Islam Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims

'Exposing Islam from the Inside Out': M A Khan in Interview

 
Frontpage Interview’s guest today is M. A. Khan, author of the new book Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism and Slavery. In November 2005, he started the Islam-watch.org website, which is emerging as a leading ex-Muslim initiative for the enlightenment of Muslims.


FP: M. A. Khan, welcome to Frontpage Interview. Let’s begin with your own personal journey. Tell us where you were born and your early life as a Muslim.

Khan: Thank you Jamie; I am delighted to be here.

I was born and brought up in a conservative Muslim society. Having completed my university studies in India, I moved to the West.

I, however, grew up with a liberal outlook. In my school and university days, my closest friends were Hindus and Sikhs, who were more liberal, easy-going and humble with fewer religious scruples. I had wholly given up religious rituals by the time I completed my university studies: they just didn’t attract me.

At the time of the tragic 9/11 attacks, I had lived in a liberal society for over a decade. I had become convinced that religious rituals—prayers, fasting, pilgrimage—were all meaningless. I should be rewarded, I felt, for working hard, working intelligently, not for blindly following some rituals, which bear no good to anybody. Islam had very little to do with my life, except that I was part of the Muslim society. I consumed haraam (prohibited) foods, drank alcohol in moderation, shocking my Muslim peers.

Although I was this much liberal, let me be honest with you that I was not excluded from those Muslims who felt that the 9/11 attacks were justified. I, however, felt that those perished in the attacks were innocent; they didn’t deserve it.
 

FP: Why did you think that the U.S. deserved it?

Khan: It would surprise everybody that someone, whose life was little influenced by Islam, can feel this way. Why is it so? It is because Muslim societies universally portray America as a mortal enemy of Islam, particularly for its stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The picture painted is that America’s support for Israel causes terrible oppression and untold sufferings to Palestinian Muslims. So, in the eyes of many Muslims, the 9/11 attacks gave the unjust superpower a bloody nose.

You hear from the media that only a small percentage of Muslims, the radicalized ones, support the 9/11 attacks. I can assure you that an overwhelming majority of believing Muslims feel a sense of justification for the 9/11 attacks. However, very few of them will confess it, especially when Western media do the survey.

I was, undoubtedly, very liberal, despite my upbringing in Muslim society. Never read the sacred Islamic texts, I thought Islam was a rational and peaceful religion, glaringly disregarding all the horrible things Muslim were doing globally. I thought those terrorists, acting in the name of Islam, were misguided.
 

FP: So how did you begin to change?

Khan: Prompted by so much scrutiny of Islam after the 9/11 attacks, I slowly started reading Islam’s sacred texts—the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad’s traditions (Sunnah) and biographies. I was shocked. I had been told all my life that the Prophet Muhammad was the ideal human being: most merciful and just; that Islam is a religion of peace; and I believed it. But the Qur’an reads like a manifesto of open-ended war against non-Muslims and speaks of converting or subjugating them into horribly degraded dhimmi subjects.

In his prophetic career, especially during the critical last ten years, Prophet Muhammad was anything but peaceful, merciful and just. It was a depressing, torturous time lasting a couple of years. For a Muslim of whatsoever conviction, consciously leaving Islam is probably the most difficult thing. I made it. You may get a clear picture of my struggle from my testimony of leaving Islam.
 

FP: So tell us about your book.

Khan: I liberated myself from Islam after studying some of the canonical Islamic texts. But I couldn’t stop; my curiosity grew further. Over the past few years, I have done extensive research on Islamic theology, as well as history: from Prophet Muhammad to modern times. The more I read, the more I became shocked. It has been a harrowing tale of inhuman brutality of innocent people: forced conversion, brutal imperialism and devastating slavery. It’s a saga of great human tragedy and all these were perpetrated by Muslim invaders and rulers over the centuries in the name of Islamic holy war or Jihad, the foundational creed of Islam. This tragic tale is the subject of my new book.

Let me highlight the content of the book a little for the reader’s better understanding of what to expect. From the title, it becomes clear that it is about Jihad and its history, a common topic these days. But readers will find this book interesting and even essential for making a complete grasp of the issue, even if they have already read dozens of books on the subject.

