How Islam is a Devilish Creed

Question:

Yes RDS you can believe what you like it does not mean you have the truth. How come you didnot quote the Gospel?. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – T he wanted to be at the head of his nation but he knew that the greatness of a leader depends on the greatness of his nation. Therefore. he classified humanity in the following order; a. Muhammad is the best of all mankind. b. His family Banu Hashim is the best of all families. c. His tribe, the Quresh are the best of all tribes. I have already quoted the appropriate hadiths to this effect and need not repeat them. However, I may add that if the Quresh were best of all the Arabs, the Arabs themsleves must be above all nations. This point emerges clearly from the fact that only the Quresh were eligible to rule. As they were Arabs, it follows that the destiny of all non-Arabs, whether Moslem or not, was to be ruled by the Arabs, as the will of Allah. 1. Why did the Prophet choose Allah as the God of Islam? Allah was a statue in the pantheon of the Kaaba i.e. it was one of the many idols, but it was distinguished for having a special association with the Quresh, who were called as "the people of Allah." It is well-known that in the other Arabian kingdoms such as Saba (South Arabia), the earlier form of government was in the hands of Mukarribs, the high priest-princes, who wielded religious and temporal powers in the state. The state of the Himayari which sprang up between 115 and 109 B.C. was also organised on the priest-prince principle. In fact, it had been customary in all states of the Arabian peninsula that the head of the state should also be the religious leader for acting as the vicar or caliph of the local deity. It is this investiture of divine authority which entitled him to rule people. This theory was also prevalent in the Western Arabia i.e. Mecca; it was Allah’s grace which gave Quresh, the priestly and dynastic exultation. Thus, Allah was the tribal god for the Quresh to which Muhammad belonged. Wisdom required of Muhammad to declare the oneness of Allah to deny the existence of all other gods which had sprung up from the foreign influences and chiefly belonged to the other Arabian tribes. The glorification of Allah, besides national consideration, also had psychological connotations: it was to please the Quresh whose preferred social position must influence the other tribes. Again, as Allah was the god of Quresh, it was easier for other Arab clans to accept the political and spiritual hegemony of the Quresh when it was to become the command of Allah. The oneness of Allah required not only the destruction of other idols but also the statue of Allah himself, who had such an immense stature, that being transcendent, He was not imageable i.e. He could not be represented through copper, bronze or any kind of material. The Prophet was a man of great wisdom. By making Allah supreme and an abstruse deity, he was able to share His divinity with Him because he was the only one with whom Allah conversed. The Quran clearly states this fact. "It is not for any believer, man or woman, when God and His Messenger have decreed a matter, to have the choice in the affair. Whosoever disobeys God and His Messenger has gone astray into clear error.” (The confederates: 20) It is quite evident that Allah and Muhammad are one and the same person because whatever is decided, is done by them jointly, and disobedience to the one is an act of rebellion against the other. Like the Jews, the Arabs must have one God to give them the feeling of oneness. It was more appropriate to the Arabs because they had become warring factions on tribal grounds and could not be welded into one nation without having one supreme God. Muhammad’s wisdom and his love for Arabism is vouched for by his concept of universality,. The Jewish Deity, Yahwe, is the God of Israel but the Prophet declared Allah as the God of the universe. The reader, at this juncture is entitled to ask me, "How on earth, does this support Muhammad’s theory of nationalism?" The answer lies in the fact that to give his nation a higher social status, he attached very high sanctity to the cultural institutions of Arabia. Therefore, those who believed in Islam, were also obliged to acknowledge the spiritual hegemony of the Arabian soil as well as its cultural values. One of such institutions was the Kaaba. To illustrate the significance of this point, I ought to refer to Zion. This was the Jebusite city captured in the 10th century B.C. by David, who adopted the Jebusite rituals. It was a pre-Israelite Canaanite name of the mount upon which Jerusalem was built. The word "Zion" appears in the Old Testament 152 times. Thus Zion has come to mean the city of Jerusalem