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Ibn Warraq is a bestselling author currently living in the United States. He is an outspoken critic of Islam who has written extensively on what he views as the oppressive nature of Islam and religion in general.

Contents 1 Background and writings 2 Critics 3 Works 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

The penname Ibn Warraq (Arabic ابن وراق, most literally "son of a papermaker") is used due to concerns for his personal safety and one that has been adopted by dissident authors throughout the history of Islam.^[1] Of the US author, the few personal details known about his life include that he was born in 1946 in Rajkot, India, to Indian-Muslim parents who soon emigrated to Pakistan, and that he studied at the University of Edinburgh under the scholar Montgomery Watt.^[2]

Ibn Warraq has written several books, covering such topics as the origins of the Qur'an and the life of Muhammad. Other books seek to promote secular humanist values among Muslims. In March 2006 a letter he co-signed entitled MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism with eleven other individuals (most notably Salman Rushdie) was published in response to violent and deadly protests in the Islamic world surrounding the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.^[3]

Warraq's new book, titled, Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism, will be published by Prometheus Books in August 2007^[4].

Herbert Berg has labelled him as polemic and inconsistent in his writing.^[5]

• Why I Am Not a Muslim, Ibn Warraq, foreword by R. Joseph Hoffmann, Prometheus Books, 1995, hardcover, 428 pages, ISBN 0-87975-984-4
• Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out, edited by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 2003, hardcover, 320 pages, ISBN 1-59102-068-9
• What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text, and Commentary, edited and translated by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 2002, 600 pages, ISBN 1-57392-945-X
• Quest for the Historical Muhammad, edited and translated by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 2000, hardcover, 554 pages, ISBN 1-57392-787-2
• Origins of the Koran: Classic Essays on Islam's Holy Book, edited by Ibn Warraq, Prometheus Books, 1998, hardcover, 420 pages, ISBN 1-57392-198-X
• Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism . Prometheus Books 2007 hardcover,: 300 pages ISBN-10: 1591024846

1. ^ Facts cited from introduction to interview with Warraq. Ibn Warraq: Why I Am Not A Muslim. ABC Radio National (2001-10-10). Retrieved on April 1, 2007.
2. ^ Anthony McIntyre (2006-08-16). Profile:Ibn Warraq. The Blanket. Retrieved on March 28, 2007.
3. ^ MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism
4. ^ Ibn Warraq to release new book, Defending the West
5. ^ Berg, Herbert (1999). "Ibn Warraq (ed): The Origins of the Koran: Classic Essays on Islam's Holy Book". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 62 (3): 558. Retrieved on 2006-07-20. 

• Apostasy in Islam
• Criticism of Islam
• Criticism of the Qur'an
• List of former Muslims
• List of books critical of Islam
• Religious conversion

• Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
• Boston Globe: Losing His Religion
• Why I am not a Muslim: The Origins of Islam
• Profile: Ibn Warraq
• "Ibn Warraq’s “Origins Of The Koran”: A Critical Analysis" (reproduction) by Yasin Dutton, Journal of Islamic Studies, May 2000