Islam: The Arab Imperialism ― The Clash of Prophets
24 June, 2007
Anwar Shaikh was a Jihadist turned apostate of
Islam and became one of first and prominent critics of Islam of
modern times. This is a part of his famous book, 'Islam, The
Arab Imperialism'.
Chapter 8: The Clash of Prophets
Prophethood is a device of the Middle Eastern origin, which seeks
to impose secular and spiritual mastery of one man, the Prophet,
over others in the name of God, who, in fact, is nothing but a
tool for realising the personal ambitions of the Prophet.
Prophethood is not only the divine fountain of despotism but it is
likely to act as the source of destroying mankind. This truth is
well illustrated by Jerusalem, which has become an international
dynamite through the Prophetic jealousies.
Man is privileged to believe in one God, many gods or no god at
all. This fundamental right is given him by his free will, which
is the true distinction between the living and the dead. The Lofty
sun, despite being the source of life, is still lifeless because
its every movement is already determined, and therefore it exists
mechanically. On the contrary, the lowermost amoeba, a protozoa of
ever- changing shape, is a living being for having the ability to
move as it pleases.
Prophethood is based on a totally unverifiable claim that God has
appointed the man called ''Prophet," to act as His vicar for
persuading people to obey Him; this supernatural Being, is the
Perfect, the Creator, the All-mighty, the All- wise and the
All-independent. This concept is highly contemptuous of God for
several reasons:
1. With all these qualities, God, the Perfect, cannot depend upon
Prophet, the man, who is imperfect. Therefore, the device of
Prophethood by its very nature, is defective, devious and
distracting.
Again, owing to its high cultural and religious influence,
veracity of the doctrine of Prophethood must be easily verifiable.
Since it is not, it makes it a source of mischief, which we
experience in the form of social discord.
2. Man is not only endowed with free will but also enjoys his
intelligence. This is what makes him absolutely marvelous, magical
and magnificent. He is, therefore, well-equipped to find the right
path for himself. A Prophet, who lived centuries ago, and rode
asses and mules, does not have the ability to guide the man, who
has become a space-traveller through the means that he has
invented himself. If God's guidance was really essential for man,
He would not have equipped humans with such high intelligence and
inventive power. Again, being All-independent and the Perfect, He
should have designed man differently so that he could not err.
This would have saved God all the humiliation that emanates from
His dependence on an imperfect mortal, called "Prophet," and also
the disrepute that springs from the faulty design of man, which
requires guidance.
3. The concept of Prophethood seeks to turn man, a rational being,
into a robot, which must be driven by faith; it is the exact
opposite of rationality. Thus, a thing becomes good or bad, not
because experience or wisdom proves it as such, but because God
says so through His Prophet!
4. According to the notion of Guidance, God's greatest passion is
that man must humiliate himself before the Almighty through a
series of rituals known as worship. He who is Almighty and
All-independent cannot be the lover of sycophancy, which worship
really is; passion for flattery is not a virtue but a vice; it is
a trait of humanity, which, makes people seek glory through
enjoying entreaties and supplications of lesser men. This is an
attribute of Dominance-Urge associated with man, who is impelled
by it to usurp liberties of fellow men for looking great through
their self-humiliating praises, prayers and pathetic submissions.
God, the All-mighty and All-independent, is by definition, way
above these belittling drawbacks of personality.
5 . It is actually Prophet, the man, who uses the ruse of
revelation (Prophethood) to satisfy his Urge of Dominance. He
pretends to be God's servant but encourages his followers to treat
him as the God, and thus, God Himself slides into the background,
leaving the entire field to the Prophet, who acts as the sole
medium of all the worldly and spiritual fulfillments.
In fact, Prophethood is the gravest insult to the concept of
Godhead. If you read the Bible or the Koran, you will find that
God is someone who loves to be worshipped. He has such a childish
and unstable disposition that, if man humiliates himself by
worshipping Him, He feels glad as if someone were on top of the
world but if man neglects Him, He becomes miserable like a fish
out of water. What kind of God is He, whose pleasure and pain
solely depend on man's attitude towards Himself?
If Prophethood was a true concept, it would be the greatest honour
that a man could achieve, and in that case he would have worked
hard and begged the Almighty for this dignity. Regrettably, the
situation is quite the opposite: it is God who is so desperate
that He imposes this divine distinction through threats and
violence on a person who is most reluctant to accept it. Frankly
speaking, one is obliged to think that God is extremely anxious
for finding a Prophet, and the man awarded this esteem, does so as
a favour to the Almighty. What a pious blasphemy it is!
The truth about the doctrine of Prophethood is that the man eager
to become a Prophet asserts that he has reluctantly accepted God's
commission to represent Him on earth. Since God cannot be seen or
contacted and speaks only through the Prophet, who is visible, the
latter becomes the Symbol of God like a statue, which ranks holy
by virtue of representing the divine power that lurks behind it.
The Prophet wants God as a figurative head only so that he himself
must rank as the centre of people's attention and adoration.
