Ibn Warraq
Encyclopedia
Ibn Warraq is the pen name
of a polemical author
of Pakistan
i origin who is critical of Islam
, and who founded the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
(ISIS). He is a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry
focusing on Qur'anic criticism. Warraq's commentary on Islam has been criticized for being overly polemic
al and revisionist
.
Warraq gathered world notice through his historiographies of the early centuries of the Islamic timeline and has published works which question mainstream conceptions of the period. He is the author of seven books, including Why I Am Not a Muslim
(1995), The Origins of the Koran (1998), The Quest for the Historical Muhammad (2000), What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary
(2002) and Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism (2007). He has also spoken at the United Nations
"Victims of Jihad" conference organized by the International Humanist and Ethical Union alongside speakers such as Bat Ye'or
, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
, and Simon Deng
.
in 2007 that "he has not been indoctrinated by religion" and has always been a sceptic, even though he studied Arabic and read the Qur'an as a young man in hope of becoming a follower of the Islamic faith. His father eventually decided to send him to a boarding school in England
partly to circumvent a grandmother's effort to push an exclusively religious education on his son at the local Madrasah. Warraq never knew his mother, who died when he was an infant. After his arrival in Britain, he only saw his father once more, when he was 14. His father died two years later. Warraq claims to have been "pathologically shy" for most of his youth.
By 19 he had moved to Scotland
to pursue his education at the University of Edinburgh
, where he studied philosophy
and Arabic with Islamic studies scholar W. Montgomery Watt.
After graduating, Warraq taught primary school in London
for five years and moved to France
with his wife in 1982, opening an Indian restaurant. He worked as a courier for a travel agent until the Rushdie affair
took place. Because of this event, Warraq began to write for the American secular humanist Free Inquiry Magazine on topics such as "Why I am not Muslim."
Ibn Warraq continued writing with several works examining the historiography
of the Qur'an
and Muhammad
, raising a great deal of controversy that allowed certain Islamic leaders to arouse animosity in their communities in the process. Other books treated secular humanist
values among Muslims. In The Origins of The Koran: Classic Essays on Islam’s Holy Book Ibn Warraq includes some of Theodor Nöldeke
's studies.
In 2005, Warraq spent several months working with Christoph Luxenberg
In February 2006, he participated with several other specialists at the Pim Fortuyn
Memorial Conference on Islam in The Hague
(Feb. 17th-19th 2006).
In March 2006, a letter he co-signed entitled MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism
with eleven other individuals (most notably Salman Rushdie) was published in response to violent and deadly protests in the Islamic world surrounding the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
.
Although not a member of any religion, he has a higher opinion of polytheism
than of monotheism
. He is the founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
. Despite his criticisms of Islam, he does not take the view that it cannot be reformed; and he works with liberal Muslims in his group. He has described himself as an atheist or an agnostic.
In 2007, he participated in St Petersburg Secular Islam Summit
along with other thinkers and reformers of Islam such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali
, Wafa Sultan
, and Irshad Manji
. The group released the St Petersburg Declaration, which urges world governments to, among other things, reject Sharia
law, fatwa
courts, clerical rule, and state-sanctioned religion in all their forms; and to oppose all penalties for blasphemy
and apostasy
, which they believe to be in violation of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
.
Warraq's op-ed
pieces have appeared in The Wall Street Journal
and The Guardian
in London
, and he has addressed governmental bodies all over the world, including the United Nations
in Geneva
.
In October 2007, Warraq participated in the IQ2 debates in London
with Douglas Murray
, David Aaronovitch
, Tariq Ramadan
, William Dalrymple (historian)
, and Charles Glass
Ibn Warraq is used due to his concerns for his personal safety and one that has been adopted by dissident
authors throughout the history of Islam. The name refers to 9th century skeptical scholar Muhammad al Warraq
. Warraq adopted the pseudonym in 1995 when he completed his first book, entitled "Why I Am Not a Muslim
".
described Ibn Warraq's book Why I am not a Muslim (1995) as "well-researched and quite brilliant." Similarly, Warraq himself and his book Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism were praised by Efraim Karsh
: "eminent intellectual Ibn Warraq exposes with razor sharp precision the hypocrisy of Said’s writings," wrote Karsh, "as well as the perverted academic culture that has made his great success possible." Fouad Ajami
called the book "a brilliant and luminous book of cultural analysis and intellectual history."
