Ibn Warraq is the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of an anonymous author critical of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

. He is the founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society and used to be a senior research fellow at the

Center for Inquiry The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a US nonprofit organization that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal, as well as to fight the influence of religion in government. History The Center for Inquiry was established in 19 ...

, focusing on Quranic criticism. Warraq is the vice-president of the World Encounter Institute. Warraq has written historiographies of the early centuries of the Islamic timeline and has published works which question mainstream conceptions of the period. The pen name Ibn Warraq ( ar, ابن وراق, most literally "son of a papermaker") is used due to his concerns for his personal safety; Warraq stated, "I was afraid of becoming the second

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and ...

." It is a name that has been adopted by

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

authors throughout the history of Islam. The name refers to the 9th-century skeptical scholar

Abu Isa al-Warraq Abu Isa al-Warraq, full name ''Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Warrāq'' ( ar, أبو عيسى محمد بن هارون الوراق, died 861-2 AD/247 AH), was a 9th-century Arab skeptic scholar and critic of Islam and religion in gener ...

. Warraq adopted the pseudonym in 1995 when he completed his first book, entitled ''

Why I Am Not a Muslim ''Why I Am Not a Muslim'', a book written by Ibn Warraq, is a critique of Islam and the Qur'an. It was first published by Prometheus Books in the United States in 1995. The title of the book is a homage to Bertrand Russell's essay, ''Why I Am N ...

''. Warraq's commentary on Islam has been criticized by academic specialists in Islamic history as

polemic Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topic ...

al, overly revisionist and lacking in expertise, while others praised it as refreshing, well-researched, and mostly accurate. He is the author of nine books, including '' The Origins of the Koran'' (1998), ''

The Quest for the Historical Muhammad ''The Quest for the Historical Muhammad'' (2000), edited by Ibn Warraq, is an anthology of 15 studies examining the origins of Islam and the Quran. The contributors argue that traditional Islamic accounts of its history and the origins of the Qu ...

'' (2000), '' What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary'' (2002), ''Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism'' (2007), ''Which Koran?: Variants, Manuscripts, and the Influence of Pre-Islamic Poetry '' (2008), ''Why the West Is Best: A Muslim Apostate's Defense of Liberal Democracy'' (2011) and ''Sir Walter Scott's Crusades & Other Fantasies'' (2013).

Early life and education

Warraq claims to have been born in

Rajkot Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat, and is in the centre of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Rajkot is the 35th-largest metropolitan area in India, with a population ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and his family migrated to the newly independent

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in 1947. His family were of Kutchi origin. His mother died when he was an infant. He stated in an interview that he "studied Arabic and read the Qur'an as a young man in hopes of becoming a follower of the Islamic faith." His father decided to send him to a boarding school in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, which in Warraq's opinion, was partly to circumvent a grandmother's effort to push an exclusively religious education on his son at the local

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

. After his arrival in Britain, he only saw his father once more, when he was 14; his father died two years later. By 19, he had moved to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

to pursue his education at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

, where he studied philosophy and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

with Islamic studies scholar W. Montgomery Watt.Priya Abraham
"Dissident voices,"
''

World Magazine ''World'' (often stylized in all-caps as ''WORLD'') is a biweekly Christian news magazine, published in the United States by God's World Publications, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Asheville, North Carolina. ''World''s declared pe ...

'', Vol. 22, No. 22, 16 June 2007 (Retrieved 1 January 2014; archive available at ) After graduating, Warraq was a primary school teacher in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

for five years and moved to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

with his wife in 1982, opening an Indian restaurant. He also worked as a courier for a travel agent. Warraq claims to have been "shy" for most of his youth.

