Dakota Beacon

As an undergraduate in college, I took part in a School-to-Work project for one of my professors. He assigned a bibliographic essay on a particular topic. A bibliographic essay is a type of academic writing that analyzes and evaluates the existing literature on a specific topic. Instead of arguing a new idea, a bibliographic essay maps out what scholars have already written. What follows is a greatly modified bibliographic essay of books in my library on the topic of Islam.

A person should not judge a book by its cover, but one certainly can come to an opinion by judging the author and publisher. Some authors are true scholars. Some publishers will not print junk.

Any discussion of Islam must revolve around “The Koran” or “The Quran”. I have two editions.

  -- Ahamed, Dr./professor, Syed Vickar. (trans.) “The Quran: English Translation of the Message.” Lombard, IL: The Book of Signs Foundation, 2006.

  -- Dawood, N. J. (trans.) “The Koran.” London, England: Penguin Classics, 2014.

More about the Koran below. Begin with a few observations by authors you might know. Writer John Derbyshire: “wrist-slittingly boring.” Historian Edward Gibbon: an “endless incoherent rhapsody of fable and precept.” Essayist Thomas Carlyle: “as toilsome reading as I ever undertook; a wearisome, confused jumble, crude, incondite.”

I have several volumes by Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, a website produced by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He has led seminars on Islam and jihad for the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, United States Central Command, and other intelligence and military groups. His books have been published by Regnery Publishing (Washington, DC). Spencer lives in a secure, undisclosed location in the United States.

  -- “The Politically Incorrect Guide to ISLAM (and the Crusades).” 2005. The Muslim persecution of Christians has continued for 13 centuries – and still goes on. “The basis of the Islamic attitude towards unbelievers is the law of war; they must be either converted or subjugated or killed.”

  -- “The Complete Infidel’s Guide to the Koran.” 2009. Critics of Islamic supremacy are accused of taking quotes from the Koran out of context. Oddly, much of the Koran has no context to begin with. As Spencer states, “…there is little or no narrative unity…The text moves from topic to topic with scant regard for…continuity. Many verses appear as abstract maxims…without regard to any particular situation.” The Koran has plagiarized portions of the Old Testament. Furthermore, the Koran must only be read in Arabic. Since most of the world’s population does not read Arabic, only an Imam trained in the language may interpret the scripture. What he says stands.

  -- “The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran.” 2016. Or what may be left of Iran. Spencer’s book became seriously outdated with the advent of the US “Epic Fury”. But it still serves as a good history.

  -- “The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Free Speech (and Its Enemies).” 2017. Aggressive Muslims and appeasers mounted a campaign against our constitutional rights. Islamic teachings make criticism of Islam punishable by death. Blasphemy laws in Muslim countries are used as a pretext for arresting and lynching Christians. European “hate speech” laws are used to prosecute and harass critics of Islam.

  -- “The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion.” 2019. Spence details Muhammad’s development from preacher to political and military leader who expanded his rule by force of arms, promising his warriors luridly physical delights in Paradise if they were killed in his cause. He also discusses Muhammad’s convenient “revelations”; his own licentiousness; his joy in brutal murders of enemies; and his marching orders to convert non-Muslims to Islam – or force them to live as inferiors under Islamic rule.

Here are references by authors other than Robert Spencer.

  -- Kilpatrick, William. “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Jihad (Brought to You by the Religion of Um, Peace).” Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2016. Espouse truths from Kilpatrick’s book and you will not likely be invited to your church’s interfaith outreach program.

  -- Bostom, MD, Andrew G. (ed.) “The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims.” Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2005. This extensive compilation includes Muslim theological juridical texts, eyewitness accounts by Muslim and non-Muslim chroniclers, and essays by scholars analyzing militaristic jihad and the ruling conditions imposed upon the non-Muslim peoples conquered.

  -- Bostom, MD, Andrew G. “Sharia versus Freedom: The Legacy of Islamic Totalitarianism.” Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2012. Boston urges the public and media to take heed of the incompatibility of sharia with modern, Western-derived concepts of universal human rights.

Unfortunately, space does not allow lengthier discussion. A collection of travelogues, however, offers an interesting history of the interface between the West and Islam. Books such as Marco Polo’s “Travels” is interesting but sometimes farfetched. In 1981 V.S. Naipaul wrote “Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey”. He takes the reader into four countries (Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia) and their process of “Islamization”. Bernard Lewis writes prolifically on Middle Eastern topics. One of his better-known works is “What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response,” 2002. These books will satisfy the curious mind.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).