Cue the Bruce Springsteen song “Glory Days.” Yeah, and what has the Islamic world done since then? Never mind that a ton of those advances were made by Assyrians and Persians. You’re rather pathetic if you’re going to rest on your laurels from 900 AD.

Remind yourself that the Arab world has experienced constant meddling by European and Western powers, and that the global climate is due in part (but only in part) to the actions of those meddling Western powers.

Pardon my French - but you’re an ASSHOLE. Constant meddling??? The British and the French got involved in the Middle East after the Ottomans choose poorly in WWI. They created the states of the Middle East and LEFT.

Having said that, I defy you to prove that Muhammad was an extremist, or that Islam is a religion of extremism.

I suppose going on 70+ raids, killing off the Jews of Yathrib (Medina), and ordering the assassination of Marwan’s daughter doesn’t make one an extremist. Oh, wait, Allah told him to do all that, so that makes it all OK.

But it seems apparent to me that the author of this blog and the above commentors have little to no understanding of what Islam is, or who Muhammad was. Islam is the Quran, so rather than quote the writings of a French “Islamic Scholar”, quote from the Quran what principles you feel Islam upholds.

I have not read “Islam and the Psychology of the Musulman”, but from the short excerpt at the URL provided above, it is apparent that the author of the book believes himself to be superior to Arabs (not even to Muslims… but again, I haven’t read the book yet). Anyone coming from such a stance, where they assume they are superior to another, is already incapable of rational discussion. But I feel rational discussion is the last thing on the agenda of this blog.

The author of that book seems to so quickly forget the intellectual and academic excellence that followed in the centuries after the advent of Islam. He forgets the contributions made to the fields of mathematics and science, chemistry and biology, while Christian Europe was still in the dark ages.

You talk of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and you talk of extremism. The best indication of the actions of Muhammad and the rationale behind them are layed out in the Quran. No doubt you have thoughts in line with the popular detractors of Islam over the centuries since its advent, and no doubt you stand on as little common sense as they do.

Having said that, I defy you to prove that Muhammad was an extremist, or that Islam is a religion of extremism. And before you are so quick to retort, I ask you to put yourself in the shoes of the Muslim world. Remind yourself that the Arab world has experienced constant meddling by European and Western powers, and that the global climate is due in part (but only in part) to the actions of those meddling Western powers. Remember, America is the country with the clearly established history of political intrigue and subversion.

If any of you are really interested in the the truth, as opposed to just spreading hatred, then you may find this article of about Muhammad (pbuh) to be more informative than any book by a French “Islamic Scholar” with a superiority complex:

http://www.alislam.org/library/zafar/exampler.html

Pierre

French Islamic Scholar, Andre Servier, predicted it all in his 1924 book Islam and the Psychology of the Musulman.

There are only 64 copies available for loan from the world’s greatest libraries, but you can read it here online now -

http://musulmanbook.blogspot.com

MusulmanBook