legacy of jihad

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

The best of the lot, January 31, 2006
Reviewer:David Lutzweiler "Director, Lamplighter Educational Service" (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

Having about fifty of the leading books on Islam that have been published over the last century, including "The Jew, The Gypsy, and Islam," by Sir Richard Burton (no, not Liz Taylor's ex--the other Burton), Lothrop Stoddard's "The New World of Islam," and the post-9/11 works--especially those by Bernard Lewis, Ibn Warraq, et al.--I think this book would be the one to read for those who have the time or money to choose only one. That is because it focuses on the two most important points: the historical development of the various divisions of Islam, and the overall ideology of "Jihad," which is what is most important for us to understand.

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44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

Encyclopaedic, timely and eye-opening. , March 3, 2006
Reviewer: M. D Roberts (Gwent, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

Having recently read Paul Fregosi's excellent book on this subject entitled "Jihad in the West; Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries", I resolved to investigate this subject further and this study did not disappoint me in it's depth and encyclopaedic content.

Spanning over 700 pages, the amount of detail provided here is breathtaking and the references are innumerable but the text is commendably readable.

As with Fregosi's work, the writer also strives to provide an objective analysis wherever possible without attacking the fundamental aspects of the Islamic religion - instead attempting to concentrate on the context of it's implications & relationship to the furtherance of Jihad itself.

However, this extensive study includes essays and commentary from many learned scholars of Jihad, and it's early claim to provide comprehensive and meticulously documented research soon becomes substantiated as the reader is confronted with realms of evidence and eyewitness accounts, amid an abundance of Muslim theological and judicial texts etc..

Among eight different parts, separate sections are also provided giving direct reference to Jihad in both the Koran and the Hadith, together with an appropriate exegesis by what are cited as the greatest classical and modern commentators, that dispel the argument that Jihad has only been justified by an alleged misinterpretation.

The book begins by providing the reader with the context surrounding the cover illustration which depicts events surrounding the surrender of the Jewish Qurayzah tribe to Muhammad and it's alleged treatment at the hands of the Islamic Prophet.

The text describes how the Jewish tribe were purported to have aided the forces of Muhammad's enemies and how they were subsequently isolated and besieged. The study proceeds to cite how all pleas for mercy, were rejected and how the Jewish tribe were henceforth delivered for judgment in Medina.

The ensuing judgment described as resulting in some six to nine hundred Jewish men purportedly being beheaded in front of Muhammad and their decapitated bodies buried in already excavated trenches.

Further context being provided as to how the young Jewish males, women and children were allegedly sold into slavery and their property and land confiscated. Muhammad himself is also cited as having taken a Jewish captive for his wife. Conversely the book illustrates how the Jewish tribe of the Qurayzah ceased to exist.

The book then proceeds to examine the worldwide impact of a multitude of named Jihad campaigns over 1300 years against non-Muslims which the book declares were characterised by massacre, enslavement and pillage, whereby the reader is confronted with how such military conquests have subdued millions of indigenous peoples and the expropriation of vast expanses of land.

One notable historical example described in the text is that of the massacre of the Armenians by the Ottoman Turks. The extent of the indiscriminate slaughter described in the text is disturbing with the perpetrators cited as allegedly respecting no surrender, bayoneting the men to death, raping the women and dashing their children against the rocks (page 667).

The exhaustive study also reveals how the teaching of Jihad ultimately determines the relations of Muslims & non-Muslims in the present day.

The reader is frequently confronted with a concern that many governments and religious bodies in the present day, are allegedly prepared to ignore what is cited as voluminous but inconvenient historical data in order to
whitewash the realities of Jihad wars, with a view to purportedly explaining away the warlike expeditions and conquests of Islam as "defensive wars" in order to interpret Jihad as merely a "bloodless striving to spread the Islamic religion".

The writer stressing the significance of how historians in free countries have a moral and professional obligation to provide the veracity underlying such issues, and pleading that these individuals should not submit to what is called any voluntary censorship in the face of those in authority who would expediently wish to falsify the record of the past and to re-write history as they would wish it to have been. (Page 22)

Fears being expressed in the text that by so doing, a distorted, revisionist history may arise which could be purportedly used as a tool of propaganda by many governments and religious bodies who would readily avail themselves of to suit their own agendas by suppressing the truth .

Political leaders and the media in general are described as being worried about the public's perception of Islam and subsequently are cited as usually only being prepared to invite the opinions of those who believe in what is cited as the `myth' of Islamic tolerance. Many such entities are described as, for various reasons, also wishing to play down the history of the dhimmi (non Muslims living under subjugation under Islamic rule).

The revelations provided in this book pertaining to Jihad and militant Islam are both eye-opening and disturbing at times and undoubtedly will be seen by many readers as controversial and contentious. Having said that I personally consider that the book definitely needs to be read and will be a welcome addition and essential reference to anyone with an interest in the Middle East conflict and how Islam is perceived at this time within the world's current landscape.

