The Prophet Muhammad
ISLAM
The Arab National Movement
by Anwar Shaikh
CHAPTER 2
The Prophet Muhammad
Now, I may explain this theme further with reference to Allah, the
God of Muhammad, the Arabian prophet:
Abu al-Qasim Muhammad Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Abd al Muttalib Ibn Hashim,
the founder of Islam and the Arab Empire, was born in Mecca c. 570
A.D. after the death of his father. First, he was under the care
of his paternal grandfather, and when he died, Abu Talib, his
uncle, became his guardian. When he was six, he lost his mother,
Aminah. He was married to Khadijah of the clan of Asad. This
association which lasted for twenty-six years, was a happy one.
Muhammad belonged to the clan of Hashim which was a part of the
tribe of Quresh, and inhabited Mecca where Muhammad was born.
Though Mecca was a small town, it was a mercantile centre, and was
respected for its sanctuary known as the Kaaba. The Quresh were
descendants of Ishmael, son of Abraham, the Jewish patriarch, and
claimed that it was Abraham, accompanied by Ishmael, who built the
temple of Kaaba, for worship of God but it became the focus of
idolatory, which lasted for many centuries. Muhammad died on June
8, 632.
Muhammad was accustomed to retiring to a desert cave called Hira
where he reflected on the mysteries of creation. During 610 A.D.
when he was meditating in the Hira, an angel of God, called
Gabriel, appeared before him and said:
Read: In the name of thy Lord who createth. Createth man from a
clot.
Read: And it is thy Lord the Most bountiful who teacheth pen,
Teacheth man that which he knew not.
This was a written message from Allah. When Gabriel told Muhammad
to read it, he said that he was illiterate and could not read it.
Thereupon the angel caught him by the throat and commanded him
again to read. Thrice Muhammad expressed his inability to read and
thrice the angel choked him. He was extremely frightened. It was
his wife, Khadijah, who told him that the "spirit" he
saw was a good one, and not the devil. She assured him that he had
been chosen by God as His prophet. Even then he needed a lot of
persuation to accept the mission of prophethood.
Here is the old Semitic tradition of revelation at work, which
requires a prophet to accept the apostolic dignity under duress.
In the case of the Prophet Muhammad, it is even more amazing
because the All-knowing Allah wants the illiterate Muhammad to
read His message!
Islam was the name that the Prophet Muhammad gave his religion.
Therefore, following the Semitic tradition, he had to find a deity
that inspired this faith. Though there is no Biblical authority
for it, the Prophet asserted Islam as the true religion of God who
sent Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and many other prophets to
promulgate and restate it. Thus, what he advocated, he claimed,
was the same old faith but it had been corrupted by the Jews. So
he had no qualm in adopting most of the Jewish principles and
practices with a view to renovating the old religion of God, which
he called "Islam" as opposed to Judaism, and
Christianity. In fact, he made a great effort to convert Jews. He
adopted, not only a good deal of their creed, but also repeatedly
said that God had exalted the children of Israel over the rest of
mankind. As a process of this wooing, he wanted to find a name for
his God that should prove attractive to the Jews, and also to the
Arabs, his real people.
Scholars have remarked that the early Jews worshipped a deity
called El (Gen: 16: 23; 17: 1; 21: 33; 31: 13; 35: 7; ) . Jacob
erected the altar called "El-Elohe-Israel" which has
been translated "El the God of Israel." Similarly, El
was the high god in the Syro-Palestinian pantheon. Again, it is
argued that some biblical passages such as Deuteronomy 3 2: 8 - 9
suggest that Yahwe was believed to be a member of the huge
pantheon once ruled over by El. The Arabic name for El is Allah.
No name could be better for the Islamic God than Allah who was
once Yahwe's superior, and also an idol of the Quresh known as the
Lord of the Kaaba.
At this juncture, I should repeat that, according to the Semitic
doctrine of revelation, a prophet wants to be treated as God, but
without being called so; he is also a national hero because he
wants to create a band of devoted people to carry on his name.
The Prophet chose Allah as the Supreme God for national reasons.
At that time, the Jews held a considerable social status in the
Arabian peninsula owing to their glorious history, religious
precedence, defiance of persecution and material prosperity. He
knew that his people could not be lifted to a higher position
unless the Jews accepted his religion and thus made to behave as
if they were Arabs. Failing that, they ought to be turned into
second class citizens or banished.
First, the Prophet tried to woo them by making Jerusalem, the
KIBLA, and treating them with a lavish praise. For example, the
Koran in the Cow 40, states:
"Children of Israel, remember my blessing
wherewith I blessed you,
and that I have preferred you above all beings.."
For converting the Jews to his faith, the Prophet adored Abraham,
the common ancestor of the Jews and the Arabs to identify them as
one nation. The Koran says: "The best religion has he who
foilows the creed of Abraham, a man of pure faith, and a Friend of
God." (Woman: 120)
He went even further to address his Arab followers: "(Islam
is) the creed of your father Abraham: He named you Muslims."
(The Pilgrimage: 75)
When the Jews ignored this loving approach, they were enveloped by
the apostolic wrath. The Prophet demoted Jerusalem as the Kibla of
the Muslims and bestowed this honour on Kaaba, the Arab sanctuary.
He went even further tc lay a curse on the Jews:
"God has cursed them for their unbelief." (Women: 45 )
Over the last 1400 years the Muslim scholars have interpreted this
curse to mean that the Jews shall remain homeless for ever and
shall never have a national government of their own. The Muslims
want to drown all Israelites because the state of Israel
contradicts this Koranic verse.
Since the Jews refused to be a part of the Arab nation, their
condemnation as an accursed race was not sufficient. Creation of a
pure nation, demanded that the Jews must be expelled from Arabia.
So, the policy of ethnic cleansing was adopted, and the Jews were
banished. At this juncture, one ought to remember that Islam is
less a religion and more an Arab National Movement.
As now, the Jews had always been proud of their racial superiority
because Yahwe, the Jewish God, had chosen them as His own people
by entering into covenants with the Jewish patriarchs such as Noah
and Abraham. The latter had two sons: Isaac and Ishmael. The Bible
clearly declares in Genesis 17-18 that God made an everlasting
covenant with Isaac, the Jewish patriarch, but the Koran states
quite differently:
"We (God) made covenant with Abraham and Ishmael." (The
Cow: 115)
There is no historical evidence whatever that the Jews altered the
Old Testament to this effect. They did not need to do so because
this statement had existed in their Scriptures many centuries
before the Koran was composed. This is how the Prophet transferred
the Divine sanctity to his own nation to make them feel exalted.
Glorification of Allah by the Prophet as the supreme and the only
God is a part of Arab nationalism. Firstly, as stated previously,
Allah was Yahwe's superior, thus the Arabs, the people of Allah
have to be better than the people of Yahwe, the Jews. Yahwe had
been proclaimed as the God of Israel, but to be better, Allah had
to be the God of the universe. This is exactly what the Prophet
did: thus Allah is All- knowing, All-powerful and omnipresent. The
Old Testament does not claim such attributes for Yahwe.
Why was Allah proclaimed as the most glorious and the only God? It
is because He was an Arab god whose statue was worshipped in the
Kaaba itself for centuries. Of course, Allah was not the only god
of the Kaaba, which had developed into a pantheon owing to the
influences of the foreign cults. It was very much like a Hindu
temple devoted to idolatory and organised on the Hindu doctrine of
Triad (Trimurti) which means three-in-one. Allah had his three
daughters in the Kaaba, worshipped along with him.
