Robert Spencer
Encyclopedia
Robert Bruce Spencer is an American author and blogger best known for critiques of Islam
and research into Islamic terrorism and jihad
. He has published ten books, including two New York Times bestsellers, and is a regular contributor to David Horowitz
's FrontPage Magazine and Human Events
. In 2003, with sponsorship by David Horowitz Freedom Center
, he founded and has since directed Jihad Watch
, a blog he describes as containing "...news of the international jihad, [and] commentary..." which is dedicated to "bringing public attention to the role that jihad theology and ideology plays in the modern world, and to correcting popular misconceptions about the role of jihad and religion in modern-day conflicts". He also co-founded Stop Islamization of America
(SIOA) and the Freedom Defense Initiative, with activist Pamela Geller
, with whom he co-authored a book, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America.
magazine, Spencer's father worked for the Voice of America
during the Cold War
, and in his younger days, Spencer himself worked at Revolution Books, a Communist bookstore in New York City
founded by Robert Avakian. Spencer is a practicing Melkite Greek Catholic
. It is a rite of the Catholic Church whose adherents are, according to Spencer, "mostly concentrated in Lebanon and Syria, also in Jordan and the Palestinian territories." He has said his grandparents were forced to immigrate from an area that is now part of Turkey because they were Christians.
Spencer received a B.A. in 1983 and an M.A. in 1986 in religious studies
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
. His masters thesis was on a Catholic history topic. He has said he has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history on his own since 1980. He worked in think tank
s for more than 20 years, and in 2002–2003 did a stint as an adjunct fellow with the Free Congress Foundation
, an arm of the Heritage Foundation
. Spencer named Paul Weyrich
, also a Melkite Catholic, as a mentor of his writings on Islam. 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." Spencer's first book on Islam was published in 2002.
and dhimmitude
to join in his "anti-jihadist efforts", but feels 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." He has also argued that many so-called reformers are not interested in genuine reform, but instead are aiming to deflect scrutiny of Islam.
Spencer has expressed criticism of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and numerous other Muslim advocacy groups that he claims are closely tied to allegedly jihadist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood
. He has also criticized the employment of several Muslims who were convicted on charges relating to terrorism.
He has appeared with Ayn Rand Institute
speakers on several occasions. In an interview with the Washington Post he was "...asked if he was being deliberately combative and provocative, Spencer chuckled. "Why not?" he asked. "It's fun."
Qur'an critic and secularist author Ibn Warraq
has said that Spencer "tells the truth that few in the U.S. or Europe wish to face".
Michelle Malkin
says that Spencer "tells truths about jihadists that no one else will tell." Conservative radio talk show host Dennis Prager
has called JihadWatch, "one of most honorable Web sites that I know of monitoring jihad in the world today."
In a public debate between Spencer and Daniel C. Peterson
, a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic, Peterson was critical about what he described as a selective criticism of Islam, but conceded to Spencer that "yes there is a broad consensus and has been for a long time about certain elements of jihadi teaching," about Spencer's assertion that the schools of Islamic jurisprudence do agree on the necessity to wage war against unbelievers, and that "we are really not disagreeing that much ... terrorism, Islamic terrorism, really does have roots in actual parts of the tradition of Islam."
Karen Armstrong
criticized Spencer's citations of Islamic scripture as cherry-picked, stating among other examples that "Spencer never cites the Koran's condemnation of all warfare as an 'awesome evil', its prohibition of aggression or its insistence that only self-defence justifies armed conflict..." She concludes that "His book is a gift to extremists who can use it to 'prove' ... that the west is incurably hostile to their faith."
Benazir Bhutto
accused Spencer of "falsely constructing a divide between Islam and West". She said he was using the Internet to spread hatred of Islam by presenting a "skewed, one-sided, and inflammatory story that only helps to sow the seed of civilizational conflict".
Dinesh D'Souza
, of the Hoover Institution
, wrote that Spencer downplays the passages of the Quran that urge peace and goodwill to reach one-sided opinions. He contends that Spencer applies a moral standard to Muslim empires that could not have been met by any European empire.
In an article discussing Bat Ye'or
's 2005 book Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, French academic historian Ivan Jablonka refers to Spencer, saying he has made a specialty of denouncing Islamist threats and quoting Spencer's own review of Eurabia as criticizing Europe for "selling its soul to the devil 'in exchange for markets.
