7, 2006. Retrieved April 16, 2006.</ref> For example, Grand Ayatollah ] argues that no Quranic verse prescribes an earthly penalty for apostasy and adds that it is not improbable that the punishment was prescribed by Muhammad at early Islam due to political conspiracies against Islam and Muslims and not only because of changing the belief or expressing it. Montazeri defines different types of apostasy. He does not hold that a reversion of belief because of investigation and research is punishable by death but prescribes capital punishment for a desertion of Islam out of malice and enmity towards the Muslim.<ref>, by Mahdi Jami, In Persian, ''BBC Persian'', February 2, 2005. Retrieved April 25, 2006.</ref> | |||
According to ], an Israeli Islamic Studies scholar, a Muslim may stress tolerant elements of Islam (by for instance adopting the broadest interpretation of Quran 2:256 ("No compulsion is there in religion...") or the humanist approach attributed to Ibrahim al-Nakha'i), without necessarily denying the existence of other ideas in the Medieval Islamic tradition but rather discussing them in their historical context (by for example arguing that "civilizations comparable with the Islamic one, such as the Sassanids and the Byzantines, also punished apostasy with death. Similarly neither Judaism nor Christianity treated apostasy and apostates with any particular kindness").<ref name="Yohanan Friedmann p.5">Yohanan Friedmann, ''Tolerance and Coercion in Islam'', Cambridge University Press, p. 5</ref> Friedmann continues: | |||
{{quotation|The real predicament facing modern Muslims with liberal convictions is not the existence of stern laws against apostasy in medieval Muslim books of law, but rather the fact that accusations of apostasy and demands to punish it are heard time and again from radical elements in the contemporary Islamic world.<ref name="Yohanan Friedmann p.5"/>}} | |||
==== Human rights conventions ==== | |||
]... may well become the international ]."<ref> 10 December 1948 in Paris, France</ref> ] with the Spanish text of the Universal Declaration in 1949]] | |||
{{see also|Human rights}} | |||
Some widely held interpretations of Islam are inconsistent with Human Rights conventions that recognize the right to change religion.<ref>http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/edumat/studyguides/religion.html</ref> In particular article 18 of the ]<ref></ref> | |||
states: | |||
{{quotation|Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.}} | |||
To implement this, Article 18 (2) of the ] states: | |||
{{quotation|No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion of his choice.}} | |||
The right for Muslims to change their religion is not afforded by the Iranian Shari'ah law, which specifically forbids it. In 1981, the Iranian representative to the ], ], articulated the position of his country regarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by saying that the UDHR was "a ] understanding of the ] tradition", which could not be implemented by Muslims without trespassing the Islamic law.<ref>Littman, David. "Universal Human Rights and 'Human Rights in Islam'". ''Midstream'', February/March 1999</ref> As a matter of law, on the basis of its obligations as a state party to the ], Iran is obliged to uphold the right of individuals to practice the religion of their choice and to change religions, including converting from Islam. The prosecution of converts from Islam on the basis of religious edicts that identify apostasy as an offense punishable by death is clearly at variance with this obligation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/iran/Iran-04.htm|title=IRAN|publisher=}}</ref><ref name="article18">''Sharia as traditionally understood runs counter to the ideas expressed in Article 18'':: By Henrik Ertner Rasmussen, General Secretary, Danish European Mission</ref> Muslim-majority countries such as ] and ], have the death penalty for ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peacefaq.com/apostacy.html|title=Apostacy, "Leaving Islam" – The Peace FAQ|publisher=|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071118171026/http://www.peacefaq.com/apostacy.html|archivedate=2007-11-18|df=}}</ref> These countries have criticized the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for its perceived failure to take into account the cultural and religious context of non-] countries.<ref>https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/09/26/saudi-arabias-troubling-death-sentence</ref> In 1990, the ] published a separate ] compliant with Shari'ah.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050828144624/http://www.religlaw.org/interdocs/docs/cairohrislam1990.htm |date=2005-08-28 }}, Adopted and Issued at the Nineteenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Cairo, ''Religion and Law Research Consortium'', August 5, 1990. Retrieved April 16, 2006.</ref> Although granting many of the rights in the UN declaration, it does not grant Muslims the right to convert to other religions, and restricts ] to those expressions of it that are not in contravention of the Islamic law. | |||
], the founder of ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/pakistan/ji.htm |title=Jamaat-e-Islami |accessdate=2007-06-03 |date=2005-04-27 |work=GlobalSecurity.org}}</ref> wrote a book called ],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Maududi |first=Abul A'la |authorlink=Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi |title=Human Rights in Islam |year=1976 |publisher=] |location=] |isbn=0950395498}}</ref> in which he argues that respect for ]s has always been enshrined in ] law (indeed that the roots of these rights are to be found in Islamic doctrine)<ref>Maududi, ''Human Rights in Islam'', p. 10. "Islam has laid down some universal fundamental rights for humanity as a whole ... ."</ref> and criticizes Western notions that there is an inherent contradiction between the two.<ref>Maududi, ''Human Right in Islam'', p. 13. "The people of the West have the habit of attributing every good thing to themselves and trying to prove that it is because of them that the world got this blessing ... ."</ref> Western scholars have, for the most part, rejected Maududi's analysis.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bielefeldt |first=Heiner |date=February 2000 |title="Western" versus "Islamic" Human Rights Conceptions?: A Critique of Cultural Essentialism in the Discussion on Human Rights |journal=Political Theory |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=90–121 |id= |doi=10.1177/0090591700028001005 |jstor=192285}}</ref><ref name="Bielefeldt 104">Bielefeldt (2000), p. 104.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Carle |first=Robert |year=2005 |title=Revealing and Concealing: Islamist Discourse on Human Rights |journal=Human Rights Review |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=122–37 |quote=Both Tabandeh and Mawdudi proceed to develop a synthesis between human rights and traditional shari'a that conceals the conflicts and tensions between the two. |doi=10.1007/BF02862219}}</ref> | |||
=== Violence === | |||
{{Main|Islam and violence}} | |||
{{See also|Quran and violence|Islam and war}} | |||
] led to debate on whether Islam promotes violence]] | |||
] all those who insult the ]" and "Our dead are in Paradise. Your dead are in HELL!"]] | |||
The ] on the United States, and various other acts of ] over the 21st century, have resulted in many non-Muslims' indictment of Islam as a violent religion.<ref>{{cite book |title=Religion, power & violence: expression of politics in contemporary times|first=Ram |last=Puniyani |publisher=SAGE |year=2005 |pages=97–98 |url=https://books.google.com/?id=Fd5Fm79VMk8C&pg=PA98&dq=Islam+%22violent+religion%22#v=onepage&q=Islam%20%22violent%20religion%22&f=false |isbn=978-0761933380}}</ref> In particular, the Quran's teachings on matters of war and peace have become topics of heated discussion in recent years. On the one hand, some critics claim that certain verses of the Quran sanction military action against unbelievers as a whole both during the lifetime of Muhammad and after. The Quran says, "Fight in the name of your religion with those who fight against you."<ref name="Who Are the Moderate Muslims?"/> On the other hand, most Muslim scholars, including Ahmadiyya, argue that such verses of the Quran are interpreted out of context,<ref name="Boundries_Princeton">Sohail H. Hashmi, David Miller, ''Boundaries and Justice: diverse ethical perspectives'', Princeton University Press, p. 197</ref><ref name="www-rohan.sdsu.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~khaleel/|title=Khaleel Mohammed|publisher=San Diego State University Religious Studies Department|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708102707/http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~khaleel/|archivedate=2008-07-08|df=}}</ref> and argue that when the verses are read in context it clearly appears that the Quran prohibits aggression,<ref name="aaiil.org">Ali, Maulana Muhammad; (6th Edition), Ch V "Jihad" p. 414 "When shall war cease". Published by '']''</ref><ref name="Sadr-u-Din, Maulvi page 8">{{cite book|last=Sadr-u-Din|first= Maulvi|title=Qur'an and War| page= 8|publisher= The Muslim Book Society, Lahore, Pakistan|url=http://www.aaiil.org/text/books/others/sadrdin/quranwar/quranwar.shtml}}</ref><ref> by Dr. G.W. Leitner (founder of The Oriental Institute, UK) published in ''Asiatic Quarterly Review'', 1886. ("Jihad, even when explained as a righteous effort of waging war in self-defense against the grossest outrage on one's religion, is strictly limited.."){{dead link|date=December 2017}}</ref> and allows fighting only in self-defense.<ref name="The Qur p. 228-232"> An English rendering of an Urdu article appearing in Basharat-e-Ahmadiyya Vol. I, pp. 228–32, by Dr. Basharat Ahmad; published by the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam</ref><ref name="Ali, Maulana Muhammad Pages 411-413">{{cite book|first=Ali|last= Maulana Muhammad|title= The Religion of Islam (6th Edition), Ch V "Jihad" |pages= 411–13|publisher= The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement |url=http://www.aaiil.org/text/books/mali/religionislam/religionislammuhammadali.html}}</ref> | |||
] ] described the ] as the "stage at which Islam became a menace to the whole world."<ref name="Margoliouth 1905 p. 362-363">], D.S. (1905). Mohammed and the Rise of Islam (Third Edition, pp. 362–63). New York; London: G.P. Putnam's Sons; The Knickerbocker Press.</ref> According to Margoliouth, earlier ] and the Jewish tribes of Medina (e.g., the ]) could be at least plausibly be ascribed to wrongs done to Muhammad or the Islamic community.<ref name="Margoliouth 1905 p. 362-363"/> Margoliouth argues that the Jews of Khaybar had done nothing to harm Muhammad or his followers, and ascribes the attack to a desire for ].<ref name="Margoliouth 1905 p. 362-363"/> He describes the reason given by Muhammad for the attack as "its inhabitants were ''not Moslems''" (italics in the source).<ref name="Margoliouth 1905 p. 362-363"/> He wrote that this became an excuse for unfettered conquest.<ref>"That plea would cover attacks on the whole world outside Medinah and its neighbourhood: and on leaving Khaibar the Prophet seemed to see the world already in his grasp. This was a great advance from the early days of Medinah, when the Jews were to be tolerated as equals, and even idolators to be left unmolested, so long as they manifested no open hostility. Now the fact that a community was idolatrous, or Jewish, or anything but Mohammedan, warranted a murderous attack upon it: the passion for fresh conquests dominated the Prophet as it dominated an Alexander before him or a Napoleon after him." ] (1905). Mohammed and the Rise of Islam (Third Edition, p. 363). New York; London: G.P. Putnam's Sons; The Knickerbocker Press.</ref> | |||
'']'', an ], is a religious duty of ]s. In ], the word ''jihād'' translates as a noun meaning "struggle". ''Jihad'' appears 41 times in the ] and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving for the sake of God ''(al-jihad fi sabil ])''".<ref>{{cite book|title=Essential Islam: a comprehensive guide to belief and practice|last=Morgan |first=Diane|authorlink=|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=|isbn=0313360251|page=87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U94S6N2zECAC&pg=PA87|accessdate=5 January 2011}}</ref><ref name="Merriam">{{cite encyclopedia | editor=] | encyclopedia=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions | publisher=] | year=1999 | isbn=0877790442}}, ''Jihad'', p. 571</ref><ref name="MIC">{{cite encyclopedia | editor=] | encyclopedia=Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia | publisher=] | year=2005 | isbn=0415966906}}, ''Jihad'', p. 419</ref> Jihad is an important religious duty for Muslims. A minority among the ] sometimes refer to this duty as the sixth ], though it occupies no such official status.<ref name="jih">] (2005), ''Islam: The Straight Path,'' p. 93</ref> In ] ], however, Jihad is one of the 10 ]. The Quran calls repeatedly for jihad, or holy war, against unbelievers, including, at times, Jews and Christians.<ref name="ember">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of diasporas: immigrant and refugee cultures around the world. Diaspora communities|volume= 2 |last1=Ember |first1=Melvin |first2=Carol R. |last2=Ember|first3= Ian |last3=Skoggard |year=2005 |publisher=Springer|isbn=0306483211 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QEjPVyd9YMC&pg=PA183}}</ref> Middle East historian ] argues that "the overwhelming majority of classical theologians, jurists, and traditionalists (specialists in the hadith) understood the obligation of jihad in a military sense."<ref>Bernard Lewis, ''The Political Language of Islam'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), p. 72.</ref> Furthermore, Lewis maintains that for most of the recorded history of Islam, from the lifetime of ] onward, the word jihad was used in a primarily military sense.<ref>Lewis, Bernard, '']'', 2001 Chapter 2</ref> ] states that a number of jihads have targeted ], ], and ].<ref name="legacy-of-jihad">{{cite book | title=] | last=Bostom |first=Andrew G. |author2=Ibn Warraq | year=2008 | page=391 |isbn=978-1591026020}}</ref> | |||