rather than the hill itself. Both the heathen and faithful know the sanctity attached to the word: "Jerusalem" yet it is usually the name: "Zion" which carries the emotional and religious overtones. It is because Mount Zion is considered the seat of Yahwe, the God of Israel; this is where He dwells (Isa. 24: 23) and where He installed His king, David (Ps. 2: 6). Though Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. the loving memory of Zion became inscribed in the hearts of the Israelites (Ps. 137). After the Jews had been expelled from Jerusalem, the prophecy of their return held Zion as the scene of Yahwe’s messianic salvation; they were to return to Zion where they would find Yahwe (Jer. 31). Though the Temple itself is in the city of Jerusalem, the reverence shown to Zion, raised it to the dignity of the Jewish homeland. It is symbolic of Judaism, and has come to mean the centre of the Jewish national aspirations. The movement known as Zionism which meant establishing a Jewish home in Palestine is a continuation of the reverence to Zion or Jerusalem. By acting as the centre of the Jewish faith and aspiration, Zion or Jerusalem has kept alive the national spirit of Jewish oneness though they have been scattered all over the world for many centuries. It is for this reason that they would not set up a common homeland in the Gentile lands though they had many chances to do so, if they wished. One further point to note in this respect is, that most of the Jews are racially Jews, and the Jews converted from the other races are a few, indeed. But even these converted Jews, who strictly speaking, are foreigners, think of Jerusalem as their home owing to the divine sanctity attached to it, and give it preference over their own homelands. After this narrative, it becomes easy to understand the national spirit of the Prophet Muhammad. The Kabba, a little temple in Mecca had similar sanctity for the Arabs of Jahiliya (the pre-lslamic Arabs) as Zion or Jerusalem has for the Jews. The Quresh, through their religious prestige, had been able to declare their well watered stony valley of Mecca as sacrosanct. As a result. the Kaaba ranked the holiest place in Arabia and people from all parts of the country made pilgrimage to it. This is what made the Quresh of Mecca the guardians of the Kaaba. Allah, the idol of the Quresh tribe, came to be known as the Lord of the Kaaba for this reason. The Prophet included pilgrimage to the Kaaba along with its customary sanctity and rituals, in the basic tenets of Islam. First he called Mecca as "the Mother of Cities" though it was only a small town, and then gave Kaaba the highest degree of reverence. See for yourself: "It was Abraham and his son Ishmael who raised the foundations of the House (Kaaba)." ( The Cow: 120 ) Since Abraham is the highly praised Jewish patriarch in the Old Testament, and was made "perfect " by God, the raising of Kaaba by him, and Ishmael, the ancestor of the Prophet, lends this place a divine aura and national honour. ( The Cow: 145 ) The Quran designates Kaaba as the Holy Mosque and commands Moslems of all countries to face Kaaba when they pray to Allah. They usually do so five-times-a-day. Imagine 1,000,000,000 Moslems from all continents prostrating towards Kaaba simultaneously several times a day! The Quran further states: The first House established for the people was that at Becca (Mecca), a place holy and a guidance for all beings ….. It is the duty of all men towards God to come to the House as pilgrim, if he is able to make his way there." (The House of Imran: 90) Every Moslem who is healthy and can afford to undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca, must do so. If he does not, then he is a person of dubious faith and is likely to rot in hell, but the one who has done a pilgrimage to Mecca is sure to enter paradise and taste the pleasure that the most beautiful virgins offer; it matters not that they have been rapists, murderers, thugs, thieves, traitors or vice-mongers. It is this guarantee of salvation associated with the Kaaba that makes the non-Arab

Response:

I will say amen to the review below. Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. All who follow the koran, Mohammed or allah are doomed to an eternal lake of fire. — Ezekiel 33:29 Then shall they know that I am the Lord, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed. http://www.ArmyOfGod.com – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – THE UNCENSORED TRUTH ABOUT MUHAMMAD (PBUH – Please Beware of the Unsound Hatred) preached by him Islamic culture is fundamentalistic for being based on the hatred of non-Moslems. In an Islamic state, discrimination is to be maintained legally against an infidel by subjecting him to Jazya (Poll tax). In fact, Islamic culture is an extension of the Arab imperialism which has weakened the sense of national identity of the non-Arab Moslems to such an extent that they prefer to call themselves Moslems, the people associated with the Arab traditions instead of being South Asians, Pakistanis, Iranians or Afghanis. Thus they are easily excited in the name of Islam to do what they will not do ordinarily. Again, as it is the faith of every Moslem to rule the non-Moslems, it makes this culture extremely aggressive. It is an Islamic law that a Moslem must not befriend a non- Moslem even that be his mother, father, brother, sister or son. Nor must he participate in their rites of birth and burial. This is a disturbing aspect of Islam because it forbids a Moslem nation to be a member of an International Organisation such as the U.N.O. or to respect the concepts of human rights and civil liberties. It is dangerous to peace. Being a despotic culture, it is inimical to democracy, the system of social equality and people’s sovereignty. It is because in Islam, the government belongs to Allah; man must obey the laws made by God and the Prophet without questioning them, irrespective of how irrelevant and outdated they may be. Absolutism has always been the source of aggression. A peculiarity of Islam is that it glorifies violence and sanctifies murder and pillage of the non-Moslems and abduction of their women for spreading the name af Allah who claims to be All-Powerful, yet dependent on man for proclaiming His glory! He also calls Himself the Most Merciful, yet He sanctions the basest form of cruelty to those humans, who are not inclined to acknowledge Him as the Divine. Murder, rape, pillage, abduction, etc., are the worst forms of moral vices, yel Allah adores them as virtues for the (Mujahedeens) who subjugate the non-Moslems to the yoke of Islam. One is baffled by such a morality which has been invented to initiate aggression. A Moslem calls it "Jihad," the Holy War irrespective of the unholiness of the ways and means of waging it. Since it is impossible to be a great nation without practising greater morality, the Moslem morality as practised in Turkey, Egypt, Persia (Iran), Kazakastan, Tukmenistan, Khirghiza, South Asia, Indonesia, Iraq, Pakistan Libya and many other Moslem countiries has suffered for lack of national conscience and has weakened the formation of an international and global prespective among the Moslems who look upon the non-Moslem world as Dar-Ool-Harb. It is not Muhammad’s prophethood which is under discussion here. I am interested in his human stature, which was magnificent. In fact, he was the greatest national leader that mankind has known. This aspect of his personality is overshadowed by his claim of prophethood. Therefore, I should refer to his secular eminence, and emphasise that Muhammad was the Builder of the Arab Empire. His brilliant success in this field made a generous contribution towards his spiritual stature. Of course, Muhammad was an orphan, and thus had certain disadvantages, which were made good by a loving grandfather and an uncle. However, the dynastic merits that he had, surpassed his disabilites. He belonged to the tribe of Quresh who had gained a position of superiority for being the lords of the Meccan temple, the Kaaba, and thus came to be known as the people of Allah. Marital union with Khadija, was yet another blessing which Muhammad enjoyed for 26 years until her death. She was a loyal spouse whose wealth and support helped her husband considerably. It was she who confirmed his mission by becoming the first convert. Ali, his first cousin, whom he had adopted, was the second person and Zaid, his former slave, was the third. Abu Bakr, who deserves a good deal of credit for the success of Muhammad’s mission, was one of his old wealthy friends and an early convert. Thus Muhammad had a small core of devotees coupled with the means to achieve a determined ambition. After receiving command from God to preach His name, the Prophet did not spread the gospel publically for three years though he did acquaint his family-members with the new doctrine. However, what is perplexing, is the fact that if he was a prophet before Adam was created, why did he not spread the message until he was forty? Did he not neglect his duty for four decades? It is more likely that he was not aware of his prophethood. Revelation is the device which makes a man, (the revelationist) divine but reduces the stature of God who becomes dependent upon the revelationist i.e. the prophet, to execute His will. Getting adored and worshipped by man, is God’s greatest desire. Since it is man who serves as the medium of granting this burning wish to God, man ranks as God’s superior. Thus the device of revelation