Robert B. Spencer

For other people named Robert Spencer, see Robert Spencer

Robert Spencer
Born	1962 (age 61–62)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A. (1983), M.A. (1986), Religious Studies)
Occupation(s)	Author, blogger
Years active	2002–present
Known for	Criticism of Islam, books and websites about Jihad and Islamic terrorism
Notable work	The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion, (2006) The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades), (2005)
Style	Advocacy journalism
Website	www.jihadwatch.org

Robert Bruce Spencer (born 1962) is an American author and blogger best known for critiques of Islam and research into Islamic terrorism and jihad. He has published ten books, including two New York Times bestsellers, and is a regular contributor to David Horowitz's FrontPage Magazine and Human Events. In 2003, with sponsorship by David Horowitz Freedom Center, he founded and has since directed Jihad Watch, a blog he describes as dedicated to "bringing public attention to the role that jihad theology and ideology plays in the modern world, and to correcting popular misconceptions about the role of jihad and religion in modern-day conflicts". It consists mainly of news from the American and international media with commentary. He also co-founded Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and the Freedom Defense Initiative, with activist Pamela Geller, with whom he co-authored a book, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America.

Background

According to a 2010 interview in New York magazine, Spencer's father worked for the Voice of America during the Cold War, and in his younger days, Spencer himself worked at Revolution Books, a Communist bookstore in New York City founded by Robert Avakian. Spencer is a practicing Melkite Greek Catholic. It is a rite of the Catholic Church whose adherents are, according to Spencer, "mostly concentrated in Lebanon and Syria, also in Jordan and the Palestinian territories." His grandparents were forced to immigrate from an area that is now part of Turkey because they were Christians.

Spencer received a B.A. in 1983 and an M.A. in 1986 in religious studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His masters thesis was on a Catholic history topic. He has said he has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history on his own since 1980. He worked in think tanks for more than 20 years, and in 2002–2003 did a stint as an adjunct fellow with the Free Congress Foundation, an arm of the Heritage Foundation. Spencer named Paul Weyrich, also a Melkite Catholic, as a mentor of his writings on Islam. Spencer writes, "Paul Weyrich taught me a great deal, by word and by example – about how to deal both personally and professionally with the slanders and smears that are a daily aspect of this work." Spencer's first book on Islam was published in 2002.

Spencer's views on Islam

Spencer does not believe that traditional Islam is "inherently terroristic" but says he can prove that "traditional Islam contains violent and supremacist elements," and that "its various schools unanimously teach warfare against and the subjugation of unbelievers." However, he rejects the notion that all Muslims are necessarily violent people. He has said that among moderate Muslims, "there are some who are genuinely trying to frame a theory and practice of Islam that will allow for peaceful coexistence with unbelievers as equals," Spencer has also said he would welcome any Muslim who renounces jihad and dhimmitude to join in his "anti-jihadist efforts", but feels that anyone pursuing his called-for reforms will face a difficult task, because "the radicals actually do have a stronger theoretical, theological, and legal basis within Islam for what they believe than the moderates do." He has also argued that many so-called reformers are not interested in genuine reform, but instead are aiming to deflect scrutiny of Islam.

Spencer has expressed criticism of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and numerous other Muslim advocacy groups that he claims are closely tied to allegedly jihadist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood. He has also criticized the employment of several Muslims who were convicted on charges relating to terrorism.

He has appeared with Ayn Rand Institute speakers on several occasions. In an interview with the Washington Post he was "...asked if he was being deliberately combative and provocative, Spencer chuckled. "Why not?" he asked. "It's fun."

Qur'an critic and secularist author Ibn Warraq has said that Spencer "tells the truth that few in the U.S. or Europe wish to face".

Michelle Malkin says that Spencer "tells truths about jihadists that no one else will tell." Conservative radio talk show host Dennis Prager has called JihadWatch, "one of most honorable Web sites that I know of monitoring jihad in the world today."

