Virgins? What Virgins? and Other Essays

by Ibn Warraq

In this wide-ranging collection of insightful, controversial, and often-witty essays, the renowned author of Why I Am Not a Muslim has created a representative selection of his best work on the Koran and various problems posed by the interaction of Islam with the West. The title of the collection comes from an article that originally appeared in the London Guardian on recent textual studies of the Koran. This research suggests that, contrary to a longstanding Muslim belief about the afterlife, a harem of beautiful virgins may not be waiting for the faithful male departed in heaven. For the many readers of his books who have wondered about his background, the author begins with a charming personal sketch about his upbringing in England and his unabashed Anglophilia. A section on Koranic criticism includes excerpts from two of his books, What the Koran Really Says and Which Koran? No stranger to controversy and polemics, the author devotes two sections to articles that consider the totalitarian nature of contemporary political Islam and explore the potential for an Islamic Reformation comparable to the Protestant Reformation in the West. The concluding section is composed of Ibn Warraq's journalism, including a critique of reputed Muslim reformer Tariq Ramadan, a defense of Western culture ("Why the West Is Best)," an article about the Danish cartoons that provoked widespread Muslim outrage, and even a commentary on heavy metal music in a Muslim setting. This thoughtful, engaging collection on diverse topics will interest both longtime readers of Ibn Warraq and those new to his work.

Genres: Religion, Politics, Islam

546 pages, Paperback

First published April 27, 2010

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

[Vlad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a scholarly tome, very well documented and referenced.
Ibn Warraq's message is clear: Islam itself is the source of Jihad-terrorism, not poverty, not US foreign policy, not nationalism.
The Koran is 4/5ths largely incomprehensible to most scholars, it's origins are dubious, there are many variants, transcripts, translations, it's ripe with contradictions and nonsensical verbiage. One third is pre-Islamic and has Christian sources. Many sources are not even Arabic.
Mohammad was a blood-thirst maniac, anti-Semitic, xenophobic, misogynistic. He ordered the execution of many of his opponents.

And much more...

[Naomi Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ibn Warraq's book has some essays worth reading, and the Koran, fundamentalist Islam, and the need for an Enlightenment as the West had in the 18th century.

A large portion of the book is devoted to textual criticism of the Koran, with explanations of variants about the different versions, how words were translated from Classical Arabic (the vowels and points added later), and how Syriac might have been the language of some of the original texts. That part is pretty dense.

[Xavier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some chilled grapejuice and all the riches you want.

If it's anything like "Alma" (Hebrew for "young maiden" or "virgin"), we can expect the more irrational parts of the doctrine to become articles of faith. Full-fledged doctrines make research into the ambiguous origin heretical. Not every mistranslation is a miracle. But implying the "man not of the book/letters [of christans and jews]" isn't illiterate has become blasphemous regardless.

As for heaven itself. A stark contrast with Augustine's teaching on (Garden of Eden) Paradise, stripped of even male sexuality.

't Is a strange thing to see of of these books and essays requiring pseudonyms. I thought the last sentence worth reading on the subject was published hundreds of years ago:
"An opinion that corn-dealers are starvers of the poor, or that private property is robbery, ought to be unmolested when simply circulated through the press, but may justly incur punishment when delivered orally to an excited mob assembled before the house of a corn-dealer, or when handed about among the same mob in the form of a placard."

[Natasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

[research assistant assignment] sigh

[Ann Tonks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays, some short and journalistic, some complex and analytical. If your a liberal but want to be able to argue the case that Islam is a problematic religion, then this book will help.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a series of essays by the Indian/Pakistani secular humanist Ibn Warraq.