The Quran: (8:12): "...cast terror in their hearts and strike upon their necks."<ref name="BAR">''Warrant for terror: fatwās of radical Islam and the duty of jihād'', p. 68, Shmuel Bar, 2006</ref> The phrase that they have been "commanded to terrorize the disbelievers" has been cited in motivation of Jihadi terror.<ref>''The Osama bin Laden I know: an oral history of al-Qaeda's leader'', p. 303, Peter L. Bergen, 2006 | |||
* ''Jihad and international security'', p. 90, Jalīl Rawshandil, Sharon Chadha, 2006 | |||
* | |||
* {{cite web |url=http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2010/04/30/commanded-to-terrorize-south-park/ |title=Commanded to terrorize South Park? |date=2010-04-30 |work=] |publisher= |accessdate=2012-05-01}}</ref> One Jihadi cleric has said: | |||
<blockquote>Another aim and objective of jihad is to drive terror in the hearts of the . To terrorize them. Did you know that we were commanded in the Qur'an with terrorism? ...Allah said, and prepare for them to the best of your ability with power, and with horses of war. To drive terror in the hearts of my enemies, Allah's enemies, and your enemies. And other enemies which you don't know, only Allah knows them... So we were commanded to drive terror into the hearts of the , to prepare for them with the best of our abilities with power. Then the Prophet said, nay, the power is your ability to shoot. The power which you are commanded with here, is your ability to shoot. Another aim and objective of jihad is to kill the , to lessen the population of the ... it is not right for a Prophet to have captives until he makes the Earth warm with blood... so, you should always seek to lessen the population of the .<ref>{{cite web|url=http://counterterrorismblog.org/2010/05/jamaican_cleric_shaykh_abdulla.php|title=Counterterrorism Blog: Jamaican Cleric Shaykh Abdullah al-Faisal Alleged To Have Inspired Times Square Suspect|publisher=}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref></blockquote> | |||
David Cook, author of ''Understanding Jihad'', said "In reading Muslim literature – both contemporary and classical – one can see that the evidence for the primacy of spiritual jihad is negligible. Today it is certain that no Muslim, writing in a non-Western language (such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu), would ever make claims that jihad is primarily nonviolent or has been superseded by the spiritual jihad. Such claims are made solely by Western scholars, primarily those who study Sufism and/or work in interfaith dialogue, and by Muslim apologists who are trying to present Islam in the most innocuous manner possible."<ref name="Cook166">Cook, David. ''Understanding Jihad''. ], 2005. Retrieved from ] on November 27, 2011. {{ISBN|0520242033|978-0520242036}}.</ref> Cook argued that "Presentations along these lines are ideological in tone and should be discounted for their bias and deliberate ignorance of the subject" and that "t is no longer acceptable for Western scholars or Muslim apologists writing in non-Muslim languages to make flat, unsupported statements concerning the prevalence – either from a historical point of view or within contemporary Islam—of the spiritual jihad."<ref name="Cook166"/> ], an outspoken Egyptian-born Italian journalist, has described Islam as intrinsically violent and characterized by "hate and intolerance".<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3606109.ece | work=The Times | location=London | title=Pope converts outspoken Muslim who condemned religion of hate | first=Richard | last=Owen | date=2008-03-24 | accessdate=2010-04-30}}</ref> | |||
], columnist and author, in responding to a movement that contends that Islam is "a religion of peace," wrote: "Now, Islam has never been a religion of peace. It began as a warlike religion and throughout its history, whenever possible, made war on non-Muslims – from the polytheists of North Africa to the Hindus of India, about 60 to 80 million of whom Muslims killed during their thousand-year rule there."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/436571/orlando-shooting-left-gives-islam-free-pass|title=What If the Orlando Murderer Had Been a Christian?|publisher=}}</ref> John R. Neuman, a scholar on religion, describes Islam as "a perfect anti-religion" and "the antithesis of Buddhism."<ref>John Newman, , ''Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'', Vol. 21, No. 2, 1998</ref> | |||
=== Homosexuals === | |||
{{Main|LGBT topics and Islam}} | |||
{{further|Islamic sexual jurisprudence}} | |||
]]] | |||
Critics such as lesbian activist ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=2&STORY_ID=1822&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=2|title=Daily Xtra|publisher=}}</ref> former Muslims ] and the former Dutch politician ], have criticized Islam's attitudes towards homosexuals. Most international human rights organizations, such as ] and ], condemn Islamic laws that make homosexual relations between consenting adults a crime. Since 1994 the ] has also ruled that such laws violated the right to privacy guaranteed in the ] and the ]. | |||
In May 2008, the sexual rights lobby group ] (based in Istanbul, Turkey) was banned by court order for violating a constitutional provision on the protection of the family and an article banning bodies with objectives that violate law and morality.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/turkish-court-slaps-ban-on-homosexual-group-9059775|title=Turkish court slaps ban on homosexual group|first=|last=AFP|date=30 May 2008|publisher=}}</ref> This decision was then taken to the ] and the ban lifted.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=2797|title=Dava Bitti: Kapatılmadı!|publisher=}}</ref> | |||
In 10 Muslim-majority countries homosexual acts may be punishable by death, though in some the punishment has never been carried out.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/13/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death-2|title=Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death|date=16 June 2016|publisher=The Washington Post}}</ref> | |||
The ex-Muslim ] has noted that the Quran's condemnation of homosexuality has frequently been ignored in practice, and that Muslim-majority countries were much more tolerant of homosexuality than Christian ones until fairly recently.<ref>], '']'', pp. 340–44, Prometheus, New York, 1995</ref> | |||
===Short-term and limited marriages=== | |||
==== Short-term marriage ==== | |||
{{main|Nikah mut'ah}} | |||
{{transl|ar|DIN|Nikāḥ al-Mutʿah}} ({{lang-ar|نكاح المتعة}} literally ''pleasure marriage'') is a fixed-term or short-term contractual marriage in ]. The duration of this type of marriage is fixed at its inception and is then automatically dissolved upon completion of its term. For this reason, nikah mut'ah has been widely criticised as the religious cover and legalization of ].<ref>, by ], BBC News, Last Updated: 2 June 2007. | |||
* , by Nancy Trejos, The Washington Post, 20 January 2007.</ref><ref>, by Shahla Haeri, p. 6. | |||
* , by Malcolm Clark. | |||
* , by ].</ref> The ] ] ] criticized Mut'ah as allowing the continuation of "one of the abominable practices of ancient Arabia."<ref>In permitting these usufructuary marriages Muḥammad appears but to have given Divine (?) sanction to one of the abominable practices of ancient Arabia, for Burckhardt (vol. ii. p. 378) says, it was a custom of their forefathers to assign to a traveller who became their guest for the night, some female of the family, most commonly the host's own wife!" ] (1885). In A Dictionary of Islam: Being a Cyclopædia of the Doctrines, Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs, together with the Technical and Theological Terms, of the Muhammadan Religion. London: W.H. Allen & Co. p. 424. Hughes also says "hese temporary marriages are undoubtedly the greatest blot in Muḥammad's moral legislation, and admit of no satisfactory apology." ] (1885). In A Dictionary of Islam: Being a Cyclopædia of the Doctrines, Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs, together with the Technical and Theological Terms, of the Muhammadan Religion. London: W.H. Allen & Co. p. 314.</ref> Shi'a and Sunnis agree that Mut'ah was legal in early times, but Sunnis consider that it was abrogated. ] writes that "here's no doubt that in the outset of Islam, Mut'ah was allowed under the Shari'ah".<ref>], Volume 1 p. 74 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120502030724/http://www.answering-ansar.org/answers/mutah/en/chap4.php |date=May 2, 2012 }}</ref> Currently, however, mut'ah is one of the distinctive features of ]. No other school of ] allows it. According to ] ], "One of the matters about which I shall never keep precautionary silence (]) is the matter of mu'tah."<ref name="Mutahhari7">{{cite web |url=http://www.al-islam.org/rightsofwomeninislam/7.htm |title=The rights of woman in Islam, Fixed-Term marriage and the problem of the harem |first=Morteza |last= Motahhari |publisher=al-islam.org |accessdate=2011-01-10}}</ref> ] defends the Shia view in ], arguing that there are '']'' or nearly ''mutawatir'' traditions narrated from the ] that Mut'ah is permitted. For example, it has been narrated from ] and ] that they said "regarding the verse, and there is no blame on you about what you mutually agree after what is appointed." It means that he increases her dowry or she increases his (fixed) period.<ref name="Al-Mizan">{{cite web |url=http://www.shiasource.com/al-mizan/ |title=Tafsir al-Mizan, Vol 4, Surah an-Nisa, Verses 23–28 |first= Sayyid Mohammad Hosayn|last= Tabatabaei |publisher=almizan.org |accessdate=2011-01-10}}</ref> ]s believe that Muhammad later abolished this type of marriage at several different large events, the most accepted being at Khaybar in 7 AH (629 CE) and at the Victory of Mecca in 8 AH (630 CE). Most Sunnis believe that Umar later was merely enforcing a prohibition that was established during Muhammad's time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zawaj.com/articles/mutah.html|title= Articles and Essays|publisher=zawaj.com}}</ref> Shia contest the criticism that nikah mut'ah is a cover for prostitution, and argue that the unique legal nature of temporary marriage distinguishes Mut'ah ideologically from prostitution.<ref name=Iranica>, '']''</ref><ref></ref> | |||
====Contractually limited marriage==== | |||
{{main|Nikah Misyar}} | |||
Nikah Misyar ({{lang-ar|المسيار}}) is a type of ] (marriage) in Sunni Islam only carried out through the normal contractual procedure, with the provision that the husband and wife give up several rights by their own free will, such as living together, equal division of nights between wives in cases of ], the wife's rights to housing, and maintenance money (''"]"''), and the husband's right of homekeeping and access.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104035953/http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaE&cid=1119503544160 |date=2011-01-04 }}</ref> Essentially the couple continue to live separately from each other, as before their contract, and see each other to fulfil their needs in a legally permissible (]) manner when they please. | |||
Misyar has been suggested by some western authors to be a comparable marriage with ] and that they find it for the sole purpose of "sexual gratification in a licit manner"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zEkmJAeJYBkC&pg=PA59&dq=misyar+muta&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7gpFUZatJtL02wXPrYDYCw&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=misyar%20muta&f=false|title=Islam and the West|publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S2kZfdrEBlAC&pg=PA51&dq=misyar+mut'a&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jQ1FUYanDaP02gWCk4GADQ&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=campaigns%20Encyclopedia%20&f=false|title=The Islamic Shield|publisher=}}</ref> According to Florian Pohl, assistant professor of religion at ], Misyar marriage is controversial issue in the Muslim world, as many see it as practice that encourages marriages for purely sexual purposes, or that it is used as a cover for a form of prostitutuion.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/?id=n4Eye4ilLVkC&pg=PA50&dq=Mutah#v=onepage&q=Mutah&f=false | title=Muslim World: Modern Muslim Societies | publisher=Marshall Cavendish | date=September 1, 2010 | accessdate=April 5, 2013 | author=Pohl, Florian | pages=52–53| isbn=978-0761479277 }}</ref> | |||
Professor ] observes that he does not promote this type of marriage, although he has to recognise that it is legal, since it fulfils all the requirements of the usual marriage contract.<ref>Al-Qaradawi, Yusuf : Zawaj al misyar p. 8</ref> He states his preference that the clause of renunciation be not included within the marriage contract, but be the subject of a simple verbal agreement between the parties.<ref>Al-Qaradawi, Yusuf : Zawaj al misyar, pp. 13–14</ref> Islamic scholars like ] or ] claim, for their part, that misyar marriage may be legal, but not moral. They agree that the wife can at any time, reclaim the rights which she gave up at the time of contract.<ref name="BinMenie">, ]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}) (in Arabic) {{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> But, they are opposed to this type of marriage on the grounds that it contradicts the spirit of the Islamic law of marriage and that it has perverse effects on the woman, the family and the community in general. | |||
