WikiIslam:Sandbox/citazioni di famosi infedeli sull'islam
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[1] Le seguenti citazioni sono molto utili, dato che molti apologeti amano commettere la fallacia logica di appellarsi all'autorità, usando (spesso fuori contesto)[2][3] citazioni di persone non-musulmane molto famose in modo da fare propaganda all' islam.
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Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Razi
Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī (865 – 925 d.C.) fu un medico, alchimista, chimico, filosofo e dotto persiano.
Se chiedi delle prove del loro credo, le persone di questa religione [islam], si scaldano, si arrabbiano e versano il sangue di chiunque gli faccia queste domande. Vietano la speculazione razionale e si battono per uccidere i loro avversari. Per questo motivo la verità è stata scrupolosamente silenziata e nascosta.[4]
Sostenete che l'evidenza del miracolo è disponibile e presente proprio nel Corano. Dite: "Chiunque lo neghi, fategli produrre una cosa simile." Infatti ne produciamo un migliaio simili dalle opere dei retori e parlanti eloquenti e poeti coraggiosi, scritti molto meglio e che parlano di queste questioni molto più concisamente. Comunicano meglio il significato e la metrica della loro prosa è migliore. ... Per Dio ciò che dite ci lascia sbalorditi! Parlate di un'opera che narra di miti antichi e che allo stesso tempo è piena di contraddizioni e non contiene nessuna informazione utile o spiegazione. Dopo dite: "Produci qualcosa di simile"?![4]
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) fu un politico tedesco (nato austriaco) e la guida del partito nazionalsocialista dei lavoratori tedeschi, meglio conosciuto come il partito nazista.
Vedi, avere la religione sbagliata è stata la nostra sfortuna. Perché non abbiamo avuto la religione dei giapponesi, che considerano il sacrifico per la patria come il massimo bene? Oppure anche la religione maomettana [islam] sarebbe stata più compatibile con noi rispetto al cristianesimo. Perché proprio il cristianesimo con la sua docilità e flaccidezza? [5]
Posso immaginare le persone entusiasmarsi per il paradiso di Maometto, ma non per l'insipido paradiso dei cristiani! Quand'eri vivo ascoltavi la musica di Richard Wagner. Quando muori, non sentirai altro che alleluia, lo scroscio delle palme, poppanti e vecchiacci. L'uomo delle isole rende omaggio alle forze della natura. Il cristianesimo è un'invenzione di menti malate: non puoi pensare a niente di più insensato o a un modo più indecente di rendere la divinità una parodia. Un negro con i suoi tabù è enormemente superiore all'essere umano che crede seriamente alla transustanziazione. [6]
Se Carlo Martello non fosse stato vittorioso a Poitiers –il mondo sarebbe già finito nelle mani degli ebrei, una cosa così vigliacca il cristianesimo! -allora avremmo dovuto convertirci con tutta probabilità al maomettanismo [islam], quel culto che glorifica l'eroismo e che apre il settimo cielo all'audace guerriero solitario. Allora le razze germaniche avrebbero conquistato il mondo. Solo il cristianesimo gli ha impedito di farlo. [7]
La cosa migliore è lasciare che il cristianesimo muoia di morte naturale. Una morte lenta è in qualche modo comoda. I dogmi del cristianesimo si logorano di fronte ai progressi della scienza... Le istruzioni di natura igienica che la maggior parte delle religioni ha dato, hanno contribuito alla formazione di comunità organizzate. I precetti che obbligavano le persone a lavarsi, a evitare certe bevande, di digiunare in certe date, a fare esercizio, ad alzarsi col sole, ad arrampicarsi in cima al minareto — tutti questi erano obblighi inventati da gente intelligente. L'esortazione a combattere coraggiosamente è anch'essa auto-evidente. A proposito, osserva che, come corollario, ai maomettani fu promesso un paradiso abitato da ragazze sensuali dove il vino scorreva a fiumi — un paradiso estremamente mondano. I cristiani invece si dichiarano soddisfatti se dopo la morte gli è permesso cantare le alleluia! ... Il cristianesimo ha chiaramente raggiunto il massimo dell'assurdità da questo punto di vista. E perciò la sua struttura un giorno collasserà. La scienza ha già ingravidato l'umanità. Di conseguenza, più il cristianesimo si avvinghia sui suoi dogmi, più velocemente declinerà! [8]
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville (1805 – 1859) fu uno storico e politologo francese, conosciuto per le sue opere “Democrazia in America” e “Il vecchio regime e la rivoluzione”.
Ho studiato il Corano a fondo. Questo studio mi ha convinto che nel mondo ci sono state poche religioni così mortali per gli uomini come quella di Maometto. Per come la vedo io, è la causa principale della decadenza del mondo maomettano tanto visibile oggi, anche se meno assurdo del politeismo di prima, le sue tendenze politiche e sociali sono la cosa più spaventosa, e quindi lo considero come una forma di decadenza piuttosto che un progresso rispetto al paganesimo stesso. [9]
Maometto ha detto di venire dal paradiso, ed ha inserito nel Corano, non solo delle dottrine religione ma massime politiche, leggi civili e penali, e teorie scientifiche. Il vangelo al contrario parla solo della relazione degli uomini con Dio e tra di loro – oltre a ciò non inculca né impone altri punti di fede. Solo questo, a parte altre mille ragioni, basterebbe a provare che la prima di queste religioni non può predominare in un’era democratica e istruita, mentre la seconda è destinata a conservare la sua influenza in tutti i periodi storici.[10]
André Servier
André Servier fu uno storico vissuto nell’Algeria francese all’inizio del 20esimo secolo.
L’islam non fu una torcia come si è detto, ma un estintore. Concepito in un cervello barbaro per l’uso di un popolo barbaro, fu – e continua ad essere – incapace di adattarsi alla civiltà. Dovunque abbia dominato ha distrutto l’impulso verso il progresso e messo in scacco l’evoluzione della società.[11]
L’islam è il cristianesimo adattato alla mentalità araba, o ancora meglio, è tutto ciò che un cervello beduino con poca immaginazione, ostinatamente fedele a pratiche ancestrali, è stato capace di assimilare delle dottrine cristiane. Mancandogli il talento dell’immaginazione, il beduino copia, e copiando distorce l’originale. Così la legge maomettana è solo il codice romano rivisitato e corretto dagli arabi; allo stesso modo la scienza maomettana non è altro che la scienza greca interpretata dal cervello arabo; e anche l’architettura maomettana è meramente un’imitazione dello stile bizantino.[11]
L’influenza noiosa dell’islam è ben dimostrata dal modo in cui il maomettano si comporta in diversi periodi della sua vita. Nella sua prima giovinezza, quando la religione non ha ancora impregnato il suo cervello, mostra un’intelligenza vivace e una mente aperta, accessibile a idea di ogni tipo; ma, tanto più cresce, e a causa del sistema della sua educazione, l’islam lo intrappola, il suo cervello sembra spegnersi, il suo giudizio diventa atrofizzato, e la sua intelligenza è colpita da una paralisi e da un’incurabile degenerazione.[11]
L’islam non si può in nessun modo ignorare nel destino dell’umanità. La massa di 300 milioni di credenti cresce ogni giorno, perché nella maggior parte dei paesi maomettani il tasso di natalità eccede il tasso di mortalità, e anche perché con la propaganda ottengono nuovi credenti dalle tribù che sono ancora in uno stato di barbarie.[11]
Per ricapitolare: l’arabo ha preso in prestito tutto quanto dalle altre nazioni, la letteratura, l’arte la scienza e persino le sue idee religiose. Le ha setacciate attraverso la sua mente chiusa/stretta ed essendo incapace di elaborare alti concetti filosofici, ha distorto, mutilato ed essiccato tutto quanto. Questa influenza distruttiva spiega la decadenza delle nazioni maomettane e la loro impotenza nell’allontanarsi della barbarie.[11]
L’islam è una dottrina della morte, dato che non separando il sacro dal temporale, ed essendo ogni manifestazione di attività soggetta a leggi dogmatiche, vieta formalmente ogni cambiamento, ogni evoluzione, ogni progresso. Condanna tutti i credenti a vivere, a pensare e ad agire come vissero, pensarono e agirono i maomettani del secondo secolo dopo l’egira [8 secolo d.C.], quando le leggi dell’islam e la sua interpretazione furono definitivamente stabilite.
. . .
. . .
Nella storia delle nazione, l’islam, una secrezione del cervello arabo, non è mai stato un elemento di civilizzazione, ma al contrario ha agito come un estintore sulla luce tremolante della civiltà. Gli individui sotto il dominio arabo hanno contribuito all’avanzamento della civiltà tanto quanto si sono differenziati dai dogmi maomettani, ma sono ricaduti nella barbarie araba appena sono stati obbligati a sottomettersi completamente a questi dogmi.
. . .
Angela Carter
Angela Carter (1940 – 1992) was an English novelist and journalist. In 2008, The Times ranked Carter tenth in their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". In 2012, Nights at the Circus was selected as the best ever winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
The kind of power mothers have is enormous. Take the skyline of Istanbul—enormous breasts, pathetic little willies, a final revenge on Islam. I was so scared I had to crouch in the bottom of the boat when I saw it.[12]
Anthony Flew
Antony Garrard Newton Flew (1923 – 2010) fu un filosofo britannico. È conosciuto per aver ideato la fallacia logica del no true Scotsman|Nessun vero scozzese
Non considererei mai l'islam se non con orrore e paura perché il suo scopo principale è quello di conquistare il mondo per l'islam... penso sia meglio descritto con un'analogia marxiana come l'ideologia unificante e giustificante di un imperialismo arabo. Tra il Nuovo Testamento e il Corano non c'è (com'è tipico dire facendo questi paragoni) nessun paragone. Se puoi leggere la Bibbia come letteratura in certi mercati, leggere il Corano è una penitenza piuttosto che un piacere. Non c'è nessun ordine o sviluppo nel suo svolgimento... il Profeta, sebbene dotato dell'arte della persuasione e un considerevole capo militare, era sia dubbiamente alfabetizzato e certamente male informato riguardo i contenuti dell'Antico Testamento e riguardo altre questioni riguardanti Dio, che anche il meno informato dei contemporanei del Profeta avrebbe dovuto conoscere... dico una cosa in questo paragone, per dio, Gesù è una figura enormemente attrattiva e carismatica mentre il Profeta dell'islam non lo è sicuramente.[13]
Il Corano chiede di credere e successivamente di obbedire. È sicuramente pensato per ispirare paura e terrore puro e non per ispirare amore.[14]
Apostolos Euangelou Vacalopoulos
La rivoluzione del 1821 non è altro che l’ultima grande fase della resistenza dei greci alla dominazione ottomana; fu una guerra non dichiarata e incessante, iniziata già nei primi anni di servitù. La brutalità di un regime autocratico, caratterizzato dal saccheggio economico, decadimento intellettuale e regressione culturale avrebbe sicuramente creato opposizione. Restrizioni di ogni tipo, tassazione illegittima, lavoro forzato, persecuzioni, violenza, imprigionamenti, morti, rapimenti di ragazze e ragazzi e il loro confinamento negli harem turchi e vari atti di lussuria, assieme a numerosi altri eccessi meno offensivi – tutto ciò costituiva una sfida costante all’istinto di sopravvivenza e sfuggivano ad ogni senso di decenza umana. I greci sopportarono amaramente tutti gli insulti e le umiliazioni e la loro frustrazione e angoscia li spinse alla ribellione armata. Non c’era nessuna esagerazione nelle parole di uno dei bey [capi turchi] di Arta, quando cercò di spiegare la ferocia della lotta. Disse: “Abbiamo commesso ingiustizie contro i dhimmi (i nostri sudditi cristiani) e abbiamo distrutto sia il loro benessere sia il loro onore; hanno perso ogni speranza e hanno preso le armi. Questo è solo l’inizio e porterà alla fine del nostro impero”. La sofferenza dei greci sotto il dominio ottomano furono dunque la causa principale dell’insurrezione; un incentivo psicologico fu fornito dalle circostanze della situazione.[15]
All'inizio dell'undicesimo secolo, i turchi selgiuchidi entrarono con la forza in Armenia e lì spazzarono via gli eserciti di molti staterelli armeni. Non meno di quaranta mila anime fuggirono prima del saccheggio organizzato dai selgiuchidi nella parte occidentale dell'Asia Minore. Dalla metà dell'undicesimo secolo e specialmente dopo la battaglia di Malazgirt [Manzikurt] (1071), i selgichidi si diffusero su tutta la penisola dell'Asia Minore lasciando panico, terrore e distruzione al loro passaggio. Le fonti bizantine, turche e altre contemporanee sono unanime nel descrivere l'estensione dello scompiglio provocato e nel terrore protratto alla popolazione locale... [le cronista greco] Kydones descrive il fato dei cristiani in Asia Minore così:
“L’intera regione che ci dava da mangiare, dai Dardanelli fino alle montagne dell’Armenia è stata sottratta. Loro [i turchi] hanno razziato le città, saccheggiato le chiese, esumato le tombe e sparso sangue e cadaveri ovunque… Ahimè, hanno anche abusato dei corpi dei cristiani. E dato che gli avevano già preso ogni ricchezza ora gli prendevano la libertà, riducendoli alla forma più bassa di schiavi. E con la poca energia rimasta a questa gente sfortunata, sono costretti ad essere i servitori per le comodità dei turchi.”
“Da quando i turchi misero piede in Tracia per la prima volta sotto Solimano, figlio di Orchan, l’impero si disintegrò rapidamente… . Sin dall’inizio della carica turca sotto Solimano, i turchi provarono a consolidate la loro posizione tentando di imporre l’islam con la forza. [Lo storico ottomano] Sukrullah [ordinò] che coloro che rifiutavano di accettare la fede maomettana fossero macellati e le loro famiglie schiavizzate. “Dove c’erano delle campane”, scrive lo stesso autore, “Solimano le distrusse e le infuocò. Dove c’erano delle chiese, le distrusse oppure le convertì in moschee. Così al posto delle campane adesso c’erano dei minareti. Dovunque si trovavano ancora degli infedeli cristiani, ai loro capi fu imposto il vassallaggio. Non potevano più dire “kyrie eleison” in pubblico ma dovevano dire “Non c’è altro dio a parte Allah; e quando nelle loro preghiere prima dicevano Cristo, adesso dovevano dire “Maometto, il profeta di Allah”.[16]Ambedkar,BR
Fu un ministro della giustizia indiano e l’architetto principale della costituzione dell’India
’’Uno potrebbe ben chiedersi se c’è un male sociale presente negli induisti e assente nei maomettani? … Prendete i matrimoni infantili … [citando le statistiche del censo del 1931] Possiamo considerare la posizione dei maomettani per quanto riguarda i matrimoni infantili migliore della posizione degli induisti?” (P. 225-6) “Prendete la situazione delle donne. I maomettani insistono nel dire che i diritti legali dati alle donne maomettane gli assicurano un’indipendenza maggiore rispetto a quella di altre donne dell’oriente … la donna maomettana è la persona più indifesa del mondo … il suo destino è “una volta sposata, sempre sposata”. Non può abbandonare il legame matrimoniale, per quanto sia afflitta. E mentre lei non può ripudiare il matrimonio, il marito può farlo in qualsiasi momento senza l’obbligo di dover mostrare alcuna ragione. Pronuncia la parola “Tallak” e dopo tre settimane la donna è scacciata via … Questa possibilità nel matrimonio per quanto riguarda il divorzio distrugge quel senso di sicurezza che è fondamentale per una donna libera e felice.
