ISLAM : THE TRUTH
ETERNITY
By Anwar Shaikh
CHAPTER EIGHT
ISLAM
Hope value
Nobody has ever exploited more successfully than the prophet
Muhammad, the human mechanism of fear and favour. He knew that
death is man's worst dread and eternity is his greatest desire. He
presented these two opposite concepts with the mastery that has
remained unsurpassed until our time. Further, as a patient in pain
feels relieved to see a doctor irrespective of whether or not he
can cure him, mankind is hypnotised by the person who claims to
possess a supernatural remedy for all human ills. His promises of
protection carry a hope value. The prophet provided that hope
through his own agency as the divine messenger.
For hope of everlasting life, man will frantically catch any straw
to save himself from drowning but when the straw is presented as
the oar of eternity under the dazzling hues of revelation, he
holds it with the tenacity of faith which defies reason and rules
of normal conduct. The stronger his faith the more exclusive his
loyalty to the revelationist - at the expense of humanity. The
revelationist who seeks personal glory through the imagination of
his followers usually projects himself as a prophet or an
incarnation of God.
Significance of viceroyalty
Every prophet encounters a good deal of opposition from the people
whose liberties he tries to curb by imposing new rules of conduct
on them. He protests his innocence by declaring that he is only a
vicar and claims that the message he delivers is not his, but
God's. Therefore, he has no axe to grind in it. People find it
hard to believe on rational grounds because they know that the
vicar or the messenger is not asking them just to believe in God
but is stressing emphatically that unless they believe in him as
well, their belief in God alone is of no avail to them because it
will not save them from the leaping flames of hell.
Cult of divinity
However, every community has a certain number of individuals who
possess high moral, intellectual and administrative abilities but
are credulous. The credulity of such persons is not unlimited; it
is usually confined to a particular bias or susceptibility and may
be the foundation stone of one's personality. This bias or
susceptibility may be the inclination towards a faith or
fallibility to the particular charm of its presenter. When such
people are converted to the new faith, they rank as Apostles or
Companions of the revelationist and mobilise their intellectual,
political and administrative forces to drum up the divinity of
their leader with tales of supernatural performances and sparkling
miracles for creating a divine legend to enhance the emotional
appeal that forms the crux of every religion. As time marches on
there emerge new followers who seek divinity for themselves but
lack the courage and inspiring skill of their founder to set up a
new faith. However, they follow the same course of action: as he
(the founder) projected himself the Vicar of God, they declare
themselves to be his lieutenants. They are more easily accepted by
the people who already believe in what they preach but with a
greater fervour. Thus these new gurus invent more uncanny tales
about the miraculous powers and nominous accomplishments of their
founders to intensify the existing emotional appeal for the masses
who become pawns in the chess game of their faith.
Muhammad, the pivot of salvation
The Prophet Muhammad of Arabia, declared at the age of forty that
he was the Messenger of God; he was sent by the Almighty as a
warner to frighten people so that they should believe in Him and
do good works. However, belief in God alone and righteous deeds
did not possess sufficient power to save them from hell because
for the belief to be effective it must include Muhammad who had
been appointed by God as His sole source of guidance which can be
achieved through revelation only, and human deliberation and
efforts play no part in it:
Say: "Bring a Book from God that gives better guidance than
these, and follow it, if you speak truly . . . Surely God guides
not the people of the evildoers . . ." (The Story 50).
Here the belief in Muhammad takes precedence over Allah (God)
because those who do not follow Muhammad are evildoers and Allah
does not guide them despite the fact that it is only the evildoers
who need guidance!
Reality of hell and heaven
Having instituted his paramountcy as the foundation of the Moslem
faith, it became easy for the Prophet to establish the credibilty
of hell. One must remember clearly that both hell and heaven are
an Islamic reality, and not metaphorical statements because their
descriptions are graphic and entry into these places as a reward
or punishment is a binding promise on Allah. Muhammad activate'
human instincts of fear and favour with a masterly description of
heaven and hell:
". . . Therein they shall have what they desire
dwelling for ever; it is a promise binding
upon Allah, and of Him to
be required" (Salvation: 15).
Description of Hell
What is Hell?
a. The roaring fire of God lit
over the hearts
in stretching columns (The Backbiter).
b. "Surely those who disbelieve in Our signs - We will
roast them at a Fire; as soon
as their skins are completely burned, we shall
give them in exchange other skins, that they
may taste the torture. Surely God is
All-mighty, All-Wise" (Women: 55).
c. The dweller of hell:
"is given to drink of oozing pus,
the which he swallows, and can hardly follow
and death comes upon him from every side,
yet he cannot die; and still awaits him a
grim torture" (Abraham: 20).
d. ". . . As for the unbelievers,
for them garments of fire shall be cut
and there shall be poured over their heads
boiling water
whereby whatsoever is in their abdomens
and their skins shall be melted; for them await
hooked iron rods;
as often as they desire in their anguish to come forth from it,
they shall be
restored into it, and: "Taste the torture
of the burning!" (The Pilgrimage: 20).
e. The dwellers of hell shall eat of the Tree of Ez-Zakkoum
What is the Tree of Ez-Zakkoum,
"It is a tree that grows in
the root of hell;
its spathes are as the heads of Satans
and they eat of it, and it fill
their bellies,
then on top of it they have a brew
of bong water
then their return is unto hell". (The Rangers. 60-65)
The theme of the Ez-Zakkoum is further continued in "Smoke:
45"
"Behold the Tree of Ez-Zakkoum
is the food of the wicked,
like molten copper, bubbling in the belly
like the bubbling water.
"Take him, and thrust him into the midst of Hell,
then pour over his head the torture of
boiling water!'
f. "Faces on that day humbled,
labouring, fatigued,
scorching as a boiling fountain,
no food for them but cactus thorn
unfastening, unsatisfying hunger". (The Enveloper)
Retributive punishment
This description of hell hardly needs any comment from me except
that the civilised man has come to the conclusion that punishment
cannot be retributive; it must be reformative. Allah is the least
interested in reforming the unbelievers. He is obsessed with
revenge yet He calls Himself the Most Merciful, the Most
Compassionate, All-pardoning, All-forgiving, All-gentle,
All-Clement, and so on. These are His frequently repeated
attributes though He also calls Himself "All-terrible".
What will you call the person whose desire for vengeance surpasses
the wildest flight of imagination? What will you call a person who
enjoys torture and is delighted by extreme severity? What will you
call a person who is glad when other people feel sad?
Divine unstability
It proves one thing beyond a shadow of doubt: Allah is subject to
the spasms of happiness and unhappiness; when He is believed He is
happy and when he is not believed He becomes extremely unhappy.
He, obviously has a very unstable personality and thus cannot form
the proper object of worship and adoration.
What is Islam?
Islam means "surrender", that is, Allah wants man to
submit to Him under all circumstances. To secure man's total
obedience, Allah is prepared to bribe when the threat of violence
proves abortive. This is the reason that He offers man the choice
between hell and heaven. Having studied the description of hell,
we may now cast a glance at heaven:
Description of Paradise
a. Paradise is offered to a Moslem in exchange for total
surrender:
"God has bought from the faithful theirselves and their
belongings against the gift of paradise; they fight in the
way of God; they kill, and are killed . . ." (Repentance:
110).
b. Life in the paradise shall be as physical as it is on the
earth, and carries a special fascination to the Arabs living in
torrid and treeless surroundings:
"See, the inhabitants of Paradise today are busy in their
merriments along with their spouses, reclining upon couches in the
shade; therein they have fruits, and whatever they desire." (Ya
Sin: 55).
c. What will the believers find in the Paradise?
". . for them is reserved a definite provision,
fruits and a great honour in the Gardens of Bliss
reclining upon couches arranged face to face,
a cup from a fountain being passed round to them,
white, a pleasure to the drinkers,
wherein no sickness is, neither intoxication
and with them wide-eyed maidens
flexing their glances
as if they were slightly concealed pearls" (The Rangers:
40-45).
Wide-eyed beautiful women
This is a highly poetic description of the female beauty whose
intrinsic appeal is intensified by its ability to coax and allure
with delicate bodily gestures. In fact the wide-eyed, pearl-like
and ever-young houris (paradise women) versed in the art of
flexing their glances present a spectacle of charm which is often
dreamt of, but seldom found on earth.
