Please note: This post presents the Islamic apologist myths or misleading claims to be rebutted. At the end of this List are some Important Notes about the Topics. [Last updated: May 9, 2007]
Index of Islamic Apologist Claims to be Refuted
1.0.
Islam is a Religion of Peace.
1.1.
Islam means peace.
Archimedez1.2.
Sufi Islam is peaceful.
1.3. The Meccan verses are peaceful (and tolerant).
1.4. Jihad is primarily an inner struggle
1.5. Islam spread peacefully, and not by the sword. (cf. 2.1)
1.6.
Jihad is only defensive Caroline
1.7. Islam doesn't promote, justify, or approve of terrorism. (cf sect. 9.0)
1.8.
Islam forbids suicidal attacks.
Archimedez1.9. Islam forbids the killing of "innocents" including women and children.
1.10. Muslims can only legally wage jihad warfare if there is a Caliph. (
see)
1.11. Muslims [insert subgroups] are not unified in opposition to non-Muslims.
1.12. Alleged plots to kill Muhammad (pretexts) were credible, unjust.
1.13. The Meccans embraced Islam without bloodshed and coercion. (1.5)
1.14. The goal of Islam is
not to conquer the world/ all humankind.
2.0. Islam is a Religion of Tolerance
2.1. There
is 'no compulsion' in Islam (e.g., no forced conversion) (cf. 1.5).
2.2. Islam
respects all religious traditions.
2.3. Islam
promotes equality of all mankind.
2.4. Islam is compatible with Abrahamic faiths & they worship same God.
2.5. Islam protects
Christians and Jews, who have special status in Islam.
2.6. Jizya for
unbelievers is the equivalent of zakat for the believers.
2.7. Under Muslim rule, [non-Muslims] were/are treated relatively fairly.
2.8. Islam does not mandate death for apostasy. Archimedez
2.9. Only some Shia extremists classify infidels as najis (unclean).
2.10. Islam promotes racial equality {or see 3}
2.11. Islam allows freedom of expression within reasonable limits. (cf 6.7-8)
3.0.
Islam is a Religion of Justice
3.1. Islam, like all religions, practices the golden rule.
3.2. Islam is compatible with western values and laws (cf 2.12)
3.3.
Islam reduces economic injustice, including for non-Muslims.
3.4.
Stoning is un-Islamic
3.5.
Islam forbids theft, piracy, highway robbery, etc.
3.6. Islam forbids slavery.
3.7.
Slaves under Muslim rule were treated better than other slaves. (cf 3.6; 2.7).
3.8.
Islam forbids torture.
3.9. Islam forbids hostage-taking.
3.10. Beheading is un-Islamic (see this)
3.11. Honor killings are un-Islamic
3.12. Islam forbids lying, and taqiyya was practiced only by the Shia
3.13. Muhammad was not a pedophile.
3.14. Non-Muslims can't criticize Islam: Morality is relative. (cf 7.8) Caroline
3.15. Islam was an improvement relative to 7th century standards.
3.16. Islam respects women and is compatible with feminism. Caroline
3.17. Islam
forbids rape.
3.18. Muhammad's polygyny was political & altruistic, e.g., to help widows.
3.19. Muhammad was a man of excellent character. (cf. 3.18).
3.20. Female genital mutilation is not a true Islamic tradition.
4.0.
Islam Compares well with Other Religions and Ideologies.
4.1. [Insert non-Muslim religions/ideologies] have a history of violence, imperialism.
4.2. [Insert non-Muslim religious texts] advocate violence. (see this)
4.3. There've been other [insert non-Muslim] terrorists.(IRA this) Infidel Pride
4.4. Islam doesn't have a caste system, like Hinduism does.
4.5. Islam simply needs to undergo a "reformation" like Christianity.
5.0.
Islam's Great Cultural Legacy
5.1. Golden Age: Islam produced inventions, culture, mathematics, etc. see this
5.2. While Europe was in the dark ages, Islam was much more advanced.
6.0.
Shoot/Blame the Critic of Islam
6.1. Islam critics are to blame when Muslims respond with violence, threats.
6.2. Islam critics are as bad in ‘their interpretations’ as the extremists.
6.3. Islam critics are bigots for focussing criticism on Islam.
6.4. Attacking
Islam means you are attacking Muslims.
6.5. Criticism of Islam is Islamophobia, a
form of racism.