Questa insicurezza di vita alla quale è esposta la donna maomettana, è grandemente aumentata dal diritto alla poligamia e al concubinato, che la legge maomettana concede al marito” (P. 226-227) “Prendi il sistema delle caste. L’islam parla di fratellanza. Tutti dicono che l’islam dev’essere privo di schiavitù e dalle caste. Per quanto riguarda la schiavitù c’è poco da dire. È adesso abolita dalla legge. Ma quando era ancora legale la maggior parte dei sostenitori della schiavitù veniva dall’islam e dai paesi islamici … Ma se la schiavitù è finita, le caste tra i maomettani sono rimaste” (P. 228). Il dottor Ambedkar dopo cita il rapporto sul censo bengalese del 1901 per dimostrare che lì i maomettani hanno molte caste tra le quali Arzal o anche caste intoccabili con cui nessun altro maomettano vorrebbe avere a che fare e a cui è proibito entrare nella moschea per utilizzare il suolo pubblico per i defunti. Cita anche, dallo stesso rapporto, il sistema panchayat di ogni casta che si estende dalla vita sociale al commercio, il che le rende di fatto tanto stringenti quanto le caste intuiste. Conclude così “i maomettani osservano non solo le caste ma anche l’intoccabilità” (P. 230) [17]
Arthur Jeffery
Arthur Jeffery (1892 – 1959) fu un professore di lingue semitiche australiano prima alla scuola di studi orientali al Cairo, e dal 1938 fino alla sua morte lavorò alla Columbia University e l’Unione del Seminario Teologico a New York. È l’autore di studi storici sui manoscritti del medio oriente.
Le prime fonti arabe descrivono chiaramente e francamente le spedizioni come spedizioni militari, e a nessuno sarebbe mai passato per la testa all’epoca di interpretarle in un’altra maniera… Alla gente dell’epoca quindi non c’era niente di strano in Maometto, come capo della comunità di quelli che servono Allah, che prende la spada per espandere il regno di Allah, e che prende delle misure per assicurarsi il soggiogamento di tutti coloro che vivono dentro i confini di ciò che lui rese il regno di Allah.[18]
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860) fu un famoso filosofo tedesco, conosciuto per il suo pessimismo e la sua chiarezza filosofica.
Templi e chiese, pagode e moschee, in tutti i paesi e in tutte le ere, nel loro splendore e spaziosità, testimoniano il bisogno umano della metafisica, un bisogno forte e inestirpabile, che segue da vicino quello fisico. … A volte si riesce a soddisfare con delle favole goffe e fiabette. Se sono inculcate all’uomo abbastanza presto, gli danno una spiegazione adeguata della sua esistenza e supporto per la sua moralità.
Considerate il Corano per esempio; questo libro squallido è stato sufficiente ad avviare una religione mondiale, a soddisfare il bisogno metafisico di innumerevoli milioni di persone per 1200 anni, a diventare la base della loro morale e un disprezzo notevole per la morte, e ad ispirarli a fare guerre sanguinose e conquiste estensive. Nel Corano troviamo la forma più squallida e più povera di teismo. Ammettiamo pure che molto sia andato perduto nella traduzione, ma in quest’opera io non sono riuscito a scoprire nemmeno un pensiero dotato di valore.[19]
Bhavishya Purana
The Bhavishya Purana is one of the eighteen major Hindu Puranas. It is written in Sanskrit and attributed to Rishi Vyasa, the compiler of the Vedas.
Suta Goswami said: After hearing the king’s prayers, Lord Shiva said: ... There was a mystic demon named Tripura (Tripurasura), whom I have already burnt to ashes, he has come again by the order of Bali. He has no origin but he achieved a benediction from me. His name is Mahamada (Muhammad) and his deeds are like that of a ghost. Therefore, O king, you should not go to this land of the evil ghost. By my mercy your intelligence will be purified. Hearing this the king came back to his country and Mahamada (Muhammad) came with them to the bank of the river Sindhu. He was expert in expanding illusion, so he said to the king very pleasingly: O great king, your god has become my servant. Just see, as he eats my remnants, so I will show you. The king became surprised when he saw this just before them. Then in anger Kalidasa rebuked Mahamada (Muhammad) “O rascal, you have created an illusion to bewilder the king, I will kill you, you are the lowest..."
That city is known as their site of pilgrimage, a place which was Madina or free from intoxication. Having a form of a ghost (Bhuta), the expert illusionist Mahamada (Muhammad) appeared at night in front of king Bhojaraja and said: O king, your religion is of course known as the best religion among all. Still I am going to establish a terrible and demoniac religion by the order of the Lord . The symptoms of my followers will be that they first of all will cut their genitals, have no shikha, but having beard, be wicked, make noise loudly and eat everything. They should eat animals without performing any rituals. This is my opinion. They will perform purificatory act with the musala or a pestle as you purify your things with kusha. Therefore, they will be known as musalman, the corrupters of religion. Thus the demoniac religion will be founded by me. After having heard all this the king came back to his palace and that ghost (Muhammad) went back to his place.[20]
That city is known as their site of pilgrimage, a place which was Madina or free from intoxication. Having a form of a ghost (Bhuta), the expert illusionist Mahamada (Muhammad) appeared at night in front of king Bhojaraja and said: O king, your religion is of course known as the best religion among all. Still I am going to establish a terrible and demoniac religion by the order of the Lord . The symptoms of my followers will be that they first of all will cut their genitals, have no shikha, but having beard, be wicked, make noise loudly and eat everything. They should eat animals without performing any rituals. This is my opinion. They will perform purificatory act with the musala or a pestle as you purify your things with kusha. Therefore, they will be known as musalman, the corrupters of religion. Thus the demoniac religion will be founded by me. After having heard all this the king came back to his palace and that ghost (Muhammad) went back to his place.[20]
Benedetto XVI
Papa Benedetto XVI (al secolo Joseph Alois Ratzinger) nato il 16 aprile 1927 è papa emerito della chiesa cattolica, papa effettivo dal 2005 al 2013
L'islam ha un'organizzazione totale della vita che è completamente diversa dalla nostra; semplicemente abbraccia qualunque cosa, ... C'è una subordinazione molto marchiata della donna rispetto all'uomo; c'è una legge criminale mostro stringente, in pratica c'è una legge che regola tutti gli aspetti della vita, che è l'opposto della nostra idea moderna di società. Bisogna capire chiaramente che non è una denominazione che può essere inclusa nel reame della libertà e in una società pluralistica.[21]
Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis, FBA (nato il 31 maggio 1916) è un dottore in studi orientali e commentatore politico anglo-americano. È il professore emerito sugli studi sul vicino oriente all'università di Princeton. Specializzato nella storia dell'istale e l'interazione tra l'islam e l'occidente, è particolarmente famoso tra le cerchie accademiche per i suoi lavori riguardanti la storia dell'impero ottomano.
L'età d'oro dei diritti d'uguaglianza [in Spagna] fu un mito, il cui credo fu il risultato, e non la causa, della simpatia degli ebrei per l'islam. Il mito fu inventato dagli ebrei d'Europa del 19esimo secolo come un rimprovero verso i cristiani.[22]
During the first formative centuries of its existence, Christianity was separated from and indeed antagonistic to the state, with which it only later became involved. From the lifetime of its founder, Islam was the state, and the identity of religion and government is indelibly stamped on the memories and awareness of the faithful from their own sacred writings, history, and experience.[24]
...it is the duty of those who have accepted them [Allah's word and message] to strive unceasingly to convert or at least to subjugate those who have not. This obligation is without limit of time or space. It must continue until the whole world has either accepted the Islamic faith or submitted to the power of the Islamic state.[25]
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872 – 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, socialist, pacifist, and social critic, who is considered to be one of the founders of analytic philosophy.
Bolshevism combines the characteristics of the French Revolution with those of the rise of Islam… Those who accept Bolshevism become impervious to scientific evidence, and commit intellectual suicide. Even if all the doctrines of Bolshevism were true, this would still be the case, since no unbiased examination of them is tolerated…Among religions, Bolshevism is to be reckoned with Mohammedanism rather than with Christianity and Buddhism. Christianity and Buddhism are primarily personal religions, with mystical doctrines and a love of contemplation. Mohammedanism and Bolshevism are practical, social, unspiritual, concerned to win the empire of the world.[26]
Rivalry is a much stronger motive. Over and over again in Mohammedan history, dynasties have come to grief because the sons of a sultan by different mothers could not agree, and in the resulting civil war universal ruin resulted... The world would be a happier place than it is if acquisitiveness were always stronger than rivalry. But in fact, a great many men will cheerfully face impoverishment if they can thereby secure complete ruin for their rivals.[27]
Immediately after his death the conquests began, and they proceeded with rapidity... Westward expansion (except in Sicily and Southern Italy) was brought to a standstill by the defeat of the Mohammedans at the battle of Tours in 732, just one hundred years after the death of the Prophet... It was the duty of the faithful to conquer as much of the world as possible for Islam... The first conquests of the Arabs began as mere raids for plunder, and only turned into permanent occupation after experience has shown the weakness of the enemy... The Arabs, although they conquered a great part of the world in the name of a new religion were not a very religious race; the motive of their conquests was plunder and wealth rather than religion.[28]
The beliefs appropriate to the impulse of aggression may be seen in Bernhardi, or in the early Mohammedan conquerors, or, in full perfection, in the Book of Joshua. There is first of all a conviction of the superior excellence of one's own group, a certainty that they are in some sense the chosen people. This justifies the feeling that only the good and evil of one's own group is of real importance, and that the rest of the world is to be regarded merely as material for the triumph or salvation of the higher race. In modern politics this attitude is embodied in imperialism.[29]
Bill Maher
William "Bill" Maher, Jr. (born January 20, 1956) is an American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, author and actor. Maher currently ranks number 38 on Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-ups of all time, and has a Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
There’s only one faith, for example, that kills you or wants to kill you if you draw a bad cartoon of the prophet. There’s only one faith that kills you or wants to kill you if you renounce the faith... obviously, most Muslim people are not terrorists. But ask most Muslim people in the world, if you insult the prophet, do you have what’s coming to you? It’s more than just a fringe element.[30]
I do agree that there are other groups that pose a terroristic threat to this country [USA]... I would say that the threat from radicalized Muslims is a unique and greater threat. It is the greatest threat... It's been going on for a thousand years, this problem with Islam and the West. We're dealing with a culture that is in its medieval era. It [Islam] comes from a hate-filled holy book, the Quran, which is taken very literally by its people. They are trying to get nuclear weapons. I don’t think Tim McVeigh would ever have tried to get a nuclear weapon because I think right-wing nuts, they think they love this country and they are not trying to destroy this country, they want to get it away from the people they see as hijacking it. That’s different than Muslim extremists who want to destroy it. And also it is a culture of suicide bombing, which is hard to deter from people who want to kill themselves.[31]
All this talk of people who burn the Koran and nothing about the people who reacted in such a stupid way. We are always blaming the victim and not holding them -- not most Muslims, but at least a large part of Muslim culture that doesn't condemn their people... There is one religion in the world that kills you when you disagree with them and they say 'look, we are a religion of peace and if you disagree we'll f**king cut your head off, and nobody calls them on it -- there are very few people that will call them on it. It's like if Dad is a violent drunk and beats his kids, you don't blame the kid because he set Dad off. You blame Dad because he's a violent drunk.[32]
When South Park got threatened last week by Islamists ... it served or should serve, as a reminder to all of us that our culture isn't just different than one that makes death threats to cartoonists, it's better. Because when I make a joke about the Pope, he doesn't send one of the Swiss Guards in their striped pantaloons to stick a pike in my ass. When I make a Jewish joke, Rabbis may kvetch about it, but they don't pull out a scimitar and threaten an adult circumcision. ... it should in fairness be noted, that in speaking of Muslims, we realize that of course the vast majority are law abiding, loving people, who just want to be left alone to subjugate their women in peace. ... but the western world needs to make it clear, some things about our culture are not negotiable, and can't change, and one of them is freedom of speech. Separation of church and state is another, not negotiable. Women are allowed to work here and you can't beat them, not negotiable. This is how we roll. And this is why our system is better.[33]
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal (1623 – 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher.
Mahomet established a religion by putting his enemies to death; Jesus Christ by commanding his followers to lay down their lives
Carey Cash
Rev. Carey Cash is a US Navy chaplain currently assigned to Camp David, the U.S. presidential retreat. He is often referred to as "President Obama's pastor".
[Islam] from its very birth has used the edge of the sword as a means to convert or conquer those with different religious convictions.[34]
Sadly, grace is often absent in Islam, which is based upon binding religious law, requiring strenuous adherence to every tenet of the ‘Five Pillars of Allah’... A religion that emerges from the soil of strict adherence to law as a means of gaining God’s favour will always tend toward extreme selfsacrifice.[34]
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961) was the Swiss founder of analytical psychology. He created some of the best known psychological concepts and his work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, literature, and related fields.
We do not know whether Hitler is going to found a new Islam. He is already on the way; he is like Muhammad. The emotion in Germany is Islamic; warlike and Islamic. They are all drunk with a wild god.[35]
Charles-Louis Montesquieu
Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689 – 1755), was a French social commentator and political thinker.
It is a misfortune to human nature, when religion is given by a conqueror. The Mahometan religion, which speaks only by the sword, acts still upon men with that destructive spirit with which it was founded.[36]
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (1949 – 2011) was an English-American author and journalist. His books, essays, and journalistic career have spanned more than four decades, making him a public intellectual, and a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and a variety of other media outlets.
Islam in its origins is just as shady and approximate as those from which it took its borrowings. It makes immense claims for itself, invokes prostrate submission or "surrender" as a maxim to its adherents, and demands deference and respect from nonbelievers into the bargain. There is nothing—absolutely nothing—in its teachings that can even begin to justify such arrogance and presumption.[37]
If the Qur'an was the word of God, it had been dictated on a very bad day.[38]
"Some of what people are saying in this mosque controversy is very similar to what German media was saying about Jews in the 1920s and 1930s," Imam Abdullah Antepli, Muslim chaplain at Duke University, told the New York Times. Yes, we all recall the Jewish suicide bombers of that period, as we recall the Jewish yells for holy war, the Jewish demands for the veiling of women and the stoning of homosexuals, and the Jewish burning of newspapers that published cartoons they did not like. What is needed from the supporters of this very confident faith is more self-criticism and less self-pity and self-righteousness.[39]
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe (1564 – 1593) was an English poet and translator of the Elizabethan era, who also rivalled Shakespeare as the most powerful dramatist of the Elizabethan period.
Tamburlaine: Now, Casane, where’s the Turkish Alcoran,
And all the heaps of superstitious books Found in the temples of that Mahomet Whom I have thought a god? they shall be burnt.
Usumcasane: Here they are, my lord.
Tamburlaine: Well said! let there be a fire presently.
[They light a fire.]
In vain, I see, men worship Mahomet: My sword hath sent millions of Turks to hell, Slew all his priests, his kinsmen, and his friends, And yet I live untouch’d by Mahomet. There is a God, full of revenging wrath, }From whom the thunder and the lightning breaks, Whose scourge I am, and him will I obey. So, Casane; fling them in the fire.—
[They burn the books.]
Now, Mahomet, if thou have any power, Come down thyself and work a miracle: Thou art not worthy to be worshipped That suffer’st flames of fire to burn the writ Wherein the sum of thy religion rests: Why send’st thou not a furious whirlwind down, To blow thy Alcoran up to thy throne, Where men report thou sitt’st by God himself? Or vengeance on the head of Tamburlaine That shakes his sword against thy majesty, And spurns the abstracts of thy foolish laws?— Well, soldiers, Mahomet remains in hell; He cannot hear the voice of Tamburlaine: Seek out another godhead to adore; The God that sits in heaven, if any god,
For he is God alone, and none but he.Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri (1265 – 1321), also known as "the Supreme Poet", was an Italian poet. His Divine Comedy is often considered the greatest literary work ever composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature. Below is Dante's description of Muhammad and Ali in Hell.
