Islam appeared on the world scene some 630 years after the birth of Christianity. By the time Mohammed proclaimed himself a prophet in 610 A.D., Christianity had already spread over those countries in Europe, Asia and Africa which had formed parts of the Roman Empire at the height of its expansion. One would say that the desert of Arabia did not count for much in the eyes of the Christian missionaries. Some however had visited the southern parts of the peninsula and made some converts. But the 'chosen ones' had been left to live alone in the company of Arab 'heathen' and the accursed Jew' who had quite a few colonies in the oases spread over the central and northern parts of the desert. Little did the Christian missionaries suspect that the 'heathens' of Arabia were to challenge very soon the dictates of the Christian Church.

'Islam' is derived from the Arabic word 'salam' and has been presented to mean 'peace' or 'surrender', depending upon the time and place of presentation. IN A COUNTRY AND AT A TIME WHERE AND WHEN MOSLEMS ARE NOT IN POWER, IT IS PRESENTED AS 'PEACE'. BUT AS SOON AS THE MOSLEMS BECOME DOMINANT IT MEANS 'SURRENDER', AND THAT TOO AT THE POINT OF THE SWORD. The surrender is supposed to be made to Allah the only God according to Islam. But Allah is sure to spurn the surrender unless it is preceded by a surrender to the prophet, the sole Spokesman for Allah. In effect, it means a surrender to whichever mullah happens to be hailed as authentic interpreter of the Koran and the Hadis, in the eyes of the sultan who wields the sword, the sole arbiter in matters moral and Spiritual. In fact, even in Islamic jurisprudence, the Arabic word 'faisalah' which means 'settlement' is derived from the Word 'faisal' which means 'sword'. While Jesus was not the founder of the Christian Church and had nothing to do with the dogmas of Christianity, the 'umm' or 'millet', which means 'society', became the vehicle of Islam. The 'millet' was founded and given a finished form, as well as a fanatic ideology, by Mohammed himself. Again, while the personality, preachings and performance of Jesus can be pitted against the Church and its dogma, there is little in Islam which is not derived directly from the personality, preachings and performance of its prophet.

a) ALLAH AND HIS PROPHET

What exactly happened to Mohammed in the mountain cave outside Mecca has remained a controversial question. We are told by the theologians of Islam that his 'experience' is not verifiable by any other human being, nor his 'revelation' subject to human reason. One has to accept Mohammed's word that he was the 'last' and the 'most perfect' prophet, and that whatever he said or did in a state of 'wahi' (trance) or otherwise was the pronouncement and precription from 'almighty' Allah.

Those who took Mohammed at his word and accepted his prophethood were acclaimed by him as 'momins' while those who rejected his mission were denounced as kafirs. The word 'momin' means 'believer' in Mohammed and Allah. The 'momins' did not have to be better men than the kafirs in terms of consciousness or character. They had only to recite the 'kalima' (incantation) - 'there is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is His prophet' - and they become qualified to kill as many kafirs as they could or pleased, looting and burning their belongings and enslaving their women and children in the process.

Allah himself had been a part of the Arab pantheon at Mecca for many centuries past. He had shared his divinity with a large number of other gods and goddesses worshipped by the Arabs in Mecca, though he enjoyed a certain primacy. The Bedouin, who roamed the desert, flocked to Mecca at appointed times for pilgrimage, and worshipped his gods and goddesses with whatever offerings he could spare from his meager possessions. Neither the Bedouins nor the settled citizens of Arabia had ever suspected that their Allah was soon going to become the sole cock of the walk and the cause of a bloody and prolonged strife in many parts of the world.

It is also debatable why Mohammed chose Allah alone, out of a large-sized Arab pantheon. He could have easily bestowed this singular honor on any other god or goddess in Mecca, or in the temple of some other town in Arabia. The gods and goddesses had obviously no choice in the matter. THE ONLY RATIONAL EXPLANATION IS THAT THE SOUND OF THE NAME ALLAH WAS NEAR TO THE SOUND OF ELOHIM [1], THE GOD OF THE JEWS. Jesus had also cried out to Eli before he died on the cross. There are too many Judaic elements in Islam to rule out this explanation. But whatever the reason for Mohammed's choice, there is no reason to doubt that Allah would not have assumed the status he did without the help of Mohammed. It is small wonder that Allah in his turn felt so tender toward Mohammed, and proclaimed the latter to be the last and the most perfect prophet in human history.