Career

Warraq claims to have been induced into writing against Islam due to the inclination of Western intellectuals in blaming Rushdie during ''The Satanic Verses'' controversy. He noticed a lack of anti-Islam tracts in '' Free Inquiry Magazine'', the American

secular humanist Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality ...

publication, and wrote on topics such as "Why I am not Muslim." Warraq claims to have been hosted by David Frum, speech-writer of George W. Bush at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

shortly after the

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

; Frum maintains silence. In March 2006, he had co-signed a manifesto in response to violent protests in the

Islamic world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...

surrounding the

Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy The ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy (or Muhammad cartoons crisis, da, Muhammedkrisen) began after the Danish newspaper ''Jyllands-Posten'' published 12 editorial cartoons on 30 September 2005, most of which depicted Muhamma ...

, declaring Islam as a totalitarian regime. In October 2007, Warraq participated in an

Intelligence Squared Intelligence Squared is a media company that organizes live debates and other cultural events around the world. It was founded in 2002 in London, where its head office is based, and has affiliates in the US, Australia, and Hong Kong. The debat ...

debate, "We Should Not Be Reluctant to Assert the Superiority of Western Values," in London. He argued in favor of the motion; arguing on the same side as him were

Douglas Murray Douglas Murray may refer to: * Douglas Murray (author) (born 1979), British political journalist, author and commentator * Doug Murray (comics) (born 1947), American comic book writer * Douglas Murray (ice hockey) Douglas Thomas Lars Murray (bo ...

and David Aaronovitch, while their opponents were Tariq Ramadan, William Dalrymple, and Charles Glass. Although he does not subscribe to any particular religion, he has a higher opinion of humanism than of

and has described himself as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. He is the founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society (ISIS). He has also participated in

counter-jihad Counter-jihad, also spelled counterjihad and known as the counter-jihad movement, is a self-titled political current loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, street movements and campaign organisations all linked by apocalyptic bel ...

-affiliated events.

Books and reception

Ibn Warraq continued writing with several works examining the

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians h ...

of the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...

and

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...

. Other books treated the topic of

values among Muslims. In ''The Origins of The Koran: Classic Essays on Islam's Holy Book'', Ibn Warraq includes some of Theodor Nöldeke's studies. In 2005, Warraq spent several months working with Christoph Luxenberg, who wrote about Syriac vs. Arabic interpretation of Quranic verse. A pattern in Warraq's work is paying homage to earlier scholarly works on Christianity by borrowing their titles and applying them to Islam: ''Why I Am Not a Muslim'' is taken from

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, a ...

's '' Why I Am Not a Christian'' (1927), ''The Quest for the Historical Muhammad'' is taken from

Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schweit ...

's ''

The Quest of the Historical Jesus ''The Quest of the Historical Jesus'' (german: Von Reimarus zu Wrede: eine Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung, literally "From Reimarus to Wrede: a History of Life-of-Jesus Research") is a 1906 work of Biblical historical criticism written by Al ...

'' (1910), and ''What the Koran Really Says'' is taken from German author Manfred Barthel's ''Was wirklich in der Bibel steht'' ("What the Bible Really Says", 1980).

Praise

In a 1996 review of ''

'',

Daniel Pipes Daniel Pipes (born September 9, 1949) is an American historian, writer, and commentator. He is the president of the Middle East Forum, and publisher of its ''Middle East Quarterly'' journal. His writing focuses on American foreign policy and the ...

wrote that "With few exceptions, he arraqrelies almost entirely on the Western tradition of Islamic studies" but concluded that "Despite his anger, 'Ibn Warraq' has written a serious and thought-provoking book" calling for "an equally compelling response from a believing Muslim." Pipes also described ''Why I am not a Muslim'' (1995) as "well-researched and quite brilliant."