Maidens with swelling breasts
The fascination of the paradise is further augmented by the
assurance given to the believers:
"Surely for the God-fearing awaits a place of security,
gardens and vineyards
and maidens with swelling bosoms . . ." (The Tiding: 30).
A view of paradise
Even more alluring details of the beautiful houris with wide-eyes
and springing breasts are to be found in "The
All-Merciful" (45-75). For the sake of brevity and better
understanding, I may paraphrase its contents: The Paradise is the
sign of Allah's mercy. It is a garden of delight which abounds in
trees, shade and gushing fountains where Lord's bounties consist
of "reclining upon couches lined with brocade", and
where the fruits of the gardens are nigh to gather. The good and
comely houris who are as lovely as rubies and as beautiful as
coral, are virgins: they have not been touched by any man or jinn.
They are cloistered in pavilions where they recline on green
cushions and attractive carpets, and the pavilions themselves are
surrounded by green, green pastures profusely studded with
fruit-bearing trees such as palms and pomegranates.
The splendour of the Paradise becomes even more dazzling when wine
is made a part of the paradisiac habitation:
"Surely the pious shall be in bliss,
upon couches gazing;
you find in their faces the shining bliss
as they are offered to drink of a wine sealed
whose seal is musk - so after that let the strivers strive
and whose mixture is Tasnim
a fountain at which to drink those brought nigh". (The
Stinters: 20-25).
Vessels of silver and beautiful immortal boys
Attractions of the Paradise keep multiplying themselves to assure
the believers of the tremendous rewards which await them:
". . . God has . . . provided them radiancy
and delight
and recompensed them for their patience
with a Garden, and silk;
therein they shall see neither sun nor
bitter cold;
near them shall be its shades, and its clusters hung
meekly down,
and there shall be passed around them vessels of
silver, and large drinking cups of crystal,
crystal of silver measured
very exactly,
And therein they shall be given to drink a cup whose
ingredient is a ginger;
therein a spring whose name is Salsabil
Immortal youths shall go about them;
when thou seest them, thou supposes" them
dispersed pearls
when you see them then you see the divine happiness
and a great kingdom.
Upon them shall be green clothing of silk
and brocade, they are embellished with
bracelets of silver, and their Lord shall
give them to drink a pure draught.
Behold this is a reward for you, and
your toiling is thanked" (Man: 10-25).
Purpose of young boys
The presence of the immortal young boys who are immune to the
rigour of time, and the deliberate mention of their beauty which
matches the radiance of scattered pearls, and the fact that they
are dressed up like brides, makes one wonder about their real
purpose.
The boys are again mentioned in the "Mount" (20):
"While they hand therein a cup one to another wherein is no
idle talk, no cause of sin, and there go round them youths, their
own, as if they were concealed pearls".
Abundance of houris and boys
The moselms believe that each of them shall be given seventy two
houris. Here, the words "their own" show that in
addition to the ever-young maidens, each faithful shall have his
own boys. We must note that there will be "no cause of
sin". Does this phrase convey the ordinary sense of the words
or does it imply that nothing can create sin in paradise? It is a
confusing issue and is made even more baffling by the fact that
the boys have been repeatedly projected as a thing of physical
beauty. However, it is better if its interpretation is left to the
believers.
Since the Koran is addressed not only to the Arabs and Moslems but
to the entire mankind, one is inclined to raise a few points about
hell and heaven:
1. God desperately wants to be believed and worshipped by man. If
it were not so, He would not offer the alternative of hell and
heaven: the former amounts to blackmail and the latter constitutes
a bribe which is a sin itself. A desperate God lacks stable nature
and is, therefore, not worthy of submission.
2. Paradise is a form of temptation based on sex appeal. Its
enormity is enhanced by the fact that the faithful will have no
duties whatever, and all their time shall be taken up by
merriments. Is sexual gratification the goal of existence?
3. The description of hell is contrary to Allah's claim of being
merciful and compassionate.
Interpretation of hell and heaven
The educated Moslems evade this issue by declaring that hell and
heaven are metaphorical descriptions and refer to psychological
experiences. This cannot be true because Moslems believe that
every word of the Koran is literally true. Secondly, they believe
in an individual's physical resurrection on the Day of Judgement.
Obviously, as in this life we want food and sex, the resurrected
bodies will have similar needs which will be provided by the
Paradise. If this were not true, the paradise would have no
purpose at all.
Again, a metaphor is brief e.g. black as coal, white as milk,
etc., whereas the Koranic description of the paradise is detailed
and graphic.
Provision of the paradise is a promise binding on Allah and
therefore it has got to be real and not metaphorical. Otherwise,
He is just fooling the faithful.
Moreover, all Moslems believe in the physical existence of the
paradise, and this is the main reason for their belief in the
Koran. Without anticipation of houris and youths, the numbers of
the Moslems shall dwindle dramatically.
Why will people deserve hell or heaven in the life-after-death?
The Moslem scholars argue that man has been given free will, that
is, the power to choose the right or wrong, and therefore, he
qualifies for a reward or punishment. To prove that Islam is based
on reason, they further argue that nobody will go to hell or
heaven without a fair trial which will be held on the Day of
Judgement.
Rational though this statement looks on paper, it loses its glow
of reason when subjected to a logical examination, and also
disturbs the fundamental claim of the Koran as the Divine Book:
"What, do they not delve deeper into the Koran?
If it had been from other than God
certainly they would have found in it much
inconsistency" (Women: 80).
Mutazilites and Asharies
Before proceeding any further, let me state for better
comprehension of the issue that the Moslem scholars started
indulging in philosophic expression c.757. It became fashionable
to discuss whether the Koran is eternal or created. The school
known as the "Mutazilites" (the Seceders) denied the
eternity of the Koran because it implied total predestination. The
caliph Al-Mamun championed this interpretation. However,
Abul-Hasan Al-Ashari (873-935) preached that Allah is the supreme
sovereign and He does what He wills. He has predetermined every
act and event and is the primary cause of everything that is or
may happen.
Inconsistencies of Koran
The Mutazilites and the Asharies stood on the opposite sides of
the fence. If the Koran is the basis of the argument, then the
latter are right but their accuracy creates inconsistencies in the
Koran. Let us review this situation with reference to:
a. Determinism, and
b. The Day of Judgement
a. Determinism.
"Say, O God, Master of the Kingdom
You give the Kingdom whom you will,
and seize the Kingdom from whom you will,
you raise whom you will, and you
abase whom you will . . . you
are all-powerful . . .
you provide whomsoever you like limitlessly" (The House of
Imran: 25).
"Whomsoever God will, He leads astray,
and whomsoever He will, He sets him
on a right path" (Cattle: 35 and 125)
". . . If God had willed, He would have
guided men all together" (Thunder: 30).
"It is not given to any soul to die, except by the
leave of God, at an appointed time" (The House of Imran:
135).
Allah and vice
It is quite clear that everything is predestined by God. Why then
the Day of Judgement? Obviously Allah has made people what they
are, and has deliberately withheld guidance from those who have
sinned.
Satan accuses Allah
When we examine the doctrine of vice and virtue, Allah seems to be
the sole and active cause of vice. In the myth of creation as
described in El-Hijr (25-40), Iblis (Satan) accuses Allah openly
for perverting him. He asks Allah for a respite until the Day of
Judgement so that he can lead people astray as a revenge. Strange
as it may seem, the most compassionate Allah grants this request
to Satan so that he can help Allah to fill Gehenna (Hell) with
people!
Satan, the agent of Allah
Not only the perversion of Iblis (Satan) is a deliberate act of
Allah but Iblis also acts as His agent in misleading mankind:
"Have you not seen how we sent the
Satans against the unbelievers, to
prick them?" (Mary: 85).
Yet the All-Merciful declares in the same Chapter that He would
"drive the evildoers into Gehenna, herding".
b. Day of Judgement:
Is there really any point in resurrecting people for trying them?
A trial unless fair, is just a farce and the source of injustice.
Is it right of me to blind someone and then accuse him for not
being able to see? If it is Allah who is the cause of human
perversion through Iblis or the creative design, then has He any
reason to resurrect people for punishing and rewarding them? One
must also remember that in Al Araf (178) Allah declares: "We
have created most of the people and Jinn for Gehenna (Hell) only .
