by Sujit Das
I live at Mumbai, the commercial city of India. Because of the distinctive nature of my job, I travel a lot, mostly abroad.
After the destruction of the twin towers of WTC, my interest grew in Islam. During those initial days I was confused. Muslims all over the world point their fingers at Western society and comment on how degenerate Westerners have no sense of family and that as a consequence, crime, immorality and violence are rampant all over the West. But the truth is completely different. The highest incidences of violent crimes such as murder, rape, child molestation, dismemberment and armed robbery happen in Islamic countries. In Non-Islamic countries, wherever terrorist and subversive activities take place, one is sure to find the presence of Muslims. Slowly I took it a serious hobby to make an in-depth study of Islam. My initial questions were,
1. What exactly is it that makes Muslims so viciously engaged in violent crimes against the rest of humanity?
2. Why are all terrorist activities that target innocent non-Muslim victims always abetted by Muslim terrorists?
3. What is it that makes the Muslim mind so subject to criminality and the display of such violent tendencies right from his/her childhood days?
Shortly I concluded that Islam cannot be a divine religion, rather it is a “mind control devise”. Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was not a Prophet of God, rather a charlatan and Qur’an is not a holy book but a terrorist manual. However I continued my study on Islam and tried to examine the Qur’an to have a better understanding of its author. After studying Qur’an and Shahi Hadith collections, I came to the conclusion that the Prophet was suffering from a mental illness and he was delusional. So I dipped into psychology books to understand the nature of his mental illness. After spending a couple of years with the books of psychology and psychotherapy I realized that Muhammad was suffering from Malignant Narcissism and Neurotic Disorder.
I have absolutely no hate for the Muslims. In fact many of my close friends are Muslims. How can I hate the Muslims, they are the first victims of Islam. Every Muslim is an abductee from the civilization in which he once belonged and put into a mental slavery. Same diagnosis is applicable to the Arabs also. Though they did not have to adopt foreign customs and language, which made the transition to Islam less disruptive, they too were cut off from their original pagan culture.
I hate the ideology which enslaves the Muslims and make them terrorists. My stanch enemy is Islam and not the Muslims. I want to dismantle this doctrine of hate and murder. My intention is not only to confront Islamic jihad but at the same time to rescue the Muslims from the evil grip of Islam. I want to see the Muslims returning back within the fold of humanity by rejecting Islam.
Introduction
“ Muslims need to write an honest biography of the Prophet that does not shun the truth, least of all cover it up with the dishonest subterfuge of condescending the Western scholars ”.
Ibn Warraq (2000, p. 21)
Towards the beginning of last century, there was a rising interest among the Western scholars to investigate the origins of Islam and its founder, the Prophet Muhammad. These scholars had used highest standard of historical scholarship available at that time. Their main aim was to collect authentic information about Muhammad and the rise of early Islam by carefully separating the facts from fictions. In some ways the research on Muhammad was inspired by a similar type of investigation of Christianity made famous by Albert Schweitzer’s work The Quest of the Historical Jesus.
All the religions except Islam have their origins covered in mystery. Islam, as Renan (Warraq, 2000, p. 15) used the famous phrase, “[Islam] was born in the full light of history”, stands firm and clear in front of us. Unlike semi-mythical religious figures, e.g., Moses, Christ, Adi Shankara, Buddha or Mahavira Jain; the founder of Islam is as well known to us as that of any other historical personality. Several thousand short stories about Muhammad were collected in the Shahi Hadith.
In view of the above; though it appears to be comparatively easier to write an analytical history of Islam and its founder, actually it is not so easy, as Spencer (2006, p. 19) commented, “Most Western non-Muslims know virtually nothing about the Prophet of Islam”. But the question is, how many practicing Muslims know their Prophet well? Has an honest biography of Muhammad yet been written? There are enough pious and totally unobjective traditions of Muhammad preserved by the Muslim religious community, but what is lacking in these sources is honesty. Even today, numerous works in Arabic and other Muslim majority languages appear each year. These books try to portray Muhammad as a holy man, a seer, visionary and miracle worker; which are far away from truth. The reason, no Muslim can write an honest biography of their Prophet, is that the biography of Muhammad is a subject that is taboo, and as Rodinson (1981, p. 24) commented, “… is permitted only when written as apologetic and edifying literature”. Hence, objective historical research on Muhammad has long been severely handicapped both by the resistance of the Muslim societies to Western analysis of their sacred traditions and by the apologetic approaches of many Western scholars who had compromised their investigation for fear of offending Muslim sensibilities. Therefore, most of the books today tell us about Muhammad of faith not the Muhammad of history.