Things started happening soon after the covenant between Allah and his only prophet was struck in the mountain cave outside Mecca, through the good offices of an angel named Gabriel. The 'Qurayza' who were the dominant tribe in Mecca would not have minded a number of their clan acclaiming Allah as the only God. They were used to such prophets appearing in Mecca and other Arabian towns, every now and then. They were a liberal people in matters of religion and did not mind how a man fancied himself or his God. But they were painfully surprised by the proclivities of this new prophet. He had started frequenting the forum outside the kaaba to denounce, in a rather strong language, all that they had cherished so far - their gods and goddesses, their cultural traditions, their social system, and what not - day in and day out.

Moslem mullahs have made a martyr out of Mohammed during his 12 years of prophethood at Mecca. They have explained away or justified the vindictiveness of Mohammed toward his own people of 'Qurayza' by citing the 'many injustices including violence' which Mohammed had 'suffered' at Mecca. No contemporary records of the 'Qurayza' have survived to tell the other side of the story. But there is enough evidence in the contemporary Islamic record to clinch the issue as to who was the aggressor and who the aggressed against. Here was a man sending all ancestors of the Arabs, including his own mother and father, to an eternal hell, and promising the same hell to the present and future generations of the Arabs, unless they accepted him as the only prophet of the only Allah. The 'Qurayza' would have been a dead people indeed if they had not reacted, and told Mohammed to leave their city for wherever he could find a more attentive audience.

It is for this 'crime' of the 'Qurayza' that Moslem mullahs have blackened the religion and culture of pre-Islamic Arabia as 'jahiliya' or ignorance. THE MULLAHS FORGET THAT THE ARABIC LANGUAGE WHICH IS THEIR PROUD POSSESSION IN THE KORAN AND THE HADIS WAS NOT INVENTED BY THEIR PROPHET AT THE MOMENT, NOR 'REVEALED' BY ALLAH OUT OF THE BLUE. The rich language had a long ancestry, and reflected the genius of a culture which was deep as well as endowed with diverse dimensions. The pre-Islamic Arabs were a pagan people who allowed a god or goddess each according to his or her need and who respected worship from each according to his or her capacity. They had many other qualities of head and heart which the post-Islamic Arab society and culture came to lose progressively. A glimpse of pre-Islamic Arabia is given in appendix IV.

Islam professes to have brought peace to the warring tribes of Arabia. But its own chronicles tell of nothing except wars, more fierce than ever before, which the Arabs fought, first among themselves, and later on with their near and distant neighbors on all sides, soon after they were forced to surrender to Islam.

b) THE 'MOMINS' AND THE KAFIRS

If we leave aside the myths and legends which Islam borrowed from Judaism - lock, stock and barrel - the message of Islam was very simple, almost simplistic.

To start with, it divided the Arabian society in two tight compartments, the 'momins' and the kafirs. The 'momins' were asked to muster together into a militant'millat'- armed to the teeth, and ready to use force and/or fraud according as occasion demanded. The 'millet' surprised the settlements and the caravans of the kafirs in a series of armed raids or ghazzuas'. The kafirs who were always caught unawares had no choice but to surrender, many a time without a single skirmish. The swordsmen of the 'millet' selected and slaughtered, in cold blood, all kafirs who were capable of bearing arms. The movable and immovable property of the kafirs were appropriated by the 'millet'. The women and children of the kafirs were captured and sold as slaves or freed for ransom, after members of the 'millet' had their pick of the maidens

Once in a while, the 'millet' discovered that the kafirs were in no mood to surrender in spite of the surprise, and that the armed conflict might turn out to its disadvantage. Then the 'millet' made overtures of peace on the condition that the kafirs got converted to Islam. The lives and families of the converts were spared but not their properties which were taken away as booty.

The mullahs take pride that Islam did away with tribal ties and united all Arabs in one brotherhood. It must be admitted that the 'millet's' method of doing away with tribal ties was very effective indeed. Quite often one or several members of a family or tribe happened to be 'momins', while their other kinsmen were ranged against them as kafirs. The 'millet' encouraged a brother to engage his brother in armed combat, so that one of them was sure to get killed. In case of kafirs who had to be slaughtered after the war, the 'millet' searched its own ranks for the nearest kinsmen to perform the 'pious' deed. A 'momin' was supposed to retain or recognise no relationship except that of a common creed. All other humanities were now rendered irrelevant.

The 'mominst were not of course risking their lives for nothing. Four-fifths of the booty and prisoners captured in war was theirs in accordance with a 'law' laid down by the prophet himself. The prisoners included quite a number of fair and young maidens who could set any tmomin's' mouth watering. No wonder that the infant state of Islam at Medina was able to assemble very soon quite a number of 'dedicated' swordsmen without spending a penny from its own coffers. The principle of free enterprise applied to plunder and pillage was functioning with full force.

