Juan Cole's Latest Fantasy Book

"Today is a special day for me. In 2015, at the height of the ISIL cult’s influence in Iraq and Syria and during a time of extreme bigotry toward Muslims in the United States, I conceived a project on “Islamic Peace Studies.” The point was not to deny the violence of cult-like movements such as al-Qaeda, ISIL and the Taliban but to balance our consideration of them with an exploration of Islam’s rich history of work for peace and conciliation. Through the kindness and hard work of a band of colleagues across the world and funding from the University of Michigan’s International Institute, today it has come to fruition with the publication of our book at the IB Tauris imprint of Bloomsbury Press,"-Juan Cole

University of Michigan comedian, Juan Cole, has now come out with a new blockbuster book on Islam as a follow-up to his hagiographic book on Mohammad, who, according to Cole, was a prophet of peace. His latest work, of which he is the editor, is devoted to the proposition that Islam is a religion of peace (in spite of 1400 years of evidence to the contrary).

Here is Cole's bulletin from his ridiculously-named blog, "Informed Comment".

 https://www.juancole.com/2021/12/movements-challenges-stereotypes.html

"Bruce Lawrence at Duke University, one of our country’s great Islam specialists, observes of this new volume,

“Nowhere has the charged topic of Islam and peace been as deftly and broadly addressed as in this collection of essays edited by the maestro of public scholarship on Islam, Juan Cole. From Qur’anic dicta to historical exemplars to modern day perspectives on fundamentalism, women and Trump, the contributors eschew easy platitudes or apologia, providing a kaleidoscope of insight that will attract the general reader as also the academic specialist.” ―Bruce B. Lawrence, Duke University, USA”


"The maestro of public scholarship on Islam...."

"Contrary to the distorted and in many places all-too-prevalent view of Islam as somehow inherently or uniquely violent, there is a dazzling array of Muslim organizations and individuals that have worked for harmony and conciliation through history. The Qur’an itself, the Muslim scripture, is full of peace verses urging returning good for evil and wishing peace upon harassers, alongside the verses on just, defensive war that have so often been misinterpreted."


Fousesquawk comment: Cole's post is brief, and I will be brief and let more knowledgeable experts comment on this theme: Yes, the early suras of the Koran, during the Mecca period of Mohammad's life, have many peaceful and benign verses, many borrowed from the older Testaments. It is the Medina verses, recorded during the period when Mohammad was spreading Islam at the point of a sword and thousands were dying, that take precedence over the earlier verses. The principle of abrogation, as explained by the Islamic schools of thought, dictates that conflicting verses are decided in favor of by whichever verse was recorded later in time. In simple terms, the later, violent verses, abrogate the earlier peaceful verses. Of course, Cole must know this.

Cole makes references to Sufist Islam. I am no expert on Sufism except to say that while they have a pretty good track record in not engaging in terrorism, it should be noted that they are subjected to persecution in many Muslim-majority nations.

If Cole wants to argue that innocent Muslims should not be tarred with the brush of terrorism, I have no quarrel with that. It appears that he believes that ISIS, Al Qaeda etc., and their followers or wannabes are not truly Islamic. I have not read this book, nor do I intend to do so-unless I come across a free copy. Where I really take issue with Cole is when he tries to sell ideas that are so easily disproven. People in the profession of education should know better.