"The principal leader…in the new academic field of Islam-bashing."
"Spencer's readers are carefully steered away from all contact with the Islamic interpretative tradition, which equals or exceeds that of any other religion, because any scholarly knowledge about Islam would expose all his extremist interpretations to ridicule."
- Robert Crane (Ex-Nixon Aide, author)
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"[Robert Spencer] has no academic training in Islamic studies whatsoever; his M.A. degree was in the field of early Christianity"
“The publications of Spencer belong to the class of Islamophobic extremism that is promoted and supported by right-wing organizations, who are perpetuating a type of bigotry similar to anti-Semitism and racial prejudice. They are to be viewed with great suspicion by anyone who wishes to find reliable and scholarly information on the subject of Islam.”
- Carl Ernst (Islamic Scholar UNC)
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“[Robert Spencer] uses the Internet to spread misinformation and hatred of Islam and presents a ‘skewed, one-sided, and inflammatory story that only helps to sow the seed of civilizational conflict’."
- Benazir Bhutto (Late Prime Minister of Pakistan)
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“When it comes to Robert Spencer scholars of Islamic studies outright dismiss him and his body of work. They call him an unreliable ideologue at best and a divisive bigot at worst.”
- Michael Kruse (Writer St. Petersburg Times)
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“After looking at your website, I was quite surprised to see how much hate, venom and misunderstanding you are fostering.”
- M. Cherif Bassiouni (Law Professor, Scholar, Humanitarian)
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“Robert Spencer is an extremist, right-wing anti-Muslim rabble rouser.”
- Robert Dreyfuss (Nation Magazine Editor, Contributor to Rolling Stone and Mother Jones)
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“Mr. Spencer espouses a view of Islam as a system of belief which is essentially violent, undemocratic, totalitarian, exclusive and at war with all non-Muslims. Mr. Spencer in fact goes as far as to equate Islam with fascism.”
- Group of ALA Librarians, scholars and academics
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“There is no doubt The Little King [Robert Spencer] ‘plagiarized,’ and therefore is a ‘plagiarist’.”
- Andrew Bostom (Close friend, ally and blog collaborator)
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“Robert Spencer is an anti-Muslim blogger…And yes, I do mean ‘anti-Muslim’ — Spencer long ago crossed the line from simply criticizing radical Islamists to relentlessly demonizing all Muslims. And the bigoted, hateful comments he allows at his website are beyond disgusting.”
- Charles Johnson (Former Ally, Friend and Blog Collaborator)
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“Spencer's historical argument is dubious. It emphasizes violent passages in the Koran, while downplaying the passages that urge peace and goodwill. It applies a moral standard to Islamic empires that certainly could not be met by the Roman empire or the empires established by the Portuguese, the Spanish, the French and the British. In the Spain of Ferdinand and Isabella, for example, Jews had three choices: convert to Christianity, leave the country, or be killed. No Muslim empire legislated or systematically enforced such a policy toward its religious minorities."
"Spencer glibly jumps over entire centuries in linking, say, the savagery of the Ottomans in Constantinople with the savagery of Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Taliban in Afghanistan."
- Dinesh D’Souza (Conservative scholar, pundit and author)
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“According to Mr. Spencer, Judeo-Christianity is fundamentally and qualitatively superior to Islam, so to suggest that there could be a degenerative least-common-denominator into which all three religions could converge under any conditions, reeks of cultural relativism, because it denies Judeo-Christianity’s irreducible superiority.”
“I find it curious that Robert Spencer closes both eyes to atrocities perpetrated by Serbs, because if it had only been Muslims on their receiving end, I would understand now (but of course not justify it) seeing where Spencer is coming from, but Serbs have also fought against Croats and Slovenes —their fellow Christians. Yet he takes the side of the most historically aggressive representatives of his own ‘Religion of Peace.’ Could it be that while ostensibly and quite irrationally denying any violence within Christianity, he in fact secretly and perhaps subconsciously admires violent Christianity?”