For ], misyar marriage may even be considered as illicit, because it runs counter to the objectives and the spirit of marriage in Islam, as described in the Quran: "And among His signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts)…"<ref>Quran, 30: 21</ref> Al-Albani also underlines the social problems which result from the "misyar" marriage, particularly in the event that children are born from this union. The children raised by their mother in a home from which the father is always absent, without reason, may suffer difficulties.<ref>Wassel quoted in Hassouna addimashqi, Arfane : Nikah al misyar (2000), (in Arabic), p. 16)</ref> The situation becomes even worse if the wife is abandoned or repudiated by her husband "misyar", with no means of subsistence, as usually happens. | |||
Ibn ] recognized the legality of "misyar" marriage under ], but came to oppose it due to what he considered to be its harmful effects.<ref> ] website (accessed 10/30/2012)</ref> | |||
== Women in Islam == | |||
{{main|Women in Islam}} | |||
=== Domestic violence === | |||
{{main|Islam and domestic violence}} | |||
The relationship between Islam and domestic violence is heavily disputed. Even among Muslims, the uses and interpretations of ], the moral code and religious law of Islam, lack ]. | |||
One notable verse in the topic is 4:34, which states "As to those women from whom you fear disobedience, first admonish them, then refuse to share your bed with them, and then, if necessary, ''beat them''."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alim.org/library/quran/ayah/compare/4/34/men-are-given-authority-over-women-and-corrective-measures-for-disobedient-women-and-arbitration-in-family-disputes|title=Surah 4:34 (An-Nisaa), Alim — Translated by Mohammad Asad, Gibraltar (1980)|publisher=}}</ref> Nearly all scholars agree that it allows a husband to hit his wife, but in a way that does not cause physical pain,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://islamqa.info/en/41199|title=Hitting one's wife? |website=islamqa.info|language=en|access-date=2018-05-06}}</ref> whilst others claim it only supports separating from ones wife. Due to the way domestic violence is handled in some modern-day Muslim states, a few organizations have suggested ways to modify Shari'a-inspired laws to improve women's rights in Islamic n ations, including women's rights in domestic abuse cases.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musawah.org/sites/default/files/CEDAW%20%26%20Muslim%20Family%20Laws.pdf|format=PDF|title=CEDAW and Muslim Family Laws, Sisters in Islam, Malaysia |year=2011|publisher=musawah.org}}</ref><ref>Brandt, Michele, and Jeffrey A. Kaplan. "The Tension between Women's Rights and Religious Rights: Reservations to Cedaw by Egypt, Bangladesh and Tunisia." Journal of Law and Religion 12.1 (1995): 105–42.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irinnews.org/report/86247/lebanon-move-to-take-domestic-violence-cases-out-of-religious-courts|title=Lebanon – IRIN, United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs (2009)|work=IRINnews}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/10/19/uae-spousal-abuse-never-right|title=UAE: Spousal Abuse never a Right |date=2010|publisher=Human Rights Watch}}</ref> | |||
=== Personal status laws and child marriage === | |||
Shari'a is the basis for personal status laws in most Islamic majority nations. These personal status laws determine rights of women in matters of marriage, divorce and child custody. A 2011 ] report concludes that Shari'a law provisions are discriminatory against women from a human rights perspective. In legal proceedings under Shari'a law, a woman's testimony is worth half of a man's before a court.<ref name=unicef2011>{{cite web|url=http://www.unicef.org/gender/files/REGIONAL-Gender-Eqaulity-Profile-2011.pdf|format=PDF|title=MENA Gender Equality Profile – Status of Girls and Women in the Middle East and North Africa |date=October 2011|publisher=unicef.org}}</ref> | |||
Except for Iran, Lebanon and Bahrain which allow child marriages, the civil code in Islamic majority countries do not allow child marriage of girls. However, with Shari'a personal status laws, Shari'a courts in all these nations have the power to override the civil code. The religious courts permit girls less than 18 years old to marry. As of 2011, child marriages are common in a few Middle Eastern countries, accounting for 1 in 6 all marriages in Egypt and 1 in 3 marriages in Yemen. However, the average age at marriage in most Middle Eastern countries is steadily rising and is generally in the low to mid 20s for women.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.quandl.com/c/society/age-at-first-marriage-female-by-country|title=Age at First Marriage – Female By Country – Data from Quandl|publisher=|accessdate=22 March 2015}}</ref> Rape is considered a crime in all countries, but Shari'a courts in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia in some cases allow a rapist to escape punishment by marrying his victim, while in other cases the victim who complains is often prosecuted with the crime of '']'' (adultery).<ref name=unicef2011/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/challenges_to_women_security_mena_region.pdf|format=PDF|first1=Kendra |last1=Heideman |first2= Mona |last2=Youssef|title= Challenges to Women’s Security in the MENA Region, Wilson Center (March, 2013)|website=reliefweb.int}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/article/new-survey-assesses-womens-freedom-middle-east|title=Sanja Kelly (2010) New Survey Assesses Women's Freedom in the Middle East |publisher=Freedom House (funded by US Department of State's Middle East Partnership Initiative)}}</ref> | |||
=== Women's right to property and consent === | |||
Sharia grants women the right to inherit property from other family members, and these rights are detailed in the Quran.<ref>Horrie, Chris; Chippindale, Peter (1991). p. 49.</ref> A woman's inheritance is unequal and less than a man's, and dependent on many factors.{{Quran-usc|4|12}}<ref name=davidpowers/> For instance, a daughter's inheritance is usually half that of her brother's.{{Quran-usc|4|11}}<ref name=davidpowers>David Powers (1993), "Islamic Inheritance System: A Socio-Historical Approach", ''The Arab Law Quarterly'', 8, p. 13</ref> | |||
Islamic law grants Muslim women many legal rights, such as the right to own property received as '']'' (brideprice) at her marriage,<ref name=Feldman>{{cite news|authorlink=Noah Feldman|last=Feldman |first=Noah |title=Why Shariah?| work = ] |date=March 16, 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/magazine/16Shariah-t.html?ei=5070&em=&en=5c1b8de536ce606f&ex=1205812800&pagewanted=all|accessdate= September 17, 2011}}</ref> that Western legal systems did not grant to women, according to Jamal Badawi.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dr. Badawi|first=Jamal A.|title=The Status of Women in Islam|journal=Al-Ittihad Journal of Islamic Studies|volume=8|issue=2|date=September 1971|ref=harv|postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref> However, Islamic law does not grant non-Muslim women the same legal rights. Sharia recognizes the basic inequality between master and women slave, between free women and slave women, between believers and non-believers, as well as their unequal rights.<ref name=blbr> | |||
* Bernard Lewis (2002), ''What Went Wrong?'', {{ISBN|0195144201}}, pp. 82–83; | |||
* Brunschvig. 'Abd; Encyclopedia of Islam, Brill, 2nd Edition, Vol 1, pp. 13-40.</ref><ref>{{Quran-usc|16|71}}</ref><ref>{{Quran-usc|24|33}}</ref><ref>{{Quran-usc|30|28}}</ref> Sharia authorized the institution of slavery, using the words ''abd'' (slave) and the phrase ''ma malakat aymanukum'' ("that which your right hand owns") to refer to women slaves, seized as captives of war.<ref name=blbr/><ref> BBC Religions Archives</ref> Under Islamic law, Muslim men could have ] without her consent.<ref>Mazrui, A.A. (1997). "Islamic and Western values". ''Foreign Affairs'', pp. 118–32.</ref><ref name=alik>Ali, K. (2010). ''Marriage and slavery in early Islam''. Harvard University Press.</ref> | |||
Slave women under sharia did not have a right to own property, right to free movement or right to consent.<ref>Sikainga, Ahmad A. (1996). Slaves Into Workers: Emancipation and Labor in Colonial Sudan. University of Texas Press. {{ISBN|0292776942}}.</ref><ref>Tucker, Judith E.; Nashat, Guity (1999). Women in the Middle East and North Africa. Indiana University Press. {{ISBN|0253212642}}.</ref> Sharia, in Islam's history, provided religious foundation for enslaving non-Muslim women (and men), as well as encouraged slave's ]. However, manumission required that the non-Muslim slave first convert to Islam.<ref name=pl1/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Jean Pierre Angenot|title=Uncovering the History of Africans in Asia|page=60|isbn=978-9004162914|publisher=Brill Academic|date=2008|quote= Quote: Islam imposed upon the Muslim master an obligation to convert non-Muslim slaves and become members of the greater Muslim society. Indeed, the daily observation of well defined Islamic religious rituals was the outward manifestation of conversion without which emancipation was impossible.|display-authors=etal}}</ref> Non-Muslim slave women who bore children to their Muslim masters became legally free upon her master's death, and her children were presumed to be Muslims as their father, in Africa,<ref name=pl1>{{cite book|last1=Lovejoy|first1=Paul|title=Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa|date=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521784306|pages=16–17|quote= Quote: The religious requirement that new slaves be pagans and need for continued imports to maintain slave population made Africa an important source of slaves for the Islamic world. (...) In Islamic tradition, slavery was perceived as a means of converting non-Muslims. One task of the master was religious instruction and theoretically Muslims could not be enslaved. Conversion (of a non-Muslim to Islam) did not automatically lead to emancipation, but assimilation into Muslim society was deemed a prerequisite for emancipation.}}</ref> and elsewhere.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kecia Ali|title=Slavery and Sexual Ethics in Islam, in Beyond Slavery: Overcoming Its Religious and Sexual Legacies|last2=(Editor: Bernadette J. Brooten)|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0230100169|pages=107–19 |quote= The slave who bore her master's child became known in Arabic as an "umm walad"; she could not be sold, and she was automatically freed upon her master's death.}}</ref> | |||
Starting with the 20th century, Western legal systems evolved to expand women's rights, but women's rights under Islamic law have remained tied to Quran, hadiths and their faithful interpretation as sharia by Islamic jurists.<ref name=alik/><ref>{{Cite journal| author = Hafez, Mohammed|title=Why Muslims Rebel|journal=Al-Ittihad Journal of Islamic Studies|volume=1|issue=2|date=September 2006|ref=harv|postscript=.}}</ref> | |||
== Criticism of Muslim immigrants and immigration == | |||
{{See also|Multiculturalism and Islam}} | |||
] has criticised the effects of multiculturalism and Islam in the West]] | |||
The ] has increased in recent decades and conservative Muslim social attitudes on modern issues have caused controversy in Europe and other parts of the world. Scholars argue about how much these attitudes are a result of culture rather than Islamic beliefs, whilst some critics consider Islam to be incompatible with secular Western society. Some also believe that Islam positively commands its adherents to impose its ] on all peoples, believers and unbelievers alike, whenever possible and by any means necessary.<ref name=autogenerated3>{{Cite book| title=Multiculturalism, Muslims and Citizenship: A European Approach | author=Tariq Modood | publisher=Routledge | edition=1st | year=2006 | isbn=978-0415355155 | pages=3, 29, 46}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last =Kilpatrick | first =William | title =The Politically Incorrect Guide to Jihad | publisher =Regnery | year =2016 | page =256 | isbn =978-1621575771 }}</ref> Their criticism has been partly influenced by a stance against ] advocated by recent philosophers, closely linked to the heritage of ]. Statements by proponents like ]<ref> appeared originally in German in the online magazine ''Perlentaucher'' on January 24, 2007.</ref> describe multiculturalism as an invention of an "enlightened" elite who deny the benefits of democratic rights to non-Westerners by chaining them to their roots. They also state that multiculturalism allows a degree of religious freedom<ref>Pascal Bruckner – A reply to ] and Timothy Garton Ash: "At the heart of the issue is the fact that in certain countries Islam is becoming Europe's second religion. As such, its adherents are entitled to freedom of religion, to decent locations and to all of our respect. On the condition, that is, that they themselves respect the rules of our republican, secular culture, and that they do not demand a status of extraterritoriality that is denied other religions, or claim special rights and prerogatives"</ref> that exceeds what is needed for personal religious freedom<ref>Pascal Bruckner – A reply to Ian Buruma and Timothy Garton Ash "It's so true that many English, Dutch and German politicians, shocked by the excesses that the wearing of the Islamic veil has given way to, now envisage similar legislation curbing religious symbols in public space. The separation of the spiritual and corporeal domains must be strictly maintained, and belief must confine itself to the private realm."</ref> and is conducive to the creation of organizations aimed at undermining European secular or Christian values.<ref name=mnali>{{cite news | title = Extremism flourished as UK lost Christianity | authorlink = Michael Nazir-Ali | first = Michael | last = Nazir-Ali | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/06/nislam206.xml | publisher = ''] | date = 6 January 2008 | location=London}}</ref> | |||
== Comparison with communism and fascist ideologies == | |||
