Just finished a book called The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades by Robert Spencer. I guess professing such a thing in the title allows one to say anything in the book, meaning, if you don’t want your feelings hurt, don’t read the book. The book isn’t kind to the Muslim faith, basically saying that the only people that are safe are those that subscribe to the teachings of Muhammad, acknowledging him as the only prophet of god. The biggest threat to liberty in the non-muslim world are the ‘PC myths’ prevalent in society today. Politically correct advocates are downplaying the threat in an effort to win over moderate Muslims in the world. The author claims this only allows Muslims greater freedom to spread their faith, which teaches violent antagonism to all but true Muslims.

He cites several events to support his views, one of which was the murder of a filmmaker in Amsterdam last year. A radical Islamist shot him in broad daylight seven times, slit his throat, and pinned a note containing verses from the Quran to his chest with knives. The author says the saddest part of the whole affair was not the denouncement of the killing, but the denouncement of the spate of anti-Muslim attacks that followed in the country.

Another aspect of Islam the author addresses frequently is the tribute paid to the Muslim state by non-Muslims. He calls this tribute dimee, which is phonetically correct, but I’m unsure of the spelling because I listened to the audio version. I found a website which calls the tribute Jizyah. Anyway, the tribute is paid by all non-Muslims. According to the author, when Islam is brought to a society, the inhabitants have only three choices. Convert to Islam, pay the tribute and take their religious practices behind closed doors, or die. These are the only choices people have when confronted with Islamic rule.

In relation to the crusades, the author proposes that the crusades was not a failure, as most would believe, or have been taught. He says the crusades were successful in the long run, in that they held the Jihad in check at a crucial moment in history.

There are lots of inequities throughout Muslim law according to the author, but the main theme is that non-Muslims should wake up and recognize the dangers that Jihad presents the rest of the world. In his view the Jihad never really ended, and of course anyone can cite numerous incidents in the recent past that would bear this out, not the least of which are the attacks in 2001 where Muslims used jetliners to carry out attacks on American soil. It is all very interesting, and one could spend hours reading viewpoints on how the current political makeup and oil reserves of the world play their part in the whole mess.