Islam Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims
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Fragile: Handle with CareWhen breakable goods are shipped, they are stamped with a distinctive sign--"Fragile: Handle with Care". Even though the Quran, the holiest book on Earth, does not carry the warning, Quran-maniacal Muslims do handle it with the same attitude, as if the holy book will shatter into pieces. Apparent respect shown towards this book is not because of its contents. Instead, it has become a religious mandate, propagated by extensive propaganda and it is an exhibition of a natural human instinct to worship something, whether it be an idol or a book. Muslims believe that thawab (a spiritual reward) is earned every time a portion of the book is recited. It's a kind of credit card that offers mileage on flying-the more you charge the card, the more points you earn. Is the book that Muslims are holding in their hands today nothing but a replica of the master copy, which Allah has preserved in his sacred library? All Muslims of the world would unanimously vote for "Yes". Their assessment is not based on facts but on a Quranic verse that says, "This is a Glorious Quran, (inscribed) in a tablet preserved!" (Q85:21). So, did Allah use his gigantic copier machine, creating thunder and storm, to make copies of his Quran? Not really! In today's world, people would reject any attempt of initiating a new religion. If someone did try, he would immediately be put in a straightjacket and sent to a psychiatric hospital. The same rule applies to Muhammad; his claim of receiving commands from Allah is an outright lie. However, for the sake of this article, let's pretend that Allah revealed the Quran. Whenever a verse was revealed to Muhammad, it was memorized by his associates and sometimes written on pieces of wood, deerskin, palm leaves, bones, etc. Why were those verses written on wood, deerskin, bones and palm leaves? Historical records show that Ts'ai Lun, a Chinese official, reported the invention of paper to the Chinese Emperor in 105 AD, 500 years before the era of Muhammad. Recent archeological investigations, however, claim the actual invention may have been around 140-86 BC in Gansu province of China. Although the word "paper" came from "papyrus", there is a significant difference between these two. Papyrus was a type of plant found in Egypt along the Nile River. Approximately 5000 years ago, Egyptians made flat and uniform sheets from these trees for writing purposes. Maybe China was a little too far from Arabia and Allah was not able to help Muhammad with paper. How about using papyrus, which was available in Egypt? In another archeological discovery, a roll of papyrus more than 2000 years old was found in Egypt. This papyrus contains 112 short poems of a Greek poet and they are in good condition. Allah could have easily commanded, "O prophet! Get a bundle of papyrus and write down what's sent to thee!" But it did not happen. People used to make false a Quran when Muhammad was alive. We read in verse 2:79, "And woe unto those who write the scripture with their own hands and then say, 'This is from God,' that they may in this way obtain a small gain. Woe unto them for what their hands have written and woe unto them for what they gain thereby!" Despite the possibility of creating a false Quran, Allah or Muhammad never thought about the importance of compiling the Quran and putting the verses in the form of a book. Apparently, the foremost method of preserving the Quran was memorization. Some verses were written on stones, bones and leaves, without realizing the fact that goats love to eat leaves. Yes, a darned animal with four legs known as a goat ate a piece of the all-powerful Allah's Quran. "Narrated by Hazrat Ā'ishah that ayat-e-Rajm and ayat Raza'at were revealed, they were written on something. I kept them under the cart, meanwhile the holy prophet died and we became busy and one GOAT came and ATE those ayyat" (Ibn-e-Maja). A'ishah had a problem with domestic animals before. In another instance, in order to resolve a scandal, a slave girl, Barirah, testified (al-Tabari, p.1523), "The only fault I ever found in 'Ā'ishah is that, when I was kneading my dough and ordered her to watch it, she fell asleep over it, and the pet sheep (or a goat) came and ate it." It's very normal for a little child; however, a goat eating the Quran is a noteworthy phenomenon that will have an enduring effect on believers of Islam.
