THE NATURE OF PROPHETHOOD
ISLAM: The Arab Imperialism
by Anwar Shaikh
Chapter Three
THE NATURE OF PROPHETHOOD
To understand the nature of prophethood, one must realise that
Polarity is the law of existence. It means that, as physical being
of the universe depends upon the balance of negative and positive
charges, so does the social fabric, which is composed of
contradictory forces. This is the reason that we cannot imagine
light without darkness, sweet without bitter and good without bad.
Exactly the same way, Prophethood is the antithesis of free will.
For better comprehension of this statement, I ought to explain the
concept of free will.
What is free will?
Life commences with free will. It is because stones and stars are
lifeless despite their durability and lumination; they simply do
not have any desire; nor can they do anything on their own, and
therefore, lack the ability to make choices, but the lowest
organism like an amoeba has desire and the ability to move as it
likes. This is the distinction between an inanimate and animate:
this difference i.e. the desire and ability to make choices is
life.
Again, until free will emerges, existence is mechanical i.e. fully
commanded by the law of nature, but free will reduces authority of
the natural law and gives organisms the choice of action, making
liberty an integral part of living. In fact, free will is the
ambassador of a new force called "morality, " which
means acting according to one's own volition without external
pressures.
Since making choices or decisions requires consciousness and
knowledge, these two elements are also the branches of free will.
This is especially true when we realise that consciousness
(awareness) is an integral part of life.
Thus, we can say that desire, freedom, morality, consciousness and
knowledge are the basic components of free will, which cannot
operate successfully unless its constituting elements get a fair
chance to display themselves. Since life commences with free will,
the goal of life is not servitude of any supernatural power i.e.
God through worship or prostration, but purpose of life is
self-elevation, as indicated by free will. This is the reason that
we abhor dictation, injustice and vicious commands.
Since polarity is the law of nature, the concept of free will,
which means moral choice and the liberty to act accordingly, must
also have an antithesis. It is Prophethood, which is the opposite
of free will because it seeks to minimise the operation of free
will by reducing the scope of human intelligence and the liberty
to act accordingly; it uses the bridle of faith to check the human
conduct, intellectually, morally and physically. Reason is the
light of humanity; this is what exalts man over the rest of
beings; prophethood replaces it with faith, which is a form of
twilight, bordering on darkness. Thus, man ceases to be a rational
being and begins to believe in fairy tales such as Moses dividing
the sea to create a pathway for the escaping Israelites; Jesus had
no physical father and Muhammad broke the moon into two sections
as a miracle. This is how the basic attitudes of life come to be
founded on irrationality under the hypnotising force of faith.
In view of history and man's psychological ambitions, I believe
that humanity is marching towards perfection through
self-elevation. Man's ascent from the status of a savage to the
modern cultural stage proves this truth. In fact, man is destined
to be a part of Divinity. Having explained this thesis in my book
"Eternity," I need not go into details here, but must
emphasise that Prophet is a person who imposes his own Godhead on
innocent people and thus deprives them of their own Divine
dignity. Why does he adopt this attitude towards humanity? It is
because he is a man of massive ego, which is operated by
dominance-urge:
What is Dominance-Urge?
To stress the importance of dominance-urge, I may add that, as
universe is hierarchical in nature, our social organisation is
also hierarchical. The concept of hierarchy is easily understood
with reference to a pyramid which is broad at its base but becomes
narrower as it rises. Likewise, human society is the widest at the
base, constituted by the masses, but as social pattern assumes
ascending order, at the apex appears one person, usually a man,
known as king, dictator, president or prime minister.
What is it that raises a person to the imperial, dictatorial,
presidential or prime ministerial dignity? It is the urge of
dominance that motivates a person to rise above his fellow-beings,
and he seeks distinction by imposing his will on others. This is
the act of dominance. Though social order is hierarchical, it
differs from the universal hierarchy; the former is based on a
personal ambition which grows even stronger as one gathers more
power but the latter is impersonal or neutral because it is based
on function and not ambition. The sun may be greater, and
life-giving, yet it is not superior to the earth because sun's
grandeur is functional and thus neutral in character. Social
hierarchy, on the contrary, is fuelled by the urge of dominance,
which is an expression of a personal ambition seeking superiority
over the rest. Though one can divide it into many branches, it is
mainly of two types:
a. Secular, and
b. Spiritual.