, a professor in Near Eastern studies, notes his lack of specialist training in Arabic studies, citing "inconsistent handling of Arabic materials," and unoriginal arguments, and "heavy-handed favoritism" towards revisionist theories and "the compiler’s [i.e. Ibn Warraq's] agenda, which is not scholarship, but anti-Islamic polemic." Anthropologist and historian Daniel Martin Varisco
has criticized Ibn Warraq's book Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism, writing that "This modern son of a bookseller imprints a polemical farce not worth the 500-plus pages of paper it wastes."
François de Blois in reviewing The origins of the Koran, states that "it is surprising that the editor, who in his Why I am not a Muslim took a very high posture as a critical rationalist and opponent of all forms of obscurantism, now relies so heavily on writings by Christian polemicists from the nineteenth century". Similarly, Professor As'ad AbuKhalil
noted that unlike the medieval Al-Warraq
who criticized more than one religion, "Ibn Warraq claims to subscribe to secularism and freethinking, yet he objects to Islam only and aligns himself with Christian fundamentalism, which raises questions about the true thrust of his mission" and added that "the more rigid and biased the Orientalists, the better for Warraq".
Asma Afsaruddin states that "Ibn Warraq is not interested in debate; he wants nothing less than wholesale conversion to his point of view within the community of scholars of Islam" and added that his work, The Origins of The Koran, "needlessly poisons the atmosphere and stymies efforts to engage in honest scholarly discussion".
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
of a polemical author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i origin who is critical of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, and who founded the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
The Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society is an organization of writers that promotes the ideas of secularism, democracy and human rights within Islamic society. It is part of the Center for Inquiry....
(ISIS). He is a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry
Center for Inquiry
The Center for Inquiry is a non-profit educational organization with headquarters in the United States whose primary mission is to encourage evidence-based inquiry into paranormal and fringe science claims, alternative medicine and mental health practices, religion, secular ethics, and society...
focusing on Qur'anic criticism. Warraq's commentary on Islam has been criticized for being overly polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
al and revisionist
Historical revisionism
In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of orthodox views on evidence, motivations, and decision-making processes surrounding a historical event...
.
Warraq gathered world notice through his historiographies of the early centuries of the Islamic timeline and has published works which question mainstream conceptions of the period. He is the author of seven books, including Why I Am Not a Muslim
Why I Am Not a Muslim
Why I Am Not a Muslim, a book written by Ibn Warraq, is a critique of Islam and the Qur'an. It was first published by Prometheus Books in the USA in 1995...
(1995), The Origins of the Koran (1998), The Quest for the Historical Muhammad (2000), What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary
What the Koran Really Says
What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary is the title of a book edited and translated by Ibn Warraq and published by Prometheus Books...
(2002) and Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism (2007). He has also spoken at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
"Victims of Jihad" conference organized by the International Humanist and Ethical Union alongside speakers such as Bat Ye'or
Bat Ye'or
Bat Ye'or is a pseudonym of Gisèle Littman, née Orebi, an Egyptian-born British writer and political commentator who writes about the history of non-Muslims in the Middle East, and in particular the history of Christian and Jewish dhimmis living under Islamic governments.She is the author of eight...
, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...
, and Simon Deng
Simon Deng
Simon Aban Deng is a Sudanese human rights activist living in the United States. He is a victim of child slavery. A native of the Shilluk Kingdom in southern Sudan, Deng spent several years as a domestic slave in southern Sudan.-Biography:...
.
Life
He stated in an interview with the German magazine Der SpiegelDer Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
in 2007 that "he has not been indoctrinated by religion" and has always been a sceptic, even though he studied Arabic and read the Qur'an as a young man in hope of becoming a follower of the Islamic faith. His father eventually decided to send him to a boarding school in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
partly to circumvent a grandmother's effort to push an exclusively religious education on his son at the local Madrasah. Warraq never knew his mother, who died when he was an infant. After his arrival in Britain, he only saw his father once more, when he was 14. His father died two years later. Warraq claims to have been "pathologically shy" for most of his youth.
By 19 he had moved to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
to pursue his education at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, where he studied philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and Arabic with Islamic studies scholar W. Montgomery Watt.