. .". The Day of Judgement is an unjust principle and
therefore below the dignity of God. The Prophet like the
Christians, borrowed it fom Zarathustara. Dynamics of this
doctrine become obvious when we realise that death is man's
greatest fear, and the concept of resurrection gives him the hope
of eternity. Having laid it down as one of the fundamental
principles of the Islamic faith, the Prophet substituted himself
for Jesus Christ and declared that he would share the Throne of
Justice with Allah on the Day of Judgement; he would sit on the
right hand side of God and exercise his intercessionary powers to
damn or deliver people. Flocking to the prophet, who claimed to
possess the divine stature, was quite natural for the ordinary
mortals who had been frightened by the description of the most
torturous hell. Is it not natural to shun the raging flames and
run into the most luscious embraces of houris with musky bodies,
swelling breasts and large restraining eyes?
Scene of Resurrection
At this juncture, it seems appropriate to describe the Islamic
scene of the Day of Resurrection and Judgement:
Koran repeatedly assures people that they will be resurrected for
the dispensation of justice according to the evidence that has
been collected and recorded from birth to burial:
The Recorders
"He sends recorders over you till,
any one of you is visited
by death, our messengers take him
and they neglect not.
Then they are restored to God,
their protector, the true. Surely
His is the judgement; He is the
fastest of censors". (Cattle: 60)
Register of deeds
Surely it is We who bring the dead to life
and write down what they have forwarded
and what they have left behind, everything
We have numbered in a clear register" (Ya Sin: 10).
"We have been registering all that you were doing"
(Hobbling: 519).
Book of evidence
"With us a book recording" (Qaf: 1).
The Watchers
In Qaf, The Splitting and the Night Star, the Koran repeatedly
says that God has appointed Watchers, i.e. two angels over every
human; they record everything he does.
Significance of evidence in Islam
On the Day of Judgement, everybody shall be presented with his
book of record and told: "Read thy book" (The Night
Journey: 10-15 and JO, also the Resurrection: 10).
The relevance of testimony is so vital to the Day of Judgement
that besides the presentation of individual records, a person's
own limbs such as tongue, hands, feet will give evidence about
him! (Light: 20 and Distinguished: 15).
Doubting Arabs
Arabs found the concept of Resurrection hard to believe:
"What, when we are dust,
shall we indeed then be raised up again
in new creation" (Thunder: 5).
Resurrection as God's promise
The Koran declared that disbelief in Resurrection shall be
punished with hell, and positively asserted that Resurrection
"is a promise binding on Him (Allah)" (The Bee: 40).
Islamic view of justice
The concept of justice as depicted by the Koran seems to be based
on natural justice:
No intercession
"and warn them against the Day of Judgement
when, stricken with extreme fear, the hearts are in the throats
and the evildoers have not one loyal friend,
no intercessor to be heeded" (The Believers: 15).
No befriending
" . . before a day comes
wherein shall be neither haggling
nor befriending" (Abraham: 35).
Allah, the sole judge
". . judgement belongs not to any
but God. In Him I have put my trust;
and in Him let all put their trust
who put their trust" (Joseph: 65).
The strange turn
So far the Koranic statements conform to the principles of natural
justice, but for lack of favour, do not seem to carry an effective
appeal to the audience for conversion to Islam. Then the tone
changes:
The Prophet assumes intercessionary role
"Intercession will not avail Him
except for him to whom He gives leave" (Sheba: 20 also The
Star: 25).
Gradually, the Prophet's intercessionary powers become the plenary
powers:
"No! I swear . . .
truly this is the Word of a noble Messenger
having power, with the Lord of the Throne secure,
obeyed, moreover trusty" (The Darkening: 15).
Perversion of justice
According to the Moslem belief, the Prophet will sit on the right
hand side of God on the Throne of Justice and his intercession
will be final. The hymnal poetry of Islam zealously sung by the
believers make no apology about their belief that Allah cannot
pardon anyone whom He likes but Muhammad can. They hold that the
first element that ensures salvation is the belief in the Prophet.
Natural justice has always been based on deeds and not beliefs.
What kind of justice is associated with the Day of Judgement? It
makes fun of the concept of Justice because intercession is as
alien to it as heat is to snow or as flying is to a reptile.
Is physical resurrection possible?
The idea of physical resurrection also looks puerile. The modern
scientists claim that man as a species has evolved over a period
of ten billion years but on the Day of Judgement when the trumpet
is blown, the dust and ashes of the dead will instantly resume
their original form and present themselves for an unusual brand of
justice which condemns most of them to an eternal hell without any
regard to the righteousness of their deeds.
Man is so frightened of death that he will believe even in
self-deception if it offers him a glimmer of hope to evade death.
Muhammad and Resurrection
However, it may not be a bad idea if the faithful remember that
the Prophet himself was afraid of the Day of Judgement (Cattle:
15) and being a mortal was equally subject to Resurrection:
"You are mortal; and they are mortal; then on the Day of
Resurrection before your Lord you shall dispute" (The
Companies: 30).
This verse throws an entirely different light on the role of
Muhammad in relation to Resurrection! The Koran contains a
multitude of contradictions. Let me give a few examples.
Koranic contradictions
The Prophet claimed:
"This Koran could not have been produced
apart from God . . ." (Jonah: 35) and stressed that "if
it had been from other
than God, surely they would have found in it much
inconsistency" (Women: 80).
We have just seen that Allah had predestined everything yet he
holds people responsible for their actions. He wants to punish
them with hell and reward them with heaven but both these concepts
are below the dignity of the Universal God. Again, to enforce his
judgement, He will resurrect the dead but His method and standard
of judgement are quite contrary to the principles of natural
justice. Finally, the doctrine of physical resurrection is
far-fetched and irrational.
The Koran
In view of the above facts, one feels inclined to look into:
the purpose and
b. composition of the Koran.
The purpose of the Koran
a. The Koran has been revealed to guide mankind but it does not
guide the wicked:
" . . Who is further astray than he who
follows his whim without guidance from
God? Surely God guides not the people
of the evildoers" (The Story: 50).
"God does not guide the evildoers" (The Table: 55).
Since the righteous require no correction, and it is only the
evildoers who need guidance, the Koran, obviously, has no purpose.
Composition of the Koran
Regarding the composition of the Koran, we should remember:
". . . a Koran we have divided
for you to recite it to mankind
at intervals, and we have sent it down
piecemeal" (The Night Journey: 105).
Arab objection
It means that the Koran was not revealed all at once but
successively. The contemporaries of the Prophet argued that as his
revelations were connected with certain occasions, they could not
form God's Book. If the Koran were a Divine Book, it must have
descended upon him as a whole. Its relationship with particular
events, they held, proved that the Koran was Muhammad's own
authorship which he pretended to be from Allah:
"The unbelievers say, 'Why has the Koran
not been sent down upon him all at once?" (Salvation: 30).
To stress the point Allah claims:
"Of course, We have sent the Koran and
of course, we are its guardian" (El-Hijr: 8).
". . . it is a glorious Koran,
in a guarded tablet" (The Constellation: 20).
"No man can change the words of God; and
there has already come to you some news
of the envoys" (Cattle: 124).
Muhammad declared that Allah had sent a prophet to every locality
along with His Word. Especially, the Books of the Jews and
Christians were divine revelations but had been interpolated and
tampered with!
Word of God is uncorruptible
One wonders if God's previous Books were corruptible, why did God
have to protect the words of the Koran? One cannot say that God
guards the Koran because it is His last Word: Jesus had a similar
claim about His Word, yet Muhammad emphasised that it had been
falsified. Again, if God must guard the Koran because it is His
Word, He must have guarded the Old and New Testaments as well
because they also were the Word of God.
Composition of Koran
Man is man only when he is a rational being and, thus, cannot be
deprived of the rights that reason bestows upon him. Therefore,
one is entitled to review critically even the Word of God for
satisfying one's curiosity. The following points must be borne in
mind when considering the composition of the Koran:
1. Muhammad claimed to be the Messenger of God; he declared that
the Koran was the message of God who revealed it piecemeal at
certain occasions.
2. Koran is not created and has always existed; it is only its
revelation which was made in terms of time.
3. Koran is the final expression of God's will and He will not
send any further guidance or messengers.
4. The Koran promulgates the Law of God; it is complete, immortal,
immutable and capable of guiding through all the situations,
eternally.
