''Why I Am Not a Muslim'', a book written by

Ibn Warraq Ibn Warraq is the pen name of an anonymous author critical of Islam. 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, focusing on Quranic criticism. ...

, is a critique of Islam and 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.: , s ...

. It was first published by Prometheus Books in the United States in 1995. The title of the book is a homage to

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, ...

's essay, ''

Why I Am Not a Christian ''Why I Am Not a Christian'' is an essay by the British people, British philosophy, philosopher Bertrand Russell. Originally a talk given 6 March 1927 at Battersea Town Hall, under the auspices of the South London Branch of the National Secular ...

'', in which Russell criticizes the religion in which he was raised.

Motive, contents and reviews

Outraged over the fatwa and death threats against

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 We ...

, Ibn Warraq assumes a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

to write what the historian and writer

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 ...

called "serious and thought-provoking book" using a "scholarly sledgehammer" approach to "demolish" Islam. Warraq claims the work is his contribution ('my war effort') in the struggle against the kinds of people who would want to murder Rushdie. The author's "polemic" criticizes Islam's mythology, theology, historic achievements, and current cultural influence. Warraq, drawing largely on previous research, provides what English philosopher

Antony Flew Antony Garrard Newton Flew (; 11 February 1923 – 8 April 2010) was a British philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, Flew worked on the philosophy of religion. During the course of his career he taught a ...

called an "invaluable compilation" of Islam's shortcomings. Flew wrote that the book "makes a compelling case" that Islam is "flatly incompatible" with "individual rights and liberties of a modern liberal, democratic, secular state". According to Warraq, one either has to believe that the Qur'an is the word of

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

, or that

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 mo ...

was a liar. Moreover, progress made in modern critical scholarship of the Bible has serious and possibly detrimental consequences for belief in the inerrancy of the Qur'an once it is subjected to the same type of scholarly criticism. Dutch Arabist Hans Jansen noted that 'it is remarkable that in this first book, Ibn Warraq makes no distinction at all between 'normal' Islam and Islamic fundamentalism. Both oppose the freedom of expression with all their might.' Jansen wondered whether the criticism of Islam that Warraq, Rushdie and other British–Indian writers such as V.S. Naipaul and

Arun Shourie Arun Shourie (born 2 November 1941) is an Indian economist, journalist, author and politician. He has worked as an economist with the World Bank, a consultant to the Planning Commission of India, editor of the ''Indian Express'' and ''The Times ...

displayed was perhaps so 'ruthless' – compared to the much milder approach commonly adopted by

Judaeo-Christian The term Judeo-Christian is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's borrowing of Jewish Scripture to constitute the "Old Testament" of the Christian Bible, or ...

writers – because of vestiges of 'Hindu prejudices', or because these authors felt no inhibition to scrutinise a fellow Abrahamic religion.

Editions

* Prometheus Books (hardcover), 1995, * (French) Age d'homme, (1999), * (Persian), 2000 * Prometheus Books (paperback), 2003, * (Spanish) Ediciones del Bronce, Barcelona, 2003 * (Danish) Lindhardt og Ringhof, 2004,

References

External links

Review
Review by

Taslima Nasrin Taslima Nasrin (born 25 August 1962) is a Bangladeshi-Swedish writer, physician, feminist, secular humanist, and activist. She is known for her writing on women's oppression and criticism of religion. Some of her books are banned in Bangladesh ...

1995 non-fiction books Books about atheism Books critical of Islam Non-fiction books about jihadism Prometheus Books books Works published under a pseudonym {{atheism-book-stub

Motive, contents and reviews

See also

Editions

References

External links