Eventually, he elevates himself so high that he looms as God's
Superior. Showing God as threatening or indirectly begging a
particular man to accept the dignity of Prophethood against his
will, is an integral part of this ploy. Here are two examples to
explain this point:
a. According to the Biblical story (Exodus 3), Moses saw an angel
in the midst of a burning bush, which suffered no consumption
despite the fact that flames enveloped it. As he was amazed by
this miraculous event, a voice rose from the bush, and said, "I am
the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob."
What did God want from Moses? He wanted him (Moses) to represent
Him among the Jews whom he brought out of Egypt where they had
suffered slavery of the worst kind. Moses' response is expressed
by this verse:
"O my Lord, I am not eloquent ... I am slow of
speech." ( Exodus 4: 10 )
Moses is apparently reluctant to accept the dignity of Prophethood
on the ground that he is a stammerer and therefore lacks the
eloquence needed for skilful performance of duty. The result of
this unwillingness was:
"And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses
....." ( Exodus 4: 14 )
Despite God's wrath, Moses does not yield until God appoints
Aaron, the Levite, as Moses' assistant to interpret his speeches
and render other relevant services! Could not God allot this
function to some other man more suited to the job? Why did it have
to be Moses, who lacked the necessary qualifications to be a
missionary?
It is simply to exhibit God's desperation for Moses irrespective
of his weakness, and his (Moses) own importance in relation to
God! In fact, it is a subtle way of demonstrating a Prophet's
superiority over God. See this truth for yourself:
As a background to this episode, I may add that the Jews were
originally an idolatrous people. In the absence of Moses, they
built the image of Golden Calf and started worshipping it. Anger
of Yahwe, the Jewish God, flared up, and He wanted to kill them
all:
"And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this
people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people."
( Exodus 32: 9 )
As God points out stubborness of the Jewish character, possibly
with a view to justifying the punishment that He intends to
inflict upon them, Moses enters into a battle of words with God
and rebukes Him by declaring:
"Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For
mischief did he (Yahwe) bring them out, to slay them
in the mountains, and to consume them from the face
of the earth? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and
repent of this evil against Thy people."
( Exodus 32: 12 )
These are surely the most impolite words for a man to use about
God, especially in His presence. It is more than an altercation:
it demonstrates that Prophet is entitled to scold God with
impunity.
In another episode (Numbers 14: 11-20), when the Jews denigrate
the Promised Land, Yahwe's wrath flares up. Moses rebukes the
Almighty once again to show the practical superiority of the
Prophet over God, though theoretically, he remains a servant of
the Creator!
b. The story of the Prophet Muhammad, in essence, is very much the
same as that of Moses:
It is claimed that one day when Muhammad was meditating on the
mysteries of creation, 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.
As the Koran testifies to the fact, it was a written message from
Allah, otherwise, why would Gabriel tell Muhammad to "read in the
name of thy Lord?" In answer to this command, Muhammad told
Gabriel that he was illiterate and therefore, could not read the
message. Hearing that, the angel caught him by the throat and
ordered him again to read. Thrice the Prophet expressed his
inability to read and thrice Gabriel choked him!
One can clearly see how the dignity of God is being flouted by the
man, who afterwards fought many battles to be acknowledged as the
prophet, but here it is claimed:
1. God is so desperate for a Prophet that He uses violence to
persuade Muhammad, who does not want this dignity. Here, Muhammad
holds the upper hand!
2. Allah not only urgently needs a representative but He is
extremely desperate for this purpose because He settles for an
illiterate person knowing full well that a missionary must be
literate.
3. The whole event cannot be anything but a fiction to slight
Allah, who claims to be All-knowing. How could He be All-knowing
when He sends Gabriel with a written message to Muhammad, who
cannot read!
Long after "appointing" Muhammad as the Prophet, Allah realises
that a Prophet must be literate:
"We (Allah) shall make thee read (O Muhammad)
so that thou shall not forget."
(The Overwhelming, LXXXVIII: 6)
------------
* For further details of the event, see hadith no. 5591 of Mishkat,
Vol. 3 p. 144-145.
------------
Obviously, Muhammad must have been taught by Allah how to read
and write (because reading and writing are one process) yet the
Muslims, against this Koranic evidence claim that Muhammad was
illiterate!
Again, surah, The Clot, XCVI ("Read in the name of thy Lord")
being the first revelation, must have occurred right in the
beginning of the Koran but it is found almost at the end.
This disorder must not be found in the Book of God, yet the
Muslims believe that God's Word (Koran) cannot be changed! Surely,
disorder can be worse than forgery.
To continue the story, I may add that several traditions sprang up
regarding the first meeting of Muhammad with Gabriel. One of these
stories says that he was so upset by the Message of Prophethood
that he tried to commit suicide. Yet, he accepted it! How
desperate Allah must have been for someone to act as His
Mouthpiece!
As stated earlier, when Muhammad was weak, he claimed to be a
servant of God but as he grew stronger, all the Koranic commands
began to be issued in the name of Allah and the Prophet conjointly
until Muhammad was able to reverse the whole doctrine by declaring
that "Allah along with His angels, prays peace to the Prophet i.e.
worships Muhammad."
What does a Prophet preach?
He advocates: God is One, who is Absolute: He does not include
anyone in His government, and the Prophet is His appointee and a
servant.
