Criticism of Islam

The earliest surviving written criticisms of Islam are to be found in the writings of Christians, who came under the early dominion of the Islamic Caliphate. One such Christian was John of Damascus ( c. 676 - 749 AD), who was familiar with Islam and Arabic. 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 Arian monk (whom he did not know was Bahira) influenced Muhammad and viewed the Islamic doctrines as nothing more than a hodgepodge culled from the Bible.^[11]
Writing on Islam's claim of Abrahamic ancestry, John explained that the Arabs were called "Saracens" because they were "empty of Sarah". They were called "Hagarenes" because they were "the descendants of the slave-girl Hagar".^[12] In the opinion of John V. Tolan, a Professor of Medieval History, John's biography of Muhammad is "based on deliberate distortions of Muslim traditions", but Tolan does not elaborate his statement.^[13]
Notable early critics of Islam included:

Muhammad al Warraq, a 9th century skeptical scholar and critic of Islam.
Ibn al-Rawandi was initially a Muslim, but became a freethinker who repudiated Islam and revealed religion in general.

[edit] Medieval Islamic world

In the early centuries of the Islamic Caliphate, the Islamic law allowed citizens to freely express their views, including criticism of Islam and religious authorities, without fear of persecution.^[14]^[15]^[16]^[17] As such, there have been several notable Muslim 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 Al-Ma'arri. 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 ulema, writing that:

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!
—^[2]^[18]

Another early critic was the Persian physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi in the 10th century. He criticized Islam and all revealed religions in general in several treatises.^[19] Despite his views, he remained a celebrated physician across the Islamic world.^[20] In 1280, the Jewish philosopher, Ibn Kammuna, criticized Islam in his book Examination of the Three Faiths. He reasoned that the Sharia 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."^[21]^[22] The philosopher thus claimed that people converted to Islam from ulterior motives:

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.
—^[3]

According to Bernard Lewis, 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 Ibn Kammuna's list seems to cover most of such nonreligious motives.^[23]
Maimonides, one of the foremost 12th century rabbinical arbiters 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 regimes. He also considered Islamic ethics 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.^[24] In his Epistle to Yemenite Jewry, he refers to Mohammad, as "hameshuga" – "that madman".^[25]

[edit] Medieval Christianity

Main article: Medieval Christian views on Muhammad

In Dante's Inferno, Muhammad is portrayed as split in half, representing his status as a heresiarch (one who split from the Christian church).
Some medieval ecclesiastical writers portrayed Muhammad as possessed by Satan, a "precursor of the Antichrist" or the Antichrist himself.^[4]
Denis the Carthusian wrote two treatises to refute Islam at the request of Nicholas of Cusa, Contra perfidiam Mahometi, et contra multa dicta Sarracenorum libri quattuor and Dialogus disputationis inter Christianum et Sarracenum de lege Christi et contra perfidiam Mahometi.^[26]
The Tultusceptru de libro domni Metobii, an Andalusian manuscript with unknown dating, shows how Muhammad (called Ozim, from Hashim) was tricked by Satan into adulterating an originally pure divine revelation. The story argues God was concerned about the spiritual fate of the Arabs and wanted to correct their derivation from the faith. He then sends an angel to the monk Osius who orders him to preach to the Arabs. Osius however is in ill-health and orders a young monk, Ozim, to carry out the angel's orders instead. Ozim sets out to follow his orders, but gets stopped by an evil angel on the way. The ignorant Ozim believes him to be the same angel that spoke to Osius before. The evil angel modifies and corrupts the original message given to Ozim by Osius, and renames Ozim Muhammad. From this followed the erroneous teachings of Islam, according to the tultusceptrum.^[27]
According to many Christians, the coming of Muhammad was foretold in the Holy Bible. According to the monk Bede this is in Genesis 16:12, which describes Ishmael as "a wild man" whose "hand will be against every man". Bede says about Muhammad: "Now how great is his hand against all and all hands against him; as they impose his authority upon the whole length of Africa and hold both the greater part of Asia and some of Europe, hating and opposing all."^[28]
In 1391 a dialogue was believed to have occurred between Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos and a Persian scholar in which the Emperor stated:

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. God is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death.
—^[29]

The first sentence of this quotation, when repeated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006, led to a series of riots, firebombing of churches and a Fatwa against the life of the Pope (see Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy).