Kaaba, referred to as the Meccan temple by historians, was under
the hereditary management of the Quresh, the Prophet's tribe and
thus gave them some sanctity as the lords of the Kaaba. It is for
this reason, they (Q'uresh) were known as the People of Allah or
the Protected Neighbours of Allah. Allah, the idol, even then
inspired considerable veneration into the Arabian hearts, and it
is quite evident from the fact that the tribes on pilgrimage to
the Kaaba, were called the Guests of Allah. Despite all this
divine prest ge, Allah was still a par~ of a pantheon i.e. he was
one of many gods. Therefore, the Prophet emphasised the
singularity of Allah and condemnation of all other gods. It should
be borne in mind, that the Prophet believed the Quresh, his tribe,
to be the best of all people. This is the reason that he laid it
down that only the Quresh had the right to rule. I shall discuss
this point in due course. At this point, it is sufficient to say
that the Arabs could be an exalted nation only if they were to be
blessed by the only and universal Allah who was as much Arab as
Yahwe was Jewish.
Since the doctrine of revelation affects the behaviour of more
than half of the population of the world, it is the major issue of
religion and metaphysics. Thus, we ought to look into the
psychological make-up of a revelationist i.e. a prophet, to assess
whether or not he is a person of dominant nature. This must serve
as a deciding factor to establish the reality of revelation
itself.
For this purpose, and not any mischief or insolence, I refer to
the *Hadith, that is, record of the sayings and practices of the
prophet which rank as the Islamic tradition. After all, the Koran
repeatedly challenges the dissenters to produce an argument to
support their point or view. What I am about to say is a matter of
fact to the Muslim believers owing to their faith, but what will
they say about someone else who made similar claims about himself
and his dynastic background? To a just person, this is the guiding
principle which he should bear in mind to decide the issue for
himself.
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* When Moslem scholars cannot answer a question, they say that the
quoted hadith is a forgery. I have taken care to avoid apocryphal
hadiths.
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THE PROPHET CLAIMED:
1. "God chose as the best the children af Ishmael, the son of
Abraham. From Ishmael's descendants, God chose the Quresh (the
tribe of Muhammad) as the best of people; from the Quresh, God
chose the Banu Hashim (Muhammad's clan) as the best of people, and
from the Banu Hashim, God chose Muhammad as the best of all
men.." (Jame Tirmze, Vol: 2 )
I ought to mention that it contradicts the Jewish claim as stated
in Genesis 17: 19-21. Jews are the descendants of Isaac. They
believe that he was the only legitimate son of Abraham borne by
his wife, Sarah, whereas Ishmael was given birth by Hagar, an
Egyptian maid-servant of Sarah, made pregnant by Abraham. God made
the covenant with Isaac and not Ishmael. Giving children of
Ishnnael (the Arabs) preference over the Jews, appears to be an
act of nationalism. Obviously, the purpose of Islam was to make
the Arabs a great nation by bestowing racial distinction on them.
2. Of the two tribes that God chose as the best were the
descendants of Ishmael and Isaac. God preferred the children of
Ishmael (Arabs) to the children of Isaac (the Jews). Then, God
created Muhammad in the chosen tribe of Quresh (the descendants of
Ishmael ) and then He chose the best family among the Quresh and
created Muhammad as the best of all men. ( Jame Tirmze Vol: 2 )
3. Muhammad was asked when he was made prophet. He replied that he
was made prophet when the body and soul of Adam were still in the
making. (Jame Tirmze Vol: 2 )
According to the "Sahih Muslim" already referred to,
this dignity was thrust on Muhammad when he was forty years of
age. It is strange that, despite being a prophet, even before the
creation of Adam, he never claimed prophethood until he attained
this age. Nor did he discharge his apostolic duties for the first
forty years of his life!
4. .....God has chosen Muhammad as the best of all mankind. And it
is not a boast but a fact. (Jame Tirmze Vol: 2)
5. .....On the Day of Judgement Muhammad would occupy the right
hand side of God's throne. Nobody else would be entitled or
capable of doing so except him. (Jame Tirmze Vol: 2)
6. On the Day of Judgement, ask for Muhammad as the Waseela or
Refuge, that is, the person who has the power of intercession to
forgive sins. Thus he would be the only person who could act as
the medium to paradise. (Jame Tirmze Vol: 2)
7. Muhammad would be the Chief of all mankind on the Day of
Judgement. (Jame Tirmze Vol:2)
8. Muhammad is the first person who would be appointed as the
intercessor. He would be the first person whose intercession would
be accepted. It is he who would unlock the gates of paradise and
would be the first to enter it, followed by his followers. He is
superior to all men who were before him, or would come after him.
It is not a boast but a fact. (Jame Tirmze Vol: 2)
9. "Send Darood on the Prophet," that is, pray to
Muhammad, supplicate him and praise him. He who sends darood on
Muhammad once, God blesses him ten times. (Jame Tirmze Vol: 2)
These hadiths (the Prophet's traditions) speak for themselves and
need hardly any comment from me. However, better understanding of
the subject requires that we should know Muhammad's relationship
with Allah, the Islamic God. Here are some examples.
1. Shahada is the basic doctrine of Islam. It is the confession
which makes a person Muslim, the follower of Allah. It means:
Nobody has the right to be adored (worshipped) but Allah, and
Muhammad is His messenger.
The meaning of Shahada is better understood when it is divided as
follows:
Allah's rights:
a. "Those who believe, love Allah more than anything
else." ( Baqra 12: 165 )
"Praise belongs to God,
the Lord of all Being." ( Cattle: 45 )
b. To assert His right to praise or worship, Allah clearly states
in the Koran (the Islamic Scripture):
"I have not created ..... mankind except to serve me. (The
Scatterers: 55 )
At several other occasions Allah reiterates that He has created
man for no purpose but worship and adore Him. It is amazing that
Allah, despite being "the Creator," "the All-
knowing," and "All-Powerful" cannot get man to
adore Him the way He wants, and has to send prophets and messiahs
to persuade man with the threats of hell and promises of paradise.
Yet, the net result is the further division of mankind, disbelief
and sin.
Since "Shirk" i.e. worshipping others with Allah, is the
only unpardonable sin, it is clear that if God were really, the
Creator, the All-knowing and the All-powerful, with such a burning
desire for worship, He could have surely created the Obedient man.
It is obviously not Allah, who desires to be worshipped; it has
got to be man who wants to be treated as God and worshipped as
such. This fact emerges when we look into part - 2 of Shahada,
that is,
2 . Prophet's rights:
a. Though the Prophet calls himself Allah's ABD or slave, Allah
allows him to be above His laws; for example, a Moslem is allowed
to have no more than four wives at the same time but the Prophet
had nine wives simultaneously.
b. Allah is willing for the Prophet to marry anybody's widow or
divorcee, but it is a monstrous act for anyone to marry the
Prophet's widow or divorcee. ( The Confederates: 50 )
c. It is a condition of polygamy that a Muslim has to be equitable
towards all his wives but the Prophet can lawfully suspend any of
his wives at will. (The Confederates: 50)
d. Allah is anxious to please the Prophet; He tells the believers
how to enter his house, how long to stay there, and not to indulge
in idle talk when they are in his house. (The Confederates: 50)
e. As I shall discuss later, Allah changed the Kibla, the
direction of praying just to please the Prophet. It was certainly
a major modification in a system which claims to be of divine
origin. ( The Cow: 135 )
f. Aisha, the Prophet's wife, was somewhat displeased when Khaula
bint Halo, presented herself to the Prophet in marriage, but when
God revealed to him:
"You may suspend any of them (Your wives) that you
please" (33: 51 )
Aisha exclaimed: ".....Allah hurries in pleasing you." (Sahih
Al Bokhari Vol: 7)
g. In fact, Allah acts as Prophet's factotum because He tells
believers not to walk in front of him or raise voice above that of
his. (Apartments: 1)
The Prophet was surely capable of giving such instructions
himself. When one looks deeper into the relationship of the
Prophet with Allah, it transpires that though the Koran originally
treats Muhammad as human, gradually this relationship develops
into duality and eventually, like Moses, Muhammad appears as God's
superior.
