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Robert B. Spencer

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hiddekel (talk | contribs) at 20:13, 18 February 2009 (Rm link to Spencer attack page; this would be borderline if used as a reference to something relevant, when put in external links it's just libel-spam.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other uses, see Robert B. Spencer (disambiguation).
Robert Spencer
NationalityAmerican
GenreReligion
SubjectJihad, Islamic terrorism
Website
http://www.jihadwatch.org/

Robert Bruce Spencer (born 1962) is an American author of articles and books relating to Islam and Islamic terrorism. He has published seven books, including two bestsellers. He is a contributor to the FrontPage magazine, directed by David Horowitz. He founded and currently directs the Jihad Watch and Dhimmi Watch Web sites that focus on Islamic terrorism-related events and various Jihad-activity worldwide.[1]

Biography

Robert Spencer, who is a practicing Melkite Catholic, holds a Master's degree in the department of Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1986. His MA thesis is entitled The Monophysite in the Mirror and concerns the Christological controversies of the early Church, and their connection to various ecclesiological models. Spencer says it led him to study the Eastern Churches in depth, which "coalesced nicely" with his study of Islam.[2]

According to the biography at one of his Web sites,[1] Spencer began studying Islam in 1980 during his first year as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina. He wrote freelance articles for various publications between 1980 and 2001 on Catholic religious issues. In 2002, he became an adjunct fellow with the Free Congress Foundation. He wrote seven monographs on Islam for the Free Congress Foundation in 2002 and 2003. In 2006, he joined the Advisory Board of the American Council for Kosovo, a lobby group which opposes independence from Serbia for the mainly Muslim state.[3] He is a regular columnist for FrontPageMagazine.com, and Human Events. His writings on Islam and other topics have been published in various other publications.[citation needed]

In 2006, he participated in a workshop on terrorist threats, jointly sponsored by the German Foreign Ministry and the United States Embassy Berlin.[4] In the same year, he conducted a workshop at the United States Central Command.[5] He has discussed jihad, Islam, and terrorism on a variety of television networks, as well as on numerous radio programs.

His writings on Islam and other topics have been published in the New York Post, the Washington Times, the Dallas Morning News, Canada's National Post, FrontPage Magazine, WorldNetDaily, Human Events, National Review Online, and in other publications. He has consulted with United States Central Command and the U.S. State Department and the German Foreign Ministry, and frequently appears on global media networks such as the BBC, CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC, PBS, C-Span, as well as on numerous radio programs including Michael Savage's Savage Nation, The Alan Colmes Show, The G. Gordon Liddy Show, The Neal Boortz Show, The Michael Medved Show, The Michael Reagan Show, The Andrew Wilkow Show, The Larry Elder Show, The Barbara Simpson Show, and Vatican Radio.

Spencer's Views

Template:Muslims and controversies

Spencer has stated that "traditional Islam contains violent and supremacist elements," and that "its various schools unanimously teach warfare against and the subjugation of unbelievers," and he calls for Muslims to fashion an interpretation of Islam that rejects violence and supremacism.[6]. Although Spencer believes Islam has violent elements in its traditional teachings, he rejects the idea that all Muslims must be violent people as a common misunderstanding of his position. He asserts that "Islam is not a monolith, and never have I said or written anything that characterizes all Muslims as terrorist or given to violence. I am only calling attention to the roots and goals of jihad violence. Any Muslim who renounces violent jihad and dhimmitude is welcome to join in our anti-jihadist efforts. Any hate in my books comes from Muslim sources I quote, not from me. Cries of "hatred" and "bigotry" are effectively used by American Muslim advocacy groups to try to stifle the debate about the terrorist threat." [7]

Spencer has expressed strong criticism of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as well as numerous other Muslim advocacy groups, in particular relating to their alleged close ties with jihadist organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood[8] and their employment of a number of Muslims who were later convicted on charges relating to terrorism.[9]

Spencer notes that among moderate Muslims "there are some who are genuinely trying to frame a theory and practice of Islam that will allow for peaceful coexistence with unbelievers as equals," [10] but he also argues that many so-called reformers are not interested in genuine reform, but instead aim to deflect scrutiny of Islam. Spencer posits that anyone pursuing his called-for reforms will face a difficult task, because "the radicals actually do have a stronger theoretical, theological, and legal basis within Islam for what they believe than the moderates do."[11]