a. Whether it be secular or spiritual hierarchy, it is based on
the urge of dominance. Secular dominance is represented by
gubernatorial grandeur such as the office of a high dignitary of
the state, a minister, the king, the president or the prime
minister. The purpose of the dominant or the gubernator is always
the same - telling people how to live by equating morality with
the law. At secular level, the gubernator wants to look
public-spirited, that is, someone who lives for public good at the
expense of his own happiness. Thus, he imposes his will on people
through the agency of law, which he uses to suit his own
convenience. For example, to obtain votes, he declares that
poverty is the greatest social evil, and thus practises
Robinhoodism, that is, he robs the rich to pay the poor for
gaining their favour. If he were to alleviate the distress of
poverty through the state effort, that is, distribution of wealth,
created by the state itself through its own entrepreneurial zeal,
it would be laudable. The purpose of this exercise is to seek
dominance by manipulating people's votes.
Secular dominance is short-lived, because when a person dies, with
him perishes his dominance-urge. However, it may take the dynastic
form after him. The father may take measures to enable his son to
step into his shoes, perpetuating the family dignity. However,
family- dignity owes itself to its founder and thus all the
successors rank next to him unless someone has secured greater
distinction in his own right.
Dominance-urge is not restricted to any particular class of
people. Both the high and low are likely to have the ambition to
dominate others. In fact, for being the means of self-elevation,
it is a part of the evolutionary process. Thus, it is not evil in
itself but becomes so, for acting as the tool of self-promotion at
the cost of moral considerations. However, there are occasions
when a dominant person may be sincere and public spirited but it
is rare and serves as an exception and not the rule.
What is an urge? Think of a motor car in relation to fuel. It may
be a great vehicle but it cannot budge an inch without fuel, which
serves as its driving force. This is the meaning of
"drive" in psychology, the science of behaviour. Urge is
just another word for drive. An expression of this urge is found
in the dominance-hierarchies found in domestic fowl, birds,
baboons, bumble bees, crabs, etc. It is well explained by what is
called "Peck Order" and is commonly seen among chickens
where bird A pecks the weaker bird B and B pecks the still weaker
bird C. In a way, what is called aggressive behaviour is the
manifestation of the urge of dominance. It demonstrates lack of
rationality and seeks superiority through a show of brute force.
One can call it the expression of the law of jungle based on the
aphorism: "might is right." A better example is provided
by the "lek behaviour" of animals. It can be seen during
the mating season in a communal area where the male members fight
one another to establish their dominance over their competitors.
Through an aggressive behaviour, the winner settles his claim of
priority to sex, food and water. Thus dominance-urge turns out to
be the mania of self- preference, which is realised through
demonstration of ferocity. This fact is equally noticeable in the
members of much lower species: wasps of the genus Polistes repress
the sexual growth of their immediate young through harassment so
that instead of producing their own progeny they must stay around
as servants to care for the young ones of their parents. Termites
are yet another example of this fact; they achieve similar results
by chemical secretions which effectively turn their young ones
into slaves for looking after their freshly hatched offspring.
The most effective way of securing dominance is by arousing
someone's fear. Biologists have provided good examples to this
effect. They point to "presenting," an inclination of
the female members of the macaque monkeys. The term
"presenting" refers to the condition of a sexually
receptive female which offers itself to the male for copulation.
Such a male is the symbol of brute force, and thus carries an air
of superiority. Invitation to seduce is certainly the most
submissive behaviour which the dominant relishes. This is the main
purpose of dominance-urge, which seeks total surrender and
humiliation of others through force, feigning and ferocity.
The fact that we find mighty conquerors towering over the palace
of history, is owing to the urge of dominance, which prompted them
to exploit the human instinct of fear. The magnitude of their
conquests has been compatible with the stature of their
dominance-urge: Alexander the Great, wanted to build a universal
monarchy and Tamburlaine, the Conqueror, declared that, as there
was only one God, this earth could accommodate only one king. To
accomplish this end, Alexander unleashed terror towards those who
resisted his rule, and Tamburlaine devised the policy of building
minarets with the decapitated heads of his victims for frightening
entire foreign populations into submission.