This is a delicate issue but fairness demands that the reader
should weigh the arguments which I intend to offer, before jumping
to hasty conclusions. The process of Muhammad converting his
humanity into divinity is a long and complex one but I intend to
keep the narrative brief and simple. Consider the following:
1. It is a condition of faith that a believer should love Allah,
but this stipulation becomes insufficient because a person does
not rank as believer until he loves the prophet "more than
his father, his children and all mankind. " (Sahih Al Bokh.
vol: 1)
2. Muhammad is as great as Allah because the former like the
latter, has ninety-nine attributes.
a. As Allah is closer to man than his jugular vein for being
omnipresent ( QAF 15 ), "the Prophet is nearer to the
believers than their selves.." (The Confederates: 5)
3. Though the Prophet is projected as mortal and Allah's servant
in the beginning, but as he grows stronger, obedience to Muhammad
becomes as compulsory as to Allah:
a. "Obey Allah and the Messenger." (The House of Imran
25, 125)
b. "..whoso obeys God and His Messenger, He will admit him to
gardens." ( Women: 15 )
c. Gradually, the Prophet shares authority with Allah:
"It is not for any believer, man or woman, when God and His
Messenger have decreed a matter, to have a choice in the affair.
Whosoever disobeys God and His Messenger has gone astray into
clear error." (The Confederates: 35)
Having established himself as co-commandant with God, he elevates
his personal grace and significance beyond description because
these are the factors which have recommended him to sinners all
over the world. They are:
d. "We have not sent you, except as a mercy unto all
beings." ( The Prophets: 100 )
e. To make sure that everybody obeys and copies the Prophet to the
letter, the Quran declares him as the Model of Behaviour.
"You have a good example in God's Messenger for whosoever
hopes for God and the Last Day." (The Confederates: 20)
f. Originally, he had no intercessionary powers; he professed that
he could not even save his daughter, Fatima whom he loved dearly.
Then to enhance the appeal of his prophethood, he raised himself
to the status of God:
"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 )
For the last many centuries, this Quranic verse has been
understood to mean by both the scholars and the laity that on the
Day of Judgement, God will sit an His throne and Muhammad will
occupy a seat on His right hand side. Allah will give the entire
intercessionary powers to Muhammad, who will decide whether a
person should go to heaven or hell. The criterion of judgement
shall not be the quality of deeds but who has loved the Prophet
the most. The Jews will head the queue to hell, followed by the
Christians. The Hindus, the Buddhists, the deists, the atheists
and the rest will be equally sorry, but all murderers, rapists,
robbers, arsonists, cheats, thugs, twisters, etc., who ever
mentioned Muhammad's name affectionately even once in their
life-time and believed in his prophethood, would go to paradise,
where each of them would be given seventy most beautiful virgins
and an array of pretty youths; their virility would be increased
hundred fold for appreciating Allah's bounties.
This is the statement of fact as believed by the Moslems. I have
not exaggerated it. If anything, it is an understatement.
g. Slowly, the dignity of the Prophet excels that of Allah:
"God and His angels pray peace to the Prophet. O believers,
you must also bless him, and pray him peace. (The Confederates:
55)
Praying peace and blessing in a meditative manner, as most
religionists do, is the essence of worshipping. The Moslems lead
in this field. They, in fact, worship Muhammad, yet they claim
that "praise belongs to Allah," and think of Shirk i.e.
including anyone else in praising God, as the only unforgiveable
sin!
Here is something extraordinary! Instead of man worshipping God,
it is God, along with His angels, who worships man, the true
purpose of the device of revelation.
This narrative should expose the true nature of revelation, that
is, it serves as the tool of the dominance-seeker who wants to be
loved and worshipped by his fellow-men by projecting himself as
God indirectly. History testifies to this fact: whenever, the
Prophet had a haircut, his followers vied with one another in
gathering his trimmed 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 the 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 earlier. Imprinting, in fact, is the most effective
device of brain-washing. If at birth, ducklings and goslings are
led to believe that man is their true father, they follow him as
his offspring. Revelation is the greatest medium of brainwashing
because this is the agent of faith, which shuts down all doors of
reasoning.
The reader should know the type of God Allah is; He is obsessed
with self-praise:
"He is God;
there is no God but He.
He is the King, the All-holy,
the All -peaceable,
the All-faithful, the All-preserver,
the All-mighty, the All-compeller,
the All-sublime.
Glory be to God, above that they associate.
He is God,
the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper,
To Him belong the Names Most Beautiful.
All that is in the Heavens and the earth
magnifies Him:
He is the All-mighty, the All-wise."
( The Mustering: 20 )
The reader should bear in mind that it is Allah who is praising
Himself, and not man. This reveals the psychological make-up of
the dominance-seeker.
Now one can see that Allah is most desirous of praise; when man
worships Him, He is glad but when man neglects Him, He feels sad.
How unstable Allah is! To boost His ego with the sycophancy of
devotees, He does things which are beyond the realm of moral
thinking: He allures man with the bribe of paradise full of
beautiful women and boys; He threatens dissenters with the most
sadistic punishment of flaming hell, and repeatedly asserts that
He is the Most Terrible Avenger and His Retributive punishment
knows no bounds; He even mocks and misleads the unbelievers; He
curses them and swears at them. In fact, He hates those who do not
prostrate before Him and recommends their slaughter until they are
wiped out or submit to His will.
Is it really the character of a true God? He cannot be the
Creator. If He were, He would have created man to obey Him because
praise, worship and submission are His greatest desires, whose
unfulfilment makes Him so unhappy and ruffled. If He cannot make
Himself happy, how can he have the ability to make other people
happy? Especially, when His happiness solely depends upon the
deeds of man, he cannot be God. It has got to be the revelationist
who puts on the cloak of an agent but wants to be treated as God.
After stating these facts, I may describe briefly what has led to
the popularity ot the Prophet Muhammad. There are three major
causes of this:
1. Firstly, he was a man of indomitable spirit. His will to
succeed was simply marvellous. He could feel the pulse of history,
and knew how to turn its course in his favour. On top of it, he
was a man of some great qualities which rarely unite in one
person. Having been born in a nation which was hardy, and capable
of demonstrating great martial prowess, he had the vision and
wisdom to mould these virtues to make Arabs into an imperial race.
People forget that Muhammad was not only a prophet but also the
builder of the Arab empire; and this was an integral part of his
prophethood.