6.6. 'There are extremists on both sides.' (cf. 6.2)
6.7. Pope Benedict's speech was wrong and needlessly provocative. (2.11)
6.8. The Danish cartoons were meaningless, bigoted provocation. (2.11)
6.9. Islam critics are not Islamic scholars, are not knowledgeable/qualified.
6.10. Islam critics are guilty of "hate." (also see 6.4 and 6.5).
7.0. The
problems are due to translation/interpretation/misunderstanding
7.1. Critics take the Koranic quotes out of context Archimedez
7.2. The
Koran must be read or heard in Arabic (cf. 2.9). Archimedez
7.3. Critics of Islam cherry-pick the verses that look bad. Archimedez
7.4. Critics ignore the good verses. Archimedez
7.5. The
problem is literalist interpretation. Archimedez
7.6. The problem is fundamentalism, not Islam.
7.7. Islam is not a monolith; it is complex, diverse, with no orthodoxy.
7.8. You
must be Muslim or sympathetic to Islam to critique fairly.(3.14)
7.9.
The Koran doesn't support abrogation--a later innovation.
7.10. Islam does not promise sex with virgins in paradise for the martyr.
7.11.
The Quran-only approach solves the problems in Islam. Archimedez
7.12.
Real sharia is the Koran and Sunnah, not Islamic law.
7.13. Muhammad was only a messenger.
7.14. Muslims are not told to punish disbelievers; only Allah will do that.
7.15. Islam critics base their opinions on "bad sources/texts."
7.16. Islam critics rely on out-of-date texts, dead clerics. (see 7.15).
8.0. Claims that Deflect Blame from Islam in Various Conflicts
8.1. Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the root cause of Islamic terrorism.
8.2. "Occupation" is the cause of internal conflict between Muslims today.
8.3. Islamic terrorism is caused by poverty.
8.4. Suicide attacks are caused by "occupation." (see this rebuttal)
8.5. Problems with Islam are due to past western imperialism & colonialism.
8.6. Europe's Muslim integration problem is the fault of gov'ts & racism.
8.7.
The India-Pakistan conflict over
Kashmir is purely territorial.
8.8. The problem is Islamo-fascism, not Islam. Infidel Pride.
9.0. Tiny
Minority of Extremists/Vast Moderate Majority
9.1. Vast majority of Muslims are moderate (tiny minority of extremists).
9.2. Muslims in [insert names of countries] are moderate.
9.3. Muslim leaders/spokespersons [insert names] are moderate (& honest).
9.4. Wahhabism is the problem. It is a complete distortion of Islam.
9.5.
I know Muslims who are nice. Infidel Pride.
9.6. We are at war with "al-Qaeda."
9.7. 99.9% of Muslims are not killing non-Muslims.
10.0. Political
Islam and Islamization is not a problem
10.1. Islamization is not a threat to Non-Muslim host countries.* (cf. 10.2-3, 3.2)
10.2. Non-Muslim nations needn't be concerned about Muslims' loyalty.^*
10.3. Except for terrorism, we need not be concerned about Islam. (cf. 10.1) Winston
*Refs. for 10.0. Political Islam, Muslim Brotherhood in Europe, Muslim
Brotherhood, Islam's Goal
^* 10.2 could be incorporated with 3.2 or 10.1.
11.0. Anti-Israel, Anti-Jewish and other Anti-Infidel attitudes and policies
11.1. Muslim Arabs oppose Israel because it is a state based on religion.
11.2. Anti-Semitism is a Western, not Islamic phenomenon.11.3 Anti-Semitism among Europe's Muslims is not due to Islam.
11.4. Muslims didn't participate in the Nazi
Holocaust, which they deplore. (cf sect. 9.0)
11.5. Jews never had holy places in al-Quds, never was a
Jewish Temple there
11.6. Arab Muslims knew nothing about Jewish rights to the Holy Land [Quran, 5:20-22]
11.7. Ottomans treated Armenians well until Armenians betrayed them in WWI
11.8. The Israeli treatment of the Palestinians is like Nazi treatment of the Jews.
11.9.
Israel is an apartheid state.Note 1: In regard to refuting myths about Israel and Jews, see the extensive online encyclopedia called "
Myths and Facts" by Mitchell G. Bard.
Note 2: Myth-Claims 11.5 and 11.6 could be seen as cases within 2.2. Similarly, items 11.7 can be elaborations of points made in 2.7.
12.0. Miscellaneous and General Claims12.0. Islam is the solution. (Or, Islam is the solution to ________.).
12.1. Non-Muslims should not meddle in Muslim societies/affairs.
12.2. 850m+ Hindus in India today proves they weren't massacred in the past.