In 2004, speaking to the ] on the problems of "secular democracy", Cardinal ] drew a parallel between Islam and ]: "Islam may provide in the 21st century, the attraction that communism provided in the 20th, both for those that are alienated and embittered on the one hand and for those who seek order or justice on the other."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/Archbishop/Addresses/20041012_1658.shtml|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060208065454/http://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/Archbishop/Addresses/20041012_1658.shtml|archivedate=2006-02-08|title=Is there only secular democracy? Imagining other possibilities for the third millennium|author=George Pell|date=2004-10-12|accessdate=2006-05-08}}</ref> Pell also agrees in another speech that its capacity for far-reaching renovation is severely limited.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/Archbishop/Addresses/200627_681.shtml|title=Islam and Western Democracies|author=George Pell|date=2006-02-04|accessdate=2006-05-05| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20060605154745/http://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/Archbishop/Addresses/200627_681.shtml| archivedate = June 5, 2006}}</ref> An Australian ] spokesman, ], responded to the criticism: "Communism is a godless system, a system that in fact persecutes faith".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1242560.htm|title=Islam is the new communism: Pell|author=Toni Hassan|date=2004-11-12|accessdate=2006-05-08}}</ref> ], a controversial ] member of parliament and leader of the ], has also compared Islam to fascism and communism.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aina.org/news/20090126124950.htm|title=Geert Wilders: Man Out of Time|publisher=}}</ref> | |||
;Islamism | |||
Writers such as ]<ref name="Schwartz">{{cite web | last = Schwartz | first = Stephen | url = http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=081606C | title = What Is 'Islamofascism'? | publisher = TCS Daily | accessdate = 2006-09-14 | deadurl = yes | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20060924154023/http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=081606C | archivedate = 2006-09-24 | df = }}</ref> and ],<ref name="CH1022">Hitchens, Christopher: , Slate, 2007-10-22</ref> find some elements of Islamism ]. ], a ] writer and historian who writes on religion and Islamic affairs, opposes redefining Islamism as "]", but also finds the resemblances between the two ideologies "compelling".<ref>''A Fury For God'', Malise Ruthven, Granta, 2002, pp. 207–08</ref> | |||
French philosopher ] compared Islamism with fascism and communism in his '']'' theory.<ref name="The Reds, The Browns and the Greens">{{cite web|author=Alexandre del Valle |url=http://www.alexandredelvalle.com/publications.php?id_art=131 |title=The Reds, The Browns and the Greens |publisher=alexandredelvalle.com |accessdate=June 6, 2011}}</ref> | |||
], a ] of the ] has stated that Islam is not a religion but a ] with religious elements which is dedicated to the conquest of the whole world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/vortex-islam-is-not-a-religion?mc_cid=664164d49c&mc_eid=ddb44184e6|title=Islam Is Not a Religion|website=www.churchmilitant.com|language=en|access-date=2017-06-09}}</ref> | |||
== |
=== Women in Islam === | ||
{{Main|Women in Islam}}{{See also|Islam and domestic violence|Muslim women in sport}} | |||
] has written a number of introductory texts on Islam and the Islamic world. He has addressed issues including the rise of ], the veiling of women, and democracy.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Esposito | first=John L. | title=What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam| publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2002 | isbn=0195157133}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last=Esposito | first=John L. | title=Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam| publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2003 | isbn=0195168860}}</ref> Esposito emphatically argues against what he calls the "pan-Islamic myth". He thinks that "too often coverage of Islam and the Muslim world assumes the existence of a monolithic Islam in which all Muslims are the same." To him, such a view is naive and unjustifiably obscures important divisions and differences in the Muslim world.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Esposito | first=John L. | title=The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? | pages=225–28 | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1999 | isbn=0195130766}}</ref> | |||
The meaning of ] has been the subject of intense debate among experts. While many scholars<ref name=hajjar2004>Hajjar, Lisa. "Religion, state power, and domestic violence in Muslim societies: A framework for comparative analysis." Law & Social Inquiry 29.1 (2004); see pp. 1–38</ref><ref>Treacher, Amal. "Reading the Other Women, Feminism, and Islam." Studies in Gender and Sexuality 4.1 (2003); pp. 59–71</ref> claim Shari'a law encourages domestic violence against women,<ref>John C. Raines & Daniel C. Maguire (Ed), Farid Esack, What Men Owe to Women: Men's Voices from World Religions, State University of New York (2001), see pp. 201–03</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alim.org/library/quran/ayah/compare/4/34/men-are-given-authority-over-women-and-corrective-measures-for-disobedient-women-and-arbitration-in-family-disputes|title=Surah 4:34 (An-Nisaa), Alim — Translated by Mohammad Asad, Gibraltar (1980)|access-date=31 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927231420/http://www.alim.org/library/quran/ayah/compare/4/34/men-are-given-authority-over-women-and-corrective-measures-for-disobedient-women-and-arbitration-in-family-disputes|archive-date=27 September 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eui.eu/DepartmentsAndCentres/RobertSchumanCentre/Research/InternationalTransnationalRelations/MediterraneanProgramme/MRM/MRM2011/ws04.aspx|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927154118/http://www.eui.eu/DepartmentsAndCentres/RobertSchumanCentre/Research/InternationalTransnationalRelations/MediterraneanProgramme/MRM/MRM2011/ws04.aspx|url-status=dead|title=Salhi and Grami (2011), Gender and Violence in the Middle East and North Africa, Florence (Italy), European University Institute|archivedate=27 September 2013}}</ref> many Muslim scholars arguing that it acts as a deterrent against domestic violence motivated by rage.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://yaqeeninstitute.org/tesneem-alkiek/islam-and-violence-against-women-a-critical-look-at-domestic-violence-and-honor-killings-in-the-muslim-community/#.Xk6BVBdKgb0 |title=Islam and Violence Against Women: A Critical Look at Domestic Violence and Honor Killings in the Muslim Community |author1=Tesneem Alkiek |author2=Dalia Mogahed |author3=Omar Suleiman |author4=Jonathan Brown |publisher=Yaqeen Institute |date=May 22, 2017 |access-date=February 23, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/20/AR2006102001261.html|newspaper=]|title=Clothes Aren't the Issue|date=22 October 2006|first=Asra Q.|last=Nomani}}</ref> | |||
Shari'a is the basis for personal status laws such as rights of women in matters of marriage, divorce and child custody which was described as discriminatory against women from a human rights perspective in a 2011 ] report.<ref name=unicef2011>{{cite web|url=http://www.unicef.org/gender/files/REGIONAL-Gender-Eqaulity-Profile-2011.pdf|title=MENA Gender Equality Profile – Status of Girls and Women in the Middle East and North Africa, UNICEF|date=October 2011|publisher=unicef.org|access-date=31 March 2015|archive-date=9 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009235624/https://www.unicef.org/gender/files/REGIONAL-Gender-Eqaulity-Profile-2011.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
Allowing girls under 18 to marry by religious courts is another criticism of Islam<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.quandl.com/c/society/age-at-first-marriage-female-by-country|title=Age at First Marriage – Female By Country – Data from Quandl|access-date=22 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206030116/https://www.quandl.com/c/society/age-at-first-marriage-female-by-country|archive-date=6 February 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
Sharia grants women the right to inherit property<ref>Horrie, Chris; Chippindale, Peter (1991). p. 49.</ref> but a daughter's inheritance is usually half that of her brother's but that is because the brother needs to care of his family and her sister if a male guardian isn't present and take care of her needs.{{Quran-usc|4|11}}<ref name=davidpowers>David Powers (1993), Islamic Inheritance System: A Socio-Historical Approach, The Arab Law Quarterly, 8, p 13</ref> | |||
Furthermore, slave women were not granted the same legal rights.<ref name=blbr> | |||
* Bernard Lewis (2002), What Went Wrong?, {{ISBN|0-19-514420-1}}, pp. 82–83; | |||
* Brunschvig. 'Abd; Encyclopedia of Islam, Brill, 2nd Edition, Vol 1, pp. 13–40.</ref><ref>{{Quran-usc|16|71}}</ref><ref name="Quran-usc|24|33">{{Quran-usc|24|33}}</ref><ref>{{Quran-usc|30|28}}</ref> On 14 January 2009, the Catholic Portuguese cardinal ] directed a warning to young women to "think twice" before ].<ref name=Reuters>{{cite news |url=http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-37448920090114 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116031142/http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-37448920090114 |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 January 2009 |title=Portugal cardinal warns of marriage with Muslims |work=] |date=14 January 2009 }}</ref><ref name=Spiegel>{{cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,601423,00.html |work=] |date=15 January 2009 |title=Portuguese Catholic Leader: 'Think Twice about Marrying a Muslim' }}</ref> | |||
In contrast to the widespread Western belief that women in Muslim societies are oppressed and denied opportunities to realize their full potential, many Muslims believe their faith to be liberating or fair to women, and some find it offensive that Westerners criticize it without fully understanding the historical and contemporary realities of Muslim women's lives. Conservative Muslims in particular (in common with some Christians and Jews) see women in the West as being economically exploited for their labor, sexually abused, and commodified through the media's fixation on the female body.<ref name=lapidus>{{Cite book| author1=Ira M. Lapidus|author2= Lena Salaymeh | title = A History of Islamic Societies | publisher = Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition) | year = 2014| isbn=978-0-521-51430-9 | page=145}}</ref> | |||
] in his book ''Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman'' addresses Muhammad's alleged moral failings. Watt argues on a basis of ] that Muhammad should be judged by the standards of his own time and country rather than "by those of the most enlightened opinion in the West today."<ref>{{Cite book| last=Watt | first=W. Montgomery | url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/watt.html | title=Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman | year=1961 | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=0198810784 | page=229 | accessdate=2010-05-27}}</ref> | |||
=== Islam and multiculturalism === | |||
], tracing what she believes to be the West's long history of hostility toward Islam, finds in Muhammad's teachings a theology of peace and tolerance. Armstrong holds that the "holy war" urged by the Quran alludes to each Muslim's duty to fight for a just, decent society.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Armstrong | first=Karen | title=Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet | publisher=HarperSanFrancisco | year=1993 | isbn=0062508865 | page=165}}</ref> | |||
] has criticised the effects of multiculturalism and Islam in the West.]] | |||
{{See also|Multiculturalism and Islam|Islamophobia#Regional trends}} | |||
Muslim immigration to Western countries has led some critics to label Islam incompatible with secular Western society.<ref name=autogenerated3>{{Cite book| title=Multiculturalism, Muslims and Citizenship: A European Approach | url=https://archive.org/details/multiculturalism00modo | url-access=limited | author=Tariq Modood | publisher=Routledge | edition=1st | date=6 April 2006 | isbn=978-0-415-35515-5 | pages=, 29, 46}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last =Kilpatrick | first =William | title =The Politically Incorrect Guide to Jihad | publisher =Regnery | date =2016 | pages =256 | isbn =978-1621575771 }}</ref> This criticism has been partly influenced by a stance against ] closely linked to the heritage of ]. Recent critics include ]<ref> appeared originally in German in the online magazine ''Perlentaucher'' on 24 January 2007.</ref><ref>Pascal Bruckner – A reply to ] and Timothy Garton Ash: "At the heart of the issue is the fact that in certain countries Islam is becoming Europe's second religion. As such, its adherents are entitled to freedom of religion, to decent locations and to all of our respect. On the condition, that is, that they themselves respect the rules of our republican, secular culture, and that they do not demand a status of extraterritoriality that is denied other religions, or claim special rights and prerogatives"</ref><ref>Pascal Bruckner – A reply to Ian Buruma and Timothy Garton Ash "It's so true that many English, Dutch and German politicians, shocked by the excesses that the wearing of the Islamic veil has given way to, now envisage similar legislation curbing religious symbols in public space. The separation of the spiritual and corporeal domains must be strictly maintained, and belief must confine itself to the private realm."</ref><ref name=mnali>{{cite news | title = Extremism flourished as UK lost Christianity | author-link = Michael Nazir-Ali | first = Michael | last = Nazir-Ali | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/06/nislam206.xml | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080110080819/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/06/nislam206.xml | url-status = dead | archive-date = 10 January 2008 | newspaper = ] | date = 6 January 2008 | location=London}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.libertarian.nl/NL/archives/000198.php|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013124744/http://libertarian.nl/NL/archives/000198.php|url-status=dead|title=Paul Cliteur, Moderne Papoea's, Dilemma's van een multiculturele samenleving, De Uitgeverspers, 2002|archivedate=October 13, 2007}}</ref> | |||