2. Secondly, the Prophet built Islam around the sanctity and
significance of his own person. He achieved this position through
the following means:
a. He projected himself as mercy to all beings (The Prophets:
100). Thus, he created a special attraction for his person to all
and sundry.
b. He expressed obedience to himself as obedience to Allah, thus
giving himself a divine stature which appeared simply stunning
when his followers realised that even Allah and His angels prayed
peace to him.
c. He declared himself to possess intercessionary powers and
expressed his ability to find a place for all his followers in the
paradise where they would enjoy eternity with total delight and
peace. This being every human's greatest desire, proved very
appealing, indeed.
d. He was possibly, the greatest national leader born anywhere on
earth. The way he imposed the hegemony of the Arabs on the Ajams
(the non-Arabs) through a device of cultural subtlety is not only
stunning but also highly praiseworthy and the proof of his vision
and wisdom.
Islam is essentially an Arab national movement. As far as I am
aware, nobody has touched upon this apostolic aspect of the
Prophet before. Therefore, I ought to discuss it in reasonable
details to convey the message to the reader. The main vehicle of
national fervour was his assertion that God had sent him as the
Model of Behaviour (Uswa-e-Hasna) for the believers. (
Confederates: 20 )
Copying the Prophet in all details as the Model of Behaviour, was
laid down as the basic doctrine for the personal conduct of every
Muslim. The Prophet used it with the utmost skill to serve the
cause of Arab nationalism at the expense of the other Muslim
nations.
Here, the reader is entitled to ask me: "Is there real
evidence to show that the Prophet was an Arab national leader, and
he aimed at establishing a system of Arab imperialism?" Of
course, there is. Here is the proof:
One should remember that a nationalist is not only conscientious
of his origin but is usually proud of it. This test equally
applies to Muhammad:
1. According to Abu Huraira, when God revealed the verse:
"Warn your nearest kinsmen," the Prophet said in a loud
voice: "O people of Quresh."
When we look further into this act of self- identification, then
we can clearly see the Prophet's pride in his lineage. Let me
requote the hadith to make this point:
God chose as the best, the children of Ishmael, the son of
Abraham. From Ishmael's descendants, God chose the Quresh (the
tribe of Muhammad) as the best of people; from the Quresh, God
chose the Banu Hashim (Muhammad's clan) the best of people, and
from the Banu Hashim, God chose Muhammad as the best of all men
..... ( Jame Tirmze. Vol: 2 )
The Jews have been called a keen racial group for their faith in
national superiority. One can see for oneself the meaning of this
hadith that I have paraphrased. Yet in another hadith, the Prophet
says: "God created Muhammad in the chosen tribe of Quresh."
As stated earlier, a prophet being desirous of dominance, needs a
strong national group to perpetuate his name and teachings. This
is why Moses created the Jewish nation in the name of Yahwe. The
Prophet Muhammad did exactly the same thing in the name of Allah.
Of course, he thought of the Banu Hashim, his own family, as the
best of all families but their numbers were too small to be relied
on as a racial band to continue the prophetic campaign. So
Muhammad placed greater emphasis on his tribe (the Quresh) which
was sufficiently powerful in numbers and secular influence.
2 . Having cal led the Quresh as the exalted people as Moses had
declared the Jews as the chosen people, the Prophet put his
personal stamp on the excellence of the Quresh:
a. "May Allah destroy those who intend to humiliate the
Quresh." (Jame Tirmze. Vol: 2 )
b. "O Lord, you gave the Quresh, the taste of torture (when
they resisted Muhammad) but now give them the merits and blessings
of this world and the world- to - come. " ( Jame Tirmze . Vol:
2 )
c. On the authority of the Prophet, Uthman told his scribes to
write The Koran "in the language of the Quresh." ( Sahih
Bokh. Vol: IV )
It shows that the Koran is in the Arabic spoken by the Quresh and
not other tribes.
d. The Prophet shows an extraordinary zeal in the following hadith
whose accuracy cannot be denied: .....The prerogative to rule
shall remain vested in the Quresh, and whoever is hostile to them,
Allah shall destroy him as long as they obey the laws of the
religion." (Sahih Bokhari. Vol: 4)
e. "The Quresh are the rulers of men in vice and virtue until
the Day of Judgement." (Sahih Tirmze. Vol: 1)
This hadith has also been narrated in volume 9 of Sahih Albukhari.
f. The right to rule (caliphate) shall belong to the Quresh even
if two men existed. (Sahih Tirmze. Vol: 9)
The truth of these hadiths is revealed by two events:
1. In the eight hundred year long Islamic history of Spain, even
one suzerain was not non-Quresh. It was simply because only the
kinsmen of the Prophet i.e. The Quresh, were considered as the
legitimate rulers of Islam.
2. There is a clearly stated episode in volume 8 of the Sahih
Alburkhri, which historically establishes the Quresh right to rule
and excludes everybody else from this honour. Even the most
virtuous and capable non- Arab Muslims cannot legitimately rule.
It exposes the racial nature of Islam and sounds the death-knell
of the much-vaunted Islamic principles of equality and democracy.
Again, it is amazing how Muslims of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
and African origin deny nationality of their own, and claim to be
Muslims only. This is the result of the psychological dominance of
the Arab culture through Islam. It is for this reason that they
have no national histories of their own. As a result, they cling
to the Arab history, which they call the "Islamic
history" for having some kind of identity, no matter how
inferior.
The event* to which I have referred to, has been narrated by Omar
the great, and has been universally accepted as true:
At the death of the Prophet, the problem ot succession became very
acute. The Ansar of Medina, who had given the Prophet refuge, but
were not Quresh, claimed that they were as good Arabs as any other
tribe. They insisted that there
-----------------
*Sahih Albokh, Vol: 8 Ch. 17. Hadieth 817
-----------------
should be two rulers one from them (the Ansar) and one from the
Quresh. Abu Bakr was quite blunt in stating the doctrine of
government as laid down by the Prophet. He said, "O Ansar!
you have all the great qualities that you have attributed to
yourself but the government belongs only to the Quresh because
they are the best of all the Arabs as regards descent and
family."
When things got heated up, Omar thought of a stratagem. He said,
"O Abu Bakr, hold out your hand." As he did so, Omar
pledged his allegiance to Abu Bakr hurriedly, and the other
emigrants (the Arabs who had left Mecca along with the Prophet to
reside in Medina) followed suit rapidly. As the Ansar noticed it,
being devout Muslims, they could not withhold their allegiance for
fear of division in Islam, and surrendered to the Quresh hegemony
accepting Abu Bakr as their first Caliph.
Here, one can see that the Prophet's tribe reserves the right to
rule. It certainly proves that the Prophet was first a Quresh and
then an Arab. Thus the kind of nationalism he represented was
narrower than that of the Jews who are known to have non-Jewish
rulers by consent. The "pagans" of Byzantium or the
Eastern Romans were far more international in their outlook;
anybody from the colonies, irrespective of his colour and creed
could become their emperor, who formed the fountain of all
political power.
Of course, there are many components of nationalism but race and
homeland are the two major factors. Having described the racial
factor, now I may narrate the Prophet's views about Arabia, his
homeland. The Prophet's sayings about Arabia, and especially
Mecca, his birthplace, explain this truth:
1. "He who aggresses against Arabia, shall not win my love,
nor will I intercede for him." ( Jame Tirmze Vol . 2 )
2. The Prophet told Suleiman Farsi (the Persian), a freed slave,
who gained distinction by fighting for Islam: "....If you
bear grudge against Arabia, you bear grudge against me." (Jame
Tirmze Vol. 2)
3 . The Prophet said about Mecca, his birthplace: O Mecca, by
Allah you are better than any part of the earth, and dearer to me
than the rest of the world." ( Jame Tirmze Vol: 2 )
4. "Mecca is the best place and dearer than any other place.