12.3. One person's 'terrorist' is another's 'freedom fighter.' (3.14).
12.4. Non-Muslim societies are morally corrupt, deficient, shameless.
12.5. You (critics) must talk to Muslims, go to mosque, go to Islamic country, etc.
12.6. Islam requires only belief in one God; acceptance of Muhammad not required.
12.7. 9/11 conspiracy theories (rebuttals:
here )
13.0. Miraculous Quran13.1. The Koran is scientific. (also see Hadith)
13.2. The
Koran contains no contradictions.
13.3. There is only one version of the Koran.
14.0. Accusations Against Western and Non-Muslim Cultures, Nations14.1. The U.S. invaded Iraq to take their oil and turn a profit. (cf. sect 4)
Appendixes.
Glossary of Islamic Definitions.
Oppression, persecution. Fitnah.
Mischief, corruption. Fasad.
Wrong-doers. Zalimun.
"Innocent civilians"
Truth.
Justice.
Defensive.
Peace.
Martyr, Martyrdom
Mercy
Kindness
Goodness
Some General Categories of Islam Apologist Arguments and Tactics
Tu quoque ("you too"), and "everybody's doing it."
Taqiyya and Kitman, introduction.
Appeal to popularity (there are 1.3 billion Muslims, ergo Islam is good, correct, etc.).
Good-seeming verses are broad and universal, bad-seeming verses are hyperspecific and confined in context and meaning.
Good-seeming verses apply to the treatment of non-Muslims who refuse Islam
Certain bad-seeming Islamic beliefs and practices are confined to only specific sects.
Maximizing minor good-seeming verses (politeness); minimizing major bad-seeming verses (fight and subjugate the non-Muslims, 9:29).
Deceptive use of definitions (oppression, justice, innocents, defence, etc., see Glossary)
Selection of good-seeming but misleading translations.
"My own private Islam": Presenting personal opinion as Islamic mainstream reality.
Removing verses from context inappropriately.
Biased sampling: Cherry-picking the good verses, ignoring the bad.
Ignoring contradictory doctrinal statements.
Ignoring the problem of ambiguity.
Ad hominem (see 6. Blame/Shoot the messenger)
Da'wa and "Front office Islam" (see Taqiyya and kitman) Say pleasant things in public to non-Muslims while hiding the more reliable indications of Islamic sentiment such as (a) are contained in the Koran (which nearly all Muslims claim to accept fully), e.g., verse 98:6 says disbelievers are "the worst of created beings"; or (b) can be gleaned from polls (e.g., 78% of U.K. Muslims think the Muhammad cartoonists should be criminally prosecuted and punished; 49.9% of Arabs [sampled by al-Jazeera] support bin Laden).
Fallacy: What Muslim scholars and jurists say about canonical Islamic policy--in the way of framing, rationalizing, or public-relations spinning of it--constitutes canonical Islamic policy (e.g., there is 'no compulsion in religion,' ergo Islamic policy forbids forced conversion). Note that there is often deceptive use of definitions in these types of rationalizations.
Dodging important straightforward questions (e.g., do you agree with the apostasy penalty?, the blasphemy penalty?, etc.)
Special restrictions on criticism of Islam; Most Muslims believe Islam is perfect, Muslims in particular are not allowed to criticize it, therefore Muslims must direct criticism outward; the problems are outside of Islam or due to (as stated in the Koran itself) human error, sickness, or malice; wrong interpretations, rather than wrong teachings (sect. 6.0).
Important Notes About the Topics Listed in this Index
Some Topics are available; otherwise they are noted as
follows:
chosen = poster's name in red
"in progress",
draft posted = poster's name in blue,
"posted".
draft complete = poster's name in
green, "complete"
To request a Topic, announce your choice on the Handbook
Discussion Thread.
The Topics above are claims made by apologists. Many of the claims are typical.
Some claims are myths or outright falsehoods, some are exaggerations, some involve fallacies, others
are partially correct but misleading statements that require some explanation; and still others are not necessarily false or misleading but which nevertheless should be met with an appropriate response.
Note to authors who are selecting a topic: The wording of each topic in the above list has
been condensed for brevity. For whatever topic you choose, you may wish to expand the wording of the topic when you begin to work on your outline
on the topic. You can choose to modify the wording of a topic somewhat,
depending on how you conceive and approach the topic. Any
modification would be presented in your outline.
Possibly, some topics may be further subdivided. For example, 9.2. may need to be subdivided into more manageable parts, with a separate draft written for each group of countries (e.g., 9.2.1. European countries; 9.2.2. South Asian countries; etc.). Some related topics might also be merged (e.g., 3:18 and 3:19; or 2.10 might be subsumed under 3.2) to avoid redundancy or overlap between topics.
Other common myth-claims that are not covered in the list above, but which you think should be listed, can be posted below in this thread. We will consider including your suggested myth-claims.
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