However in recent times, thanks to all the Muslim, ex-Muslim and non-Muslim writers; a lot of scholarly work had been produced “ which could offend certain readers”. These freethinkers and scholars have endangered their lives by revealing to the public information about Muhammad and Islam that public had never heard before. For this reason; Theo Van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death in Netherlands and his associate Ayaan Hirsi Ali had to live with bodyguards and armored cars (Ali, 2007, p. xii), Taslima Nasrin has been living in exile since 1994, Faraj Foda was shot dead in front of his office in Cairo, Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd fled out of Egypt to escape the death penalty, and Sayyid Mahmoud al-Qimni was forced to recant all his writings. Unfortunately, before the outside world would get a chance to read their works, these writers were silenced through murder, terrorization, and death-threat, and their writings were banned in the Muslim world (Ahmed, 2006, p. ix). But who can stop the truth from spreading?
With the help of these scholars, who had broken the myth of Muhammad and exposed the Muhammad of history, we can trace Muhammad’s fluctuations of thought year by year, his actions, his achievements, family life, abnormal sexual behavior, strength and weaknesses. If we compare our findings with that of modern development of psychological studies, the image of Muhammad that surfaces, is far away from any holy religious figure but that of a person who was suffering from severe mental illness. And if we probe further deep into the mystery of Allah and carefully make a distinction between superstition and science, we have hardly any doubt left that it was his mental illness and hallucinatory experiences which were solely responsible for creating Allah, Qur’an and Islam altogether.
Chapter1: The Flashback of a False Prophet
1.1: Muhammad’s Strange Prophetic Claim
The religion of Islam was developed from the prophetic claim, preaching and life of Muhammad early in the seventh century of the Christian era. During that time, the old Arabian paganism was in a process of slow disintegration, and Judaism and Christianity were widely gaining popularity. Several self-proclaimed Prophets had arisen with various degrees of success in convincing people. In the beginning Muhammad was such a self-proclaimed Prophet, but with time he successfully synchronized certain basic elements of Judaism and Christianity with the pagan practices and added some nationalistic Arab pride and it has become a world religion today.
From the authentic Islamic sources it appears that Muhammad thought of himself as in the succession of the Old Testament men of faith who was sent on a divine mission by the one and only God, Allah. Throughout the Qur’an he pretended that his mission is the sequel of the previous Semitic Prophets. Like Noah, Jonah, and Elijah, he preached a religious message in the name of this Supreme Lord; like Moses he issued legislation in His name; and like Abr
aham, he was not only a maintainer of righteousness but also the founder of a community of the righteous. But unlike Christianity, his religious endeavor was an utter failure unless he was able to draw the sword and use it successfully to impose his religion on others.
Muhammad declared himself a Prophet of Allah when he was about forty years old. Bukhari’s Hadith (1.1.3) recorded Muhammad’s first experience with the angel Gabriel that was less heavenly and more demonic. Once in the cave of Hira the angel Gabriel came to him with some written messages from Allah and asked him to read. Muhammad replied, “I do not know how to read”. Three times Muhammad expressed his inability to read, but Gabriel forcefully gave him the message of Allah – the famous first revelations of the Qur’an of the Surah ninety-six.
In the name of thy Lord Who created (Q: 96.1),
Created man from a clot (Q: 96.2).
Read: And thy Lord is the Most Bounteous (Q: 96.3)
Who taught (to write) with the pen (Q: 96.4)
Taught man that which he knew not (Q: 96.5)
The fact that Allah’s messages started descending upon Muhammad in a violent way is entirely sufficient for a rational person to have doubt on the truthfulness of the Qur’anic revelations. Surprisingly, Muhammad himself was the first person to doubt the genuineness of the revelations. Bewildered and terrorized, he hurried back to his wife; “What’s wrong with me?” he asks his wife. Just as kids hide under the covers when they are afraid of monsters in the dark, Muhammad told his wife to wrap him in a blanket. He did not want to see the cause of terror again, and thought that he was either going mad or possessed by an evil spirit.
