Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics

Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics is a book by Iraqi-Kurdish ex-Muslim convert to Christianity Daniel Ali and Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch.
Differences between Islam and Christianity are presented through a format of 100 questions and answers. Theological concepts of God and Jesus, the role of women, and views on other controversial topics are contrasted.
Content
The book posits that Christianity is a faith built on love and a deep relationship with God, while Islam is not based on such concepts, but rather demands mostly obedience to a command that Islam be spread by the word or sword. The authors assert that Islam has little concern with Western ideas of civil and human rights as it fundamentally denies the concepts of free will and thought. The book contends that Islam has a fatalistic orientation, and that by declaring that everything has been preordained by God (Allah) whose dictates must be submitted to, the Islamic faith promotes an attitude which leads to cultural stagnation.
The book claims that the Qur'an, which purports to be an original scripture, is replete with material directly drawn from Jewish and Christian scriptures and is filled with theological contradictions and chronological errors.
The book further claims that Islam has a track record of 14 centuries of violence which betrays any claim to peaceful intent. The authors argue that the doctrine of jihad, when taken to its logical conclusion, makes it the duty of Muslims to try and convert the whole world to Islam — by the sword if necessary. According to the authors, the doctrine of jihad led to a long history of conflict that only subsided as the West began to out perform the Islamic world militarily. The authors also state that the Crusades were essentially movements, “to take back the lands overrun by Muslim invaders and, by extension, to free those Christians living under Islamic oppression.”
The book also discusses topics such as the differences between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and surveys the Islamic tradition, Hadith, and Sharia law. Controversial aspects of Islam are also discussed, such as alleged racism towards people of dark skin, the practices of slavery and polygamy, and the belief that women are inferior to men.
Reception
The book received a generally favorable reception from at least two Catholic reviewers.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu