The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades)

Robert Spencer

Aug 2005 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

"The courageous Robert Spencer busts myths and tells truths about jihadists that no one else will tell." —MICHELLE MALKIN

While many choose to simply blame the West for provoking terrorists, Robert Spencer’s new book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)™ reveals why it is time to ignore political correctness and identify the enemy - if we hope to ever defeat them.

In a fast-paced, politically incorrect tour of Islamic teachings and Crusades history, Spencer reveals the roots of Islamic violence and hatred. Spencer refutes the myths popularized by left-wing academics and Islamic apologists who justify their political agendas with contrived historical “facts.”

Exposing myth after myth, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)™ tackles Islam’s institutionalized mistreatment of non-Muslims, the stifling effect Islam has on science and free inquiry, the ghastly lure of Islam’s X-rated Paradise for suicide bombers and jihad terrorists, the brutal Islamic conquests of the Christian lands of the Middle East and North Africa, and more.

In The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)™, you will learn:

• How Muhammad did not teach “peace and tolerance”—instead he led armies and ordered the assassination of his enemies
• Why American Muslim groups and left-wing academics are engaged in a huge cover-up of Islamic doctrine and historyHow today’s jihad terrorists following the Qur’an’s command to make war on Jews and Christians have the same motives and goals as the Muslims who fought the Crusaders
• Why the Crusades were not acts of unprovoked aggression by Europe against the Islamic world, but a delayed response to centuries of Muslim aggression
• What must be done today—from reading the Qur’an to reclassifying Muslim organizations—in order to defeat jihad terrorists

Ratings and reviews

Spencer does a valuable service in an extremely partisan way - I was not interested in reading apologetics for Yahweh, but that's the large part of what I got. The factual contents of the book and the "narrow" conclusions they draw are interesting, and certainly do a good job of exposing some of the mindless rhetoric about Islam for what it is. Spencer's book falls flat in three major ways - his referencing isn't the best (for a topic as contested as this, I'd like to see a little more than 20 references per chapter), the structure is choppy and confusing with intrusive, tangential text boxes sometimes taking up whole pages, and the book transitions partway through from a criticism and exploration of Islam and the Crusades to a defence and promotion of Christianity. Spencer tries to spin it as "pro-Western Civilization", which would have been great, but it turns very much into "Go Jesus Go". "Opposing" quotes from the Bible and the Koran fill the margins throughout, but missing are quotes from moral philosophers, law books and history which would be more genuinely reflective of a what truly made Western Civilization great - secularism and empiricism. The book's saving grace are the frequent capsules listing "Books you aren't supposed to read" - historical texts, translations of Arabic literature and links to more scholarly criticisms of Islam and the Crusades. At best a good starting point on a more serious study of the subjects it touches on, with occasional glimmers of obvious and valuable rebuttals of some contemporary inaccuracies and talking points.

So reading "a good amount" of the book is enough to dismiss it as biased fear mongering. All the while, R. Spencer's extensive knowledge of the Coran, the Hadith, the Sira and of Muslim scholars is all rejected on the basis that he hasn't learned 7th century Arabic... Also, the Muslim scholars quoted extensively by Spencer, such as Ibn Kathir and Ibn Juzayy, are indeed pillars of Sunni Islam, contrary to what Mr. brettrobertsullivan deceivingly asserts. How fair ! With such standards, any critical analysis of any subject could be dismissed offhandedly. (Especially if we can throw some baseless ad hominem at the author.)

This book is a great 101 reader for understanding political Islam. Spencer's writings have been irrefutable and proven right in light of 1400+ years of Islamic territorial expansion and by daily occurences within and out of Islam's borders. His assertions and a near encyclopedic knowledge of Islamic texts leave his critics with little else than name calling.

About the author

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and an Adjunct Fellow with the Free Congress Foundation. He is the author of four books on Islam, including Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West.

His articles on Islam and other topics have appeared in the New York Post, the Washington Times, the Dallas Morning News, FrontPage Magazine.com, WorldNet Daily, Insight in the News, Human Events, National Review Online, and many other journals.

He has appeared on FOX News, CNN, PBS, and C-Span and numerous nationally syndicated radio shows, including Michael Savage’s Savage Nation, G. Gordon Liddy Show, Janet Parshall’s America, the Michael Reagan Show, and Vatican Radio discussing jihad, Islam, and terrorism.

Spencer has studied Islamic theology, law, and history for more than 20 years.