A Critical Analysis Of 'what Is Islam'

A critical analysis of “What is Islam? (A comprehensive Introduction) Authored by Chris Horrie & Peter Chippindale” 1997 Virgin Books ISBN: 0352326360 261PB Even from a cursory glance at this book I couldn’t fail to see the gross factual errors and shoddy scholarship the book contains. The authors haven’t been successful in leaving their political and polemical baggage aside when

writing this book. There were better informed and less distorted accounts of Islam written by orientalists during the Victorian era, and that is saying something! Upon a full reading the following errors were discovered: P3: ‘There is no God but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’. Recitation of these two phrases in the presence of two witnesses is all that is required for conversion to Islam. (Two witnesses are not a legal requirement for conversion to Islam. In fact in the purest sense a person is a Muslim as soon as they recite the above statement and their heart confirms belief in what their tongue has uttered.) P4: “He brought the universe into being in an act of creation approximately 8,000 years ago and he will bring it to an end when He wills.” (The second part of the above sentence is correct while the first is absolutely incorrect. The above cannot be found in The Holy Quran or any authentic collection of the Prophet Muhammad’s (Peace & Blessings of Allah be upon Him) sayings. It is at best probably the personal view of some Greek Influenced Arab scholar, and definitely is not part of the Islamic Belief.) P4: “Allah’s final message to mankind was given to the Prophet Muhammad and has been set down in the Koran (Qur’an) which together with certain stories about the Life of Muhammad, dictates everything that a man should know and do in order to enter Paradise.” (This is an oversimplification of the subject matter of the Holy Qur’an. Stories of previous nations and Prophets vastly outnumber the verses relating to events that happened during the Prophet Muhammad’s (Peace & Blessings of Allah be upon Him) time.) P12: “Polytheism - in the shape of formal religions at least – remains as a major force only in the Hindu and Sikh religions of the Indian sub-continent.” (The above extract strengthened my view that the authors are non-specialist in the field they are writing about. Cleary their ignorance of religion extends to faiths other than Islam, as anyone with a basic knowledge of the main world religions, is aware that while Sikhism shares many cultural practices and has historical affinity with Hinduism it is essentially a monotheistic faith with followers believing in only one God.) P14: “The couple had only one surviving child, a daughter called Fatima who in later life became a fanatical Muslim.” (I’m not sure of what is implied by “fanatical” especially since such a term when used in a religious sense is essentially negative. The fact of the matter is that the Prophets daughter remained a devout Muslim throughout her short life.) P35: “qiyan” (The correct term is ‘qiyam’ I assume this to be a typographical error) P37: “Some Muslims , especially in Muslim minority countries like Britain, practice only a limited form of fasting by giving up something like smoking or eating rich foods.” (Although I don’t discount the probability of there being such Muslims, numbers probably range in the single figure. Ramadhan however is a totally different concept from the Christian Lent, and as such those who practice the above highly heterodox practice would be shunned by the Muslim community. Fasting is an obligation and one of the Pillars of Islam. Considering it unnecessary by practising the above, renders one outside Islam.)

P38: “Before leaving for Mecca pilgrims (hajji) pray almost continuously and perform extended versions of elaborate washing rituals (wudu) required before prayer.”

(By extended version I take it they means Ghusl which is a full bathing of the whole body. And of course there is nothing ‘elaborate’ about wudu which with a few additions, basically consists of what all hygienic peoples would perform first thing in the morning i.e. (washing the face, hands and feet, gargling the mouth and nose out, and smoothing the hair) P38: “Both men and women wear sandals rather than shoes and women in addition wear extra garments entirely covering their heads and face.” (If only the authors had bothered checking the consensus of Muslim scholars throughout the ages, as well as the current practice in Hajj, they would have realised that it is in fact forbidden for women to cover their faces with cloth whilst in a state of Ihram.) P43: “The Islamic calendar consists of 12 lunar months, totalling 364 days” (The Islamic calendar is in fact 354 days long, which is the average duration of a lunar year) P90: “In the late 1970’s a militant group split off to found an armed underground movement called Takfir wa’al Hijrah (The Excommunicated in Holy Flight)” (One wonders at the source of these fanciful translations of Arabic terms. The correct translation is (Excommunicate and Migrate) which is exactly the policy this group followed by firstly excommunicating as unbelievers the wider Muslim community and then performing a migration to form their own settlements. The basis for this ideology was the Prophet Muhammad’s Peace & Blessings of Allah be upon Him) leaving the unbelievers of Makkah to found his own community after migration to Madinah.) P119: “Apart from the occasional bouts of ‘Mahdi’ism (Colonel Qaddafi of Libya is the latest to be widely thought of as the Sunni Mahdi)” (A ludicrous statement, given the fact that the vast majority of Muslims outside Libya, consider Colonel Qaddafi to be a clown and highly unstable political leader. In fact the Saudi committee of religious has long since declared him to be an apostate due to highly unorthodox writing in his green book.) P141: “Al-Arabi’s theory, the ‘Unity of Being’ (wahdat al-wujud), maintained the universe was ruled by Allah, only in conjunction with mankind. Neither could exist without the other.” (Although Al-Arabi was and still is a controversial figure among Muslims due to his writings, the above is a misunderstanding of what is a highly complex theory. Anyone holding the above opinion is a disbeliever in Islam, as there is consensus in the Islamic creed that Allah is the necessary existent whose existence is not dependent on any other, while the creation, which is basically all other than Allah is dependent for their existence on Allah Almighty.) P223: “The Mountains remained outside Russian control until 1859, when the local leader of the order, Muhammad Sham’ail was captured and executed.” (The author’s ignorance of basic facts is not confined to Religious affairs, but extends to World History. The leader of the Chechen Resistance Imam Shamil was not captured and executed as per the fanciful statement above, but rather surrendered and lived a rather luxurious exile in St. Petersburg and later Kalouga. He asked the Tsars permission to go perform the Hajj in 1870 and remained there until his death 4th February 1871 at the Holy City of Madinah where he is buried.)