Review of Islam: What the West Needs to Know (2006) by Mariam J — 10 May 2009

"Islam: What the West Needs to Know" presents itself as a wake-up call to all Westerners who have been duped by the prevalent view of Islam spread by the media, academia and government officials, arguing instead that Islam is an inherently political, hegemonic, expansionistic and violent religion, and that it is the jihadists who have the true understanding of its tenets, while peaceful muslims, whom westerners believe to be the true spokespersons of Islam, are either ignorant or willfully heterodox.

Divided into six well-defined parts, the film consists of contributions by five authorities on Islam (Robert Spencer, Bat Ye'or, Walid Shoebat, Abdullah al-Araby and Serge Trifkovic), screens showing extracts from three major sources on muslim orthodoxy (the Qur'an, the 8th century "Life of Muhammad" by Muhammad bin Ishaq and the Hadith of Sahih Al-Bukhari, whose authority is second only to that of the Qur'an.) Also included are excerpts from Jihad training videos, muslim TV shows, speeches delivered by muslim religious figures, maps of muslim expansion over the centuries and current hotspots, and extracts from interviews of Tony Blair, Condoleeza Rice, George Bush and other statesmen and women who illustrate the consensus view.

The five individuals whose testimonies and arguments are presented all have published books on Islam. One of them, Walid Shoebat, is a former PLO member who converted to Christianity after doing his bit for the Jihad by trying to blow up a few Jews in the Holy Land.

One point that particularly interested me in the film was its explanation of how muslim exegesis works. The Muslims' God (unlike, for instance, the Christian God, who is not the same Person(s), contrary to what the PC view claims) can change his mind, which means that an earlier revelation gets superseded by a later one, something known as "abrogation." So when any defender of Islam quotes pacific-sounding verses from the Qur'an, he ought to be able to show that they are "God"'s last word on the subject. But the pacific statements are all from the earlier period of Muhammad's life (the one he spent in Mecca), while the bellicose ones are from the later period (the one spent in Medina.).

Also very interesting was the fact that Muhammad's life has normative value for all Muslims, given that he personally did such things as beheading hundreds of Jews, stoning adulterers or consummating a "marriage" with a nine-year old girl, Aisha.

As someone who has watched quite a few mainstream documentaries on Islam, I can say that "Islam: What the West Needs to Know" is a real eye-opener, and I am sorry to see that seven out of the nine "reviewers" on this site have been so thoroughly indoctrinated by the consensus view that they have been able to dismiss the film's conclusions without even listening to its arguments.