] ] criticize Islam as a semitic religion, which forced Turks to submission to an alien culture. Further, since Islam mentions semitic history as if it were the history of all mankind, but disregards components of other cultures and spirituality, the international approach of Islam is seen as a threat.<ref>Dudolgnon Islam In Politics In Russia Routledge, <!--September 15, 2002--> 5 November 2013 {{ISBN|9781136888786}} p. 301–304.</ref> | |||
], founder of the Turkish Republic, described Islam as the religion of the Arabs that loosened the national nexus of Turkish nation, got national excitement numb.<ref>Afet İnan, ''Medenî Bilgiler ve M. Kemal Atatürk'ün El Yazıları'', Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1998, p. 364.<!-- ISBN needed --></ref> | |||
In the early 20th century, the prevailing view among Europeans was that Islam was the root cause of Arab "backwardness". They saw Islam as an obstacle to assimilation, a view that was expressed by one of the spokesmen of colonial ] named ].<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Syracuse University Press| isbn = 978-0-8156-3074-6| last = Lorcin| first = Patricia M. E.| title = Algeria & France, 1800-2000: Identity, Memory, Nostalgia| date = 2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rj2LRm6EOUYC&pg=PA71}}</ref> | |||
], in his essay ''Islam Through Western Eyes'', stated that the general basis of ] thought forms a study structure in which Islam is placed in an inferior position as an object of study. He claims the existence of a very considerable bias in Orientalist writings as a consequence of the scholars' cultural make-up. He claims Islam has been looked at with a particular hostility and fear due to many obvious religious, psychological and political reasons, all deriving from a sense "that so far as the West is concerned, Islam represents not only a formidable competitor but also a late-coming challenge to Christianity."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/islam-through-western-eyes?page=full|title=Islam Through Western Eyes|author=Edward W. Said|date=2 January 1998|work=The Nation}}</ref> | |||
The ] ] Sir ] criticised Islam for what he perceived to be an inflexible nature, which he held responsible for stifling progress and impeding social advancement in Muslim countries.<ref name="muir"> p. 458</ref> | |||
], in her study of discrimination against Muslims in Europe,<ref name=CesariStudy>{{cite web|url= http://www.euro-islam.info/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/securitization_and_religious_divides_in_europe.pdf |title=Muslims In Western Europe After 9/11: Why the term Islamophobia is more a predicament than an explanation }}</ref> finds that anti-Islamic sentiment may be difficult to separate from other drivers of discrimination because Muslims are mainly from immigrant backgrounds and the largest group of immigrants in many Western European countries, ] overlaps with Islamophobia, and a person may have one, the other, or both.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mason |first1=Rowena |title=Nigel Farage: Indian and Australian immigrants better than eastern Europeans |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/22/nigel-farage-immigrants-india-australia-better-than-eastern-Europeans |website=Theguardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150424083806/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/22/nigel-farage-immigrants-india-australia-better-than-eastern-Europeans |archive-date=2015-04-24}}</ref> | |||
] of Reason Magazine claims that "criticism of the religion is enmeshed with cultural and ethnic hostility" often painting the Muslim world as monolithic. While stating that the terms "]" and "anti-Muslim bigotry" are often used in response to legitimate criticism of ] and problems within Muslim culture, she claimed "the real thing does exist, and it frequently takes the cover of anti-jihadism."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/36677.html|title=The Jihad Against Muslims|work=Reason.com}}</ref> | |||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
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==References== | |||
===Footnotes=== | |||
{{notelist}} | |||
== |
===Citations=== | ||
<!-- To add a reference simply enclose the text you want to appear here inside a pair in the correct place in the body of the article.--> | |||
{{Reflist}} | {{Reflist}} | ||
Saeed, Abu Hayyan, Orientalism., Murder of History.. Facts behind the Gossips and Realities. (October 20, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4608350 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4608350 | |||
== |
===Sources=== | ||
{{refbegin}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Ali|first1=Muhammad|author1-link=Muhammad Ali (writer)|title=Muhammad the Prophet|url=https://books.google.com/?id=od6dAQKgK-YC&pg=PT150#v=onepage&q&f=false|year=1997|publisher=Ahamadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam|isbn=978-0913321072|ref=harv}} | |||
* {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Afsaruddin |first1=Asma |author1-link=Asma Afsaruddin |entry=ʿĀʾisha bt. Abī Bakr |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam |edition=3 |publisher=] |year=2014 |url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/a-isha-bt-abi-bakr-COM_23459 |editor-last=Fleet|editor-first=Kate |editor2-last=Krämer |editor2-first=Gudrun |editor3-last=Matringe |editor3-first=Denis |editor4-last=Nawas |editor4-first=John |editor5-last=Rowson |editor5-first=Everett |access-date=11 January 2015 |url-access=subscription }} | |||
* {{Cite book| last=Cohen | first=Mark R. | authorlink=Mark R. Cohen | title=Under Crescent and Cross | publisher=Princeton University Press; Reissue edition | year=1995 | isbn=978-0691010823}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Ali |first1=Muhammad |author1-link=Muhammad Ali (writer) |title=Muhammad the Prophet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=od6dAQKgK-YC&pg=PT150 |year=1997 |publisher=Ahamadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam |isbn=978-0913321072}} | |||
* {{Cite book| last=Lockman | first=Zachary | title=Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2004 | isbn=978-0521629379}} | |||
* {{ |
* {{cite book |last1=Armstrong |first1=Karen |author1-link=Karen Armstrong |title=Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet |year=1992 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0062500144 |title-link=Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet}} | ||
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* {{Cite journal| last=Westerlund | first=David | year=2003 | title=Ahmed Deedat's Theology of Religion: Apologetics through Polemics | journal=Journal of Religion in Africa | volume=33 | issue=3| doi=10.1163/157006603322663505| page=263}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Barlas |first1=Asma |title=Believing women in Islam : unreading patriarchal interpretations of the Qur'ān |date=2002 |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin, TX |isbn=9781477315927}} | |||
* {{Cite book| last=Cohen | first=Mark R. | author-link=Mark R. Cohen | title=Under Crescent and Cross | publisher=Princeton University Press; Reissue edition | year=1995 | isbn=978-0-691-01082-3}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Esposito |first=John |title=Islam: The Straight Path |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-19-511234-2}} | |||
* {{Cite book| last=Lockman | first=Zachary | title=Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-521-62937-9}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last2=Schmidtke |first2=Sabine |last1=Pourjavady |first1=Reza |editor2-last=Schmidtke |editor2-first=Sabine |editor1-last=Pourjavady |editor1-first=Reza |year=2006 |title=A Jewish philosopher of Baghdad: 'Izz al-Dawla Ibn Kammūna (d. 683/1284) and his writings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3OppTioUPy4C |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-15139-0 |access-date=2011-06-12}} | |||
* {{Cite book| last=Rippin | first=Andrew | author-link=Andrew Rippin | title=Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices | publisher=Routledge | edition=2nd | year=2001 | isbn=978-0-415-21781-1}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Rispler-Chaim |first1=Vardit |title=Islamic medical ethics in the twentieth century |date=1993 |publisher=E.J. Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-9004096080}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Roald |first1=Ann-Sofie |title=Women in Islam: The Western Experience |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |location=London}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Spellberg |first1=Denise A. |title=Politics, gender, and the Islamic past : the Legacy of ʻAʼisha bint Abi Bakr |date=1996 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-231-07999-0}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Watt |first1=William Montgomery |author1-link=William Montgomery Watt |title=ʿĀʾis̲h̲a Bint Abī Bakr |url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/aisha-bint-abi-bakr-SIM_0440 |year=1960 |publisher=] Online |isbn=978-9004161214 |edition=2nd}} | |||
* {{Cite journal| last=Westerlund | first=David | year=2003 | title=Ahmed Deedat's Theology of Religion: Apologetics through Polemics | journal=Journal of Religion in Africa | volume=33 | issue=3| doi=10.1163/157006603322663505| pages=263–278}} | |||
{{refend}} | |||
* {{Cite journal |last=Modarressi |first=Hossein |title=Early Debates on the Integrity of the Qur'ān: A Brief Survey |journal=Studia Islamica |publisher=JSTOR |volume=77 |pages=5–39 |year=1993 |issue=77 |doi=10.2307/1595789 |jstor=1595789 |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/1595789}} | |||
* {{cite book |title=Revelation and Falsification |author1-first=Mohammad Ali|author1-last=Amir-Moezzi |editor1-first=Etan |isbn=9789004167827 |editor1-last=Kohlberg |editor2-first=Mohammad Ali |editor2-last=Amir-Moezzi |author-link= |url=https://archive.org/details/KohlbergMoezziREVELATIONANDFALSIFICATIONTheKitabAlQiratOfAhmadB.MuhammadAlSayyariLeiden2009./mode/2up |url-access=registration |year=2009 |publisher=Brill|chapter=Information, Doubts and Contradictions in Islamic Sources|pages=12{{ndash}}23}} | |||
* {{cite encyclopedia|first1= A.|last1=Pakatchi|year=2015|title= 'Alī b. Abī Ṭālib 4. Qur'ān and Ḥadīth Sciences|editor-last= Daftary| editor-first=F.|editor-link=Farhad Daftary|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Islamica|translator-last= Valey|translator-first= M.I.|doi=10.1163/1875-9831_isla_COM_0252|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-islamica/*-COM_0252|url-access=subscription}} | |||
==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
{{refbegin}} | |||
* '']'' by ] | |||
* '']'' by ] | |||
* ''The Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime, And the Coming Apocalypse'' by ] Prometheus Books, {{ISBN|1591023491}} (2005) | |||
* '''' by ] | |||
* '''' by ] Anchor Books, 2002. {{ISBN|1400031133}} A collection of essays, mostly from '']'', covering events occurring between September 11, 2001 and January 2002 | |||
* '''' by ] | |||
* '''', ], September 7, 2009 | |||
* '']'' by ] | |||
* '']'' by ] | |||
* J. Tolan, ''Saracens; Islam in the Medieval European Imagination'' (2002) | |||
* {{Cite book | * {{Cite book | ||
|last = Esposito | |last = Esposito | ||
Line 424: | Line 265: | ||
|title = The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? | |title = The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? | ||
|publisher = Oxford University Press | |publisher = Oxford University Press | ||
|isbn = |
|isbn = 0-19-510298-3 | ||
|url = https://archive.org/details/islamicthreatmyt00espo_0 | |||
}} | }} | ||
* {{Cite book | * {{Cite book | ||
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|year = 2003 | |year = 2003 | ||
|title = Islam and the Myth of Confrontation: Religion and Politics of the Middle East | |title = Islam and the Myth of Confrontation: Religion and Politics of the Middle East | ||
|publisher = I.B. Tauris |
|publisher = I.B. Tauris, New York | ||
|isbn = |
|isbn = 1-86064-868-1 | ||
}} | }} | ||
* {{Cite book | * {{Cite book | ||
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|year = 2003 | |year = 2003 | ||
|title = Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam | |title = Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam | ||
|publisher = Oxford University Press | |publisher = Oxford University Press, USA | ||
|isbn = 0-19-516886-0 | |||
|location=New York | |||
|isbn = 0195168860 | |||
}} | }} | ||
* {{Cite book | * {{Cite book | ||
Line 449: | Line 290: | ||
| title=Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross | | title=Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross | ||
| publisher=Baker Books | | publisher=Baker Books | ||
| isbn= |
| isbn=0-8010-6430-9 | ||
}} | }} | ||
* ] (2002). '']''. ]. {{isbn|0-674-00877-4}}. | |||
* ], '']'' (1995) | |||
* ] (2004). '']''. ]. {{isbn|0-674-01575-4}}. | |||
* —, '']'' | |||
* ] (1995). '']''. Prometheus Books. {{isbn|0-87975-984-4}}. | |||
* | |||
* ] (2003). '']''. Prometheus Books. {{isbn|1-59102-068-9}}. | |||
* Zwemer ''Islam, a Challenge to Faith'' (New York, 1907) | |||
* Cox, Caroline & Marks, John (2003). . Civitas. {{isbn|1-903 386-29 2}}. | |||
* ], '']'' (1995) (Persian Title: ''تولدى ديگر'') | |||
* | |||
* ], '']'' (2000) (Persian Title: ''پس از 1400 سال'') | |||
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Criticism of Islam can take many forms, including academic critiques, political criticism, religious criticism, and personal opinions. Subjects of criticism include Islamic beliefs, practices, and doctrines.