Behind this carnage and devastation, lay the personal desire of
the perpetrator to be acknowledged as the greatest. This is the
reason that Alexander the Great wanted to be considered and
worshipped as God. History has recorded that, in November 332 B.C.
when Alexander left Praetonium for the oasis Siwa, where stood the
oracle of Amon, venerated as the king of gods, he was hailed by
the priest as the "Son of Amon." Alexander, who had
harboured the dream of divinity for a long time, was rather
stunned to be addressed as the Son of God. It was then, he was
told that Philip, the king of Macedonia, though married to his
mother, Olympias, was not his true father, because his mother's
pregnancy had, in fact, been caused by the necromantic touch of
Amon, the god of gods, who wanted to secure the birth of a mighty
prince to release Egypt from the clutches of the Persians. The
insight of the priest, who knew the psychological truth of
dominance-urge, worked wonders. Alexander, convinced of his
numinous stature, demanded to be acknowledged and worshipped as
God throughout his empire. The Egyptians were the first to yield
to this demand, followed by the Greeks, Persians and other
conquered nations. The cult of dominance-urge is more visible
among the Roman Emperors. Of course, they were haughty and
powerful but they caught the disease of divinity in Egypt where
every Pharaoh was believed to be the incarnation of God. This is
what influenced the Roman Senate and it introduced the custom of
deification i.e. proclaiming a person as God; the death of each
emperor was followed not only by elaborate funeral rites, but also
daunting rituals of apotheosis leading to a place in the national
pantheon, whose sanctity was as inviolable to the Romans of the
past as is their belief in Jesus Christ today.
Why does man want to put on the cloak of divinity? There are two
reasons for it. Firstly, the dominance-urge goads the
dominance-seeker to project himself as the loftiest being. Since
God is believed to be the greatest known image, the dominant wants
to be thought of as God directly or indirectly. Secondly, contrary
to the psychological mechanism of the dominance-seeker, *ordinary
man is equipped with Free Will. Thus it is his nature to live a
life based on his own choice, which is not possible without
freedom of thought and security of fundamental human rights. Thus
man is born to be free. This is something that a dominant person
dislikes the same way as a dog hates a cat and a cat hates a rat.
It is because if people could maintain
---------
* Of course, a dominant person is also born with a Free Will but
he has the mania of coercing other people's Free Will to maximise
his authority.
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their freedom, the dominance-seeker would not be able to impose
his hegemony on them; dominance simply means maximisation of one's
own prerogative by the minimisation of other people's rights. One
way of achieving this end is by sheer brute force such as carnage
and destruction of property, but this tact works temporarily only
because man's love of freedom persuades him to resist the tyrant.
Therefore, the dominant has to use some sophisticated ploys which,
despite being vicious, must look virtuous; their power of
brainwashing should be as great as that of a burning lamp, whose
lure proves so irresistible to the moths that they cremate
themselves on it without any external pressure.
This is what prompts a gubernator to exploit man's psychological
mechanism, which consists of fear and favour. It is a matter of
common observation that whatever man does, he does out of fear or
to gain favour. This is especially true with regard to hell and
heaven; a person adopts a certain faith because he is afraid of
hell, and at the same time wants to go to heaven, which ranks as a
favour. This is the notion which appeals more to the emotions and
less to reason. Yet fear, as one of the basic elements of
personality, is the pivot of morality; it is not only restricting
but also the guiding factor in behaviour. However, when it becomes
irrational it serves as the greatest barrier to reason and thus
becomes a source of divergence, deviation and devastation.
Again, fear is the source of both reverence and submission.
Therefore, the best way of achieving dominance is through
exploitation of fear, which must form a part of one's faith and
behaviour. This type of fear is like a mellow stream, perennially
fed by melting snow which keeps it flowing year after year,
whereas the fear engendered by brute force is like the periodical
torrential rain, which causes a flood, but disappears after a
short while. Thus, secular dominance cannot be held for longer
periods by sheer brute force. It must be given a touch of
spiritual happiness in such a way that people learn to fear it
reverently and obey it without coercion.
b. Members of the gubernatorial class have realised the value of
fear and used it masterfully. This fact brings us to the
discussion of the second type of dominance (hierarchy) which I
termed as "spiritual."