Had my nation not driven me out, I would not have lived
elsewhere." (Jame Tirmze Vol: 2 )
Far more significant than these hadiths (the Prophet's sayings)
are the deeds of the Prophet which sought to exalt Mecca, and
along with it the entire Arabia, over the rest of the world. He
knew that Jerusalem had become the most revered place for the Jews
and the Christians owing to the religious esteem attached to it by
the Jewish innovations. Whether it was a European or an Eastern
Christian, he preferred Jerusalem to his own homeland and paid it
an especial tribute of respect. A similar reverential status
attached to Mecca must make it a holy city and enhance the
prestige of entire Arabia. It was David's ingenuity which made
Jerusalem the Home of Yahwe (the Jewish God) and when Solomon
built a temple there, it became the holiest place to the Jews, and
the birth of Jesus extended its boundaries of reverence far and
wide.
Despite their internal jealousies, the Jews have always been a
highly organised group owing to their sense of national
superiority and commercial leanings by dint of their faith in the
virtues of wealth. Thus wherever they have lived, they have
enjoyed social distinction. Their position in the Arabian
peninsula was no different. Since both the Jews and the Arabs have
a common ancestor called Abraham, they have a good deal in common
even without going back to their earlier Semitic origin. During
the early period of his prophetic ministry, the Prophet did
everything to woo them to his faith; he appointed Jerusalem as the
Kibla, which the Muslims should face to say their prayers. It was,
indeed, a great honour to the Jews. Then the Koran repeatedly said
that Allah had exalted the Jews over all races. However, all these
conciliatory steps had the opposite effect on the Jews, who made
the mistake of joining the Quresh in opposing the Prophet. When he
became victorious, he treated the Jews with contempt but forgave
the Quresh, his kith and kin.
There is plenty of evidence which shows that the Prophet wanted to
raise an Arab nation in contradistinction to the Jews, the
Byzantinians, the Iranians and the Turks. His message has all the
appearance of universality but in reality, it is nationalistic. I
did not realise this fact when I was writing about the nature of
the Islamic mission in my book: Eternity.
Here is the evidence to show that the Prophet wanted to raise an
imperial Arab nation:
1. The Prophet said that the first contingent of my followers that
would invade the Caesar's city (Constantinople) would be forgiven
their sins ....they would be granted paradise. (Al Bokhari Volume
IV)
By "followers" is meant the Arabs because at that time,
the only followers that the Prophet had, were the Arabs.
2. The Prophet said that the hour would be established only when
the Arabs fought the Turks, the people with small eyes, red faces,
flat noses .... and who wore shoes made of hair. (Al Bokhari Vol:
IV)
3. The Prophet said that Khusru, the Persian Emperor would be
destroyed and his line would be extirpated: Caesar would also be
ruined and there would be no Caesar to follow him, and
"you," the Arabs, would spend their treasures in the
cause of Allah.
He emphasised: "War is a deceit." (Al Bokhari Vol: IV)
4. The Prophet wanted his followers even to look culturally
different from the Jews and the Christians:
The Prophet said: "the Jews and the Christians do not dye
their (grey) hair so you should do the opposite what they
do." (Sahih Albokhari Vol: 7)
The dying of heads and beards among the Muslims is a compliance to
this prophetic command.
5. The Prophet did not want the Arabs to follow non- Arabs in
their fashions and garments:
When the Prophet saw Abdullah b. Amr b. al-As wearing clothes dyed
in Saffron, he forbade him to wear them on the ground that such
clothes were worn by the non-believers. (Sahih Muslim Vol: 3)
One should note here the influence of the Indian culture. The
yellow or saffron colour has been a distinction of the Hindu and
Buddhist saints. Buddhism is known to have penetrated Iran and
Arabia.
6. However, the Prophet's national tendencies are more fully
visible in the treatment of the Jews:
a. To neutralise the influence of Hebrew which was the language of
the Jewish Scripture, the Koran stated that the Muslims should
neither believe nor disbelieve the people of the Book i.e. Jews
and Christians but must believe in the Quran only (which was in
Arabic). (3: 84)
b. "By the Clear Book,
behold, we have made it an Arabic Koran
haply you will understard;" (Ornaments: 1)
This verse means two things:
1. The Koran is for the Arabs; it is revealed in the Arabic
language so that they should understand it. Since it is rot in any
other language, it matters not whether the non-Arabs comprehend it
or not.
2. As the Koran is in Arabic, this must be the preferred language
of the Arabs.
It was customary for the Jews to read the Old Testament in Hebrew
and explain it in Arabic. By raising Arabic to the Scriptural
status, the Prophet wanted the Arabs to attach no importance to
Hebrew and treat Arabic as their national language.
c. As the Jews failed to respond to the Prophet, he adopted a
really tough attitude towards them:
He changed the direction of Kibla from Jerusalem to Kaaba, a small
shrine located near the centre of the Great Mosque in Mecca,
Muhammad's birthplace. Allah, obviously, af fected this change to
please Muhammad, as is quite clear from the following verse:
"We have seen you turning your face about towards the
heavens; now we will surely turn you. Turn your face towards the
Holy Mosque; and wherever you are, turn your faces towards
it." ( The Cow: 135 )
The real purpose of this change was to found the Arab nationalism
on a doctrine of self-reverence in such a way that the Arabs
should believe in themselves as chosen by God-to be the exalted,
the preferred and the best, and all non-Arab Muslims must yield to
the basic superiority of Arab nationalism as the Divine command.
The reader can see this truth for himself by realising that
Muslims all over the world face Mecca (Kaaba) five times a day to
bow and prostrate in prayers; they bury their dead facing Mecca;
every Muslim is obliged by God's command to visit the Holy shrine
at least once in his life time provided that he has the means to
do so. All national shrines of the muslim nations are inferior to
the holiness of Kaaba.
No place on earth has ever exacted such a tribute of reverence
from mankind as the Kaaba. Respect to the Kaaba means, respect to
Mecca, respect to Mecca means respect to Arabia, and respect to
Arabia, means respect to Arabs, the dwellers of Arabia.
The Moslems say that the Prophet had appointed Bait Ul Maqaddas
(Jerusalem) as Kibla because at that time Kaaba, like a temple,
was full of idols, which Allah hates. This explanation is
contradicted by history: the 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, including that of Allah, and it was
not until 630 when the Prophet entered Mecca as a victor and
removed statues from the Kaaba.
According to the Koran, Allah hates idolatory, the only
unpardonable sin, yet Allah the All-powerful, allowed idol-
worship in Kaaba and could do nothing to evict them for nearly a
thousand years, and He had to wait until the advent of Muhammad to
be rid of this extreme abomiration. It is obvious that Allah is
not a reality but a mental medium to strengthen the cause of
Arabia. It is not surprising that Allah speaks Arabic and sends
the Koran in Arabic to the Arabic- speaking people.
d. The Arabs have always known that Abraham was the comnnon
ancestor of themselves and the Jews but the Bible has portrayed
them as superior to the Arabs because according to the Bible, they
are from the seed of Isaac, who was borne by Sarah, Abraham's
lawful wife, whereas Ishmael, though fathered by Abraham, was
borne by Hagar, the Egyptian maid-servant of Sara, Abraham's wife.
According to the Bible, as previously mentioned, God's covenant is
with Isaac and not Ishmael, but the Prophet reversed the situation
because the Koran claims that:
1. It was Abraham, who along with Ishmael, raised up the
foundations of the Kaaba, the House of the Lord;
2. This is where Abraham and Ishmael prayed to the Lord that He
should make from their seed a nation which should be submissive to
Him (the Lord), and
3. The Lord should send among them a Messenger ( Muhammad ) to
recite his signs, teach them the Book ( Koran ) . .. . (The Cow:
120).