After this first revelation, Allah was silent for about three years. Muhammad was so sad that he wanted to commit suicide. Several times he intended to throw himself from the top of high mountains but every time he went up the top in order to throw himself down, Gabriel would appear before him and said, “O Muhammad! You are indeed Allah’s Apostle in truth”. This is how Muhammad began to believe that he was a messenger of God – a messenger of such a demonic God whose influence caused him to attempt suicide.
How many Muslims are aware of Muhammad’s suicide attempts? Few Islamic leaders will teach this to their fellow Muslims because it casts a stain upon Muhammad; it brings doubt to his trustworthiness and the credibility of his assumed “heavenly” experience. Some Muslims deny the sources of the story while others, knowledgeable about the sources, respond by saying that the shock of the experience caused him to attempt suicide.
Allah confirms in the Qur’an (33.40) that Muhammad was the seal of the Prophets. According to Islamic sources (Muslim: 30.5790; Sunnan Abu Dawud: 32.4071; Bukhari: 1.4.189), Muhammad had a big mole as big as a pigeon’s egg on his back between the shoulders which he claimed as the proof of his prophethood. There is no religious scripture which confirms that a mole between the shoulders is a sign of prophethood. What he showed as a proof of Allah’s seal was a physical defect which anyone can have. There is no divinity in this. It is simply beyond the capacity of a logical thinker how this is supposed to be one of the proofs that convince people of Muhammad’s prophethood!
Muhammad gave no concrete proof of his heavenly appointment. Did he lie shamelessly to fool the Arab pagans? Was he under delusion? The validity of Islam depends absolutely on the reliability of Muhammad. If there is no solid reason to conclude that Muhammad was the true messenger of God, we may reasonably suppose that Islam is false. If we can prove that Muhammad was untrustworthy, Islam self-destructs. The scholars, who are most familiar with Arabic sources and have clear understanding of the life and time of Muhammad, e.g., Margoliouth, Hurgronje, Lammens, Arthur Jeffery, Clair-Tisdall, Andrew Rippin, Ibn Warraq and Caetani, are the most decisive against Muhammad’s prophetic claim. The more we read their valuable research works, the more we find it difficult to disagree with them. Muhammad declared that lying is acceptable if it is used to propagate the cause of Islam. This particular statement should make us wonder how often Muhammad took advantage of this principle while claiming his title of a Prophet and preaching his message.
If we take Qur’an as the primary foundation of Muhammad’s prophethood, the doubt is still not dispelled at all. We need to ascertain how firm ground does it provide. There are serious doubts about the trustworthiness of Qur’an also. Like Muhammad’s prophetic claim, Qur’an itself is self-declarative – there is no external proof. This book describes itself by various generic terms, comments, explains, distinguishes, puts itself in contrast with other religious books and claims to be holy. The Qur’anic claims are great, but what is miserable is that, this supposed to be holy book fails to prove either Muhammad’s prophethood or its divine origin. Ultimately, it becomes a circular reasoning. Qur’an is God’s word because Muhammad said so, and Muhammad was God’s Prophet because Qur’an says so. But circular reasoning is a logical fallacy. We are not happy with this.
1.2: The Embarrassment of Satanic Verses
Traditional Islamic sources admit that Muhammad was at one time inspired by Satan to put some verses into the Qur’an. When Muhammad first began preaching in Mecca, he thought that the Meccans would accept his religion. But the Meccans were not receptive to him which made Muhammad angry, and he started taunting them for years by insulting their religion and Gods. Meccans refused all dealings with him and his followers. Eventually to appease the Meccans, Muhammad recited the following Qur’anic verses,
Have you then considered the al-Lat and al-Uzza and Manat, the third, the last … these are the exalted Gharaniq (a high flying bird) whose intercession is approved. (Q: 53.19-20)
Al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat were some of the local idols worshipped in Mecca. Previously Muhammad had spoken against them in his monotheist preaching but now he recited that their “intercession is approved”. This made the Meccans very pleased and the boycott was lifted shortly. However, soon Muhammad realized that by acknowledging the local idols al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat he had made a terrible blunder. He had undermined his own position that of the sole intermediary between Allah and the people, and by doing so he made his new religion indistinguishable from pagan beliefs and hence redundant. So he retracted and said the two verses acknowledging pagan idols were satanic verses, i.e., the verses inspired by Lucifer, the Biblical Satan. This was Muhammad’s most embarrassing moment. Islam crumbled in the wake of the Prophet’s satanic indulgence. He desperately tried to make amends for the satanic verses and recited the following verse.