5. There is no certainty that the whole text of the Koran was ever
committed to writing during the lifetime of the Prophet. Nobody
can make such a claim either. The Prophet was said to be
illiterate. The fact that in the beginning, there were many
hypocrites among his followers, it is likely that his messages had
not been recorded exactly the way he might have dictated them.
Being illiterate, he could not have known it. There is no proof
that his famous amanuensis Zaid Ibn Thabit had acted for him right
from the start of his apostolic ministry.
6. It is generally agreed that the first revelation (Sure XCVI)
dates back to A.D. 610 and the last one was received shortly
before the death of the Prophet on 8th June 632. Thus it took
twenty two years to complete the revelation of the Koran. Again,
the Koran was not compiled during the lifetime of the Prophet. As
revelations gathered momentum they were written upon scraps of
parchment and leather, flat pieces of stone, camel's ribs and
shoulder-blades, and palm leaves. The fragments were never
numbered and dated and were deposited in various receptacles
without regard to any particular system.
These scattered fragments were compiled long after the death of
the Prophet and the first authorised text appeared during the
caliphate of Uthman C.660. It means that from the commencement of
revelations in 610 to 660, it took fifty years to collect various
bits and pieces of the Koran from different people and containers.
One ought to remember that revelations were recorded not only by
the appointed recorders but also by the members of the Prophet's
company, i.e. the followers who assembled around him most of the
time. Again, there were some followers who memorised the Koranic
verses, and their memories also served as the record for the
compilation of the Koran.
7. The 114 Suras or Chapters which constitute the Koran, lack
chronological and rational sequence and thus most verses do not
form a cohesive narrative to facilitate an easy understanding,
especially to the layman to whom the Koran is addressed.
8. If Allah has accepted the responsibilty of guarding the Koran,
then it extends not only to words but its meanings as well.
9. Comprehensiveness is claimed to be the integral part of the
composition of the Koran: the Moslems believe that there is
nothing which has not been mentioned in the Koran, and this claim
extends to astronomy, the physical laws of nature, scientific
formulas and discoveries, medical and biological innovations,
history and knowledge of the future events and anything else one
can think of.
10. The Koran confirms the divine origin of the Old and New
Testaments and exalts Moses and Jesus to the rank of a prophet.
In view of what I have said above, one comes to the following
conclusions:
1a. Since the Koran was the message from Allah, and this is what
made Muhammad the Messenger, his foremost duty was to compile it
himself in the most orderly fashion. He, obviously, neglected this
task which deserved the highest priority.
2a. If the Koran is not created and has always existed as it is,
then all the events that it refers to, had been predestined.
Therefore, it is futile to send a Messenger to argue for or
against them. Thus, the Koran has no purpose and is quite
unnecessary.
3a. If the purpose of revelation is to guide people, then it has
to be a continuous and everlasting process because they need
leadership all the time. Again, time is progressive and human
culture keeps changing constantly. If revelation ceased after
Muhammad, then it implies that the generations that follow him
after 1,000, 10,000 or 100,000 years must live at the same level
as did Muhammad. This makes the Koran an unnatural book.
Christ and Mani also claimed that the revelation had ended with
them, and did not want anyone else to be believed in as a Messiah
or Messenger. It is like the power-hungry mundane rulers who want
to rule every territory to the total exclusion of other monarchs.
This is what makes revelation, the device of dominance.
4a. The Koran contains some eighty verses which can be construed
to contain the Islamic Law. They are confined to a very limited
area and cannot extend to the vast reaches of life. This is the
reason that the Shariah or the Islamic Law could not be introduced
in its pure form in any part of the Moslem empire and they had to
borrow from the Roman, Byzantinian and Persian legal systems.
The very nature of law makes it (the law) mortal, that is, laws
become obsolete and irrelevant over a period of time and have to
be replaced by new laws. Therefore, the Koranic Law which was
revealed nearly 1,400 years ago cannot be immortal, comprehensive
and everlasting. Its proof is found in the Koran itself:
"And for whatever verse We abrogate or cast into oblivion, We
bring a better or the like of it . . ." (The Law: 100).
Further evidence of this is to be found in The Spoils: 65, The
Bee: 100 and The Most High: 6.
If several verses had to be rescinded and replaced by others
within the twenty years of the Prophet's ministry, then how come,
the rest of the Koran can stay intact over a period of centuries
and millenia?
5a. The Prophet's illiteracy and the fact that the whole of the
Koran was never written down in his lifetime, are likely causes of
ommisions from, and additions to, the Koran.
6a. The facts that had been preserved haphazardly, when compiled
after half a century must be liable to error by way of omission,
addition, exaggeration or understatement. This state of affairs is
confirmed by the fact that the abrogated verses, which should not
form part of the Koran, are still there. Again, this is especially
true because many of the Prophet's followers were hypocrites who
intentionally wanted to harm Islam.
7a. The Koran lacks chronological order completely. The Prophet
received his first revelations when he was in Mecca and the last
ones came down to him during his residence in Medina. The
compilers omitted the chronological sequence completely and
arranged Suras in their order of length. The Koran is arranged
back to front and the Western Scholars have called it
"history in reverse order". This is the reason that an
ordinary believer cannot comprehend it readily despite the Koranic
claim that Allah has made it "of easy understanding". If
Allah has not thought it fit to guard the sequence of the Koran,
which is vital to its true preservation and understanding, He
cannot be expected to guard its words. I am referring to the pre-Uthman
era which covers a period of fifty years. There is no doubt that
since Uthman's authorization, the words of the Koran have suffered
no change, whatever.
8a. Of course, words have their significance but of much greater
importance are their meanings. If word "orange" comes to
mean apple or banana, then the preservation of its letters,
spellings and pronunciation ceases to have any significance at
all. This is exactly what has happened to the Koran. The words are
the same but different scholars stand miles apart in interpreting
them. If it were not so, Moslems would not be divided into so
numerous irreconcilable sects. Has Allah really guarded the Koran?
9a. If everything, as the Moslems claim, has been described in the
Koran, they would have been the most advanced nation of the world
because all they would have to do would be to look into the Koran
to find out the remedy for cancer and the formulas for the atom
bomb and space control. This has obviously not happened. It is a
pity that they declare the existence of such knowledge in the
Koran only when non-Moslem scientists have made them public! It is
a tragedy of Islam that the Moslems look for things in the Koran
which are not supposed to be there.
10a. If Prophets like Moses and Jesus were needed before Muhammad,
they should be needed after him as well because life goes on
varying all the time. If the earlier divine books could be
tampered with, the Koran being a similar book cannot escape
falsification. And falsification does not have to be wilful it can
happen quite naturally by way of inadvertent addition or deletion.
As mentioned under 4a and supported by the quotations from The
Cow, The Spoils, The Bee and the Most High, the Prophet was liable
to forget certain verses which could not have been recorded. This
amounts to omission; replacing them with new and better verses
constitutes revision which is against the Koranic claim that it is
immortal and immutable.
Finally, as a footnote to the above observations, I may add that
there are several narratives in the Koran which are not attested
by the facts of history. Let me give you two examples:
1. In the cave (80-95) the Koran has portrayed Alexander, The
Great (Dhool Karnain) as a prophet and a monotheist. He was
nothing of the kind. Knowing full well that Philip of Macedonia
was his father, he claimed to be the son of the chief Egyptian god
Amon.
After conquering the Persian Empire, he demanded deification and
was acknowledged and worshipped as a god in many countries. Again,
the Koran is not aware of the story of Alexander's retreat from
India. Nor has history recorded that he built any wall of iron and
brass to keep the imaginary Gog and Magog at bay. These facts are
more relevant to the Chinese Wall but Alexander had not put his
foot on the Chinese soil.
2. In Chapter XXXI, headed as Lokman, the Koran depicts Lokman as
if he were a true Moslem who practiced Monotheism and condemned
shirk, that is worshipping someone else in association with God.
Alcmaeon was a student of Pythagoras who established a school of
natural philosophy at Crotone in southern Italy. Known to the east
as Lokman Hakeem or Lokman the Wise or Lokman the Physician, he
earned this reputation for investigating the animal structure; he
distinguished arteries from veins, established brain as the centre
of intellect, discovered optic nerve, and because of his insight
into the development of embryo, came to be acknowledged as the
founder of embryology.
