A brilliant account of the workings of state terrorism by the world’s foremost critic of US imperialism.

    Under the influence of intellectuals and academics in Western universities, intellectuals such as Gore Vidal, Susan Sontag, Edward Said, and Noam Chomsky, and destructive intellectual fashions such as post-modernism, moral relativism, and multiculturalism, the West has lost all self-confidence in its own values, and seems incapable and unwilling to defend those values. By contrast, resurgent Islam, in all its forms, is supremely confident, and is able to exploit the West's moral weakness and cultural confusion to demand ever more concessions from her. The growing political and demographic power of Muslim communities in the West, aided and abetted by Western apologists of Islam, not to mention a compliant, pro-Islam U.S. administration, has resulted in an ever-increasing demand for the implementation of Islamic law, sharia, into the fabric of Western law, and Western constitutions. There is an urgent need to examine why sharia is totally incompatible with Human Rights and the US Constitution. This book, the first of its kind, proposes to examine the Sharia and its potential and actual threat to democratic principles.This book defines and defends Western values, strengths and freedoms often taken for granted. This book also tackles the taboo subjects of racism in Asian culture, Arab slavery, and Islamic imperialism. It begins with a homage to New York City, as a metaphor for all we hold dear in Western culture: pluralism, individualism, freedom of expression and thought, the complete freedom to pursue life, liberty and happiness unhampered by totalitarian regimes, and theocratic doctrines.

    With more than 400 alphabetically arranged entries written by an international team of specialists, the volume focuses on the origins and evolution of Islamic political ideas and related subjects, covering central terms, concepts, personalities, movements, places, and schools of thought across Islamic history. Fifteen major entries provide a synthetic treatment of key topics, such as Muhammad, jihad, authority, gender, culture, minorities, fundamentalism, and pluralism. Incorporating the latest scholarship, this is an indispensable resource for students, researchers, journalists, and anyone else seeking an informed perspective on the complex intersection of Islam and politics.Includes more than 400 concise, alphabetically arranged entriesFeatures 15 in-depth entries on key topicsCovers topics such as:Central themes and sources of Islamic political thought: caliph, modernity, knowledge, shari'a, government, revival and reformModern concepts, institutions, movements, and parties: civil society, Islamization, secularism, veil, Muslim BrotherhoodIslamic law and traditional Islamic societies: justice, taxation, fatwa, dissent, governance, piety and asceticism, trade and commerceSects, schools, regions, and dynasties: Mu'tazilis, Shi'ism, Quraysh, Mecca and Medina, Baghdad, Indonesia, Nigeria, Central Asia, OttomansThinkers, personalities, and statesmen: Mawardi, Shafi'I, Saladin, Tamerlane, Akbar, Atat�rk, Nasser, KhomeiniContains seven historical and contemporary maps of Muslim empires, postcolonial nation-states, populations, and settlementsGuides readers to further research through bibliographies, cross-references, and an index

    As this eye-opening volume reveals, accusations of blasphemy, apostasy, or insulting Islam are increasingly used by authoritarian governments and extremist forces inthe Muslim world to acquire and consolidate power. These charges, which traditionally carry a punishment of death, have proved effective in intimidating not only converts and heterodox groups, but also political and religious reformers. In his foreword, the late Indonesian President Wahid observesthat coercively applied blasphemy laws narrow the bounds of acceptable discourse...not only about religion, but about vast spheres of life, literature, science and culture in general.Silenced provides the first survey of such accusations in the contemporary Muslim world, in international organizations, and in the West. The authors describe hundreds of victims, including political dissidents, religious reformers, journalists, writers, artists, movie makers, and religiousminorities throughout the Muslim world. They also document the political effects in Muslim societies of blasphemy and apostasy laws, as well as non-governmental fatwas and vigilante violence. Finally, they address the move toward new blasphemy laws in the West and the increasing threat of violenceto stifle commentary on Islam in the West even in the absence of law.

    Rushdie’s crime? Blasphemy or “Islamophobia,” as it has come to be known. Since then we have seen worldwide violent Muslim protests over cartoons, blasphemy laws in Europe, prosecutions of notable opponents of Islamic terror like Oriana Fallaci and Geert Wilders, and the demonization of courageous opponents of Islamic imperialism and terror in the West. David Horowitz and Robert Spencer describe the origins of the word “Islamophobia” as a coinage of the Muslim Brotherhood and show how the Brotherhood launched a campaign, by ginning up “Islamophobia” as a hate crime, to stigmatize mention of such issues as radical Islam’s violence against women and murder of homosexuals, and the constant incitement of many imams to terrorism. The authors make the case that “Islamophobia” is a dagger aimed at the heart of free speech and also at the heart of our national security.

    Subsequently, architects, designers, and commercial advertisers shifted their attention from commercial and public architecture to the new home and its contents. Domesticity and consumer culture also became topics of interest among politicians, Shiite religious scholars, and the Left, who communicated their respective views via the popular media and numerous other means. In the interim, ordinary Iranian families, who were capable of selectively appropriating aspects of their immediate surroundings, demonstrated their resistance toward the officially sanctioned transformations. Through analyzing a series of case studies that elucidate such phenomena and appraising a wide range of objects and archival documents--from furnishings, appliances, architectural blueprints, and maps to photographs, films, TV series, novels, artworks, scrapbooks, work-logs, personal letters and reports--this book highlights the significance of private life in social, economic, and political contexts of modern Iran.Tackling the subject of home from a variety of perspectives, Domesticity and Consumer Culture in Iran thus shows the interplay between local aspirations, foreign influences, gender roles, consumer culture and women's education as they intersect with taste, fashion, domestic architecture and interior design.