Tarek Fatah's the Jew is Not My Enemy

In general it is good to read books that challenge your assumptions, unless they are written by Marxists whose views are worthless. While it is important to learn from Spenser it is more valuable to read the thoughts of Muslims who care about their faith and share our concerns. I have learned very much from regularly read Stephen Schwartz and the articles at the CIP.

Fatah does decry the pro Arabic racism that is directed at non Arabs as part and parcel of the Saudi variant. Arabs muslims tend to look down on non Arab muslims who make up a majority of the faith.  The primacy of this faith and the mindless conspiratorial Jewish obsessions are traced to Saudi malfeasence.

What is new is the authors questioning if a certain massacre assumed to be true actually happend or it got added later. The author makes a convincing argument it did not happen quite the way the haddith conveys it. The author questions why Muslims themselves are so willing to embrace the story of a vengeful prophet
who butchered people who were basically bystanders in the events. As with the building of the Dome of the Rock there appears to be political reasoning behind the fable. The author points out that there is zero confirmation of these events in Jewish sources who wrote about events in great detail. The massacre of 900 people should have created ruins that would have been dug up in Medina multiple times in construction.

The author points out that if this haddith is rejected then inevitably we would end up wondering what else is false or exagerated.

Are we ready to challenge out assumptions? While I grant that the author may be factually correct, Muslims themselves believe these legends. Of course clinging to represive theocracy is not in anyones interest as it is not the basis of a modern state. The problem is the author leaves out the damage of the Marxists who inane strongmen like Saddam and Assad have been just as disasterous. Of course the notion of getting a Muslim Capitalist reformer has just not happened. I have learned to never say never but don't hold your breath.