But Lokman the Wise was not a monotheist; he was a polytheist and
an idolater!
Nature of Koranic Law
Having briefly considered the purpose and composition of the
Koran, one is inclined to look into the nature of the Koranic Law.
The Koran clearly lays down its fundamental principle of law:
"(O Prophet) you shall find no change in the law of God"
(The Confederates: 61).
I must point out that the "Law of God" has also been
interpreted as the "Way of God" and the "Custom of
God". As Moslems believe that the Koran is the Law and it is
unchangeable, it makes no difference whatever, whether we
translate the~original verse as the Law of God, the Way of God or
the Custom of God.
Equality at Law
The second priciple of the Koranic Law declares that nobody is
above the law and it equally applies to the Prophet himself:
"Follow you what has been revealed to you
from your lord;" (Cattle: 105).
Allah commands the Prophet:
"and this (Koran) is My Path, straight; so do you
follow it, and follow not other paths
lest they mislead you from His path" (Cattle: 150).
One cannot underestimate the warning given in this verse yet we
find it difficult to reconcile some of the prophet's deeds with
the Koranic Law. Let me give you just two examples:
". . . marry such women as seem good to you, two,
three, four; but if you fear you will not be equitable,
then only one, or what your right hand owns;
so it is likelier you will not be one-sided" (Woman: 2).
This verse allows polygamy on two conditions:
a. A Moslem can have up to four wives provided;
b. He is equitable, and does not show partiality to any of them.
Essence of law
It is the essence of jurisprudence that unity of the law is
preserved under all circumstances i.e. there cannot be two laws,
one for the mighty and one for the meek, and secondly, a law-giver
is required to observe his own laws while he allows them to stand.
This is especially true in the case of the Prophet because every
word of the Koran is addressed to him for direct compliance.
History has recorded that the Prophet did not pay any attention to
either of these rules because:
When he died he left eight widows and one Christian concubine, and
He was partial to Aisha. His deep inclination towards Aisha, the
youngest wife, caused a good deal of discord amongst his other
wives. The following verses testify to this fact:
"It is possible that, if he divorces you
Allah will give him in exchange wives
better than you, women who have surrendered,
believing, obedient, penitent, devout,
giving to fasting, who have been married
and virgins too" (The Forbidding: 5).
The furore that the Prophet's partiality caused, is well portrayed
by this verse: the attitude of his wives bordered on rebellion and
he threatened to divorce them and replace them with better wives.
When this threat did not prove effective, Allah sent down a
special law which applied to the Prophet's wives exclusively:
"Wives of the Prophet, whoever among you
commits a gross indecency, for her
the punishment shall be doubled; that is
easy for God.
But whomsoever of you surrenders to God and His
Messenger, and does righteousness, We shall pay
her wage twice over; We have prepared for her
a generous reward.
Wives of the Prophet, you are not as other
women. If you are God-fearing, be not
vile in your speech, so that he in whose
heart is sickness may be lustful; but speak
honourable words" (The Confederates: 30)
This law reveals not only the matrimonial background including
"vile speech" of Prophet's wives but also lays down that
if the Prophet's wives obey him, they will be entitled to twice
the reward of an ordinary wife and if they disobey him they will
attract double the punishment! Why? Draw your own conclusions.
There cannot be duality in a true law because equal application is
its essence. Without this virtue, it cannot guarantee justice, its
main purpose. Yet the Koranic law provides duality to justify the
Prophet's deeds:
"You can suspend any of your wives as you will
and receive any one of them as you will; and whomsoever
you desire of those whom you have set aside,
it is no sin for you; now it is likelier they will be
comforted and not grieve, and everyone of them
will be well pleased with what you give her" (The
Confederates: 50).
As already stated, the basic condition of polygamy is that the
husband is equitable to all his wives and does not practice
partiality. But here Allah has given special dispensation to the
Prophet who can suspend any of his wives as he pleases but his
followers can't!
One must remember that the Koran projects Muhammad as the model
for all the faithful. If the Prophet can't practice his own laws,
how can they be binding on the believers?
Allah obeys the Prophet
The Prophet declared that he is a servant to God but it is evident
that it is God who follows the Prophet's inclinations:
Here are some examples:
"O believers, enter not the houses of
the Prophet, except permission is given you
for a meal, without watching for its time.
But when you are invited, then enter; and
when you have had the meal, leave,
neither lingering for idle talk;
That is annoying to the Prophet, and he
is ashamed before you; but God is not
ashamed before the truth. And when you
ask his wives for any thing, ask them
from behind a curtain; this is cleaner
for your hearts and theirs. It is not
for you to hurt God's Messenger, neither
to marry his wives after him, ever;
surely that would be, in God's sight
a monstrous thing" (The Confederates: 50).
These verses clearly pertain to Muhammad's personal life. He was
quite capable of saying all these things to his followers
directly, yet he chose to put these words in God's mouth!
Change of Kibla
"We have seen you turning your face about
towards the heaven; now We will surely turn you.
Turn your face towards the Holy Mosque; and
wherever you are, turn faces towards it" (The Cow: 135).
What this verse records is known as the change of Kibla i.e. the
direction which Moslems face to say prayers. It is quite clear
that when the Prophet started looking towards the sky, God took
the hint and with a view to satisfying His Messenger He changed
the Kibla i.e. the direction of prayers from Jerusalem (Bait Ul
Maqaddas) to Kaaba (The Holy Mosque). Obviously, Allah has no will
of His own!
Jerusalem, the original Kibla
Originally, the Prophet had appointed Jerusalem as the Kibla to
convince the Jews that Islam was a continuation of what had been
revealed to Moses, Abraham and Noah. To win them over, the Koran
repeatedly stated that the Children of Israel were an exalted race
and God had raised them above the rest of mankind. When praise
failed to secure conversion of the Jews, the Prophet decided to
deprive them of this honour.
Moslem interpretation of Kibla
However, the Moslems insist that Jerusalem as the Kibla was meant
to be a temporary affair; they faced it simply because the Kaaba
was full of idols and the Moslems being the followers of Allah,
could not adopt it as the Kibla until such time that all the idols
had been removed from there. History does not support this claim:
this change of Kibla took place in 624 A.D. when the Kaaba was
still the holy shrine of the Quresh where they worshipped their
idols, and it was not until 630 when the Prophet entered Mecca as
a victor and removed statues from the Kaaba.
Another reason for the change of Kibla
In fact the change of Kibla from Jerusalem to Mecca was adopted by
Muhammad to increase his influence amongst the Arabs. The Kaaba
had been the holiest shrine of the Arabs for centuries. In 622,
Muhammad migrated to Medina, the home of the Jewish tribes such as
the Banu-Nadhir, the Banu-Kuraiza, the Banu-Kainuka. This occasion
of flight (July 16, 622, the Hijra) was designated by the Caliph
Omar as the official beginning of the Moslem era. The Prophet
planned to visit the Kaaba as a pilgrimage. His Meccan followers
who had left Mecca ten years earlier to be with the Prophet, and
felt homesick, were delighted by this suggestion. This pilgrimage
to the Holy Place also wrought a considerable change on the minds
of the Meccans who were jolly pleased to realise that their shrine
was to be designated as the most sacred centre of Islam. Jerusalem
as the Kibla, did not gratify the Jews, the stiffnecks, who would
rather break than surrender, but it had a great effect on the
Arabs who despite being tough, proved to be tender. Owing to its
stupendous influence on the progress and history of Islam, it was
surely the master stroke that proves the wisdom and farsightedness
of Muhammad as a man.
Allah, the factotum of Muhammad
In fact, Allah does everything not only to please Muhammad but He
also acts as his factotum:
"O believer, advance not before God
and His Messenger; and fear God. God is
All-hearing, All-knowing".
"O believers, raise not your voice above
the Prophet's voice, and be not loud
in your speech to him, as you are loud
one to another, in case your works fail
while you are not aware.
Surely those who lower their voices in
the presence of God's Messenger, those
are they whose hearts God has tested for
godfearing; they shall have forgiveness
and a stupendous wage" (Apartments: 1).
The Prophet was human
Of course, it is only fair that the led should respect their
leaders by controlling their manners and tone of voice. But is it
for God to tell such ordinary and commonsense things to
intelligent people? It is a myth that the pre-Islam Arabs were
barbarians: their literature and traditions of honour openly defy
this view. No, it is Muhammad who speaks as God in the disguise of
revelation.