The Southern Poverty Law Center
(SPLC) has named Spencer and SIOA co-founder Pamela Geller as the founders of an anti-Muslim hate group. In the Summer 2011 issue of Intelligence Report, published by the SPLC, Robert Steinback listed Spencer as a member of the "anti-Muslim inner circle", noting that "Spencer has been known to fraternize with European racists and neo-fascists, though he says such contacts were merely incidental." Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
(FAIR) listed Spencer as a "Smearcaster", and stated that "by selectively ignoring inconvenient Islamic texts and commentaries, Spencer concludes that Islam is innately extremist and violent".
announced a ban on Spencer's book, The Truth About Muhammad, citing "objectionable material" as the cause. Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto
was likewise highly critical of Spencer's work. In his response to Bhutto's criticism, Spencer notes that the passage she cites was in fact written by Ibn Warraq
.
In 2009, Spencer was asked to participate in an information session about Islam and Muslims designed for ethnic and multicultural librarians entitled "Perspectives on Islam: Beyond the Stereotyping", at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Library Association
, which was sponsored by the ALA's Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT). After objections were raised by ALA members and the general public, the three other panelists withdrew in protest and the session was ultimately canceled.
In March 2010, Spencer endorsed the English Defence League
(EDL) saying that "The EDL is standing up to violent thugs from both the Left and the increasingly assertive Islamic communities in Britain, and they deserve the support of all free people." The EDL has been described as a hate group by various British organizations, such as Searchlight Magazine and the Jewish Community Security Trust
.
In August 2010 The Washington Post cited Spencer, along with Pamela Geller
as conservative bloggers who have been influential in challenging the construction of the Park51 project, which he calls the "Ground Zero mosque". Spencer and Geller's organization Stop Islamization of America
launched their first public protest outside of the Park51 location on June 6, 2010.
Adam Serwer, writing in The American Prospect
countered that Spencer's evidence for this accusation was insufficient, and criticized Spencer's conclusions regarding Rauf's comments on the practice of Shariah by American Muslims. Serwer asked Rauf to clarify, and the latter responded that "...there are aspects of Sharia law that we are allowed to practice. Like Jews practice their dietary laws, we practice them without contradiction." The non-partisan FactCheck
also found no evidence of Rauf's supposed radicalism, stating that "Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has a long history of cooperation with the U.S. government, beginning during the Bush administration", and that supposedly anti-American comments made by him were "...taken out of context".
In an October 2010 news article, an investigative report by The Tennessean
found that "IRS filings from 2008 show that Robert Spencer earned $132,537 from the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and Horowitz pocketed over $400,000 for himself in just one year".
In September 2010, on ABC's This Week
show, Reza Aslan
said that SIOA is an offshoot of SIOE, which he said had been referred to as a neo-Nazi organization by the European Union
. Spencer later challenged Aslan to produce any evidence of his claim.
Criticism of Islam
Criticism 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...
and research into Islamic terrorism and jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
. He has published ten books, including two New York Times bestsellers, and is a regular contributor to David Horowitz
David Horowitz
David Joel Horowitz is an American conservative writer and policy advocate. Horowitz was raised by parents who were both members of the American Communist Party. Between 1956 and 1975, Horowitz was an outspoken adherent of the New Left before rejecting Marxism completely...
's FrontPage Magazine and Human Events
Human Events
Human Events is a weekly American conservative magazine. It takes its name from the first sentence of the United States Declaration of Independence...
. In 2003, with sponsorship by David Horowitz Freedom Center
David Horowitz Freedom Center
The David Horowitz Freedom Center is a conservative foundation founded in 1988 by political activist David Horowitz and his long-time collaborator Peter Collier...
, he founded and has since directed Jihad Watch
Jihad Watch
Jihad Watch is a blog affiliated with the David Horowitz Freedom Center, which is run independently by American author Robert Spencer. It is considered an important platform for the counterjihad movement....
, a blog he describes as containing "...news of the international jihad, [and] commentary..." which is dedicated to "bringing public attention to the role that jihad theology and ideology plays in the modern world, and to correcting popular misconceptions about the role of jihad and religion in modern-day conflicts". He also co-founded Stop Islamization of America
Stop Islamization of America
Stop Islamization of America, also called the American Freedom Defense Initiative, is an American anti-Islam organization. It is led by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, and was founded in 2010 at the request of Anders Gravers Pedersen, the leader of Stop Islamisation of Europe, of which it is the...