And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off, should show, it would be nothing to compare with the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia. A cask by losing centre-piece or cant was never shattered so, as I saw one rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind. Between his legs were hanging down his entrails; his heart was visible, and the dismal sack that maketh excrement of what is eaten. While I was all absorbed in seeing him, he looked at me, and opened with his hands his bosom, saying: "See now how I rend me; How mutilated, see, is Mahomet; in front of me doth Ali weeping go, cleft in the face from forelock unto chin; and all the others whom thou here beholdest, disseminators of scandal and of schism while living were, and therefore are cleft thus.[40]
David Cook
David B. Cook is a religious scholar and author from Rice University in Houston with a focus on Islamic history and Muslim apocalyptic literature.
There is no lack of evidence concerning the Muslim practice of jihad. The classical and modern works on the subject are voluminous, and they are documented by an examination of Muslim actions as recorded by historians. There can be no reasonable doubt that jihad is a major theme running through the entirety of Muslim civilization and is at least one of the major factors in the astounding success of the faith of Islam.[41]
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.[42]
...after surveying the evidence from classical until contemporary times, one must conclude that today's jihad movements are as legitimate as any that have ever existed in classical Islam... In short, although the actions of many of these groups may disgust many Muslims, as far as their conduct of jihad, they fall within the limits set by classical and contemporary Muslim law.[43]
David Hume
David Hume (1711 – 1776) was a Scottish philosopher and historian, regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment.
The admirers and followers of the Alcoran insist on the excellent moral precepts interspersed through that wild and absurd performance. But it is to be supposed, that the Arabic words, which correspond to the English, equity, justice, temperance, meekness, charity were such as, from the constant use of that tongue, must always be taken in a good sense; and it would have argued the greatest ignorance, not of morals, but of language, to have mentioned them with any epithets, besides those of applause and approbation. But would we know, whether the pretended prophet had really attained a just sentiment of morals? Let us attend to his narration; and we shall soon find, that he 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 only as it is beneficial or hurtful to the true believers.[44]
David Samuel Margoliouth
David Samuel Margoliouth (1858 – 1940) was an orientalist who was described as a brilliant editor and translator of Arabic works. He was briefly active as a priest in the Church of England. He was Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford from 1889 to 1937.
In order to gain his ends he [Muhammad] recoils from no expedient, and he approves of similar unscrupulousness on the part of his adherents, when exercised in his interest. He profits to the utmost from the chivalry of the Meccans, but rarely requites it with the like. He organizes assassinations and wholesale massacres.
His career as tyrant of Medina is that of a robber chief, whose political economy consists in securing and dividing plunder ... He is himself an unbridled libertine and encourages the same passion in his followers. For whatever he does he is prepared to plead the express authorization of the deity. It is, however, impossible to find any doctrine which he is not prepared to abandon in order to secure a political end…This is a disagreeable picture for the founder of a religion, and it cannot be pleaded that it is a picture drawn by an enemy…[45][46]
His career as tyrant of Medina is that of a robber chief, whose political economy consists in securing and dividing plunder ... He is himself an unbridled libertine and encourages the same passion in his followers. For whatever he does he is prepared to plead the express authorization of the deity. It is, however, impossible to find any doctrine which he is not prepared to abandon in order to secure a political end…This is a disagreeable picture for the founder of a religion, and it cannot be pleaded that it is a picture drawn by an enemy…[45][46]
Dayanand Saraswati
Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati (1824-1883) was an Indian Sage who is considered to be the most important Hindu religious leader of his time.
Having thus given a cursory view of the Quran, I lay it before the sensible persons with the purpose that they should know what kind of book the Quran is. If they ask me, I have no hesitation to say that it can not be the work either of God or of a learned man, nor can it be a book of knowledge. Here its very vital defect has been exposed with the object that the people may not waste their life falling into its imposition... The Quran is the result of ignorance, the source of animalization of human being, a fruitful cause of destroying peace, an incentive to war, a propagator of hostility among men and a promoter of suffering in society. As to defect of repetition, the Quran is its store.[47]
Doctrina Jacobi
The Doctrina Jacobi (or 'Teaching of Jacob'), is a 7th century Greek Christian polemical tract written sometime between 634-640 AD. The text provides one of the earliest external accounts of Islam.
When the candidatus was killed by the Saracens, I was at Caesarea and I set off by boat to Sykamina. People were saying "the candidatus has been killed," and we Jews were overjoyed. And they were saying that the prophet had appeared, coming with the Saracens, and that he was proclaiming the advent of the anointed one, the Christ who was to come. I, having arrived at Sykamina, stopped by a certain old man well-versed in scriptures, and I said to him: "What can you tell me about the prophet who has appeared with the Saracens?" He replied, groaning deeply: "He is false, for the prophets do not come armed with a sword. Truly they are works of anarchy being committed today and I fear that the first Christ to come, whom the Christians worship, was the one sent by God and we instead are preparing to receive the Antichrist. Indeed, Isaiah said that the Jews would retain a perverted and hardened heart until all the earth should be devastated. But you go, master Abraham, and find out about the prophet who has appeared." So I, Abraham, inquired and heard from those who had met him that there was no truth to be found in the so-called prophet, only the shedding of men's blood. He says also that he has the keys of paradise, which is incredible.[48]
Edward Freeman
Edward Augustus Freeman (1823 – 1892) was an English historian, architectural artist, liberal politician during the late-19th-century heyday of William Gladstone, and a one-time candidate for Parliament.
[Islam] is essentially an obstructive, intolerant system, supplying just sufficient good to stand in the way of greater good. It has consecrated despotism; it has consecrated polygamy; it has consecrated slavery. It has declared war against every other creed; it has claimed to be at least dominant in every land… When it ceases to have an enemy to contend against, it sinks into sluggish stupidity… It must have an enemy; if cut off, like Persia, from conflict with the infidel, it finds its substitute in sectarian hatred of brother Moslems… By [only] slightly reforming, it has perpetuated and sanctified all the evils of the eastern world. It has, by its aggressive tenets, brought them into more direct antagonism with the creed and civilization of the west.[49]
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon (1737 – 1794) was an English historian and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources.
In the spirit of enthusiasm or vanity, the prophet [Muhammad] rests the truth of his mission on the merit of his book; audaciously challenges both men and angels to imitate the beauties of a single page; and presumes to assert that God alone could dictate this incomparable performance. This argument is most powerfully addressed to a devout Arabian, whose mind is attuned to faith and rapture; whose ear is delighted by the music of sounds; and whose ignorance is incapable of comparing the productions of human genius... If the composition of the Koran exceed the faculties of a man to what superior intelligence should we ascribe the Iliad of Homer, or the Philippics of Demosthenes?[50]
Al Jannabi (Gagmer, tom. iii. p. 487) records his own testimony that he surpassed all men in conjugal vigour; and Abulfeda mentions the exclamation of Ali, who washed his body after his death, “O propheta, certe penis tuus cælum versus erectus est” ["O prophet, thy penis is erect unto the sky!"] (in Vit. Mohammed. p. 140).[51]
Instead of a perpetual and perfect measure of the divine will, the fragments of the Koran were produced at the discretion of Mahomet; each revelation is suited to the emergencies of his policy or passion; and all contradiction is removed by the saving maxim, that any text of Scripture is abrogated or modified by any subsequent passage.[50]
Edward William Lane
Edward William Lane (1801 — 1876) was a British Orientalist, translator and lexicographer. Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon remains the world's most revered and scholarly dictionary of the Arabic language.
The tax that is taken from the free non-Muslim subjects of a Muslim government whereby they ratify the compact that assures them protection, as though it were compensation for not being slain[52]
Emeka Ojukwu
Emeka Ojukwu (1933 - 2011) was the only president of the short lived Republic of Biafra.
The Biafran struggle is, on another plane, a resistance to the Arab-Muslim expansionism which has menaced and ravaged the African continent for twelve centuries. As early as the first quarter of the seventh century, the Arabs, a people from the Near-East, evolved Islam not just as a religion but as a cover for their insatiable territorial ambitions. By the tenth century they had overrun and occupied, among other places, Egypt and North Africa. Had they stopped there, we would not today be faced with the wicked and unholy collusion we are fighting against. On the contrary, they cast their hungry and envious eyes across the Sahara on to the land of the Negroes.
Our Biafran ancestors remained immune from the Islamic contagion. From the middle years of the last century Christianity was established in our land. In this way we came to be a predominantly Christian people. We came to stand out as a non-Muslim island in a raging Islamic sea. Throughout the period of the ill-fated Nigerian experiment, the Muslims hoped to infiltrate Biafra by peaceful means and quiet propaganda, but failed. Then the late Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduana of Sokoto tried, by political and economic blackmail and terrorism, to convert Biafrans settled in Northern Nigeria to Islam. His hope was that these Biafrans on dispersion would then carry Islam to Biafra, and by so doing give the religion political control of the area. The crises which agitated the so-called independent Nigeria from 1962 gave these aggressive proselytisers the chance to try converting us by force.
It is now evident why the fanatic Arab-Muslim states like Algeria, Egypt and the Sudan have come out openly and massively to support and aid Nigeria in her present war of genocide against us. These states see militant Arabism as a powerful instrument for attaining power in the world.
Biafra is one of the few African states untainted by Islam. Therefore, to militant Arabism, Biafra is a stumbling block to their plan for controlling the whole continent. This control is fast becoming manifest in the Organisation of African Unity. On the question of the Middle East, the Sudanese crisis, in the war between Nigeria and Biafra, militant Arabism has succeeded in imposing its point of view through blackmail and bluster. It has threatened African leaders and governments with inciting their Muslim minorities to rebellion if the governments adopted an independent line on these questions. In this way an O.A.U that has not felt itself able to discuss the genocide in the Sudan and Biafra, an O.A.U. that has again and again advertised its ineptitude as a peace-maker, has rushed into open condemnation of Israel over the Middle East dispute. Indeed in recent times, by its performance, the O.A.U. might well be an Organisation of Arab Unity.[53]Frank Miller
Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book artist, writer and film director. He is often regarded as one of the greatest comic artists of all time.
We're constantly told all cultures are equal, and every belief system is as good as the next. And generally that America was to be known for its flaws rather than its virtues. When you think about what Americans accomplished, building these amazing cities, and all the good its done in the world, it's kind of disheartening to hear so much hatred of America, not just from abroad, but internally... For some reason, nobody seems to be talking about who we're up against, and the sixth century barbarism that they actually represent. These people saw people's heads off. They enslave women, they genitally mutilate their daughters, they do not behave by any cultural norms that are sensible to us. I'm speaking into a microphone that never could have been a product of their culture, and I'm living in a city where three thousand of my neighbors were killed by thieves of airplanes they never could have built.[54][55]
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (1940 – 1993) was a critically acclaimed musician, songwriter, composer, recording engineer, record producer, and film director. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Let’s say we have to make some ‘show of force.’ The most common scenarios involve small guerilla or terrorist groups. Nuclear retaliation? It has been suggested by others that Aerosol Pork Grenades would be a better deterrent — Islamic martyrs are denied entrance to heaven if they show up at the gate smelling like a pig. Denial of The Big Payoff removes a certain cachet from acts of voluntary self-destruction.[56]
Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons (born August 25, 1949) is an American rock bass guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and actor. He is the bass guitarist/co-lead vocalist of the legendary rock band Kiss.
This is a vile culture and if you think for a second that it's willing to just live in the sands of God's armpit, you've got another thing coming... They want to come and live right where you live and they think that you're evil. Extremism believes that it’s okay to strap bombs onto your children and send them to paradise and whatever else and to behead people... Your dog, however, can walk side by side, your dog is allowed to have its own dog house... You can send your dog to school to learn tricks, sit, beg, do all that stuff - none of the women have that advantage.[57]
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize for Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938).
Islam is very different, being ferociously intolerant. What I may call Manifold Monotheism becomes in the minds of very simple folk an absurdly polytheistic idolatry, just as European peasants not only worship Saints and the Virgin as Gods, but will fight fanatically for their faith in the ugly little black doll who is the Virgin of their own Church against the black doll of the next village. When the Arabs had run this sort of idolatry to such extremes [that] they did this without black dolls and worshipped any stone that looked funny, Mahomet rose up at the risk of his life and insulted the stones shockingly, declaring that there is only one God, Allah, the glorious, the great… And there was to be no nonsense about toleration. You accepted Allah or you had your throat cut by someone who did accept him, and who went to Paradise for having sent you to Hell.[58]
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton, Jr. (1885 – 1945 AD) was a United States Army officer most famous for his leadership commanding corps and armies as a general in World War II.
To me it seems certain that the fatalistic teachings of Muhammad and the utter degradation of women is the outstanding cause for the arrested development of the Arab. He is exactly as he was around the year 700, while we have kept on developing.[59]
G. H. Bousquet
G. H. Bousquet was a great 20th century scholar of Islamic law.
Islam first came before the world as a doubly totalitarian system. It claimed to impose itself on the whole world and it claimed also, by the divinely appointed Muhammadan law, by the principles of the fiqh, to regulate down to the smallest details the whole life of the Islamic community and of every individual believer. ... [T]he study of Muhammadan law (dry and forbidding though it may appear to those who confine themselves to the indispensable study of the fiqh) is of great importance to the world today.[60]
Gerd Puin
Gerd Rüdiger Puin (born 1940) is a German scholar and one of the world’s leading authorities on Qur'anic historical orthography, the study and scholarly interpretation of ancient manuscripts. He is also specialist in Arabic paleography. He was a lecturer based at Saarland University, in Saarbrücken Germany.
The Qur’an claims for itself that it is ‘mubeen,’ or clear, but if you just look at it, you will see that every fifth sentence or so simply doesn’t make sense. Many Muslims will tell you otherwise, but the fact is that a fifth of the Qur’an is just incomprehensible. This is what has caused the traditional anxiety regarding translation. If the Qur’an is not comprehensible, if it can’t even be understood in Arabic, then it’s not translatable into any language. That is why Muslims are afraid.
G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 – 1936) was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, play writing, journalism, public lecturing and debating, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction.
There is in Islam a paradox which is perhaps a permanent menace. The great creed born in the desert creates a kind of ecstasy of the very emptiness of its own land, and even, one may say, out of the emptiness of its own theology... A void is made in the heart of Islam which has to be filled up again and again by a mere repetition of the revolution that founded it. There are no sacraments; the only thing that can happen is a sort of apocalypse, as unique as the end of the world; so the apocalypse can only be repeated and the world end again and again. There are no priests; and yet this equality can only breed a multitude if lawless prophets almost as numerous as priests. The very dogma that there is only one Mahomet produces an endless procession of Mahomets.[61]
Haran Gawaitha
The Haran Gawaitha is a Mandaean text written during the 7th to 9th century and contains some of the earliest non-Muslim references to Muhammad.
I will tell you, (O ye) priests who live in the Arab age, (of that which occurred) before the Son-of-Slaughter, the Arab, went out and prophesied as a prophet in the world so that they performed circumcision like Jews and changed sayings - for he is the most degraded of false prophets. Mars accompanieth him because he is the Seal of prophets of the Lie, (although) the Messiah will appear after him at the end of the age! I will inform you, Nasoraeans, that before the Son-of-Slaughter, the Arab, emerged and was called prophet in the world and Mars descended with him, he drew the sword and converted people to himself by the sword
. . .
