Robert Spencer, The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS (2015)

ISIS rocketed onto the world stage seemingly out of nowhere, beheading American hostages, bulldozing international borders, routing the American-trained Iraqi Army, and carving out a new state that rules eight million people. Now, after the shocking San Bernardino and Paris attacks, it has become devastatingly clear that no one is safe from the threat of ISIS. The group has managed to radicalize and recruit Muslims all over the world and is staging an all-out "holy war" against the West, while U.S. leaders remain stumped.

In The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS, New York Times bestselling author Robert Spencer reveals the terrifying inner workings of the Islamic State—its successful recruitment program, how it is financing its expansion, and the ideology that is driving its success. As Spencer explains, the Islamic State has taken the first steps on the path to becoming a serious world power—steps that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda dreamed of but were afraid to take. The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS is your one-stop easy reference for all you need to know about ISIS—including how "infidels" can stop its reign of terror.

Review

"As always, Robert Spencer is scholarly, thorough, fearless, and insistent in making sure we know the Islamic State. Don't say you haven't been warned."
—ANDREW C. McCARTHY, contributing editor of National Review and New York Times bestselling author of The Grand Jihad, Willful Blindness, and Islam and Free Speech

"Contains everything the people of the free world need to know about the foremost threat to freedom, and to every free person. This book shows how ISIS plans to sow murder and mayhem—and above all, how it can and must be stopped."
—GEERT WILDERS, member of parliament in the Netherlands and leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV)

"ISIS is here. If sanity still prevailed in our government and media, this book would be required reading for all elected officials and journalists."
—PAMELA GELLER, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative

From the Inside Flap

It's the world's most spectacularly successful terrorist group—and the most mysterious. ISIS rocketed onto the world stage seemingly out of nowhere, beheading American hostages, bulldozing international borders, routing the American-trained Iraqi Army, carving out a new state that rules eight million people and a territory larger than the United Kingdom, perpetrating genocide, reviving slavery, pulverizing ancient monuments, and persuading its followers to carry out terror attacks in New York and Texas. But who are they? Where did ISIS come from, and how did they rise to power in so little time? What is driving them—and how can they be stopped?

Now New York Times bestselling author Robert Spencer reveals the blood-drenched history and inner workings of the Islamic State—its military conquests, how it is financing its expansion, the significance of the newly declared caliphate and its long roots in Muslim history, and the ideology that is driving its success. As Spencer reveals, the Islamic State has taken the first steps on the path to becoming a world power—steps that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda dreamed of but were afraid to take. The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS is your one-stop easy reference for all you need to know about ISIS—and how to stop its reign of terror.

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WG : "The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS" by Robert Spencer (Aug. 2015), 357 large-size, paperback pages.

Most people when hearing about some "ISIS" terrorist attack against Iraqis, Syrians, Christians, or others, ask:
*What makes the ISIS attackers so angry?
*Why are they so murderous?
*Do they really have an ideology that compels them to murder their captives in so many deviant methods (burning them alive, drowning them, cutting off their victim's heads while still alive)?
*What are these savages up to?
*Are they really a threat to me?
*Why are so many young European Muslims traveling to Iraq to join the militant ISIS forces?

These questions, and many more, are explained well by the long-time, jihadist critic: Mr. Robert Spencer (who has written a number of Islamo- realism books).

But just in case you are just learning of this topic, let us briefly explain what ISIS is as defined by most western media: "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant/al-Sham": ISIL or ISIS; and for the Arabic purists: "ad-Dawlah al-Islamiyah fi'l-'Iraq wa-sh-Sham" or the less wordy: "al-Daesh" ("The State") or mockingly by its critics as the simple "daesh" ("state" [i.e. non-real state]).

Wow: Amazon has nicely provided a "Look Inside" feature so that a potential buyer can view several select pages to determine whether or not the book is of interest. Double-Wow: whose idea it was I don't know, but Amazon's "Look Inside" feature (as of 17 Aug. 2015) allows a person to look at/read almost 99% of the entire book -- most unusual.

Well, if you don't want to read the entire book right now on Amazon, I'll provide a short review.

You may be thinking: "Why do I want to read some Catholic guy flapping his gums about his personal thoughts regarding ISIS?" The topics discussed by Mr. Spencer are more that just his personal musings, as he noted: "Wherever possible, I'll let the Islamic State speak for itself. I'll use the words of the people who have joined it and who run it ... so that you can see directly what they think of themselves and of their actions.... I'll bring you the Islamic State's own explanations of what it has done, and why, and -- most chilling of all -- its plans for the future" (p. xxv).