After graduating, Warraq taught primary school in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for five years and moved to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
with his wife in 1982, opening an Indian restaurant. He worked as a courier for a travel agent until the Rushdie affair
The Satanic Verses controversy
The Satanic Verses controversy was the heated and sometimes violent Muslim reaction to the publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. Many Muslims accused Rushdie of blasphemy or unbelief and in 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie...
took place. Because of this event, Warraq began to write for the American secular humanist Free Inquiry Magazine on topics such as "Why I am not Muslim."
Ibn Warraq continued writing with several works examining the historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
of the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
and Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
, raising a great deal of controversy that allowed certain Islamic leaders to arouse animosity in their communities in the process. Other books treated secular humanist
Secular humanism
Secular Humanism, alternatively known as Humanism , is a secular philosophy that embraces human reason, ethics, justice, and the search for human fulfillment...
values among Muslims. In The Origins of The Koran: Classic Essays on Islam’s Holy Book Ibn Warraq includes some of Theodor Nöldeke
Theodor Nöldeke
Theodor Nöldeke was a German Semitic scholar, who was born in Harburg and studied in Göttingen, Vienna, Leiden and Berlin....
's studies.
In 2005, Warraq spent several months working with Christoph Luxenberg
Christoph Luxenberg
Christoph Luxenberg is the pseudonym of the author ofThe Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran: A Contribution to the Decoding of the Language of the Qur'an and several articles in anthologies about early Islam....
In February 2006, he participated with several other specialists at the Pim Fortuyn
Pim Fortuyn
Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List ....
Memorial Conference on Islam in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
(Feb. 17th-19th 2006).
In March 2006, a letter he co-signed entitled MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism
MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism
MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism is a political statement made in response to the violence surrounding the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. The signatories said they issued the letter to demonstrate that there is a need to fight for secular values and personal freedom...
with eleven other individuals (most notably Salman Rushdie) was published in response to violent and deadly protests in the Islamic world surrounding the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
.
Although not a member of any religion, he has a higher opinion of polytheism
Polytheism
Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals....
than of monotheism
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
. He is the founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
The Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society is an organization of writers that promotes the ideas of secularism, democracy and human rights within Islamic society. It is part of the Center for Inquiry....
. Despite his criticisms of Islam, he does not take the view that it cannot be reformed; and he works with liberal Muslims in his group. He has described himself as an atheist or an agnostic.
In 2007, he participated in St Petersburg Secular Islam Summit
Secular Islam Summit
Secular Islam Summit was an international forum for secularists of Islamic societies, held in March 2007 in St. Petersburg, Florida, organized and sponsored by the Center for Inquiry, a global federation committed to science, reason, free inquiry and secularism, in partnership with the...
along with other thinkers and reformers of Islam such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...
, Wafa Sultan
Wafa Sultan
Wafa Sultan is a medical doctor who trained as a psychiatrist in Syria, and an American author and critic of Muslim society and Islam.-Life and career:Sultan was born into a large traditional Alawite Muslim family in Baniyas, Syria....
, and Irshad Manji
Irshad Manji
Irshad Manji is a Canadian author, journalist and an advocate of "reform and progressive" interpretation of Islam. Manji is director of the Moral Courage Project at the Robert F...
. The group released the St Petersburg Declaration, which urges world governments to, among other things, reject Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
law, fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
courts, clerical rule, and state-sanctioned religion in all their forms; and to oppose all penalties for blasphemy
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
and apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
, which they believe to be in violation of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
.
Warraq's op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
pieces have appeared in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and he has addressed governmental bodies all over the world, including the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
.
In October 2007, Warraq participated in the IQ2 debates in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with Douglas Murray
Douglas Murray (author)
Douglas Murray is a British writer and commentator who was the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion from 2007 until 2011 and is currently an associate director of the Henry Jackson Society. Murray appears regularly in the British broadcast media, commentating on issues from a conservative...
, David Aaronovitch
David Aaronovitch
David Aaronovitch is a British author, broadcaster, and journalist. He is a regular columnist for The Times, and author of Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country and Voodoo Histories: the role of Conspiracy Theory in Modern History...
, Tariq Ramadan
Tariq Ramadan
Tariq Ramadan is a Swiss academic, poet and writer. He is also a Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University...
, William Dalrymple (historian)
William Dalrymple
William Dalrymple, FRSL FRAS is an award winning historian and writer, as well as a broadcaster, critic and art historian. He has been the South Asia correspondent of the New Statesman since 2004...
