Why the West is Best: A Muslim Apostate's Defense of Liberal Democracy

by Ibn Warraq

We, in the West in general, and the United States in particular, have witnessed over the last twenty years a slow erosion of our civilizational self-confidence. 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.

Genres: Politics, History, Nonfiction, Islam, Religion, Philosophy, Atheism

286 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Ibn Warraq is the pen name of an anonymous author critical of Islam. He is the founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society and used to be a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry, focusing on Quranic criticism. Warraq is the vice-president of the World Encounter Institute.
Warraq has written historiographies of the early centuries of the Islamic timeline and has published works which question mainstream conceptions of the period. The pen name Ibn Warraq (Arabic: ابن وراق, most literally "son of a papermaker") is used due to his concerns for his personal safety; Warraq stated, "I was afraid of becoming the second Salman Rushdie." It is a name that has been adopted by dissident authors throughout the history of Islam. The name refers to the 9th-century skeptical scholar Abu Isa al-Warraq. Warraq adopted the pseudonym in 1995 when he completed his first book, entitled Why I Am Not a Muslim.
He is the editor of several books, also including The Origins of the Koran (1998), The Quest for the Historical Muhammad (2000), What the Koran Really Says (2002) and the writer/editor Leaving Islam (2003). He is a controverisal figure among his contemporaries as many academic specialists in Islamic history consider him to be polemical, overly revisionist and lacking in expertise.

Reviews

[Joshua Rosenblum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ibn Warraq gives a cogent, deatiled and persuasive analysis of why Western Civilization is the crowning achievement of humanity, and how it is threatened by encroachment from without and self doubt within.

Ibn Warraq pulls no punches, laying out where he stands right in the prologue:

"The West does not need lectures on the superior virtue of societies where women are kept in subjection, endure genital mutilation, are married off against their will at the age of nine, have acid thrown in their faces or are stoned to death for alleged adultery, or where human rights are denied to those regarded as belonging to lower catses. The West does not need sanctimonious homilies from societies that cannot provide clean drinking water or sewage systems for their populations, that cannot educate thier citizens but leave 40 to 50 percent of them illiterate, that make no provision for the handicapped, that have no sense of the common good or civic responsibility, that are riddled with corruption.

"...The Ayatollah Khomeini once famously said there are no jokes in Islam. The West is able to look at its own foibles and laugh, even make fun of its own fundamental principles. There is no Islamic equivalent to Monty Python's Life of Brian. Can we look forward to The Life of Mo anytime in the future?"

A book chock full of excellent arguments against Western self defeatism and self abasement. We are far from perfect, but we children of The Enlightenment represent the best that humanity has to offer. And it's time we started vociferously saying so. Ibn Warraq, an immigrant to the West, does mankind a great service in this essay.

[Natasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

[research assistant assignment] If I could give this book 0 stars, I would. lazy historical revisionism full of blatant mistruths that progresses to flat-out slavery and imperialism apologia

[Michael Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strong critique of current intellectual trends that say, for example, that the West is fatally tainted by imperialism, colonialism, racism, the history of the slave trade etc. Ibn Warraq doesn't deny these things happened, but shows that Islamic imperialism and Arab slave traders were far worse (the Arabs traded in slaves for overa thousand years and systematically castrated their African male captives).
The question of why the West is superior in wealth, technology, political and religious freedoms is complicated to say the least, but Ibn Warraq (a former Muslim) makes a strong case for showing it is Western culture, with its roots in ancient Greece and in Christianity, which accounts for the West's superiority in so many fields. Current trends towards multiculturalism (replacing the earlier "melting-pot" approach to absorbing immigrants) is undermining the West and creating problems for the future.

[Frederic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A welcome reminder of the many achievements of Western, liberal democracies, many of which seem to have forgotten to value the freedoms that should define them. Warraq takes readers on a tour of those accomplishments and contrasts them with the economic and social failure that plague much of the rest of the world. He reminds us that the free speech that makes our societies possible is under attack from within. An important book that covers similar ground as Ayaan Hirsi Ali's books, using the evolution of pluralism as a backdrop.

[Kitty Red-Eye · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the strongest essay books I've come across in defence of the ideals from the Enlightenment. If you like Christopher Hitchens, you'll like Warraq too. The reason it's not getting five stars is that it somehow feels too compact, a bit of an exhausting reading experience, as the material in the book is vast and would deserve volumes to do it justice. I'm also not sure if the first chapter, on New York, is the best way to start a book like this, although it's extremely charming.

[Paul Brandel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, we in the West must never forget or underappreciate we have a great heritage. Freedom of expression right now is under attack. Why for example we can be so critical of Christianity and Israel, but don't you say anything critic of Islam! The hell with that.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It’s shite being Scottish!” I was stunned the first time I heard that line in the mordant comedy Trainspotting. It was followed by a rancid, vitriolic speech delivered by then up-and-comer Ewan McGregor about just how vile the Scottish race is. I had believed Americans had cornered the market on self-abasement.

I don’t think of us as being sniveling weaklings, however. As I suspect many foreigners do, I consider Americans to be lewd, rude, crude, rowdy and obnoxious—and proud of it. No, fiercely proud of it. No, DAMN proud of it!

Yeah, Americans have got balls, attitude, joie de vivre and enough chutzpah to scare sharks. But Mr. Warraq’s book reminds us of just how much else we’ve got to offer. The streets may not be paved with gold but there’s plenty of literature, music, art, vibrancy and wide-ranging culture to spread around the place. Where else can you find streets devoted entirely to Armenian cuisine just blocks away from experimental theater and shops that serve only Belgian waffles?