- Kejda Gjermani (Commentary Magazine author)
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“Robert Spencer, a prolific anti-Islam writer and a leading Islamophobe who is bent on distorting Islam and demonizing Muslims, has persistently argued that violence and terrorism employed by Muslim extremists is rooted in the Quran and its message. Spencer calls the Quran, a book sacred to Muslim, ‘the jihadists’ Mein Kampf,’ in reference to Hitler’s memoir.”
- Louay M. Safi (Islamic Scholar)
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“The widespread ignorance about Islam in the West makes many vulnerable to Spencer’s polemic; he is telling them what they are predisposed to hear. His book is a gift to extremists who can use it to ‘prove’ to those Muslims who have been alienated by events in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq that the west is incurably hostile to their faith."
- Karen Armstrong (Author)
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“Spencer thinks, ‘Islamist fundamentalist drive European politics’.”
“Spencer and Bat Ye’or “lack academic seriousness.”
- Ivan Jablonka (Scholar)
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“Words like Islamophobia and phrases like anti-Muslim bigotry are bandied about too liberally…But the real thing does exist, and it frequently takes the cover of anti-jihadism. Jihad Watch...traffics fairly openly in such stuff.”
- Cathy Young (Writer with Reason Magazine)
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Going to a fake scholar like him (rather than to a credible scholar of merit) for information on Islam or Muslims is akin to going to a Witch Doctor (rather than to an actual physician) for healing. In other words, Robert Spencer is offering you the intellectual equivalent of frog-eyeball and goat-testicle potion? You call that science, and we have a “Brooklyn Bridge” we would love to sell you.
A great response for rational, well-meaning people, but I think much of Spencer’s audience has already rejected inconvenient obstacles like facts or peerreviewed scholarship. Hopefully this site wiill protect those on the fence from being indoctrinated with Islamophobia.
Islamophobes like him certainly do not have any “scholarship” credentials.
Somebody should tell Newt. Soon.
http://www.newt.org/newt-direct/robert-spencer-praises-newts-intellectual-leadership-identifying-threat-radical-islam
you know if Muslims quit killing people and condeming free speech and referring to all non-muslims as infidels and marching through the streets screaming about how they are going to destroy western civilization – well then, people like Spencer probably would not have an audience. The problem for muslims is that with the internet it is easy to find the multitude of hate crimes and terrorist acts they have committed and to see the evidence of their insanity on news programs from almost every civilized country in the world.
“you know if Muslims quit killing people and condeming free speech and referring to all non-muslims as infidels and marching through the streets screaming about how they are going to destroy western civilization”
Many people started hating us even before a minority of us decided to do the things that you have mentioned. And people like Spencer continue to hate us despite the fact that the majority of Muslims have condemned terrorism using the Quran and Hadith. If you spend even a few minutes browsing the comments section on any JihadWatch post, you will find that many people hate us regardless of what we do, with many of them advocating the use of Nuclear weapons against all Muslims.
Many other ethnic groups have faced discrimination even though they were guilty of nothing. For example, the Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Hate is hate. Many of Spencer’s ramblings give a reason for that hate and many do not.
But I agree with you, that if the small minority of Muslim extremists that give Islam a bad name was to stop doing what they did, then certainly a few Islamophobes will quiet down. But it would be nice if Muslims didn’t have to argue with Islamophobic extremists like Spencer who are against all Muslims and so they could focus on eliminating the extremists within their own faith. If Spencer really cared about stopping Islamic terrorism, then he would work with Muslims not against them.
i grew up as a muslim, and though i currently am not, I know first hand that my family doesn’t condemn freedom, they don’t bash western civilization, and i don’t think i’ve ever heard my dad use the word infidel, its a pretty bold to assume you know more about my muslim family than I do, and by the way, everyday I have religious talks with my father that go beyond islam, He teaches me to learn from all religions, to read the Bible, the Sutras, science books, etc.
Just as a side note: “…and referring to all non-muslims as infidels…”
It amazes me the number of non-Muslims who actually refer to themselves as “infidels”. I have yet to personally meet a Muslim who calls non-Muslims “infidels”. I find more and more non-Muslims are calling themselves this – midway through a conversation they will call themselves this. Why? This was a term first used by Christians : “The term infidel was used by Christians to describe non-Christians or those perceived as the enemies of Christianity.”