The author discusses the origins of ISIS -- as an outgrowth from al-Qaeda. But more that just noting the historical-root factoids about ISIS, the author reveals the theological underpinnings of ISIS: how the ISIS leadership look at the Muslim prophet Mohammad and his revelations in the Quran (and the ahadith) to justify their murderous, militant existence. I'm not going to cite all of the sentences in the Quran that the jihadists extoll -- just noting that the author provides them throughout this book (the author provides 39 pages of cited sources).

The author explains how ISIS is more than just a modern-day, protection-racket gangsta group; the author explains how ISIS has proclaimed the re-birth of the Islamic Caliphate: a Muslim government of the Islamists, by the Islamists, and for the Islamists to rule over the non-Muslim infidels (kafir) (Chapter 6) -- all as originally envisioned by Muhammad himself. Besides the usual cabinet members of "Finance Minister" and "Minister for Social Services", I was surprised to learn that ISIS even has a specific identified "Minister for Foreign Fighters and Suicide Bombers" (p. 140).

One question that the befuddled ask is: "Is ISIS really true to the Muslim faith? -- or have they hijacked peace-oriented Islam?" The author discusses this matter in the appropriately titled Chapter 8: "Is the Islamic State Islamic? (Is the Pope Catholic?)". The author reviews the utterances of naïve political and military leaders, of Muslim apologists, and of Islamic taquiyya speakers who proclaim that "ISIS misrepresents Islam".

Some skeptics will say: Isn't this book just a re-hash of the author's postings on his JIHAD WATCH website?" No -- not at all. This isn't a cut-and-paste of the author's past writings. This book is almost all new in his explaining the development of ISIS.

And there are so many sub-chapters: "The Sex Slaves" (p. 156); "The Muslim Brotherhood" (p. 187); the relevancy of "The Wars of Apostasy" (p. 197); "Why are the Victims so Calm?" (p. 228); "Brutal -- like Muhamad" (p. 241); "Barack Obama's Foredoomed Plan" (p. 284), and so much more.

Initially when I read that Mr. Spencer was writing this book, I asked myself: "Okay, I've read much of Robert's works, can he really add much to the understanding of ISIS?" I was so wrong. Although I have read daily of ISIS activities since its founding, this book nonetheless added greatly to my understanding of ISIS, its history, its operators and its operations.

AMK : Tightly packed with information, this book is essential for Infidels who want to understand what we are up against.

ISIS-The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria-controls millions of people in a county as large as some countries in Europe. Robert Spencer explains to the ordinary citizen how this came to pass. He tells us of the ideology and theology of the Jihadists who run what they now simply call the Islamic State or the Caliphate. It makes for fascinating if horrifying reading. The Caliphate makes what we would call snuff films, that is films showing actual human beings being murdered in horrible way. The films facilitate the recruitment of young people from all over the world. "Come to Syria, the films say, we are so powerful that we can slay the inferred as we please. You can too,"
Spenser meticulously cites and codifies every thing he writes. This is a book written with the care of a scholar but aimed at the general reader.
Two things to mention--The head of the Caliphate, Caliph Ibrahim (aka Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi) (neither is his birth name) wears one of those super expensive movie star-billionaire watches that cost thousands of dollars. Western journalists (ignorant scribblers that they are) make fun of him for his foolish pride in material things. They totally miss the point. His message to the young men of the Muslim world is 'Come to Syria, slay the infidel and take for your self his goods, his possessions, his wives and his children." The expensive watch is not excessive pride, it is plunder, taken from an enemy, exactly as Mohammad did so long ago.
Many of us remember the air force pilot who Bagdadi had burned to death with gasoline while trapped in a steel cage. In Islamic law this act to totally forbidden. Fire as punishment is reserved to Allah, Allah deals out fiery pain to sinners in the afterlife. Only Allah may do this. Well, Bagdadi has a Phd. in Islamic studies. He knows this quite well. But, as a trained theologian, he has found a work around for the prohibition. A victim may be punished in a like way to match his crime. The pilot bombed people, burning them and burying them under the debris of buildings. So, in good faith, they burned this poor guy to death, and they threw debris over him. Bagdadi goes to great length to be correct theologically.
This book is very densely packed with history, politics, the religious foundation of the Caliphate and the personalities involved. In fact it is so densely packed that I could only absorb a few pages at a time. I would read 10 or 12 pages and then come back for another few pages after I had digested the first batch. It took forever to read. I now keep it on my shelf.
The Jihadists seek to usher in the Apocalypse and if someone does not stop them they might just do it.