Evidently, those two
verses were very important as they spelled out the punishment
for adultery, but they don't exist in today's Quran. "Narrated
by Ibn Abbas: Umar said, 'I am afraid that after a long time has
passed, people may say, 'We do not fi
Islam
Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims When
breakable goods are shipped, they are stamped with a distinctive
sign--"Fragile: Handle with Care". Even though the Quran,
the holiest book on Earth, does not carry the warning, Quran-maniacal
Muslims do handle it with the same attitude, as if the holy
book will shatter into pieces. Apparent respect shown towards
this book is not because of its contents. Instead, it has become
a religious mandate, propagated by extensive propaganda and
it is an exhibition of a natural human instinct to worship something,
whether it be an idol or a book. Muslims believe that thawab
(a spiritual reward) is earned every time a portion of the book
is recited. It's a kind of credit card that offers mileage on
flying-the more you charge the card, the more points you earn.
Is the book that
Muslims are holding in their hands today nothing but a replica
of the master copy, which Allah has preserved in his sacred
library? All Muslims of the world would unanimously vote for "Yes". Their assessment is not based on facts but on a Quranic
verse that says, "This is a Glorious Quran, (inscribed) in a
tablet preserved!" (Q85:21). So, did Allah use his gigantic
copier machine, creating thunder and storm, to make copies of
his Quran?
Not really!
In today's world,
people would reject any attempt of initiating a new religion. If
someone did try, he would immediately be put in a straightjacket
and sent to a psychiatric hospital. The same rule applies to
Muhammad; his claim of receiving commands from Allah is an
outright lie. However, for the sake of this article, let's
pretend that Allah revealed the Quran.
Whenever a verse was
revealed to Muhammad, it was memorized by his associates and
sometimes written on pieces of wood, deerskin, palm leaves,
bones, etc.
Why were those verses
written on wood, deerskin, bones and palm leaves?
Historical records
show that Ts'ai Lun, a Chinese official, reported the invention
of paper to the Chinese Emperor in 105 AD, 500 years before the
era of Muhammad. Recent archeological investigations, however,
claim the actual invention may have been around 140-86 BC in
Gansu province of China. Although the word "paper" came from
"papyrus", there is a significant difference between these two.
Papyrus was a type of plant found in Egypt along the Nile River.
Approximately 5000 years ago, Egyptians made flat and uniform
sheets from these trees for writing purposes.
Maybe China was a
little too far from Arabia and Allah was not able to help
Muhammad with paper. How about using papyrus, which was
available in Egypt? In another archeological discovery, a roll
of papyrus more than 2000 years old was found in Egypt. This
papyrus contains 112 short poems of a Greek poet and they are in
good condition. Allah could have easily commanded, "O prophet!
Get a bundle of papyrus and write down what's sent to thee!" But
it did not happen.
People used to make
false a Quran when Muhammad was alive. We read in verse 2:79,
"And woe unto
those who write the scripture with their own hands and then say,
'This is from God,' that they may in this way obtain a small
gain. Woe unto them for what their hands have written and woe
unto them for what they gain thereby!"
Despite the
possibility of creating a false Quran, Allah or Muhammad never
thought about the importance of compiling the Quran and putting
the verses in the form of a book. Apparently, the foremost
method of preserving the Quran was memorization. Some verses
were written on stones, bones and leaves, without realizing the
fact that goats love to eat leaves. Yes, a darned animal with
four legs known as a goat ate a piece of the all-powerful
Allah's Quran. "Narrated by Hazrat Ā'ishah that ayat-e-Rajm and ayat Raza'at were revealed, they were
written on something. I kept them under the cart, meanwhile the
holy prophet died and we became busy and one GOAT came and ATE
those ayyat" (Ibn-e-Maja).
A'ishah had a problem
with domestic animals before. In another instance, in order to
resolve a scandal, a slave girl, Barirah, testified (al-Tabari,
p.1523), "The only fault I ever found in 'Ā'ishah is that,
when I was kneading my dough and ordered her to watch it, she
fell asleep over it, and the pet sheep (or a goat) came and ate
it." It's very normal for a little child; however, a goat
eating the Quran is a noteworthy phenomenon that will have an
enduring effect on believers of Islam.
