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Strictly speaking, criticism of or opposition to Islam is the theological criticism of Islamic dogma and the Qur'an. More generally, however, it refers to ethical or political criticism of Islamic society, the Sharia, political Islamism, militant Jihad or opposition to a perceived "Islamic" agenda. Unreasoned negative views of Islam are sometimes described collectively as Islamophobia.

1 History
2 Theological criticism
3 Ethical criticism
4 Political criticism
5 Scientific criticism
6 Contemporary critics
7 References
8 See also
9 Literature
10 External links

[edit] History

Islam shares many characteristics of other earlier religions and religious philosophies and many criticisms of the central beliefs in Islam predate the codification of Islam itself. For instance, recorded criticism of a belief in a supernatural omnipotent creator dates at least as far back as the writings of ancient Greek philosophers such as Epicurus. Like their Christian counterparts, medieval Islamic scholars worked to reconcile or argue against such views.

The earliest records of explicit criticisms and oppositions to Islam are found in early Muslims' writings about their pagan Arabian adversaries and the Jewish inhabitants of south Arabia at the time, particularly the Jewish tribes of Medina whose scriptures were misquoted by Muhammad. The earliest non-Muslim sources of criticism and opposition are found in the medieval Christian ecclesiastical writings of Christians who had come under the dominion of the Islamic Empire in areas such as Syria. Their fellow Christians in Europe became increasingly aware of the growing Islamic Empire (see History of Islam, Battle of Yarmuk) and saw Islam as a pagan military scourge sent by God as a punishment against Christians for their sins.

Perhaps the first scholarly opposition to Islam comes from John of Damascus. His work The Fount of Wisdom contains three chapters, the second of which, Concerning Heresies, addresses Islam as the Heresy of the Ishmaelites. John was familiar with the Qu'ran and the Hadith, quoting them in the original Arabic. A series of discussions between Christians and Muslims is presented along with the claim that a Nestorian monk influenced Muhammad and his prophecies.

At its widest the Islamic Empire extended as far as the south of present-day Spain (see Al-Andalus and a Timeline of the Muslim Occupation of Spain) and the Christian Church began to view Islam as a religious as well as military threat. Medieval ecclesiastical writers began to portray Islam and Muhammad as having been possessed by Satan, a "precursor of the Antichrist" or as the Antichrist himself. Other religions, particularly Hinduism, would develop similar criticisms of their own as a result of Islamic conquests beyond Arabia.

In the modern era European and American Orientalism would examine the claims of Islam from a secular and academic perspective. At the start of the twenty-first century political and military conflicts have caused Islam and Islamic practices to come under increased scrutiny around the world, especially in the non-Muslim media.

[edit] Theological criticism

Criticism of a religion's theology may arise from three points of view: from a secular viewpoint; from that of another religion; or from within the religion itself (which can lead to schism and sectarianism in the religion).

[edit] Muhammad

Many medieval and early modern writers were motivated to criticise Islam by admiration for or hatred of its prophet Muhammad. Martin Luther, for example, referred to Muhammad as "a devil and first-born child of Satan". The Catholic Encyclopedia (1911) states that Muhammad was inspired by an imperfect understanding of Judaism and Christianity and draws a parallel between Muhammad's theology and Luther's Protestantism.

More recent Western scholars such as Sprenger, Noldeke, Weil, Sir William Muir, Koelle, Grimme and Margoliouth give a more unbiased estimate of Mohammed's life and character and generally agree as to his motives, prophetic call, personal qualifications and sincerity. Whereas Muir, Marcus Dods and others suggest that Muhammad was at first sincere but later practised deception wherever it would gain his end, Koelle finds "the key to the first period of Muhammad's life in Khadija, his first wife", after whose death he became prey to his "evil passions". Sprenger attributes Muhammed's alleged revelations to epileptic fits or a "paroxysm of cataleptic insanity".

Zwemer 1907 criticises the life of Muhammad

firstly by the standards of the Old and New Testaments, both of which Muhammad acknowledged as divine revelation;
secondly by the pagan morality of his Arabian compatriots;
lastly, by the new law of which he "pretended" to be the "divinely-appointed medium and custodian".

Zwemer suggests Muhammad was false even to the ethical traditions of the idolatrous brigands among whom he lived and grossly violated the easy sexual morality of his own system. Quoting Johnstone, Zwemer concludes by remarking that the judgment of modern scholars, however harsh, rests on evidence which "comes all from the lips and the pens of his [i.e. Muhammed's] own devoted adherents".

[edit] The Qur'an

Modern higher criticism of the Qur'an has only begun recently, questioning traditional claims about the Qur'an's composition and content. It contends that the Qur'an incorporates material from the the Hebrew Bible, the Babylonian Talmud, the New Testament, and other sources of legendary material, such as the Alexander Romance (see Alexander in the Qur'an). Higher criticism contends that the Qur'an was developed both during and after Muhammad's lifetime - for example, Mulsim traditions records that Uthman collected all variants of the Qur'an and destroyed those of which he did not approve and other Muslim traditions credit an even later Caliph with the collection and cannonization of the Qur'an. Parts of certain Hadith collections refer to suras (chapters) that are no longer extant in the Qur'an. ^[1]

[edit] Hadith

After the Qur'an most Muslim schools of thought place the Hadith as the next most important text. Ignaz Goldziher is the best-known early twentieth-century critic, alongside Margoliuth, Henri Lammens and Leone Caetani. In his Muslim Studies Goldziher writes:

... it is not surprising that, among the hotly debated controversial issues of Islam, whether political or doctrinal, there is not one in which the champions of the various views are unable to cite a number of traditions, all equipped with imposing isnads.