This is the basis of monotheism i.e. there is only One God, who is
Absolute. The truth is that such a God does not have a real
existence; His being depends on the word of the prophet, who, as
we have seen, is just a mortal, subject to human weaknesses. The
cause of God, would have been served better if He were to show His
face to mankind frequently for assuring them that He is there.
Since nobody has ever seen Him, He either does not exist or is too
Great to bother about what people think of Him. It is obviously,
the Prophet, who wants to be glorified as God, and to be treated
as such insists that his laws (which he claims to be Divine) must
be obeyed for ever because this is the highest dignity, which
raises a man (Prophet) to the status of God. Again, as without
exclusive power of law- making the Prophet cannot sustain his
Divine Eminence, absolutism becomes the essence of Prophethood
i.e. there is only One God, One * Prophet and One Law; nobody has
any right to make law, which defies the doctrine of monotheism,
and obedience to man-made law ( legislative or judicial ) ranks as
idolatry. This is why monotheism is the fountain of absolute
monarchy and dictatorship, and wherever Christianity and Islam
have been dominant, this form of government has persisted. The
most dreadful dictators of the 20th century such as Hitler, Stalin
and Mussolini came from the Christian culture, which is no
different from Islam in this respect.
-----------
* Of course, the Koran does say that people must believe in other
Prophets as well, but insists that they all belong to the past,
and only Muhammad is the Prophet of future, and it is only his
laws that must be obeyed.
-----------
On the contrary, the nations that have practised polytheism,
i.e. belief in more than one God, come to believe in pluralism
which serves as the fountain of democracy i.e. the government of
the people, which is totally opposed to theocracy, the government
of God, advocated by monotheism or the doctrine of Prophethood.
Thus, the former represents man's natural instincts but the latter
being the exponent of dominance-urge, is a phenomenon of antihuman
tendencies.
In a previous chapter, I have stated that a Prophet spreads his
message and enforces his laws to sustain his supernatural
prestige. Again, the stronger his nation, the greater the chances
of his own elevation. This is why prophethood becomes the source
of nationalism, much viler than Nazism. The Arab history provides
a good illustration of this Prophetic Nationalism, which is based
on boundless Dominance-Urge of one man, the Prophet, desperately
needing the force of a strongly built nation to perpetuate his
glory in the name of God, who will reward his followers with
worldly riches and paradise studded with rivers of milk, honey and
wine, and inhabited by the most beautiful virgins and handsome
boys.
The nationhood of such people is founded on racial superiority
because unless they feel exalted over other people, they cannot
pronounce and enforce the superiority of their Prophet over other
nations - the sole purpose of this exercise.
People of other nations, when they embrace Islam, come to be
united under the Arabian hegemony, and call themselves Umma or one
nation. What a self-deception it is! It is a self-deception
because Muslims of other countries are treated as foreigners in
Arabia. They are not considered as citizens of Hijaz (Arabia);
neither they are allowed to buy property there, nor permitted to
run businesses independently. These Muslims are complete
foreigners in Arabia, subject to visa, passport and all other laws
governing the behaviour and obligations of the aliens. If Islam
was really based on true brotherhood of all Muslims, irrespective
of geographical boundaries, Mecca and Medina would have been
international cities (at least to all the Muslims); since
quotations from the address of the Prophet at the Last Pilgrimage
do not measure up to his pan-Islamic conduct, they must be
forgeries like many hadilhs. Again, it must be remembered that
almost all his audience at that occasion consisted of the Arabs,
and therefore, whatever he said, related to the Arabs only. This
point becomes clear when we realise that Muhammad laid the
foundation of an Arab Empire in the name of Islam and not an
Islamic Empire. The foreign Muslims did not have top- level
representation in the government of Arabia during the times of
Muhammad himself. Neither did they enjoy any such privilege during
the heyday of the Arab political ascendancy, nor is there any
legal precedent to prove that a Muslim from any territory can
become the President or Prime Minister of an Arab country. On the
contrary, a person of any race and colour could become the head of
the mighty Roman Empire. Yet the Muslims claim the superiority of
the Islamic system!
It may appear a digression but it is absolutely necessary to
counter the false Islamic propaganda of international brotherhood.
In fact, so complex is the nature of this issue that it requires a
volume to clear the air, but in this context, the present brevity
will have to suffice.
The Prophetic Nationalism such as practised by the Arabs, is the
most loathsome, lethal and lowest form of racism and shall
eventually bring about the total destruction of the human race.
The reason being that such religions are based on the fanatical
promotion of the deification of their founders. All that serves
this purpose is great, good and grand irrespective of the means to
achieve it. This is the reason that there is no clear concept of
vice and virtue in these religions. In the background of all this,
lurks the Prophetic claim to be better than all other Prophets,
leading to the national rivalries and their concomitant effects,
which are degrading, dreadful and destructive to mankind. Here are
some facts to prove this theory:
Let us first take the Jewish claim, which requires for better
understanding, some repitition of the already stated facts:
The Bible (Old Testament) declares:
"But My (God) covenant will I establish with Isaac,
(the ancestor of the Jews) which Sarah (the wife of
Abraham) shall bear unto thee (Abraham) ..."