. . .
And so a Hardabaean (Sasanian) dynasty ruled for three hun- dred and sixty years , and then the Son of Slaughter, the Arab, set up as king, went forth and took a people to himself and performed circumcision. (Even then), after this had happened and these events had taken place, sixty banners (still) remained and pertained to me in Baghdad. Then he took the sword and put to the sword from the city of Damascus unto Bit Dubar, which is called Bdin . He governed it all and ruled over the lord of the hill-country of the Persians who are called Hardbaeans and took away sovereignty from them.
Then, when this had taken place, in time there came (one) Anus', called the son of Danqa, from the uplands of the Arsaiia [from (to?) the city of Baghdad bis'us' kings of the planting of Artabanus, and brought in his own, belonging to Muhammad son of 'Abdallah son-of-Slaughter, the Arab...[62]Jacques Ellul
Jacques Ellul (1912 – 1994) was a French philosopher, law professor, sociologist, lay theologian, and Christian anarchist.
In a major encyclopedia, one reads phrases such as: "Islam expanded in the eighth or ninth centuries ..."; "This or that country passed into Muslim hands..." But care is taken not to say how Islam expanded, how countries "passed into [Muslim] hands." .. Indeed, it would seem as if events happened by themselves, through a miraculous or amicable operation... Regarding this expansion, little is said about jihad. And yet it all happened through war!
...the jihad is an institution. and not an event, that is to say it is a part of the normal functioning of the Muslim world... The conquered populations change status (they become dhimmis), and the shari'a tends to be put into effect integrally, overthrowing the former law of the country. The conquered territories do not simply change "owners."[63]
...the jihad is an institution. and not an event, that is to say it is a part of the normal functioning of the Muslim world... The conquered populations change status (they become dhimmis), and the shari'a tends to be put into effect integrally, overthrowing the former law of the country. The conquered territories do not simply change "owners."[63]
Joe A
Joe A is a British pornography producer notable for his focus on the "Indian" or "Asian" niche market.
Many of the [South Asian] girls I meet are interested in working with me [in porn] but are worried about their family finding out. The strangest thing is, most of my models have been Muslims, who are the strictest of all.[64]
John Adams
John Adams (1735 – 1826) was an American Founding Father and the second President of the United States (1797–1801). The following is taken from the preface of the Qur'an owned by him:
This book is a long conference of God, the angels, and Mahomet, which that false prophet very grossly invented; sometimes he introduceth God, who speaketh to him, and teacheth him his law, then an angel, among the prophets, and frequently maketh God to speak in the plural. … Thou wilt wonder that such absurdities have infected the best part of the world, and wilt avouch, that the knowledge of what is contained in this book, will render that law contemptible …[65]
John Calvin
John Calvin (1509 – 1564) was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation, and a principal figure in the development of Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530.
For even if many men once boasted that they worshipped the Supreme Majesty, the Maker of heaven and earth, yet because they had no Mediator it was not possible for them truly to taste God’s mercy, and thus be persuaded that he was their Father. Accordingly, because they did not hold Christ as their Head, they possessed only a fleeting knowledge of God. From this it also came about that they at last lapsed into crass and foul superstitions and betrayed their own ignorance. So today the [Muslim] Turks, although they proclaim at the top of their lungs that the Creator of heaven and earth is God, still, while repudiating Christ, substitute an idol in place of the true God.[66]
John R. Newman
John R. Newman is an historian of religions who specializes in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. His research focuses on the Vajrayana Buddhist Kalachakra Tantra ("Wheel of Time system of mysticism") tradition.
We may summarize the Kalacakra tantra's perception of Islamic beliefs and practices as follows: from the Buddhist point of view Islam is demonic and perverse, a perfect anti-religion which is the antithesis of Buddhism.[67]
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams (1767 – 1848) was the sixth President of the United States. He was also an American diplomat and served in both the Senate and House of Representatives.
…he [Muhammad] declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind…The precept of the Koran is, perpetual war against all who deny, that Mahomet is the prophet of God.[68]
In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, combining the powers of transcendent genius, with the preternatural energy of a fanatic, and the fraudulent spirit of an impostor, proclaimed himself as a messenger from Heaven, and spread desolation and delusion over an extensive portion of the earth. Adopting from the sublime conception of the Mosaic law, the doctrine of one omnipotent God; he connected indissolubly with it, the audacious falsehood, that he was himself his prophet and apostle. Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST: TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE [Adam's capital letters]….Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant…While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and good will towards men.[69]
As the essential principle of his faith is the subjugation of others by the sword; it is only by force, that his false doctrines can be dispelled, and his power annihilated.
They [The Russians] have been from time immemorial, in a state of almost perpetual war with the Tatars, and with their successors, the Ottoman conquerors of Constantinople. It were an idle waste of time to trace the causes of each renewal of hostilities, during a succession of several centuries. The precept of the Koran is, perpetual war against all who deny, that Mahomet is the prophet of God. The vanquished may purchase their lives, by the payment of tribute; the victorious may be appeased by a false and delusive promise of peace; and the faithful follower of the prophet, may submit to the imperious necessities of defeat: but the command to propagate the Moslem creed by the sword is always obligatory, when it can be made effective. The commands of the prophet may be performed alike, by fraud, or by force. Of Mahometan good faith, we have had memorable examples ourselves. When our gallant [Stephen] Decatur ref had chastised the pirate of Algiers, till he was ready to renounce his claim of tribute from the United States, he signed a treaty to that effect: but the treaty was drawn up in the Arabic language, as well as in our own; and our negotiators, unacquainted with the language of the Koran, signed the copies of the treaty, in both languages, not imagining that there was any difference between them. Within a year the Dey demands, under penalty of the renewal of the war, an indemnity in money for the frigate taken by Decatur; our Consul demands the foundation of this pretension; and the Arabic copy of the treaty, signed by himself is produced, with an article stipulating the indemnity, foisted into it, in direct opposition to the treaty as it had been concluded. The arrival of Chauncey, with a squadron before Algiers, silenced the fraudulent claim of the Dey, and he signed a new treaty in which it was abandoned; but he disdained to conceal his intentions; my power, said he, has been wrested from my hands; draw ye the treaty at your pleasure, and I will sign it; but beware of the moment, when I shall recover my power, for with that moment, your treaty shall be waste paper. He avowed what they always practised, and would without scruple have practised himself. Such is the spirit, which governs the hearts of men, to whom treachery and violence are taught as principles of religion.[70]
Had it been possible for a sincere and honest peace to be maintained between the Osmanli and his christian neighbors, then would have been the time to establish it in good faith. But the treaty was no sooner made than broken. It never was carried into effect by the Turkish government.[71]
[From the Ottoman Reis Effendi, to his Russian counterparts] ‘The present friendly letter has been composed and sent, to acquaint your excellency. with the circumstance; when you shall learn, on receipt of it, that the Sublime Porte has at all times; no other desire or wish than to preserve peace, and good understanding ; and that the event in question has been brought about, entirely by the act of the said minister, we hope that you will endeavor, do every occasion, to fulfil the duties of friendship.’ But precisely at the time when this mild, and candid, and gently expostulary epistle was despatched for St. Petersburg, another state paper was issued, addressed by the Sultan to his own subjects-this was the Hatti Sheriff of the 20th of December, sent to the Pashas of all the provinces, calling on all the faithful Mussulmen of the empire to come forth and 'fight for their religion, and their country, against the infidel despisers of the Prophet. The comparison of these two documents with each other, will afford the most perfect illustration of the Ottoman faith, as well as of their temper towards Russia.
The Hatti Sheriff commenced with the following admirable commentary upon the friendly profession, which introduced the letter to count Nesselrode. ‘It is well known (said the Sultan) to almost every person, that if the Mussulmen naturally hate the infidels, the infidels, on then part, are the enemies of the Mussulmen : that Russia, more especially, bears a particular hatred to Islamism, and that she is the principal enemy of the Sublime Porte.’
This appeal to the natural hatred of the Mussulmen towards the infidels, is in just accordance with the precepts of the Koran. The document does not attempt to disguise it, nor even pretend that the enmity of those whom it styles the infidels, is any other than the necessary consequence of the hatred borne by the Mussulmen to them—the paragraph itself, is a forcible example of the contrasted character of the two religions. The fundamental doctrine of the christian religion, is the extirpation of hatred from the human heart. It forbids the exercise of it, even towards enemies. There is no denomination of christians, which denies or misunderstands this doctrine. All understand it alike—all acknowledge its obligations ; and however imperfectly, in the purposes of Divine Providence, its efficacy has been shown in the practice of christians, it has not been wholly inoperative upon them. Its effect has been upon the manners of nations. It has mitigated the horrors of war – it has softened the features of slavery – it has humanized the intercourse of social life. The unqualified acknowledgement of a duty does not, indeed, suffice to insure its performance. Hatred is yet a passion, but too powerful upon the hearts of christians. Yet they cannot indulge it, except by the sacrifice of their principles, and the conscious violation of their duties. No state paper from a Christian hand, could, without trampling the precepts of its Lord and Master, have commenced by an open proclamation of hatred to any portion of the human race. The Ottoman lays it down as the foundation of his discourse.[72]If ever insurrection was holy in the eyes of God, such was that of the Greeks against their Mahometan oppressors. Yet for six long years, they were suffered to be overwhelmed by the whole mass of the Ottoman power; cheered only by the sympathies of all the civilized world, but without a finger raised to sustain or relieve them by the Christian governments of Europe; while the sword of extermination, instinct with the spirit of the Koran, was passing in merciless horror over the classical regions of Greece, the birth-place of philosophy, of poetry, of eloquence, of all the arts that embellish, and all the sciences that dignify the human character. The monarchs of Austria, of France, and England, inflexibly persisted in seeing in the Greeks, only revolted subjects against a lawful sovereign. The ferocious Turk eagerly seized upon this absurd concession, and while sweeping with his besom of destruction over the Grecian provinces, answered every insinuation of interest in behalf of that suffering people, by assertions of the unqualified rights of sovereignty, and by triumphantly retorting upon the legitimates of Europe, the consequences naturally flowing from their own perverted maxims.”[73]
This pretended discovery of a plot between Russia and the Greeks, is introduced, to preface an exulting reference to the unhallowed butchery of the Greek Patriarch and Priests, on Easter day of 1822, at Constantinople, and to the merciless desolation of Greece, which it calls ‘doing justice by the sword’ to a great number of rebels of the Morea, of Negropont, of Acarnania, Missolonghi, Athens, and other parts of the continent.The document acknowledges, that although during several years, considerable forces, both naval and military, had been sent against the Greeks, they had not succeeded in suppressing the insurrection.[74]
John Wesley
John Wesley (1703 – 1791), was a theologian and founder of the English Methodist movement.
Let us now calmly and impartially consider what manner of men the Mahometans in general are.
6. An ingenious writer, who a few years ago published a pompous translation of the Koran, takes great pains to give us a very favourable opinion both of Mahomet and his followers. But he cannot wash the Ethiop white. After all, men who have but a moderate share of reason, cannot but observe in his Koran, even as polished by Mr. Sale, the most gross and impious absurdities. To cite particulars is not now my business. It may suffice to observe in general, that human understanding must be debased to an inconceivable degree, in those who can swallow such absurdities as divinely revealed. And yet we know the Mahometans not only condemn all who cannot swallow them to everlasting fire; not only appropriate to themselves the title of Mussulman or True Believers: but even anathematise with the utmost bitterness, and adjudge to eternal destruction, all their brethren of the sect of Mi, all who contend for a figurative interpretation of them.
That these men then have no knowledge or love of God is undeniably manifest, not only from their gross, horrible notions of him, but from their not loving their brethren. But they have not always so weighty a cause to hate and murder one another, as difference of opinion. Mahometans will butcher each other by thousands, without so plausible a plea as this. Why is it that such numbers of Turks and Persians have stabbed one another in cool blood ? Truly, because they differ in the manner of dressing their head. The Ottoman vehemently maintains, (for he has unquestionable tradition on his side) that a Mussulman should wear a round turban. Whereas the Persian insists upon his liberty of conscience, and will wear it picked before. So, for this wonderful reason, when a more plausible one is wanting, they beat out each other's brains from generation to generation.
It is not therefore strange, that ever since the religion of Mahomet appeared in the world, the espousers of it, particularly those under the Turkish emperor, have been as wolves and tigers to all other nations ; rending and tearing all that fell into their merciless paws, and grinding them with their iron teeth: that numberless cities are rased from the foundation, and only their name remaining : that many countries which were once as the garden of God, are. now a desolate wilderness; and that so many once numerous and powerful nations are vanished away from the earth ! Such was, and is at this day, the rage, the fury, the revenge, of these destroyers of humankind![75]Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards (1703 – 1758) was a preacher, theologian, and missionary to Native Americans. Edwards "is widely acknowledged to be America's most important and original philosophical theologian," and one of America's greatest intellectuals.
By the false prophet [in Revelation 16:13], is sometimes meant the Pope and his clergy; but here an eye seems to be had to Mahomet, whom his followers call the great prophet of God.[76]
Louis Bertrand
Louis Bertrand (1866 – 1941) was a French novelist, historian and essayist. He was the third member elected to occupy seat 4 of the Académie française in 1925.
Arabs have never invented anything except Islam... they have made absolutely no addition to the ancient heritage of Greco-Latin civilization.
It is only a superficial knowledge that has been able to accept without critical examination the belief current among Christians during the Middle Ages, which attributed to Islam the Greek science and philosophy of which Christianity had no longer any knowledge. In the centuries that have followed, the Sectarian spirit has found it to be to its interest to confirm and propagate this error. In its hatred of Christianity it has had to give Islam the honour of what was the invention, and, if we may so express it, the personal property of our intellectual ancestors.[11]
It is only a superficial knowledge that has been able to accept without critical examination the belief current among Christians during the Middle Ages, which attributed to Islam the Greek science and philosophy of which Christianity had no longer any knowledge. In the centuries that have followed, the Sectarian spirit has found it to be to its interest to confirm and propagate this error. In its hatred of Christianity it has had to give Islam the honour of what was the invention, and, if we may so express it, the personal property of our intellectual ancestors.[11]
On the influence of Islam on Christian Europe:
The worst characteristic which the Spaniards acquired was the parasitism of the Arabs and the nomad Africans: the custom of living off one's neighbour's territory, the raid raised to the level of an institution, marauding and brigandage recognized as the sole means of existence for the man-at-arms. In the same way they went to win their bread in Moorish territory, so the Spaniards later went to win gold and territory in Mexico and Peru.
They were to introduce there, too, the barbarous, summary practices of the Arabs: putting everything to fire and sword, cutting down fruit-trees, razing crops, devastating whole districts to starve out the enemy and bring them to terms; making slaves everywhere, condemning the population of the conquered countries to forced labour. All these detestable ways the conquistadores learnt from the Arabs.
For several centuries slavery maintained itself in Christian Spain, as in the Islamic lands. Very certainly, also, it was to the Arabs that the Spaniards owed the intransigence of their fanaticism, the pretension to be, if not the chosen of God, at least the most Catholic nation of Christendom. Philip II, like Abd er Rahman or El Mansour, was Defender of the Faith.
Finally, it was not without contagion that the Spaniards lived for centuries in contact with a race of men who crucified their enemies and gloried in piling up thousands of severed heads by way of trophies. The cruelty of the Arabs and the Berbers also founded a school in the Peninsula. The ferocity of the emirs and the caliphs who killed their brothers or their sons with their own hands was to be handed on to Pedro the Cruel and Henry of Trastamare, those stranglers under canvas, no better than common assassins.[77]Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon called Maimonides (1135 – 1204) was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages.