In a public debate between Spencer and Daniel C. Peterson, a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic, Peterson was critical about what he described as a selective criticism of Islam, but conceded to Spencer that "yes there is a broad consensus and has been for a long time about certain elements of jihadi teaching," about Spencer's assertion that the schools of Islamic jurisprudence do agree on the necessity to wage war against unbelievers, and that "we are really not disagreeing that much ... terrorism, Islamic terrorism, really does have roots in actual parts of the tradition of Islam."

Criticism

Spencer's work has been criticized as showing "entrenched hostility" towards Islam, and condemned as hate speech by a number of Muslim-American and civil rights groups.

Karen Armstrong criticized Spencer's citations of Islamic scripture as cherry-picked, stating among other examples that "Spencer never cites the Koran's condemnation of all warfare as an 'awesome evil', its prohibition of aggression or its insistence that only self-defence justifies armed conflict..." She concludes that "His book is a gift to extremists who can use it to 'prove' ... that the west is incurably hostile to their faith."

Benazir Bhutto accused Spencer of "falsely constructing a divide between Islam and West". She said he was using the Internet to spread hatred of Islam by presenting a "skewed, one-sided, and inflammatory story that only helps to sow the seed of civilizational conflict".

Dinesh D'Souza, of the conservative Hoover Institution, wrote that Spencer downplays the passages of the Quran that urge peace and goodwill to reach one-sided opinions. He contends that Spencer applies a moral standard to Muslim empires that could not have been met by any European empire.

French academic historian Ivan Jablonka said Spencer's views lack academic seriousness and that Spencer does not substantiate the connections he draws between some data picked up from Islamic civilization of the Middle Ages and modern-day activism. Jablonka also accuses Spencer of having a relentless intent to designate "new enemies for wars to come".

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has named Spencer and SIOA co-founder Pamela Geller as the founders of an anti-Muslim hate group. In the Summer 2011 issue of Intelligence Report, published by the SPLC, Robert Steinback listed Spencer as a member of the "anti-Muslim inner circle", noting that "Spencer has been known to fraternize with European racists and neo-fascists, though he says such contacts were merely incidental." Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) listed Spencer as a "Smearcaster", and stated that "by selectively ignoring inconvenient Islamic texts and commentaries, Spencer concludes that Islam is innately extremist and violent".

Controversies

On December 20, 2006, the government of Pakistan announced a ban on Spencer's book, The Truth About Muhammad, citing "objectionable material" as the cause. Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto was likewise highly critical of Spencer's work. In his response to Bhutto's criticism, Spencer notes that the passage she cites was in fact written by Ibn Warraq.

In 2009, Spencer was asked to participate in an information session about Islam and Muslims designed for ethnic and multicultural librarians entitled "Perspectives on Islam: Beyond the Stereotyping", at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Library Association, which was sponsored by the ALA's Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT). After objections were raised by ALA members and the general public, the three other panelists withdrew in protest and the session was ultimately canceled.

In March 2010, Spencer endorsed the English Defence League (EDL) saying that "The EDL is standing up to violent thugs from both the Left and the increasingly assertive Islamic communities in Britain, and they deserve the support of all free people." The EDL has been described as a hate group by various British organizations, such as Searchlight Magazine and the Jewish Community Security Trust.

In August 2010 The Washington Post cited Spencer, along with Pamela Geller as conservative bloggers who have been influential in challenging the construction of the Park51 project, which he calls the "Ground Zero mosque". Spencer and Geller's organization Stop Islamization of America launched their first public protest outside of the Park51 location on June 6, 2010. Appearing on The Sean Hannity Show on Fox News, Spencer criticized then-spokesman, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, as an "Islamist radical" with "terrorist financing" who wanted to "build a memorial to the terrorists who attacked us", adding that "... he wants to impose Islamic law here" and questioned if "...his loyalty is really with the U.S. Constitution or not".