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10 of 114 people found the following review helpful:

"no more than a cleverly constructed anti-
Islamic polemic that does much to increase
fear and little to increase knowledge", January 22, 2006
Reviewer: Rafael (NYC, NY) - See all my reviews

"Bostom has brought together a variety of classical Islamic sources, eyewitness accounts, and contemporary historical commentaries related to jihad, or "holy war." He tries to bring balance to understandings of Islam by showing that Islam was spread through brutal military force, and brought slavery and marginalization for non-Muslims. But he is as selective in his choice of sources as are those whose viewpoints he opposes. Bostom also fails to provide any sense of historical and cultural context for the religious commentaries or eyewitness accounts. There is no reference to the medieval Christian Crusades, the Turkic and Mongol invasions of Muslim lands, or the subsequent military campaigns that drove Muslims out of Spain and Eastern Europe and eventually brought most of the Islamic world under colonial rule. Understanding the motives and methods of war through history is critical to a meaningful context. The author uses virtually any military offensive carried out by Muslims as an example of jihad, ignoring restrictions classical and modern Islamic jurisprudence placed on it. There is a need for a work that brings realism and balance to the topic. But Bostom's book is no more than a cleverly constructed anti-Islamic polemic that does much to increase fear and little to increase knowledge."

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47 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

Any Anti-Islamic /Jihad Book Deserves 5 STARS !!, October 18, 2005
Reviewer: Kafir Kumar Khan "KKK" (Midwest, USA) - See all my reviews

In this world of political correctness, the detractors of Dr. Andy Bostom have the right to their left-wing, counter-culturist propaganda.

Some of the reviewers have opined that Bostom makes sweeping generalizations. Generalizations of what ? What these (two) reviewers don't know is that JIHAD is the bottomline of Islam.

Scholarly opinion by westerners like Edward Said, John L. Esposito and others are actually sanitized versions of a "politically correct" Islam that the gullible, history-ignorant, westerners gulp down. (Probably they think that by being politically nice, they can get to bed with a buxom Arabic belly dancer !!).

However, such naive views reflect a self-imposed ignorance of the reality. What is the reality about Islam ? JIHAD.

This is the opinion of none other than a Muslim scholar, and not a western academic driving a Porsche and eating pork-chops.

Maulana Syed Abul Ala Maududi in his monograph, JIHAD IN ISLAM has written in unequivocal terms (page 6) that the sole objective of Islam is to overthrow any un-Islamic political system anywhere in the world and replace it by an Islamic system (Sharia laws).

To do so, Muslims (belonging to the Party of Allah) must use physical force whenever necessary to quickly attain this objective and keep the application of force forever.

In view of this stark and blatant declaration by Maulana Maududi, who wrote the monograph from an extended speech in April 13, 1939 (at Lahore Pakistan), one can conclude that Andrew Bostom is absolutely right on the money.

The two reviewers are actually revealing their ignorance by simply being clueless and adopting a quixotic attitude towards Islam.

How Islam had ravaged all countries is a matter of documentation. In India the unspeakable atrocities of Islam, simply committed under the guidance of Quranic dictates, has been documented in the eight-volume work:

H. M. Eliot and John Dowson, THE HISTORY OF INDIA AS TOLD BY ITS OWN HISTORIANS.

Instead of trying to rationalize Islam, and spinning false perspectives, cloaked under the pretentious academic posturing the reviewers would do well to read some of the views of Muslim scholars (like Maududi) to see how Osama bin Laden darws his inspiration of Jihad against infidel West.

Amazon.com Reviews for The Legacy of Jihad

16 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

amaturish and political, September 11, 2005
Reviewer: Ben Lewis "Ben" (Portland Oregon) - See all my reviews

This book is large in pages, but flawed in method. Its first flaw is that it starts with a conclusion and then attempts to assemble supporting material for that conclusion. Its second flaw is that the author is unaware of previous scholarship that doesn't agree with his conclusions. Its nominally an attempt to study the concept of Jihad in Islamic history and law. Plus the effect of Islamic conquest on non-muslim populations.

The introduction to the book is written by Ibn Warraq a fanatic who has rejected Islam and spends much time attacking it. The selection of Warraq illustrates another huge problem in the book. While Bostrom seems to be able to find books, he doesn't seem to have done much in the way of talking to the living Islamic community in all its diversity in the world. For the book to be credible, it needed to be less laser-focused on its conclusion and open to more voices representative of Islam.

the book is also way too broad in scope. A study of the first 300 years of Islamic civilization would have filled a book. But in trying to cover every event places from India to Indonesia to Spain, the book loses focus. In some places, it amounts to little more than endless lists of atrocities.

He also doesn't seem to be familar with the flaws of the histories he is consulting. The court histories of Indian warlords, Islamic or not, are usually catalogs of their wars, atrocities and plunders. Bostrom often doesn't know the difference between secular wars and "jihad". State Religions and forced conversion to the belief of the ruler were the accepted norm in many parts of the world in the eras he is looking at.

Some, after reading this flawed book, will come away with the false belief that Islam as a whole, all billion plus people, are some sort of global threat. Thats a dangerous idea for any person or any book to be promoting. The world of Islam today, all over the world, is a lot more diverse place than Bostrom's book allows.

By taking old books of other religions from the same eras, one could come to similar conculsions that they represent threats to the world. Bostrom, in making his case that Islam is uniquely worse, needed in the book to address that issue. He needed to deal with european religious expansion into the americas and places like australia. He also needed to properly deal with the splits in Islam and the different eras. Its wrong to compare the Jihad of Mohammed's lifetime with the imperial policies of the Ottoman Empire or (even worse) the proto-fascist government of Envar Pasha during the first world war.

At the end of the book the reader will be left with a question that neither Bostrom nor Warraq have much to say about. That question being that even if all that they are saying is true, what should the world do about it? Are new crusades to be launched? Are we to make Islam illegal? If all Islam is a threat to the future of the world, do we consign our children to a new medieval world of holy wars?

Amazon.com Reviews for The Legacy of Jihad

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