After arose the Madman [Muhammad] who emulated his precursor [Jesus], since he paved the way for him. But he added the further objective of procuring rule and submission and he invented what is well known [Islam].[78]
Let Ye understand, my brothers, the Holy One Blessed HE through the trap created by our iniquities cast us amongst this nation, the people of Ishmael [Muslim Arabs] whose oppressiveness is firmly upon us and they connive to do us wrong and despicably downgrade us as the Almighty decreed against us (Deuteronomy 32:31, “Your enemies shall judge you”).
There never came against Israel a more antagonistic nation. They oppress us with the most oppressive measures to lessen our number, reduce us, and make us as despicable as they themselves are. King David, may he rest in peace, saw through Divine Inspiration all the calamities that were destined to come upon Israel. Nevertheless [even though he saw all the other troubles], he still began to shout out and lament in the name of the whole nation against the oppression that would be occasioned by the Ishmaelites. David said, “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!” [Psalms 120:5].
Manuel II Palaiologos
Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus (1350 – 1425) was the Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425.
Show me just what Mohammed 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.[80]
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 – 1910), well known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. Twain is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has been called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is extensively quoted, and was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.
That is a simple rule, and easy to remember. When I, a thoughtful and unblessed Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is insane; not in all things, but in religious matters.[81]
Michael Cook
Michael Cook (born in 1940) is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. He is widely considered "among the most outstanding scholars on the history of Islam", and is the author of several classic works on Muhammad and early Islamic theology.
Shortly after 9/11, there was a book published called How Did This Happen? that included an essay by Karen Armstrong in which she said a world religion has been hijacked by this band of fanatics. I don’t buy that for a minute.[82]
Michael H. Hart
Michael H. Hart (born April 28, 1932 in New York City) is a Jewish American astrophysicist who has also written three books on history and controversial articles on a variety of subjects. Muhammad's success as a warlord and conqueror were one of Hart's biggest reasons for placing him as the most influential person in history.
Muhammad (unlike Jesus) was a secular as well as a religious leader. In fact, as the driving force behind the Arab conquests, he may well rank as the most influential political leader of all time. Of many important historical events, one might say that they were inevitable and would have occurred even without the particular political leader who guided them. For example, the South American colonies would probably have won their independence from Spain even if Simon Bolivar had never lived. But this cannot be said of the Arab conquests. Nothing similar had occurred before Muhammad, and there is no reason to believe that the conquests would have been achieved without him. The only comparable conquests in human history are those of the Mongols in the thirteenth century, which were primarily due to the influence of Genghis Khan.[83]
Muhammad Sven Kalisch
Muhammad Sven Kalisch is a Professor at Münster University, one of Germany's oldest and most respected universities. In 2004 he went on to become Germany's first ever professor of Islamic theology.
I said to myself: You've dealt with Christianity and Judaism but what about your own religion? Can you take it for granted that Muhammad existed? ... The more I read, the historical person at the root of the whole thing became more and more improbable.[84]
With regard to the historical existence of Muhammad ... I consider my position simply as a continuation of the most recent research results. It appears so spectacular only because it has been said by a Muslim ... Most Western scientists turn down such an hypotheses out of respect for Islam or because they are afraid of the reactions of their Muslim friends or because they think it is speculative nonsense... My position with regard to the historical existence of Muhammad is that I believe neither his existence nor his non-existence can be proven. I, however, lean towards the non-existence but I don't think it can be proven. It is my impression that, unless there are some sensational archeological discoveries -- an Islamic "Qumran" or "Nag Hammadi" -- the question of Muhammad's existence will probably never be finally clarified.[85]
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 – 1938) was a Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and founder of the Republic of Turkey as well as its first president.
Turks were a great nation even before they adopted Islam. This religion did not help the Arabs, Iranians, Egyptians and others to unite with Turks to form a nation. Conversely, it weakened the Turks’ national relations; it numbed Turkish national feelings and enthusiasm. This was natural, because Mohammedanism was based on Arab nationalism above all nationalities.[86]
For nearly five hundred years, these rules and theories of an Arab Shaikh and the interpretations of generations of lazy and good-for-nothing priests have decided the civil and criminal law of Turkey. They have decided the form of the Constitution, the details of the lives of each Turk, his food, his hours of rising and sleeping the shape of his clothes, the routine of the midwife who produced his children, what he learned in his schools, his customs, his thoughts-even his most intimate habits. Islam – this theology of an immoral Arab – is a dead thing. Possibly it might have suited tribes in the desert. It is no good for modern, progressive state. God’s revelation! There is no God! These are only the chains by which the priests and bad rulers bound the people down. A ruler who needs religion is a weakling. No weaklings should rule.[87]
Our life here is truly hellish. Fortunately, my soldiers are very brave and tougher than the enemy. What is more, their private beliefs make it easier to carry out orders which send them to their death. They see only two supernatural outcomes: victory for the faith or martyrdom. Do you know what the second means? It is to go straight to heaven. There, the houris, God's most beautiful women, will meet them and will satisfy their desires for all eternity. What great happiness![88]
Omar Khayyám
Omar Khayyám (1048 – 1131 AD), was a Persian polymath, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, physician, and poet. He wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, and music.
Allah, perchance, the secret word might spell;
If Allah be, He keeps His secret well;
What He hath hidden, who shall hope to find?
Shall God His secret to a maggot tell?
…
The Koran! well, come put me to the test—
Lovely old book in hideous error drest—
Believe me, I can quote the Koran too,
The unbeliever knows his Koran best.
And do you think that unto such as you,
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew,
God gave the secret, and denied it me?—
Well, well, what matters it! believe that too.[89]
If Allah be, He keeps His secret well;
What He hath hidden, who shall hope to find?
Shall God His secret to a maggot tell?
…
The Koran! well, come put me to the test—
Lovely old book in hideous error drest—
Believe me, I can quote the Koran too,
The unbeliever knows his Koran best.
And do you think that unto such as you,
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew,
God gave the secret, and denied it me?—
Well, well, what matters it! believe that too.[89]
Oriana Fallaci
Oriana Fallaci (1929 – 2006) was an Italian journalist, author, and political interviewer. A former partisan during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career, interviewing many internationally known leaders and celebrities.
Europe is no longer Europe, it is Eurabia, a colony of Islam, where the Islamic invasion does not proceed only in a physical sense, but also in a mental and cultural sense... I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a pope think the same things, there must be something true. There must be some human truth that is beyond religion... I am disgusted by the anti-Semitism of many Italians, of many Europeans... Look at the school system of the West today. Students do not know history! They don't know who Churchill was! In Italy, they don't even know who Cavour was!... Servility to the invaders has poisoned democracy, with obvious consequences for the freedom of thought, and for the concept itself of liberty... State-run television stations contribute to the resurgent anti-Semitism, crying only over Palestinian deaths while playing down Israeli deaths, glossing over them in unwilling tones... The increased presence of Muslims in Italy and in Europe is directly proportional to our loss of freedom... The Muslims refuse our culture and try to impose their culture on us. I reject them, and this is not only my duty toward my culture-it is toward my values, my principles, my civilization... The struggle for freedom does not include the submission to a religion which, like the Muslim religion, wants to annihilate other religions... The West reveals a hatred of itself, which is strange and can only be considered pathological; it now sees only what is deplorable and destructive... These charlatans care about the Palestinians as much as I care about the charlatans. That is not at all... When I was given the news, I laughed. The trial is nothing else but a demonstration that everything I've written is true... President Bush has said, 'We refuse to live in fear.'
Beautiful sentence, very beautiful. I loved it! But inexact, Mr. President, because the West does live in fear. People are afraid to speak against the Islamic world. Afraid to offend, and to be punished for offending, the sons of Allah. You can insult the Christians, the Buddhists, the Hindus, the Jews. You can slander the Catholics, you can spit on the Madonna and Jesus Christ. But, woe betide the citizen who pronounces a word against the Islamic religion.[90]
The problem is that the solution does not depend upon the death of Osama bin Laden. Because the Osama bin Ladens are too many, by now: as cloned as the sheep of our research laboratories. In fact, the best trained and the more intelligent do not stay in the Muslim countries... They stay in our own countries, in our cities, our universities, our business companies. They have excellent bonds with our churches, our banks, our televisions, our radios, our newspapers, our publishers, our academic organizations, our unions, our political parties. Worse, they live in the heart of a society that hosts them without questioning their differences, without checking their bad intentions, without penalizing their sullen fanaticism.[90]
To make you cry I’ll tell you about the twelve young impure men I saw executed at Dacca at the end of the Bangladesh war. They executed them on the field of Dacca stadium, with bayonet blows to the torso or abdomen, in the presence of twenty thousand faithful who applauded in the name of God from the bleachers. They thundered "Allah akbar, Allah akbar." Yes, I know: the ancient Romans, those ancient Romans of whom my culture is so proud, entertained themselves in the Coliseum by watching the deaths of Christians fed to the lions. I know, I know: in every country of Europe the Christians, those Christians whose contribution to the History of Thought I recognize despite my atheism, entertained themselves by watching the burning of heretics. But a lot of time has passed since then, we have become a little more civilized, and even the sons of Allah ought to have figured out by now that certain things are just not done. After the twelve impure young men they killed a little boy who had thrown himself at the executioners to save his brother who had been condemned to death. They smashed his head with their combat boots. And if you don’t believe it, well, reread my report or the reports of the French and German journalists who, horrified as I was, were there with me. Or better: look at the photographs that one of them took. Anyway this isn’t even what I want to underline. It’s that, at the conclusion of the slaughter, the twenty thousand faithful (many of whom were women) left the bleachers and went down on the field. Not as a disorganized mob, no. In an orderly manner, with solemnity. They slowly formed a line and, again in the name of God, walked over the cadavers. All the while thundering Allah–akbar, Allah–akbar. They destroyed them like the Twin Towers of New York. They reduced them to a bleeding carpet of smashed bones.[91]
I am not speaking, obviously, to the laughing hyenas who enjoy seeing images of the wreckage and snicker good–it–serves–the–Americans–right. I am speaking to those who, though not stupid or evil, are wallowing in prudence and doubt. And to them I say: "Wake up, people. Wake up!!" Intimidated as you are by your fear of going against the current—that is, appearing racist (a word which is entirely inapt as we are speaking not about a race but about a religion)—you don’t understand or don’t want to understand that a reverse–Crusade is in progress. Accustomed as you are to the double–cross, blinded as you are by myopia, you don’t understand or don’t want to understand that a war of religion is in progress. Desired and declared by a fringe of that religion, perhaps, but a war of religion nonetheless. A war which they call Jihad. Holy War. A war that might not seek to conquer our territory, but that certainly seeks to conquer our souls. That seeks the disappearance of our freedom and our civilization. That seeks to annihilate our way of living and dying, our way of praying or not praying, our way of eating and drinking and dressing and entertaining and informing ourselves. You don’t understand or don’t want to understand that if we don’t oppose them, if we don’t defend ourselves, if we don’t fight, the Jihad will win. And it will destroy the world that for better or worse we’ve managed to build, to change, to improve, to render a little more intelligent, that is to say, less bigoted—or even not bigoted at all. And with that it will destroy our culture, our art, our science, our morals, our values, our pleasures...Christ! Don’t you realize that the Osama Bin Ladens feel authorized to kill you and your children because you drink wine or beer, because you don’t wear your beard long or a chador, because you go to the theater or the movies, because you listen to music and sing pop songs, because you dance in discos or at home, because you watch TV, wear miniskirts or short–shorts, because you go naked or half naked to the beach or the pool, because you *** when you want and where you want and who you want? Don’t you even care about that, you fools? I am an atheist, thank God. And I have no intention of letting myself be killed for it.[91]
Penn Jillette
Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American illusionist, comedian, musician, and best-selling author known for his work with fellow magician Teller in the team Penn & Teller.
People have to realize that having an imaginary friend may be dangerous. When 9/11 hit, the second thing I said to myself was, “This really is what religious people do.” Those people flying the plane were very good, very pious, truly faithful believers. There’s no other way to paint them. Of course, they are extremists by definition, but they certainly aren’t going against Islam in any real way.[92]
... we haven't tackled Islam because we have families [...] and I think the worst thing you can say about a group in a free society is that you’re afraid to talk about it—I can’t think of anything more horrific. [...] Teller and I have been brutal to Christians, and their response shows that they’re good f**king Americans who believe in freedom of speech. We attack them all the time, and we still get letters that say, “We appreciate your passion. Sincerely yours, in Christ.” Christians come to our show at the Rio and give us Bibles all the time. They’re incredibly kind to us ...[93]
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (1861 – 1941) was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. The composer of both the national anthem of India as well as the national anthem of Bangladesh, he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
A very important factor which is making it almost impossible for Hindu-Muslim unity to become an accomplished fact is that the Muslim can not confine their patriotism to any one country. I had frankly asked the Muslims whether in the event of any Mohammedan power invading India, would they [Muslims] stand side by side with their Hindu neighbors to defend their common land or join the invaders. I was not satisfied with the reply I have obtained from them… Even such a man as Mr. Mohammed Ali has declared that under no circumstances is it permissible for any Mohammedan, whatever be his country, to stand against any Mohammedan.[94]
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins (born March 26, 1941), is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science author. He was formerly Professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford and was a fellow of New College, Oxford.
Islam deserves criticism on account of the logical consequences of its dogma, namely, that the murder of fellow human beings is to be rewarded with sensual pleasure in a hedonistic “Paradise”—a concept born in the fantasies of an Arab rebel some fourteen centuries ago. The religion of Mohammed is a dangerous system when the teachings and example of the “prophet” are believed and followed.
I'm reasonably optimistic in America and Europe. I'm pessimistic about the Islamic world. I regard Islam as one of the great evils in the world, and I fear that we have a very difficult struggle there.
[Why is it more problematic than Christianity, for instance?]
There's a belief that every word of the Quran is literally true, and there's a kind of close-mindedness there, which is, I think, less present in the former Christendom. Perhaps because we've had long- I don't know quite why, but there's more of a historical tradition of questioning.
There are people in the Islamic world who simply say: "Islam is right!","We are going to impose our will" and there's an asymmetry. I think in a way we are being too nice. I think that it's possible to be naively over optimistic - and if you reach out to people who have absolutely no intention of reaching back to you, then you may be disillusioned.[95]I do feel visceral revulsion at the burka because for me it is a symbol of the oppression of women.[96]
It’s almost impossible to say anything against Islam in this country, because you are accused of being racist or Islamophobic.[96]
Every person I met believes if there is any disagreement between the Koran and science, then the Koran wins. It's just utterly deplorable. These are now British children who are having their minds stuffed with alien rubbish. Occasionally, my colleagues lecturing in universities lament having undergraduate students walk out of their classes when they talk about evolution. This is almost entirely Muslims.[97]
Robert Redeker
Robert Redeker is a philosophy teacher and writer for Le Figaro.
The exaltation of violence; a merciless war chief, plunderer, slaughterer of Jews and a polygamist, such is the man revealed through the Koran... Turning to Mahomet, by contradiction, reinforces hate and violence. Jesus is a master of love, Mahomet is a master of hatred... The stoning of Satan, each year at Mecca, is not just a superstitious phenomenon. It not only sets the scene for a rabble flirting with barbarity. Its scope is anthropological. Here in effect is a rite, which each Muslim is invited to submit himself to, emphasizing violence as a sacred duty in the heart of the believer. This stoning, annually accompanied with deaths by trampling of the faithful, sometimes in several hundreds, is a ritual which nurtures archaic violence. Instead of getting rid of this archaic violence... Islam builds a nest for this violence, where it can grow in the warmth... Islam is a religion which, even in its sacred text, as well as in its banal rites, exalts violence and hate... Hate and violence inhabit the book with which each Muslim is educated, the Koran.[98]
After the article Mr. Redeker received numerous death threads and had to go in to hiding under police protection.