In fact, it is a tool of the secular dominance, and the razzmatazz
which goes with it. What makes it spiritual is the tinge of
divinity; a person claims the right to rule and demands submission
with reverence on the ground that he is the mouthpiece of God, Son
of God or the reincarnated God. Thus he projects himself as divine
and a cut above other humans. Those people, whose purpose this
assertion serves, back the claimant. Once his divinity is
established through plausibility and a sustained campaign of fairy
tales, including violence, his dominance becomes as attractive to
people as that of a burning lamp to the moths. History is riddled
with such examples. I may refer to the Egyptian custom which is
relevant to the nature of this discussion:
In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh (king) was identified with the
sky-god, Horus and the sun-god, variously known as Re, Amon or
Aton. This is the reason that a pharaoh was addressed as Re, Aton
and Horus. Scholars have remarked that he derived these epithets,
not from his associations with the various deities, but because he
was considered the incarnation of everything believed to be
divine. Thus, he was God-incarnate in his own right. This belief
gave birth to an effective royal theology, which led to the
doctrine of the god-kingdom spanning two generations; it means
that, as long as a pharaoh lived, he ruled as King Horus but after
his death, he became Osiris, the king of the dead. Since all
Egyptians died like other humans, they showed special reverence to
their pharaoh, who also happened to be their ruler in the
world-to-come. What a royal trick it was to make people obey their
monarch to the point of worshipping him. There also grew the
tradition of treating pharaoh as God's image, and it was believed
that God addressed him as ^my living image on earth."
This divine cult of the pharaoh was further promoted by festivals
which involved sacrifices, eating, drinking, staging plays, sexual
contacts, including all sorts of merriment, yet retaining their
numinous character! Whereas worshipping the pharaoh formed part of
the reverential fear that his divine power generated, the delight
of the fair, counted as the favour for fearing the pharaoh.
Scholars have discovered that the festive spirit of these happy
gatherings became an integral part of the later Hellenistic i.e.
Greco- Roman mystery and salvatory religions including Semitic
faiths such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
As "the living image of God," pharaoh in his human
capacity was also believed to be the servant of God, destined to
carry out His work on earth. This is what turned kingship into an
institution, which could be termed as divine viceroyalty. It
received a special emphasis in the Arabian peninsula. This fact is
clearly visible in the history of Mesopotamia. In all its empires
such as Sumer, Babylon and Assyria, one finds the prevalence of
this doctrine: whether it be a city, country or the state, its
head is God, but the ruler acts as His "humble" viceroy
whose destiny remains the execution of God's will. However, king's
major role was to mediate between God and man.
Moses, as he brought his people out of Egypt, attached special
importance to this doctrine. The Jews had suffered tremendous
hardships under the rule of pharaoh, who was a (visible) God.
Since the Jews could not tolerate the idea of such a God, Moses
introduced the concept of an abstract God, who could not be
contacted by ordinary folks directly but it remained
"possible" to approach Him through the agency of Moses,
the Viceroy (of God).
This viceregal cloak of sanctity that man has worn for centuries,
has proved a far more effective vehicle of dominance than brute
force. Another name for this spiritual viceroy is "Prophet.''
Since God speaks through him and, may be contacted through him
only, the prophet's word ranks as God's Word, and over a period of
time, his followers begin to worship him instead of God. This fact
shows the climax of dominance-urge, which goads man to claim
divinity directly or indirectly and be worshipped as God. But in
the Semitic tradition, a prophet is the servant of God, who
mediates between God and man, and because God reveals Himself
through the agency of the Prophet only, he becomes more important
than God. It is why, if you do not believe in the Prophet, your
belief in God and all your righteous deeds become useless. This is
how the prophet begins to rank a cut above God and, though the
prophet may call himself God's servant, it is God who, in
practice, becomes the prophet's factotum. This is the Semitic
tradition and exposes the reality of revelation, which is simply
man's spiritual tool of dominance. It depicts the impetuosity and
severity of dominance-urge, which tempts a man to claim Godhead
through the medium of revelation, simply because he wants to be
worshipped, that is, loved and obeyed by mankind.
The difference between secular and spiritual dominance is, that
the former perishes when a dominance- seeker, such as a king or
dignitary dies, but the latter does not expire with the death of
the spiritual dominance-seeker, who commands from his grave by
demanding obedience to his laws, and exhibits an astonishing
passion to be adored exclusively by declaring that there will be
no more prophets after him. This passion for adoration is the
essence of worship, which is the worst form of aggression because
it requires the worshipper to humiliate himself through a set of
self-debasing rituals, aimed at expressing his total surrender.
Revelation is the most effective tool of securing this purpose
because the revelationist (Prophet) declares that he has no axe to
grind in it; he claims to do what he is told by God, and being His
servant, has no choice but to obey!