, and Charles Glass
Charles Glass
Charles Glass is an American author, journalist, and broadcaster specializing in the Middle East. He writes regularly for The Spectator, was ABC News chief Middle East correspondent from 1983–93, and has worked as a correspondent for Newsweek and The Observer...
Seclusion
Prior to 2007, Ibn Warraq refused to show his face in public. This was due to fears for his personal safety and also due to his desire to travel to see his family in Pakistan without being denied access to Muslim countries. His face was blacked out on the ISIS website. More recently, he has decided to show his face openly and take part in public debates. However, his presence normally requires extensive policing.Pen name
The pen namePen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Ibn Warraq is used due to his concerns for his personal safety and one that has been adopted by dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
authors throughout the history of Islam. The name refers to 9th century skeptical scholar Muhammad al Warraq
Muhammad al Warraq
Abu Issa Muhammad Ibn Harun al-Warraq was a 9th Century skeptical scholar and critic of Islam. He was a mentor and friend of scholar Ibn al-Rawandi in whose work The Book of the Emerald he appears...
. Warraq adopted the pseudonym in 1995 when he completed his first book, entitled "Why I Am Not a Muslim
Why I Am Not a Muslim
Why I Am Not a Muslim, a book written by Ibn Warraq, is a critique of Islam and the Qur'an. It was first published by Prometheus Books in the USA in 1995...
".
Praise
In 1996, writer Daniel PipesDaniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes is an American historian, writer, and political commentator. He is the founder and director of the Middle East Forum and its Campus Watch project, and editor of its Middle East Quarterly journal...
described Ibn Warraq's book Why I am not a Muslim (1995) as "well-researched and quite brilliant." Similarly, Warraq himself and his book Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism were praised by Efraim Karsh
Efraim Karsh
Efraim Karsh is professor and head of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at King's College London, and director of the Philadelphia-based think tank, the Middle East Forum...
: "eminent intellectual Ibn Warraq exposes with razor sharp precision the hypocrisy of Said’s writings," wrote Karsh, "as well as the perverted academic culture that has made his great success possible." Fouad Ajami
Fouad Ajami
Fouad A. Ajami , is a MacArthur Fellowship winning, Lebanese-born American university professor and writer on Middle Eastern issues. He is currently a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution....
called the book "a brilliant and luminous book of cultural analysis and intellectual history."
Criticism
Conversely, in reviewing Ibn Warraq's compilation The Origins of the Koran, religious studies professor Herbert Berg has labelled him as "polemical and inconsistent" in his writing. In reviewing Ibn Warraq's essay in his Quest for the Historical Muhammad (2001) Fred DonnerFred Donner
Fred McGraw Donner is an Islamic scholar and Professor of Near Eastern History at the University of Chicago.-Early life:Donner was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, where he attended public schools...
, a professor in Near Eastern studies, notes his lack of specialist training in Arabic studies, citing "inconsistent handling of Arabic materials," and unoriginal arguments, and "heavy-handed favoritism" towards revisionist theories and "the compiler’s [i.e. Ibn Warraq's] agenda, which is not scholarship, but anti-Islamic polemic." Anthropologist and historian Daniel Martin Varisco
Daniel Martin Varisco
Daniel Martin Varisco , anthropologist and historian, is Professor of Anthropology at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. He has published on the history of Orientalism, the anthropology of Islam, the history of Islamic agronomy and astronomy, agriculture and water rights in Yemen,...
has criticized Ibn Warraq's book Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism, writing that "This modern son of a bookseller imprints a polemical farce not worth the 500-plus pages of paper it wastes."
François de Blois in reviewing The origins of the Koran, states that "it is surprising that the editor, who in his Why I am not a Muslim took a very high posture as a critical rationalist and opponent of all forms of obscurantism, now relies so heavily on writings by Christian polemicists from the nineteenth century". Similarly, Professor As'ad AbuKhalil
As'ad AbuKhalil
As'ad AbuKhalil Arabic: أسعد أبو خليل is a Lebanese-American professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus....
noted that unlike the medieval Al-Warraq
Muhammad al Warraq
Abu Issa Muhammad Ibn Harun al-Warraq was a 9th Century skeptical scholar and critic of Islam. He was a mentor and friend of scholar Ibn al-Rawandi in whose work The Book of the Emerald he appears...
who criticized more than one religion, "Ibn Warraq claims to subscribe to secularism and freethinking, yet he objects to Islam only and aligns himself with Christian fundamentalism, which raises questions about the true thrust of his mission" and added that "the more rigid and biased the Orientalists, the better for Warraq".