What I have done is that I have tried to walk step-to-step with Prophet Muhammad. When people read this book, they will able to mirror how Muhammad, step by step, founded his creed. Most importantly, it will become transparent to them why Allah started showering down the commands for Jihad after 12 years of his prophetic mission had passed. It will become crystal-clear why Allah suddenly commanded Jihad at that juncture, what those commands were and what it entails for a Muslim to become a Jihadi.

There is much controversy and disagreements about the true nature of Jihad. This book will make it immediately clear to readers that Jihad is overridingly, if not absolutely, violent and inhuman by nature. This book also makes it thoroughly transparent that Jihad, in its violent form, is the foundation, the heart, of Islam as I assert: “Violent Jihad is the heart of Islam; without it, Islam would, most likely, have died a natural death in the seventh century itself” (p. 79).

I also demonstrate that Allah’s doctrine for Jihad entails three cardinal commands:

1) Forced conversion of non-Muslims, especially of idolaters (Hindus, Buddhists, Animists etc.),

2) Imperial expansion for the establishment of global Islamic rule, which involves humiliating subjugation of dhimmi subjects and their mindless exploitation, and

3) Slavery.

Each of these topics has been discussed in separate chapters, beginning with how Allah commanded these as part of Jihad; how Muhammad acted upon those commands to set forth ideal examples of them; and how Muslims perpetuated those ideal Jihadi actions over the centuries.

This book is packed with theological and historical information on all these topics from India to Central Asia, to the Middle East, to Africa, to Europe. It is filled with shocking, harrowing, tales. It also details how even the United States had to struggle with the enslavement of her ship-crews in North Africa, how they had to pay humiliating ransom, and how, as demands continued to rise, they bravely solved the issue with military actions. Therefore, people from all these regions will quickly be able to relate to the content and realize how horribly Islam had impacted the lives of their forefathers.
 

FP: What do you hope your book will achieve?

Khan: I consider myself a nontheistic humanist from a Muslim background; I believe in living in harmony with all around us, irrespective of creed, race or color. Unfortunately, Muslims have historically failed to do so; they continue to fail today. This fact will become glaringly clear to all, when they read this book.

My sincere hope is that Muslims, a community in which I have lived 35 years of my life (all family and friends continue to be Muslim), will be able to live in harmony with their non-Muslim neighbors with total human rights guaranteed for either party. Unfortunately, the treatment of non-Muslims in Islamic countries is less than honorable and getting worse. Once my Muslim brethren read this book, I feel, the whole reality of Islam upon their lives, upon their ancestors’ life and upon their future generations would become clear to them. And it will not be a pleasant one.

Obviously, most part of the world today is mired by the problem of Islamic Jihadism. Since the 9/11 attacks, there have been no less than 12,800 violent attacks by Muslim individuals, mobs and Jihadi groups around the globe. I would sincerely hope that my book help the world grasp the nature of the ongoing Jihadi problem and act accordingly to assuage this malaise. My target-readers, first and foremost, are Muslims. I firmly believe that this book will rouse a deep sense of remorse amongst Muslims concerning how horribly Islam impacted their ancestors’ life. They suffered shocking, heart-breaking, atrocities. Muslim societies are loaded with misinformation that Islam brought liberation from existing tyranny and oppression to their ancestors. They will find this notion totally groundless; instead, they will be convinced that Islam undoubtedly brought all these horrors to their forefathers.

Muslims also universally believe that their religion and society have always been free from the horrors of forced conversion, imperialism and slavery; there is no place, they claim, for such abominations in Islam. They believe that only Christians perpetrated such horrors around the world, from India to the Americas; they are vociferous in condemning the West over this. But after reading this book, they will realize that it is Muslims, who were the master of forced conversion, imperialism and slavery in the most shocking forms since Islam’s birth. The European Christians had also become the sustained victims of these Islamic brutalities for many centuries before they themselves embarked upon these practices. Muslims were, indeed, the masters to teach Europeans all these horrible things.
 

FP: You also touch on the Sufis and some myths about them.