[edit] Enlightenment Europe

In Of the Standard of Taste, an essay by David Hume, the Qur’an 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 [Muhammad] 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."^[30]

[edit] Truthfulness of Islam and Islamic scriptures

[edit] Reliability

[edit] Reliability of the Qur'an

Muslims believe the Qur'an to be the perfect word of God, and as such it cannot contain any errors or contradictions, and must be perfectly compatible with science. Muslims believe it to be so perfect that readers must conclude it is of divine, rather than human, origin.
Critics argue that:

the Qur'an contains verses which are difficult to understand or contradictory.^[31]
the Qur'an contains incorrect cosmological explanations.^[32]
Some accounts of the history of Islam say there were two verses of the Qur'an that were allegedly added by Muhammad when he was tricked by Satan (in an incident known as the "Story of the Cranes", later referred to as the "Satanic Verses"). These verses were then retracted at angel Gabriel's behest.^[33]^[34]

[edit] Hadith

Main article: Criticism of Hadith

Hadith are Muslim traditions relating to the Sunna (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.^[35] In general, for Muslims the hadith are second only to the Qur'an in importance,^[36] although some scholars put more emphasis on the perpetual adherence of Muslim nation to the traditions to give them credibility, and not solely on hadith.^[37] Most of the knowledge about the life of Muhammad comes from the hadith, many of which were biographies of Mohammed. Many Islamic practices (such as the Five Pillars of Islam) are drawn from the hadith.
However, there is criticism of the historical reliability of hadith.
Within Islam, different schools and sects have different opinions on the proper selection and use of hadith. The four schools of Sunni Islam all consider hadith second only to the Qur'an, although they differ on how much freedom of interpretation should be allowed to legal scholars.^[38] Shi'i scholars disagree with Sunni scholars as to which hadith should be considered reliable. The Shi'as accept the Sunna of Ali and the Imams as authoritative in addition to the Sunna of Muhammad, and as a consequence they maintain their own, different, collections of hadith.^[39]

[edit] Lack of secondary evidence

[edit] Morality

[edit] Muhammad

Main article: Criticism of Muhammad

Muslims consider Muhammad to be the final prophet, the messenger of the final revelation that he called the Qur’an. Muslims believe that Muhammad is righteous, holy, no more than a messenger, a warner and seal of Prophets. However, critics such as Koelle and Ibn Warraq, a former Muslim, see some of his actions as immoral.^[4]^[5]
Another criticism is made by Ayaan Hirsi Ali who denounced Muhammad's marriage, at age 52, to six-year old Aisha, who was nine at the time the marriage was consummated.^[41]

[edit] Morality of the Qur'an

[edit] Apostasy

Main article: Apostasy in Islam

[edit] Islamic law

Bernard Lewis summarizes:

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.
—^[52]

The four Sunni schools of Islamic jurisprudence, as well as Shi'a scholars, agree that a sane adult male apostate (if he doesn't repent) must be executed. A female apostate may be put to death, according to the majority view, or imprisoned until she repents, according to others.^[53]
The Qur'an threatens apostate 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 ^{[Qur'an 2:217]} as adducing the main evidence for the death penalty in Qur'an.^[54] 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."^[55]
William Montgomery Watt, 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."^[56]
Some contemporary Islamic jurists from both the Sunni and Shi'a denominations together with Qur'an only Muslims have argued or issued fatwas that state that either the changing of religion is not punishable or is only punishable under restricted circumstances.^[57]^[58]^[59]^[60]^[61]^[62] For example, Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri argues that no Qur'anic 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.^[63]
According to Yohanan Friedmann, an Israeli Islamic Studies scholar, a Muslim may stress tolerant elements of Islam (by for instance adopting the broadest interpretation of Qur'an 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").^[64] Friedmann continues:

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.
—^[64]

Problems can arise when Westerners are convicted of a crime under sharia law. In Sudan, 2007, Gillian Gibbons was sent to prison for 15 days after being convicted of "inciting religious hatred for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Mohamed." Gibbons "escaped a sentence of 40 lashes after apologising to the court for any offence she had caused."^[65]

[edit] Contemporary treatment of accused apostates

Today, out of 57 mostly Islamic countries in OIC, six make apostasy from Islam a crime punishable by death: Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia.^{[citation needed]} According to the US State Department, there have been no reports of any executions for apostasy carried out by the government of Saudi Arabia for several years.^[66] On the other hand, in Pakistan, vigilante attacks against alleged apostates are common.^[67]

[edit] Abdul Rahman

The recent case of Afghan Abdul Rahman has achieved particular notoriety. In early 2006, Rahman was arrested and held by Afghan authorities on charges that he converted from Islam to Christianity, a capital offense in Afghanistan. Many Muslim clerics in the country pushed for a death sentence, but after international pressure (including a public statement by U.S. Secretary of State at the time Condoleezza Rice) he was released and secretly given asylum in Italy.^[68]