is derogatory to the dignity of God. Again, as nobody can see or contact God directly, it is the prophet, who speaks to people, becomes as God-incarnate. This fact is quite evident in the world of Islam because the Moslems love Muhammad more than God, and believe that the Prophet can bestow salvation on any one he likes but God cannot do so without the Prophet’s consent! However, revelation is a very clever principle because it makes the prophet a go-between-God-and-people. If things go well, the prophet gets the credit bul if they do not, he remains clear of the blame because it is God who is the cause of everything and whose will must be respected under all circumstances. The major benefit of revelation is that it projects God as All-Knowing, All-Powerful and Omnipresent. Therefore, it is much easier to lead and motivate believers in the name of God. Yet another superlative advantage of revelation is the prestige of the prophet whose person becomes sancrosanct and whose word is considered as the Word of God. History has noted that a prophet is not a recessive but a dominant person. Leading people by dictating their preferences and aversions, he establishes himself as their leader and expects the maximum adoration for his person. Though he may claim himself to be the lieutenant or servant of God, in practice he acts, and is considered as God himself. God is a fall-guy who slays in the background and cannot be contacted by the seekers; all His devotees must seek Him through the medium of the prophet! It is for this reason that the Quran treats Muhammad and Allah as one; they both decide important matters together and nobody has the power to question their decisions. The Quran clearly states that Muhammad shall sit on the right hand side of Allah on the Day of Judgement. Very clearly, it shows the inadequacy of God, and this point is further driven home by the fact that nobody can become a Moslem just by believing in Allah; one must believe in both Allah and Muhammad. However, nobody can become a prophet unless there is a God. Revelation is a Semitic device. This is the reason that all Semitic tribes had their own Gods and every local ruler used to issue a legal code in the name of his God whose servant and representative he claimed to be. Though he commanded people as he pleased, he expressed his commandments as revelations from God. It had two great advantages, firstly, it made their rule look impersonal and as a duty laid upon them by God, and secondly, it gave their government a supernatural force which created a considerable national and social cohesion between people for having the same God who was anxious to steer their ship of life through stormy and serene conditions. As today, motherland or fatherland is the pivot of nationhood, in the Semitic culture, the tribal or national God has been the fulcrum of a group’s nationality. The concept of Yahwe has rendered this service to the Jews in diaspora. Without it, they could not have retained their consciousness of national unity despite being scattered in so many lands. The Prophet Muhammad was a wise person. He knew that the greatness of a leader depends on the greatness of his followers. Therefore, he wanted to create a great nation, and needed a backbone for restructuring an Arab nation, which at that time was bitterly divided into clans and tribes, having no national unity, and perpetually at one another’s throat. This was the reason that the Kaaba had become a pantheon, the abode of many gods, created by the foreign influences such as Greek, Roman, Iranian and South Asian. Thus, different Arab tribes had a varying degree of devotion to different gods. It was divisive, and injurious to the national unity. This is what necessitated the creation of a national God. Muhammad knew of a precedent i.e. Moses, who founded in the 13th century B.C. the community known as Israel. He was a great prophet and teacher. There is hardly any doubt that Muhammad was aware of the contents of the Torah, also called the Pentateuch, the five books of the Bible whose authorship is ascribed to Moses. This is borne out by the fact that Warqa Ibn Naufal, the cousin

