If you wanted to read a layman’s guide to the Quran chances are you would expect that guide to be written by a knowledgable Muslim scholar or Imam, somebody with a good understanding and personal experience of the faith.
You would perhaps be as sceptical as we are to hear of a book entitled ‘Muhammad’s Koran’ written not by a practising Muslim but by a duo of non Islam practising individuals, known publicly for their Islamophobic views. The publicity claim that with this book you can “understand the Quran in minutes not months,” does nothing to enhance the credibility of this dubious piece.
Peter McCloughlin is the author of “Easy Meat.” The intro to his book on Amazon reads: Peter McLoughlin spent years believing the Leftist narrative, namely it was ‘a racist myth’ that organised Muslim groups in Britain and the Netherlands (‘grooming gangs’) were luring white schoolgirls into a life of prostitution. This sets the tone for what is essentially a long, self indulgent whine about Muslims in the UK.
We thought this review summed it up the best:
Tommy Robinson, ex leader of the EDL has been written about by us here and here. He has been arrested on numerous occasions for ‘threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour’ (and other crimes including mortgage fraud) and his association with Pegida UK is indicative of his personal antipathy toward the religion of Islam.
If ever two wannabe authors were more likely to bungle a discussion on the Quran it is these two.
We can’t work out from the Amazon site if this book has actually been released or not. It only has 2 reviews (one of which acknowledges they haven’t actually read the book) but the site says it is out of print and we couldn’t find an option to buy for the kindle (not that we actually planned to buy this xenophobic bilge lol). However should you come across it be warned, this will be Robinson and McLoughlin’s usual biased Muslim hating rubbish and about as academic as an Enid Blyton book.
Roanna Carleton Taylor is one of the founder members of Resisting Hate. She is the author of many of our articles, and also writes occasionally for other media publications including Huff Post, Byline Times and Immigration News. Roanna loves German Shepherd Dogs and Oil Painting.
When you won’t be able to die your hair anymore since the muzzies take over, you leftist scum will finally be red-pilled.
Ridiculous comment. You have embarrassed yourself with such hateful ignorance.
“ЖАК” is literally a Russian name.
Must be one of those xenophobic Trumpbots released by Mercer via Cambridge Analytica to influence Brexit and rig the American elections.
Trumpbots AKA Putinbots use the words “red piled” all the time.
They also say “winning bigly” when Trump is losing horrifically.
Hey, ЖАК, it’s #MuellerTime.
Well, pretty soon, ЖАК will be crying when Putin’s buddy Trump gets impeached and imprisoned. No more golf holidays for the Orange Dictator when he gets jailed for treason.
For the latest news about #Trumprussia, check out:
http://www.twitter.com/teapainusa
I rather thought that you embarrassed yourself with that review. Objectivity or even adherence to the topic at hand is clearly not a strong point with you. You call yourself a writer? It’s awful.
I was looking for an alternative review to the 400 or so now listed by Amazon. I was disappointed by yours and I am surprised that you have not yet taken it down, out of embarrassment. It’s always suspect to give a review of a book that you refuse to read. Your ‘review’ was just a pre-judged and prejudiced smear. If you were so convinced of the irrelevance of this book you should have been able to recommend an alternative. “Resisting Hate” indeed ! You are so consumed by your own hate that you are unaware of the transparency of your infantile denouncements.
You need to read more carefully then. This was never supposed to be a review, and the article was published in May ’17 before the book was released.
Resisting hate? Why don’t you urge muslims to resist hate? They really need your advice because they are brought up on a book that relentlessly preaches hate of non-muslims – the majority of people in the world. Not just to hate Jews, Christians, pagans, Sikhs, Buddhists and any other belief or non-belief in the world, but to kill them in the name of allah until everyone has submitted to allah through fear and terrorism. Your stupidity astounds me. My advice to you is to emigrate to an islamic country where state and religion are one. Experience the joys of islam for yourself, then come back and tell us how marvellous it all is – or, preferably, stay and spare us your ignorant preaching. You are traitors to your country and culture, which is being attacked by islam, both overtly and covertly: that is, assuming you are a real Briton and not a front for some islamic organisation.
I’d say your ignorance astonishes me Pam but to be honest I meet so many uneducated bigots these days that I find I am left, not so much astonished but weary of the tripe people trot out when trying to incite hate against Muslims.
