Islam, Dhimmitude and freedom

Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom

The subject of a new book, called 'The Third Choice' by Dr Mark Durie.

Dr Mark Durie, theologian, human rights activist and pastor of an Anglican church has just had a new book published called "The Third Choice. He has previously published many articles and books on the language and culture of the Acehnese, Christian-Muslim relations and religious freedom. A graduate of the Australian National University and the Australian College of Theology, he has held visiting appointments at the University of Leiden, MIT, UCLA and Stanford, and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1992.

Mark Durie has spoken at a number of ICJS events over the years and we congratulate him and highly recommend his  book to anyone who wants to learn about this topic from a highly credible source. 

Andrew Bostom said in his testimonial about Mark's book: Mark Durie has written a wise and remarkably compendious study inspired by the urgent question W. Montgomery Watt posed in 1993: “...does the Sharia (Islamic Law) allow Muslims to live peaceably with non-Muslims in the one world?”

The Third Choice challenges non-Muslims and Muslims alike to lift the shroud of silence and reject the steady revival of Islam’s ancient, discriminatory system of dhimmitude. Although Durie demonstrates unabashedly how Islam’s doctrines have led too many Muslims to impose intimidation and self-rejection upon others, his ultimate message is one of hope: that truth, applied with love will release a deep-seated compassion and healing between peoples.
Andrew Bostom, author of The Legacy of Jihad and The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism.

Here are some further testimonials about Mark's book

In The Third Choice Mark Durie examines the most crucial challenges of this new century. In clear language, free from political correctness, and backed by an impressive scholarly knowledge, he unfolds step-by-step the basic foundations of Islam and exposes their inner correlations with jihad and dhimmitude, two theological and legal Islamic institutions that shape traditional Muslim behaviour toward non-Muslims.
Bat Ye’or, author of Islam and Dhimmitude and Eurabia.

The Third Choice could have hardly come at a better time, due to the urgent need to illuminate many minds in today’s troubled world, where Islam is not only being imposed into the Western world as an aggressive and intrusive ideology, but is backed up by an immense demographic invasion. Durie’s book has come not a moment too soon to provide a wake-up call to the slumbering West, and prepare it to confront the gathering challenge of Islam.
Raphael Israeli, Professor of Islamic, Middle Eastern and Chinese History, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

"Mark Durie exposes in clear language the multidimensional aspects of dhimmitude, a concept that pertains to a fourteen-centuries-old civilization, birthed through jihad, and structured in accordance with the strict requirements of the Sharia. Dhimmitude has produced endless wars and suffering, and left its mark on countless historical and literary documents. Dhimmitude is the captive history of captive non-Muslim peoples, conquered by jihad and distributed across Africa, Asia and Europe.Mark examines with rigorous precision the basic foundations of Islam – the Quran, hadiths, sira and Sharia – and exposes their inner connections with the political, economic and social system of dhimmitude for which they are the basis, and over which they exercise religious guardianship "(The Third Choice)

If you want to understand Muslim/non-Muslim relations, the problems with interfaith dialogue, if you would like  insights that will help you to understand  the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and its roots in the concept of dhimmitude, this is a must-read book.