Islam: What the West Needs to Know

Islam: What the West Needs to Know
Studio: Disinformation
WorkNameSort: Islam: What the West Needs to Know
Evocative of a fund-raising flick for a cult of far-right-wing xenophobes, the packaging and production of Islam: What the West Needs to Know are both cheap and far from subtle. Unflinchingly focused on the centuries of violent conquest done in the name of Muhammad, this documentary takes on the veracity of the ‘peaceful religionâ?� sound bite that’s been repeated so blithely in response to terrorism and other acts of Islam-inspired violence. The producers behind this film coldly and convincingly insist that such blitheness is naive and dangerous. Not bothering with the standard caveats of ‘zealotsâ?� and ‘fringe ideologues,â?� Gregory M. Davis and Bryan Daly flatly state that coerced conversion is an inherent facet of Islam and use numerous historical incidents to illustrate their point. Unfortunately, like the aforementioned right-wing xenophobes, Davis and Daly are prone to playing fast and loose with context (if not facts), and while several of their examples of scripture passages and expansionist bloodshed do much to boost their theory, a 100-minute documentary is far from enough to expound completely (or accurately) on behavior within the world’s second-largest religion. The filmmakers may be correct that expansionism is a big part of the faith, but the inflammatory nature of this film suggests that Islam exists only to make more Muslims.

This article appears in Jul 18-24, 2007.