The truth is exactly the opposite. It is the prophet who wants to
be adored. God is just a euphemism for the Prophet. Revelation is
the device to achieve this aim.
What is revelation?
It is also known as the Divine guidance, but in fact, it is the
stunning web of hypocrisy that the human mind could weave. Without
doubt, it is the greatest insult to God:
1. In chapter 2 of the Koran is narrated the dramatic story of
Adam, who has rebelled against Allah's commands because he finds
them against the dictates of his free will. It is a proof of the
fact that, man neither likes nor needs Allah's guidance (which is
another description of revelation). As Adam, along with his wife,
is being turned out of the Garden of Eden, Allah says:
"Yet there shall come to you (Adam and his progeny) guidance
(revelation) from Me, and whosoever follows my guidance, no fear
shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow. " ( The Cow, 11-
3 5 )
Allah knows full well that Adam has turned down His guidance
despite the reward of staying in the Garden of Eden where there is
no toil, pain or death, and all the luxuries of life are available
just for the asking. Yet, Allah insists on sending guidance to
mankind through His Messengers i.e. Prophets. It is an insult to
God because it shows that He does not have the least respect for
Himself. He has been spurned rudely by man, yet He desperately
wants to send guidance, which has already been proved totally
useless. Is Allah really that ignorant and thick-skinned!
2. From the episode referred to above, it is obvious like daylight
that Allah hates Adam's revolt. Therefore, he would have loved to
create an obedient Adam. The concept of guidance (Prophethood)
shows that it is Allah's attempt to rectify His weakness as the
Creator! Thus, revelation is a parody of God for His imperfection,
but a praise for the Prophet, who acts as the rectifier of Allah's
deficiency!
3. If this universe is a creation, then its Creator has got to be
PERFECT. A Prophet is a human, and therefore, imperfect. How can
an imperfect mortal represent the Perfect Creator? And the Allah,
who depends upon a Prophet, the imperfect, is even inferior to
man.
I need not repeat all those arguments here that I have advanced in
my books "Eternity" and "Faith And Deception"
to expose the hollow nature of revelation. It is just a political
tradition of the Middle East, which enables a secular ruler to
rule in the name of God. Such a God is nothing but a clever myth,
which enables the Prophet to declare God as the real Master and
himself as His humble servant. Thus, he can give his own commands
the supernatural aura to fool and snool people for imposing his
dictatorship on them. This indirect type of government enables him
to do what he likes in the name of God because all his actions
count as the Divine Will; he claims that he has no choice but to
act accordingly. Thus, whatever may happen to his subjects, he
remains blameless.
What a device this revelation is! Even Machiavelli looks a toddler
in the Middle Eastern school of politics.
The cornerstone of this political stratagem known as Prophethood
is, that God as an act of mercy sends guidance to people so that
they can avoid hell to qualify for paradise. Another point to note
is that certain souls were appointed as the Prophets even before
creation:
"And when God took compact with the Prophets
That I have given you of Book and Wisdom,
then there shall come to you a Messenger confirming
what is with you - you shall believe in him
and you shall help him; do you agree?" He said
"And do you take My load on you on that condition?"
They said, "We do agree." God said "Bear witness
so, and I shall be with you among the witnesses.
Then whosoever turns back after that -
they are the ungodly.
What do they desire another religion than God's
....." (The House of Imran III: 75)
In a nutshell, these verses mean that Allah called a conference of
the souls of Prophets ( before creation ) and took a binding
promise from them that they would declare Muhammad as the greatest
and the Last Prophet and must tell their followers to convert to
his religon, which is the true religion of God. Allah stresses
here that all Prophets have been given the same principles of
guidance as contained in the Book of Guidance i.e. the Koran.
It is just a Muhammadan approach for gaining converts. How could
there be a conference of the Prophets before creation? As I
explained earlier, according to the Koran, Muhammad himself was
unaware of the Truth and knew nothing of the Koran until he was
forty years old; it is then, he was "made a Prophet through
the agency of Gabriel, who brought him the revelation." Under
these circumstances, how could Allah have declared Muhammad as the
greatest and the Last Prophet when even four decades after his
birth he was not a Prophet as yet? Perhaps, the wiser
interpretation of these verses is that Muhammad was never a
Prophet because, as it is obvious from the quotation, he was not
invited to participate in the pre-creation conference, which all
the other "Prophets" attended.