(Genesis, 17: 21)
This statement is contradistinctive because it asserts superiority
of the Jews whereas Genesis 21: 13 declares inferiority of the
Arabs, who happen to be the children of Ishmael, borne by Hagar,
the bondwoman of Abraham's wife, Sarah:
"And also of the son of the bondwoman ( Ishmael )
will make a nation, because he is thy (Abraham's)
seed."
Here, the Old Testament has not referred to Ishmael as the son of
Abraham but a product of his semen. Again, it is a swear-word to
call someone the "son of a bondwoman." This demonstrates the
Jewish contempt of the Arabs.
To bolster the Jewish nationalism, their God declares them to be
superior to all nations:
"For thou (the Jews) art an holy people unto the Lord
thy God: the Lord thy God, hath chosen thee to be a
special people unto himself, above all people that are
upon the face of the earth." (Deuteronomy 7: 6)
To make the Jews the Superior race, their Lord taught them a novel
formula of ascendancy, that is, be rich. This is the reason that
the Jews have developed a sacred motto: "the richer, the godlier"
i.e. the more money one has, the closer to God one becomes!
This is why the Bible says:
"The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure .....
and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt
lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow."
( Deuteronomy 28: 12 )
Money is power; in fact, a wealthy fool has usually proved better
than a wise pauper. This is the source and secret of the Jewish
"superiority." And this is what had lifted them above the Arabs
before the advent of Muhammad, who wanted to make his own people
an exalted race.
The Jews having suffered the worst type of slavery in Egypt for
over four centuries, were just a socially disorganised rabble, and
had no national or cultural virtue. It was Moses, the Great, who
welded them into a proud nation through the marvel of his
Prophethood, which only the dynamic force of Muhammad could rival.
Besides the principle of money-making, he laid down the Law of
Talion, which was to become the guideline of the Jewish culture,
lacking the ideal of compassion and forgiveness. This law, stated
in Exodus 21: 24-26 demands that if someone hurts your eye, you
must hurt his eye and if someone breaks your tooth, you must break
his tooth. This is the reason that even a naturally kind Jew does
not believe in forgiveness.
Realising that just blood ties were not strong enough to weld the
Jews into a nation, Moses wanted to find them a permanent home of
their own. So he declared that there waited for them the Promised
Land, which turned out to be Canaan (Palestine). To achieve this
goal, he trained them for forty years in a ruthless environment
known as "Wilderness" until they became a martial race. This
Apostle of God, setting aside all rules of tenderness, taught the
Jews to be tough towards other people. It is an irony of history
that the Jews themselves have been haunted by similar conditions
of dread, dismay and devastation that they inflicted on the
Canaanites. One feels distraught when one reads ( Deuteronomy
Chapter 3 ) that as an act of obedience to God, the Jews struck
the Canaanites "with the edge of their swords" to murder every
man, woman and child including anything that breathes: the
extermination of the opponents had got to be utter and complete.
Further, Joshua 10: 28 gives a systematic account of the planned
destruction city by city. Even greater tragedy is the fact that
after a passage of 3000 years, the religious scruples have kept
the old racial hatred aflame and the war between the Jews and the
Palestinians is still as active as ever.
To understand the situation, one must realise that the Jews are a
racial group like any other nation, and, therefore, entitled to
preserve their national integrity through all possible means.
Their religion has become their personal affair and does not seek
expansion through persistent propaganda or persecution. Neither it
advocates annihilation of the Gentile on religious grounds nor it
seeks abrasive international grouping to create discord, distrust
and destruction in the name of God or Moses to promote the Jewish
cause. I could have ignored the reference to Judaism but the
nature of the discussion does not permit it.
Prophethood, though considered a Middle Eastern tradition, is not
a Jewish invention; it is ascribed to Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV) of
Egypt (1379-1362 B.C.) but it is the Jews who perfected this
device, and are now paying for it. There is no historical evidence
that the Arabs ever awaited the advent of their own Prophet. This
tradition had come to be associated with the Jews only, but the
genius of Muhammad spotted its national and political potential,
which resulted in his own Prophethood. The Arabian Allah in His
wisdom thought it fit to declare Muhammad as the Best and the Last
Prophet with the sole purpose of not only denying this honour to
any other human for good, but also bidding all the Jews and
Christians to renounce their faith and follow Muhammad! The worst
aspect of this episode is the Muslim belief that denying Muhammad
as the Last and the Greatest of all Prophets, is a legitimate *1
cause of war against the infidels. This is a clear proof of the
Prophetic jealousy and all the evils that spring from it in the
form of power-struggle, social abrasion and international wars.
Here is an example in relation to the Arabs and the Jews:
Prophethood is essentially a form of extreme nationalism, which
seeks to raise the Prophet to the status of God in the guise of
humanity. However, to succeed, the device of Prophethood requires
the force of a strong nation for lifting the Prophet to the status
of God, without ripping off his robe of humanity. Hoisting the
flag of racial superiority for igniting the undying flame of
national bigotry, hatred and jealousy is a favourite, fruitful and
frightening tool of prophethood. For sake of convenience, I may
once again quote the hadith which formed the principle and
practice of Muhammad's apostolic ministry:
"Of the two *2 tribes that God chose as the best were
the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac. God
*3 preferred the children of Ishmael (Arabs) to the
children of Isaac (the Jews). Then God created
Muhammad in the chosen tribe the *4 Quresh (the
descendants of Ishmael) and then he chose his family
as the best among the Quresh families and created
*5 Muhammad as the best of all men."