Spencer also insinuated that Abdul Rauf was connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, declaring that "...his father fled Egypt in 1948—which just happens to be right around the time that the Egyptian government really was cracking down hard on the Brotherhood". Adam Serwer, writing in The American Prospect countered that Spencer's evidence for this accusation was insufficient, and criticized Spencer's conclusions regarding Rauf's comments on the practice of Shariah by American Muslims. Serwer asked Rauf to clarify, and the latter responded that "...there are aspects of Sharia law that we are allowed to practice. Like Jews practice their dietary laws, we practice them without contradiction." The non-partisan FactCheck also found no evidence of Rauf's supposed radicalism, stating that "Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has a long history of cooperation with the U.S. government, beginning during the Bush administration", and that supposedly anti-American comments made by him were "...taken out of context".

In an October 2010 news article, an investigative report by The Tennessean found that the "leaders of the anti-Muslim movement" earn millions in their "crusades". Concerning Spencer, the newspaper noted that "IRS filings from 2008 show that Robert Spencer earned $132,537 from the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and Horowitz pocketed over $400,000 for himself in just one year".

In September 2010, on ABC's This Week show, Reza Aslan said that SIOA is an offshoot of SIOE, which he said had been referred to as a neo-Nazi organization by the European Union. Spencer later challenged Aslan to produce any evidence of his claim.

2011 Norway attacks

The New York Times described American influences in the writings of Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks. Breivik quoted Spencer 64 times in his 1,516 page manifesto, 2083 – A European Declaration of Independence. Former CIA officer and terrorism consultant Marc Sageman said it would be unfair to attribute Breivik's violence to the writers who helped shape his world view. However, he added that "counterjihad writers" do argue that the fundamentalist Salafi branch of Islam "is the infrastructure from which Al Qaeda emerged. Well, they and their writings are the infrastructure from which Breivik emerged." Spencer responded that he has been consistent in advocating human rights for all people and that the quotes from him in Breivik's manifesto do not contain any call to violence. He pointed out that the manifesto includes references to many other people, including praise for Barack Obama and plagiarism of the Unabomber. Spencer also criticized Mark Sageman's comments on the same basis.

Bibliography

Best sellers

• The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion, Regnery Press, 2006 (NYT bestseller list – 2006-10-29) ISBN 1-59698-028-1
• The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades), Regnery Press, 2005. (NYT bestseller list – 2005-10-16) ISBN 0-89526-013-1

Other books

• Pamela Geller (July 27, 2010). The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America. Threshold Editions. p. 400. ISBN 978-1439189306. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• The Complete Infidels' Guide to the Koran. Regnery Press. September 21, 2009. p. 260. ISBN 978-1596981041.
• Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs. Regnery Press. October 28, 2008. ISBN 978-1596985568.
• Religion of Peace?: Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn't, Regnery Publishing, 2007, ISBN 1-59698-515-1
• The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims (editor), Prometheus Books, 2005. ISBN 1-59102-249-5
• Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West, Regnery Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-89526-100-6
• (with Daniel Ali) (2003). Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics: 100 questions and answers. Ascension Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-9659228-5-5.
• Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World's Fastest Growing Faith. Encounter Books. October 25, 2002. p. 202. ISBN 1893554589.

See also

• Criticism of Islam
• Islam: What the West Needs to Know
• Park51

External links

• Robert Spencer's Front Page Magazine column archive
• JihadWatch weblog
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Template:Worldcat id

Audio and interviews

• A 40 minute Interview with Robert Spencer
• Audio: Robert Spencer discusses "The Truth about Muhammad" on Shire Network News (Part 1) (Part 2)
• September 2007 Interview with Robert Spencer by The Liberal Institute

Video clips

• Video of Robert Spencer At Brussels Counter-Jihad Conference
• Debate: Islam – Threat or Not? Debate between Robert Spencer and Professor Daniel Peterson
• Video: Robert Spencer discusses "The Truth about Muhammad" at Heritage.org – A one hour talk