Evidently, those two
verses were very important as they spelled out the punishment
for adultery, but they don't exist in today's Quran. "Narrated
by Ibn Abbas: Umar said, 'I am afraid that after a long time has
passed, people may say, 'We do not find the Verses of the Rajm
(stoning to death) in the Holy Book,' and consequently they may
go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo!
I confirm that the penalty of Rajm be inflicted on him who
commits illegal sexual intercourse, if he is already married and
the crime is proved by witnesses or pregnancy or confession.'
Sufyan added, 'I have memorized this narration in this way.'
Umar added, 'Surely Allah's Apostle carried out the penalty of
Rajm, and so did we after him'" (Sahih Al Bukhari
V8.B82.N816).
The hadith has been
confirmed by al-Tabari (p.1821) and also Ibn Ishaq quoted Umar
saying (1015), "Part of what he sent was the passage on
stoning; we read it, we were taught it, and we heeded it."
However, those verses simply disappeared because of a goat. It's
unknown if the goat became pregnant after eating the verse;
after all, the verses talked about pregnancy from an illicit
relationship. I am assuming, without quoting any Islamic
resource, that this shameful behavior of a goat may have
motivated Muslims to slaughter millions of goats during the Eid
festival. So much for Allah's guarantee, "We have, without
doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it
(from corruption)" (Q15:9).
Abu Bakr ruled only
for 27 months and died in 634 AD. The second Caliph Umar took
over and remained in power until 644 AD, when he was
assassinated in an Islamic fashion. The relics stayed with him
and passed to his daughter Hafsa, instead of giving them to the
third Caliph Uthman. Finally, several years after Muhammad's
death, Uthman compiled the Quran and burned all other scriptures
that existed. Ibn Abi Dawud records, "Musab ibn Sad ibn Abi
Waqqas to have testified: 'I saw the people assemble in large
number at Uthman's burning of the proscribed copies; not a one
spoke out against him.' Ali commented, 'If I were in command in
place of Uthman, I would have done the same.'"
Burning the Quran is
a serious matter. If we try to burn a Quran today, Muslims will
burn half of the world. Several people were killed when news
broke out that a Quran had been flushed down the toilet, which,
of course, is the right place for this book anyway. Yet nothing
happened to Uthman when he burned a pile of Qurans. Even the
original scriptures that carried the memory of the famous
prophet of Islam were burned at a later time; this should break
any pious Muslim's heart. However, we do learn one significant
lesson. The next time you are writing a thesis, burn all
references that you have used; it will make your paper more
authentic and free of challenge.
There are 114 suras
in the Quran and they are set in order, which cannot be changed.
These suras are not in chronological order. Some verses of the
same sura were placed at the beginning, but events took place at
a later time after the rest of the verses of the same sura. The
hodgepodge setting and continuous inconsistency of verses only
give a migraine headache to a reader. It's believed that
Muhammad himself put those suras in order, which is possible.
The intelligence used for arrangement indicates a disorderly,
crazy person.
Islamic countries
have an excellent reputation for corruption that includes
students cheating on an exam. Naturally, students of Madrasas
are not angels; they too use a little extra help when
examination time comes. There are reports of Madrasa students
placing pages of the Quran in the toilet and leaving them in
this unholy place after glancing at the verses that they forgot,
but no Muslims complain about disrespecting the Quran.
The Quran we see
today is a copy of the Uthmanic Quran. The question is: Who gave
Uthman the authority to edit the Quran? Did Allah send special
instructions? We don't have any record of Allah's secretary,
Gabriel, whispering in Uthman's ear. Most scholars of Islam
agree that Uthman had to do this special task because people
differed over the Quran. How do we know if the Uthmanic Quran is
the right version? Many ahadith indicate that there were suras
much longer than those we have in today's Quran.
Do we even have a
copy of the Uthmanic Quran?