[edit] Nasr Abu Zayd

In 1993, an Egyptian professor named Nasr Abu Zayd was divorced from his wife by an Egyptian court on the grounds that his controversial writings about the Qur'an demonstrated his apostasy. He subsequently fled to Europe with his wife.^[69] Another Egyptian professor, Farag Foda, was killed in 1992 by masked men after criticizing Muslim fundamentalists and announcing plans to form a new movement for Egyptians of all religions.^[70]

[edit] Human rights conventions

Some widely held interpretations of Islam are inconsistent with Human Rights conventions that recognize the right to change religion.^[71]^[72]
In particular article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights^[73] states:

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 ICCPR states:

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.^[71]^[72]^[74]
Muslim countries such as Sudan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, have the death penalty for apostasy from Islam.^[75]
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-Western countries.
In 1990, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference published a separate Cairo Declaration of Human Rights compliant with Shari'ah.^[76] Although granting many of the rights in the UN declaration, it does not grant Muslims the right to convert to other religions, and restricts freedom of speech to those expressions of it that are not in contravention of the Islamic law.
Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami,^[77] wrote a book called Human Rights in Islam,^[78] in which he argues that respect for human rights has always been enshrined in Sharia law (indeed that the roots of these rights are to be found in Islamic doctrine)^[79] and criticizes Western notions that there is an inherent contradiction between the two.^[80] Western scholars have, for the most part, rejected Maududi's analysis.^[81]^[82]^[83]

[edit] Women

Main articles: Women in Islam, Islam and domestic violence, Stoning, and Honor killing

Many have said that "women are not treated as equal members" of Muslim societies^[8] and have criticized Islam for condoning this treatment.^[9] In Jantho, Indonesia, two women were found guilty of selling food during Ramadan and each received lashes for violating sharia law.^[84]^[85] In Saudi Arabia, 15 schoolgirls died in a fire and more than 50 were seriously injured because the mutaween, or religious police, blocked fire-fighters from entering the building because the girls were not wearing headscarves and abayas.^[86]
The term "Muslim apartheid" has been used to highlight religious isolation in France as well as gender segregation practices.^[87]^[88]
The Catholic Church has warned Christian women about marrying Muslim men because of the "inferior" status of women in Muslim countries and the nonexistence of maternal rights to children.^[89]

[edit] Homosexuals

Main article: LGBT topics and Islam

Critics such as Muslim lesbian activist Irshad Manji,^[90] former Muslims Ehsan Jami and the Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, have criticized Islam's attitudes towards homosexuals. Most international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, condemn Islamic laws that make homosexual relations between consenting adults a crime. Since 1994 the United Nations Human Rights Committee has also ruled that such laws violated the right to privacy guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
However most Muslim nations insist that such laws are necessary to preserve Islamic morality and virtue.^[91] In May 2008, the sexual rights lobby group Lambda Istanbul (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.^[92]

[edit] Violence and Intolerance towards critics of Islam

Despite claims that the sources of Islam demand it to be a "Religion of peace" with violence being regulated by laws of Jihad, Islam has been criticised for its followers exhibiting intolerance and violence towards critics (often viewed as being pejorative of Islam and its Prophet^[93]).
According to Islamic scholar Khaleel Mohammed, throughout the world, Muslim intellectuals are punished for criticizing some aspects of traditional and contemporary Islam. He cited the case of Muhammad Said al-Ashmawy being held in Egypt is under house arrest for his own protection; Abdel Karim Soroush who was beaten in Iran for raising the voice of inquiry, Mahmoud Taha who was killed in Sudan. Mohammed claims that Scholars Rifat Hassan, Fatima Mernissi, Abdallah an-Na'im, Mohammed Arkoun and Amina Wadud were all vilified by the imams for asking Muslims to use their intellects.^[94]
In one example, Hashem Aghajari, an Iranian university professor, was initially sentenced to death because of a speech that criticized some of the present Islamic practices in Iran being in contradiction with the original practices and ideology of Islam, and particularly for stating that Muslims were not "monkeys" and "should not blindly follow" the clerics. The sentence was later commuted to three years in jail, and he was released in 2004 after serving two years of that sentence.^[95]^[96]^[97]
Ibn Warraq has collected and published stories of the reported mistreatment of Muslim apostates at the hands of Islamic authorities.^[98]

Christoph Luxenberg feels compelled to work under a pseudonym to protect himself because of fears that a new book on the origins of the Qur'an may make him a target for violence.^[99]