(Jame Tirmze, Vol. 2)
This hadith shows the racial nature and national aims of
Prophethood. Just consider the following points raised by this
hadith:
*2 The Semitic race, mainly consisting of the Jews and the
Arabs, is the best in the world because they both are the Chosen
tribes!
*3 However, God has preferred the Arabs to the Jews.
This is Muhammad's retort to the Biblical declaration that
Ishmael, the ancestor of the Arabs was a "bondwoman's son!" Again,
the Bible says that it was Isaac, who was offered as a sacrifice
to God by Abraham but the Koran negates it, and claims that it was
Ishmael. Both are supposed to be the Holy Books. Which one of them
is telling the truth?
*4 The Quresh are the best tribe amongst the Arabs.
*5 His own family, the Banu Hashim are the best family, and he
himself (Muhammad) is the best of all people!
In view of the above facts, can anyone honestly say that
Prophethood is not the champion of extreme nationalism?
-------------
*1 See hadith no. 284 (Muslim). It does not allow the Jews and
Christians to hold on to their faith. Jews and Christians are held
as infidels by Islam. Another hadith of Bokhari, Vol. one,
declares it as the most sacred duty of every Muslim lo fight the
infidels until they embrace Islam. The Koran openly confirms it in
The Clear Sign XCVIII: 5 by classifying "People of the Book" i.e.
the Jews and Christians as unbelievers.
-------------
Even more surprising is the staunch belief that Islam is the
ambassador of international brotherhood, and Muhammad is the
humblest of men. How could he be the humblest of men when he
claimed to be the best of mankind, especially when he rose to
become the ruler of Arabia. Even this is not the whole truth: he
claimed that Allah and His angels worshipped him, and so should do
all believers, addressing him most reverently!
It is to perpetuate his own superiority that he devised Islam and
made it a highly abrasive ideology based on a permanent conflict
of Momin (believer) and Kafir (unbeliever). Being rooted in faith,
it is far more destructive than the theory of Class struggle,
which Karl Marx borrowed from F. W. Hegel, who might have adapted
it from the Koran.
To understand this point, one ought to ponder over the Islamic
attitude towards Jerusalem, which is not only the Holiest Jewish
centre but also the foundation-stone of the Jewish nationhood and
all its traditions.
It appears that the prophet Muhammad originally dreamt of a Super
Semitic Nation, with the Arabs as the senior partners, and to
achieve this goal, he was willing to concede a good bit to the
Jews:
1. He acknowledged that God had exalted the Jews over all the
people. (The Cow, II: 115)
2. He made Abraham, the Jewish patriarch, as the Leader of mankind
including the Arabs.
3. He also declared that Islam was not a new faith but the old
Jewish faith of Abraham.
4. However, his Master Stroke was the appointment of Jerusalem as
the Kibla of Islam i.e. the direction of prayers for all Muslims.
It means that all Muslims would pay the same adoration to
Jerusalem as did the Jews but there was one basic condition
attached to it i.e. the Jews of Arabia must embrace Islam, which
in religious and national terms meant that the Jews would follow
the Koranic law and the Arab traditions instead of the Torah and
the Jewish practices. Circumstantial evidence suggests that in all
probability, Muhammad hoped that if the Arabian Jews accepted him
as the Last Messenger of God, the rest of the Jews in diaspora
would also follow suit, thus fulfilling his dream of the Super
Semitic Nation on his terms. Obviously, he was convinced of the
Jewish expertise that they had accumulated over the centuries.
Further, Jesus Christ was also a Jew, whose reverence had raised
the holy status of Jerusalem beyond imagination. Thus, this City
of David, by becoming the Muslim Kibla would raise the prestige of
Muhammad, resulting in his acceptance by both the Jews and
Christians. It was a brilliant plan but its success depended on
the attitude of the Arabian Jews towards Muhammad as the Prophet.
To the utter sorrow of the Jews, they stubbornly denied him,
incurring the apostolic wrath not only for themselves but also the
entire Jewish race for all times. How?
As a result of their denial, the Prophet *changed his entire
policy towards the Jews, whom he had acknowledged to be the
Exalted people:
-------------
* "I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula
and will not leave any but Muslims." (Hadith no. 4366, Muslim)
-------------
"O believers, take not Jews and Christians
as friends, they are friends of each other,
whoso of you makes them as his friends
is one of them. God guides not the people
of the evildoers." (The Table, V: 55)
It appears that Muhammad thought of the Jews as the most
formidable foe, who could harm his religion and the country.
Therefore, he was not content with their extermination in Arabia,
and desired their permanent suppression by his followers during
all ages. So, he adopted a stunning hate-love policy towards
Jerusalem to seal the Jewish fate:
"Turn thy (Muhammad) face towards the Holy
Mosque (Kaaba); and wherever you are, turn your
faces towards it." (The Cow, II: 135-140)
Thus, the Prophet Muhammad deprived Jerusalem of the dignity that
he had bestowed upon it: it was no more the Kibla of Islam. Why?
