Respecting Islam
by Joseph S. Spoerl (November 2012)
At a conference in Beirut not so very many years ago, a European professor caused a great furor merely by quoting, purely as historical evidence and with no personal intent, some medieval Christian abuse of Muhammad. The matter became a diplomatic incident.[15]
[1] Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law, Nuh Ha Mim Keller, translator and editor, revised edition (Beltsville, MD: Amana Publications, 1994), pp. 652-3, 822, 846-851, 995.
[2] John L. Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path, third edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 17-9.
[5] www.islam-qa.com, question #88099.
[8] Al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller, p. 700.
[9] Sahih Bukhari, trans. M. Muhsin Khan, Volume 9, Book 89, Number 251, at http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/
[10] Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, p. 651.
[11] Annemarie Schimmel, And Muhammad Is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985), p. 25.
[12] Quoted in Annemarie Schimmel, And Muhammad Is His Messenger, p. 31.
[13] Maxime Rodinson, Muhammad, translator Anne Carter (New York: The New Press, 1980), p. 307.
[15] Rodinson, Muhammad, p. 307.
[16] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, pp. 267, 652, 684, and Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 7, Book 63, Nos. 195-6 and Vol. 8, Book 82, No. 825, and Sahih Muslim, Vol. 3, Book 17, Nos. 4205-6.
[19] Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 4, Book 52, No. 260, Vol. 5, Book 59, No. 632, Vol. 9, Book 83, No. 17.
[20] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, p. 515.
[21] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, pp. 664-5.
[22] Annemarie Schimmel, And Muhammad Is His Messenger, p. 26.
[23] Al-Misri, The Reliance of the Traveller, p. 825.
[24] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, pp. 363-4, 751 (expulsion of the Banu Qaynuqa), pp. 437-8 (expulsion of the Banu al-Nadir), pp. 461-6 (massacre and enslavement of the Banu Qurayza).
[25] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, pp. 523, 525, 689, and Sahih Muslim, Book 19, No. 4366.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61698.htm
[30] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, pp. 113, 191, 222, 243, 452, 454, 639, 658-9.
[33] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, pp. 464-6 (the case of the Banu Qurayza).
http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=31888&ln=eng, and the Hamas Covenant, The Middle East Media Research Institute, Special Dispatch No. 1092: http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP109206.
[35] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, p. 461.
[36] Sahih Muslim, Book 26, No. 5389.
[37] Ibn Kathir, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, pp. 406-7.
[41] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, pp. 498-9.
[42] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, p. 466.
[43] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, pp. 511, 514-516.
[44] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, p. 651.
[46] Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 1, Book 6, No. 301.
[47] Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 7, Book 62, Number 33.
[48] Al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller, p. 672.
[49] Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 4, Book 52, Number 250.
[51] Al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller, p. 538.
[52] Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, p. 792. Islamic law accordingly stipulates that a guardian may arrange the marriage of his prepubescent daughter without her consent: al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller, p. 522.
[53] Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 88, Number 219.
[54] Bernard Lewis, The Political Language of Islam (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), pp. 3-4.
[56] See e.g. The New York Times, August 24, 2006 and March 26, 2006.
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/01pr21.htm.
[59] See e.g. The New York Times, Sept. 30, 2006, and The Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2006.
[61] On the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia, see Carmen bin Ladin, Inside the Kingdom : My Life in Saudi Arabia (New York: Warner Books, 2004), and Jean P. Sasson, Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia (New York: Morrow, 1992). On restrictions on religious freedom and draconian punishments in Saudi Arabia, see United States Department of State, Saudi Arabia: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2005 (released March 8, 2006). http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61698.htm
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=34830&ln=eng See also questions ## 20214, 34647, 34770. This web site also teaches that anyone who insults Muhammad must be executed (#22809).
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=11575&ln=eng
[65] Not that Islam contains nothing true, but that some of the things Muslims are obliged to believe are false.
Joseph S. Spoerl is professor of philosophy at Saint Anselm College. To comment on this article, please click here. here.