Khan: This book will also shatter the most firmly established belief amongst Muslims as well as non-Muslims that Islam was propagated peacefully by Sufis and that force was never a part of the propagation of Islam particularly in Southeast Asia, and Central and East Africa. I have made it clear with solid documentation from authentic sources that Sufis were mostly violent Jihadis. Those, who engaged in conversion, did so through the instrument of violence. Some Sufis were peaceful, but they never played a significant role in conversion. Similarly, Islam’s spread in Southeast Asia was anything but peaceful. Legendary Muslim traveler and Sufi devotee Ibn Battutah records of brutal Jihadi excursion against non-Muslims in Samudra (Indonesia) in the 1340s. Southeast Asian Muslims would be shocked to find out how Islam was imposed upon their forefathers. Similar was the case in Central and East Africa.

On the whole, I hope this book will have significant humanizing impact upon Muslims. Indeed, if they read it carefully, it will become crystal-clear to them that Islam was created by Muhammad as an imperialist movement to conquer the world disguised as a religion, and that, at its core, it is fraudulent, brutal, inhuman and worthy of little respect. I feel that after reading this book, a majority of them would feel the urge of leaving this creed and become a peaceful part of humanity.
 

FP: And how about the book as it relates to non-Muslim readers?

Khan: This book is equally important, indeed more important, for non-Muslims. While realizing how horribly Islam had affected the lives of their forefathers (who suffered more), they will also realize that Islam is here not to leave them and their future generations alone.

This book will convinced them that Jihad, created as an eternal command of Allah, will undoubtedly remain that way for a long time to come. Jihad’s ultimate aim is to take over the world for instituting the Qur’an and prophetic traditions as the sole constitution and sources of law. Let me emphasize—which readers will readily understand upon reading this book—that Islam is most comfortably placed than ever to accomplish this ultimate goal. One only has to ponder the fact that just one man, Muhammad, took up Allah’s command of Jihad in 622 CE; and through all kinds of tricks, he convinced his rather unwilling 200 or so disciples (yes, they were unwilling; I have made it crystal-clear in the book) to take upon the profession.

And see the result: some 1.4 billion—about a quarter of the world-population—today are Muslims and growing fast. They are increasingly warming up to their sacred duty of Jihad, which Allah has made binding upon them (Quran 2:216). Just think about the outcome of a Jihadi charge, even if taken up by a small fraction of today’s Muslims, against non-Muslim humanity. Muslims are obviously showing increasing willingness to go the Jihadi way to finish off the 14-century-old battle of conquering the world.

However, even if they shun the violent way, they will do the same by demographic change. Muslims in Britain are growing ten times faster than the rest. At about 3.5% of the total population, a greater majority of British Muslims are in favor of establishing Sharia laws in the UK than those opposed to it. What will be the religious demographics in the UK, say in the year 2050, and what will be the law of the land? Sharia is horrible for non-Muslims as well as Muslim women; its criminal codes are barbaric: stoning, cutting of hands and feet and more.

Moreover, as soon as Muslims constitute a critical-mass of the population, there will most likely be a civil-war-like situation in Western countries. Indeed, such as situation is already active in Muslim dominated Paris suburbs; non-Muslims dare not enter Muslim ghettos in Sweden. Most of all, I urge my Western brethren to take a glance all over the Muslim world, which may become the scene in the heart of Europe before this century has passed.

This book must be read by all, Muslim or non-Muslim. This increasingly solidifying, and potentially devastating, Jihadi scourge is aggressively waged by Muslims; they can end it peacefully. If Muslims read this book, they will find little inspiration to fight for advancing Islam.

Non-Muslims must read this book to secure a peaceful, progressive and just society for their generation and their offspring’s. The fact is: Muslims rarely read books. And given the fact that, since the 9/11 attacks, Muslims have grown more hostile than conciliatory, more and more radical, shows that no solution will come from their side; they will only intensify the conflict.

Therefore, it will, undoubtedly, be the responsibility of non-Muslims to tackle the conflict and secure the future of their children and grandchildren; they are the ones who have most to lose. Leaders and politicians must read this book to grasp the depth of the precipitating Islamic troubles around the world and devise effective measures to tackle it.

Ordinary citizens must read this book to understand the same and pressurize their leaders to put effective measures in place to secure the liberal, tolerant and progressive future of the secular-democratic world. If not, a lasting dark-age will descend globally in a couple of generations.

Readers may have a look at the content as well as initial assessment of the book from readers, including some well-known authors and academics, here.