Look at the following verse:
"Those are they (the Jews) whom God has cursed;
he whom God has cursed,
thou will not find for him any helper
Or have a share in the kingdom?
If that is so, they do not give the people
a single date-spot ..." (Women, IV: 55)
It is difficult to interpret this verse on its own. However, it is
clear from it that the Jews are no longer a Blessed, but a Cursed
people. The Koran has given reason for this Divine change of
heart, that is, they have not believed in Muhammad. The meaning of
this verse begins to amplify itself when we consider this hadith:
"The last hour would not come unless the Muslims
fought and killed the Jews ... and until the Jews hid
themselves behind a stone or a wall would say:
'Muslims, the servants of Allah, there is a Jew behind
me, come and kill him."'
(Hadith no. 6985, Muslim, Vol. 4)
One should note that this hadith directs All Muslims, and not just
the Arabs, to kill the Jews, wherever they are found. The
Jew-bashing in Arabia and the immense hatred found against them in
all the Islamic sacred books and literature, has resulted in a
strange but a very strong belief among all Muslims throughout the
world: they believe that the Koran has forbidden return of the
Jews to Jerusalem and form a government of their own. Why should
not the Jews return to Jerusalem?
Muhammad accomplished this feat through a stroke of sagacity,
which has no parallel in the world history. Look at the following:
"Glory be to Him (Allah), who carried His servant
(Muhammad) by night from the Holy Mosque
(Kaaba) to the Further Mosque (Jerusalem), the
precincts of which we have blessed ..."
(The Night Journey, XVII: I)
It is a reference to the Prophet's visit to Allah when on his way
to seeing the Almighty in person, he was taken to Jerusalem as a
part of his holy itinerary. Thus Jerusalem became a sacred place
in the Islamic faith and an integral part of its territory!
Frankly speaking, one should add that the appointment of Jerusalem
as the Muslim Kibla has nothing to do with spiritual affairs; it
was simply a political decision seeking a permanent foothold in
the Jewish life. Look at the following facts:
1. The change of Kibla took place at the repeated requests of
Muhammad because "We ( Allah ) have seen thee turning thy face
about in the heaven; now we shall surely turn thee to a direction
(Kaaba) that shall satisfy thee ( O Muhammad)." (The Cow, II: 137)
One should remember that Allah always acts as Muhammad desires!
Change of Kibla was Muhammad's decision that he imposed on Allah
for the benefit of the Arabs.
2. The Koran (2: 148) states that every nation has its own Kibla.
Therefore, the Arabs should have had their own Kibla right from
the beginning. The mere fact that they did not, demonstrates its
political nature.
3. Umar had a hand in the change of Kibla on national ground
(hadith no. 5903 - Muslim). This great Arab nationalist was
stabbed to death by a Persian slave owing to his (Umar's) racial
bias.
4. The Prophet had commanded his followers not to defecate, facing
Kaaba and Jerusalem because both ranked as Kibla. These
instructions, which were binding on every Muslim, were meant to
show one's respect to the holiness of these places. However, the
Prophet himself ignored it in respect of Jerusalem:
"Narrated 'Abdullah bin Umar: People say whenever you sit for answering the call of nature, you should not face the Kibla or Bait-i-Muqaddis (Jerusalem). I told them, "Once I went up the roof of our house and I saw Allah's Messenger (Muhammad) answering the call of nature while sitting on two bricks facing Bait-ul- Muqaddas (Jerusalem) but there was a screen covering him.'" (Bokhari, 147 Vol. I)
Muhammad's act clearly demonstrates that he did not have genuine
respect for Jerusalem: it was just a political convenience to him.
It is further confirmed by the fact that twice a year (during
Shabaan and Zwilhajj) Kaaba, the Arabian Kibla, receives a highly
reverential treatment when it is washed with gallons of rose-scent
and Zamzam water and is honoured with a change of new covering
every year, but nothing of the sort takes place in regard to the
Bait-ul- Muqaddas ( Jerusalem ) !
Against this Islamic background, one must look at the Jewish
attitude towards Jerusalem to realise the possibility of a most
horrendous clash, which may sound the death-knell of human
civilisation.
Diaspora, that is, dispersal of the Jews from their homeland,
first resulted from the Babylonian Exile of 586 B.C. What Muhammad
did twelve centuries later, only fractionally added to it, and
does not strictly come within this category. Though the Jews came
to be settled in Persia, Spain and many countries of the West, it
has been the burning desire of the Diaspora Jewry to return home
despite the fact that they did very well in the foreign lands.
Returning home i.e. to Jerusalem became, not only a fervent desire
but an integral part of the Jewish faith. This is what led to the
formation of the Zionist Movement, which sought to achieve this
goal. While this forms the greatest triumph for the Jews, it
strikes at the Islamic precept of No-Return, which the Muslim
Zealots have so painfully forged over the centuries to keep the
Jews out of their Motherland. Returning of the Jews to Israel may
just be a historical event to the world but for the Muslims it is
a tragedy of immense proportions because it strikes at the root of
the Islamic traditions which hold that the Jews have been cursed
by Allah and, as a result, shall not be allowed to return to
Jerusalem and form a government of their own. Bearing this Islamic
doctrine in mind, one can realise why the Prophet Muhammad wanted
to lay a spiritual claim on Jerusalem as a part of the Islamic
faith despite having no real reverence for it. Obviously, it was a
political ploy to interfere with the Jewish history.