Here is a clear attempt to transfer the splendour of Divine
distinction from the Jews to the Arabs. If this is not
nationalism, then what is it?
Honesty demands that I narrate the whole truth; there is no
historical evidence that Abraham ever visited Mecca. According to
the Biblical records and archaeological evidence, Abraham was a
native of Ur Kasdim, a Sumerian city, the modern Tall al Muqayyar
(or Mughair) about two hundred miles south east of Baghdad in
Lower Mesopotamia. After migration from Ur, Abraham first stopped
at Harran, then at Bethel, a holy city, where prevailed the cult
of El, the Canaanite god. This is where according to Genesis,
Abraham built an altar and also took over the Canaanite sanctuary
which he consecrated to Yahwe. When he moved to Mamre in Hebron,
he received the revelation about the perpetuation of his race.
This was the end of his journey. Thus his journey terminated on
the Canaanite soil, and not at Mecca.
Again, the scholars have claimed that Abraham was not a
monotheist, the believer of one God; he practised monolatry, that
is, worship of one among many gods. It has been remarked that he
swore by "the Lord God Most High" i.e., both Yahwe and
El Elyon. It is this El who was to be known as Allah in Mecca and
whose statue was worshipped in Kaaba for centuries.
Here one can see the struggle for national supremacy between the
two Semitic wings; it has been going on for many centuries and is
getting worse instead of showing any signs of abatement.
To raise the prestige of Arabia, the Prophet showered some
stunning sanctity on Mecca, his birth place:
1. For example, the Koran says: "O Prophet! say to them I
have been commanded to worship only the Lord of this town,
Mecca." (2': 91)
It is an attempt to establish the special relationship of Allah
with Mecca. He is, first of all the Lord of Mecca, and then of the
rest of the world. It is Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammad where
Allah lives.
2. Abraham in 14: 35-37 is shown asking Allah to make Mecca a
place of peace and security. He calls Kaaba, God's Sacred House.
3. In 5: 97, Allah declares Kaaba as the Sacred House, an asylum
of security and pilgrimage for mankind.
The Koran goes even further and declares that Abraham was neither
a Jew nor a Christian but he was a Muslim (House of Imran: 60).
Yet in another verse, Koran states that Islam is the creed of
Abraham who "Named you Muslim." (The Pilgrim: 75)
For making Arabia the focus of reverence to all believers, the
Koran ( House of Imran: 90 ) has made it obligatory to visit Mecca
at least once in one's life-time if the believer has the means to
do so. It is called Hajj and is one of the fundamental principles
of the Islamic faith and carries the key to paradise. Those who
contravene it, are not true Muslims in the eyes of Allah, who may
refuse them the bounties reserved for a genuine believer.
Mecca at that time was just a large village, yet the "Arabic
Koran" declared it the Mother of the Cities to raise its
status above all the cities of the world. ( Counci l: 5 )
No national leader has ever devised such a patriotic scheme. Its
beneficence to Arabia can be judged by a single factor: in modern
times Mecca attracts at least two million pilgrims from all over
the world every year. Assuming each pilgrim spends three thousand
pounds sterling, Arabia draws an income of £6,000,000,000 per
annum. The population of Saudi Arabia is said to be 6,000,000. It
works out an annual income of £1 ,000 per person including women
and children or £5,000 per family which is still greater for a
comparable family on Social Security in Great Britain and many
other European countries. Since the Hajj - income counted as the
mainstay of the Arabs before they discovered their oil wealth, one
can guage the patriotic magnitude of the Prophet. With it goes,
the international reverence and the belief in the holiness of
Arabia. Fancy several hundred million people throughout the world
bowing and bending towards Mecca praying and begging for Heavenly
mercy. And this happens not once a year or a month but five times
a day!
In it lies the national magnitude of Muhammad, his vision, his
wisdom and greatness of character. What a patriot the Prophet was!
There is none who can be compared with him in patriotism.
The Prophet declared his nation and country as sacred by the force
of revelation; he knew that his people could not rule the world
until they were welded into an effective fighting force. So he
formulated the doctrine of Jehad i.e. fighting against the
unbelievers for taking over their country, personal possessions
and women, and subjugating them to the Arabian hegemony.
This is how the doctrine of Jehad worked:
1. He told the Jews: "If you become Muslims, you will be
protected, otherwise, you should know that the earth belongs to
Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad), and I want to expel you from
this land." (Sahih Albukhari Vol:4)
2. Since the ambition to possess the entire earth or the best part
of it required military enlerprise, the Prophet declared:
"The paradise lies under the shades of the swords."
(Sahih Albukhari Vol: 4)
3. To give his followers the status of divine warriors, the Koran
declares:
"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: 1 10 )
Paradise is the place of plentitude replete with beautiful women
and boys. If a Muslim soldier wins, his life becomes a paradise on
this earth because of the booty he receives by way of wealth and
women. If he is killed in the battle, he goes straight to the
paradise. Therefore, he cannot be the loser. What a philosophical
temptation to murder, pillage and imperialism it is!
4. Since Jehad is against the unbelievers, the Prophet created
unlimited opportunities for holy wars by declaring all other
religions false and ungodly:
"And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it will
never be accepted..... (The House of Imran :85)
5. The Prophet abrogated all other religions because he called
himself to be the apostle of all humanity. "Any Jew or
Christian who heard of me but did not believe in me, would go to
hell." (Sahih Muslim Ch. LXX1)
6. The Prophet declared that he was commanded to fight against
people ceaselessly until they confessed that there was no god but
Allah and Muhammad was His Messenger (prophet). The lives and
riches of the people could be guaranteed protection on his behalf
on the fulfilment of this condition only. (Sahih Muslim Ch. IX)
In fact, these holy wars were the wars of national ambition and
contained all those elements of savagery as did the wars of the
infidels. The Prophet himself declared: "war is a
deceit," which it is. Therefore, its consequences could not
be congenial to the Prophet's claim of "being mercy to all
beings." Al Bukhari Vol. 8 has recorded some examples to this
effect. Let me quote three:
1. The Prophet cut off the hands and feet of the men who belonged
to the tribe of Uraina and let them die bleeding.
2. When men from Ukl committed crimes, the Prophet had them
arrested. Their hands and legs were cut off, their eyes were
branded with red-hot irons and they were thrown at Al-Harra. When
they begged for drinking water, it was refused and they died
thirsty.
3. Those who fought against him, he amputated their limbs and they
died of bleeding.
The prophetic attitude is justified on the authority of the Koran:
The only reward of those who fight against Allah and the Messenger
is execution or crucifixion or the cutting of hands and feet from
opposite sides, or banishment from the land. (The Table: 33)
Thus, one can see that Islam is not a message of mercy but a
secular code like all other contemporary codes. To perpetuate
opportunities for war to keep the Mujahedeen (warriors of Allah)
on war footing, Islam is based on the hatred of non-Muslims.
Consider the following:
1. Do not pray for your dead mother, father, relatives or friends,
nor go near their graves, if they were unbelievers. (Repentance:
189)
2. The believers must not take unbelievers for friends. (The Woman
tested: 10)
3. Muslims must wage a struggle against the non- Muslims and be
harsh with them. ( The Forbidding: 5 )
4. Slay the idolators wherever you find them. ( Repentance: S )
5. Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them; take not to
yourself any one of them as friend or helper. ( Women 90 )
6. God urges the Prophet to be tough with the unbelievers and
assures him that they will not be able to resist him much longer.
