A critical analysis of “What is Islam?

(A comprehensive Introduction)
Authored by Chris Horrie & Peter Chippindale”
1997 Virgin Books ISBN: 0352326360 261PB

Even from a cursory glance at this book I couldn’t fail to see the gross factual errors and shoddy scholarship the book
contains. The authors haven’t been successful in leaving their political and polemical baggage aside when
writing this book. There were better informed and less distorted accounts of Islam written by orientalists during
the Victorian era, and that is saying something!

Upon a full reading the following errors were discovered:

P3: ‘There is no God but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’. Recitation of these two phrases in the presence
of two witnesses is all that is required for conversion to Islam.

(Two witnesses are not a legal requirement for conversion to Islam. In fact in the purest sense a person is a
Muslim as soon as they recite the above statement and their heart confirms belief in what their tongue has
uttered.)

P4: “He brought the universe into being in an act of creation approximately 8,000 years ago and he will bring it to an
end when He wills.”

(The second part of the above sentence is correct while the first is absolutely incorrect. The above cannot be
found in The Holy Quran or any authentic collection of the Prophet Muhammad’s (Peace & Blessings of Allah
be upon Him) sayings. It is at best probably the personal view of some Greek Influenced Arab scholar, and
definitely is not part of the Islamic Belief.)

P4: “Allah’s final message to mankind was given to the Prophet Muhammad and has been set down in the Koran (Qur’an)
which together with certain stories about the Life of Muhammad, dictates everything that a man should know and do
in order to enter Paradise.”

(This is an oversimplification of the subject matter of the Holy Qur’an. Stories of previous nations and Prophets
vastly outnumber the verses relating to events that happened during the Prophet Muhammad’s (Peace &
Blessings of Allah be upon Him) time.)

P12: “Polytheism - in the shape of formal religions at least – remains as a major force only in the Hindu and Sikh
religions of the Indian sub-continent.”

(The above extract strengthened my view that the authors are non-specialist in the field they are writing about.
Cleary their ignorance of religion extends to faiths other than Islam, as anyone with a basic knowledge of the
main world religions, is aware that while Sikhism shares many cultural practices and has historical affinity with
Hinduism it is essentially a monotheistic faith with followers believing in only one God.)

P14: “The couple had only one surviving child, a daughter called Fatima who in later life became a fanatical Muslim.”

(I’m not sure of what is implied by “fanatical” especially since such a term when used in a religious sense is
essentially negative. The fact of the matter is that the Prophets daughter remained a devout Muslim
throughout her short life.)

P35: “qiyan” (The correct term is ‘qiyam’ I assume this to be a typographical error)

P37: “Some Muslims , especially in Muslim minority countries like Britain, practice only a limited form of fasting by
giving up something like smoking or eating rich foods.”

(Although I don’t discount the probability of there being such Muslims, numbers probably range in the single
figure. Ramadhan however is a totally different concept from the Christian Lent, and as such those who
practice the above highly heterodox practice would be shunned by the Muslim community. Fasting is an
obligation and one of the Pillars of Islam. Considering it unnecessary by practising the above, renders one
outside Islam.)
P38: “Before leaving for Mecca pilgrims (hajji) pray almost continuously and perform extended versions of elaborate
washing rituals (wudu) required before prayer.”

(By extended version I take it they means Ghusl which is a full bathing of the whole body. And of course there
is nothing ‘elaborate’ about wudu which with a few additions, basically consists of what all hygienic peoples
would perform first thing in the morning i.e. (washing the face, hands and feet, gargling the mouth and nose
out, and smoothing the hair)

P38: “Both men and women wear sandals rather than shoes and women in addition wear extra garments entirely
covering their heads and face.”

(If only the authors had bothered checking the consensus of Muslim scholars throughout the ages, as well as
the current practice in Hajj, they would have realised that it is in fact forbidden for women to cover their faces
with cloth whilst in a state of Ihram.)

P43: “The Islamic calendar consists of 12 lunar months, totalling 364 days”

(The Islamic calendar is in fact 354 days long, which is the average duration of a lunar year)

P90: “In the late 1970’s a militant group split off to found an armed underground movement called Takfir wa’al Hijrah
(The Excommunicated in Holy Flight)”

(One wonders at the source of these fanciful translations of Arabic terms. The correct translation is
(Excommunicate and Migrate) which is exactly the policy this group followed by firstly excommunicating as
unbelievers the wider Muslim community and then performing a migration to form their own settlements. The
basis for this ideology was the Prophet Muhammad’s Peace & Blessings of Allah be upon Him) leaving the
unbelievers of Makkah to found his own community after migration to Madinah.)

P119: “Apart from the occasional bouts of ‘Mahdi’ism (Colonel Qaddafi of Libya is the latest to be widely thought of
as the Sunni Mahdi)”

(A ludicrous statement, given the fact that the vast majority of Muslims outside Libya, consider Colonel
Qaddafi to be a clown and highly unstable political leader. In fact the Saudi committee of religious has long
since declared him to be an apostate due to highly unorthodox writing in his green book.)

P141: “Al-Arabi’s theory, the ‘Unity of Being’ (wahdat al-wujud), maintained the universe was ruled by Allah, only in
conjunction with mankind. Neither could exist without the other.”

(Although Al-Arabi was and still is a controversial figure among Muslims due to his writings, the above is a
misunderstanding of what is a highly complex theory. Anyone holding the above opinion is a disbeliever in Islam, as there
is consensus in the Islamic creed that Allah is the necessary existent whose existence is not dependent on any other, while
the creation, which is basically all other than Allah is dependent for their existence on Allah Almighty.)

P223: “The Mountains remained outside Russian control until 1859, when the local leader of the order, Muhammad
Sham’ail was captured and executed.”

(The author’s ignorance of basic facts is not confined to Religious affairs, but extends to World History. The
leader of the Chechen Resistance Imam Shamil was not captured and executed as per the fanciful statement
above, but rather surrendered and lived a rather luxurious exile in St. Petersburg and later Kalouga. He asked
the Tsars permission to go perform the Hajj in 1870 and remained there until his death 4th February 1871 at the
Holy City of Madinah where he is buried.)