"Why I Am Not a Muslim,"
'' Weekly Standard'', 22 January 1996 pg1 "Ibn Warraq brings a scholarly sledge-hammer to the task of demolishing Islam. Writing a polemic against Islam, especially for an author of Muslim birth, is an act so incendiary that the author must write under a pseudonym; not to do so would be an act of suicide. And what does Ibn Warraq have to show for this act of unheard-of defiance? A well-researched and quite brilliant, if somewhat disorganized, indictment of one of the world's great religions. While the author disclaims any pretense to originality, he has read widely enough to write an essay that offers a startlingly novel rendering of the faith he left." David Pryce-Jones said that it was "a scrupulously documented examination of the life and teaching of the Prophet Muhammad, of the Qur'an and its sources, and the resulting culture." David Pryce-Jonesbr>"Enough Said,"
'' The New Criterion'', January 2008

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...

described ''Why I Am Not a Muslim'' as his "favorite book on Islam." In 2007,

described Ibn Warraq as: In a 2008 review of Ibn Warraq's book, ''Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism'',

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Peter Berkowitz Peter Berkowitz (born 1959) is an American political scientist, former law professor, and United States Department of State employee, most recently serving as the Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State. He currently ...

described Warraq as a "worthy critic" for

Edward Said Edward Wadie Said (; , ; 1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies.Robert Young, ''Whit ...

. Berkowitz said that "with a rare combination of polemical zest and prodigious learning, it 'Defending the West''is the first ook-length critiqueto address and refute Said's arguments 'against the background of a more general presentation of salient aspects of Western civilization.'" In a 2009 review of ''Defending the West'' A. J. Caschetta concluded that "Ibn Warraq's critique of Said's thought and work is thorough and convincing, indeed devastating to anyone depending on Saidism. It should do to ''Orientalism'' what Mary Lefkowitz's ''Not Out of Africa'' did to Martin Bernal's ''Black Athena''." Pryce-Jones said that it "demolishes in close detail the Saidian 'narrative.'" In a 2012 review of Ibn Warraq's book, ''Virgins? What Virgins'',

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

historian of Islam David Cook wrote: "As a scholar of Islam myself, I find Ibn Warraq's attitude to be very refreshing, and his scholarship for the most part to be accurate and devastating in pinpointing the weaknesses in Muslim orthodoxy." The book's third essay, Cook continues, "could almost serve as a history of our field, and of its systematic failure to critique the foundational texts of Islam as those of other faiths have been critiqued."David Cook
"Ibn Warraq. ''Virgins? What Virgins? and Other Essays''"
i
''Reason Papers: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Normative Studies''
vol. 34, no. 2 (October 2012), p. 235

Criticism

In reviewing Ibn Warraq's compilation ''The Origins of the Koran,'' religious studies professor Herbert Berg has labelled him as "polemical and inconsistent" in his writing. Berg lauded the inclusion of the essay by Theodor Nöldeke, but panned the inclusion of

William St. Clair Tisdall William St. Clair Tisdall (1859–1928) was a British Anglican priest, linguist, historian and philologist who served as the Secretary of the Church of England's Missionary Society in Isfahan, Persia. Career Tisdall was the principal at the T ...

's as "not a particularly scholarly essay". He concluded " seems that Ibn Warraq has included some of the essays not on the basis of their scholarly value or their status as 'classics', but rather on the basis of their hostility to Islam. This does not necessarily diminish the value of the collection, but the reader should be aware that this collection does not fully represent classic scholarship on the Quran." In reviewing Ibn Warraq's essay in his ''Quest for the Historical Muhammad'' (2001)

Fred Donner Fred McGraw Donner (born 1945) is a scholar of Islam and Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Near Eastern History at the University of Chicago.

, a professor in Near Eastern studies, notes his lack of specialist training in Arabic studies, citing "inconsistent handling of Arabic materials," and unoriginal arguments, and "heavy-handed favoritism" towards revisionist theories and "the compiler's .e. Ibn Warraq'sagenda, which is not scholarship, but anti-Islamic polemic."Donner, Fred. (2001
Review: The Quest for the Historical Muhammad
. Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, University of Chicago. Anthropologist and historian Daniel Martin Varisco has criticized Ibn Warraq's book ''Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism'', writing that "This modern son of a bookseller imprints a polemical farce not worth the 500-plus pages of paper it wastes." His work, ''The Origins of the Koran'', is itself based on a polemic by St. Clair Tisdall "The original sources of the Qur'an" which was described by François de Blois as a "decidedly shoddy piece of missionary propaganda". François de Blois in reviewing ''The Origins of the Koran'', states that "it is surprising that the editor, who in his ''Why I am not a Muslim'' took a very high posture as a critical rationalist and opponent of all forms of obscurantism, now relies so heavily on writings by Christian polemicists from the nineteenth century".