What is happening to me corresponds fully to what I denounce in my writing — the West is under ideological surveillance by Islam... I have the impression that I’ve been drafted against my will into a conflict from the 17th or 18th century. It’s all about opposing religious intolerance.
Rory Bremner
Roderick "Rory" Keith Ogilvy Bremner, FKC (born April 6, 1961) is a Scottish impressionist, playwright and award-winning comedian, noted for his work in political satire and impressions of prominent British politicians.
When [I'm] writing a sketch about Islam, I'm writing a line and I think, 'If this goes down badly, I'm writing my own death warrant there.' Because there are people who will say, 'Not only do I not think that's funny but I'm going to kill you' – and that's chilling... If you're a Danish cartoonist and you work in a Western tradition, people don't take that too seriously. Suddenly you're confronted by a group of people who are fundamentalist and extreme and they say, 'We're going to kill you because of what you have said or drawn.' Where does satire go from there, because we like to be brave but not foolish.[99]
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (born June 19, 1947) is a British-Indian novelist and essayist. He achieved notability with his second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), which won the Booker Prize in 1981.
Of course this is "about Islam." The question is, what exactly does that mean? After all, most religious belief isn't very theological. Most Muslims are not profound Koranic analysts. For a vast number of "believing" Muslim men, "Islam" stands, in a jumbled, half-examined way, not only for the fear of God -- the fear more than the love, one suspects -- but also for a cluster of customs, opinions and prejudices that include their dietary practices; the sequestration or near-sequestration of "their" women; the sermons delivered by their mullahs of choice; a loathing of modern society in general, riddled as it is with music, godlessness and sex; and a more particularized loathing (and fear) of the prospect that their own immediate surroundings could be taken over -- "Westoxicated" -- by the liberal Western-style way of life.[100]
The pope gets ridiculed every day, but you don't see Catholics organizing terrorist attacks around the world.[101]
If Woody Allen were a Muslim, he'd be dead by now.[102]
Salomon Reinach
Salomon Reinach (1858 – 1932) was a French archaeologist, who made valuable archaeological discoveries at Myrina near Smyrna in 1880-82, at Cyme in 1881, at Thasos, Imbros and Lesbos (1882), at Carthage and Meninx (1883-84), at Odessa (1893) and elsewhere. He received honours from the chief learned societies of Europe.
From the literary point of view, the Koran has little merit. Declamation, repetition, puerility, a lack of logic and coherence strike the unprepared reader at every turn. It is humiliating to the human intellect to think that this mediocre literature has been the subject of innumerable commentaries, and that millions of men are still wasting time absorbing it.[103]
Sam Harris
Sam Harris, Ph.D (born 1967) is an American non-fiction writer, CEO, and winner of the prestigeous PEN Martha Albrand Award (2005).
Anyone familiar with my work knows that I am extremely critical of all religious faiths. I have argued elsewhere that the ascendancy of Christian conservatism in American politics should terrify and embarrass us. And yet, there are gradations to the evil that is done in name of God, and these gradations must be honestly observed. So let us now make sense of the impossible by acknowledging the obvious: there is a direct link between the doctrine of Islam and Muslim terrorism. Acknowledging this link remains especially taboo among political liberals.
. . .
While the other major world religions have been fertile sources of intolerance, it is clear that the doctrine of Islam poses unique problems for the emergence of a global civilization. The world, from the point of view of Islam, is divided into the “House of Islam” and the “House of War,” and this latter designation should indicate how Muslims believe their differences with those who do not share their faith will be ultimately resolved. While there are undoubtedly some moderate Muslims who have decided to overlook the irrescindable militancy of their religion, Islam is undeniably a religion of conquest. The only future devout Muslims can envisage—as Muslims—is one in which all infidels have been converted to Islam, politically subjugated, or killed. The tenets of Islam simply do not admit of anything but a temporary sharing of power with the “enemies of God.” Devout Muslims can have no doubt about the reality of Paradise or about the efficacy of martyrdom as a means of getting there. Nor can they question the wisdom and reasonableness of killing people for what amount to theological grievances. In Islam, it is the moderate who is left to split hairs, because the basic thrust of the doctrine is undeniable: convert, subjugate, or kill unbelievers; kill apostates; and conquer the world.[104]
. . .
While the other major world religions have been fertile sources of intolerance, it is clear that the doctrine of Islam poses unique problems for the emergence of a global civilization. The world, from the point of view of Islam, is divided into the “House of Islam” and the “House of War,” and this latter designation should indicate how Muslims believe their differences with those who do not share their faith will be ultimately resolved. While there are undoubtedly some moderate Muslims who have decided to overlook the irrescindable militancy of their religion, Islam is undeniably a religion of conquest. The only future devout Muslims can envisage—as Muslims—is one in which all infidels have been converted to Islam, politically subjugated, or killed. The tenets of Islam simply do not admit of anything but a temporary sharing of power with the “enemies of God.” Devout Muslims can have no doubt about the reality of Paradise or about the efficacy of martyrdom as a means of getting there. Nor can they question the wisdom and reasonableness of killing people for what amount to theological grievances. In Islam, it is the moderate who is left to split hairs, because the basic thrust of the doctrine is undeniable: convert, subjugate, or kill unbelievers; kill apostates; and conquer the world.[104]
Islam, more than any other religion human beings have devised, has all the makings of a thoroughgoing cult of death.
As a matter of doctrine, the Muslim conception of tolerance is one in which non-Muslims have been politically and economically subdued, converted, or put to sword.
Yes, the Bible contains its own sadistic lunacy—but the above [Qur'an] quotations [taken from The End of Faith, pp. 117-123] can be fairly said to convey the central message of the Qur’an—and of Islam at nearly every moment in its history. The Qur’an does not contain anything like a Sermon on the Mount. Nor is it a vast and self-contradictory book like the Old Testament, in which whole sections (like Leviticus and Deuteronomy) can be easily ignored and forgotten. The result is a unified message of triumphalism, otherworldliness, and religious hatred that has become a problem for the entire world. And the world still waits for moderate Muslims to speak honestly about it.[105]
The penalty for apostasy is death. We would do well to linger over this fact for a moment, because it is the black pearl of intolerance that no liberal exegesis will ever fully digest.
As a source of objective morality, the Bible is one of the worst books we have. It might be the very worst, in fact—if we didn’t also happen to have the Qur’an.[106]
There is no such thing as Islamophobia. Bigotry and racism exist, of course—and they are evils that all well-intentioned people must oppose. And prejudice against Muslims or Arabs, purely because of the accident of their birth, is despicable. But like all religions, Islam is a system of ideas and practices. And it is not a form of bigotry or racism to observe that the specific tenets of the faith pose a special threat to civil society. Nor is it a sign of intolerance to notice when people are simply not being honest about what they and their co-religionists believe.[107]
Sibel Kekilli
Sibel Kekilli (born 16 June 1980) is a German actress of Turkish background. For her performances, she was awarded twice with the most prestigious German movie award, the Lola, and she also received the Best Actress award at Turkey's most important national film festival.
I have experienced myself that physical and psychological violence is seen as normal in Muslim families. Unfortunately violence belongs to the culture in Islam.[108]
Simon Ockley
Simon Ockley (1678 – 1720) was chosen Adams Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University in 1711. He was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1697, MA. in 1701, and B.D. in 1710.
An Arabian author cited by Maracci,[109] says that Abubeker was very averse to the giving him his daughter [Ayesha, who was then but seven years old] so young, but that Mohammed pretended a divine command for it; whereupon he sent her to him with a basket of dates, and when the girl was alone with him, he stretched out his blessed hand (these are the author’s words), and rudely took hold of her clothes; upon which she looked fiercely at him, and said, “People call you the faithful man,[110] but your behaviour to me shows you are a perfidious one.” And with these words she got out of his hands, and, composing her clothes, went and complained to her father. The old gentleman, to calm her resentment, told her she was new betrothed to Mohammed, and that made him take liberties with her, as if she had been his wife.[111]
Speros Vryonis Jr.
Speros Vryonis Jr. (born 1928) is an American author and historian of Greek descent and a specialist in Greek and Byzantine history. He is professor emeritus of history at UCLA, the former Director of the Speros Basil Vryonis Center for the Study of Hellenism and is currently the AHIF Senior Fellow for Hellenism and for Greek and Turkish Studies.
The process itself is described in its essential details by the Georgian chronicle for northeast Asia Minor and the adjoining Georgian regions. The process which it describes was not unique to the northeast, for we see it in the west and the south of Asia Minor as well..
‘The emirs spread out, like locusts, over the face of the land…The countries of Asis-Phorni, Clardjeth, up to the shores of the sea, Chawcheth, Adchara, Samtzkhe, Karthli, Argoueth, Samokalako, and Dchqondid were filled with Turks who pillaged and enslaved all the inhabitants. In a single day they burned Kouthathis, Artanoudj, and hermitages of Clardjeth, and they remained in these lands until the first snows, devouring the land, massacring all those who had fled to the forests to the rocks, to the caves…The calamities of Christianity did not come to an end soon thereafter, for at the approach of spring, the Turks returned to carry out the same ravages and left [again] in the winter. The [inhabitants] however were unable to plant or to harvest. The land, [thus] delivered to slavery, had only animals of the forests and wild beasts for inhabitants. Karthli was in the grip of intolerable calamities such as one cannot compare to a single devastation or combination of evils of past times. The holy churches served as stables for their horses, the sanctuaries of the Lord served as repairs for the abominations [Islam]. Some of the priests were immolated during the Holy communion itself, and others were carried off into harsh slavery without regard to their old age. The virgins were defiled, the youths circumcised, and the infants taken away. The conflagration, extending its ravages, consumed all the inhabited sites, the rivers, instead of water, flowed blood. I shall apply the sad words of Jeremiah, which he applied so well to such situations: “the honorable children of Zion, never put to the rest by misfortunes, now voyaged as slaves on foreign roads. The streets of Zion now wept because there was no one [left] to celebrate the feasts. The tender mothers, in place of preparing with their hands the nourishment of the sons, were themselves nourished from the corpses of these dearly loved. Such and worse was the situation at the time.’…
By the time [of the late 11th and early 12th centuries, i.e. (1083-1125)]…the nomads had effected permanent settlement in these regions, moving into the abandoned and devastated areas with their tents, families, and flocks of livestock.[112]Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper PC MP (born April 30, 1959) is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada.
When people think of Islamic terrorism, they think of Afghanistan, or maybe they think of some place in the Middle East, but the truth is that threat exists all over the world ... There are a number of threats on a number of levels, but if you are talking about terrorism it is Islamicism ... There are other threats out there, but that is the one that I can tell you occupies the security apparatus most regularly in terms of actual terrorist threats ... homegrown [Islamic] terrorism is something we keep an eye on.[113][114]
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (1858 – 1919) was the 26th President of the United States (1901 – 1909). Historians typically rank Roosevelt among the top five American presidents of all time.[115][116]
Christianity is not the creed of Asia and Africa at this moment solely because the seventh century Christians of Asia and Africa had trained themselves not to fight, whereas the Moslems were trained to fight. Christianity was saved in Europe solely because the peoples of Europe fought. If the peoples of Europe in the seventh and eighth centuries, an on up to and including the seventeenth century, had not possessed a military equality with, and gradually a growing superiority over the Mohammedans who invaded Europe, Europe would at this moment be Mohammedan and the Christian religion would be exterminated. Wherever the Mohammedans have had complete sway, wherever the Christians have been unable to resist them by the sword, Christianity has ultimately disappeared. From the hammer of Charles Martel to the sword of Sobieski, Christianity owed its safety in Europe to the fact that it was able to show that it could and would fight as well as the Mohammedan aggressor... The civilization of Europe, American and Australia exists today at all only because of the victories of civilized man over the enemies of civilization because of victories through the centuries from Charles Martel in the eighth century and those of John Sobieski in the seventeenth century. During the thousand years that included the careers of the Frankish soldier and the Polish king, the Christians of Asia and Africa proved unable to wage successful war with the Moslem conquerors; and in consequence Christianity practically vanished from the two continents; and today, nobody can find in them any "social values" whatever, in the sense in which we use the words, so far as the sphere of Mohammedan influences are concerned. There are such "social values" today in Europe, America and Australia only because during those thousand years, the Christians of Europe possessed the warlike power to do what the Christians of Asia and Africa had failed to do — that is, to beat back the Moslem invader.[117]
Theodor Nöldeke
Theodor Nöldeke (1836 – 1930) was a celebrated German Semitic scholar, who in 1859 won the prize of the French Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres for his "History of the Qur'an".
On the whole, while many parts of the Koran undoubtedly have considerable rhetorical power, even over an unbelieving reader, the book, aesthetically considered, is by no means a first-rate performance... Muhammad, in short, is not in any sense a master of style. This opinion will be endorsed by any European who reads through the book with an impartial spirit and some knowledge of the language, without taking into account the tiresome effect of its endless iterations. But in the ears of every pious Muslim such a judgment will sound almost as shocking as downright atheism or polytheism. Among the Muslims, the Koran has always been looked upon as the most perfect model of style and language. This feature of it is in their dogmatic the greatest of all miracles, the incontestable proof of its divine origin. Such a view on the part of men who knew Arabic infinitely better than the most accomplished European Arabist will ever do, may well startle us. In fact, the Koran boldly challenged its opponents to produce ten suras, or even a single one, like those of the sacred book, and they never did so. That, to be sure, on calm reflection, is not so very surprising. Revelations of the kind which Muhammad uttered, no unbeliever could produce without making himself a laughingstock.[118]
Thomas Aquinas
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274), an immensely influential philosopher and theologian.
On the other hand, those who founded sects committed to erroneous doctrines proceeded in a way that is opposite to this, The point is clear in the case of Muhammad. He seduced the people by promises of carnal pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh goads us. His teaching also contained precepts that were in conformity with his promises, and he gave free rein to carnal pleasure. In all this, as is not unexpected, he was obeyed by carnal men. As for proofs of the truth of his doctrine, he brought forward only such as could be grasped by the natural ability of anyone with a very modest wisdom. Indeed, the truths that he taught he mingled with many fables and with doctrines of the greatest falsity. He did not bring forth any signs produced in a supernatural way, which alone fittingly gives witness to divine inspiration; for a visible action that can be only divine reveals an invisibly inspired teacher of truth. On the contrary, Muhammad said that he was sent in the power of his arms—which are signs not lacking even to robbers and tyrants. What is more, no wise men, men trained in things divine and human, believed in him from the beginning, Those who believed in him were brutal men and desert wanderers, utterly ignorant of all divine teaching, through whose numbers Muhammad forced others to become his followers by the violence of his arms. Nor do divine pronouncements on the part of preceding prophets offer him any witness. On the contrary, he perverts almost all the testimonies of the Old and New Testaments by making them into fabrications of his own, as can be. seen by anyone who examines his law. It was, therefore, a shrewd decision on his part to forbid his followers to read the Old and New Testaments, lest these books convict him of falsity. It is thus clear that those who place any faith in his words believe foolishly.[119]
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881) was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.