To stress the enormity of the situation, I must add that there is
no Judaism without Jerusalem. This fact is borne out by the
concept of Diaspora, which describes the religious,
eschatological, philosophical and political concerns of the Jewish
people. It means that the Land of Israel (and Judah) has been
given to the Jews as a fulfilment of the Divine Promise, and
returning to it is a part of the messianic hope. Here, one can see
the most devastating conflict between the Jewish faith and the
Islamic Law of No-Return. And who is responsible for the lethal
strife? It is the doctrine of Prophethood, which enables a person
to realise the dictates of his super ego in the name of a
supernatural Power, termed as God. Here the clash is between two
Prophets - Moses and Muhammad. Who was right? - Moses, who claimed
that Israel is the Land promised to the Jews by God, and
therefore, it is exclusively theirs - or is it Muhammad who
asserts that the Jews have been cursed by God for not believing in
his prophethood, and as a result, shall not be allowed to return
to Israel and form their own government?
The fact, as we see is, that the Jews have returned to Israel for
the last fifty years and have beel able to form a government of
their own. While it gives them a lot of satisfaction, it has hurt
the Muslims badly and they desperately want to restore the dignity
of the Islamic faith by expelling the Jews from Israel, which they
claim to be their First Kibla. To prove the Koran right, the
Muslims are determined to exterminate the Jews in Israel.
In fact, Muhammad's eternal desire to humiliate the Jews is rooted
in his national tendencies. He abhorred the Jews, not only because
he thought of them as the rivals to the Arabs, but also because he
could not swallow their claim of racial superiority based on the
choice of God; the Jewish claim to be the only legitimate
descendants of Abraham has proved highly provocative to the Arab
ego, fathered by Ishmael; mundane success of the Jews is another
cause of envy.
To remedy this situation, the Prophet not only declared the Arabs
as racially superior to the Jews but also checked their historical
progress by laying a perpetual claim on Jerusalem. He must have
realised that the Arabs on their own might not be able to stop the
Jewish march to glory, and therefore, he put the weight of Islamic
Imperialism behind the Arabs.
This stratagem expresses the political vision and patriotic
sincerity of the Prophet Muhammad. As already described, Muhammad
projected himself to be the Behavioural Model ( 33:20) not only
for the Arabs but all Muslims irrespective of where they come
from. It means, to qualify for paradise, a Muslim must copy the
Prophet in all details such as eating, drinking, talking, walking,
thinking and acting. Thus, a true Muslim must hate the Jews as did
the Prophet.
Here one can see the nature of Islam, as the Arab Imperialism.
This is a specially devised faith to serve the national interest
of Arabia - subtlety being its key-word. During the heyday of the
British, if there was a political upheaval in a certain part of
the Empire, the government had to mobilise armed forces from other
territories to restore the situation. But the unique form of Arab
Imperialism that the Prophet invented, does not depend on armies;
the Muslims of non-Arab origin have been so thoroughly brainwashed
that they hate the Jews as their religious duty and shall be happy
to join any campaign of Jew-bashing of their own free will and at
their own expense. The fact that most Muslim countries have still
not recognised Israel, is a product of these religious tendencies.
Over the last fifty years, the Israelis have fought several wars
against the Arabs and are still on permanent alert against them,
particularly, and the world of Islam, generally. It is usually
believed that the American oil interest is the real cause of
political instability in the Middle East, and some go as far as to
claim that the Jews have been planted there by the West for this
reason. This is a sheer nonsense because the Americans and the
Western nations buy oil from the Arab countries at the
internationally fixed prices as set by the free economic forces.
The truth is the other way round: if the Americans and Europeans
did not buy oil from Arabia, she would run into dire economic
conditions.
The real cause of trouble is the clash of the two Prophets - Moses
and Muhammad: the Jews want to feel secure in their Promised Land
and the Arabs, believing the Jewish return against the precepts of
Islam, desperately want to uphold the dignity of their faith by
drowning all Jews in the sea of Galilee. The Arabs have been
tremendously helped by their Islamic Imperialism and the Jews have
been lucky (so far) to defend themselves with the help of the
West.
How long can the Jews stand up to the Arabs and their one billion
followers? When they find it impossible to survive through
political means, that will be the saddest moment not only for them
and the Arabs, but also the entire human race. The Jews, who
believe in the Law of Talion, shall not go down quietly. To
demonstrate their hatred of Islam, they will turn Mecca and Medina
into Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thus mobilising the spirit of Islamic
Jehad, which is a practical demonstration of Allah's "terrible
retribution" (The Cow, II: 205). It will create a state of war
throughout the world.
What I have said above is not a wild guess but a calculation based
on Arab-Jewish antagonism that has persisted over the centuries.
