It is rare in one's life that one has as opportunity to show on what side of an important life and death issue one stands - the Rushdie affair and the rise of Islam are two such issues and this book is my stand. For those who regret not being alive in the 1930s to be able to show their commitment to a cause, there is, first, the Rushdie affair, and, second, the war that is taking place in Algeria, the Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, a war whose principal victims are Muslims, Muslim women, Muslim intellectuals, writers, ordinary, decent people. This book is my war effort. Each time I have doubted the wisdom of writing such a book, new murders in the name of God and Islam committed in Algeria or Iran or Turkey or the Sudan have urged me to complete it.
The most infuriating and nauseating aspect of the Rushdie affair was the spate of articles and books written by Western apologists for Islam - jornalists, scholars, fellow travelers, converts (some from communism) - who claimed to be speaking for Muslims. This is surely condescension of the worst kind, and it is untrue: these authors do not speak for all Muslims. Many courageous individuals from the Muslim world supported and continue to support Rushdie ... The present work attempts to sow a drop of doubt in an ocean of dogmatic certainty by taking an uncompromising and critical look at almost all the fundamental tenets of Islam
Appalled by the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, Ibn Warraq offers in response a reasoned examination of the world's second largest religion. Having been raised a Muslim himself, Warraq has personal experience with Islam as well as a thorough knowledge of Islamic scholarship. Warraq presents a critical analysis of the life of Muhammad, the factors that unfluenced the writing of the Koran, the rise of Islam as a new religion and its rapid spread by conquest.
Warraq is courageous in his criticism of the dark side of Islam, devoting whole chapters to the Salman Rushdie affair, the oppression of women in Muslim society, the enforcement of irrational taboos by Islamic fundamentalists, the authoritarian nature of Islamic law, the suppression of basic human rights in many Muslim countries and numerous other controversial topics.
Warraq pleads for freedom of expression in Muslim society and the right to discuss and criticise the tenets of Islam without fear of death threats and other acts of terrorism. Fully documented with a complete bibliography, Why I Am Not a Muslim is a frank and long-overdue critique of Islam.
Ibn Warraq, after a brief period in Europe, now lives and teaches in Ohio. He is married and has two daughters.