(SIOA) and the Freedom Defense Initiative, with activist Pamela Geller
Pamela Geller
Pamela Geller is an American blogger, author, political activist, and commentator. She is known primarily for her criticisms of Islam and opposition to Muslim activities and causes, such as the proposed construction of an Islamic community center near the former site of the World Trade Center...
, with whom he co-authored a book, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America.
Background
According to a 2010 interview in New YorkNew York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine, Spencer's father worked for the Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, and in his younger days, Spencer himself worked at Revolution Books, a Communist bookstore in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
founded by Robert Avakian. Spencer is a practicing Melkite Greek Catholic
Melkite Greek Catholic Church
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Melkites, Byzantine Rite Catholics of mixed Eastern Mediterranean and Greek origin, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, Syria, of...
. It is a rite of the Catholic Church whose adherents are, according to Spencer, "mostly concentrated in Lebanon and Syria, also in Jordan and the Palestinian territories." He has said his grandparents were forced to immigrate from an area that is now part of Turkey because they were Christians.
Spencer received a B.A. in 1983 and an M.A. in 1986 in religious studies
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
. His masters thesis was on a Catholic history topic. He has said he has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history on his own since 1980. He worked in think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
s for more than 20 years, and in 2002–2003 did a stint as an adjunct fellow with the Free Congress Foundation
Free Congress Foundation
The Free Congress Foundation , is a conservative think tank founded by Paul Weyrich. It was based near Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C...
, an arm of the Heritage Foundation
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...
. Spencer named Paul Weyrich
Paul Weyrich
Paul M. Weyrich was an American conservativepolitical activist and commentator, most notable as a figurehead of the New Right. He co-founded the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank and the Free Congress Foundation, another conservative think tank...
, also a Melkite Catholic, as a mentor of his writings on Islam. 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." Spencer's first book on Islam was published in 2002.
Spencer's views on Islam
Spencer does not believe that traditional Islam is "inherently terroristic" but says he can prove that "traditional Islam contains violent and supremacist elements", and that "its various schools unanimously teach warfare against and the subjugation of unbelievers". However, he rejects the notion that all Muslims are necessarily violent people. He has said 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." Spencer has also said he would welcome any Muslim who renounces jihadJihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
and dhimmitude
Dhimmitude
Dhimmitude is a neologism first found in French denoting an attitude of concession, surrender and appeasement towards Islamic demands. It is derived by adding the productive suffix -tude to the Arabic language adjective dhimmi, which literally means protected and refers to a non-Muslim subject of a...
to join in his "anti-jihadist efforts", but feels 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." He has also argued that many so-called reformers are not interested in genuine reform, but instead are aiming to deflect scrutiny of Islam.
Spencer has expressed criticism of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and numerous other Muslim advocacy groups that he claims are closely tied to allegedly jihadist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
. He has also criticized the employment of several Muslims who were convicted on charges relating to terrorism.
He has appeared with Ayn Rand Institute
Ayn Rand Institute
The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism is a 501 nonprofit think tank in Irvine, California that promotes Ayn Rand's philosophy, called Objectivism. It was established in 1985, three years after Rand's death, by Leonard Peikoff, Rand's legal heir...
speakers on several occasions. In an interview with the Washington Post he was "...asked if he was being deliberately combative and provocative, Spencer chuckled. "Why not?" he asked. "It's fun."
Qur'an critic and secularist author Ibn Warraq
Ibn Warraq
Ibn Warraq is the pen name of a polemical author of Pakistani origin who is critical of Islam, and who founded the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society . He is a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry focusing on Qur'anic criticism...
has said that Spencer "tells the truth that few in the U.S. or Europe wish to face".
Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin is an American conservative blogger, political commentator, and author. Her weekly syndicated column appears in a number of newspapers and websites. She is a Fox News Channel contributor and has been a guest on MSNBC, C-SPAN, and national radio programs...
says that Spencer "tells truths about jihadists that no one else will tell." Conservative radio talk show host Dennis Prager
Dennis Prager
Dennis Prager is an American syndicated radio talk show host, syndicated columnist, author, and public speaker. He is noted for his conservative political and social views emanating from conservative Judeo-Christian values. He holds that there is an "American Trinity" of essential principles,...
has called JihadWatch, "one of most honorable Web sites that I know of monitoring jihad in the world today."
In a public debate between Spencer and Daniel C. Peterson
Daniel C. Peterson
Daniel C. Peterson is a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University and currently serves as editor-in-chief of BYU's Middle Eastern Texts Initiative. He is a member of the executive council of the Neal A...