Criticism of Islam has been present since its formative stages, and early expressions of disapproval were made by Christians, Jews, and some former Muslims like Ibn al-Rawandi. Subsequently, the Muslim world itself faced criticism after the September 11 attacks.
Criticism of Islam has been aimed at the life of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, in both his public and personal lives. Issues relating to the authenticity and morality of the scriptures of Islam, both the Quran and the hadiths, are also discussed by critics. Criticisms of Islam have also been directed at historical practices, like the recognition of slavery as an institution as well as Arab imperialism impacting indigenous cultures. More recently, Islamic beliefs regarding human origins, predestination, God's existence, and God's nature have received criticism for their apparent philosophical and scientific inconsistencies.
Other criticisms center on the treatment of individuals within modern Muslim-majority countries, including issues which are related to human rights in the Islamic world, particularly in relation to the application of Islamic law. As of 2014, 26% of the world's countries had anti-blasphemy laws, and 13% of them also had anti-apostasy laws. By 2017, 13 Muslim countries imposed the death penalty for apostasy or blasphemy. Amid the contemporary embrace of multiculturalism, there has been criticism regarding how Islam may affect the willingness or ability of Muslim immigrants to assimilate in host nations.
Historical background
The earliest surviving written criticisms of Islam are found in the writings of Christians such as John of Damascus. He viewed Islamic doctrines as a mix of ideas taken from the Bible and claimed that Muhammad was influenced by an Arian monk. Other notable early critics included arabs like Abu Isa al-Warraq and Ibn al-Rawandi. al-Ma'arri, an eleventh-century antinatalist and critic of all religions. His poetry was known for its "pervasive pessimism." He believed that Islam does not have a monopoly on truth. Apologetic writings, attributed to the philosopher Abd-Allah ibn al-Muqaffa (d. c. 756), include defenses of Manichaeism against Islam and critiques of the Islamic concept of God, characterizing the Quranic deity in highly critical terms. The Jewish philosopher Ibn Kammuna, criticized Islam, reasoning that Sharia was incompatible with the principles of justice.
During the Middle Ages, Christian church officials commonly represented Islam as a Christian heresy or a form of idolatry. They viewed Islam to be a material, rather than spiritual, religion and often explained it in apocalyptic terms. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, European academics often portrayed Islam as an exotic Eastern religion distinct from Western religions like Judaism and Christianity, sometimes classifying it as a "Semitic" religion. The term "Mohammedanism" was used by many to criticize Islam by focusing on Muhammad's actions, reducing Islam to merely a derivative of Christianity rather than acknowledging it as a successor of Abrahamic monotheisms. By contrast, many academics nowadays study Islam as an Abrahamic religion in relation to Judaism and Christianity. The Christian apologist G. K. Chesterton criticized Islam as a heresy or parody of Christianity, David Hume (d. 1776), both a naturalist and a sceptic, considered monotheistic religions to be more "comfortable to sound reason" than polytheism but also found Islam to be more "ruthless" than Christianity.
The Greek Orthodox bishop Paul of Antioch accepted Muhammed as a prophet, but did not consider his mission to be universal and regarded Christian law superior to Islamic law. Maimonides, a twelfth-century rabbi, did not question the strict monotheism of Islam, and considered Islam to be a instrument of divine providence for bringing all of humankind to the worship of the one true God, but was critical of the practical politics of Muslim regimes and considered Islamic ethics and politics to be inferior to their Jewish counterparts.
In his essay Islam Through Western Eyes, the cultural critic Edward Said suggests that the Western view of Islam is particularly hostile for a range of religious, psychological and political reasons, all deriving from a sense "that so far as the West is concerned, Islam represents not only a formidable competitor but also a late-coming challenge to Christianity." In his view, the general basis of Orientalist thought forms a study structure in which Islam is placed in an inferior position as an object of study, thus forming a considerable bias in Orientalist writings as a consequence of the scholars' cultural make-up.
Points of criticism
The expansion of Islam
In an alleged dialogue between the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (r. 1391–1425) and a Persian scholar, the emperor criticized Islam as a faith spread by the sword. This matches the common view in Europe during the Enlightenment period about Islam, then synonymous with the Ottoman Empire, as a bloody, ruthless, and intolerant religion. More recently, in 2006, a similar statement of Manuel II, quoted publicly by Pope Benedict XVI, prompted a negative response from Muslim figures who viewed the remarks as an insulting mischaracterization of Islam. In this vein, the Indian social reformer Pandit Lekh Ram (d. 1897) thought that Islam was grown through violence and desire for wealth, while the Nigerian author Wole Soyinka considers Islam as a "superstition" that it is mainly spread with violence and force.
This "conquest by the sword" thesis is opposed by some historians who consider the transregional development of Islam a multi-faceted and complex phenomenon. The first wave of expansion, the migration of the early Muslims to Medina to escape persecution in Mecca and the subsequent conversion of Medina, was indeed peaceful. In the years to come, Muslims defended themselves against frequent Meccan incursions until Mecca's peaceful surrender in 630. By the time of his death in 632, many of the Arabian tribes had formed political alliances with Muhammad and adopted Islam peacefully, which also paved the way for the subsequent conquests of Syria, Iran, Egypt and (the rest of North Africa) after the death of Muhammad. Islam nevertheless often remained a minority religion in conquered territories for several centuries after the initial waves of conquest, indicating that the conquest of territories beyond the Arabian Peninsula did not instantly result in large conversions to Islam.
Scripture
Main article: Criticism of the Quran See also: History of the Quran, The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran, and Historicity of MuhammadIn the lifetime of Muhammad, the Quran was primarily preserved orally and the written compilation of the whole Quran in its current form took place some 150 to 300 years later, according to some sources. Alternatively, others believe that the Quran was compiled shortly after the death of Muhammad in 632 and canonized by end of the caliphate of Uthman (r. 644–656). The idea that Quran is perfect and impossible to imitate as asserted in the Quran itself is disputed by critics. One such criticism is that sentences about God in the Quran are sometimes followed immediately by those in which God is the speaker. The modern historian John Wansbrough believes that the Quran is in part a redaction of other sacred scriptures, in particular the Judaeo-Christian scriptures. The Christian theologian Philip Schaff (d. 1893) praises the Quran for its poetic beauty, religious fervor, and wise counsel, but considers this mixed with "absurdities, bombast, unmeaning images, and low sensuality." The Iranian journalist Ali Dashti (d. 1982) criticized the Quran, saying that "the speaker cannot have been God" in certain passages. Similarly, the secular author Ibn Warraq gives Surah al-Fatiha as an example of a passage which is "clearly addressed to God, in the form of a prayer." The orientalist Gerd Puin believes that the Quran contains many verses which are incomprehensible, a view rejected by Muslims and many other orientalists. Apology of al-Kindy, a medieval polemical work, describes the narratives in the Quran as "all jumbled together and intermingled," and regards this as "evidence that many different hands have been at work therein."
Pre-existing sources
Critics point to various pre-existing sources to argue against the traditional narrative of revelation from God. Some scholars have calculated that one third of the Quran has pre-Islamic Christian origins. Aside from the Bible, the Quran relies on several Apocryphal and sources, like the Protoevangelium of James, Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, and several infancy gospels. Several narratives rely on Jewish Midrash Tanhuma sources, like the narrative of Cain learning to bury the body of Abel in Quran 5:31. Norman Geisler argues that the dependence of the Quran on preexisting sources is one evidence of a purely human origin. Richard Carrier regards this reliance on pre-Islamic Christian sources as evidence that Islam derived from a Torah-observant sect of Christianity.
Criticism of the Hadith
Main article: Criticism of HadithSee also: Historiography of early IslamIt has been suggested that there exists around the Hadith (Muslim traditions relating to the Sunnah (words and deeds) of Muhammad) three major sources of corruption: political conflicts, sectarian prejudice, and the desire to translate the underlying meaning, rather than the original words verbatim.
Muslim critics of the hadith, known as Quranists, reject its authority on theological grounds, arguing that the Quran itself is sufficient for guidance, as it claims that nothing essential has been omitted. They believe that reliance on the Hadith has caused people to deviate from the original intent of God's revelation to Muhammad, which they see as adherence to the Quran alone. Ghulam Ahmed Pervez was one of these critics and was denounced as a non-believer by thousands of orthodox clerics. In his work Maqam-e Hadith he considered any hadith that goes against the teachings of Quran to have been falsely attributed to the Prophet. Kassim Ahmad argued that some hadith promote ideas that conflict with science and create sectarian issues.
