Islam Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims

Review: “Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism, and Slavery”

If you want to learn about real Islam, read Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism, and Slavery by M.A. Khan. It is not a book that is based on “I think….” and “I believe …..” It is a documented book, backed by relevant Islam legacy, including the Koran and Hadith.
The author, Khan, is a typical case of a young Muslim who was taught that “Prophet Muhammad was the ideal human being: most merciful and just; that Islam is the most peaceful religion.”

After 9/11, Khan began reading the scriptures of Islam and realized that Islam is actually a “manifesto of open-ended war against non-Muslims for converting them or for subjugating them into horribly degraded dhimmi subjects.”

Khan also found out that the Muslim leader was “anything but what a peace-loving, merciful, and just person stands for.”

This is exactly the point and the biggest lesson we draw from Khan’s experience with Islam. Therefore, I always say that if Muslims read at least the Koran and Hadith, they would reach the same conclusion Khan came to.

More often than not, Muslims read the Koran and Hadith superficially and their belief in Islam blinds them from seeing the truth.

When you confront Muslims with all those numerous atrocious passages in the Koran and Hadith that preach hatred against non-Muslims, violence and discrimination against women and non-Muslims, either they say, “This what Allah wants us to do”, or they claim that the situation in non-Muslim societies, in particular in the West, is not better. Their belief is stronger than rationality. For some atrocious passages in the Koran, check out this article.

If hatred and violence were confined to Islamic scriptures without translating them into practice, one would say, “Oh, well, people are entitled to believe in whatever they wish.”

In Islam, however, this is not the case. The number of Muslims who believe in Sharia – an archaic “law” that contradicts lots of universal human right – and in introducing it in every society, including the West, is on the rise. To add insult to injury the number of Western apologists who loudly think of considering Sharia as a law next to the secular one is also rising.

Khan does not only narrate facts, historical and contemporary, he documents them. He says, “A poll 2006 found some 40% of British Muslims wanted to be governed by Sharia.” And “32% thought that killing was justified in defense of Islam.”

Kahn cites Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who “said in February 2008, “The introduction of Sharia Law in the UK was ‘unavoidable’ and urged the government to consider its legal introduction.”

In addition, Kahn documents the history of Jihad; its roots and nature as an Islamic “invention”, its development and current state of affairs.

“The only ( ……) group of Muslims who will (certainly) enter Paradise, bypassing the roasting of hellfire, are those who would die as martyrs while fighting in the cause of Allah, e.g. while engaging in Jihad or holy war {Quran 9/111).”

Under “Basic Beliefs in Islam,” Kahn discusses the Muslim claim that Islam is the last and best faith has Allah ever preached. Khan writes, “Allah Himself asserts in the Quran that He sent Islam to abrogate and replace all other religions.”

Khan comprehensively and exclusively focuses on Islam as a creed and practice. If I were him, I would have, once in a while, compared Islam to Judaism and Christianity, in particular with regard the “supremacy of Islam” over other faiths.

For example, while the Bible, the old and new testament, preaches love and positive human values, “Don’t kill!” “Don’t steal!” etc. Allah commands Muslims to follow his apostle, Muhammad, regardless how atrocious his deeds against his enemies are.

Islam, Khan shows very clearly, is the only religion in the history of mankind that used force to subjugate people from other faiths, during the rise of Islam and thereafter. Hence, it is a propagandistic myth when Muslim scholars allege that Islam “freed the oppressed.”

To prove that Islam is actually a travesty of Judaism and Christianity and other faiths at the time, Khan documents the influence of these religions on Muhammad’s new “faith,” which he and his followers fought so bitterly.

Besides, Khan proves that the so-called golden era – between the 7th and 13th century – of the Muslim Empire did not flourish due to Muslims’ contributions but to those of no-Muslims. “Muslim rulers found the Jews proficient in finance, the Greeks skilled in engineering, architecture and arts, and the Christians in law, medicine, education, and administration. They found it convenient and prudent to employ some of those infidels to continue in their respective professions. As a result, much of the contributions in early centuries of Islam, which Muslims consider as Islamic, came from the mind, toil, and sweat of the much despised non-Arab infidels.”

None of the Arab scholars who lived during the golden era stemmed from the Arabian Peninsula, the birth place of Islam. Ibn Khaldun was a North African and Ibn Rushd was an Andalucian (Spanish) Arab. Both were philosophers and were persecuted for advocating rationality in a bid to reform Islam.

Islamic Jihad is a valuable contribution to every public and private library, comprehensive and meticulously documented. It is a valuable guide to understanding Jihad, i.e. terrorism and the legacy that stands behind it. Further, it is a gripping read, written in a language which everybody understands. I strongly recommend it to both lay and specialized readers.


Dr. Sami Alrabaa, an ex-Muslim, is a sociology professor and an Arab/Muslim culture specialist. Before moving to Germany he taught at Kuwait University, King Saud University, and Michigan State University.