In recent times fatwas calling for execution have been issued against author Salman Rushdie and activist Taslima Nasreen for pejorative comments on Islam.^[100]
On November 2, 2004, Dutch Filmmaker Theo van Gogh was assassinated by Dutch born Mohammed Bouyeri for producing the 10 minute film Submission critical of the abusive treatment of women by Muslims. A letter threatening the author of the screenplay, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, was pinned to his body by a knife. Hirsi Ali entered into hiding immediately following the assassination.^[101]
On September 30, 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published editorial cartoons, many of which caricatured the Islamic prophet Mohammed. The publication was intended to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship;^[102] objectives which manifested themselves in the public outcry from Muslim communities within Denmark and the subsequent apology by the paper. However, the controversy deepened when further examples of the cartoons were reprinted in newspapers in more than fifty other countries. This led to protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence, including setting fire to the Norwegian and Danish Embassies in Syria, and the storming of European buildings and desecration of the Danish and German flags in Gaza City.^[103] Globally, at least 139 people were killed and 823 injured.^[104]
On September 19, 2006 French writer and philosophy teacher Robert Redeker wrote an editorial for Le Figaro, a French conservative newspaper, in which he attacked Islam and Muhammad, writing: "Pitiless war leader, pillager, butcher of Jews and polygamous, this is how Mohammed is revealed by the Qur'an"; he received death threats and went into hiding.^[105]
On 4 August 2007, Ehsan Jami was attacked in his hometown Voorburg, in The Netherlands, by three men. The attack is widely believed to be linked to his activities for the Central Committee for Ex-Muslims. The national anti-terrorism coordinator's office, the public prosecution department and the police decided during a meeting on 6 August that "additional measures" were necessary for the protection of Jami who has subsequently received extra security.^[106]

[edit] Self-Censorship around Islam

The fear of criticizing Islam and offending Muslims has led to some concerns around self-censorship.^[107] Some writers, such as Bruce Bawer, argue that while the media allows open criticism of other religions, Islam often receives immunity from any criticism frequently targeted at other religions and other topics.^[108]

Historian Will Durant refers to the Islamic invasion of India as "probably the bloodiest story in history",^[109]^:1 and contends that Islam spread through India with violence.^[110]^:459^[111] Historian Koenraad Elst makes the case in his book “Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam” that during the Islamic conquest of India, the population of Hindus decreased by 80 million, but Indian history conceals this fact out of fear of criticizing Islam.^[112]^:34 Sir Jadunath Sarkar contends that that several Muslim invaders were waging a systematic jihad against Hindus in India to the effect that "every device short of massacre in cold blood was resorted to in order to convert heathen subjects."^[113]
The film 2012 depicts landmarks such as the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter’s Basilica of the Vatican and the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro being destroyed, but director Roland Emmerich refused to show the Kaaba being destroyed out of fears of having a “fatwa on [his] head”.^[114] The proposal by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference at the United Nations to of making any criticism of Islam illegal has proved controversial.^[115]
Comedian Penn Jillette, one of the presenters of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! admitted in 2010 that he would not criticize Islam on his show - despite doing a show critiquing Christianity - “because we have families”.^[116]
Iranian-born Dutch artist Sooreh Hera, who took photographs of gay men wearing masks of Muhammad, received death threats and was forced into hiding. The museum removed her work, with Hera arguing that the museum director “gave in to pressure from the Islamists. It is censorship.” ^[117]
British artist Grayson Perry has stated that he censors himself when it comes to portraying Islam. He has portrayed other religions, however, and one of his exhibits was "a teddy bear being born from a penis as the Virgin Mary". Perry says that "the reason I haven’t gone all out attacking Islamism in my art is because I feel real fear that someone will slit my throat." ^[118]
In Batley, West Yorkshire, England, head teacher Barbara Harris of Park Road Junior Infant and Nursery School removed the story The Three Little Pigs from the classroom to avoid offending Muslim children, although copies remain in the library.^[119] More recently in Britain, a remake of the story of The Three Little Pigs re-telling the classic story, was rejected a government agency award panel "as the subject matter could offend Muslims", and "the use of pigs raises cultural issues".^[120]