Does anyone know exactly which think tanks Mr Spencer spent 20 years in before Jihad Watch? I cannot seem to find the names of these institutions….
So you have your little Spencer hatefest here, how wunderbar.
And you complain about Spencer being a hate monger? That wouldn’t be the pot calling the kettle black, would it?
In case you have a minute to spare between peddling polemic and vilification, would you care to point out where exactly Spencer is wrong in his books, talks and articles? Not wrong in the sense that you or some islamist dislikes what he says, but wrong as to verifiable sources and facts.
Have you bothered to read ANY of the articles on this site?
Why don’t you just answer the question?
James: That IS the answer to the question. This site contains numerous articles on Spencer’s pseudo-scholarship and ridiculous positions.
What are you asking? That they are be cut and pasted here in the comment section of this page?
His lies are pointed out every single day. The fact that you pretend not to know that, even while being on this site, shows you have no desire to know. And how exactly is this a hatefest in stating the blatant fact that Spencer has zero credentials for being a self-proclaimed scholar? Does that count for ANYTHING in your mind? The fact that you refuse to see that Spencer peddles in nothing but hate-mongering, bigoted filth that serves no purpose except to demonize and incite means you’re so far gone and have little interest in objectivity. It’s not islamists who denounce him, it’s pretty much everyone outside his little circle-jerk fest, including christians and jews who have respectable positions and credentials. Check the ‘What they say’ section. Why do you think that is? And how can you support someone that proclaims Obama is probably a closet Muslim? Unless you believe it too, and then everything makes sense.
This website is no better than Jihad watch because it (also) only presents one side of the argument. If the moderators really want to gain credibility they would impartially analyze ALL aspects of Islam instead of (doing the same as Spencer) using inductive reasoning (preaching to the choir) in an attempt to prove ALL aspects of your opponents arguments as false. Acknowledging that SOME aspects of your opponents arguments are indeed credible is a powerful tool in persuading critical thinkers to carefully consider your own rationality.
That’s not true. The makers of this website have many times accepted that there is a problem regarding terrorism, extremism and human rights in the Muslim World today but disagree with Robert Spencer in how he specifically targets Islam and encourages hatred towards peaceful Muslims.
Here is a good example:
http://www.loonwatch.com/2009/09/apostasy/
Loonwatch acknowledges that some Muslim extremists out there want to see apostasy punished by death, but this article argues against it using Islamic sources and proves that many modern Muslims do not accept this law.
One more about the catholic spencer:
Apart from being a disgrace to any community, Spencer hides the fact
that Catholics killed human beings more than any other religion in history – starting from the crusades and ever after.
Well! So much has been spoken about Islam and I wonder by now most of the Muslims might have left Islam.
From my reading of Hadith, Quran, I understand that Al-Qaeda, Taliban and other armed Islamic jihadis are Good Muslims because they are religious first of all, they know Quran, hadith, Sunna and other Islamic literature and they offer five times namaz as well. they are following exactly what is written in the Quran so, if you fight till you die, you are blessed with virgins (hooris) and wine in heaven.
To the contrary, the other Muslims those who are not fighting and those who do not offer five times of namaz are bad Muslims according to Quran. Paradise is only guaranteed to those who, who have fought and died for the cause of Allah.
Now, you people decide what is good and what is bad?
Nice try, but no. The terrorists like to think that they’re good Muslims but they’re not. You, as an anti-Muslim hate-filled bigot, want them to be good Muslims but they’re not.
They’re bad Muslims, and have violated numerous important concepts found in both the Qur’an and Hadith. For example, it is abundantly clear to anyone that both texts forbid the killing of non-civilians but Al-Qaeda still do it. They are going against Islam.
Why do you think the major Islamic scholars of the world reject them? Osama and Zawahiri liked to think they were Qur’anic scholars too but they’re not. One was a businessman and the other is a surgeon, none of them are qualified enough to make the fatwas they have given.