The pivot of Muhammad's prophethood is the Koran, which claims to
be the source of guidance to mankind, but this Koranic enunciation
does not hold good at all.
''Say (Muhammad): O disbelievers
......................................................................
To you your religion and to me my religion."
(The Unbelievers, CIX: 5)
Here it is made quite clear that Muhammad was not sent by Allah
with a Definite Mission because, according to these verses, the
non-Muslims are welcome to their religion, whereas Muhammad and
his devotees shall follow their own faith. Thus, at the time of
declaring his prophethood, Muhammad had neither any Divine Code of
Guidance nor any design of preaching the "Truth." These
things were necessitated by the circumstances as he proceeded with
his career. See for yourself:
1. "Thou (Muhammad) art not responsible for
guiding them (non-Muslims) but God guides
whomsoever He will."
(The Cow, II: 275)
"Thou (Muhammad) art only a warner,
and God is the guardian over everything."
(Hood, II: 15)
"Your Lord knows you (Muhammad) very well;
if He will, He will have mercy on you,
or, if He will, He will chastise you;
We (Allah) sent thee not to be a guardian
over them." (The Night Journey, XVII: 55)
Here one can clearly see that Muhammad has nothing to do with
guidance. In fact, these verses show Muhammad as an ordinary
person, who himself is at the mercy of Allah for guidance. This
was his attitude when he was weak and politically a non-entity:
then he preached:
"No compulsion is there in religion."
(The Cow, II: 255)
But when he became powerful, he declared in the name of Allah:
"The true religion with God is Islam."
(The House of Imran, III: 15)
Then came further messages:
"Whoso desires another religion than Islam, it shall
not be accepted of him; in the next world he shall be
among the losers." (The House of Imran, III: 75)
Since Islam is the only acceptable religion to Allah, He declares:
"It is He (Allah) who has sent His Messenger
(Muhammad) with the guidance and the religion of
truth, that He may uplift it above every religion."
(Victory, XLVIII: 25)
Now, as Islam is declared the only True religion, it has to be
lifted above all religions. Therefore, those who do not embrace
it, stand condemned by the Almighty Allah:
"Surely the worst of beasts in God's sight
are the unbelievers." (The Spoils, VIII: 57)
Even one's parents come within this category if they are not
Muslims:
"O believers, do not treat your fathers and
mothers as your friends, if they prefer unbelief
to belief; whomsoever of you takes them
for friends, they are evil-doers."
( Repentance, IX: 20 )
Since parents are the fountain of love and mercy for their
children, the religion that preaches hatred for them on the ground
of belief is not the source of guidance but misguidance. This is
further proven by the fact that now Allah changes His attitude
altogether and declares the revolutionary principle of JEHAD for
forced conversion of the non-Muslims:
"God has bought from the believers their selves
and their possessions against the gift of paradise;
they fight in the way of God; they kill, and are
killed; that is a promise binding on God..."
( Repentance, IX: 110 )
A Muslim is God's soldier, whose life has been bought by Allah in
return for paradise. Jehad means killing and robbing non-Muslims
if they do not accept Islam when invited to do so. Jehad is
considered the best principle of Guidance: prayers, charity,
morality, service to the Muslim community, etc. are far inferior
forms of guidance. It is the highest symbol of surrender to God (Eman)
because a Mujahid ( God's soldier ) feels no qualms in carrying
out Allah's commands even when they involve murder, rape, robbery,
injustice, or usurpation of human rights and people's sovereignty.
Following Allah's guidance leads to Paradise, the ultimate goal of
a Muslim's dreams. This is the main tool of the Islamic propaganda
for attracting converts. Without this charm, hardly anyone will
pay attention to this "religion." Since calling people
to paradise is the mainstay of Prophethood, the reality of
paradise, also exposes the nature of Prophethood. Thus, one is
eagerly inclined to know what paradise is:
Paradise is the largest and the sweetest carrot that was ever
dangled before the Arabs. Just compare the description of paradise
with the burning sands of Arabia, without water, trees, pastures,
rivers and gardens. Worse still, Arabia did not have plentiful
women, and this is what made the Arabs hanker after the feminine
gender. Look at the following verses from the Koran which point to
the sexual appeal of Islam:
"...... for them (the Muslims) is reserved a definite
provision, fruit 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 .....
and with them wide-eyed maidens
flexing their glances
as if they were slightly concealed pearls."