Spencer has criticized the discussion of Islam by Western political leaders, journalists, and intellectuals. He has written that such figures often assert the peaceful nature of Islam as axiomatic, rather than engaging evidence to the contrary. On matters of policy, Spencer called in his book The Truth about Muhammad for the United States to "stop insisting that Islam is a religion of peace," find alternative energy sources to reduce dependence on Muslim states, make "aid contingent upon renunciation of the jihad ideology," "call upon the American Muslim advocacy groups to work against the jihad ideology," and revise immigration policies with the goal of preventing potential jihadists from entering the country.

Views on Spencer and his works

Views by those who agree with Spencer

Daniel Pipes has said: "Robert Spencer and I have discussed the perceived differences in our view of Islam. He and I concluded that, although we have different emphases - he deals more with scriptures, I more with history - we have no disagreements."[12] He has also endorsed Spencer's books The Truth About Muhammad, and Onward Muslim Soldiers. Bat Ye'or,[13], Ibn Warraq[14], Ann Coulter, Don Feder, Michelle Malkin and David G. Dalin[15] are also among those who have a positive view of Spencer's works,

Views by those who disagree

Dinesh D'Souza claims that "Spencer is an effective polemicist."[16]

Khaleel Mohammed,[17] Dinesh D'Souza,[18] Karen Armstrong,[19] Cathy Young,[20] Stephen Schwartz (journalist),[21] and organizations such as CAIR,[22], ADC[23] and FAIR[24] hold negative views.

Khaleel Mohammed, Louay M. Safi, and Carl Ernst assert that Spencer's scholarship and interpretations of Islam are fundamentally flawed - that he supports preconceived notions through selection bias - that he lacks genuine understanding and; that 'he has no academic training in Islamic studies whatsoever; his M.A. degree was in the field of early Christianity'.[25][26][27] For example, critics have objected to what they describe as Spencer's method of taking a position they deem to be radical (on apostasy, women, etc.) and then attribute that position to all of Islam, rather than situating it within ongoing discussions.[17].

Khaleel Mohammed and Spencer have had detailed discussions on FrontPage Magazine.[28][26][29][30] Carl Ernst and William Kenan have called him an "Islamophobe".[31] Ernst notes that Spencer's articles have never been published in peer-reviewed academic journals, nor are his publications similarly reviewed or edited by a qualified scholar and published by an academic or university publishers but by conservative presses such as Regnery Publishing.[31]

A French academic historian, Ivan Jablonka, from École Normale Supérieure in Paris, in his own study of similarities between the approaches to Islam of authors like Bat Ye'or, Robert Spencer, David Pryce-Jones and Daniel Pipes[32], argues that, to Spencer, "Islamist integrists drive European politics" to such a point that "Zapatero's victory in Spain after Madrid blasts is presented by Spencer as an ultimate victory of jihadists." Such declarations, according to Jablonka, underline the similarities between Spencer's work and Bat Ye'or's views on "Eurabia." Jablonka asserts that Spencer or Bat Ye'or's views lack of academic seriousness: their purported historical and interpretative continuity between some data picked up from Middle Age Islamic civilization and modern activism is a political construction poorly substantiated. For Jablonka, writings of authors like Spencer or Bat Ye'or relentlessly intent to designate "new enemies for wars to come"[33].

Criticism from Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto briefly criticized Robert Spencer in her book Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West

"Robert Spencer is the author of the well-known Web site Jihad Watch. He uses the Internet to spread misinformation and hatred of Islam, while claiming he is merely putting forward the truth. But as in much extremist advocacy, he presents a skewed, one-sided, and inflammatory story that only helps sow the seeds of civilizational conflict. For example, he takes apparently violent verses of the Quran out of context and then does not provide any peaceful verses as a balance. Unlike many of the more mainstream authors presented, Spencer does not understand the true Muslim faith or differentiate between moderate Muslims and violent Islamists, and so lumps them all in one boat." [34]

Criticism of Spencer from Dinesh D'Souza

Dinesh D'Souza wrote:

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 (they didn't give minorities full rights! they reduced Jews and Christians to second class citizens!) 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."[35]

D'Souza continues:

"Yes, the Koran says "slay the infidels" but no Muslim empire actually did that. For example the Muslims ruled North India for two centuries before they were displaced by the British. The Mughal emperors could have killed the tens of millions of Hindus under their control or at least forced them to become Muslims? They (Muslims) did nothing of the sort." [36]

And,

"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."[37]

Spencer's responses to some critics

In response to criticism, Spencer states that none of his critics have substantiated their claims of inaccuracy in his work, but content themselves with broad and vague accusations. He says:

"I present the work not on the basis of my credentials, but on the basis of the evidence I bring forth; evaluate it for yourself. One example: after I spoke at the University of North Carolina, Professor Carl Ernst of the university wrote a piece about me warning that my books were non-scholarly and were published by presses that he believed reflected a political agenda of which he did not approve. That kind of approach may impress some people, but Carl Ernst did not and cannot bring forth even a single example of a supposed inaccuracy in my work. I would, of course, be happy to debate Carl Ernst or any other scholar of Islam about Islam and jihad; this is a standing invitation."[1]

He has also said:

"It is amusing to me that some people like to focus on my credentials, when I have never made a secret of the fact that most of what I know about Islam comes from personal study. It is easier for them to talk about degrees than to find any inaccuracy in my work. Yet I present the work not on the basis of my credentials, but on the basis of the evidence I bring forth; evaluate it for yourself."[1]

Spencer has criticized academics at his Web site writing that he opted not to enter any PhD program because he "could see [in 1986] that Middle East Studies and other departments were becoming highly politicized and retreating from genuine academic work".[38][1] About charges of "bigotry" and "hatred" from Ernst[39] and others he says:

"It is not an act of hatred against Muslims to point out the depredations of jihad ideology. It is a peculiar species of displacement and projection to accuse someone who exposes the hatred of one group of hatred himself: I believe in the equality of rights and dignity of all people, and that is why I oppose the global jihad. And I think that those who make the charge know better in any case: they use the charge as a tool to frighten the credulous and politically correct away from the truth."[39]

Concerning this version of his Wikipedia biography, dated March 5, 2008, Spencer said "it is relentlessly biased, and the negative spin is thoroughgoing." [2] However, on March 6, 2008, Spencer specified revisions to his bio.[2]

Book-ban

The government of Pakistan announced on 20 December 2006 its ban on Robert Spencer's book, The Truth About Muhammad, citing "objectionable material" as the cause.[40]

"Invitation to Islam" from Al Qaeda

On 2 September 2006 a video called "Invitation to Islam" surfaced. It featured Adam Gadahn, spokesman for the Islamist terrorist group Al Qaeda, with a brief appearance also by Ayman al-Zawahiri. [41] In the video, Gadahn named Spencer in a list of "Zionist crusader missionaries of hate and counter-Islam consultants" which included George W. Bush, and that if he "were to abandon their unbelief and repent and enter into the light of Islam and turn their swords against the enemies of God, it would be accepted of them and they would be our brothers in Islam."[42]

Spencer responded with an article in Frontpage Magazine in which he publicly rejected Gadahn's offer and responded with his own counter-offer:

I invite you [Gadahn] to accept the Bill of Rights, and enter into the brotherhood of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. My invitation does not focus on my religion, although I invite you to that also, but rather on a framework within which people of differing faiths can live in peace, harmony, and mutual respect–provided that none of the groups involved cherishes supremacist ambitions to subjugate the others.[43]

Affiliations

In 2002, Spencer was appointed by Paul Weyrich to the Free Congress Foundation and asked to write on Islam. In 2002 he named Spencer an Adjunct Fellow of the Free Congress Foundation and asked him to write a series of monographs on Islam. [44] Spencer named Weyrich, also a Melkite, as a mentor. Spencer writes, "Paul Weyrich taught me a great deal, by word and by example -- about how to deal both personally and professionally with the slanders and smears that are a daily aspect of this work." [45].