John Esposito argues that modern Western scholarship has raised doubts about the historicity and authenticity of hadith, while Joseph Schacht argued that there is no evidence of legal traditions prior to 722. Schacht concluded that the Sunna attributed to the Prophet consists of material from later periods rather than the actual words and deeds of the Prophet. However, scholars like Wilferd Madelung have argued that a complete dismissal of hadith as late fiction is "unjustified". Orthodox Muslims do not deny the existence of false hadith, but believe that through the scholars' work, these false hadith have been largely eliminated.
The traditional view of Islam has faced scrutiny due to a lack of consistent supporting evidence, such as limited archaeological finds and some discrepancies with non-Muslim sources. In the 1970s, a number of scholars began to re-evaluate established Islamic history, proposing that earlier accounts may have been altered over time. They sought to reconstruct early Islamic history using alternative sources like coins, inscriptions, and non-Islamic texts. Prominent among these scholars was John Wansbrough. Additionally, Gerd R. Puin's study of the Sana'a manuscripts revealed some variations in text and verse order, suggesting that the Quranic text may have evolved over time.
Criticism of Muhammad
See also: Criticism of MuhammadThe Christian missionary Sigismund Koelle and the former Muslim Ibn Warraq have criticized Muhammad's actions as immoral. In one instance, the Jewish poet Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf provoked the Meccan tribe of Quraysh to fight Muslims and wrote erotic poetry about their women, and was apparently plotting to assassinate Muhammad. Muhammad called upon his followers to kill Ka'b, and he was consequently assassinated by Muhammad ibn Maslama, an early Muslim. Such criticisms were countered by the historian William M. Watt, who argues on the basis of moral relativism that Muhammad should be judged by the standards and norms of his own time and geography, rather than ours. The fourteenth-century poem Divine Comedy by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri contains defamatory images of Muhammad, picturing him the eighth circle of hell, along with his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib. Dante does not blame Islam as a whole but accuses Muhammad of schism for establishing another religion after Christianity. Some medieval ecclesiastical writers portrayed Muhammad as possessed by Satan, a "precursor of the Antichrist" or the Antichrist himself. 'Tultusceptru de libro domni Metobii, an Andalusian manuscript of unknown origins, describes how Muhammad (called Ozim, from Hashim) was tricked by Satan into adulterating an originally pure divine revelation: God was concerned about the spiritual fate of the Arabs and wanted to correct their deviation from the faith. He then sent an angel to the Christian monk Osius who ordered him to preach to the Arabs. Osius, however, was in ill-health and instead ordered a young monk, Ozim, to carry out the angel's orders. Ozim set out to follow his orders, but was stopped by an evil angel on the way. The ignorant Ozim believed him to be the same angel that had spoken to Osius before. The evil angel modified and corrupted the original message given to Ozim by Osius, and renamed Ozim Muhammad. From this followed the erroneous teachings of Islam, according to Tultusceptru.
Islamic ethics
Main article: Islamic ethicsAccording to the Catholic Encyclopedia, while there is much to be admired and affirmed in Islamic ethics, its originality or superiority is rejected. Critics stated that the Quran 4:34 allows Muslim men to discipline their wives by striking them. There is however evidence from Islamic hadiths and scholars such as Ibn Kathir that demonstrates that only a twig or leaf can be used by a man to "strike" their wife and this is not allowed to cause pain or injure their wife but to show their frustration. Moreover, confusion amongst translations of Quran with the original Arabic term "wadribuhunna" being translated as "to go away from them", "beat", "strike lightly" and "separate". The film Submission critiqued this and similar verses of the Quran by displaying them painted on the bodies of abused Muslim women. Some critics argue that the Quran is incompatible with other religious scriptures as it attacks and advocates hate against people of other religions. Sam Harris interprets certain verses of the Quran as sanctioning military action against unbelievers as it said "Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled."(Quran 9:29) However, the Islamic hadiths and scholars such as Dr Zakir Naik refer to fighting and not to trust "non-believers" and Christians in certain situations or events such as during times of war.
Jizya is a tax for "protection" paid by non-Muslims to a Muslim ruler, for the exemption from military service for non-Muslims, and for the permission to practice a non-Muslim faith with some communal autonomy in a Muslim state. Harris argues that Muslim extremism is simply a consequence of taking the Quran literally, and is skeptical that moderate Islam is possible. Max I. Dimont interprets that the Houris described in the Quran are specifically dedicated to "male pleasure". According to Pakistani Islamic scholar Maulana Umar Ahmed Usmani "Hur" or "hurun" is the plural of both "ahwaro" which is a masculine form and also "haurao" which is a feminine, meaning both pure males and pure females. Basically, the word 'hurun' means white, he says.
Views on slavery
Main articles: Islamic views on slavery, History of slavery in the Muslim world, History of concubinage in the Muslim world, and MamlukAccording to Bernard Lewis, the Islamic injunctions against the enslavement of Muslims led to massive importation of slaves from the outside. Also Patrick Manning believes that Islam seems to have done more to protect and expand slavery than the reverse. Brockopp, on the other hand believe that the idea of using alms for the manumission of slaves appears to be unique to the Quran ( and ). Similarly, the practice of freeing slaves in atonement for certain sins appears to be introduced by the Quran (but compare Exod 21:26-7). Also the forced prostitution of female slaves, a Near Eastern custom of great antiquity, is condemned in the Quran. According to Brockopp "the placement of slaves in the same category as other weak members of society who deserve protection is unknown outside the Qur'an. Some slaves had high social status in the Muslim world, such as the Mamluk enslaved mercenaries, who were assigned high-ranking military and administrative duties by the ruling Arab and Ottoman dynasties.
Critics argue unlike Western societies there have been no anti-slavery movements in Muslim societies, which according to Gordon was due to the fact that it was deeply anchored in Islamic law, thus there was no ideological challenge ever mounted against slavery. According to sociologist Rodney Stark, "the fundamental problem facing Muslim theologians vis-à-vis the morality of slavery" is that Muhammad himself engaged in activities such as purchasing, selling, and owning slaves, and that his followers saw him as the perfect example to emulate. Stark contrasts Islam with Christianity, writing that Christian theologians wouldn't have been able to "work their way around the biblical acceptance of slavery" if Jesus had owned slaves, as Muhammad did.
Only in the early 20th century did slavery gradually became outlawed and suppressed in Muslim lands, with Muslim-majority Mauritania being the last country in the world to formally abolish slavery in 1981. Murray Gordon characterizes Muhammad's approach to slavery as reformist rather than revolutionary that abolish slavery, but rather improved the conditions of slaves by urging his followers to treat their slaves humanely and free them as a way of expiating one's sins. In Islamic jurisprudence, slavery was theoretically an exceptional condition under the dictum The basic principle is liberty. Reports from Sudan and Somalia showing practice of slavery is in border areas as a result of continuing war and not Islamic belief. In recent years, except for some conservative Salafi Islamic scholars, most Muslim scholars found the practice "inconsistent with Qur'anic morality".
Apostasy
Main article: Apostasy in Islam See also: Freedom of religion § IslamIn Islam, apostasy along with heresy and blasphemy (verbal insult to religion) is considered a form of disbelief. The Qur'an states that apostasy would bring punishment in the Afterlife, but takes a relatively lenient view of apostasy in this life (Q 9:74; 2:109). While Shafi'i interprets verse Quran 2:217 as adducing the main evidence for the death penalty in Quran, the historian W. Heffening states that Quran threatens apostates with punishment in the next world only., the historian Wael Hallaq states the later addition of death penalty "reflects a later reality and does not stand in accord with the deeds of the Prophet."
According to Islamic law, apostasy is identified by a list of actions such as conversion to another religion, denying the existence of God, rejecting the prophets, mocking God or the prophets, idol worship, rejecting the sharia, or permitting behavior that is forbidden by the sharia, such as adultery or the eating of forbidden foods or drinking of alcoholic beverages. The majority of Muslim scholars hold to the traditional view that apostasy is punishable by death or imprisonment until repentance, at least for adults of sound mind. Also Sunni and Shi'a scholars, agree on the difference of punishment between male and female.
Some widely held interpretations of Islam are inconsistent with Human Rights conventions that recognize the right to change religion. In particular article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Some contemporary Islamic jurists, such as Hussein-Ali Montazeri have argued or issued fatwas that state that either the changing of religion is not punishable or is only punishable under restricted circumstances. According to Yohanan Friedmann, "The real predicament facing modern Muslims with liberal convictions is not the existence of stern laws against apostasy in medieval Muslim books of law, but rather the fact that accusations of apostasy and demands to punish it are heard time and again from radical elements in the contemporary Islamic world."
Sadakat Kadri noted that "state officials could not punish an unmanifested belief even if they wanted to". The kind of apostasy which the jurists generally deemed punishable was of the political kind, although there were considerable legal differences of opinion on this matter. Wael Hallaq states that " a culture whose lynchpin is religion, religious principles and religious morality, apostasy is in some way equivalent to high treason in the modern nation-state". Also Bernard Lewis consider the apostasy as a treason and "a withdrawal, a denial of allegiance as well as of religious belief and loyalty". The English historian C. E. Bosworth suggests the traditional view of apostasy hampered the development of Islamic learning, like philosophy and natural science, "out of fear that these could evolve into potential toe-holds for kufr, those people who reject God." While in 13 Muslim-majority countries atheism is punishable by death, according to legal historian Sadakat Kadri, executions were rare because "it was widely believed" that any accused apostate "who repented by articulating the shahada" (LA ILAHA ILLALLAH "There is no God but God") "had to be forgiven" and their punishment delayed until after Judgement Day. William Montgomery Watt states that "In Islamic teaching, such penalties may have been suitable for the age in which Muhammad lived."
Islam and violence
Main articles: Islam and violence and Supremacism § IslamicQuran's teachings on matters of war and peace have become topics of heated discussion in recent years. On the one hand, some critics claim that certain verses of the Quran sanction military action against unbelievers as a whole both during the lifetime of Muhammad and after. Jihad, an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims meaning "striving for the sake of God". It is perceived in a military sense (not spiritual sense) by Bernard Lewis and David Cook. Also Fawzy Abdelmalek and Dennis Prager argue against Islam being a religion of peace and not of violence. John R. Neuman, a scholar on religion, describes Islam as "a perfect anti-religion" and "the antithesis of Buddhism". Lawrence Wright argued that role of Wahhabi literature in Saudi schools contributing suspicion and hate violence against non-Muslims as non-believers or infidels and anyone who "disagrees with Wahhabism is either an infidel or a deviant, who should repent or be killed."
Most Muslim scholars, on the other hand, argue that such verses of the Quran are interpreted out of context, and argue that when the verses are read in context it clearly appears that the Quran prohibits aggression, and allows fighting only in self-defense. Charles Mathewes characterizes the peace verses as saying that "if others want peace, you can accept them as peaceful even if they are not Muslim." As an example, Mathewes cites the second sura, which commands believers not to transgress limits in warfare: "fight in God's cause against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits ; God does not love transgressors" (2:190).
Orientalist David Margoliouth described the Battle of Khaybar as the "stage at which Islam became a menace to the whole world". In the battle reportedly Muslims beheaded Jews. Margoliouth argues that the Jews of Khaybar had done nothing to harm Muhammad or his followers, and ascribes the attack to a desire for plunder Montgomery Watt on the other hand, believes Jews' intriguing and use of their wealth to incite tribes against Muhammad left him no choice but to attack. Vaglieri and Shibli Numani concur that one reason for attack was that the Jews of Khaybar were responsible for the Confederates that attacked Muslims during the Battle of the Trench. Rabbi Samuel Rosenblatt has said that Muhammad's policies were not directed exclusively against Jews (referring to his conflicts with Jewish tribes) and that Muhammad was more severe with his pagan Arab kinsmen.