( The Confederates: 60 )
7. God has cursed the unbelievers and prepared a blaze for them. (
The Confederates: 65 )
It is quite obvious that as Karl Marx, centuries later, dreamt of
creating a world order based on social abraison in which victory
of the proletariats was assured, the Prophet wanted to found a
world order on Divine friction which sought to assure ascendancy
to his foliowers led by the Arabs.
Of course, there are certain verses in the Quran which suggest
internationalism but their meaning is misunderstood. The faithful
do not seem to realise that during the life-time of Muhammad,
Islam was confined to Arabia. Therefore, whenever, the Koran
addresses the audience as "people" "believers"
or "faithful," it addresses the Arabs who formed the
audience. The fact that the Koran which emphatically calls itself
as the Arabic Koran so that the Arabs must appreciate the nature
of the message, clearly states the national spirit of Islam.
Nationhood is a natural social unit which also serves as a measure
of morality. From the union of a man and woman emerge children who
multiply into grandchildren, great- grandchildren, clans, tribes
and nations, who come to occupy a certain land. Thus they have not
only a blood-tie but also a common language and share customs and
traditions common to their ancestors. Again, their land or country
plays a major role in their destiny not only as their birthplace
but also because their honour depends upon its freedom from the
foreign predators. This racial unity of the people associated with
the motherland (fatherland) gives birth to a common interest which
is shared in varying degrees by all its people, and serves as the
uniting force. Of course, religion or social dogma such as
socialism also plays a role in the history of a nation but this is
of secondary nature. Religion supplies a blind force which is
weakened as the people become more intelligent and rational. Again
the national interest always rides the religious interest unless a
country is run by a group of traitors or religious fanatics. Even
the Arabs are divided into many nations each looking after its own
interest. The recent Gulf war has spelt this truth out quite
clearly.
In fact the concept of national honour and the ambition to be a
great nation form the pillar of morality. The greater nations have
greater customs and traditions and higher standards of morality
but the nations such as people of the Indian subcontinent who do
not believe in nationalism practise convenient moralily which is
the bane of their social and political integrity. The creation of
Pakistan shows that nationhood is a reality and not a sentimental
mumbo- jumbo. This country was created in 1947 on a religious
basis but in 1979 the eastern half ended the union on racial
grounds after a lot of bloodshed. The remaining four provinces are
constantly bickering for similar reason. As there is no national
sense of honour the moral integrity of its people is about to
collapse any time.
However, Fascism and Natzism are the perverted forms of
nationalism. They represent an acute condition of mental illness
because a nation is an integral part of the human race and is thus
accountable to the wider interests of mankind. No nation is
intrinsically superior to other nations because they all have the
same origin. A nation's superiority is to be judged not by its
political or economic dominance but by its services to humanity.
Thus every powerful nation has a duty of care to the weaker
nations.
A truly civilised nation abhors racism which is an expression of
man's lower instincts. This is the reason that the cultural
decency is a part of nationalism. It means that a civilised nation
opens its doors to the needy members of foreign nations to become
its part on humanitarian grounds and treats them as if they were
racially one of them. Great Britain, the United States, Canada,
Australia, Germany and France are some examples of adoptive
nationalism. It shows the human link of nations which overrides
other conditions but it cannot be practised on a "free for
all" basis owing to the local considerations.
The Prophet's nationalism was imbued by the religious overtones. A
Moslem had some privileges like the Arabs but he was still an Arab
subject because the government belonged to the Arabs, especially
the Quresh.
The Prophet made the sanctity of his own person as the cornerstone
of the Islamic edifice. For example, without believing in him, the
belief in God is absolutely useless. The projection of himself as
the Behavioural Model ( USWA-e- HASNA) for the believers, no
matter where they may be, has served as the fountain of Arab
national superiority for centuries.
It should be clearly understood that the prophet was an Arab who
had inherited the Arab culture. Therefore, he lived like the
fellow Arabs. In the beginning, religion was the only difference
between him and the fellow Arabs. Once they had accepted his
faith, there were no other cultural differences to be resolved.
They all spoke Arabic, wore similar clothes, ate the same food,
followed similar customs and traditions, experienced similar
winters and summers, shared the same national anniversaries,
history and temperament.
Since nobody can enter paradise without the Prophet's consent, and
the Prophet will intercede for his followers only, it is thought
absolutely necessary by the believers to follow the Prophet as the
Behavioural Model in every detail with utmost sincerity. The faith
has come to mean, not only to pray, fast and perform Hajj, the way
the Prophet used to do, but also look like him, that is, to cut
hair like him, wear clothes like him, walk like him, talk like
him, sleep like him, eat like him, adopt his manners and customs.
Above all, love and hate what he loved and hated. This tendency
has had a devastating effect on the national character of foreign
nations which came to accept Islam, possibly with the exception of
the Turks. As the Prophet loved Arabia and its cultural
traditions, the foreign Muslim nations started loving Arabia and
its traditions at the expense of their own countries and cultures.
It should be noted that the Prophet hated infidels. As the
ancestors of these foreign nations were invariably unbelievers,
they started hating their own forefathers to love the Arab heroes.
The Prophet's assertion that the Muslims are one nation, and
infidels are another, accelerated the process of the foreign
Muslims' unity with the Arabs, but as the Behavioural Model was
Arabian, the relationship between the Arabs and the foreign
Muslims became that of a leader and the led or the master and the
slave. This influence which was originally of individual nature,
eventually penetrated the foreign institutions. For example, most
of the Muslim shrines are in Arabia i.e. in Mecca and Medina, but
all other shrines in the foreign lands are subordinated to the
Arabian shrines. This cultural following of the foreigners has
assumed slavish mentality because whatever they think or do must
conform to the patterns of thinking and doing set by the Arabian
soil and culture. As a result, the foreign Muslims have little or
no loyalty to their own motherlands for being devoid of national
honour. This is nothing but the miracle of the Prophet who imposed
the everlasting hegemony of his own people on Muslims of foreign
nations. I salute him and applaud his ingenuity because he has
created similar relationship between Arabia and the foreign Muslim
countries as it exists between a burning lamp and moths; these
insects are impatient to cremate themselves on its flame without
any coercion on the part of the lamp! This divine imperialism has
no parallel in history. About two dozen countires which the Arabs
conquered, are still in their possession as "Arab
countries." One wonders what happened to the original
papulations. They are obviously ashamed of their real identities
and want to be known as Arabs.
This concept of one Muslim nationhood or the Arabian over-
lordship equally applies to the nations which were once the
pillars of civilisation. What happened to the Egyptians, the great
followers of the exalted pharaohs, whose splendour covered 3000
years of history? They all have become Arabs. What happened to the
mighty Iranians who had not only a glorious history of 1200 years
but produced their own prophets of gigantic stature? The grandeur
of the Iranians was so great that the traditions of their imperial
court were closely imitated by Alexander the Great, the Roman
emperors and the European monarchs. They influenced the Raman law,
checked the foreign advance in Asia and humiliated the Romans
again and again. Their prophets such as Zaratushtra and Mani
influenced religion and world thinking. But since they have become
spiritual satellites or Arabia, their national stars have been on
the wane. India is yet another example of this saga. This land has
exerted more influence on the world civilisation than any other
country in the world. Its inventiveness through steel, cotton and
water technology made a tremendous contribution to the
international culture, and its philosophical and religious
movements have orientated the human mind in the East and the West.