(The Rangers: 40-45)
Whereas the Chinese prefer flat-chested women, the Arabs are fond
of rising bosoms. So, the Koran declares:
"Surely for the God-fearing
awaits a place of security,
gardens and vineyards
and maidens with swelling bosoms."
(The Tidings: LXXVIII: 30)
The attraction of paradise is made more impelling when wine is
made a part of paradisiac living:
"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 wine sealed,
whose seal is musk ... and whose mixture
is Tasnim, a fountain at which to drink
those brought nigh." (The Stinters: LXXXIII: 20-25)
For better illustration of the point under discussion, I may refer
to Hadith Tirmzi, volume two (p. 35-40) which gives details of
houris, the ever-young virgins of paradise:
1. A houri is a most beautiful young woman with a transparent
body. The narrow of her bones is visible like the interior lines
of pearls and rubies. She looks like red wine in a white glass.
2. She is of white colour, and free from the routine physical
disabilities of an ordinary woman such as menstruation, menopause,
urinal and offal discharge, child-bearing, and the related
pollution.
3. She is a woman characterised by modesty and flexing glances;
she never looks at any man except her husband, and feels grateful
for being his wife.
4. A houri is a young woman, free from odium and animosity.
Besides, she knows the meaning of love and has the ability to put
it into practice.
5. A houri is an immortal woman, who does not age. She speaks
softly and does not raise her voice at her man; she is always
reconciled with him. Having been brought up in luxury, she is a
luxury herself.
6. A houri is a girl of tender age, having large rising breasts
which are round, and not inclined to dangle. Houris dwell in
palaces of splendid surroundings.
Now add to this description of houris, what Mishkat, volume three
says on pages 83-97:
7. If a houri looks down from her abode in heaven onto the earth,
the whole distance shall be filled with light and fragrance.....
8. A houri's face is more radiant than a mirror, and one can see
one's image in her cheek. The marrow of her shins is visible to
the eyes.
9. Every man who enters paradise shall be given seventy-two houris;
no matter at what age he had died, when he enters paradise, he
will become a thirty-year-old and he will not age any further.
10. Tirmzi, volume 2 states on page 138:
A man in paradise shall be given virility equal to that of one
hundred men.
It should be noted that men who are so potent, shall not be
inclined to do anything except love-making. This is the reason,
that according to Islam, sexual gratification is the ultimate goal
of life. This is the true Islamic idea of salvation.
To what has been said above, I may add a bit more about the
surroundings of paradise to depict its appeal to the faithful:
Paradise is constructed in such a way that every brick of gold is
followed by a brick of silver; instead of mud or cement, saffron
is used to hold them together; even its pebbles are diamonds and
rubies. He who enters paradise, shall be free from grief: he will
live there forever, remain eternally young and will never die.
Paradise is generously dotted with streams of milk, honey and
wine; its climate is neither cold nor hot but just nice. The
inhabitants of paradise shall be given winged horses created out
of rubies which will take the rider wherever he wishes.
The inhabitants shall live in palaces and pavilions constructed
from the most precious and beautiful diamonds, and every man shall
have eighty thousand servants to serve him!
One is inclined to think that the above description of paradise is
quite tempting to invite people to Islam. With a view to
sharpening the appeal of his message, the Prophet used the device
of contradistinction to compare heaven with hell for arousing
human instincts of pain and pleasure to secure submission of
ordinary man. It cannot be a Divine approach because the God who
is so desperate for gaining devotees by such sadistic ploys, lacks
the dignity behoving His lofty station. It is a human weakness to
be adored and worshipped, and its fountain lies in man's inherent
weakness and imperfection, which seek redress through other
people's submission, surrender and supplication. This is the pivot
of dominance urge, which is satisfied by pleas, petitions and
prayers of the vanquished and subordinates to convince the
dominant of his greatness, glitter and grandeur, which is really
not there because man is mortal and intrinsically so vulnerable
that he can be humbled any time by disease, death or disaster. It
is just vanity, and a form of make-believe, for any man to pretend
to be God or live as such through the memory of one's
fellow-beings. The true God is too great to concern himself with
the prayers or curses of man.