The cause of this perpetual strife is not the Jewish religion
because a Jew is someone, who is racially Jew, and not just a
follower of the Jewish religion. Again, he is not dedicated to
propagating his religion for gaining converts, though the doors of
a synagogue are open to those, who want to embrace this faith of
their own free will. It is the seeker, who has to prove his
genuineness for admission.
On the contrary, Allah has made it obligatory for all humans to
embrace Islam; those who refuse to accept it, qualify as the
"Satan's Party" and must be eliminated by the Muslims, who rank as
"Allah's Party." Rejection of Islam is the most heinous crime that
one can imagine, and for this reason one is liable to a terrible
punishment: Allah Himself declares was on infidels and legitimises
the most despicable acts such as murder, rape, arson and
enslavement of non-Muslims, when they are committed to spread
Islam. This is called "Jehad," the Holy War. The West tasted its
Holiness for four hundred years in the form of the Crusades, which
reduced the European population to half of its normal size.
This Islamic attitude is at its worst towards the Jews. Any
Muslim, who can kill a Jew is sure to win a seat in paradise.
Realising this fact, some Islamic countries have made Jew-bashing
as the cornerstone of their foreign policy with a view to winning
leadership of the Muslim world. This is what makes Israel wary of
the Muslim lands and they have to watch their economic and
military progress. History has recorded that Israel launched an
air raid against Iraq in 1981 to destroy its nuclear reactor at
Osirak. It was considered an unprovoked attack by the Muslim
world. Apparently, it was so, but in view of the above mentioned
facts, it was not.
As a humanist, I must emphasise, once again, that man is
intellectually and morally too great to need guidance of any
supernatural agency. Thus, Prophethood or Revelation, being a
political device, is the source of primitiveness and destruction
to humankind, and these remarks equally apply to both the Koran
and the Bible. These books are highly self- contradictory.
Therefore, instead of leading, they mislead people. Take for
example, the Islamic Law of No-Return in relation to the Jews. The
Koran in The Table, V: 20-25 contravenes itself:
"And when Moses said to his people, 'O, my people,
remember God's blessings upon you .... When He
gave you such as He had not given to any being.'"
"O, my people, enter the Holy Land, which God has
prescribed for you, and turn not back in your
traces...."
" They said, 'Moses, there are people in it, very
arrogant; we will not enter it until they depart from
it; if they depart from it, then we will enter.' Said,
two men of those that feared God whom God had
blessed, 'Enter against them ... when you enter it,
you will be victors.'"
In a nutshell, it means that Palestine i.e. Israel (and Judah) is
the Holy Land that has been prescribed for the Jews by Allah, who
has assured them victory in the struggle.
Today, due to the enormity of weapons, Israel is not just an
Arab-Jewish affair because it may involve the survival of mankind.
Since this clash is a product of the prophetic rivalries, one can
clearly see that Prophethood has nothing to do with guidance; it
is simply a political doctrine, which especially, exposes the
reality of Islam as the tool of Arab Imperialism owing to its
active role in the international field as well as its dictatorial
part in the internal affairs of every Muslim country.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. The Koran
2. The Hadith:
a. Sahih Al-Bukhari
Nine volumes (Arabic-English)
published by Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi
b. Jame Tirmzi
Two volumes (Arabic-Urdu) published
by Muhammad Ali, Karkhana Islami
Kutub, Urdu Bazaar, Karachi.
c. Sahih Mulsim
Four volumes (English translation)
published by Nusrat Ali Nasri for
Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi, India.
d. Sunun Ibn-E-Majah
Two volumes (Arabic-Urdu)
published by Farid Bookstall, Urdu
Bazaar, Lahore, Pakistan.
e. Mishkaat Sharif
Three volumes (Arabic-Urdu)
published by Farid Bookstall, Urdu
Bazaar, Lahore, Pakistan.
3. The Bible
4. The Hymns of the RgVeda annotated by Prof. Ralph T. H. Griffith.
a. The Hymns of the Atharvaveda (Vol. 1 & Vol. 2) annotated by Prof. Ralph T. H. Griffith.
b. The Texts of the White Yajurveda annotated by Prof. Ralph T. H. Griffith.
5. Selections from Hindu Scriptures - Series no. 3 Rigveda, published and distributed by Prof. G.C. Asnani.
6. Encyclopaedia Britannica - 15th edition, 30 volumes.
7. The Story of Civilisation (Our Oriental Heritage, 3 volumes) by W. Durant.
8. Family of Man, the Marshall Cavendish Encyclopaedia (98 weekly parts).
9. Palestine and the Arab-lsrael Conflict by Charles Smith.
10. Israel and the Palestinian edited by Martin Wright.
11. The Life of Mahomet by Sir William Muir.
12. The Bedouin by Shirley Kay.
13. The Two Yemens by Robin Bidwell.
14. History of the Arabs by Philip K. Hitti.
15. Changing India by Robert W. Stern.
16. The Peacock Throne, The Drama of Mughal India by Waldemar Hansen.
17. The New Cambridge History of India (5 volumes) by
C. A. Bayly (11.1)
M. N. Pearson (1.1)
P. J. Marshall (11.2)
Kenneth W. Jones (111.1)18. The Egyptians by Barbara Watterson.
19. The Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 2 (c. 500 B.C. - A.D. 1050)