I’ve read this book. It is primitive but addresses some of the issues that concern me. I’m from Bradford and most of my family still live there. They experience the day to day of living in a predominantly Muslim area. It doesn’t make life unbearable, but it impacts on every aspect of it. Most of my sisters and in laws work in local government, the health service or education.
Firstly, local government. There is a problem with electoral fraud. Patrimonialism and cronyism is rife. Women who have the vote tend to vote in the way they are told. If you work in local government you have to dress modestly or some of the men refuse to talk to you if you’re a woman. They may just refuse to talk to a woman anyway. Any form of religious imagery or jewelry is forbidden, unless it’s the hijab.
In the health service there is a problem with faking illness to mirror a condition that has been diagnosed in a relative abroad so as to obtain the medication free of charge.
In education my sister in law has been slapped and called a slut for not having her head covered.
There are hard fought for rights that are jeopardised. The rights for women to dress as they wish and have sex with whomsoever they please, to be a practicing homosexual, to be a jew. The Alhambra had a jewish dance troupe playing. The theatre was picketed by an angry mob saying they didn’t belong in the town and it was inflammatory. Children were in the queue.
There no longer any pubs because there is no real market for alcohol, and if you neat in a chain restaurant you will be eating halal meat whether you want to or not.
These are normal concerns which are berated as bigoted and racist. I’d like to know if you have ever experienced life like this?
I’ve read Tommy Robinson book “Enemy of the state” too. I think it’s good to make your own mind up about people by reading their thoughts and not relying on other people with an agenda.
I didn’t like the mans character, but I understand his concerns. He’s not saying anything that Douglas Murray or Christopher Hitchens wouldn’t say, but perhaps that says more about the inherent classism in their country than his opinions. The white working class male in this country is now the forgotten minority.
The problem with Islam for me is it’s intransigence and the fact that state and church are indivisible. It’s inflexibility means it cannot alter. I would love to embrace as many cultures as possible and enhance our own in the process. Britains culture has evolved by cherry picking aspects of every culture that came to it shores. You cannot cherry pick with Islam. It’s Dar el Islam or Dar el harb. The world of Islam or the world of war. Parallel societies do exist in Britain of course, but they do not seek to make Britain fit their entire belief system, and in that respect they are compatible and enhance. With Islam you take it entirely or not at all.
In regards to the authors qualifications to comment on the Koran, I cannot tell. But I do know I prefer an independent view rather than one with a vested interest. I wouldn’t expect a balanced view of Christianity from a priest.
I disagree but as you express your views in an articulate manner and without hate then it would not be fair to censor your post.
Yes there are issues in some communities that have multiple faith groups. And I strongly believe that give and take between all communities is necessary for positive integration. However the abuse that some people think is the way to respond to those who believe differently is not helping the situation. We promote education about other faiths, positive steps toward understanding one another’s different ways of viewing the world and respect..
If anyone has any other ideas that they think would work better, feel free to discuss.
What have you to say about islam’s attitude to other faiths?
We’d be critical of any individual who generalised against an entire religion, regardless of who was doing it and who they were doing it to.
A most excellent and fairly observed comment.
[…] written before about “Robinson” and “McLaughlin’s” book Mohammed’s Koran: Why Muslims Kill for Islam, so this will be a very brief post. I was thinking about what […]
So the ‘reviewer’ hadn’t actually read the book?
Now that the book is available has the ‘reviewer’ bothered to read it yet?
If the ‘reviewer reads the book he/she may find it is well researched and well written; i.e literate. The tone is admittedly somewhat uncompromising in that the writer takes view that there is no moderate Islam, there is just one Islam and before the reviewer starts to whine about ‘Islamophobia’ please bear in mind that the person who McLoughlin quotes as saying this is the current leader – probably for life of Recep Tayyip Erodogen. The Ayaltollah Khomeni is known to have expressed the same kind if views and other views.. Hate speech? You have no idea…Who are you to disagree? You are in the literal sense of the word, ignorant meaning without knowledge and you most certainly don’t get to decide what kind of religion Islam is. It’s people like Erdogan and Khomeini, both who are highly influential in shaping how Muslims think .
And before you write me off as just another right wing racist / Islamophobe I can say that I’m a labor voter and always have been and as left as they come on the important issues – welfare, healthcare, the need for environmental protection, equal rights for women, gay rights, gay marriage – you name it, but when it comes to a certain totalitarian, intolerant political belief system masquerading as a religion, as far as I’m concerned I will not tolerate their intolerance. And if you disagree then I suggest you do some research. So, OK, If you’re going to disparage Peter Mcloughlin’s books, so why don’t you read Edward Said’s ‘Orientalist’ which as the kind of regressive lefty you are you should have done because it’s the Bible of Post Colonial Studies and all those other Mickey Mouse bullshit ‘ areas of study that pass for academic disciplines in Britain today. But then make sure you also read Ibn Warraq’s ‘Defending the West which is the counter argument to the blatant polemical propaganda of Said.’