Following generations of Western scholars were also mostly sceptical: in Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence (1959), Joseph Schacht argued that isnads going back to Muhammad were in fact more likely to be spurious than isnads going back to his companions. In the 1970s John Wansbrough and his students Patricia Crone and Michael Cook were even more sweeping in their dismissal of this tradition and argued that even the Qur'an was likely to have been collected later than claimed.

Contemporary Western scholars of hadith include:

Herbert Berg, The Development of Exegesis in Early Islam (2000)
Fred M. Donner, Narratives of Islamic Origins (1998)
Wilferd Madelung, Succession to Muhammad (1997)

Of these Madelung is the least critical.

A very minor Islamic sect maintains a 'Qur'an alone' view that rejects hadith not only because of suspected invalidity but because they claim the Qur'an calls itself complete (sura 11:1) and thus it would be shirk to take another source of guidance.

[edit] Relation to Christianity

The theology of the Qur'an is strictly monotheistic and the Christian Trinity is denounced as polytheism (shirk). Islam reveres Jesus (Isa) but Jesus as "Son of God" is rejected as blasphemy.

Islamic theology has been compared to Unitarian or Arian Christianity. Taking Christian criticism of Islam as being based on common Christo-Islamic religious principles, Islam would be included with a number of Christian sects declared heretical by the post-Nicene Christian Church.

[edit] Ethical criticism

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Some critics claim that, as a religion and system of law for governing society, Islam falls short of providing acceptable ethical values according to modern Western standards. ^[2]

Lack of reciprocity —— According to Ali Sina ^[3], the Golden Rule "Do onto others as you would wish them do onto you" does not occur in the Qur'an. There exists an incarnation of this rule in the forty hadith collection of Nawawi but it is only given as valid between brothers. ^[4] Orthodox Muslims regard only other Muslims as brothers.^[5]
Death penalty for apostates —— i.e. for those ex-Muslims who do not repent from their apostacy within three days. The Al Azhar institute has proposed to extend the period of repentance to the whole life of the ex-Muslim. ^[6]
Violations of the UN charter of human rights —— Frequently cited, e.g. by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Robert Spencer, Qur'an-only Muslims and Ali Sina:
- Stoning of married adulterers. This is mandatory in all five Shari'ah schools. ^[7] ^[8] ^[9]
- Severing the hand of thieves. According to mainstream Islam this is prescribed by the Qur'an in sura 5:38. ^[10]. Qur'an-only Muslims deny this.
- Death penalty for practicing homosexuals. According to traditional Islam, men (and sometimes women) who engage in homosexual acts must be killed. ^[11] ^[12] ^[13]
- Death penalty for blasphemy ^[14] ^[15]. In recent times fatwas have been issued against Salman Rushdie and Taslima Nasreen.
Alleged discrepancy between Islam and the UN Declaration of Human Rights —— According to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Robert Spencer and several others, there exists a discrepancy between orthodox Shari'ah and the 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Many Muslims regard ths alleged discrepancy between the Declaration and the traditional Islamic law as codified by the five madhabs of Shari'ah as a problem^[16]. For this reason many Muslim-majority countries such as Malaysia and Saudi Arabia refused to ratify this treaty. In order to address this problem, in 1990 the Islamic Conference published a separate Cairo Declaration of Human Rights compliant with Shari'ah. ^[17].
Alleged discrimination against women and non-Muslims —— Critics argue that women have less rights than men and that infidels (non-Muslims) have less rights than Muslims. Muslims argue that men are the protectors of women (Qur'an 4:34) and that infidels must 'return the favour' of the protection given by the Islamic state.
Alleged unjust ethical priorities —— According to all five Shari'ah schools, killing an infidel does not carry a death sentence ^[18] but illegal sexual intercourse does. Critics also cite that the Qur'an considers worshipping other gods besides Allah a sin worse than any other sin (Qur'an 4:48).
Alleged glorification of war and violence —— Critics such as Robert Spencer believe that it is not only extremist Islam that preaches violence but Islam itself, implicit in the Qur'anic text. He argues that though Islam does not explicitly preach armed jihad, moderate Muslims' denial that the violence practiced by extremist Muslims can indeed be read in the Qur'an cannot be upheld. According to Spencer, a move toward human rights and peaceful assimilation in the West calls for moderate Muslims' rejection of traditional aspects of Islam such as jihad, dhimmitude and shari'ah. ^[19] Muslims stress that armed jihad is only one of several kinds of jihad.
Human-rights violations by adherents of Islam —— See the main article Historical persecution by Muslims.

Internal criticism of traditional Islam has led to reform movements within Islam, e.g. liberal Islam movements and the Qur'an-only movement. Wahhabism and Salafiism also emerged from criticisms of how Islam had developed, often with sentiments very much against the folk practices that had made their way into Islamic societies.

[edit] Political criticism

Liberal movements within Islam attempt criticism of Islamic society from within, typically differentiating religious issues from issues of traditional society. Points often mentioned in critical discussion of Islamic society include attitudes to women.

[edit] Scientific criticism

As with all religions, critics of Islam have pointed to internal inconsistencies within its sacred text (the Qur'an) and traditions (Hadith) as well as scientific inaccuracies within the Qur'an and Hadith. [20]

Several Qur'anic verses, when read literally, contradict scientific findings. Examples can be found at [21], [22] and [23]. Qur'anic Muslims deny this and claim that contradictions are the consequences of mistranslations by Hadith adherents.

Both Qur'anic Muslims and non-Muslim critics of Islam point to internal contradictions and scientific inaccuracies within the Hadith and contradictions between the Qur'an and Hadith.[24] [25]