[edit] Violence and Intolerance towards other Religions

On March 24, 2005, Saudi authorities destroyed religious items found in a raid on a makeshift Hindu shrine found in an apartment in Riyadh.^[121] In strict Islamic countries, such as Saudi Arabia, there is no religious freedom,^[122] and people practicing other religions may face persecution.
Non-Muslims living in strict Islamic countries have to pay an additional tax – known as Jizya. Some argue that "the collection of the jizya occurs at a ceremony that is designed to emphasize the subordinate status of the non-Muslims."^[123]
There is concern that school textbooks are being used to indoctrinate children in some Islamic countries. School textbooks in Saudi Arabia, despite earlier claims to the contrary, continuing to indoctrinate children with messages of hate and intolerance towards non-Muslims, particularly Jews and Christians. For example, "an eighth grade text equates Jews with 'apes' and Christian infidels with 'swine'. A tenth grade text teaches that the life of a Muslim is worth twice that of a non-Muslim", and "It's taught that Christians and Jews are the enemy of the Muslim… [and] that the Muslim must wage jihad in order to spread the faith in battle against the infidel".^[124] Similar concerns have emerged from Pakistan, where school textbooks are still believed to teach intolerance toward Hindus. The textbooks contain comments such as the "forefathers of Hinduism [being] fond of gambling, drinking and dancing ...the foundation of Hindu set up was based on injustice and cruelty", and accusations that, during the 19th century, "the Hindu racists were not only against Muslims but also against all other minorities ..." The book charges Hindus and Sikhs practised ethnic cleansing during partition in 1947 when India and Pakistan were carved out of British India and became independent states.^[125]
On 28 August 2009, a group of Malaysian Muslims staged a protest against the proposal that a Hindu shrine be relocated to a predominantly Muslim neighborhood. The 50 or so protestors marched from a mosque to the Malaysian government headquarters with the head of a cow – an animal deemed sacred in Hinduism – and "stomped on the head and spat on it before leaving the site".^[126] Malaysia’s Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein defended the protest, arguing that building a Hindu shrine is unsuitable because the neighborhood is Muslim, and that “the residents only wanted their voices to be heard [and] it was unfortunate that 'the publicity they received was negative because it was linked with racial and religious sentiments.'"^[127] (See also:Cow head protests)
In December 2009, three Muslim students who attended the East Preston Islamic College in Melbourne, Australia, defaced a copy of the Holy Bible. "The main perpetrator (a Year 7 student) urinated on the Holy Bible, tore some pages from the Holy Book and burnt them then finally spat on the Holy Book," the report says. The second boy, from Year 9, "tore pages from the Holy Book and burnt them", while a third student, from Year 7, "tore pages from the Holy Bible and then he rolled it up like a cigarette and pretended to smoke it".^[128]
In January 2010 in Malaysia, nine churches^[129] were burnt by Muslim groups who were outraged at "the court's move to overturn a government prohibition on the use of Allah by Christians when using the Malay language".^[130] The decision divided Muslim groups in Malaysia; "some major Muslim organisations, including the Islamic political party, PAS, have agreed with the court, saying other Abrahamic religions - Christianity and Judiasm - may use the word. But some vocal groups, including the Muslim Youth Movement, Abim, have cast the use of the word Allah as a surreptitious effort on the part of Christians to try to seduce Muslims away from Islam."^[131]

[edit] Islam's influence on the ability of Muslim immigrants in the West to assimilate

The immigration of Muslims to European countries has increased greatly in recent decades, and frictions have developed between these new neighbours. Conservative Muslim social attitudes on modern issues have caused much controversy in Europe and elsewhere, and scholars argue about how much these attitudes are a result of Islamic beliefs.^[132] Others argue that Western democratic values and freedoms are being given away to appease Islam, and grant Islam privileges not granted to other religions or community groups, resulting in deeper division.^[133] For example, in the Netherlands, Fortis Bank has dropped Knorbert the piglet as its mascot "after it decided to stop giving piggy banks to children for fear of offending Muslims."^[134] Similarly, at least two British banks, Halifax and NatWest have banned piggy banks to avoid the possibility of offending Muslims.^[135] Some Female Muslim doctors and nurses in England are able to be exempt from following strict hygiene standards that have been implemented by the Department of Health (DOH) to avoid the spread of superbugs, as some Muslim women have objected to exposing their arms below the elbow. The DOH have also relaxed rules so that Sikhs can wear jewellery.^[136] In Minneapolis, some Somali taxi drivers refused to carry passengers with alcohol due to religious beliefs, inconveniencing travellers.^[137] In Orlando, Florida, a woman was fired from her job at Rising Star after eating a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, "because pork and pork products were not permissible on company premises". However, "by the company's own admission to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, that policy [was] not written".^[138] In Grozny, Russia, the Muslim leader of the Chechnya region ordered that all cafés be closed down during the month of Ramadan, because the leader thinks that they "can't have smells wafting through the streets and teasing the hungry." This move outraged non-Muslims, saying that it is in violation of Russian law.^[139]^[140] In 2008, David Toube and son were disallowed entry to the Clissold Leisure Centre in Stoke Newington, north London because the pool was running a Muslim men only session. When Toube asked for an explanation from the employees, the "explanation was that it was a requirement of the Muslim religion that Muslims could not swim with non-Muslims."^[141] The Thornley Heath leisure centre in Croydon, London also caused a controversy when it announced it would be running Muslim men only pool sessions on Sunday afternoons. Non-Muslims could "swim during this time but only if they follow the strict dress code of swimming shorts that hide the navel and extend below the knee." Women were forbidden.^[142]
There is also a growing concern that of Islamism in Britain, where Muslims are immigrating with no intention of integrating, reject secular law, and want more sharia law to be implemented.^[143] In Cambuslang, near Glasgow, Scotland, the bakery company Greggs has installed a Muslims-only toilet at their new Scottish headquarters - "despite the fact that no Muslims work there", and it seems the toilets have been built in preparation for Muslim employment. In August, "bosses at two Scottish NHS boards had banned staff from eating at their desks to avoid offending Muslims during Ramadan."^[144]
Some critics consider Islam to be incompatible with secular Western society;^[145] their criticism has been partly influenced by a stance against multiculturalism advocated by recent philosophers, closely linked to the heritage of New Philosophers. Fiery polemic on the subject by proponents like Pascal Bruckner,^[146] and Paul Cliteur has kindled international debate.^[147] They hold multiculturalism to be an invention of an "enlightened" elite who deny the benefits of democratic rights to non-Westerners by chaining them to their roots. They claim this allows Islam free rein to propagate abuses such as the mistreatment of women and homosexuals, and in some countries slavery. They also claim that multiculturalism allows a degree of religious freedom^[148] that exceeds what is needed for personal religious freedom^[149] and is conducive to the creation of organizations aimed at undermining European secular or Christian values. This tendency to focus criticism of Islam on politics and the non-European identity of its traditions triggered a new debate on Islamophobia.^[132]