Spencer stated that he traveled to Europe to attend an Anti-Islamization Conference, where he met with leaders of Vlaams Belang, in 2007.[46]. Spencer wrote that his meeting "herald(ed) a new phase of cooperation between European and American Anti-Jihadists" and adds, "I completely disavow and repudiate any neo-Nazi or white supremacist individual or group" [47]

Bibliography

Best sellers

Others

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Bio from Jihadwatch.org".
  2. ^ a b c "Jihad Watch: Wikipedia and Robert Spencer".
  3. ^ Jihad Watch: Announcing the American Council for Kosovo
  4. ^ "012304.php". www.jihadwatch.org.
  5. ^ "011546.php". www.jihadwatch.org.
  6. ^ [http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/021661.php
  7. ^ http://www.jihadwatch.org/spencer/ Robert Spencer
  8. ^ http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/016754.php
  9. ^ http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26676 Cair's Continuing Mystery
  10. ^ What is a moderate Muslim?
  11. ^ An Interview With Robert Spencer - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)
  12. ^ Reply to Pipes' reply to Rick H. - Reader comments at DanielPipes.org
  13. ^ Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, Bat Ye'or, p. 31, 107, 206
  14. ^ Ibn Warraq contributed to The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims, edited by Spencer
  15. ^ Books by Jihad Watch Director Robert Spencer
  16. ^ Dinesh D'Souza (2009-01-17). "Letting Bin Laden Define Islam".
  17. ^ a b "Home page of Muhammad Khaleel". Cite error: The named reference "Khaleel" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  18. ^ Dinesh D'Souza (2007-03-02). "Letting Bin Laden Define Islam".
  19. ^ Armstrong, Karen (April 27 2007), "Balancing the Prophet", FT.com (Financial Times) {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Armstrong writes "he makes basic and bad mistakes of fact", concentrating on what she says are omissions.
  20. ^ "The Jihad Against Muslims".
  21. ^ "A Schwartz-Spencer Exchange".
  22. ^ "CAIR press release". November 11, 2005.
  23. ^ "ADC Op-ed: "Violence is a human, not an Islamic trait"". American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. February 3, 2004.
  24. ^ "The Smearcasters: Robert Spencer". Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. October, 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ Louay M. Safi (December 29 2005). "Will the Extreme Right Succeed? Turning the War on Terror into a War on Islam". {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. ^ a b "Response to Spencer's "Muslim Feminism?"". FrontPage Magazine.
  27. ^ "Home page of Muhammad Khaleel". - Comments on his discussions with Spencer accessible at 8/28/2006 - The comments are "archived in a prior version of this article".
  28. ^ "Muslim Feminism? by Spencer".
  29. ^ "Response to Khaleel Mohammed".
  30. ^ "Spencer vs. Mohammed, Round II".
  31. ^ a b "Notes on the Ideological Patrons of an Islamophobe, Robert Spencer" (html). Retrieved 2007-02-14. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help)
  32. ^ La peur de l'Islam, Bat Ye'or et le spectre de l'Eurabie, [1].
  33. ^ ibid.
  34. ^ Benazir Bhutto, Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West, Harper, 2008, p.245
  35. ^ Dinesh D'Souza (2007-03-02). "Letting Bin Laden Define Islam".
  36. ^ Dinesh D'Souza (2007-03-02). "Letting Bin Laden Define Islam".
  37. ^ Dinesh D'Souza (2007-03-02). "Letting Bin Laden Define Islam".
  38. ^ "005715.php". www.jihadwatch.org.
  39. ^ a b "012899.php". www.jihadwatch.org.
  40. ^ "Pakistan bans Roberts' book about Prophet Muhammad".
  41. ^ Allahpundit (2006-09-02). "Video: Al Qaeda tells U.S. to convert or die". HotAir.com.
  42. ^ "Special Dispatch Series - No. 1281". memri.org.
  43. ^ Robert Spencer (September 6, 2006). "My Invitation From al-Qaeda". Frontpage Magazine.
  44. ^ Robert Spencer. "A Tribute: Paul Weyrich Has Died". Retrieved 3 January 2009.
  45. ^ [Ibid]
  46. ^ [2]
  47. ^ [3]
  48. ^ Best Sellers - Hardcover Nonfiction - NYT
  49. ^ Paperback Nonfiction - NYT
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