In case a 'momin' got killed in the 'holy war', he was promised a permanent place in heaven. The Koran said: "They shall recline on jeweled couches face to face, and there shall wait on them immortal youths with bowls and ewers and a cup of purest wine (that will neither pain their heads nor take away their reason); with fruits of their own choice and flesh of fowls that they relish. And theirs shall be dark-eyed houris, chaste as hidden pearls: a guerdon for their deeds." According to one tradition, quoted by Will Durant, each 'momin' was promised 72 of these houris, who would never age or stop being solicitous According to other traditions, the number could be many times more. It was surely an added attraction.

The balance one-fifth of the booty and prisoners of war were assigned to the Islamic state which the prophet had set up at Medina to start with, and which moved to other cities in due course, under the caliph or 'amir-ul-mominin'. This one-fifth had to be the pick of the bunch before members of a military expedition could claim their share. No wonder that the Islamic state at Medina was very soon rolling in riches. The wealth which flowed to the Islamic state in later times grew progressively in volume and variety, and the stage was set for the flowering of that Islamic 'culture' in which the 'millet' takes such mighty pride. The prophet and the earlier caliphs, who controlled and commanded these riches, were inclined to lead a life of 'poverty'. This 'piety' impressed the 'momins' who had to be satisfied with much less, and served to create many myths about Islamic 'ideal of equality'. The "equality' never made any difference to the despotic power which the prophet and later on, the caliphs had at their disposal.

c) SWEEP OF THE ISLAMIC SWORD

The prophet of Islam had proclaimed that Allah had assigned the whole world to the 'millet'. Not a patch was to be left for the kafirs to dwell. And no corner of the world was to be bereft of mosques from which the 'muezzin' could call the 'faithful' to prayer. But it seems that Allahts knowledge of geography was not so good. His prophet had not heard of many lands beyond Syria, Iraq, Persia, Ethiopia and Egypt. He knew nothing of El Cid's Spain, or Conrad de Montierrat's France or the land of Richard the Lion-Hearted. He knew nothing about India and the Hindus which want of knowledge was to lead to an interesting theological controversy later on.

Notwithstanding this lack of geographical knowledge, the prophet divided the world into two contending spheres: 'darulslam' (the zone of peace where the Moslems were the dominant element) and 'darul-Harb' (the zone of war, where the non-Moslems or kafirs held sway). The inhabitants of 'darul-lslam', that is, the Moslems were commanded to wage unceasing war upon 'darul-Harb' till the latter was converted to 'darul-lslam'. The frontiers of the Islamic empire were to be pushed progressively in all directions. The theory of Islamic imperialism was thus perfected by the prophet himself, like the later-day theory of communist imperialism which Lenin elaborated as international proletarian revolution'.

The whole of Arabia had been terrorised into surrendering to the sword of Islam by the time the prophet passed away in 632 A.D. The militarised 'millet' which had 'elected' an 'amir-ulmominin' in the same year, now started seeking fresh fields for the misson of Islam. Persia had exhausted herself in unceasing war with the Roman Empire. The provinces of the Roman Empire in Asia and North Africa were seething with rebellion against persecution of 'heresies' by the Church at Rome which had by now reduced every other ecclesiastical dispensation to a subordinate status. Persia and the Roman provinces fell in quick succession after the armies of Islam had first found out the feebleness of their defenses, and then delivered decisive blows.

Thus within a hundred years after the death of the prophet, the 'amir-ul-mominint at Damascus became the master of a mighty empire, spread over Spain, Sicily, North Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khorasan and Sindh. It was a military triumph unprecedented in the annals of human history so far. The triumph could be easily explained in terms al political and military causes and consequences. But the mullahs chose to attribute it to the might of Allah which has been 'fully and finally thrown on the side of Islam'. Henceforth, there was no justification for anyone to dwell in the 'darkness of 'kufr". The 'light' of Islam was now accessible to all.

The newly conquered countries were inhabited not by thinly spread out tribal settlements but by populous societies, urban and rural. It was no more possible for the 'momins' to kill all kafirs who rejected Islam or capture and carry away all their women and children. Besides, the properties the kafirs possessed, and the lands on which they lived were so voluminous and vast. The mullahs, therefore, developed a more elaborate theory of an Islamic state, out of the embryo of principles which the prophet had already propounded.

