Saturday, June 9, 2007

Book List: From The Hindu-Sikh Perspective

From The Hindu-Sikh Perspective:

Jihad: The Islamic Doctrine of Permanent War
Author: Suhas Majumdar
Format: Online book
Table of Contents: Here.
Excerpt: (From the Foreward) "Defenders of jihad have been forced to develop an apologetics. They are now trying to protect by means of scholarship a doctrine which has so far been sustained by means of the sword. In the present study, Professor Suhas Majumdar has seen through this 'scholarship', and demolished it brick by brick. He has rescued the doctrine of jihad from under the mass of pretentious verbiage, and made it stand in its pristine purity. Let no one say any more that jihad does not mean what it has meant all along in the blood-soaked history of Islam, and what we are witnessing today in Kashmir."
(From the Conclusion) The author notes "the failure of the world at large to take note of this creed of hate and violence, and get forewarned as to the peril it entails to the civilisation of all non-Muslim peoples..."


Understanding Islam Through Hadis:
Faith or Fanaticism?
Author: Ram Swarup
Format: Online book
Table of Contents: Here.
Excerpt: (From the Introduction) Islam is not merely a theology, or a statement about Allah and his relationship with His creatures. Besides containing doctrinal and creedal material, it deals with social, penal, commercial, ritualistic, and ceremonial matters. It enters into everything, even into such private areas as one’s dress, marrying, and mating. In the language of the Muslim theologians, Islam is a “complete” and “completed” religion. It is equally political and military. It has much to do with statecraft, and it has a very specific view of the world peopled by infidels. Since most of the world is still infidel, it is very important for those who are not Muslims to understand Islam. The sources of Islam are two: the QurAn and the HadIs (“Sayings” or “Traditions”), usually called the Sunnah (“customs”), both having their center in Muhammad. The QurAn contains the Prophet’s “revelations” (wahy); the HadIs, all that he did or said, or enjoined, forbade or did not forbid, approved or disapproved. The word HadIs, singular in form (pl. ahAdIs), is also used collectively for all the traditions taken together, for the whole sacred tradition. Muslim theologians make no distinction between the QurAn and the HadIs. To them both are works of revelation or inspiration.... In regard to the title of the book, the HadIs gives such a spontaneous and realistic view of the Prophet that it could most faithfully be called “Muhammad in the Words of HadIs (SahIh Muslim)”; but since a good deal of Islam is Mohammadism, it could equally justly be called “Islam in the Words of HadIs.”
Additional information: This book is banned in India for fear of Muslim rioting.

The Calcutta Quran Petition
Author: Compiled by Sita Ram Goel, who also wrote the Introduction
Format: Online book
Table of Contents: Here.
Excerpt: (From Chapter 3, "Entire Quran Is A Manual On Jihad") [The Quran] is not prejudicial to maintenance of religious harmony”, and that “Because of the Koran no public tranquility has been disturbed upt o now and there is no reason to apprehend any likelihood of such disturbance in future”. He has gone further and chosen to repeat the etymological exercise which we find in most of the books written by apologists of Islam in modem times. We are informed by Justice Basak that the word “Muslim” has been formed from the word “Islam” which in turn derives from “as-salam”, meaning peace. The mission of Islam, we are assured by him, is the establishment of peace, and a Muslim is he who works wholeheartedly for this fulfilment. The argument is clever but not consistent either with what is advocated by the scriptures of Islam or with what we find in the recorded history of this creed spread over more than fourteen hundred years. Human history has known several movements which have used words to mean exactly the opposite of what those words stand for in common parlance.... Islam has no word for democracy; that secularism and Islam are mutually exclusive; that Islam can set up only a theocratic state; that Islam has institutionalised slavery and degraded women; and that Islam has laid waste many countries.
Additional information (Background as to why the petition was filed): A Hindu victim of Muslim ethnic cleansing in Bangladesh, fled to India and filed a petition to ban the Quran under provisions of the Indian constitution banning incitement of religious hatred. Muslims rioted, and the Indian government harassed the petitioner.

Muslim League Attacks on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947
Author: Compiled by: S. Gurbachan Singh Talib, with Introduction by Ram Swarup
Format: Online book
Table of Contents: Here.
Review: Written by a Sikh, this books shows the history of the formation of Pakistan by Muslim rioting and ethnic cleansing of non-Muslims in 1947.

Other online books about Islam from the Hindu-Sikh perspective are available at The Voice of Darma. Also, see the right sidebar for informative articles about Sufism.


Note: Readers are invited to submit other titles, as well as book reviews. Click on "View my complete profile," at the top of the right sidebar; then click on "Email."