Slavery
Muhammad was human and was influenced by the culture, and social
traditions of his time exactly the same way as all greater and
lesser mortals have been throughout history. Take slavery, for
instance. He took it for a natural institution. Despite all the
torture, disgrace and humiliation associated with it, he did
nothing to abolish it. Of course, it is true that he was kind to
slaves, and thought of freeing slaves as a virtue, but
Christianity had expressed a similar attitude towards slavery long
before him. The Code of Justinian (528) had abolished the old
class distinction and the freed men were given all the privileges
of free men. It went even so far as to put the chastity of a slave
woman on par with that of a free woman by treating the rape of the
former punishable by death whereas Islam authorised the master to
have sexual intercourse with his slave girls.
Slavery and God
If revelation carries a grain of truth, then the foremost duty of
any divine Messenger is to condemn and abolish slavery. Why?
Because liberty is the greatest Virtue for being the stepping
stone to humanity from the lower form of existence. If you don't
believe me, think of yourself as a slave and imagine yourself
being chained, starved and whipped; visualise your wives and
daughters being raped and your children being sold away to
strangers. Is there anything more atrocious and horrible than this
state of affairs, called ``slavery"? The value of liberty
emerges when we realise that this is the only cure for the venom
of servitude. I am not prepared to adore the God who is all out to
humiliate mankind Relationship between God and man is moral and
not that of a master and slave How would God feel if He were
subjected to similar pain and humiliation as man is? A true God
cannot be callous, unjust and uncaring. Therefore, the major
purpose of His prophets will be to eliminate slavery outrightly.
Islam and Womanhood
Another example is the plight of women. They have always been held
as an object of sexual pleasure, a toy for man, the source of
mischief, impurity and hypocrisy. Treating them with inferiority
has become the mark of male superiority. Of course, the Prophet
did say that paradise lay at the feet of one's mother but it
proved to be only of theoretical reverence because in addition to
being mother, a woman is also a person, a daughter, a sister and a
wife. Apart from motherhood, women suffered more under Islam than
any other major faith or doctrine. The Prophet imported the
Persian custom of veiling or purdah into the Moslem society
(Light: 30), and by confining their role to the household behind
curtains under the watchful eyes of the male members, turned them
into virtual house-prisoners. To gauge the condition of women one
has only to look at the Koranic laws:
1. "Your women are a tillage for you; so come unto your
tillage as you wish" (The Cow: 220).
2. Men are superior to women (The Cow: 225).
3. Man can divorce woman at will but she can't (The Cow: 225, The
Confederates: 45, Divorce: 1).
4. A man can have four wives and an unlimited number of concubines
but a woman must have only one husband.
5. One man is equal to two women as a witness (The Cow: 280).
6. Likewise, a brother is entitled to twice the inheritance of his
sister (Woman:l0).
7. Man is free to administer a dose of violence to his wives when
he thinks they are not obedient: ". . . chastise; banish them
to their couches and beat them. If they then obey you, look not
for any way against them" (Women: 35).
Islam, and sex outside marriage
There is evidence in the Koran winch forbids sex outside marriage:
"Marry the spouseless among you, and your
slaves and handmaidens that are righteous;
. . . and let those who find not the means to
marry be abstinent till God enriches them
of His bounty. Those your right hand owns
but seek emancipation, contract with
them accordingly . . . And force not
your slavegirls to prostitution, if they
desire to live in chastity" (Light: 30).
However, this law has been contradicted by other verses:
" . . Marry such women
as seem to you, two, three, four;
but if you fear you will not be equitable,
then only one, or what your right hand owns" (Women: 1).
"O Prophet, we have made lawful for you
your wives whom you have given their wages
and what your right hand owns . . ." (The Confederates: 45).
"What right hand owns" has been understood as a slave.
In the context of sex, it has been invariably interpreted and
practiced as a slave woman. Extending sexual relationship to women
who are not one's wives, flaunts the sanctity of marriage. Yet
Allah prescribes the sentence of death for adultery but not for
those who can afford to own slave girls. The Moslem Caliphs,
Sultans and Kings set up vast harems containing not scores but
hundreds of pretty and delicate women. The Emperor Jehangir of
India is reported to have had six thousand women in his seraglio.
The royal bedchambers were administered by specially castrated men
known as "eunuchs" who mastered the arts of lechery,
grooming and stimulating and accelerating the appetites and
pleasures of their masters, immune to the grip of Allah for having
the riches and power to keep concubines. No matter what they did
to these helpless girls, could not count as a sin. These harems
were obviously a reflection of the Paradise on earth.
Concubinage
However, it was not the Prophet who invented the institution of
concubinage. Abraham had a concubine, and so did Jacob. May be it
had originated in Persia where the stern monarchs needed soft and
saccharine sexual dolls to reduce the rigours of the ruling
rituals which they usually performed well.
Duality of Muhammad and Allah
Nobody can blame the Prophet for the institution of concubinage
which he accepted as a going tradition. It demonstrates that he
was a mortal and thus subject to the cultural influences of his
time. Though it clearly shows that he was human, the matter is not
quite as straightforward as it looks because the Koran depicts him
both as a man and God. The Moslems claim that they believe in one
God; in fact, they believe in the Duality of Muhammad and Allah as
the Christians believe in the Trinity of the Father, the Son and
the Holy Ghost. However, this duality is totally different from
what Zoroasterism, Manicheism and Neoplatonism preached. It holds
that Muhammad as Messenger, and God are one, and Muhammad being
the dominant component of duality, is the ultimate object of
worship. This belief is less an article of theory and more of
practice.
The Prophet as a man
I am sure that Moslems all over the world will accuse me of
misrepresenting slam Honesty demands that before getting excited,
they must deliberate on the following quotations sincerely. Let me
quote the Prophet's human side first:
The Prophet is God's Servant:
"And if you are in doubt regarding that we have
sent down on Our servant . . ." (The Cow: 20).
The Prophet neither knows the Unseen nor is he an angel:
"I do not say to you, 'I possess the treasures of God'
I know not the Unseen. I say not to you, 'I am an angel',
I only follow what is revealed to me" (Cattle: 50).
3. The Prophet's function is only to warn people; he is not even
given the responsibility to guide them:
"You are only a warner; and God is a Guardian
over everything" (Hood: 15).
"You are not responsible for guiding them;
but God guides whomsoever He will" (The Cow: 270).
4. The Prophet has no power to perform miracles; he is just a man:
"The unbelievers say, 'Why has a sign not been
sent down upon him from his Lord? You are only
a warner . . ." (Thunder: 5).
Despite people's fervent demand, the Prophet failed to show a
miracle and declared:
". . . say 'Glory be to my Lord! Am I aught but a mortal,
a messenger?"' (The Night Journey: 95).
5. The Prophet obeys God's commandments and nobody has a share in
the Divinity:
"Say, I have only been commanded
to serve God, and not to associate
aught with Him. To Him I call, and
to Him I turn" (Thunder: 35).
"Therefore call you, and go straight as you have been
commanded . . ." (Counsel: 10).
6. God's commandments to obey, and pray to Him are equally binding
on the Prophet as on any other believer:
"Proclaim your Lord's praise,
and be of those that bow,
and serve your Lord, until
the certain comes to you" (El-Hijr: 95).
7. The Prophet is equally subject to Allah's reward and
punishment:
a. "If He will, He will have mercy on you
or, if He will, He will chastise you" (The Night Journey:
55).
b. "Set not up with God
another God, or you
wilt be cast into
Gehenna (Hell), reproached
and condemned" (The Night Journey: 40)
8. The Prophet is a mortal and subject to Resurrection:
"You art mortal; and they are mortal;
then on the Day of Resurrection before your Lord
you shall dispute" (The Companies: 475).
9. The Prophet is neither aware of the Unseen nor does he know
what will become of him:
". . . and I know not what
shall be done with me or with you.
I only follow what is revealed to me;
I am only a clear warner" (The Sand-Dunes: 5).
10. God confirms Muhammad's humanity loud and clear:
"Know you therefore that
there is no god but God,
and ask forgiveness for your sins, and
for the believers, men and women" (Muhammad: 20).