The 'millet' led by the 'amir-ul-mominin' was, of course, the master class under the Islamic state. But this state had a mission larger than providing power and privilege to the 'millet'. The state had to see to it that the kafirs who had been conquered were brought into the fold of Islam as fast as possible. The kafirs were, therefore, given a new status- that of 'zimmis' to start with. The 'zimmis' were allowed to live under the aegis of an Islamic state, provided they agreed to pay 'jiziya' (poll-tax) and other discriminatory taxes, and accepted a status of second class citizens placed under draconian disabilities. It was expected that the burden of taxes and the disgrace of disabilities would force the kafirs to get converted into Islam before long.

The expectation was more than fulfilled in most countries except Spain, Sicily and India. THE KAFIRS IN OTHER COUNTRIES WERE NOT ONLY CONVERTED TO ISLAM BUT WERE ALSO BRAINWASHED TO FULMINATE AGAINST THEIR ANCIENT HERITAGE, AND FORGET THAT THEY HAD BEEN CONQUERED BY A FOREIGN RACE AND CREED.

The mullahs applaud the concept of a 'zimmi' and describe it as a privileged position because, Unlike the 'momins', the 'zimmis' are exempted from military servicer. It is difficult to know how the mullahs arrived at this self-congratulatory conclusion. They certainly did not consult any kafir to find out if he wanted to become a 'zimmi' and be 'exempted' from military service. THE WHOLE THING WAS A DELIBERATE DEVICE ADOPTED IN ORDER TO DISARM AND EMASCULATE A SUBJECT POPULATION. People who could not bear arms were in no position to defend themselves against Islamic barbarities which became more pronounced with the passing of every day, in direct proportion to the establishment of 'salam' or Peace' under the Islamic state.

The Islamic state allowed some time to the kafirs to 'mend' their ways and receive the 'true revelation'. But it had no patience for the religious and cultural institutions of the kafirs. IT SYSTEMATICALLY DESTROYED AND DESECRATED THE TEMPLES AND SHRINES OF THE KAFIRS, KILLED THEIR PRIESTS, BURNT THEIR SCRIPTURES AS WELL AS SECULAR LITERATURE, CLOSED THEIR SCHOOLS AND MONASTERIES AND HEAPED INSULT AND INJURY ON EVERY PRECEPT AND PRACTICE THAT THEY HAD CHERISHED SO FAR. It completed the job of 'cleaning up' the scene thoroughly. The conquered lands were at the same time 'adorned' with mosques and 'mazars' [2] in which the mullahs mugged up the Koran and the Hadis, the sufis sermonised on the sublimation they had 'attained'.

d) ISLAM: AN ALIBI FOR IMPERIALISM

For several centuries after its advent, Islam was an alibi for Arab imperialism. And it was an imperialism of a type which the world had not known so far. THE ARABS NOT ONLY IMPOSED THEIR RUTHLESS RULE AND TOTALITARIAN CREED ON THE COUNTRIES THEY CONQUERED; THEY ALSO POPULATED THESE COUNTRIES WITH A PROLIFIC PROGENy WHCH THEY PROCREATED ON NATIVE WOMEN. Every Arab worth his race 'married' scores, sometimes hundreds of these helpless women after their menfolk had all been killed. Divorce of a wedded wife had been made very easy by the 'law' of Islam. A man could go on marrying and divorcing at the rate of several women during the span of a single day and night. What was more convenient, there was no restriction on the number of concubines a man could keep. The Arab Conquerors used these male privileges in full measure. And in a matter of a hundred years, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Egypt and North Africa which had been non-Arab countries for countless ages became Arabic-speaking countries. Arabic did not spread like English, French or other similar languages that spread through commercial and diplomatic excellence of the lending nation and filtered through the top strata of the receiving: countries. Arabic was injected through all strata of the conquered population which did not have much choice in the matter. Thus we have a series of countries that are 'Arabic' in race, culture and language extending from Iraq to Morocco. CONVERSION WAS NOT CONFINED TO CREED ALONE, IT COVERED ONE'S ANCESTRY AS WELL.

The Arab power declined in due course. The mission of Islam was next taken over by the Turks whom the Arabs had converted earlier. It was the Turks who succeeded where the Arabs had failed - conquering Asia Minor, invading Central Asia, India and Eastern Europe. ASIA MINOR WAS WRESTED FROM CHRISTIANITY, CONVERTED EN MASSE, AND POPULATED BY A PROLIFIC TURKISH PROGENY. IT IS KNOWN AS TURKEY TODAY. Central Asia, which was already Turkish, became Islamic as well. It was only in Eastern Europe and India that the Turks failed in the final round. But in both places, they crystallized colonies of native Moslems to carry forward the politics of conversion under changed circumstances. How far that politics will progress in the future depends upon whether the kafir societies in these lands understand it or not, at present.

Footnotes

  1. See appendix IV for another view.
  2. 'Mazar': Tomb