, a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic, Peterson was critical about what he described as a selective criticism of Islam, but conceded to Spencer that "yes there is a broad consensus and has been for a long time about certain elements of jihadi teaching," about Spencer's assertion that the schools of Islamic jurisprudence do agree on the necessity to wage war against unbelievers, and that "we are really not disagreeing that much ... terrorism, Islamic terrorism, really does have roots in actual parts of the tradition of Islam."
Criticism
Spencer's work has been criticized as showing "entrenched hostility" towards Islam, and condemned as hate speech by a number of Muslim-American and civil rights groups.Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong FRSL , is a British author and commentator who is the author of twelve books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic nun, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and mystical faith...
criticized Spencer's citations of Islamic scripture as cherry-picked, stating among other examples that "Spencer never cites the Koran's condemnation of all warfare as an 'awesome evil', its prohibition of aggression or its insistence that only self-defence justifies armed conflict..." She concludes that "His book is a gift to extremists who can use it to 'prove' ... that the west is incurably hostile to their faith."
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
accused Spencer of "falsely constructing a divide between Islam and West". She said he was using the Internet to spread hatred of Islam by presenting a "skewed, one-sided, and inflammatory story that only helps to sow the seed of civilizational conflict".
Dinesh D'Souza
Dinesh D'Souza
Dinesh D'Souza is an author and public speaker and a former Robert and Karen Rishwain Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is currently the President of The King's College in New York City. D'Souza is a noted Christian apologist and conservative writer and speaker....
, of the Hoover Institution
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded in 1919 by then future U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, an early alumnus of Stanford....
, wrote that Spencer downplays the passages of the Quran that urge peace and goodwill to reach one-sided opinions. He contends that Spencer applies a moral standard to Muslim empires that could not have been met by any European empire.
In an article discussing 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...
's 2005 book Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, French academic historian Ivan Jablonka refers to Spencer, saying he has made a specialty of denouncing Islamist threats and quoting Spencer's own review of Eurabia as criticizing Europe for "selling its soul to the devil 'in exchange for markets.
The Southern Poverty Law Center
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
(SPLC) has named Spencer and SIOA co-founder Pamela Geller as the founders of an anti-Muslim hate group. In the Summer 2011 issue of Intelligence Report, published by the SPLC, Robert Steinback listed Spencer as a member of the "anti-Muslim inner circle", noting that "Spencer has been known to fraternize with European racists and neo-fascists, though he says such contacts were merely incidental." Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting is a progressive media criticism organization based in New York City, founded in 1986.FAIR describes itself on its website as "the national media watch group" and defines its mission as working to "invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity...
(FAIR) listed Spencer as a "Smearcaster", and stated that "by selectively ignoring inconvenient Islamic texts and commentaries, Spencer concludes that Islam is innately extremist and violent".
Controversies
On December 20, 2006, the government of PakistanPakistan
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...
announced a ban on Spencer's book, The Truth About Muhammad, citing "objectionable material" as the cause. Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
was likewise highly critical of Spencer's work. In his response to Bhutto's criticism, Spencer notes that the passage she cites was in fact written by Ibn Warraq
Ibn Warraq
Ibn Warraq is the pen name of a polemical author of Pakistani origin who is critical of Islam, and who founded the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society . He is a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry focusing on Qur'anic criticism...
.
In 2009, Spencer was asked to participate in an information session about Islam and Muslims designed for ethnic and multicultural librarians entitled "Perspectives on Islam: Beyond the Stereotyping", at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
, which was sponsored by the ALA's Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT). After objections were raised by ALA members and the general public, the three other panelists withdrew in protest and the session was ultimately canceled.
In March 2010, Spencer endorsed the English Defence League
English Defence League
The English Defence League is a far-right street protest movement which opposes what it considers to be a spread of Islamism, Sharia law and Islamic extremism in the UK. The EDL uses street marches to protest against Islamic extremism...
(EDL) saying that "The EDL is standing up to violent thugs from both the Left and the increasingly assertive Islamic communities in Britain, and they deserve the support of all free people." The EDL has been described as a hate group by various British organizations, such as Searchlight Magazine and the Jewish Community Security Trust
Community Security Trust
The Community Security Trust is a British charity established in 1994 to ensure the safety and security of the Jewish community in the UK. It follows a history of Jewish defence organisations in the United Kingdom dating back to the 1930s...
.
