Fear God and the Shadow of the Muslim Sword
“Muslims are marrying Muslims and the imams in the mosques are pushing for conciliatory changes in the secular law to accommodate Sharia law” writes Mr. Pat. This controversial statement is just one of a number of extremist viewpoints expressed in this text. Mr. Pat dedicates his book to those who have lost their lives in “the ongoing war of ideology between Islam and the secular world” and immediately assumes an “us versus them” perspective. However in the preface the author claims that just last year he was guilty of prejudice without substantial basis and decided to learn more about Islam.
As the book progresses readers come to understand that Mr. Pat did indeed study the nature of Islam and its beliefs laws myths and history but are left to wonder how in-depth his research was given that this book was published only a year later.
Mr. Pat begins by describing the history of Islam and detailing the life of the Prophet Muhammad. Sadly there is little information presented here that most readers wouldn’t already know. Pat then leapfrogs generations until World War I when “the League of Nations gave it [the land] to the Arabs.” This idea then rapidly flows into the author’s belief that Israel which reclaimed the land after World War II is willing to accept the claim of the Palestinians and share the territory. One quick glimpse at the news would clearly tell us that this is simply not the case.
Though Mr. Pat claims he is not one-sided or biased in any way his book is filled with an extremist viewpoint that paints a lopsided portrait of the modern day conflict in the Middle East. Speaking about Muslims as if they were some sort of uncivilized tribe Mr. Pat uses statements such as “the Muslims do understand force money power and time” to explain the reasoning behind the lack of terrorist attacks on American interests. Pat loses credibility by ignoring the 7/7 attacks in London the failed attempts upon Canadian parliament and the Glasgow airport bombing.
Pat quite simply skims the surface here presenting with wild accusatory ideas about an entire faith rather than those of extremists in the Middle East. Perhaps the most disconcerting fact is that he fails to note all of his sources properly leaving many to wonder what the context of referenced books and materials really is.
Reading this book would have people believing that all Muslims including those born and raised in the United States are uncivilized war mongers prepared for world domination. As much as Pat says he isn’t trying to force his believes on anyone the opposite proves to be true.
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