Purpose of Revelation
After this description of Muhammad's humanity, it seems impossible
that a man can claim to be God, and even surpass Him in the
exercise of Divinity. This is the magic, and purpose of revelation
which enables an ordinary mortal to declare himself as God's
Messenger or Messiah and issue all the commands in His name. Since
nobody can see God or approach Him without the agency of the
Messenger (or Messiah), it is the Messenger himself who begins to
rank as God and is treated as such by his followers. Look at the
following quotations from the Koran and see the truth for
yourself:
Basic Islamic belief
1. The basic Islamic belief is Shahadah:
"There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His
Messenger".
It is surely the quality of the message, and not the messenger
that counts. Therefore' it makes no difference whether one
believes in the messenger or not if the message itself is sound,
sincere and salubrious. But this does not apply to Muhammed as a
Messenger:
"Upon the day the unbelivers,
those who disobeyed the Messenger,
will wish that the earth might be levelled with them" (Women:
45).
Muhammad and Godhead
Obedience to Muhammad is a must if you do not want to suffer the
perils of the Day of Judgement. Just belief in God alone will not
save you. Muhammad obviously has a share in Divinity. Otherwise
disbelief in Muhammad could not be fatal.
2. Obedience to Muhammad is as compulsory as it is to God.
a. "Say, Obey God, and the Messenger" (The House of
Imran: 25).
b. "Obey God and the Messenger; haply so
you will find mercy" (The House of Imran: 125).
". . . Whoso obeys God
and His Messenger, He will admit him
to gardens . . ." (Women: 15).
"O believers, betray not God and the
Messenger . . ." (The Spoils: 25).
Muhammad and God are coextensive
3. Having asserted that Allah is nearer to man than his jugular
vein, the Koran declares:
"The Prophet is nearer to the believers than their
selves . . ." (The Confederates: 5).
Now, God and Muhammed have become coextensive!
Muhammad as mercy for mankind
c. As the Bible called Jesus the Grace for Mankind to give him
divine status
the Koran pronounced Muhammed as the Mercy or Blessing for all
beings:
"We have not sent you, except as a mercy
unto all beings" (The Prophets: 100).
Muhammad and God as co-sovereigns
5. Now Allah and Muhammad become co-sovereigns and command
together:
"It is not for any believer, man or
woman, when God and His Messenger
have decreed a matter, to have the choice
in the affair. Whosoever disobeys
God and His Messenger has gone astray
into clear error" (The Confederates: 35).
Muhammad as model
6. God tells believers that Muhammad is the model of action for
them and they must follow him in all details:
"You have a good example in God's Messenger
for whosoever hopes for God and the Last Day . . ." (The
Confederates: 20).
Muhammad and the unseen
7. Now we find God sharing the knowledge of the Unseen with
Muhammad though previously it was exclusive to Himself:
"Knower He of the Unseen, and
He discloses not His Unseen to anyone,
except only to such a messenger as
He is well-pleased with" (The Jinn: 25).
Muhammad and Divine Authority
8. After elevating himself as the model of conduct and having
gained parity with God in the right to command, and to be obeyed,
now he exercises the divine authority in conjunction with Allah:
"A release, from God and His Messenger,
unto the idolaters with whom you made covenant.
A declaration from God and His Messenger,
Unto mankind on the day of the Greater Pilgrimage:
God is quit, and His Messenger, of the idolaters"
(Repentance: 1).
Muhammad and intercession
9. To begin with, the Prophet had no intercessory powers whatever:
"Ask pardon for them, or ask not pardon for them;
if you ask pardon for them seventy times, God will not pardon
them" (Repentance: 80).
"Do you know what is the Day of Judgement?
That is the day when no one shall be able to
benefit anyone else; the command shall belong unto God" (The
Splitting: 15).
Now the situation changes; the Prophet's claim to divinity rises
as his political power grows:
"truly this is the word of a noble Messenger
having power, with the Lord of the Throne secure,
obeyed, moreover trusty" (The Darkening: 15-20).
The basic Moslem belief in the intercessory powers of the Prophet
is founded on these verses. They believe that, on the Day of
Judgement, Muhammad will share the Throne of Justice with God. He
will sit on the right hand side of Allah and the Prophet's
recommendations will be binding on Him!
God and Angels worship Muhammad
10. The gradually changing situation is now reversed:
"God and His angels pray peace to the Prophet.
O believers, do you also bless him, and
pray him peace" (The Confederates: 55).
Moslems worship Muhammad
Praying peace (salaam) and reciting darood (repetitive recitation
of Muhammad's name) are forms of salutation and devotion reserved
for Muhammad. They are an integral part of the Islamic form of
worship known as Namaz or Salaat. Thus not only Allah and angels
but also Muslims directly or indirectly worship the Prophet. The
Moslems of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh hold special sessions to
praise Muhammad and recite hymnal songs to adore him. If this is
not Prophet-worship, then what is it? This is the Duality that I
have referred to. How can Moslems call themselves monotheists?
In fact, Muhammad encouraged Prophet-worship during his life-time.
He declared that Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and Jesus, all had
the powers to work miracles but when his contemporaries asked him
to show them a miracle so that they could believe him without
hesitation, he could not do so. The Koran testifies to this fact
repeatedly. Yet he claimed to be the last and the most superior
prophet and encouraged his followers to believe in his
supernatural powers. History has recorded that whenever he had a
haircut, his disciples swarmed over one another, to gather his cut
hair and nails as divine souvenirs; they even collected his
spittle and the water in which he had washed his hands. It is
because they believed in their miraculous virtues of healing and
salvation! Again, to imprint his divinity on the subconscious mind
of every new-born baby, he prescribed recitation of his name as
God's prophet in its ears almost immediately at birth. The process
of learning known as imprinting is said to have been discovered in
1935 by Lorenz but the Prophet knew it fourteen centuries ago!
Imprinting, in a way, is a form of brainwashing. If at birth
duckling and goslings are led to believe that man is their father,
they follow him as his offsprings! Since faith is like a castle
that one builds around one's self for severing connection with the
inclemencies of the real world, the stronger its foundation, the
securer one feels. The fortress of faith draws its strength from
the tales of miracles that a Messiah or Messenger is reputed to
have performed; the more incredible miracles a prophet is said to
have shown, the greater his divinity and the higher the chances of
salvation for believers!
The Hadith, the Jews and the political opportunists
Originally, Islam was a simple, practical faith, free from
theoretical complexities. Its purity was adulterated by the Jewish
hypocrites who fabricated countless sayings and ascribed them to
the Prophet. They did it to avenge the humiliation of defeat.
Their "contributions" helped to build up the body of the
Hadith or traditions associated with the Prophet. This began to
count as the Oral Law of Islam, and has the same relationship with
the Koran as the Mishna and Gemara have with the Old Testament.
The political opportunists of the Umayyad and Abbasid parties
concocted further additions to attain their secular goals. History
has recorded that Ibn Abi Al-Awja, who confessed to fabricating
4,000 traditions was executed at Kufa in 772 for this blasphemy.
Of course, it is hard to challenge the piety of Al-Bukhari who
first compiled the Muhammadan traditions in 870 but he did so 238
years after the death of the Prophet. Hadith means the spoken
words of the Prophet. Despite the greatest care in the world, the
spoken words are likely to lose their originality, purpose and
meanings over such a long time.
Revelation is the most effective tool of dominance-urge because it
raises an ordinary mortal to the status of God and secures for him
the rights of total Obedience and worship. Since God cannot be
seen or contacted, the revelationist becomes the Divine
Manifestation and God Himself recedes into oblivion. It is not
surprising that the Moslems believe that Muhammad like Allah has
ninety nine sacred names and ninety nine numinous attributes;
Allah and angels pray peace to Muhammad whose intercessionary
powers control Allah's sense of justice. This is the reason that
Islam has come to be founded on the love of Muhammad, and not
surrender to Allah who ranks as a euphemism for the Prophet. Was
Muhammad God? The Moslems who know something about the Koran do
not think so. In fact, to them, it is Shirk, the greatest sin. But
they are a small minority. The misunderstanding lies at the
folk-level which constitutes 95°10 of the Moslems.