FP: M. A. Khan, thank you for joining Frontpage Interview.


MA Khan is the editor of islam-watch.org and the author of  Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism and Slavery.

Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism and Slavery -- by MA Khan

Purchase option: Paperback 17.95 | Kindle edition: $ 7.96 | E.Book: $ 6:00

Also available at your nearby bookstores. Look for cheaper offers on print editions at Barnes & Noble etc.

"I read your book and found it fascinating. It is one of those few books which everybody, Muslims and non-Muslims, must read."
--- Prof. Sami Alrabaa

"With this book, M A Khan joins the ranks of luminaries like Ibn Warraq, Ali Sina, Bat Yeor and Geert Wilders". -- Objective Reader, Amazon.com


Learn more here.


Name:     closed
Comment:

Comments Notes: Keep comments short. Our system cannot separate paragraphs. Comments must be relevant to the topic of the article. Irrelevant comments, materials, adds of other websites, pasting external articles etc. are not allowed. We may ban such nuisance posters.


Name: from : zak to mak...good one
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 03:35:39 -0500

Comment

from : zak to mak...good one


Name: Islamic Dilemma
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 03:50:55 -0500

Comment

I would say that it is the muslim world that needs unbiased information. If anything happens muslims always blame an US-Israeli conspiracy and never look for themselves. Even in Algeria newspapers print cartoons of blood-thirsty Israelis behind the civil war in Darfur. Muslims are blaming Mossad to be behind the recent attacks against Sri Lankan cricket players. While many westerners read many books about islam after the 9/11 attacks, it is the muslim world that is still living behind a veil of ignorance. They don't know anything and they don´t want to know anything. Their heads are like jars which had been filled up with islamic thinking-jam and now there is no space left for anything else. The book above, to conclude with, is needed for the muslim world. However, will it be ever available in Algeria or in Egypt?


Name: ISRALE AND PALESTINE...IF MUSLIMS HAD NOT PUSHED OUT JEWS IN THE FIRST PLACE THEN THERE WUD BE NO CONFLICT
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 05:33:41 -0500

Comment

ISRAEL AND PALESTINE...IF MUSLIMS HAD NOT PUSHED OUT JEWS IN THE FIRST PLACE THEN THERE WUD BE NO CONFLICT SO FAULT IF WITH ISLAM AND ITS BRAINLESS SLAVES. NO DOUBT JEWS R NO BETTER BUT FIRST STONE WAS THROWN BY MUSLIMS-PISSLIMS.


Name: sat-chit-ananda
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 05:40:48 -0500

Comment

Nice interview. The words of MA Khan are imbued with the strength that comes from Truth.


Name: Excesayces
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 06:33:40 -0500

Comment

Islamic rulers tried very hard during their rule but they miserably failed to convert all hindus and sikhs in 1000 years. now they are getting back what they did to others.


Name: antimod
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 11:00:51 -0500

Comment

Islam suffers from obesity and wants to skate on thin ice. Can anyone imagine the fate of such an action ? Just as obese individuals suffer from innumerable ailments so is islam. Its own weight will crush it, howsoever the followers may strive. Dipression is already setting in the minds of muslims and a good number of them are committing suicide in Malayasia.


Name:
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 12:31:38 -0500

Comment

Poor and sex-hungry hindutva perverts are jealous of 72 virgin myths! Their so many poor and impotent gods could not offer anything to them in their paradise! Although one of their gods Krishna used to possess more than 16,000 wives and young cowherd girls in his harem and yet he couldn’t even offer anything to his poor and sex-hungry devotees! They are so much sex-hungry that they may even go after their closed ones to quench their perverted thirst for sex!


Name: Pastor Eli James on Islam and Christianity
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 13:19:00 -0500

Comment

"There is no doubt that Islam is presently the liveliest religion on the planet. Christianity is in a terrible state of decline, thanks to the perfidious Jew. I look forward to the day when Christianity and Islam will resume their previously cordial relations." (Pastor Eli James)


Name: duh_swami
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 14:07:27 -0500

Comment

Congratulations Mr Khan, Frontpage does not interview just anyone...Here's hoping your book will sell a zillion copies...