[edit] Comparison with Communism and Fascist ideologies

In 2004, speaking to the Acton Institute on the problems of "secular democracy", Cardinal George Pell drew a parallel between Islam and Communism: "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."^[150] Pell also agrees in another speech that its capacity for far-reaching renovation is severely limited.^[151] An Australian Islamist spokesman, Keysar Trad, responded to the criticism: "Communism is a godless system, a system that in fact persecutes faith".^[152]
Writers like Stephen Schwartz^[153] and Christopher Hitchens,^[154] describe Islamist attributes similar to Fascism. Malise Ruthven, a Scottish writer and historian who focuses his work on religion and Islamic affairs, opposes redefining Islamism as `Islamofascism`, but also finds the resemblances between the two ideologies "compelling".^[155]

[edit] Destruction of art

Main article: Iconoclasm#Muslim iconoclasm

Islam has been criticised for its negative attitude towards depictions of people in art.^[156] Critics claim that this alleged antagonism towards the representation of the human figure has resulted in the destruction of such icons as the Buddhas of Bamyan,^[157] the nose of the Great Sphinx of Giza, which "has suffered severely from weathering...Man has been responsible for additional mutilation. In 1380 A.D. the Sphinx fell victim to the iconoclastic ardor of a fanatical ruler, who caused deplorable injuries to the head. Then the figure was used as a target for the guns of the Mamluks",^[158] and its face, which "was further disfigured by the eighteenth century A.D. ruler of Egypt, the Marmalukes [Mamluks]",^[159]^[160] and mosaics in the Hagia Sophia.^[161]

[edit] Responses to criticism

John Esposito has written many introductory texts on Islam and the Islamic world. For example, he has addressed issues like the rise of militant Islam, the veiling of women, and democracy.^[162]^[163] 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.^[164]
William Montgomery Watt who in his book Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman addresses Muhammad’s alleged moral failings. He claims that “Of all the world's great men none has been so much maligned as Muhammad.” Watt argues on a basis of moral relativism 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."^[165]
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 Qur'an alludes to each Muslim's duty to fight for a just, decent society.^[166]
Edward Said, in his essay Islam Through Western Eyes, stated that the general basis of Orientalist 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."^[167]
Cathy Young of Reason Magazine claimed that the growing trend of anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim sentiment stemmed from an atmosphere where such criticism is popular. While stating that the terms "Islamophobia" and "anti-Muslim bigotry" are often used in response to legitimate criticism of fundamentalist Islam and problems within Muslim culture, she claimed "the real thing does exist, and it frequently takes the cover of anti-jihadism."^[168]
Deepa Kumar, the author of Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization, and the UPS Strike, in her article titled 'Fighting Islamophobia: A Response to Critics' says "The history of Islam is no more violent than the history of any of the other major religions of the world. Perhaps my critics haven't heard of the Crusades -- the religious wars fought by European Christians from the 11th to the 13th centuries" referring to the brutality of the crusades and then contrasting them to forbidding of acts of vengeance and violence by the Sultan of Egypt Saladin, after he successfully retook Jerusalem from the Crusaders. Speaking on the Danish Muhammad cartoon controversy (which resulted in more than 100 deaths, all together),^[169] she says "The Danish cartoon of the prophet Mohammed with a bomb on his head is nothing if not the visual depiction of the racist diatribe that Islam is inherently violent. To those who can't understand why this argument is racist, let me be clear: when you take the actions of a few people and generalize it to an entire group -- all Muslims, all Arabs -- that's racism. When a whole group of people are discriminated against and demonized because of their religion or regional origin, that's racism." And "...Arabs and Muslims are being scapegoated and demonized to justify a war that is ruining the lives of millions."^[170]

