Tropes about Islam

Jon MC

Jon MC is a retired Chemist, Physicist and teacher (not necessarily in that order) who still has professional commitments. His interest in Islam was kindled when he met some "radical Muslims up close and personal" and he has studied the foundational texts of Islam ever since. He writes under a nomme de plume in order to keep his professional life and views separate.

2 Responses

  1. Sane James says:

    Fantastic article, I gained a great deal from reading it.

    Ibn Khaldun wrote a beautifully concise description of the mission of Islam (Holy War as Religious Duty), which you refer to in the conclusion –

    In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the (Muslim) mission and (the obligation to) convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force. Therefore, caliphate and royal authority are united in (Islam), so that the person in charge can devote the available strength to both of them at the same time.

    The other religious groups did not have a universal mission, and the holy war was not a religious duty to them, save only for purposes of defense. It has thus come about that the person in charge of religious affairs in (other religious groups) is not concerned with power politics at all. (Among them,) royal authority comes to those who have it, by accident and in some way that has nothing to do with religion. It comes to them as the necessary result of group feeling, which by its very nature seeks to obtain royal authority, as we have mentioned before, and not because they are under obligation to gain power over other nations, as is the case with Islam. They are merely required to establish their religion among their own (people). ~ Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah

  2. Richard says:

    The “same God ” error is well explored in a series of articles starting here:

    https://facingislam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-same-god-heresy-gateway-to-apostasy.html