Global InformationList of critics of Islam information
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Criticism of Islam has existed since its formative stages. Early written disapproval came from Jews[1][2][3][4] and Christians,[5][6][7][8][9] before the ninth century, many of whom viewed Islam as a radical Christian heresy,[6][7][8][9] as well as by some former Muslim atheists and agnostics, such as Ibn al-Rawandi.[5] The September 11 attacks and other terrorist attacks in the early 21st century, reignited suspicion and criticism of all of Islam, with calls for moderates to condemn the terrorism of the fundamnatalists and help prevent radicilsation and islamophobia.[10]
Objects of criticism include the morality and authenticity of the Quran and the Hadiths,[11] along with the life of Muhammad, both in his public and personal life.[12][13] Other criticism concerns many aspects of human rights in the Islamic world (in both historical and present-day societies), including slavery,[14][15][16][17] treatment of women, LGBT groups, and religious and ethnic minorities in Islamic law and practice.[18][19] The issues when debating and questioning Islam are incredibly complex with each side having a different view on the morality, meaning, interpretation, and authenticity of each topic.
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The Jews [...] could not let pass unchallenged the way in which the Koran appropriated Biblical accounts and personages; for instance, its making Abraham an Arab and the founder of the Ka'bah at Mecca. The prophet, who looked upon every evident correction of his gospel as an attack upon his own reputation, brooked no contradiction, and unhesitatingly threw down the gauntlet to the Jews. Numerous passages in the Koran show how he gradually went from slight thrusts to malicious vituperations and brutal attacks on the customs and beliefs of the Jews. When they justified themselves by referring to the Bible, Mohammed, who had taken nothing therefrom at first hand, accused them of intentionally concealing its true meaning or of entirely misunderstanding it, and taunted them with being "asses who carry books" (sura lxii. 5). The increasing bitterness of this vituperation, which was similarly directed against the less numerous Christians of Medina, indicated that in time Mohammed would not hesitate to proceed to actual hostilities. The outbreak of the latter was deferred by the fact that the hatred of the prophet was turned more forcibly in another direction, namely, against the people of Mecca, whose earlier refusal of Islam and whose attitude toward the community appeared to him at Medina as a personal insult which constituted a sufficient cause for war.
— "Mohammed" (1906), Jewish Encyclopedia, Kopelman Foundation. - ^ Stillman, Norman A. (1979). The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book. Jewish Publication Society. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-8276-0198-7.
- ^ Ibn Warraq, Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism, p. 255.
- ^ Andrew G. Bostom, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, p. 21.
- ^ a b John of Damascus, De Haeresibus. See Migne, Patrologia Graeca, Vol. 94, 1864, cols 763–73. An English translation by the Reverend John W. Voorhis appeared in The Moslem World, October 1954, pp. 392–98.
- ^ a b Buhl, F.; Welch, A.T. (1993). "Muḥammad". Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. 7 (2nd ed.), Brill. pp. 360–376, ISBN 90-04-09419-9.
- ^ a b Goddard, Hugh (2000). "The First Age of Christian-Muslim Interaction (c. 830/215)". A History of Christian-Muslim Relations. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 34–41. ISBN 1-56663-340-0.
- ^ a b Quinn, Frederick (2008). "The Prophet as Antichrist and Arab Lucifer (Early Times to 1600)". The Sum of All Heresies: The Image of Islam in Western Thought. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 17–54. ISBN 978-0-19-532563-8.
- ^ a b Curtis, Michael (2009). Orientalism and Islam: European Thinkers on Oriental Despotism in the Middle East and India. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-521-76725-5.
- ^ Akyol, Mustafa (13 January 2015). "Islam's Problem With Blasphemy". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
- ^ Kohler, Kaufmann; McDonald, Duncan B. (1906). "Bible in Mohammedan Literature". Jewish Encyclopedia. Kopelman Foundation. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- ^ Oussani, Gabriel (1914). "Mohammed and Mohammedanism". Catholic Encyclopedia. New Advent. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- ^ Warraq, Ibn (2000). The Quest for the Historical Muhammad. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 103. ISBN 1-57392-787-2.
- ^ Gordon, Murray (1989). "The Attitude of Islam Toward Slavery". Slavery in the Arab World. New York: New Amsterdam Books. pp. 18-47. ISBN 0-941533-30-1.
- ^ Levy, Reuben (2000). "Slavery in Islam". The Social Structure of Islam. NY: Routledge. pp. 73–90. ISBN 0-415-20910-2.
- ^ Willis, John Ralph, ed. (2013). Slaves and Slavery in Muslim Africa: Islam and the Ideology of Enslavement. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge. pp. vii–xi, 3–26. ISBN 978-0-714-63142-4.; Willis, John Ralph, ed. (1985). Slaves and Slavery in Muslim Africa: The Servile Estate. Vol. 2. New York: Routledge. pp. vii–xi. ISBN 0-7146-3201-5.
- ^ See also History of slavery in the Muslim world, Arab slave trade, Slavery in the Ottoman Empire, and Slavery in 21st-century Islamism.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia".
- ^ Timothy Garton Ash (2006-10-05). "Islam in Europe". The New York Review of Books.