Name:
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 14:13:53 -0500

Comment

The Quran teaches, contrary to the Christian blind belief, that Jesus was a human, and not God! The Quran teaches, contrary to the Christian blind belief, not to believe in trinity as Jesus never taught this kind of false doctrine. The Quran teaches, contrary to the Christian inhumane belief, that babies are born without sin. And so on. Therefore, Islam is the only religion that can hunt Christianity down and restore the true teachings of Jesus.


Name: balam
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 14:38:05 -0500

Comment

Comparing Christianity with Islam, If you wish to see God, you can see in the person of Jesus. If you want to see satan, you can see in the person of Mohammad. Can you prove if Jesus committed any sin and on the contrary, can you prove if Mohammad left any sin un-committed by him. That is the difference. Jesus is Devine and Mohammad is demonic. Study their lives dispassionately and you shall know the truth, which would set you free.


Name: ABC
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 19:33:47 -0500

Comment

Jesus was GOD THE WORD. Jesus was GOD. Christian very smart. ALL those people dont believe Jesus was GOD will remain as gentile and will go to hell.


Name: Final Solution is the only solution
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 20:58:30 -0500

Comment

It is Impossible to trust any Muslim- Current or former. Especially a self Proclaimed atheist Muslim with a Arabic Sounding name who still cannot find the Guts To reclaim his roots and revert back to the original faith of his forefathers. All Muslims Should Be Ghettoed and castrated for No Reproduction and in one generation this Disease will Be exterminated. What do you mean good Taliban or a Bad Taliban. What do you mean Radical Muslim and Moderate Muslim. Have You not seen the attack on Sri Lankan Cricket Team. How can that not be done without the Knowledge and Connivance and support of a Islamist Regime run By Moderate Islamists.


Name: jenn
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 22:58:56 -0500

Comment

muslims should expose themselves at the moon 5 times a day so that Allah can see how big their genitals are. LOL


Name: Yogesh Saxena
Date: Wednesday March 04, 2009
Time: 23:00:48 -0500

Comment

Editor: Dear Yogesh, please do not paste long articles here from elsewhere. This platform is only for discussing, commenting on, the article in question..


Name: PK
Date: Thursday March 05, 2009
Time: 05:06:05 -0500

Comment

I agree with what MA Khan says, i.e. His book will be useful for both Muslims and non-Muslims. Take the case of music sensation AR Rehnman. His misguided conversion to Islam ostensibly based on some visions of religious person calling for conversion in dream is wholly untrue. The point driven by MA Khan is exact. AR Rehman is converted by inspiration from Sufi Master and is in fact a worshipper at a Kaddapah tomb of Sufi saint. No prizes for guessing that monetary help would have been offered to a struggling artiste to give a fillip. In the case of AR Rehman, a true Muslim should not be practising Music, which as per Mo takes away man from Allah. Apart from force, threats of olden days, present day conversion to Islam happened for all wrong reasons, monetary inducements or even plain adultery. e.g., Chandramohan (Haryana Dy. CM) conversion to Islam as Chand Mohammed to escape from charges of adultery indulge in polygamy.. Really Islam is becoming refuge for scoundrels. Such books will expose Islam's true agenda and hope Muslims and non-Muslims are wise to this threat.


Name: Re: balam
Date: Thursday March 05, 2009
Time: 12:09:53 -0500

Comment

Your biblical Jesus was more than demonic. You are talking about the Quranic Jesus. Idiot!


Name: Concerning Jesus
Date: Thursday March 05, 2009
Time: 12:15:24 -0500

Comment

There are different ways to follow Jesus. Some Christians believe he is God, others that he was a divinely created or even simply a divinely appointed man. Christianity and Judaism are religions of absolute values; murder and deceit are always wrong. Christians are supposed to see everyone as a brother. The moral confusion and ugly attitudes that occur in Islam have no justification in Christianity.


Name: Archpagan (Hindutva Pervert)
Date: Tuesday March 10, 2009
Time: 05:41:56 -0500

Comment

After painful theologocal researches I learnt that Muslims narrowly missed the final messagage of Allah. Muhammad heard it on his death-bed but was too feeble to communicate to his follwers. It was " Houris prefer red-tipped p***s". Hindus learnt it through meditation. That is why Islam achieved less sucess in India.


 
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