In August 2010 The Washington Post cited Spencer, along with Pamela Geller
Pamela Geller
Pamela Geller is an American blogger, author, political activist, and commentator. She is known primarily for her criticisms of Islam and opposition to Muslim activities and causes, such as the proposed construction of an Islamic community center near the former site of the World Trade Center...
as conservative bloggers who have been influential in challenging the construction of the Park51 project, which he calls the "Ground Zero mosque". Spencer and Geller's organization Stop Islamization of America
Stop Islamization of America
Stop Islamization of America, also called the American Freedom Defense Initiative, is an American anti-Islam organization. It is led by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, and was founded in 2010 at the request of Anders Gravers Pedersen, the leader of Stop Islamisation of Europe, of which it is the...
launched their first public protest outside of the Park51 location on June 6, 2010.
Adam Serwer, writing in The American Prospect
The American Prospect
The 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...
countered that Spencer's evidence for this accusation was insufficient, and criticized Spencer's conclusions regarding Rauf's comments on the practice of Shariah by American Muslims. Serwer asked Rauf to clarify, and the latter responded that "...there are aspects of Sharia law that we are allowed to practice. Like Jews practice their dietary laws, we practice them without contradiction." The non-partisan FactCheck
FactCheck
FactCheck.org is a non-partisan, nonprofit website that describes itself as a consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics." It is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University...
also found no evidence of Rauf's supposed radicalism, stating that "Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has a long history of cooperation with the U.S. government, beginning during the Bush administration", and that supposedly anti-American comments made by him were "...taken out of context".
In an October 2010 news article, an investigative report by The Tennessean
The Tennessean
The Tennessean is the principal daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky....
found that "IRS filings from 2008 show that Robert Spencer earned $132,537 from the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and Horowitz pocketed over $400,000 for himself in just one year".
In September 2010, on ABC's This Week
This Week (ABC TV series)
This Week is ABC's Sunday morning political affairs program.The Sunday morning talk show has aired on Sunday mornings on ABC since 1981; the program is initially aired at 9:00 AM ET, although many stations air the program later, especially those in other time zones...
show, Reza Aslan
Reza Aslan
Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American activist, a nationally acclaimed writer of religions. He is on the faculty at the University of California, Riverside, and is a contributing editor for The Daily Beast...
said that SIOA is an offshoot of SIOE, which he said had been referred to as a neo-Nazi organization by the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. Spencer later challenged Aslan to produce any evidence of his claim.
Best sellers
- The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion, Regnery PressRegnery PublishingRegnery Publishing in Washington, D.C., is a publisher which specializes in conservative books characterized on their website as "contrary to those of 'mainstream' publishers in New York." Since 1993, Regnery Publishing has been a division of Eagle Publishing, which also owns the weekly magazine...
, 2006 (NYT bestseller list – 2006-10-29) ISBN 1-59698-028-1 - The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades)The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades)The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam is a controversial book by Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch. It is part of The Politically Incorrect Guide series by Regnery Publishing.-Content :...
, Regnery Press, 2005. (NYT bestseller list – 2005-10-16) ISBN 0-89526-013-1
Other books
- Religion of Peace?: Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn't, Regnery Publishing, 2007, ISBN 1-59698-515-1
- The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-MuslimsThe Myth of Islamic ToleranceThe Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims is a collection of 63 essays edited by Robert Spencer. It deals with the history of non-Muslim populations during and after the conquest of their lands by Muslims...
(editor), 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...
, 2005. ISBN 1-59102-249-5 - Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the WestOnward Muslim SoldiersOnward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West published in October 2003 is a topical nonfiction book by Robert Spencer, who has described the book as an "in-depth study of the doctrine of jihad and how it is exploited today by terrorists to justify what they’re doing and...
, Regnery PublishingRegnery PublishingRegnery Publishing in Washington, D.C., is a publisher which specializes in conservative books characterized on their website as "contrary to those of 'mainstream' publishers in New York." Since 1993, Regnery Publishing has been a division of Eagle Publishing, which also owns the weekly magazine...
, 2003. ISBN 0-89526-100-6
External links
- Robert Spencer's Front Page Magazine column archive
- JihadWatch weblog
Audio and interviews
- A 40 minute Interview with Robert Spencer
- Audio: Robert Spencer discusses "The Truth about Muhammad" on Shire Network News (Part 1) (Part 2)
- September 2007 Interview with Robert Spencer by The Liberal Institute