The Third Choice: Islam, dhimmitude and freedom

by Mark Durie

The Third Choice provides a compelling introduction to Islam on the basis of its primary sources, the Qur'an and the life of Muhammad. Topics covered include the sharia; interpretation of the Qur'an; abrogation; women's rights (including female genital mutilation); lawful deception ( taqiyya ); Muhammad's responses to opposition; Islamic antisemitism; religious freedom; and prospects for reforming Islam.

After this critical introduction of Islam, there follows an explanation and critique of Islam's policy for non-Muslims living under Islamic conditions.  The doctrine of the three choices (conversion, the sword, or the dhimma pact of surrender to Islam) is explained, including an analysis of the meaning of tribute payments ( jizya ) made by non-Muslims ( dhimmis ) to their Muslim conquerors.  Durie describes the impact of dhimmitude on the human rights of non-Muslims in Islamic contexts around the world today, in the light of global Islamic resurgence and advancing Islamization, including pressure being exerted through the United Nations for states to conform to sharia restrictions on freedom of speech. 

The Third Choice offers indispensable keys for understanding current trends in global politics, including the widening impact of sharia revival, deterioration of human rights in Islamic societies, jihad terrorism, recurring patterns of Western appeasement, interfaith dialogue initiatives, and the increasingly fraught relationship between migrant Muslim communities in the West and their host societies.

Genres: Islam, Religion, History, Nonfiction, Politics, Philosophy, Middle East

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Omega Writers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two reviews from our CALEB reviewers:

(1) Recent statistics show that Australia is one of the most multi-cultural nations on earth with the result that it is also amongst the most multi-faith nations. No matter how well intentioned those who engage in multi-faith dialogue are, without understanding and knowledge their efforts are doomed.

The Judeo-Christian tradition as well as ordinary people world-wide owes a huge debt of gratitude to Mark Durie for his courage in presenting The Third Choice. The Third Choice is a timely, well documented, researched and quite politically incorrect book that carefully details the rise of Islam from the time of Muhammad until the present day.

What is the third choice? Every person - and there are many - who lives as a captive under Islamic rule has three - and only three - choices. The first is to convert to Islam. The second is to submit completely and pay the jizya - a very heavy tax. No complaints of any kind and only expressions of gratitude at the generosity of the captors are allowed and lastly there is the third choice to avoid death by the sword and that is dhimmitude.

Durie’s book is an urgent wake-up call for people everywhere. His book is both disturbing and challenging and a call to personally study Islam so that we may understand the faith of our Islamic neighbours. Durie’s ultimate message and hope is that truth, love and understanding will combine to heal the pain of past and present excesses.

It is a must-read for all involved in interfaith dialogue and in Christian/Muslim relationships.

(2)
Mark Durie’s book presents an understanding of Islam which will benefit Christians who are interested in solving some of the problems facing them. He points out that in many ways non-Muslim countries are too accommodating when it comes to appeasing Islam. He sees the Islamic revival as the greatest challenge to Christianity this century. Human rights and religious freedom need to be upheld. This well-researched book shows what is required to achieve this end, beginning with the education of the Islamic people. His final message is one of hope in which truth and love will lead to compassion and healing.

Bookseller’s Choice – reviewer CALEB Prize

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thus book is extremely unsettling. It us so well written and very well researched that you cannot honestly dispute its conclusions. If the West does not wake up to itself then our grandchildren will surely be making one of the three choices Islam offers. None of the choices permit the sort of lifestyle and freedoms we enjoy today. This book should be read by anyone who thinks Islam is just another religion.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the prevalence of political correctness, multiculturalism, moral relativism, and false premises, it is difficult to identify and combat your existential enemies. Mark Durie does an excellent job of exposing an existential threat that has existed since its inception. Islam is not a religion, it is a war doctrine cloaked in the facade of religion. I have read many books recently concerning the history of Islamic jihad, colonialism, imperialism, and slavery. What makes Durie's book different is that it brings the supremacist nature down the the individual. All the other books I've read were a much broader perspective. The doctrine of dhimmitude in Islam is real and part of Islamic law, the Shari'a. Why it is so hard for people to understand the threat of Islamic supremacism speaks volumes of an abhorrent lack of historical knowledge in our own culture. "The Third Choice" is necessary for any non-Muslim to read to know just how Islam presents itself as a solution or slave master. There is no freedom within Islam. It serves no place in a free society. Wake up people and reject this totalitarian ideology as any fascist ideology should be rejected.

[Jack Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learn about Islam and the history of Muslims with Mark Durie's excellent book that is very much needed in today's world. Mark is a world-class scholar and clearly explains what could be a very confusing ideology otherwise. I recommend this book for those who want to become better informed about the workings and reasons why Islam is the power it is in the world today.

[Mina Ussef · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book to read if you want to know about dhimmitude. You will get a good historical summary with an incredible in depth analysis plus many original passages from many sacred Islamic texts including the Koran and haddiths. Unbelievable amount of research. I learnt so much about the real Islam.

[Caroline Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a rare find when one encounters a book that is both scholarly and engaging. This book is such a book. Durie provides a critical (in the truest sense of the word) view of the teachings of Islam, but never do you feel as this he is inflammatory or denigrating in his approach. Highly recommend. Wish he had written more.

[Philip Hunt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here's a book to explain to you why we should be frightened of Islam. Why it's much worse than any other religion. How it preaches deception. How it imposes servitude on non-Muslims. And more. There is not a glimmer of light in the darkness. As a treatise on the notion of Dhimmitude (the deliberate discrimination against non-Muslims) it is a well-researched, authoritative work, but one comes away with the worry that every Muslim is hell-bent on world domination. If that's your opinion, this is the book not to undermine your prejudice.

The book needs a balancing anthropological perspective. The tendency for cultures to marginalise those who do not conform is hardly unique to Islam, even though Islam may have refined it to near perfection. My own country has had a year or two of attempting to marginalise Muslims with more subtlety than described in this book, but therefore with more hypocrisy. And more than one European country has a history of imposing taxes to support State religions. Understanding that Islam does this sort of thing too is useful. But not much more.

[Paul, · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of well-researched information, inevitably biased, but worth wrestling with to understand the world-as-it-is.

[Vireya · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not sure what Durie wanted to achieve with this book. His thesis that Islam is a terrible thing, and that Muslims won't admit that because they lie about anything that might reflect badly on their religion, and non-Muslims won't say it because they are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, seems designed only to fuel anti-Muslim sentiments. The person who gave me this book is someone who sees "halal" labeling as a threat to their way of life rather than a smart business decision by companies expanding their markets. That person will be sad that reading it didn't convert me to their point of view.

Does Durie want to promote understanding, or promote hatred?

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Islam is evil". It's a decent and well-researched book with a clear message and agenda. Its style of argumentation, by contrast, is not particularly compelling to me, and it more or less never qualifies its sometimes very bold conclusions nor does it even attempt to engage with competing perspectives and serious scholarship.

This book may be of value for the strawman western liberal Islamophile it decries, but for everyone else, it provides only talking points you probably don't care to employ anyway.

[Alex]

Stopped at p54. Determined to focus my studies on reading the Siras - per Durie's recommendation. Would like to return to this work at a later time.