[edit] Critics

[edit] Late 19th and Early 20th Century Critics

[edit] Contemporary critics

Robert Spencer, an American writer on Islam. He is the author of six books, on topics related to Islam and terrorism. He is the founder and director of the Jihad Watch and Dhimmi Watch websites that focus on Islamist terrorism-related events and various Jihad-activity worldwide.^[173]
Daniel Pipes, an American historian and analyst who specializes in the Middle East.
Fr. Zakaria Botros is a Coptic Priest and a strong critic of Islam, Qur'an and Muhammad. Fr. Zakaria is the author of several books and has a TV program that is broadcasted throughout the Middle East.
Bat Ye'or, an Egyptian-born British historian^[174] and scholar^[175] specialising in the history of non-Muslims in the Middle East, and in particular the history of Christian and Jewish dhimmis living under Islamic governments.^[176]
V. S. Naipaul, a Nobel prize winning, Trinidadian-born British novelist of Hindu heritage, who has sowed controversy with his criticism of Islam. He claims it has had a "calamitous effect on converted peoples", destroying their ancestral culture and history.^[177]
Brigitte Gabriel, founder of American Congress For Truth and author of Because They Hate.
Oriana Fallaci, an Italian journalist and novelist who has written three short books after the events of September the 11th advancing the argument that the "Western world is in danger of being engulfed by radical Islam". Two of them, The Rage and The Pride and The Force of Reason have been translated into English by Fallaci.^[178]
Right-wing European and American politicians and commentators such as Tom Tancredo, Nick Griffin, Philippe de Villiers, Pia Kjærsgaard, Susanne Winter, Anne Coulter, Michael Savage, and Laura Schlessinger
Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician who wants to ban the Qu'ran in the Netherlands, because it conflicts with the Dutch laws and calls for violence in general.^{[citation needed]}
Bloggers including Hugh Fitzgerald, Lawrence Auster, Fjordman

Several scholars do not self-identify as critics of Islam but criticize some of its aspects:

Benny Morris, is an Israeli historian. He views the Israel-Palestinian conflict as a facet of a global clash of civilizations between Islamic fundamentalism and the Western World, saying that "There is a deep problem in Islam. It's a world whose values are different. A world in which human life doesn't have the same value as it does in the West, in which freedom, democracy, openness and creativity are alien."^{[citation needed]}
Bernard Lewis holds that unbelievers, slaves, and women are considered fundamentally inferior to other groups of people under Islamic law.^{[citation needed]}
Patricia Crone, is a scholar, author and historian of early Islamic history working at the Institute for Advanced Study. She co-authored the controversial Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World, a book that researched the early history of Islam, coming to conclusions at variance with the traditional view.^{[citation needed]}
Warner Todd Huston, a prominent American blogger who has drawn criticism for arguing that Islam should be banned in the United States^[179] and for writing on the website of Illinois Senate Candidate Alan Keyes that "the only true solution is that millions of Muslims must be killed and the sooner the better it will be for the whole world. Not because Jews are somehow perfect or that Muslims just plain 'need killing,' but because Islam is so patently evil and needs to be defeated!"^[180]

Ravi Singh is author of www.jhatka.org is strong critic of Islamic Meat Slaughtering Halal and particularly against forcing it to non-Muslims. Jhatka is Traditional Indian method of Slaughtering, that Ravi is re-popularizing.His organization has filed petition against compulsory Halal in Parliament of India. Though Ravi supports appreciates Islamic rituals but criticizes Halal, specially by produced by illegal and unorganized sector as unhygienic.

[edit] Atheists

Michel Onfray, a French philosopher and atheist. Onfray attacks Islam and other monotheistic religions, speaking of "Muslim fascism" that has risen with the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and considers Islamic teachings to be "structurally archaic".^[181]
Richard Dawkins, an outspoken antireligionist, atheist, secular humanist, and skeptic, and a supporter of the Brights movement.^[182]
Sam Harris, author of the bestselling book The End of Faith, argues that Muslim extremism is simply a consequence of taking the Qur'an literally, and is skeptical that moderate Islam is possible.^[183]
Christopher Hitchens, a writer and critic of religion, has described Islamism as "fascism with an Islamic face".
Richard Carrier, a philosopher and ancient historian, frequently criticizes Islam in his writings on the Secular Web.^[32]
Pat Condell, a stand-up comedian and writer who criticizes religion, including Islam, on Youtube.

