Blaming Islam

Why fears about Muslim integration into Western society—propagated opportunistically by some on the right—misread history and misunderstand multiculturalism. In the United States and in Europe, politicians, activists, and even some scholars argue that Islam is incompatible with Western values and that we put ourselves at risk if we believe that Muslim immigrants can integrate into our society. Norway's Anders Behring Breivik took this argument to its extreme and murderous conclusion in July 2011. Meanwhile in the United States, state legislatures' efforts to ban the practice of Islamic law, or sharia, are gathering steam—despite a notable lack of evidence that sharia poses any real threat. In Blaming Islam, John Bowen uncovers the myths about Islam and Muslim integration into Western society, with a focus on the histories, policy, and rhetoric associated with Muslim immigration in Europe, the British experiment with sharia law for Muslim domestic disputes, and the claims of European and American writers that Islam threatens the West. Most important, he shows how exaggerated fears about Muslims misread history, misunderstand multiculturalism's aims, and reveal the opportunism of right wing parties who draw populist support by blaming Islam.

Why fears about Muslim integration into Western society--propagated opportunistically by some on the right--misread history and misunderstand multiculturalism.

Why Blame Islam? is addressed to those non-Muslims who possess wrong notions about the teachings of Islam to the extent that Islam now stands demonized. Why Blame Islam? is an attempt to clear these notions and for non-Muslim to realize that Islam has parallelism with other religions. While, the critics-of-Islam have left no stone unturned to prove that Islam was, or is being, spread by the sword and have unleashed an anti-Islamic smear campaign; in Why Blame Islam? the author presents the reality of Islam. Muslims are condemned by "human rights" and "freedom of expression" activists because Muslims have pledged to uphold the sanctity of the Divine Law. Despite the barrage of criticism and degradation of Islam, the religion continues to grow. In fact, the rate of conversion of non-Muslims to Islam rose after 9/11.

Pointing to many evangelicals' unwillingness to acknowledge Islam's theological commonalities with Christianity and their continued portrayal of Islam as an "evil" and false religion, Kidd explains why Christians themselves are ironically to blame for the failure of evangelism in the Muslim world."

Why is the Muslim world so backward? Why are Muslims' lands extorted, their wealth grabbed, their blood cheaply spilled, and justice absent under the tyrants (the taghoots in Qur'anic terms) in the Muslim world? Why are the clerics so ignorant and ill-informed? Why do the masses cling so tightly to ignorance, yet brag of being a Muslim community? The solutions that are suggested for the crises seem to worsen them rather than resolve them. Those who have discussed the crises usually blame others for the strife: some blame the agony of the Muslim world on the West, on colonialism, and so forth. But there is no avoiding the fact that no nation is conquered by other nations until it has first brought down its self-destruction. Tyranny, for instance, does not emerge in a vacuum. So how does a tyrant enslave another human being, a whole nation, or several nations? For such questions, we seek answers in the Qur'an and the sayings of Jesus. This book's purpose is to bring people out of the present darkness, to show them a way out of the current chaos in which mankind is immersed, a chaos which engulfs and stifles human nature.

Indeed, many people have gravely misunderstood Islam and have attributed various affairs to it which are incorrect, blaming Islam for issues from which it is completely free. It is for this reason - oh reader - the book in your hands has been written, for the purpose of getting to the facts and presenting a correct image of Islam - the religion which terrorist groups and paid media channels strive to distort the image of. Herein, you will find fulfilling answers to various important questions and cases in light of the perspective of the perfectly balanced and fair of religion Islam - the same Islam which the final Messenger, Muhammad (may God's special blessing and peace be upon them), and his noble companions practiced and adhered to.

Islamophobia is an escalating problem worldwide, arising from a convergence of right-wing populism, xenophobia, and the normalization of anti-Muslim scapegoating. A must-read for anyone concerned with the erosion of human and civil rights, Global Islamophobia and the Rise of Populism is the first to tackle these complex phenomena on a worldwide scale through empirically supported analysis by internationally renowned scholars.

Philip Pilevsky argues that President Jimmy Carter's failure to support the Shah of Iran led to the 1979 revolution that legitimized and provided a base of operations for militant Islamists across the Middle East. Since the Khomeini revolution, radical Islamists have grown bolder in attacking the West and more sophisticated in their tactics. This historical progression can be traced to Carter's unwillingness to head off Iran's Islamic threat in its nascent stages.

In much of the Muslim world, religion is the central foundation upon which family, community, morality, and identity are built. The inextricable embedment of religion in Muslim culture has forced a new generation of non-believing Muslims to face the heavy costs of abandoning their parents’ religion: disowned by their families, marginalized from their communities, imprisoned, or even sentenced to death by their governments. Struggling to reconcile the Muslim society he was living in as a scientist and physician and the religion he was being raised in, Ali A. Rizvi eventually loses his faith. Discovering that he is not alone, he moves to North America and promises to use his new freedom of speech to represent the voices that are usually quashed before reaching the mainstream media—the Atheist Muslim. In The Atheist Muslim, we follow Rizvi as he finds himself caught between two narrative voices he cannot relate to: extreme Islam and anti-Muslim bigotry in a post-9/11 world. The Atheist Muslim recounts the journey that allows Rizvi to criticize Islam—as one should be able to criticize any set of ideas—without demonizing his entire people. Emotionally and intellectually compelling, his personal story outlines the challenges of modern Islam and the factors that could help lead it toward a substantive, progressive reformation.