Muhammad was human, and there is a lot of evidence for it:
1. First of all, the Koran portrays him as human. He was born like
any other human; he lived and died like other humans:
a. He ate and drank, he walked, talked and slept; he fell ill and
needed medication, and answered the call of nature like other
humans.
b. He possessed sexual urge which is the characteristic of all
humans. The fact that he had over twelve wives, shows his natural
passion for women.
Again, his wives did not think of him as God. In fact, some of
them treated him harshly, the Koran itself mentions the "vile
speech" of his wives towards him, and history has
particularly noted the impolite attitude of Hafsa, the daughter of
Omar the Great.
3. Using marriage as a weapon of political power, is an old way of
the secular princes. The Prophet was no exception to it. Abu Bakr
and Omar were his fathersin-law and Uthman and Ali were his
sons-in-law. It is these four men who firmly established Islam
which had lost ground after the death of the Prophet. Among his
wives, we even find a daughter of Abu Sufyan, the arch enemy of
Islam.
4. The Prophet made taxation, which is a form of plunder, as the
tool of dominance. Its ultimate purpose was to reduce all
non-Moslems to the status of tributaries. To achieve this end he
propounded the doctrine of Jehad or Holy War and declared Booty
i.e. the loot, as God's Blessing for motivating his followers to
kill. Robbing the peaceful commercial caravans of the Quresh of
Mecca, which led to battles establishing Muhammad's political
hegemony, is the natural sequence of this doctrine. Is it really
Godly to kill for the joy of robbing and turning people into
widows, orphans and cripples? Is it divine to call loot and murder
"holy"? What kind of God can sanction carnage just
because people don't believe in Him? If belief in God was so
vital, He would have created mankind differently. Does God really
need wars to establish His suzerainty? It cannot be the act of God
who is Almighty in His own right. (For further details see the
chapter: Taxation).
5. The prophet was not only born as human but he also lived and
died as human During his life-time, he was subject to the human
mechanism of fear and favour:
a. His uncle Abu Talib had acted as his protector until he died in
619. Sense of insecurity persuaded him in 620 to leave Mecca for
Taif, a small town some sixty miles to the east. As people of Taif
turned hostile, he returned to Mecca out of fear. For about a
year, he was afraid for his life when in 622 some seventy three
citizens of Medina came to see Muhammad and invited him to make
Medina his home. He felt relieved, and asked them if they would
protect him against his enemies with the same zeal as they would
defend their own families. They vowed to do so and asked what
reward they would receive if they got killed in shielding the
Prophet. "Paradise", he answered.
Fear of death, obviously, haunted him as painfully as it enervates
other human beings. It is strange that even the reward of
paradise, which he offered to his followers, did not tempt him to
part with life happily. Nor did Allah care to protect him against
the infidels of Mecca. As hostility increased, he fled to Medina
in September, 622.
b. His death also points to his humanity. A few years prior to his
death, he thought that the people of Khaiber had served him
poisonous meat. He started having unusual fevers and spells.
Aisha, his youngest wife is reported to have said that the Prophet
would get out of home quietly at midnight to visit a graveyard;
there he would "ask forgiveness of the dead, pray aloud for
them, and congratulate them on being dead". His long agony
came to an end on June 7, 632 when he passed away at the age of
sixty-three.
Since the Prophet could not tell that the meat he was being served
contained poison, he obviously, had no knowledge of the Unseen,
contrary to the popular Moslem belief. He suffered the normal
course of misery as a victim of poison and Allah did nothing to
alleviate his pain. This negates the tall tales of the special
love bond which is supposed to exist between Allah and Muhammad.
Nobody can ever willingly see his truly loved ones in a prolonged
agony. How could Allah?
The truth is that Muhammad was a human. But what kind of man was
he? This is the real issue. So far, I have discussed him in
relation to revelation, now I may assess him as a man, and the
reader ought to be prepared to accept some contradictions which
stem from the difference between divinity and humanity:
Assessment of Muhammad
Unfortunately, in the West, as a result of the prolonged crusades
and ecclesiastical propaganda, Muhammad's name has been corrupted
to Mahound, meaning devil, and the Koran has been described as the
word of Satan.
Muhammad's virtues
This is a shameful and odious attitude towards the Prophet. He was
sincere, upright and honest. In terms of humanity, he was an
aggregate of virtues to be found rarely in one person: he was at
once a thinker and trader, a general and jurist, a preacher and
philanthropist, a sage and soldier, an administrator and advisor,
a loving friend and father. Having been born posthumously, he had
boundless compassion for orphans and widows and his laws
demonstrate this fact beyond a shadow of doubt. His socialist
tendencies of common care were fairly balanced with people's
unlimited right to legitimate ownership. Though merciful, his
judgement reflected natural justice and made no discrimination
between friends and foes. The radiant smile that he possessed,
never failed to win him friends. Despite being practically the
ruler of Arabia, he lived at subsistence level; his food was
simple, his dress was modest and though all his wives had separate
huts, he didn't even have a hut of his own.
He was a truly great friend in peace and a forgiving foe in war.
During all those battles, he fought with courage, tenacity and
determination; even his enemies cannot trace any atrocities
towards him. The Prophet set a model of forgiveness which was
observed by his followers: the Meccans, who had persecuted him,
were forgiven almost to the last man when he returned as a victor,
and Abu Bakr, the first Caliph, bade his soldiers not to molest
women, children, the old and the sick belonging to the enemy.
Universality of message
His humanitarian spirit lay in the fact that his message was
directed at the whole of mankind and not just the Arabs. Whereas
Yahwe is the God of Israel, Allah is the God of the world and has
no preference for the Arabs. Not only all those who believed in
the Prophet formed Umma or one nation, each having equal rights
and obligations, but he also advocated a subtle commonwealth with
"the people of the book", that is, Jews and Christians.
A proof of this fact is to be found in the society that Muhammad
created in Medina.
He offered to the Jews, who still practiced their own faith and
traded with the Quresh of Mecca, a concordat which guaranteed them
equal rights with his followers if they were willing to attach
themselves with the Islamic commonwealth. There was no threat of
conversion or second rate citizenship lurking behind this offer.
Prophet's real strength
Though the Moslems keep harping on the divine powers of the
Prophet, his real strength lay in his practical abilities: his
velour and tenacity won him all the important battles; his resolve
was immortal, his courage defied all perils, his will to honour
agreements was well-respected and his word was considered his bond
even by his enemies. The Prophet's true and most significant
achievement however, lay in tansferring his values of honour and
integrity not only to his descendants but also his followers. Take
his grandson Hussain, for instance.
Hussain Ibn All
He stood up for what he thought to be his legitimate rights.
Having lost almost his entire family to the enemy at Karbala, he
still did not beg for mercy or sought to escape He acted in the
true tradition of his grandfather; he raised his javelin, galloped
his white stallion (Duldul) and charged into the enemy line
reciting the Koran with the dignity and honour of a true Mujahid
(Crusader). Fancy one man standing up to a host of several
thousand. Yet his courage and determination did not fail him.
Neither he cursed his foes nor he shrieked with pain. He kept
praising Allah as he received stab-wounds from back and front and
left and right. This man, Hussain Ibn All, showed no sign of
helplessness until the last drop of blood gushed out of his
perforated body. No wonder, the Iranian used to admiring velour,
became Shi'ite to acknowledge the vitrue of Hussain. In fact, one
does not have to be a Shi'ite to adore Hussain; there are plenty
who admire him as a great human specimen.
These virtues of action that the Prophet inspired, were not
restricted to the members of his own family; they touched the
hearts of his followers with an equal zeal; veracity of Abu Bakr,
greatness of Omar, generosity of Uthman and piety of All, need no
introduction. Greatness of character was the real legacy of the
Prophet which enabled his followers to defeat the Byzantine and
Persian empires within twenty years of his death and dominate the
earth for about 1,000 years. Thus, the Prophet laid the foundation
of a new culture, which in many ways, was more advanced than the
existing civilisation, for being founded on piety, honour and
fairness. Yet it was the personal triumph of Muhammad, and Allah
had no part in it.
The Prophet was a reformer. I have no doubt that he used the
device of revelation to achieve a righteous goal, but this device
is more suitable for promoting a human as God rather than serving
as the fountain of righteousness. This is the reason that Moslems
all over the world adore the Prophet but pay lip-reverence to his
teachings despite the fact that he laid a great emphasis on the
piety of deeds and presented his followers with a code of
practice.
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