Yet there’s more to Western civilization than cheekiness. Brilliant, probing, scathing and unapologetic, Why the West is Best reminds us sharply of how far we’ve come and how much we’ve accomplished, especially when compared to other cultures mired in traditionalist attitudes cloaked under religious fervor. It’s not just America Warraq lauds; his book seeks to show the breadth and scope of accomplishments wrought by Western countries such as England, France, Denmark, et al., especially when compared to the insular nature of hidebound Muslim-dominated countries.

Mr. Warraq derides Western loathing and our unceasing attempts to “make up” for centuries of misbehavior. Yes, we’ve got blots on our escutcheon—but what country doesn’t? While we seek to make reparations for warfare, imperialism and slavery, he points out how other nations have committed the same atrocities but aren’t bending over backwards or pouring out funds to make amends.

He urges us to educate our children about the full scope of slavery (thinking that it was invented solely by whites to subjugates blacks reveals a paucity of imagination, an ignorance of history and is giving white people waaaaaaay to much credit); to have our governmental leaders probe into the backgrounds of so-called imperialism; for us to abandon misplaced liberal guilt and to stop all the silly apologizing for barbarities committed by our ancestors. Get off the cross, people. We need the wood.

This book is a riveting alternate look at our country by a man who approaches it with an outsider’s viewpoint, a historian’s unflinching gaze and the smarts of someone who has dug hard and deep into its subject. This is a book that should be handed out in all Western schoolrooms, especially the ones that are just beginning to take a look at our own sordid past.

This is a grand country with much to offer. It’s time we were reminded of that.

[Mikey B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title may sound arrogant, but there are a number of good points raised by the author.

The West (defined as Europe and North America) has for centuries emphasized rationality - leading to an emphasis on science, medical breakthroughs and legal constructs. It has shed the dogma of religion – meaning that religious authorities no longer control centres of learning, government, and the media. The exception to all this is the increasing influence of the religious right in the U.S., which the author does not discuss.

There were some issues I had with the authors’ outlook. His emphasis on Greco-Roman history was overly philosophical. Also, he was negative rather than positive. He mentioned how Islam has restricted scientific and rational development. In the West we are allowed to criticize religious dogma, while in Muslim countries this is strictly forbidden through the power of religious authorities and “morality police”. Many Muslim countries do not permit one to change religion – to leave Islam – and blasphemy laws exist.

He discusses how Muslim enclaves in Europe have adopted sharia law, in some cases superseding government rule-of-law. Universities have accepted huge donations from theocratic countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar for their “Islamic studies” programs. How many strings are attached to this? What happens to professors who bring into question Koranic teachings?

I wish he would have emphasized more how human rights in the West have progressed and changed over the years – like the rights of women, the rights of LGBTQ people (when I was growing up homosexuality was taboo), open discussion of sexual topics (sex was seen as sinful when I attended school), or the freedom to be an atheist.

Women in the West have the freedom to not get married, to not have children, to pursue ever-widening careers (medical, engineering…), to travel independently, to do athletic activities… These rights are largely unavailable to women in many non-Western countries.

He points out that multi-culturalism can lead to the rejection of Western values. Allowing one to keep one’s traditions or culture can lead to honor killings, arranged marriages (as in a young girl to an older man). Many communities want to control the lives of their women, some refuse to take part in Western education.

Many parts of this book have already been touched upon by other writers like Ayaan Hirsi Ali. As the author mentioned there is still a huge demand to migrate to Western countries and attend their schools.

[Book lover · Rating 5 out of 5]

so far this is my favorite ibn warraq's writing,strongly persuasive.the most fascinating part is his critical view to the west and east.i deeply impressed with west culture of self criticism and openness which yield a rich thought in the west society

[Kashayar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The western civilization is the best. No doubt.

[Joe Sampson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Argues strongly that Western values are superior to fundamentalist Islamic values.

[Stephen Coates · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is, in many ways, an expansion of Warraq’s 2007 book "Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism". Warraq opens the book with a presentation of New York city discussing its infrastructure, its support for the performing arts, the vast numbers of magazines and other periodicals readily available at newsagents, the public library system and the array of cuisines representative of those from around the world, frequently contrasting this openness with the restrictions he and others have experienced in Moslem-majority countries.

He then goes on the explain why the West became so successful, attributing this success to the fusion of the legacy of Greek development of reason, democracy and citizenship; Roman development of the rule of law and private property; Judeo-Christian ethics which included compassion and forgiveness; the European-originated separation of church and state; the enlightenment; the development of science and economic liberalism. He goes on to examine Western culture especially film and music which is so readily consumed by most of the rest of the world and which he attributes to its innate appeal and the freedom in Western countries which enables it to be produced.

The book then tackles the nonsense of cultural relativism and examines slavery, which was first abolished in the West; racism, noting that it is in the West that racial discrimination has been outlawed and expression of racism stigmatised, and imperialism, which ended in the West with Western countries voluntarily ceding what had been their colonies to become independent countries. The book then discusses how satire, self-criticism are part of the fabric of Western society whereas they are almost absent from non-Western countries, especially Islamic countries. In a similar vein, the book notes how objectivity and curiosity, especially in the environment of the university in Western countries have allowed the development of science and related disciplines. This is followed by a discussion of freedom of religion and freedom of speech, two pillars of Western political systems, although noting that there were some moves to curtail the latter to appease both Islamic countries and Moslems living in Western countries. The final pages of the book discuss multiculturalism one aspect of which is to tolerate intolerances of some immigrant cultures in Western countries and some ideas on how Western freedoms can be defended.

The arguments in the book are well presented, well defended and backed up with copious references. It’s a valuable resource for those concerned that some freedoms in Western countries are too taken for granted and are being slowly eroded.