Onward Muslim Soldiers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West (ISBN 0-89526-100-6) published in October 2003 is a topical nonfiction book by popular counter-terrorism author Robert Spencer, who has described the book as an "in-depth study of the doctrine of jihad and how it is exploited today by terrorists to justify what they’re doing and to recruit and motivate new terrorists".^[1][2]

[edit] Description

In the book, Spencer discusses issues relating to radical Islam, Jihad and Islamic terrorism, and claims that these are more serious threats to the non-Muslim world than the media and world leaders accept. Examining current events and sources from the Qur'an, he suggests that jihad, in the sense of physical violence against non-Muslims, is an inherent component of Islam and that Islamic tolerance (the tolerance of Muslims for other religions) is exaggerated by the media. He cites this as the reason for the apparent lack of support from the more moderate Islamic community for anti-terrorism measures and their failure to openly or widely criticise Muslim extremists.

The book makes a number of controversial claims. These include that mosques in the U.S. should be monitored more closely to protect national security, and that Muslims living in Western Europe are eroding traditions of 'secularism, free enquiry and open societies'. He also makes the assertion that non-Muslims living in Muslim countries suffer legalised oppression that stems from teachings in the Qur'an.

Robert Spencer is a member of the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think tank dedicated to uphold "traditional, Judeo-Christian, Western culture", and the Christian-Islamic Forum.

[edit] References