So far two known
manuscripts of the Quran exist that have the possibility of
being the Uthmanic Quran. One resides in Tashkent, Uzbekistan
that only contains sura 2 to 43. Another is the Topkapi
Manuscript of Istanbul, Turkey. Both were written on parchment
and in the Kufic script. Modern Quranic experts, including
Martin Lings and Yasin Hamid Safadi, agree that the Kufic script
did not appear until 790 AD and later. So, these two books have
the remote possibility of being one of Uthmanic books.
According to some
scholars, if the Quran had been composed in the seventh century,
it should have been written in either the 'Ma'il' or 'Mashq'
script. There is one Quran in the British Library in London that
was written in the 'Ma'il' script and it is believed to
be the oldest Quran in our possession today. However, Martin
Lings, a practicing Muslim and the former curator for the
manuscript of the British Library, certified that the Quran in
question dates back to the end of the eighth century.
Several Islamic
countries claim to have the 'Uthmanic' Quran in their possession
but none of them have been verified or have been carbon
dated-14, known as the AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) test.
In this special type of test, a mere 0.5 to 1.0 mg of material
is required and the accuracy of the test may vary only for a few
years. However, the idea of having the Quran tested is an
uncomfortable and embarrassing situation for the faithful (more
accurately faith-fools) of Islam.
To the best of my
knowledge, none of these Uthmanic Qurans have any publishing
date and Muslims have not claimed any. This is not a Quranic
miracle but the usual Quranic stupidity. Wouldn't it be
convenient for everyone if any of these Qurans had the name of
the publisher and when was it published?
Now back to the
fragility of the Quran...
How should Muslims
handle the Quran?
They must, before
touching the Quran, do 19 sit-ups, 19 pull-ups and 19 squats,
since 19 is the miraculous number of the Quran.
On a serious note,
Muslims cannot touch the Quran unless they have cleansed
themselves. They don't go inside of a washer and a dryer but
they are required to wash their face, hands and feet, as if a
surgeon is preparing for a surgery. Muslims not only handle the
Quran like a broken piece of glass; they expect and sometimes
force the people of other faiths or no faith to respect their
holy book, too.
The concept of
secularism and religious tolerance flourished in un-Islamic
countries. Most of these countries did not compromise with
religion while drafting their constitution; humanity took
precedence over religious dogmas. In the contrary, Islamic
countries tend to make their laws based on the Quran;
specifically, oil-rich countries care less about democracy.
Some Islamic
countries have shown an interest in democracy and religious
tolerance, only because they have no choice but must deal with
the rest of the Kafir world, whose economic influence is
prominent. Should Islamic countries become powerful today, they
will immediately revert back to the seventh century, make Islam
the only religion of the state, and treat the people of all
other faiths with humiliation. The best example is Saudi Arabia,
where carrying a Bible is as hazardous as kissing a rattlesnake.
Islam does not
tolerate other religions and the Quran clearly calls for ethnic
cleansing until Islam becomes the religion for everyone (Q9:29).
However, professors of Islam, living in the West, are working
hard to portray a rosy Islam, far from the actual Islam taught
by Mohammad. Ironically, many politically correct politicians
fall in this trap very easily.
In the USA, the House
of Representatives brought a resolution on May 19, 2005, which
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. All of the eight
items were targeted to protect Islam and its horrendous holy
book, the Quran. Let's ponder two of those topics that directly
relate to the Quran.
1 Expressing the
sense of the House of Representatives condemning bigotry and
religious intolerance, and recognizing that holy books of every
religion should be treated with dignity and respect.
1. Our learned
lawmakers forgot one very important part of life - respect
cannot be enforced, it only can be earned. If the Quran does not
have enough material to deserve respect, no law will make people
bow to it.
