I have just read Robert Spencer’s book Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs . For the sake of honesty I should mention that Spencer runs the website Jihad Watch where I occasionally publish essays, but I would have read his books anyway since he’s one of the best anti-Jihad writers there is. I’d also like to recommend Defending the West by Ibn Warraq and Understanding Muhammad by Ali Sina, both former Muslims, as well as Andrew G. Bostom’s The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism and Spencer’s previous book Religion of Peace?: Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn’t , all of which I have reviewed before.- - - - - - - - -
Muslims sometimes try to calm non-Muslims by saying that they “misunderstand” the term Jihad, which doesn’t necessarily mean armed struggle. This is technically speaking true, but in a way this makes matters worse, not better. Jihad includes ideological, cultural, demographic, diplomatic, psychological and economic warfare, and above all disinformation to confuse infidels about the threat they face. Just because there is a (temporary) absence of violence does not mean that there is an absence of Jihad. Robert Spencer understand this very well, and explains how Islamic organizations aiming to undermine the American political system are now quietly infiltrating society at all levels, posing as “civil rights groups” or “anti-racism activists,” a powerful tool in a country with an already bloated anti-discrimination industry. Even the Muslim Brotherhood, which has a clear and stated agenda of destroying Western civilization, is often treated as a “moderate” group, which only goes to prove how meaningless the term “moderate Islam” really is. Stealth Jihad, page 29-30:
“Legal endeavors, civil rights initiatives, media campaigns — all these and more are the weapons of the stealth jihadists, chosen precisely because without other pieces of the puzzle, they don’t appear to be weapons at all, or part of any cumulative effort. The bottom line is this: there is a concerted effort in America today by Islamic organizations to further a series of initiatives that are outwardly quite different in their stated purposes, and are being advanced by different groups of people. However, they are all geared toward the same set of goals: to encourage Americans to downplay anti-terror initiatives, accommodate Muslim practices, and make special exceptions for Islamic law — while being cowed by cries of ‘bigotry’ into dropping all resistance to these phenomena. The result, if things continue in this vein, would be an America completely subjugated under Islamic law — just the way the Brotherhood memorandum envisions it. An America in which non-Muslims must humble themselves before Muslims, not daring to say or do anything that they find offensive. This stealth jihad is advancing steadily and quietly, and most Americans have no idea it is happening at all.”
One of the many great things about Spencer is that he is always understandable. This is far from self-evident. Even among anti-Jihadists whom I greatly admire as scholars there are those who write books that are difficult to read. Robert Spencer has that rare gift of combining impeccable scholarship — which he does have, regardless of what the professional “Islamophobia-accusers” might say — with a unique talent for explaining his subject matter to a non-specialist audience, which he does every single day at his website. I can think of very few people who are his equal in this. Stealth Jihad is heartily recommended for those who would like to understand the greatest threat we face today. I would especially recommend that you give a copy of the book to someone who still doesn’t fully “get it,” and believe that this is all about a few extremists.
Read the rest at Pamela’s place.
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