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Islam: What the West Needs to Know

 
Islam: What the West Needs To Know

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Islam: What the West Needs to Know



 
 
Islam: What the West Needs to Know is a documentary film
Documentary film

Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and new media productions that can be either direct-to-video or made for a televis...
 produced by Quixotic Media. According to the producers, the film is an examination of Islam
Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
 and its violence towards the non-muslims
Kafir

Kafir is an Arabic word meaning "rejecter" or "ingrate," also the term "Kuffar" the plural of the word "Kafir" is used to refer to peasants Surah 57 Al-Hadid Ayah 20; as they till earth and "cover up" seeds....
. The critics of the film describe it as being inaccurate, simplistic and biased and even propagandist against Islam.[0]

It features discussions using passages from religious texts and includes commentaries by Robert Spencer
Robert Spencer

Robert Bruce Spencer is an United States author of articles and books relating to Islam and Islamic terrorism. He has published Robert_Spencer#Bibliography, including two bestsellers....
, Serge Trifkovic
Srda Trifkovic

Srda Trifkovic is a Serbian-American writer and foreign-affairs editor for the paleoconservatism magazine Chronicles . He has a PhD in history from the University of Southampton....
, Bat Ye'or
Bat Ye'or

Bat Ye'or ; a pseudonym of Gis?le Littman, n?e Orebi, is an Egypt-born United Kingdom scholar, 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....
, Abdullah Al-Araby, and Walid Shoebat
Walid Shoebat

Walid Shoebat is an American citizen, born to a Palestinian father and United States mother, is a former PLO terrorist, although some speculation has been raised about his terrorist past by various sources....
.[0]

The film premiered at the American Film Renaissance Festival in Hollywood on January 15, 2006 and had a limited theatrical release in Chicago, Washington DC, and Atlanta in summer 2006.






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Islam: What the West Needs to Know is a documentary film
Documentary film

Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and new media productions that can be either direct-to-video or made for a televis...
 produced by Quixotic Media. According to the producers, the film is an examination of Islam
Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
 and its violence towards the non-muslims
Kafir

Kafir is an Arabic word meaning "rejecter" or "ingrate," also the term "Kuffar" the plural of the word "Kafir" is used to refer to peasants Surah 57 Al-Hadid Ayah 20; as they till earth and "cover up" seeds....
. The critics of the film describe it as being inaccurate, simplistic and biased and even propagandist against Islam.[0]

It features discussions using passages from religious texts and includes commentaries by Robert Spencer
Robert Spencer

Robert Bruce Spencer is an United States author of articles and books relating to Islam and Islamic terrorism. He has published Robert_Spencer#Bibliography, including two bestsellers....
, Serge Trifkovic
Srda Trifkovic

Srda Trifkovic is a Serbian-American writer and foreign-affairs editor for the paleoconservatism magazine Chronicles . He has a PhD in history from the University of Southampton....
, Bat Ye'or
Bat Ye'or

Bat Ye'or ; a pseudonym of Gis?le Littman, n?e Orebi, is an Egypt-born United Kingdom scholar, 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....
, Abdullah Al-Araby, and Walid Shoebat
Walid Shoebat

Walid Shoebat is an American citizen, born to a Palestinian father and United States mother, is a former PLO terrorist, although some speculation has been raised about his terrorist past by various sources....
.[0]

The film premiered at the American Film Renaissance Festival in Hollywood on January 15, 2006 and had a limited theatrical release in Chicago, Washington DC, and Atlanta in summer 2006. The film had caught attention mainly through its distribution via web.

Synopsis

Islam: What the West Needs to Know argues that Islam is a violent religion bent on world domination
WORLD DOMINATION

WORLD DOMINATION is Kompressor 's first compact disc release. The album was released in 2001 and re-issued with extra tracks in 2005....
. The documentary uses passages from the canonical texts of Islam as its source material. It is presented in six parts:

1. There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet: In the first part, various commentators argue that Islamic violence stems from the teachings and examples of Muhammad
Muhammad

Muhammad Patronymic#Arabic Abd Allah ibn Abd al Muttalib , is the founder of the Major religious groups of Islam and is regarded by Muslims as a Rasul and prophet of , the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of prophets....
 and that the Qur'an
Qur'an