One must believe in
the Quran to respect this book; being a non-believer of the
Quran makes it impossible to comply. The Quran has repeatedly
confirmed that non-Muslims will burn in hell and it also calls a
non-Muslim a pervert (63:4), evil (2:99), an enemy (4:101),
ignorant (6:111), wicked (9:125), a liar (59:11,9:107,16:39) and
a miscreant (24:55). Muslims are prohibited from obeying (33:1)
or helping (28:86) a disbeliever; they are not even allowed to
pray for a dead non-Muslim (9:84). Is the Quran showing respect
to non-Muslims?
Respect does not grow
like a mushroom. How could a sane person possibly respect the
Quran after reading all of these violent and intolerant verses?
Osama Bin Laden wants the destruction of America. Should we pass
a resolution, too, respecting this evil? Sure, why not? Let's be
tolerant!
Picture this
scenario--Osama Bin Laden is caught and he is brought to
justice. In a packed courtroom, the defense lawyer is shouting, "My client is not guilty, your honor." Raising a Quran with his
right hand, he argues, "This is the sacred and holy book of
Islam that has been recognized by law. My client was merely
following the instruction of this book. How could we possibly
prosecute him?"
2. It is the
holy book for Muslims and they also recite verses in their
prayer but they are definitely not seeking peace, humanity and
spirituality. The question is what kind of valuable lesson do
they learn? Here's a piece of 'peace' from the Quran: "And
fight with them until there is no persecution, and
religion should be only for Allah, but if they
desist, then there should be no hostility except against the
oppressors" (Q2;193). So, Muslims are ordered to continue
fighting until religion is only for Allah and that is exactly
what pious Muslims are doing. How can peace be obtained with
this type of attitude?
When Islam talks
about humanity, it basically refers to Muslims because Islam
does not acknowledge the people of other faiths as human.
Muslims are the best creatures on earth and everyone else is
either an ape or a swine (5:60). Is cutting the hands of a thief
a symbol of humanity (5:38)?
Just to be fair, I
admit there are some good verses in the Quran; the total number
of which may not exceed 100 out of an approximate 6,226 verses
(Muslims scholars fight over the actual number of verses)--a
mere 0.02% percent of the whole Quran. These good verses mostly
talk about paying alms to the poor, respecting one's parents,
etc., and nothing intriguing. We don't need the Quran to teach
these types of ordinary religious values. Anyone with common
sense would know how to respect and treat other humans. More
importantly, these verses imply only Muslims because the Quran
has a different prescription for un-believers of Islam.
I don't know about
spirituality but Muslims do have ample spirit to blow up the
world. A quick search of Islamic news in the world would suffice
to prove it. Many Muslims recite verses because they are
programmed to do so without understanding what they are reading.
However, those who comprehend the meaning stay tuned with
mainstream Islam, which is full of hate and prejudice.
Probably, it would
have been more reasonable for Muslims to ask for special
treatment of the Quran as an entertainment book. This book is
not only the mother of all horror books, it also has amusing
verses, such as shooting missiles to kill devils (67:5), a
talking palm-tree (19:24) or cleaning a face with a dart (4:43).
And finally, Allah's promise to turn Christians and Jews into
apes if they don't believe in the Quran (2:65-66, then see
4:47). So far, Christians and Jews have been lucky but who knows
when Allah's curse will materialize!!!!
I do understand the
good intention of goodhearted lawmakers. They are striving for
harmony and social integrity, which is, essentially, uncommon in
Islam. A practicing Muslim/ Muslimah, follower of the Quran,
must eat 'halal' meat, is forbidden to do banking with a
traditional bank, cannot marry a non-Muslim male, must wear the
hijab/burqa and, above all, must hate all non-Muslims.
Islam, a totalitarian
ideology, changes its color depending on the situation. It plays
an innocent baby's role when weak but it makes a fatal bite when
it becomes strong. Muhammad made several treaties with various
tribes when he was weak but broke all of them, making silly
excuses. Those who believe that Islam can be reformed deserve
appreciation for their saintly gesture but they definitely don't
live in a real world.
It's time for banning
the Quran instead of protecting it. A book, which is an insult
to humanity, must not have any place in a civilized society. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||