Asma Afsaruddin Asma Afsaruddin (born 1958) is an American Islamic scholar and Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University in Bloomington. Biography She was an associate professor in Arabic and Islamic studies at th ...

states that "Ibn Warraq is not interested in debate; he wants nothing less than wholesale conversion to his point of view within the community of scholars of Islam" and added that his work, ''The Origins of the Koran'', "needlessly poisons the atmosphere and stymies efforts to engage in honest scholarly discussion".

Works

* ''

'', Ibn Warraq, foreword by

R. Joseph Hoffmann Raymond Joseph Hoffmann (born December 16, 1957) is a historian whose work has focused on the early social and intellectual development of Christianity. His work includes an extensive study of the role and dating of Marcion in the history of the N ...

, Prometheus Books, 1995, hardcover, 428 pages, * '' The Origins of the Koran: Classic Essays on Islam's Holy Book'', edited by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 1998, hardcover, 420 pages, * ''

'', edited and translated by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 2000, hardcover, 554 pages, * ''

What the Koran Really Says ''What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary'' (2002) is a book edited by Ibn Warraq and published by Prometheus Books. The book is a collection of classical essays, some translated for the first time, that provide commentary on ...

: Language, Text, and Commentary'', edited and translated by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 2002, 600 pages, * '' Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out'', edited by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 2003, hardcover, 320 pages, * ''Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism'', Prometheus Books, 2007, hardcover, 300 pages, * ''Which Koran?: Variants, Manuscripts, and the Influence of Pre-Islamic Poetry'', Prometheus Books, 2008, 631 pages, * ''Why the West is Best: A Muslim Apostate's Defense of Liberal Democracy'', Encounter Books, 2011, 286 pages, * ''Sir Walter Scott's Crusades & Other Fantasies'', Ibn Warraq, New English Review Press, 2013, paperback, 259 pages, * '' Koranic Allusions: The Biblical, Qumranian, and pre-Islamic background to the Koran'', Prometheus Books, 2013, 463 pages, * ''Christmas in the Koran: Luxenberg, Syriac, and the Near Eastern and Judeo-Christian Background of Islam'', edited by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 2014, hardcover, 805 pages, * ''The Islam in Islamic Terrorism: The Importance of Beliefs, Ideas, and Ideology'', Ibn Warraq, New English Review Press, 2017, paperback, 396 pages, * ''Leaving the Allah Delusion Behind: Atheism and Freethought in Islam'', Berlin Schiller, 2020, hardcover, 700 pages,

Footnotes

References

External links

The Official Ibn Warraq Site

Ibn Warraq's articles in ''New English Review''
*

Stephen Crittenden Stephen Crittenden is one of Australia's leading religion journalists and a broadcaster for ABC Radio National. Early career Crittenden began his radio career as a schoolboy, broadcasting with Sydney's classical FM community radio station 2MBS- ...

br>interviews Ibn Warraq
for the ABC, 10 October 2001
Profile at Islam Watch
contains writings by Warraq *
Holy War
', Chris Mooney on Ibn Warraq for

The American Prospect ''The American Prospect'' is a daily online and bimonthly print American political and public policy magazine dedicated to American modern liberalism and progressivism. Based in Washington, D.C., ''The American Prospect'' says it "is devoted t ...

, 17 December 2001
Statement by Ibn Warraq on the World Trade Center Atrocity
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Warraq, Ibn 1946 births Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Pakistani agnostics Living people Counter-jihad activists Pakistani humanists Pakistani people of Gujarati descent Pakistani sceptics Former Muslim critics of Islam Pakistani former Muslims Pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous writers on Islam