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The Truth About Muhammad

• 2007 • 224 pages
4.31 out of 5 • View Ratings Details • 16 Ratings

As American and European leaders continue to assure us that true Islam is peaceful, and formulate foreign and domestic policy on that basis, it is more important today than ever before for non-Muslims to know exactly what Islam’s founder, Muhammad, actually did and taught. Now, in “The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion,” Robert Spencer provides a frank and accurate picture of the Muhammad that Muslims around the world revere: a warlord who preached violence, ordered the assassinations of his enemies, and used his “divine revelations” for his personal self-aggrandizement.

Spencer, author of the bestselling “Politically Incorrect Guide™ to Islam (and the Crusades)” and four other books on Islam and jihad, here works exclusively from the sources that Muslims themselves revere as most reliable for information about Muhammad. He explains why it matters so much today what Muhammad was like, and traces his tumultuous life in depth: from his first “revelation” from Allah (which filled him with terror that he was demon-possessed) to his deathbed (from which he called down curses upon Jews and Christians).

Spencer details Muhammad’s development from a preacher of hellfire and damnation into a military leader who commanded his followers to carry out surprise raids on his opponents, and who promised his warriors luridly physical delights in Paradise if they were killed in his cause. He shows how Muhammad’s faulty knowledge of Judaism and Christianity has influenced Islamic theology, and colored Muslim relations with Jews and Christians to this day. It’s all here: Muhammad’s multiple marriages (including one to a nine-year-old); his convenient “revelations” justifying his own licentiousness; his joy in the brutal murders of his enemies; and above all, his clear marching orders to his followers to convert non-Muslims to Islam or force them to live as inferiors under Islamic rule.

Spencer also shows how modern-day jihad terrorists frequently invoke Muhammad’s example to justify their bloodlust and exhort their followers to more violence. The true nature of Islam and the prospects for large-scale Islamic reform have important implications for host of issues – notably the prosecution of the war on terror; the democracy project in Iraq and Afghanistan; and immigration and border control. That’s what makes it crucial for policymakers and every citizen who loves freedom to read and ponder The Truth About Muhammad.

Meet the real Muhammad:

  • Muhammad’s bizarre reaction to his first “revelation”: “I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself”
  • The heretical Christian who convinced Muhammad he was a prophet – and may have taught him his erroneous views of Christianity
  • Islamic borrowings from Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism – and Muhammad’s enraged replies to charges that he borrowed material rather than received actual divine revelations
  • The “revelation” that allowed Muhammad to marry his beautiful daughter-in-law
  • The strange incident in Muhammad’s life that makes it virtually impossible to prove rape in Islamic countries today
  • The real “Satanic Verses” incident (not the Salman Rushdie version): how Muhammad’s attempt to win over his opponents ended with his saying he had been inspired not by God, but by Satan
  • How the Qur’an’s teaching on warfare against unbelievers developed – with constant war to establish the hegemony of Islamic law as the last stage
  • The first year of the Muslim calendar: not when Muhammad was born or became a prophet, but when he became a warlord
  • How Muhammad used the graphic lure of Islamic Paradise to urge his warriors to fight furiously to extend his rule
  • “Kill every Jew who comes into your power”: why Muhammad became so angry with both Jews and Christians – with disastrous consequences that are still playing out in the world today
  • The momentous command by Muhammad that led to good being identified with anything that benefited the Muslims, and evil with anything that harmed them –without reference to any larger moral standard
  • Muhammad’s child bride – and the terrible consequences his marriage to a nine-year-old still has in the Islamic world
  • “This is the caravan of the Quraysh possessing wealth. It is likely that Allah may give it to you as booty”: how Muhammad gave divine sanction to the Muslims’ bloody raids
  • “War is deceit”: the permission Muhammad gave his followers to lie in order to gain an advantage over their enemies
  • How Muhammad broke the principal treaty he entered into, again setting a pattern for Muslim states thereafter
  • Muhammad’s commands to his followers to wage perpetual war against non-Muslims, including Jews and Christians
  • Muhammad on women’s rights: women “are prisoners with you having no control of their persons”
  • “If justice is not to be found with me then where will you find it?” Why Muhammad still stands for Muslims as the supreme model for human behavior
  • “I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula, and will not leave any but Muslims” – and other statements by Muhammad that contemporary jihadists take very seriously
  • Islamic tolerance? The onerous tax burden and other discriminatory regulations mandated for non-Muslims under Islamic law
  • How Muhammad ordered the killing of apostates from Islam
  • The massacre of a Jewish tribe by Muhammad that was invoked by modern-day jihadists at the beginning of Israel’s July 2006 operations against Hizballah in Lebanon
  • “Embrace Islam, and your lives and property will be safe”: Muhammad’s threatening letters to the rulers of the lands around Arabia
  • Muhammad’s frequent avowals that the Muslims would overcome the empires bordering on Arabia and one day stand as masters of the world
  • “I have been made victorious with terror” – and other statements of Muhammad on his deathbed
  • Six steps that American leaders can and must take in order to protect our nation from Islamic jihad terrorism

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