[edit] Evangelical Christians

Pat Robertson, who expresses the view that "Islam wants to take over the world and is not a religion of peace", and that radical Muslims are "satanic", and that Osama Bin Laden was a "true follower of Muhammad".^[184]
Jerry Falwell, another American conservative Baptist minister, characterized the prophet Muhammad as being a 'terrorist'.^[185]
Franklin Graham who described Islam as an 'evil and wicked religion' and suggested that those who believed Islam to be "wonderful" should "go and live under the Taliban somewhere".^[186]
Ted Haggard, former leader of the National Association of Evangelicals and former pastor of New Life Church, has stated "the sinister spirit of violence and hatred that inflames so many fundamentalist Muslims is indeed the attitude taught in the Quran." [7]
R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who described the Islamic theology as false and destructive and believes that Muslims are motivated by demonic power.^[187]
Other evangelical critics of Islam include Rod Parsley, Bill Keller, John Hagee, David Wood^[188] and Sam Shamoun.

[edit] Former Muslims

There are also outspoken former Muslims who believe that Islam is the primary cause of what they see as the mistreatment of minority groups in Muslim countries and communities. Almost all of them now live in the West, many under assumed names as they have had death threats made against them by Islamic groups and individuals.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has focused on the rights of Muslim women, saying that "they aspire to live by their faith as best they can, but their faith robs them of their rights."^[189]
Taslima Nasrin, is a Bengali/Bangladeshi ex-physician turned feminist author. She is a severe critic of Islam and of religion in general, who describes herself as a secular humanist.
Magdi Allam, an outspoken Egyptian-born Italian journalist who describes Islam as intrinsically violent and characterised by “hate and intolerance”.^[190] He converted to Catholicism and was baptised by Pope Benedict XVI during an Easter Vigil service on March 23, 2008.
Nonie Darwish, a Coptic Christian, who founded the pro-Israel web site Arabs for Israel and stated that "Islam is more than a religion, it is a totalitarian state".^[191] She is also the author of Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror.
Nyamko Sabuni, who is the Minister of Integration and Gender Equality in Sweden and advocates banning the veil and establishing compulsory gynecological examinations for schoolgirls to guard against female genital mutilation, stating, "I will never accept that women and girls are oppressed in the name of religion" and declaring it is not her intent to reform Islam but only to denounce "unacceptable" practices. She has received death threats, requiring 24-hour police protection, for her views.^[192]
Zachariah Anani, a former Sunni Muslim Lebanese militia fighter. Anani said that Islamic doctrine teaches nothing less than the "ambushing, seizing and slaying" of non-believers, especially Jews and Christians.^[193]
Khalid Duran, a specialist in the history, sociology and politics of the Islamic world, who coined the term "Islamofascism" to describe the push by some Islamist clerics to "impose religious orthodoxy on the state and the citizenry".^[194]
Ehsan Jami, a Dutch politician who criticized Islamic prophet Muhammad, describing him as a "criminal".^{[citation needed]}
Maryam Namazie, a Communist activist and the leader of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain.^[195]
Anwar Shaikh, who has written several books exposing and criticising Islam.
Walid Shoebat, a former member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation who took part in terrorist attacks against Israeli targets.^[196] He stated that "Secular dogma like Nazism is less dangerous than Islamofascism that we see today ... because Islamofascism has a religious twist to it; it says 'God the Almighty ordered you to do this.' It is trying to grow itself in fifty-five Muslim states. So potentially, you could have a success rate of several Nazi Germanys, if these people get their way."^[197]
Ibn Warraq, a secularist author, intellectual, scholar and founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society and a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry^[198]^[199]^[200] specializing in Qur'anic criticism.^[201]^[202]
Wafa Sultan, who has pointed out that the prophet of Islam said: "I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and his Messenger." Sultan has called on Islamic teachers to review their writings and teachings and remove every call to fight people who do not believe as Muslims.^[203] Dr. Sultan is now in hiding, fearing for her life and the safety of her family after appearing on the al-Jazeera TV show.^[204]
Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of an Hamas founder and former Israeli spy, has stated "the biggest terrorist is the God of the Qur'an."^{[citation needed]} He has written Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices.
Faith Freedom International is an organization founded by an ex-Muslim who uses a pseudonym to maintain anonymity. Noted for vocal criticisms of Islam, the international movement has been described as providing support for Muslims who wish to leave the religion, and was mentioned by Richard Dawkins in his book The God Delusion

Thursday, October 28, 2010