Asma Afsaruddin states that "Ibn Warraq is not interested in debate; he wants nothing less than wholesale conversion to his point of view within the community of scholars of Islam" and added that his work, The Origins of The Koran, "needlessly poisons the atmosphere and stymies efforts to engage in honest scholarly discussion".
Works
- Why I Am Not a MuslimWhy I Am Not a MuslimWhy I Am Not a Muslim, a book written by Ibn Warraq, is a critique of Islam and the Qur'an. It was first published by Prometheus Books in the USA in 1995...
, Ibn Warraq, foreword by R. Joseph HoffmannR. Joseph HoffmannR. Joseph Hoffmann is a historian of religion, and was chair of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion, Associate Editor of the journal Free Inquiry from 2003-2009. He was founding editor of CSER's Review, CAESAR: A Journal of Religion and Human Values...
, Prometheus Books, 1995, hardcover, 428 pages, ISBN 0-87975-984-4 - Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak OutLeaving Islam: Apostates Speak OutLeaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out is a book, authored and edited by secularist Ibn Warraq that researches and documents cases of apostasy in Islam.-Synopsis:...
, edited by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus BooksPrometheus BooksPrometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by Paul Kurtz, who also founded the Council for Secular Humanism and co-founded the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is currently the chairman of all three organizations. Prometheus Books publishes a range of books, including many...
, 2003, hardcover, 320 pages, ISBN 1-59102-068-9 - What the Koran Really SaysWhat the Koran Really SaysWhat the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary is the title of a book edited and translated by Ibn Warraq and published by Prometheus Books...
: Language, Text, and Commentary, edited and translated by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 2002, 600 pages, ISBN 1-57392-945-X - The Quest for the Historical Muhammad, edited and translated by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 2000, hardcover, 554 pages, ISBN 1-57392-787-2
- The Origins of The Koran: Classic Essays on Islam's Holy Book, edited by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 1998, hardcover, 420 pages, ISBN 1-57392-198-X
- Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism. Prometheus Books 2007 hardcover,: 300 pages ISBN 1-59102-484-6
- Which Koran?: Variants, Manuscripts, and the Influence of Pre-Islamic Poetry . Prometheus Books 1 May 2007 : 450 pages, ISBN 1-59102-429-3, ISBN 978-1-59102-429-3
See also
- Apostasy in IslamApostasy in IslamApostasy in Islam is commonly defined in Islam as the rejection in word or deed of one's former religion by a person who was previously a follower of Islam...
- Criticism of IslamCriticism of IslamCriticism of Islam has existed since Islam's formative stages. Early written criticism came from Christians, prior to the ninth century, many of whom viewed Islam as a radical Christian heresy...
- Criticism of the Qur'anCriticism of the Qur'anWhile the Qur'an is the scriptural foundation of most forms of Islam criticism of the Qur'an has frequently occurred. Critics have made allegations of scientific, theological, and historical errors, claims of contradictions in the Qur'an and criticisms of the Qur'an's moral values.-Historical...
- List of former Muslims
- Religious conversionReligious conversionReligious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
External links
- The Unofficial Ibn Warraq Site
- Stephen CrittendenStephen CrittendenStephen Crittenden is one of Australia's leading religion journalists and a broadcaster for ABC Radio National.-Early career:Crittenden began his radio career as a schoolboy, broadcasting with Sydney's classical FM community radio station 2MBS-FM...
interviews Ibn Warraq for the ABCAustralian Broadcasting CorporationThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, 10 October 2001 - Profile at Islam Watch, contains writings by Warraq
- Ibn Warraq: How to Debate a Muslim
- Holy War, Chris Mooney on Ibn Warraq for The American ProspectThe American ProspectThe American Prospect is a monthly American political magazine dedicated to American liberalism. Based in Washington, DC, The American Prospect is a journal "of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics" which focuses on United States politics...
, 17 December 2001 - Statement by Ibn Warraq on the World Trade Center Atrocity