I could list a number of other books by former Muslims including Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wafta Sultan, and moderates such as Irshad Manji and Raheel Raza – and should you do so, you’ll find that the contents of Peter McLoughlin’s book, though uncompromisingly takes the view that there is no moderate Islam and moreover, claims there are no ‘Islamists, just Muslims, some of whom are the ‘Mecca’ -type peaceful Muslims as opposed to the more Jihad -minded ‘Medina’ Muslims, nevertheless this book is largely in accordance with pretty much all the other books that take a critical viewpoint of Islam and the views of both all the western commentators and the reform-minded Muslims.
So do yourself a favor and educate yourself. Please don’t take the intellectually lazy / regressive left viewpoint that just because Donald Trip is an Islamophobe, that means you should automatically become an Islamophile. Always be skeptical of what information you look at actually might mean. That includes what I’m telling you.
I’ll leave you with a couple more things to ponder. First of all to the ‘but-I-have-a-Muslim-Friend-and-s/he’s-a-good-person.
Yes, so do I. In my case, my friend runs an Iranian restaurant that serves booze, has bellydancing, and where men and women can freely mix. Some thing that not only can he emphatically not do in Iran, if he were to try, he’s be in very serious trouble and in danger of his life.
Another thing;
What do you call a white male Republican who is against same-sex marriage? If you call them a bigot, then you’re calling 90% of Muslims bigots. While you accuse others of racism, you are actually being racist here because you’re applying different standards to different people based on their race because Islam is viewed as a “brown man’s religion”. You are not being liberal by supporting illiberal ideas coming from people from different countries, religions, and cultures.
I would ask somebody who reads Salon, (or the Guardian) if you claim to be against homophobia, like I am and many people are, you should stand against it whether it comes from the Evangelicals, the black church, or the Muslim in Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Iran. Otherwise you are the racist. If you think it’s acceptable for “other” people do it just because they’re a different race other than a “white male” then you’re not really a liberal — you don’t subscribe to the concept of equal rights and anti-racism. You’re propagating racism and you’re part of the problem. This might sound aggressive but I cannot find a polite way to call people delusional.
I have to admit that the last part is not from me, but from the following person;
Faisal Al Mutar is a secular and human rights activist who was awarded The President’s Volunteer Service Award, Gold, from the Obama Administration in 2016. He’s experienced life under Saddam Hussein and lived in Iraq during the American invasion and civil war which followed after. He escaped Iraq in 2009 after the loss of his brother, cousin, and friends to Al Qaeda. Faisal focuses on helping liberal, secular ideas and dissidents flourish in the Middle East and is currently writing his first book. He started the Global Secular Humanist Movement, and recently launched a podcast called the Grey Zone and joined the Secular Jihadists podcast.
Believe me, Faisal knows what he’s talking about.
Finally I hope you have the honesty to leave this post unmoderated
We always leave sensible non-insulting comments unmoderated. As I’m sure you can imagine there are a few that do not make the grade. As for homophobia, we will always call it out, and strongly believe that sexual freedoms and preferences have a higher priority than religious sentimentality. A persons gender or sexual orientation is not of their choosing, unlike their religious beliefs.
I can’t speak for the author of the article, but we do not agree with some of your points, we are not Islamophiles, we are egalitarians, no religion is perfect, but so long as people practice theirs peacefully and allow others the same privilege, then we really don’t care whether they worship God, gods, Satan or their pet poodle.
The last part of your comment is very ignorant. Regarding practicing religion peacefully. The normal Muslim faith may be peaceful (so not a problem)….But the Islamic extremists / radicals are not peaceful, and neither are those who worship Satan. They represent evil, not peace !! The pet poodle is acceptable though !
Two of the left’s favourite ideologies, Islam and Feminism are diametrically opposed. When the immovable object meets the irresistible force I shall have a ringside seat and it should make very satisfying viewing. Good luck ladies, you’ll need it.
Lol, be careful that Roanna might be triggered by being called a lady, but I’m sure she’s got her escape route figured out before the head choppers come a calling.