Having painted the lustiest-picture of paradise, the Prophet
proceeds to delineate the sketch of hell:
We are told in the Spider, XXIX: 65 that Gehanna or hell is the
place for unbelievers i.e. those who do not acknowledge the divine
Duality of Allah and Muhammad. Hell is the most tormenting and
terrible place (Salvation, XXV: 65). Why? See for yourself:
''The dweller of Gehenna is given to drink oozing pus, the which
he gulps, and can scarce swallow, and death comes upon him from
every side, yet he cannot die; and still beyond him is a harsh
chastisement." (Abraham, XIV: 20)
"Surely those who disbelieve in Our signs - We (Allah) shall
certainly roast them at a Fire; as often as their skins are wholly
burned, We shall give them in exchange other skins, that they may
taste the punishment.
And those that believe ..We shall admit them to gardens underneath
which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever and ever, therein for
them shall be spouses purified." (Women, IV: 55-60)
The Koran tells us about the normal food and drink of the
unbelievers (Rangers, XXXVII: 60): there is a gigantic tree called
Ez-Zakkoum, which sprouts in "the root of Hell:" its
spathes are like the heads of satans; the dwellers of hell eat it
and are given a brew of boiling water to drink.
The terror, LVI: 50, further adds that after eating of Zakkoum,
they drink boiling water, "lapping down like thirsty camels.
Just note the further description of hell:
It is the roaring fire of God lit over the hearts in
stretching columns. (The Backbiter, CIV)
The theme of Ez-Zakkoum is further continued in
"Smoke, XLIV: 45:"
"Behold the Tree of Ez-Zakkoum
is the food of the-wicked,
like molten copper, bubbling in the belly
like the bubbling water .....
".... As for the unbelievers,
for them garments of fire shall be cut,
and there shall be poured over their heads
boiling water
Whereby whatsovever 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 .."
(The Pilgrimage, XXII: 20)
The Prophet's mastery of contradistinctive description reaches its
best when he compares the delights of heaven with the doles of
hell consecutively: for example, in the "Tiding, LXXVIII:
20-30," he says:
"Behold, Gehenna (Hell) has become an ambush,
for the insolent a resort,
There in .... tasting neither coolness nor any drink
save boiling water and pus .....
Surely for the Godfearing (believers) awaits
a place of security, gardens and vineyards
(paradise) and maidens with swelling breasts, like of
age, and a cup overflowing .. "
I do not think that there is further need for quoting from the
books of hadith to make readers feel the terror of hell.
The fascination of paradise shall be incomplete without noting the
following Koranic verses:
a. " ...... 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 measure
very exactly,
And therein they shall be given to
drink a cup whose ingredient is ginger;
therein a spring whose name is Salsabil
Immortal youths shall go about them;
when thou seest them, thou supposest them
dispersed pearls,
when you see them you see the divine
happiness and a great kingdom.
Upon them shall be 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)
b. These ever-young boys are again mentioned in
(Mount, LII: 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."
From the above it is clear that besides the most beautiful
virgins, there are also boys in paradise:
a.
1. They are immortal i.e. do not age at all.
2. They are so beautiful that they look like "dispersed
pearls."
3. They wear clothes of silk.
4. They are embellished with silver bracelets,
And
b. Mount, LII: 20 makes it clear that the concept
of sin does not apply to the paradisiac life.
Therefore, the cause of wrong-doing does not
exist there: whatever the paradise-dwellers do
is unquestionable!
Whenever the Muslim divines are asked to explain the purpose of
boys in paradise, they say that they are servants of the faithful.
One wonders why a servant has to be ever- young, beautiful like
pearls, dressed in brocades and bracelets.
A servant can surely be old, ugly and poorly dressed. Let the
reader come to his/her own conclusion.
How Allah is desperate for believers! He bribes man with the
paradisiac luxuries, and if man does not fall for it, He frightens
him with the most sadistic torture of hell. Yet, Allah calls
Himself Independent, Absolute and Disinterested!
Allah who has created heaven and hell to gain abject submission of
man is extremely selfish, and therefore driven by intense desires.
The Koran testifies to this fact:
" .... thy Lord accomplishes what He desires."
(Hood, XI: 105)
Worship is the worst type of flattery. Allah, whose greatest
pleasure is sycophancy and who is driven bt desires, cannot be
divine. He is simply a myth. The creator of such a wonderful
universe cannot be measured in terms of human fantasy, fear and
fanaticism.
Since this is the type of God that the concept of Prophethood
proposes, Prophethood cannot be a fact but a fiction.
As we have seen earlier, Prophethood is an insult to Godhead. This
is what prompts an enquiry into the Purpose of prophethood and one
wants to know what a Prophet really wants.
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