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -THE UNCENSORED TRUTH ABOUT MUHAMMAD (PBUH – Please Beware of the Unsound Hatred) preached by him Islamic culture is fundamentalistic for being based on the hatred of non-Moslems. In an Islamic state, discrimination is to be maintained legally against an infidel by subjecting him to Jazya (Poll tax). In fact, Islamic culture is an extension of the Arab imperialism which has weakened the sense of national identity of the non-Arab Moslems to such an extent that they prefer to call themselves Moslems, the people associated with the Arab traditions instead of being South Asians, Pakistanis, Iranians or Afghanis. Thus they are easily excited in the name of Islam to do what they will not do ordinarily. Again, as it is the faith of every Moslem to rule the non-Moslems, it makes this culture extremely aggressive. It is an Islamic law that a Moslem must not befriend a non- Moslem even that be his mother, father, brother, sister or son. Nor must he participate in their rites of birth and burial. This is a disturbing aspect of Islam because it forbids a Moslem nation to be a member of an International Organisation such as the U.N.O. or to respect the concepts of human rights and civil liberties. It is dangerous to peace. Being a despotic culture, it is inimical to democracy, the system of social equality and people’s sovereignty. It is because in Islam, the government belongs to Allah; man must obey the laws made by God and the Prophet without questioning them, irrespective of how irrelevant and outdated they may be. Absolutism has always been the source of aggression. A peculiarity of Islam is that it glorifies violence and sanctifies murder and pillage of the non-Moslems and abduction of their women for spreading the name af Allah who claims to be All-Powerful, yet dependent on man for proclaiming His glory! He also calls Himself the Most Merciful, yet He sanctions the basest form of cruelty to those humans, who are not inclined to acknowledge Him as the Divine. Murder, rape, pillage, abduction, etc., are the worst forms of moral vices, yel Allah adores them as virtues for the (Mujahedeens) who subjugate the non-Moslems to the yoke of Islam. One is baffled by such a morality which has been invented to initiate aggression. A Moslem calls it "Jihad," the Holy War irrespective of the unholiness of the ways and means of waging it. Since it is impossible to be a great nation without practising greater morality, the Moslem morality as practised in Turkey, Egypt, Persia (Iran), Kazakastan, Tukmenistan, Khirghiza, South Asia, Indonesia, Iraq, Pakistan Libya and many other Moslem countiries has suffered for lack of national conscience and has weakened the formation of an international and global prespective among the Moslems who look upon the non-Moslem world as Dar-Ool-Harb. It is not Muhammad’s prophethood which is under discussion here. I am interested in his human stature, which was magnificent. In fact, he was the greatest national leader that mankind has known. This aspect of his personality is overshadowed by his claim of prophethood. Therefore, I should refer to his secular eminence, and emphasise that Muhammad was the Builder of the Arab Empire. His brilliant success in this field made a generous contribution towards his spiritual stature. Of course, Muhammad was an orphan, and thus had certain disadvantages, which were made good by a loving grandfather and an uncle. However, the dynastic merits that he had, surpassed his disabilites. He belonged to the tribe of Quresh who had gained a position of superiority for being the lords of the Meccan temple, the Kaaba, and thus came to be known as the people of Allah. Marital union with Khadija, was yet another blessing which Muhammad enjoyed for 26 years until her death. She was a loyal spouse whose wealth and support helped her husband considerably. It was she who confirmed his mission by becoming the first convert. Ali, his first cousin, whom he had adopted, was the second person and Zaid, his former slave, was the third. Abu Bakr, who deserves a good deal of credit for the success of Muhammad’s mission, was one of his old wealthy friends and an early convert. Thus Muhammad had a small core of devotees coupled with the means to achieve a determined ambition. After receiving command from God to preach His name, the Prophet did not spread the gospel publically for three years though he did acquaint his family-members with the new doctrine. However, what is perplexing, is the fact that if he was a prophet before Adam was created, why did he not spread the message until he was forty? Did he not neglect his duty for four decades? It is more likely that he was not aware of his prophethood. Revelation is the device which makes a man, (the revelationist) divine but reduces the stature of God who becomes dependent upon the revelationist i.e. the prophet, to execute His will. Getting adored and worshipped by man, is God’s greatest desire. Since it is man who serves as the medium of granting this burning wish to God, man ranks as God’s superior. Thus the device of revelation is derogatory to the dignity of God. Again, as nobody can see or contact God directly, it is the prophet, who speaks to people, becomes as God-incarnate. This fact is quite evident in the world of Islam because the Moslems love Muhammad more than God, and