... I must say, it [the Koran] is as toilsome reading as I ever undertook. A wearisome confused jumble, crude, incondite; endless iterations, long-windedness, entanglement; most crude, incondite; — insupportable stupidity, in short! Nothing but a sense of duty could carry any European through the Koran ... It is the confused ferment of a great rude human soul; rude, untutored, that cannot even read; but fervent, earnest, struggling vehemently to utter itself in words ... We said "stupid:" yet natural stupidity is by no means the character of Mahomet's Book; it is natural uncultivation rather. The man has not studied speaking; in the haste and pressure of continual fighting, has not time to mature himself into fit speech ... The man was an uncultured semi-barbarous Son of Nature, much of the Bedouin still clinging to him: we must take him for that. But for a wretched Simulacrum, a hungry Impostor without eyes or heart ... we will not and cannot take him. Sincerity, in all senses, seems to me the merit of the Koran; what had rendered it precious to the wild Arab men ... Curiously, through these incondite masses of tradition, vituperation, complaint, ejaculation in the Koran, a vein of true direct insight, of what we might almost call poetry, is found straggling.[120]
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826) was the third President of the United States, and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was one of the most influential Founding Fathers, known for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States.
In reference to the Islamic slave trade of Americans and Europeans by the Barbary states, Jefferson asked Tripoli's envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman, by what right he extorted money and took slaves in this way. He answered:
The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.[121][122]
Jefferson later went to war with the Barbary states.
Tony Blair
Tony Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. He led Labour to a landslide victory in 1997. The party went on to win two more elections under his leadership, in 2001 and 2005.
There is not a problem with Islam... But there is a problem within Islam, and we have to put it on the table and be honest about it. There are, of course, Christian extremists and Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu ones. But I am afraid that the problematic strain within Islam is not the province of a few extremists. It has at its heart a view of religion – and of the relationship between religion and politics – that is not compatible with pluralistic, liberal, open-minded societies. At the extreme end of the spectrum are terrorists, but the worldview goes deeper and wider than it is comfortable for us to admit. So, by and large, we don’t admit it.
This has two effects. First, those who hold extreme views believe that we are weak, and that gives them strength. Second, those Muslims – and the good news is that there are many – who know the problem exists, and want to do something about it, lose heart.[123]
Turan Dursun
Turan Dursun (1934 – 4 September 1990) was a Turkish Islamic scholar and writer. He was also formerly the Mufti of Sivas, before becoming an atheist and his eventual assassination.[124][125]
So many people can't live their childhood properly because of him [Muhammad]. So many people are sufferers of his disasters. So many people know what's right as wrong and what's wrong as right because they think the darkness that he chose exists. Human emotions and human creations haven't progressed in many ways, because of him.[124]
... if there is a God, he's not Mohammed's.[124]
Urban II
Pope Blessed Urban II (ca. 1035 – 29 July 1099), born Otho de Lagery (alternatively: Otto, Odo or Eudes), was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death on 29 July 1099. Regarding the first Crusade:
Freshly quickened by the divine correction, you must apply the strength of your righteousness to another matter which concerns you as well as God. For your brethren who live in the east are in urgent need of your help, and you must hasten to give them the aid which has often been promised them. For, as the most of you have heard, the Turks and Arabs [Muslims] have attacked them and have conquered the territory of Romania [the Greek empire] as far west as the shore of the Mediterranean and the Hellespont, which is called the Arm of St. George. They have occupied more and more of the lands of those Christians, and have overcome them in seven battles. They have killed and captured many, and have destroyed the churches and devastated the empire. If you permit them to continue thus for awhile with impurity, the faithful of God will be much more widely attacked by them. On this account I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends.[126]
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
François-Marie Arouet (1694 – 1778), meglio conosciuto col nome di penna di Voltaire, fu uno scrittore e filosofo dell'illuminismo francese famoso per il suo spirito e la sua difesa delle libertà civili, inclusa la libertà di religione e il libero commercio.
Ma quel mercante di cammelli [Maometto] dovrebbe far aumentare l'insurrezione nel suo villaggio; che in gruppo i suoi seguaci miserabili li convince che parla con l'angelo Gabriele; che si vanta di essere stato portato in paradiso, dove ha ricevuto in parte questo libro incomprensibile, di cui ogni pagine fa tremare il buon senso; che, per rendere omaggio a questo libro mette il suo paese a ferro e a fuoco; che taglia le gole dei padri e sequestra le figlie; che dà ai vinti la scelta di convertirsi o di morire: senza dubbio nessun uomo può scusare queste cose, a meno che non fosse nato come un turco o se la superstizione non avesse estinto in lui tutta la luce naturale. [127]
Padre Benedetto [Papa Benedetto XIV]— Vostra santità perdonerà la libertà presa da uno dei fedeli minori, eppure un ammiratore zelante della virtù, di inviare al capo della vera religione questa prestazione [l'opera "Maometto ossia il fanatismo"], scritta in opposizione al fondatore di una setta falsa e barbara. A chi meglio di voi potrei inscrivere una satira sulla crudeltà e gli errori di un falso profeta, del vicario e rappresentante di un Dio di verità e pietà? Vostra santità mi lascerà dunque posare ai vostri piedi sia l'autore che la sua opera, e chiedervi umilmente la vostra protezione per l'autore e la benedizione dell'opera; sperandolo, con la più profonda reverenza, bacio i vostri piedi sacri.[128]
Will Durant
William James Durant (1885 – 1981) was a prolific American writer, historian, and philosopher. The Story of Philosophy, written in 1926, has been described as a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy.
The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex of order and freedom, culture and peace, can at any moment be overthrown by barbarians invading from without or multiplying within.[129]
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone (1809 – 1898) was a British Liberal statesman. He served as Prime Minister four separate times (1868–1874, 1880–1885, February–July 1886 and 1892–1894), more than any other person.
Qur’an… an accursed book… So long as there is this book there will be no peace in the world.[130]
William Hay
William Hay was formerly the Professor of Oceanography at the University of Colorado, USA. He is notable for having been quote-mined and misrepresented since the 1980's by Muslim apologists making claims of scientific Qur'an "miracles".
Interviewer: A Qur'an which has got claims for scientific miracles in, and you're listed in the back. And it says for that part, “And when he was asked about the source of the Qur'an, he replied, 'Well, I would think it must be the divine being.'” So are you saying that that is a misrepresentation?
William Hay: That's a misrepresentation. There's no question about that. ... Most of them [alleged scientific miracles in the Qur'an] are things that I would think that if God wanted to make a great revelation, these are not things that I would have expected, because they are all readily absurd.[131]
William Hay: That's a misrepresentation. There's no question about that. ... Most of them [alleged scientific miracles in the Qur'an] are things that I would think that if God wanted to make a great revelation, these are not things that I would have expected, because they are all readily absurd.[131]
William Montgomery Watt
William Montgomery Watt (1909 – 2006) was a Scottish historian, an Emeritus Professor in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Watt was one of the foremost non-Muslim interpreters of Islam in the West, was an enormously influential scholar in the field of Islamic studies and a much-revered name for many Muslims all over the world.[132]
Aisha was still a child when Muhammad married her, and she continued to play with her toys.[133]
There is some evidence that, besides his regular marriages and his unions with concubines, Muhammad had relations with women in accordance with the older matrilineal customs.[133]
In connexion with the other verse Aisha is said to have made the remark “God is in hurry to satisfy your desires". Even if she really said this (and it is not a later invention), it would only show that Aisha was suspicious of the correspondence between the revelation and Muhammad’s desires.[133]
Firstly, at one time, Muhammad must have publicly recited the Satanic verses as part of the Quran; it is unthinkable that the story could have been invented later by Muslims or foisted upon them by non-Muslims. Secondly, at some later time Muhammad announced that these verses were not really part of the Quran and should be replaced by others of a vastly different import.[134]
William Muir
Sir William Muir, KCSI (1819 – 1905) was a Scottish historian and writer specialising in the history of the time of Muhammad and the early caliphate.
The sword of Mahomet, and the Coran, are the most fatal enemies of Civilization, Liberty, and Truth, which the world has yet known.[135]
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.[136]
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874 – 1965) was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He is widely regarded as one of the great wartime leaders, and was voted the greatest Briton of all time.[137]
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. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities - 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.[138][139]
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. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities - 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.[138][139]
Fanaticism is not a cause of war. It is the means which helps savage peoples to fight. It is the spirit which enables them to combine--the great common object before which all personal or tribal disputes become insignificant. What the horn is to the rhinoceros, what the sting is to the wasp, the Mohammedan faith was to the Arabs of the Soudan--a faculty of offence or defence.[140]
It is, thank heaven, difficult if not impossible for the modern European to fully appreciate the force which fanaticism exercises among an ignorant, warlike and Oriental population. Several generations have elapsed since the nations of the West have drawn the sword in religious controversy, and the evil memories of the gloomy past have soon faded in the strong, clear light of Rationalism and human sympathy. Indeed it is evident that Christianity, however degraded and distorted by cruelty and intolerance, must always exert a modifying influence on men's passions, and protect them from the more violent forms of fanatical fever, as we are protected from smallpox by vaccination. But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since, its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness. In a moment the fruits of patient toil, the prospects of material prosperity, the fear of death itself, are flung aside. The more emotional Pathans are powerless to resist. All rational considerations are forgotten. Seizing their weapons, they become Ghazis--as dangerous and as sensible as mad dogs: fit only to be treated as such. While the more generous spirits among the tribesmen become convulsed in an ecstasy of religious bloodthirstiness, poorer and more material souls derive additional impulses from the influence of others, the hopes of plunder and the joy of fighting. Thus whole nations are roused to arms. Thus the Turks repel their enemies, the Arabs of the Soudan break the British squares, and the rising on the Indian frontier spreads far and wide. In each case civilisation is confronted with militant Mahommedanism. The forces of progress clash with those of reaction. The religion of blood and war is face to face with that of peace. Luckily the religion of peace is usually the better armed.[141][142]
Winston S. Churchill
Winston Spencer-Churchill (October 10, 1940 – March 2, 2010), generally known as Winston Churchill, was a British politician, and a grandson of former Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.
At its most extreme, authoritarianism is exemplified by the isms of the 20th Century — Communism, Fascism and Nazism. The Fascists and Nazis were responsible for the deaths of more than 30 million human beings, while more than 50 million are estimated to have been murdered by Stalin and the Russian Communists, while Mao-Tse-Tung and the Chinese Communists are believed to have accounted for some 80 million.
But today a new challenge — another ism — confronts us, and that is the challenge of Islamic fundamentalism. Extremist Islam has declared war on the rest of the world, as evidenced by their ruthless attacks across the globe — overwhelmingly targeted at innocent civilians. Beside the outrage of 9/11, the bombings in Madrid, in Bali, in London and, most recently, in Jordan come to mind.
Those who have declared jihad against the West, and Western values, such as freedom of speech, are doing all in their power to mobilize against us the large Muslim communities living in our midst... Unbelievably, Washington is urging Europe to admit Turkey to the EU. Were that to happen, the Muslim population of Europe would skyrocket to 100 million — an act, in my view, of consummate folly. Already Judeo-Christian Europe is under siege from a tidal wave of Islamic immigration. The admission of Turkey would hasten its demise... Intriguingly, the dangers of extremist Islam were foreseen by Winston Churchill all of 85 years ago, as I discovered to my amazement, while compiling my most recent book NEVER GIVE IN! The Best of Winston Churchill’s Speeches.
Churchill is, of course, well-known for his gift of prescience and, specifically, for being the first to warn of the menace of Hitler and Nazism as early as 1932, and of the Soviet threat in his famous Iron Curtain speech in 1946 in Fulton, Mo. But how many know that he also warned the world of the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism? I certainly did not![143]Wole Soyinka
Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka (born July 13, 1934) is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. In 1986, he became the first African to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1994, he was designated UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of African culture, human rights, freedom of expression, media and communication.
England is a cesspit. England is the breeding ground of fundamentalist Muslims. Its social logic is to allow all religions to preach openly. But this is illogic, because none of the other religions preach apocalyptic violence. And yet England allows it. Remember, that country was the breeding ground for communism, too. Karl Marx did all his work in libraries there.
. . .
. . .
We should assemble all those who are pure and cannot abide other faiths, put them all in rockets, and fire them into space.
. . .
A virus has attacked the world of sense and sensibility, and it has spread to Nigeria.
. . .
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- ↑ Pakistan o parte dell'India, http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ambedkar_partition/410.html#part_1
- ↑ Per esempio, questo sito chiede "A chi vuoi credere per quanto riguarda il carattere del profeta Maometto?", prima di elencare delle citazioni e mentire spudoratamente; sostenendo che il libro di Michael H. Hart sia un libro che "elenca gli uomini che hanno contribuito maggiormente all'elevazione dell'umanità". Questo è falso. L'elenco di Hart è basato unicamente su chi ha avuto più influenza secondo lui e non dice se questa influenza è stata negativa o positiva. Per ulteriori dettagli clicca qui.
- ↑ Per esempio, una citazione attribuita a George Bernard Shaw, loda il Profeta Maometto come il "Salvatore dell'umanità", colui che sarebbe riuscito a risolvere tutti i problemi del mondo se "fosse stato il dittatore del mondo moderno", purtroppo questa citazione si è rivelata essere un falso. Ref: Rachel Baxendale, "Pubblicità pro-islam citano malamente il libro di Shaw'", The Australian, July 9, 2013 (archived), http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/ads-for-islam-misquote-shaw-from-bogus-book/story-fn59niix-1226676192844.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jennifer Michael Hecht - Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson (pg. 227-230) - HarperOne, 7 settembre 2004, ISBN 9780060097950
- ↑ Quoted by Albert Speer, Dentro il terzo Reich: Memorie, pg. 115
- ↑ "Hitler's Table Talk", p. 143, tradotto da N. Cameron and R.H. Stevens, Enigma Books (1953)
- ↑ Il monologo di Adolf Hitler im Führerhauptquartier (Monologo coi quartieri generali del Fuhrer). Amburgo: Albrecht Knaus, 1980.
- ↑ "Hitler's Table Talk", tradotto da N. Cameron and R.H. Stevens, Enigma Books (1953)
- ↑ Alexis de Tocqueville; Olivier Zunz, Alan S. Kahan (2002). "The Tocqueville Reader". Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 063121545X. OCLC 49225552. p. 229.
- ↑ Alexis de Tocqueville (1840)."Democracy in America, Volume II". Libro primo, capitolo V. OCLC 48653286
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Andre Servier - L’islam et la psychologie du musulman - London. Chapman Hall LTD. 1924, pp.153, 61, 191, 2, 18, Ch XVI, Prefazione
- ↑ Angela Carter (1940-1992), British author. interview by Lorna Sage in New Writing, eds. Malcolm Bradbury and Judy Cooke (1992).
- ↑ Antony Flew and Gary Habermas, "My Pilgrimage from Atheism to Theism", Philosophia Christi, il diario della società filosofica evangelica, inverno 2004.
- ↑ Antony Flew, "The Terrors of Islam", Atheist Notes No. 6, 2004, ISBN 1856372928
- ↑ Vacalopoulos, A.E. Il contesto e le cause della rivoluzione greca, Neo-Hellenika, Vol. 2, 1975, pp.54-55
- ↑ Vacalopoulos, A.E. Origins of the Greek Nation-The Byzantine Period, 1204-1461, New Brunswick, N.J., 1970, pp. 61, 68; 72-73
- ↑ Pakistan o parte dell’India, http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ambedkar_partition/410.html#part_1
- ↑ Arthur, Jeffery, “L’importanza politica dell’islam," ‘’Rivista di studi del vicino oriente 1 (1942): 386.