The September 11 attacks have resulted in many non-Muslims' indictment of Islam as a violent religion. In the European view, Islam lacked divine authority and regarded the sword as the route to heaven.
Karen Armstrong, tracing what she believes to be the West's long history of hostility toward Islam, finds in Muhammad's teachings a theology of peace and tolerance. Armstrong holds that the "holy war" urged by the Quran alludes to each Muslim's duty to fight for a just, decent society. According to Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the 20th-century Indian independence movement, although non-violence is dominant in the Qur'an, thirteen hundred years of imperialist expansion have made Muslims a militant body.
Other self-described Muslim organisations have emerged more recently, and some of them have been associated with jihadist and extreme Islamist groups. Compared to the entire Muslim community, these groups are sparsely populated. They have, however, received more attention from governments, international organisations, and the international media than other Muslim groups. This is as a result of their participation in actions intended to combat alleged enemies of Islam both at home and abroad.
Years later however, Al-Qaeda has yet to succeed in gaining the support of the majority of Muslims and continues to differ from other Islamist organizations in terms of both philosophy and strategy.
Temporary and Contractual Marriages
Main articles: Nikah mut'ah and Nikah MisyarNikāḥ al-Mutʿah is a fixed-term or short-term contractual marriage in Shia Islam. The duration of this type of marriage is fixed at its inception and is then automatically dissolved upon completion of its term. For this reason, nikah mut'ah has been widely criticised as the religious cover and legalization of prostitution. Shi'a and Sunnis agree that Mut'ah was legal in early times, but Sunnis consider that it was abrogated. Currently, however, mut'ah is one of the distinctive features of Ja'fari jurisprudence. Sunnis believe that Muhammad later abolished this type of marriage at several different large events,Bukhari 059.527 Most Sunnis believe that Umar later was merely enforcing a prohibition that was established during Muhammad's time.
Shia contest the criticism that nikah mut'ah is a cover for prostitution, and argue that the unique legal nature of temporary marriage distinguishes Mut'ah ideologically from prostitution. Children born of temporary marriages are considered legitimate, and have equal status in law with their siblings born of permanent marriages, and do inherit from both parents. Women must observe a period of celibacy (idda) to allow for the identification of a child's legitimate father, and a woman can only be married to one person at a time, be it temporary or permanent. Some Shia scholars also view Mut'ah as a means of eradicating prostitution from society.
Nikah Misyar is a type of Nikah (marriage) in Sunni Islam only carried out through the normal contractual procedure, with the provision that the husband and wife give up several rights by their own free will, such as living together, equal division of nights between wives in cases of polygamy, the wife's rights to housing, and maintenance money ("nafaqa"), and the husband's right of homekeeping and access. Essentially the couple continue to live separately from each other, as before their contract, and see each other to fulfil their needs in a legally permissible (halal) manner when they please. Misyar has been suggested by some western authors to be a comparable marriage with Nikah mut'ah and that they find it for the sole purpose of "sexual gratification in a licit manner" Islamic scholars like Ibn Uthaimeen or Al-Albani claim that misyar marriage may be legal, but not moral.
Age of Muhammad's wife Aisha
See also: Criticism of Muhammad (Aisha) and Child marriageAccording to Sunni hadith sources, Aisha was six or seven years old when she was married to Muhammad and nine when the marriage was consummated. The Muslim historian al-Tabari (d. 923) reports that she was ten, while Ibn Sa'd (d. 845) and Ibn Khallikan (d. 1282), two other Muslim historians, write that she was nine years old at marriage and twelve at consummation. Muhammad Ali (d. 1951), a modern Muslim author, argues that a new interpretation of the Hadith compiled by Mishkat al-Masabih, Wali-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Khatib, could indicate that Aisha would have been nineteen. Similarly, on the basis of a hadith about her age difference with her sister Asma, some have estimated Aisha's age to have been eighteen or nineteen at the time of her marriage. At any rate, Muhammad's marriage to Aisha may have not been considered improper by his contemporaries, for such marriages between an older man and a young girl were common among the Bedouins. In particular, Karen Armstrong, an author on comparative religion, writes, "There was no impropriety in Muhammad's marriage to Aisha. Marriages conducted in absentia to seal an alliance were often contracted at this time between adults and minors who were even younger than Aisha."
Women in Islam
Main article: Women in IslamSee also: Islam and domestic violence and Muslim women in sportThe meaning of Quran 4:34 has been the subject of intense debate among experts. While many scholars claim Shari'a law encourages domestic violence against women, many Muslim scholars arguing that it acts as a deterrent against domestic violence motivated by rage. Shari'a is the basis for personal status laws such as rights of women in matters of marriage, divorce and child custody which was described as discriminatory against women from a human rights perspective in a 2011 UNICEF report. Allowing girls under 18 to marry by religious courts is another criticism of Islam Sharia grants women the right to inherit property but a daughter's inheritance is usually half that of her brother's but that is because the brother needs to care of his family and her sister if a male guardian isn't present and take care of her needs. Furthermore, slave women were not granted the same legal rights. On 14 January 2009, the Catholic Portuguese cardinal José Policarpo directed a warning to young women to "think twice" before marrying Muslim men.
In contrast to the widespread Western belief that women in Muslim societies are oppressed and denied opportunities to realize their full potential, many Muslims believe their faith to be liberating or fair to women, and some find it offensive that Westerners criticize it without fully understanding the historical and contemporary realities of Muslim women's lives. Conservative Muslims in particular (in common with some Christians and Jews) see women in the West as being economically exploited for their labor, sexually abused, and commodified through the media's fixation on the female body.
Islam and multiculturalism
See also: Multiculturalism and Islam and Islamophobia § Regional trendsMuslim immigration to Western countries has led some critics to label Islam incompatible with secular Western society. This criticism has been partly influenced by a stance against multiculturalism closely linked to the heritage of New Philosophers. Recent critics include Pascal Bruckner and Paul Cliteur. Tatar Tengrist criticize Islam as a semitic religion, which forced Turks to submission to an alien culture. Further, since Islam mentions semitic history as if it were the history of all mankind, but disregards components of other cultures and spirituality, the international approach of Islam is seen as a threat. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic, described Islam as the religion of the Arabs that loosened the national nexus of Turkish nation, got national excitement numb.
In the early 20th century, the prevailing view among Europeans was that Islam was the root cause of Arab "backwardness". They saw Islam as an obstacle to assimilation, a view that was expressed by one of the spokesmen of colonial French Algeria named André Servier. The Victorian orientalist scholar Sir William Muir criticised Islam for what he perceived to be an inflexible nature, which he held responsible for stifling progress and impeding social advancement in Muslim countries.
Jocelyne Cesari, in her study of discrimination against Muslims in Europe, finds that anti-Islamic sentiment may be difficult to separate from other drivers of discrimination because Muslims are mainly from immigrant backgrounds and the largest group of immigrants in many Western European countries, xenophobia overlaps with Islamophobia, and a person may have one, the other, or both.
See also
- Abrogation
- Bibliolatry
- Criticism of Islamism
- Islamic fundamentalism
- Islamic terrorism
- Islam and war
- Political aspects of Islam
- Political Islam
- LGBT topics and Islam
- Quran and violence
- Criticism of Twelver Shia Islam
- Haram
- List of critics of Islam
- Islamic feminism
- LetUsTalk
- Islamophobia
- Islamophobia in the media
- Islamophobia in the United States
- Islamophobic tropes
- Muslims Condemn
- Persecution of Muslims
- Predestination in Islam
- Quranic inerrancy
- Qur'anic literalism
- Superstitions in Muslim societies
- Hindu terrorism
- War against Islam conspiracy theory
References
Footnotes
- "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached," he said.
- Scholarly research suggests that there was an inverse relationship between where Muslim political power centres were and where the most conversions occurred, which was on the political periphery. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, conquest was just one of several elements that helped Islam spread throughout the world. The systematisation of Islamic tradition, trade, interfaith marriage, political patronage, urbanisation, and the pursuit of knowledge must also be acknowledged. Along trade routes and even in the most isolated regions, Sufis contributed to the spread of Islam. The yearly hajj to Mecca, which brought together scholars, mystics, businesspeople, and regular believers from various nations, should be particularly noted as a contributing factor. Despite taking on more contemporary forms, these factors are still in force today. The expansion of Islam into western Europe, the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand has been facilitated by them.
- Various calls to arms were identified in the Quran by US citizen Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, all of which were cited as "most relevant to my actions on March 3, 2006" (Q9:44, 9:19, 57:10–11, 8:72–73, 9:120, 3:167–75, 4:66, 4:104, 9:81, 9:93–94, 9:100, 16:110, 61:11–12, 47:35).
- In a 2014 issue of their digital magazine Dabiq, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant explicitly claimed religious justification for enslaving Yazidi women.
Citations
- De Haeresibus by John of Damascus. See Migne. Patrologia Graeca, vol. 94, 1864, cols 763–73. An English translation by the Reverend John W Voorhis appeared in The Moslem World for October 1954, pp. 392–98.
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This tax was not imposed on the Christians, as some would have us think, as a penalty for their refusal to accept the Muslim faith, but was paid by them in common with the other dhimmīs or non-Muslim subjects of the state whose religion precluded them from serving in the army, in return for the protection secured for them by the arms of the Musalmans.
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- He wrote that this became an excuse for unfettered conquest."That plea would cover attacks on the whole world outside Medinah and its neighbourhood: and on leaving Khaibar the Prophet seemed to see the world already in his grasp. This was a great advance from the early days of Medinah, when the Jews were to be tolerated as equals, and even idolators to be left unmolested, so long as they manifested no open hostility. Now the fact that a community was idolatrous, or Jewish, or anything but Mohammedan, warranted a murderous attack upon it: the passion for fresh conquests dominated the Prophet as it dominated an Alexander before him or a Napoleon after him." Margoliouth, D. S. (1905). Mohammed and the Rise of Islam (Third Edition., p. 363). New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons; The Knickerbocker Press.
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On the other hand, however, Muslims who calculate 'Ayesha's age based on details of her sister Asma's age, about whom more is known, as well as on details of the Hijra (the Prophet's migration from Mecca to Madina), maintain that she was over thirteen and perhaps between seventeen and nineteen when she got married. Such views cohere with those Ahadith that claim that at her marriage Ayesha had "good knowledge of Ancient Arabic poetry and genealogy" and "pronounced the fundamental rules of Arabic Islamic ethics.
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Further reading
- Esposito, John L. (1995). The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510298-3.
- Halliday, Fred (2003). Islam and the Myth of Confrontation: Religion and Politics of the Middle East. I.B. Tauris, New York. ISBN 1-86064-868-1.
- Esposito, John L. (2003). Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-516886-0.
- Geisler, Norman L. (2002). Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross. Baker Books. ISBN 0-8010-6430-9.
- Kepel, Gilles (2002). Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. Belknap Press. ISBN 0-674-00877-4.
- Kepel, Gilles (2004). The War for Muslim Minds. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01575-4.
- Ibn Warraq (1995). Why I Am Not a Muslim. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-984-4.
- Ibn Warraq (2003). Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-59102-068-9.
- Cox, Caroline & Marks, John (2003). The 'West', Islam and Islamism: Is ideological Islam compatible with liberal democracy?. Civitas. ISBN 1-903 386-29 2.
- Yılmaz, Halil İbrahim; İzgi, Mahmut Cihat; Erbay, Enes Ensar; Şenel, Samet (2024). "Studying early Islam in the third millennium: a bibliometric analysis". Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. 11 (1): Article 1521. doi:10.1057/s41599-024-04058-2.
External links
- A collection of Muslim Responses To Anti-Islam Polemics
- Media related to Criticism of Islam at Wikimedia Commons
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