The Qur?an is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur?an to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind, and consider the original Arabic text to be the final revelation of God....
 prescribes and sanctions violence against non-Muslims.
2. The Struggle: In the second part, Walid Shoebat defines the word "Jihad
Jihad

Jihad , an List of Islamic terms in Arabic, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic language, the word jihad is a noun meaning "struggle." Jihad appears frequently in the Qur'an and common usage as the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of Allah "....
" to mean the struggle to impose Allah's will over the earth, resulting in holy war against the non-Muslim world in order to bring it under the rule of Islam.
3. Expansion: In the third part, Bat Ye'or describes the expansion of Islam
Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
 through conquest and presents historical evidence of enslavement
Dhimmi

A dhimmi is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia. The term connotes an obligation of the state to protect the individual, including the individual's life, property, and freedom of religion and worship, and required loyalty to the empire, and a poll tax known as the jizya....
 and massacres of Christian
Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
s, Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
s, Zoroastrians and Hindus by Muslim invaders.
4. War is Deceit: In the fourth part, Robert Spencer and Serge Trifkovic discuss the Islamic principle of Taqiyya
Taqiyya

Within the Shia theological framework, the concept of Taqiyya refers to a dispensation allowing believers to conceal their faith when under threat, persecution or compulsion....
, Islamic dissimulation, which, the lecturers argue, enjoins Muslim
Muslim

:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits "....
s to deceive non-Muslims in order to advance the cause of Islam.
5. More than a Religion: In the fifth part, the documentary asserts that "Islamic law
Sharia

Sharia is the body of Islamic religious law. The term means "way" or "path to the water source"; it is the legal framework within which the public and private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on Fiqh and for Muslims living outside the domain....
 governs every aspect of religious, political, and personal action, which amounts to a form of totalitarianism
Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is a concept used to describe political systems whereby a state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private life. Totalitarian regimes or movements maintain themselves in political power by means of an official all-embracing ideology and propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, single-party st...
 that is divinely enjoined to dominate the world, analogous in many ways to Communism
Communism

Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarianism, classlessness, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general....
".
6. The House of War: The final part covers the division of the world into Dar al-Islam
Dar al-Islam

Different divisions of the world have existed in Islamic religion and culture. Some are geo-political divisions that are derived from non-Qu'ranic traditions in Islamic culture....
 ("the house of Islam" or "the house of peace"), the land governed by the Islamic law
Sharia

Sharia is the body of Islamic religious law. The term means "way" or "path to the water source"; it is the legal framework within which the public and private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on Fiqh and for Muslims living outside the domain....
, and Dar al-Harb ("the house of war"), the land of non-Muslims. According to the film, Muslims are enjoined to bring the Dar al-Harb under the control of Islam. The film argues, "Muslims in Western nations are called to subvert the secular regimes in which they now live in accordance with Allah's command."


Reviews

Some have considered the film to be thought-provoking and even important, with the Gwinnett Daily Post describing its message as "mind-blowing". Other reviewers criticised the film as being inaccurate, simplistic and biased and even propagandist against Islam. It has also been criticized as being boring.

A film review by The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer

The Charlotte Observer, serving Charlotte, North Carolina and Charlotte metropolitan area, is the largest newspaper, in terms of circulation, in North Carolina and South Carolina....
 which does not accept or reject the film's thesis is summarized into the back cover of the video wrapping with the phrase, "if their central thesis is true -- and it's worth considering -- then this is the most horrific film of the 21st century so far."[0]

See also

  • Criticism of Islam
    Criticism of Islam

    Criticism of Islam has existed since Islam's formative stages. Early written criticism came from Christians, prior to 1000 AD, many of whom viewed Islam as a radical Christian heresy....
  • Islamic terrorism


Other similar documentaries

  • Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West
    Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West

    Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, also called Obsession, is a controversial 2006 documentary film about radical Islamism teachings and goals which uses extensive Arab world and Iranian television footage....
  • Radical Islam: Terror in Its Own Words
    Radical Islam: Terror in Its Own Words

    Radical Islam: Terror in Its Own Words is a controversial 2007 Documentary film on Radical Islam featuring commentary from counter-terrorism experts Steven Emerson and Walid Phares and footage from the The Investigative Project and the Middle East Media Research Institute....


External links

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