- ↑ Arthur Schopenhauer, E. F. Payne (traduttore) - Il mondo come volontà e rappresentazione, vol II, pagina 162
- ↑ Bhavishya Puran: Prati Sarg: Part III:3,3 5-27
- ↑ Tough-talking pope has history with Muslims, refuses to give in - Washington Times, September 20, 2006
- ↑ Bernard Lewis, "Gli ebrei pro-islam," in L'islam nella storia (Chicago: Open Court, 1993), p. 148.
- ↑ B. Lewis, "Other People's History," in Islam in History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p130.
- ↑ Bernard Lewis, U.S. Middle Eastern specialist. Islam and the West, ch. 8, Oxford University Press (1993).
- ↑ Bernard Lewis, "The Political Language of Islam", University Of Chicago Press; First Edition, 1988, ISBN 9780226476926 p.73
- ↑ Bertrand Russell, “The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism,” (London, 1920), pp. 5, 114-115
- ↑ Nobel Lecture, The Nobel Prize in Literature 1950
- ↑ The History of Western Philosophy, Book Two, Part 2, Chapter X: Mohammedan Culture
- ↑ Why men fight: a Method of Abolishing the International Duel.
- ↑ Jeff Poor, "Bill Maher: Comparing violence of Islam to Christianity ‘liberal bullsh*t’ [VIDEO"], The Daily Caller, April 20, 2013 (archived), http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/20/bill-maher-violence-islam-christianity-liberal-bullshit/.
- ↑ Steven Nelson - Maher tells Rep. Ellison the Quran is a ‘hate-filled holy book’ that inspires terrorism - The Daily Caller, March 12, 2011
- ↑ Maher: Islam Only Religion That "Kills You When You Disagree With Them" - Real Clear Politics, April 8, 2011
- ↑ Bill Maher On Islam and the South Park "Muhammad Bear Suit" Controversy. Broadcast on: April 30, 2010.
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 Tim Reid - ‘Islam is violent’ says President Obama’s new pastor Carey Cash - The Times, October 15, 2009
- ↑ Carl Gustav Jung, "Symbolic Life: Miscellaneous Writings (Volume 18 of The Collected Works of C. G. Jung)," Routledge, 1977, ISBN 9780710082916 p. 639
- ↑ Charles-Louis de Secondat, "Spirit of the Laws", Book XXIV, Chapter IV (1748)
- ↑ Christopher Hitchens - god is not Great (2007)
- ↑ Free Inquiry Magazine, Volume 21, Number 4
- ↑ Christopher Hitchens - Free Exercise of Religion? No, Thanks. - Slate Magazine, September 6, 2010
- ↑ The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Canto XXVIII
- ↑ David Cook, "Understanding Jihad", University of California Press, p. 163, ISBN 978-0-520-93187-9, 2005 (archived), http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppjtw.
- ↑ David Cook, "Understanding Jihad", University of California Press, pp. 165-6, ISBN 978-0-520-93187-9, 2005 (archived), http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppjtw.
- ↑ David Cook, "Understanding Jihad", University of California Press, p. 164, ISBN 978-0-520-93187-9, 2005 (archived), http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppjtw.
- ↑ David Hume, Of the Standard of Taste, 1760
- ↑ The Arabs in History, Lewis, p.45-46
- ↑ David S. Margoliouth - Mohammed and the Rise of Islam - Cosimo Classics, December 1, 2010, ISBN 9781616405038
- ↑ Dayanand Saraswati, “The religion of Moslems,” Ch. 14 of 'The Light of Truth', Published by Sarvadeshik Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, 3/5, Maharishi Dayanand Bhawan, Ramlila Ground New Delhi – 110002.
- ↑ Doctrina Jacobi V.16, 209. page 57
- ↑ Edward A. Freeman, "The History And Conquests of the Saracens", Kessinger Publishing Co (2004), ISBN 9781417948291, pp. 246-247
- ↑ 50.0 50.1 Edward Gibbon, [1788], Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5, Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants. Part IV.
- ↑ Edward Gibbon, [1788], Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 9, Footnote 175
- ↑ E. W. Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon (London, 1865), Book I Part II, Jizya, p. 422.
- ↑ Emeka Ojukwu, The Principles of the Biafran Revolution
- ↑ Writers, Artists Describe State of the Union - Talk of the Nation (NPR), January 24, 2007
- ↑ Joshua Zader - NPR Interview with 300’s Frank Miller - The Atlasphere, March 10, 2007
- ↑ Frank Zappa, Peter Occhiogrosso, "The Real Frank Zappa Book", Touchstone Books, ISBN 0-671-70572-5, First Touchstone Edition 1999 (archived), http://pierroule.com/ZappaRealBook/TheRFZBook.htm.
- ↑ Gene Simmons calls Muslims 'vile' - YNet News, May 18, 2013
- ↑ Letter to the Reverend Ensor Walters (1933), as quoted in "Bernard Shaw : Collected Letters, 1926-1950" (1988) by Dan H. Laurence, p. 305
- ↑ General George S. Patton: The War as I Knew it, 1974, p.49
- ↑ G. H. Bousquet, "Islamic Law and Customary Law in French North Africa," Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law (1950): 65. Fiqh
- ↑ G. K. Chesterton, "Kitchener", (1917) p. 8
- ↑ Haran Gawaita and the Baptism of Hibil-Ziwa: The Mandaic Text Reproduced Together with Translation, Notes, and Commentary by E. S. Drower (Citta del Vaticano, 1953).
- ↑ Jacques Ellul, forward to Les Chrestientes d'Orient entre Jihad et Dhimmitude. VIIe-XXe siecle (1991); English translation in the preface to Bat Ye'or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam (Cranbury, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996), pp. 18-19.
- ↑ Webmaster Masters the Elusive Indian Porn Niche - YNOT, December 2nd, 2004
- ↑ John Adams Library (Boston Public Library) BRL; Du Ryer, André, ca. 1580-ca. 1660, tr; Adams, John, 1735-1826, former owner, "The Koran : commonly called the Alcoran of Mahomet (1806)," Springfield [Mass.] : Printed by Henry Brewer, for Isaiah Thomas, Jun.
- ↑ John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Book II, Chapter VI)
- ↑ John Newman, "Islam in the Kālacakra Tantra", Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 21, No. 2, 1998
- ↑ “Unsigned essays dealing with the Russo-Turkish War, and on Greece, written while JQA was in retirement, before his election to Congress in 1830” [Chapters X-XIV (pp. 267-402) in The American Annual Register for 1827-28-29. New York, 1830.]
- ↑ “Unsigned essays dealing with the Russo-Turkish War, and on Greece, written while JQA was in retirement, before his election to Congress in 1830” [Chapters X-XIV (pp. 267-402) in The American Annual Register for 1827-28-29. New York, 1830.] p. 269
- ↑ “Unsigned essays dealing with the Russo-Turkish War, and on Greece, written while JQA was in retirement, before his election to Congress in 1830” [Chapters X-XIV (pp. 267-402) in The American Annual Register for 1827-28-29. New York, 1830.] p. 274-275
- ↑ “Unsigned essays dealing with the Russo-Turkish War, and on Greece, written while JQA was in retirement, before his election to Congress in 1830” [Chapters X-XIV (pp. 267-402) in The American Annual Register for 1827-28-29. New York, 1830.] p. 276
- ↑ “Unsigned essays dealing with the Russo-Turkish War, and on Greece, written while JQA was in retirement, before his election to Congress in 1830” [Chapters X-XIV (pp. 267-402) in The American Annual Register for 1827-28-29. New York, 1830.] p. 299-300
- ↑ “Unsigned essays dealing with the Russo-Turkish War, and on Greece, written while JQA was in retirement, before his election to Congress in 1830” [Chapters X-XIV (pp. 267-402) in The American Annual Register for 1827-28-29. New York, 1830.] p. 278
- ↑ “Unsigned essays dealing with the Russo-Turkish War, and on Greece, written while JQA was in retirement, before his election to Congress in 1830” [Chapters X-XIV (pp. 267-402) in The American Annual Register for 1827-28-29. New York, 1830.] p. 301
- ↑ John Wesley, "The Doctrine of Original Sin", (1817). p.35
- ↑ The Fall of Antichrist (1829), Part VII, page 395, New York, Published by S. Converse
- ↑ Louis Betrand and Sir Charles Petrie, The History of Spain (2nd ed. London, 1945), p. 160
- ↑ Norman Roth. Jews, Visigoths, and Muslims in Medieval Spain: Cooperation and Conflict, BRILL, 1994, p. 218.
- ↑ Maimonides, “Letter to Yemen” 1:4.
- ↑ Manuel II Palaiologos/ Pope Benedict XVI controversy - Wikipedia
- ↑ Twain, Mark - Christian Science: Book I. Chapter V
- ↑ Michael Cook, "How and Why Muhammad Made a Difference", Pew Research Center, May 22, 2006 (archived), http://www.pewforum.org/2006/05/22/how-and-why-muhammad-made-a-difference/.
- ↑ Michael H. Hart - The 100: A Ranking Of The Most Influential Persons In History - Citadel; Revised edition, 2000, ISBN 9780806513508
- ↑ Andrew Higgins - Professor Hired for Outreach to Muslims Delivers a Jolt - Wall Street Journal, November 15, 2008
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- ↑ Yurttaslik Bilgileri, Yenigun Haber Ajansi (1997 edition) p. 18
- ↑ Harold Courtenay Armstrong (1932). Grey Wolf: Mustafa Kemal – An intimate study of a dictator , pp. 199-200.
- ↑ letter to Corinne Lütfü, from the Gallipoli peninsula (20 July 1917) as translated in Atatürk: The Biography of the founder of Modern Turkey (2002) by Andrew Mango
- ↑ Omar Khayyám, Rubaiyat (1048–1123), translation by Richard Le Gallienne
- ↑ 90.0 90.1 From "A Sermon for the West" By Oriana Fallaci - Oct. 22, 2002 Address to an audience at the American Enterprise Institute
- ↑ 91.0 91.1 Oriana Fallaci - The Rage and the Pride - Universe Publishing; Intl edition, 2002, ISBN 9780847825998
- ↑ Nick Gillespie - Love and Memory and Humanity: Magician and novelist Penn Jillette on censorship, sock monkeys, and Bullshit! - Reason.com, December 2004
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- ↑ Interview of Rabindranath, "Through Indian Eyes on the Post Khilafat Hindu Muslim Riots", Times of India, April 18, 1924
- ↑ Richard Dawkins on Islam (video)
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- ↑ Hugo Gye - Dawkins attacks 'alien rubbish' taught in Muslim faith schools - Mail Online, October 8, 2011
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- ↑ Islam: I don't like the word Islamophobia, Rushdie - ANSAmed, October 2, 2012
- ↑ Independent (London, 18 February 1989), quoted from The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations
- ↑ Salomon Reinach, Orpheus: A History of Religions, (1909)
- ↑ Sam Harris - Bombing Our Illusions - The Huffington Post, October 10, 2005
- ↑ Honesty: The Muslim World’s Scarcest Resource? - SamHarris.com, accessed March 1, 2012
- ↑ Sam Harris - The Myth of Secular Moral Chaos - The Council for Secular Humanism
- ↑ Sam Harris - What Obama Got Wrong About the Mosque - The Daily Beast, August 13, 2010
- ↑ Eklat um Sibel Kekilli in Berlin - Der Tagesspiegel, December 4, 2006
- ↑ Marac. Vita Mahometis, p. 23.
- ↑ Abulfeda says he was called Al Amin, “the faithful one,” when he was young.
- ↑ Simon Ockley. The History of the Saracens (Life of Mohammed, Part I). 6th Edition. London: Henry G. Bohn. 1857
- ↑ Vryonis, Speros Jr. “Nomadization and Islamization in Asia Minor”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 29, 1975, pp. 50-51
- ↑ ‘Islamicism’ Canada’s Biggest Threat: PM - OnIslam, September 7, 2011
- ↑ Harper says 'Islamicism' biggest threat to Canada - CBC News, September 6, 2011
- ↑ Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) Biography: Impact and Legacy - The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, January 19, 2005
- ↑ Legacy/ Theodore Roosevelt - AmericanExperience
- ↑ Fear God and Take Your Own Part (1916) p. 70
- ↑ Nöldeke, Theodor. "The Qur'an," Sketches from Eastern History. Trans. J.S. Black. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1892.
- ↑ Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles (13th cent). Book 1, Ch. 6.4
- ↑ Thomas Carlyle, "On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History", pg. 64-67
- ↑ Christopher Hitchens - Jefferson's Quran: What the founder really thought about Islam - January 9, 2007
- ↑ Hitchens: What Jefferson Really Thought About Islam - Little Green Footballs, January 9, 2007
- ↑ Tony Blair, "The Trouble Within Islam", Project Syndicate, June 10, 2013 (archived), http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/lee-rigby-and-the-struggle-to-contain-violent-islamists-by-tony-blair.
- ↑ 124.0 124.1 124.2 Perinçek, Ş., "Turan Dursun Hayatını Anlatıyor", Kaynak Yayınları
- ↑ Gazeteci Dursun Öldürüldü - Milliyet, September 5, 1990
- ↑ (Fulcher of Chartres: Gesta Francorum Jerusalem Expugnantium) Bongars, Gesta Dei per Francos, 1, pp. 382 f., trans in Oliver J. Thatcher, and Edgar Holmes McNeal, eds., A Source Book for Medieval History, (New York: Scribners, 1905), 513-17
- ↑ François-Marie Arouet, Lettera a Federico II di Prussia, dicembre 1740, riferendosi a Maometto
- ↑ François-Marie Arouet, Letter to Benedict XIV, scritta a Parigi il 17 agosto 1745
- ↑ Will Durant, "The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage", p. 459.
- ↑ Gladstone's thinking towards Islam - BBC News (audio from Radio 2), January 23, 2009
- ↑ From an uncut video interview with Prof. William Hay, conducted by TheRationalizer in Munich, Germany. William Hay - This is the truth UNCUT (What scientists really think of the Quran) - November 21, 2011
- ↑ Carole Hillenbrand - Professor W. Montgomery - The Independent
- ↑ 133.0 133.1 133.2 W. Montgomery Watt - Muhammad At Medina - pp. 323, 284, 325, Oxford At The Clarendon Press, 1977, ISBN 9780195773071
- ↑ W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Mecca, P. 103, Oxford at Clarendon Press, 1968
- ↑ William Muir, The Life of Mahomet, vol. 4, 1861, p. 322
- ↑ (Taken from the Rede Lecture he delivered at Cambridge in 1881) Asia. 2d ed., rev. and corrected. Published 1909 by E. Stanford in London. Page 458
- ↑ Sir Winston Churchill: The Greatest of Them All - BBC, archived on September 24, 2003
- ↑ Winston Churchill, The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248 50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899)
- ↑ Quotation of the Decade? - The Churchill Centre
- ↑ The River War - An Account Of The Reconquest Of The Sudan (1902), By Winston S . Churchill - Full indexed link
- ↑ Winston Churchill - The Story of the Malakand Field Force - Longmans Colonial Library, 1897
- ↑ Richard Langworth (Editor) - Churchill by Himself: The Definitive Collection of Quotations (pp. 463-4) - PublicAffairs, 2008, ISBN 1586486381
- ↑ Winston S. Churchill speaking at the John Locke Foundation's 16th anniversary dinner in Raleigh, North Carolina, on February 10, 2006 (full transcript).
- ↑ Duncan Gardham - Mutallab: Again Soyinka Blames UK For Breeding Terrorists - TheWill, February 2, 2010
- ↑ James Meikle - England is 'cesspit' breeding Islamists, says Soyinka - The Guardian, February 2, 2010