But now she is at the lower rung of the Third World. The Hindus,
though did not lack the nerve to defend their country, never
respected the idea of nationhood owing to the Caste System. Before
the entry of Islam, India was not only a free country but also the
richest and technically the most advanced in the world. It was her
misfortune that neither it became an Arabian land like Egypt,
owing to its strong local influences nor could it retain its quasi
national character like the Iranian for lacking the proud imperial
traditions. As a result, the Muslims of India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh, whose numbers touch the 400 million mark, totally lack
the concept of nationhood. They are refugees in their own
countries for having no real love and respect for their
motherlands. Since national consciousness has the same
relationship with a people as backbone has with the body, it is
natural for these people to keep drifting until they realise that
their homelands are, where they were born, and not in Arabia. This
situation has been worsened by the fact that these
"nations" are poor and victims of social tyranny, which
pays lip service to justice and human rights, while doing exactly
the opposite. It is usual that a person who lacks pleasure,
habitually dreams more af it. Therefore, the Moslems of these
lands miss delights of paradise violently and look forward to the
fulfilment of their frustrated ambitions in the next world. As it
is the Prophet who holds the key to paradise, these people have
become even more fanatic followers of the Prophet, and are
prepared to do anything in the name of Muhammad to qualify for
admission into paradise. It is the national struggle for survival,
honour and supremacy which makes a people great. By destroying the
national spirit of the non-Arab Muslims, Islam has demolished the
Asian centres of civilisation such as Egypt, Iran and India. This
fact is amply vouched for by the economic and political splendour
of the Far Eastern countries which have not been gripped by the
Islamic concepts, and are guided by the law of reason, and
national considerations. Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, etc., are
fairly free fram hunger, disease and tyranny. These nations are
living in a paradise on this earth whereas the believers are
dreaming of an imaginary heaven, and through sheer frustration,
are becoming more and more fanatic. This is the reason for the
rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and not that they want to practise
Islam, which is impracticable in the modern world. They are crying
for an Islamic government under the force of propaganda without
knowing anything about its nature. Therefore I may briefly touch
upon this subject to show that revelation is neither for ever nor
is it capable of solving human problems, which people have to
tackle themselves. The Muslims claim that Islam is a complete code
of life. It is nothing of the sort. This is the reason that no
Islamic government has ever been introduced in the long history of
Islam. It is just a political slogan of those who want to fool
people to satisfy their own ends by exploiting people's religious
susceptibilities. Some fifty years ago, India was partitioned to
create Pakistan for the introduction of an Islamic government.
After half a century of cogitation, nobody knows what Islamic
government is, nor is there any likelihood of its enforcement
during the next century and thereafter. It was just a cry of the
power-hungry men who exploited the word: "Islam" to gain
power and wealth. If these leaders were honest in their
assertions, they should have given the exact details of the
Islamic government to the people before embarking on their
mission.
Since Muslims are becoming more fundamentalistic every day, I may
examine the major precepts of Islam to expose their irrelevance in
the modern world:
1. The first Islamic assertion is that government belongs to God.
No, government belongs to the people. What makes man a man is his
free will i.e., the freedom to choose and refuse. He can do so
only if the government belongs to man.
2. Muslems claim that:
a. Islam offers a particular system of government, b. and this
system is democracy.
Neither of these assertions holds good: Firstly, when the Prophet
died, succession became a very acute problem, indeed. He left no
instructions how to appoint his successor though the Shiites claim
that the Prophet had nominated Ali to take over the government. An
indecision about such a vital point shows that there is no such
thing as Islamic system of government.
Labelling a few laws as Islamic government, especially when most
of them were borrowed from Iran, do not create the structure for
an independent government.
Secondly, Islamic government is not democratic. As stated earlier,
ils head has to be a Qureshi. At the most, it can be quasi
oligarchic.
Its first four rulers were appointed differently: Abu Bakr was
chosen through a stratagem. Omar was appointed by Abu Bakr. Having
failed to persuade Abd-Ur-Rahman to accept nomination, Omar
appointed a committee of six men to choose his successor. They
chose Uthman. Selection by six men is surely not democracy. When
Uthmam was assassinated, Ali was raised to the status of the
Caliph by his own clan, the Hashamite. I need not mention the
Battle of Karbla and the heroic deeds of Hussain. The fact is,
thereafter the Islamic Caliphate became a dynastic rule or
kingship.
Thirdly, the Khilafat-e-Rashida i.e. the rule of the first four
Caliphs is considered as the Golden Period of Islam as well as the
model Islamic government, and thus emphasis is laid on following
its example. Unfortunately, the believers do not know the whole
truth about this period. To start with, 90% of all Arabs after the
Prophet's death refused to pay Zakat and thus turned renegades
(Murtad). They actually marched on Medina. It was the courage and
timely action of Abu Bakr which repulsed them. Had they succeeded,
it would have sounded the death knell of Islam. Only Abu Bakr died
naturally after a rule of eighteen months whereas Omar, Uthman and
Ali were assassinated.
How golden was this period, can be further assessed by the fact
that the Arabs made a profession of robbing and murdering the
non-Moslems in the name of Allah, but they called it Jehad. Egypt
and Iran were the early casualties. It was the pillaged wealth and
the abducted daughters and sisters of the foreign nations which
lent the golden touch to this Arab era.
3. They claim that Islam is a Socialistic system. It is totally
untrue. Of course, Islam is an advocate of charity and advises the
faithful to give away what is over and above his needs, but this
is completely a moral precept, and has nothing to do with the
Islamic law, which is essentially feudalistic. Islam openly
declares that God makes king whom he likes, and gives wealth to a
person without reckoning: wealth includes all types of
possessions, i.e., money, land, buildings, etc. It means that both
democracy and Socialism are un-lslamic.
4. Islam has no economic doctrine. For example, it forbids
receiving and giving interest whereas interest is an essential
economic factor, and it is impossible to run an economy without
it. All those Muslim leaders, both political and religious, who
raise slogans for the abolition of Riba (interest) receive
interest from banks, building societies, insurance companies and
national bonds. Even the Islamic governments lend their
petro-dollars on maximum interest. The advantages of interest as
long as it is not extortionate, far outweigh its disadvantages.
5. Islamic laws are bound to be impracticable because they were
devised or adapted 1400 years ago. Take purdah or hijab, for
instance. It is a stern Koranic command, yet it has been ignored
nearly by all the Muslim countries. This is equally true with
regard to polygamy and the laws of inheritance, divorce, Khula,
etc. To hide these deficiencies, the zealots have made
misinterpretation as their greatest hobby. No matter how
un-Islamic a practice, they quite artificially put the stamp of
the Koran or the Hadith on it.
6. Islamic hatred for non-Muslims makes Islam the opponent of
human rights. This is the reason that one cannot find many
non-Muslims in the Muslim countries. The Prophet ordered his
followers to expel all pagans from Arabia and he himself banished
the Jews. In fact, a hadith says: a Muslim in anger can slap a Jew
without fear of compensation. Similarly, a Muslim cannot be
executed for murdering a non-Muslim. Further, the aggressive
nature of an Islamic regime can be judged by the fact that the
Muslims have their mosques in Benares (India), the spiritual
centre of Hinduism, but nobody can build a temple, church or
synagogue in Mecca. Again, as association of a Muslim with a
non-Muslim is forbidden by the Koran, membership of the United
Nations by all Muslim nations is un-lslamic. What a model of
international brotherhood it is!
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