believe that the Prophet can bestow salvation on any one he likes but God cannot do so without the Prophet’s consent! However, revelation is a very clever principle because it makes the prophet a go-between-God-and-people. If things go well, the prophet gets the credit bul if they do not, he remains clear of the blame because it is God who is the cause of everything and whose will must be respected under all circumstances. The major benefit of revelation is that it projects God as All-Knowing, All-Powerful and Omnipresent. Therefore, it is much easier to lead and motivate believers in the name of God. Yet another superlative advantage of revelation is the prestige of the prophet whose person becomes sancrosanct and whose word is considered as the Word of God. History has noted that a prophet is not a recessive but a dominant person. Leading people by dictating their preferences and aversions, he establishes himself as their leader and expects the maximum adoration for his person. Though he may claim himself to be the lieutenant or servant of God, in practice he acts, and is considered as God himself. God is a fall-guy who slays in the background and cannot be contacted by the seekers; all His devotees must seek Him through the medium of the prophet! It is for this reason that the Quran treats Muhammad and Allah as one; they both decide important matters together and nobody has the power to question their decisions. The Quran clearly states that Muhammad shall sit on the right hand side of Allah on the Day of Judgement. Very clearly, it shows the inadequacy of God, and this point is further driven home by the fact that nobody can become a Moslem just by believing in Allah; one must believe in both Allah and Muhammad. However, nobody can become a prophet unless there is a God. Revelation is a Semitic device. This is the reason that all Semitic tribes had their own Gods and every local ruler used to issue a legal code in the name of his God whose servant and representative he claimed to be. Though he commanded people as he pleased, he expressed his commandments as revelations from God. It had two great advantages, firstly, it made their rule look impersonal and as a duty laid upon them by God, and secondly, it gave their government a supernatural force which created a considerable national and social cohesion between people for having the same God who was anxious to steer their ship of life through stormy and serene conditions. As today, motherland or fatherland is the pivot of nationhood, in the Semitic culture, the tribal or national God has been the fulcrum of a group’s nationality. The concept of Yahwe has rendered this service to the Jews in diaspora. Without it, they could not have retained their consciousness of national unity despite being scattered in so many lands. The Prophet Muhammad was a wise person. He knew that the greatness of a leader depends on the greatness of his followers. Therefore, he wanted to create a great nation, and needed a backbone for restructuring an Arab nation, which at that time was bitterly divided into clans and tribes, having no national unity, and perpetually at one another’s throat. This was the reason that the Kaaba had become a pantheon, the abode of many gods, created by the foreign influences such as Greek, Roman, Iranian and South Asian. Thus, different Arab tribes had a varying degree of devotion to different gods. It was divisive, and injurious to the national unity. This is what necessitated the creation of a national God. Muhammad knew of a precedent i.e. Moses, who founded in the 13th century B.C. the community known as Israel. He was a great prophet and teacher. There is hardly any doubt that Muhammad was aware of the contents of the Torah, also called the Pentateuch, the five books of the Bible whose authorship is ascribed to Moses. This is borne out by the fact that Warqa Ibn Naufal, the cousin of Muhammad’s wife, Khadija, was a learned Jew who interpreted Muhammad’s experience in his place of retreat at Hira. By declaring Islam as the religion of Abraham, Muhammad was able to borrow most of the Jewish canons and methods. Though he originally sought the amalgam of the Jews with his own people to capitalise on the Jewish experience, and thus heaped a lavish praise on their excellence and made Jerusalem the Kibla

Response:

