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 marvellous, 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 fulfilments.
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)
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* For further details of the event, see hadith no. 5591 of Mishkat, Vol. 3 p.
144-145.
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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.
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* 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?
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*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.
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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:
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* "I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will
not leave any but Muslims." (Hadith no. 4366, Muslim)
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"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.
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