Surely Allah does not forgive that anything should be associated with Him, and He forgives what is besides this to whom He pleases; and whoever associates anything with Allah, he indeed strays off into a remote error. (Q: 4.116)
Subsequently, the relevant verses were also modified with the final form what is now in the modern Qur’an.
Have ye thought upon Al-Lat and Al-‘Uzza. (Q: 53.19)
And another, the third (goddess), Manat? (Q: 53.20)
What! for you the male sex, and for Him, the female? (Q: 53.21)
Behold, such would be indeed a division most unfair! (Q: 53.22)
Many of his followers left him on this account realizing that Muhammad was either making up the Qur’an or he was delusional (Sina, 2008, p. 16). Muhammad had to run away from Mecca in shame. The shame of defeat was so much that Muhammad and Abu Bakr had to flee through window. On their way out of town, both had to hide in a cave for fear the Meccans would find them (Winn, 2004, p. 587). Tabari and Ishaq wrote,
When the Messenger decided upon departure, he went to Bakr and the two of them left by a window in the back of Abu’s house and went to a cave in Thawr, a mountain below Mecca. (Ishaq: 223)
The Messenger came back to Mecca and found that its people were more determined to oppose him and to abandon his religion, except for a few weak people who believed in him. (Tabari: VI.118)
However, after this blunder Muhammad was more careful not to make the mistake again. He just hammered a nail into his own prophetic coffin. Muslims are very uncomforta
ble with the satanic verses episode, and this had been the subject of endless and bitter controversy (Walker, 2002, p. 111). But there is no reason to reject this incident. It was recorded by devout Muslims; like, al-Wikidi, al-Baydawi, al-Zamakshari, Tabari, Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham, Ibn Sa’d and Bukhari. It is most unlikely that such a story would have been fabricated by all of them. While this event is well documented in Islamic sources, current day Islamic leaders rarely tell Muslims or the general public about it. We can make three logical conclusions from this satanic verses incident. First; a Qur’anic verse can be modified or deleted at a later date. Second; it casts a shadow over the veracity on Muhammad’s entire claim to be a Prophet, and finally; Satan proved that Qur’an is not a miracle. Qur’an challenges, “ produce a Surah of the like thereof, and call your witness beside Allah if ye are truthful” (Q: 2.23); Satan took the challenge and did it. Did Muhammad carefully planned a ploy to win the hearts of the Meccans, or was it his subconscious mind that had suggested to him a sure formula which provided a practical road to unanimity? We will look for an answer in subsequent chapters.
1.3: The Traditional Sources
In the West, the critics of Muhammad are quick to claim that he was either possessed by demons or he was a conscious fraud, or he was under severe delusion. We have no concrete evidence to support one claim and discard other but at least we all agree to the point that there was certainly something wrong with Muhammad. The Western scholars judge the Prophet by the standards of human morality and conscience. But Muslims’ thinking is different. They have accepted Muhammad as a “superior being” and “the mercy of God among mankind” (Sina, 2008, p. 6). Therefore further criticism is unnecessary.
Though Muslims dismiss all attacks on their faith as anti-Islamic polemic and a calculated and deliberate misrepresentation of their religion from Christian prejudice and Zionist-instigated ill-will, the irony is that, even if we reject and leave aside all these Western scholars and depend only on authentic traditional sources for information, we still cannot find anything which suggests that Muhammad was a superior being or the mercy of God. Instead, we have thousands of accounts that do portray him a psychopath criminal. But, are the traditional sources reliable?