THE UNCENSORED TRUTH ABOUT MUHAMMAD (PBUH – Please Beware of the Unsound Hatred) preached by him Islamic culture is fundamentalistic for being based on the hatred of non-Moslems. In an Islamic state, discrimination is to be maintained legally against an infidel by subjecting him to Jazya (Poll tax). In fact, Islamic culture is an extension of the Arab imperialism which has weakened the sense of national identity of the non-Arab Moslems to such an extent that they prefer to call themselves Moslems, the people associated with the Arab traditions instead of being South Asians, Pakistanis, Iranians or Afghanis. Thus they are easily excited in the name of Islam to do what they will not do ordinarily. Again, as it is the faith of every Moslem to rule the non-Moslems, it makes this culture extremely aggressive. It is an Islamic law that a Moslem must not befriend a non- Moslem even that be his mother, father, brother, sister or son. Nor must he participate in their rites of birth and burial. This is a disturbing aspect of Islam because it forbids a Moslem nation to be a member of an International Organisation such as the U.N.O. or to respect the concepts of human rights and civil liberties. It is dangerous to peace. Being a despotic culture, it is inimical to democracy, the system of social equality and people’s sovereignty. It is because in Islam, the government belongs to Allah; man must obey the laws made by God and the Prophet without questioning them, irrespective of how irrelevant and outdated they may be. Absolutism has always been the source of aggression. A peculiarity of Islam is that it glorifies violence and sanctifies murder and pillage of the non-Moslems and abduction of their women for spreading the name af Allah who claims to be All-Powerful, yet dependent on man for proclaiming His glory! He also calls Himself the Most Merciful, yet He sanctions the basest form of cruelty to those humans, who are not inclined to acknowledge Him as the Divine. Murder, rape, pillage, abduction, etc., are the worst forms of moral vices, yel Allah adores them as virtues for the (Mujahedeens) who subjugate the non-Moslems to the yoke of Islam. One is baffled by such a morality which has been invented to initiate aggression. A Moslem calls it "Jihad," the Holy War irrespective of the unholiness of the ways and means of waging it. Since it is impossible to be a great nation without practising greater morality, the Moslem morality as practised in Turkey, Egypt, Persia (Iran), Kazakastan, Tukmenistan, Khirghiza, South Asia, Indonesia, Iraq, Pakistan Libya and many other Moslem countiries has suffered for lack of national conscience and has weakened the formation of an international and global prespective among the Moslems who look upon the non-Moslem world as Dar-Ool-Harb. It is not Muhammad’s prophethood which is under discussion here. I am interested in his human stature, which was magnificent. In fact, he was the greatest national leader that mankind has known. This aspect of his personality is overshadowed by his claim of prophethood. Therefore, I should refer to his secular eminence, and emphasise that Muhammad was the Builder of the Arab Empire. His brilliant success in this field made a generous contribution towards his spiritual stature. Of course, Muhammad was an orphan, and thus had certain disadvantages, which were made good by a loving grandfather and an uncle. However, the dynastic merits that he had, surpassed his disabilites. He belonged to the tribe of Quresh who had gained a position of superiority for being the lords of the Meccan temple, the Kaaba, and thus came to be known as the people of Allah. Marital union with Khadija, was yet another blessing which Muhammad enjoyed for 26 years until her death. She was a loyal spouse whose wealth and support helped her husband considerably. It was she who confirmed his mission by becoming the first convert. Ali, his first cousin, whom he had adopted, was the second person and Zaid, his former slave, was the third. Abu Bakr, who deserves a good deal of credit for the success of Muhammad’s mission, was one of his old wealthy friends and an early convert. Thus Muhammad had a small core of devotees coupled with the means to achieve a determined ambition. After receiving command from God to preach His name, the Prophet did not spread the gospel publically for three years though he did acquaint his family-members with the new doctrine. However, what is perplexing, is the fact that if he was a prophet before Adam was created, why did he not spread the message until he was forty? Did he not neglect his duty for four decades? It is more likely that he was not aware of his prophethood. Revelation is the device which makes a man, (the revelationist) divine but reduces the stature of God who becomes dependent upon the revelationist i.e. the prophet, to execute His will. Getting adored and worshipped by man, is God’s greatest desire. Since it is man who serves as the medium of granting this burning wish to God, man ranks as God’s superior. Thus the device of revelation is derogatory to the dignity of God. Again, as nobody can see or contact God directly, it is the prophet, who speaks to people, becomes as God-incarnate. This fact is quite evident in the world of Islam because the Moslems love Muhammad more than God, and believe that the Prophet can bestow salvation on any one he likes but God cannot do so without the Prophet’s consent! However, revelation is a very clever principle because it makes the prophet a go-between-God-and-people. If things go well, the prophet gets the credit bul if they do not, he remains clear of the blame because it is God who is the cause of everything and whose will must be respected under all circumstances. The major benefit of revelation is that it projects God as All-Knowing, All-Powerful and Omnipresent. Therefore, it is much easier to lead and motivate believers in the name of God. Yet another superlative advantage of revelation is the prestige of the prophet whose person becomes sancrosanct and whose word is considered as the Word of God. History has noted that a prophet is not a recessive but a dominant person. Leading people by dictating their preferences and aversions, he establishes himself as their leader and expects the maximum adoration for his person. Though he may claim himself to be the lieutenant or servant of God, in practice he acts, and is considered as God himself. God is a fall-guy who slays in the background and cannot be contacted by the seekers; all His devotees must seek Him through the medium of the prophet! It is for this reason that the Quran treats Muhammad and Allah as one; they both decide important matters together and nobody has the power to question their decisions. The Quran clearly states that Muhammad shall sit on the right hand side of Allah on the Day of Judgement. Very clearly, it shows the inadequacy of God, and this point is further driven home by the fact that nobody can become a Moslem just by believing in Allah; one must believe in both Allah and Muhammad. However, nobody can become a prophet unless there is a God. Revelation is a Semitic device. This is the reason that all Semitic tribes had their own Gods and every local ruler used to issue a legal code in the name of his God whose servant and representative he claimed to be. Though he commanded people as he pleased, he expressed his commandments as revelations from God. It had two great advantages, firstly, it made their rule look impersonal and as a duty laid upon them by God, and secondly, it gave their government a supernatural force which created a considerable national and social cohesion between people for having the same God who was anxious to steer their ship of life through stormy and serene conditions. As today, motherland or fatherland is the pivot of nationhood, in the Semitic culture, the tribal or national God has been the fulcrum of a group’s nationality. The concept of Yahwe has rendered this service to the Jews in diaspora. Without it, they could not have retained their consciousness of national unity despite being scattered in so many lands. The Prophet Muhammad was a wise person. He knew that the greatness of a leader depends on the greatness of his followers. Therefore, he wanted to create a great nation, and needed a backbone for restructuring an Arab nation, which at that time was bitterly divided into clans and tribes, having no national unity, and perpetually at one another’s throat. This was the reason that the Kaaba had become a pantheon, the abode of many gods, created by the foreign influences such as Greek, Roman, Iranian and South Asian. Thus, different Arab tribes had a varying degree of devotion to different gods. It was divisive, and injurious to the national unity. This is what necessitated the creation of a national God. Muhammad knew of a precedent i.e. Moses, who founded in the 13th century B.C. the community known as Israel. He was a great prophet and teacher. There is hardly any doubt that Muhammad was aware of the contents of the Torah, also called the Pentateuch, the five books of the Bible whose authorship is ascribed to Moses. This is borne out by the fact that Warqa Ibn Naufal, the cousin of Muhammad’s wife, Khadija, was a learned Jew who interpreted Muhammad’s experience in his place of retreat at Hira. By declaring Islam as the religion of Abraham, Muhammad was able to borrow most of the Jewish canons and methods. Though he originally sought the amalgam of the Jews with his own people to capitalise on the Jewish experience, and thus heaped a lavish praise on their excellence and made Jerusalem the Kibla for Islam, but when he realised that the Jews were extremely reluctant to lose their national identity, he condemned them outrightly to raise a nation which was purely Arab. For this purpose, following the Jewish model: 1. He wanted to establish the existence of a God easily

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