by Sujit Das
Allah willing, if ever I [Muhammad] take an oath to do something, and later on I find that it is more beneficial to do something different, I will do the thing which is better, and give expiation for my oath . (Bukhari: 4.53.361).
After the death of Khadija and Abu Talib, Muhammad thought that it might be unsafe for him to stay at Mecca. Luck favored him; in the summer of 621, he gained the trust of twelve visitors from the oasis settlement of Medina. They accepted Islam and promised Muhammad to propagate his message at Medina. Next summer another seventy-five people from Medina accepted Islam, and assured Muhammad to defend him. Al-Bara, a Medinan convert told Muhammad, “ By Him who sent you with the truth, we will protect you. We give our allegiance and we are man of war possessing arms which have been passed on from father to son ” (Khan, 2009, p. 20). If the people of Medina had not given shelter to Muhammad, certainly his divine mission wound have been a total failure and his name would have sunk into oblivion like those of so many other Prophets of the same period. But what he gave them in return? He raised a band of hooligans from the converts (known as Ansars) and started attacking the rich Meccan caravans. Abu Afak, a 120 year old man, lamented that his people became followers of Muhammad who had caused them to surrender their intelligence and become hostile to one another. Muhammad got him assassinated. A Jewish mother, Asma bint Marwan, was so outraged that she composed a poem cursing the men of Medina for letting a stranger divide them and for allowing him to assassinate Abu Afak. Muhammad got her assassinated too.
In March 628, Muhammad signed an agreement with the Meccans which demanded a cessation of hostility from both sides for a ten year period. In Islamic history, this is known as “the treaty of Hudaybiya”. But it took very little time for Muhammad to breach this treaty. Within just two years time of signing the treaty of Hudaybiya, his army became strong enough to defeat the Quraysh. In January 630, he marched towards Mecca with an army of ten thousand fighting men.
Simply speaking, the people of Medina trusted Muhammad but he proved to be disloyal. The Quraysh trusted Muhammad but again he proved to be treacherous. These are just two examples of his dishonesty. Enough had been recorded about the treachery of Muhammad. The history of Islam is full of treachery and deceit. As Sina (2008, p. 101) lamented, “ From incest to polygamy, from rape to pedophilia, from assassination to genocide, the Prophet of Allah did them all and encouraged his followers to do the same”.
Therefore, according to Muhammad’s own definition, he was the biggest hypocrite of Islam. He was an imposter in a divine robe to deceive people.
1.7: The Message of Prophet Muhammad
Every established religion has a certain core message. But before I talk about Allah’s message to humankind through Muhammad, let me examine what are the messages of other world religions.
Jainism is the only religion which has the principle of Kathora Ahimsa (strict nonviolence) as its central doctrine. Hinduism talks about Sarva dharma sambhava (equal respect for all religions). Hinduism is also known as Sanatana Dharma and the five principal virtues prescribed by all schools of Sanatana Dharma are, nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, chastity and non-covetousness. Buddhism speaks about toleration, kindness, humbleness, peace and Pancha Sila (the five rules of morality – killing any living being, stealing, adultery, lying, drinking intoxicating drinks). Sikhism advises us to restrain from Punj Chor (five cardinal vices – ego, lust, greed, attachment, anger) which should be fought with the weapons of wisdom and knowledge.
Christianity teaches us love, brotherhood and forgiveness. All the teachings of Christianity are based on four essentials: humbleness or faith and trust in God, communication with God through prayer and self-denial, observance of the law which is written in Scripture and in the hearts of those who love the truth, and the offering of sacrifice to God and partaking of the sacrificial offering. The Jews believe that God appointed them to be His chosen people in order to set an example of holiness and ethical behavior to the world and peace is seen as something that comes from God, which would only be fully realized when there is justice and harmony not just between peoples but within individual communities.
But the instructions of Allah and Muhammad’s worldview were totally different from the other religions. Muhammad’s bizarre beliefs, incredible teachings, self-elevation and immense hate are well reflected in his Qur’an. In sum; a religion like Islam is a curse upon humankind. The Prophet of Islam did not come to the world to bring something good like other religious teachers. He came to this world to preach hatred, brutality and slaughter.
The Prophet said, ‘Hear me. By Him who holds Muhammad’s life in his hand, I will bring you slaughter’. (Ishaq: 130; Tabari: VI.101)
Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. (Q: 9.5).
Muhammad’s only message to the world was “I will bring you slaughter”, and he had performed well as he had promised – efficiently and ruthlessly.
Muhammad masterfully exploited the concept of prophethood with Qur’an as the only proof of his absolute authority. Theoretically, through Qur’anic revelations, Allah wants to guide the humans to save them from hell, and in return for the favor, He demands absolute submission that the humans should only worship Him and live by His laws without ever questioning their purpose, validity and relevance. But there is a “catch” in this argument. Only a belief in Allah is not sufficient, they have to believe Muhammad as the only messenger of Allah. According to Qur’an,
Say: Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger (Q: 24.54)
And obey Allah and the Messenger, that you may be shown mercy. (Q: 3.132).
If you love Allah, and follow me (Muhammad), God will love you, and forgive you your sins. (Q: 3.31)
And We did not send any messenger but that he should be obeyed by Allah’s permission. (Q: 4.65)
Since Allah cannot be seen or contacted by anyone other than Muhammad, the words of Muhammad begin to rank as the words of Allah and as time passes Allah recedes into the background. Muhammad, who (apparently) claimed to be Allah’s most humble servant, now rises as the dominant force in the strange God-Prophet relationship. At this time, Muhammad holds the keys of paradise. Therefore, a person must believe in Muhammad to qualify for paradise and the person who believes in Allah alone, cannot rank as a believer. He is an infidel and must go to hell, no matter how righteous he may be. This is the true nature and purpose of Muhammad’s claim of prophethood. He wanted to elevate himself, as Sina (2008, p. 16) commented, “ After 23 years of preaching, the core message of Muhammad remained the same. Islam’s main message is that Muhammad is a messenger and that people must obey him. Beyond that, there is no other message. Failure to recognize him as such entails punishment, both in this world and the next. Monotheism, which is now the main argument of Islam, was not originally part of the message of Muhammad ”. As Voltaire (cited Walker, 2002, p. 313) concluded, “There is nothing new in the religion of Islam except the claim that Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah. All else is borrowed”.
Theoretically Muslims “surrender to Allah”, but in practice they “surrender to Muhammad”. Here lies the purpose of Islam’s deceitful divine message – “People must obey Muhammad”. And for those who fail to obey Muhammad, there is his stern warning – “I will bring you slaughter”. The main theme of Islam is only this; spiritual and moral upbringing of the soul is of no importance.
The end result of Muhammad’s evil message is disastrous to both Muslims and non-Muslims. Muhammad had permanently divided the humankind into two groups – the Muslims are Allah’s party and the non-Muslims are Satan’s party. Allah hates non-Muslims and wants their death and destruction. Since the true Muslims must follow this poisonous teaching of Islam, a two-nation theory arises immediately, as Shaikh (1998, p. 161) lamented, “The only relat
ionship between a Muslim and a non-Muslim is that of ill-will, hatred and animosity”. Today an Islamic nation does not require any particular reason to attack a non-Muslim nation. According to Qur’an, all religions except Islam are false. Therefore, Allah is the enemy of all the non-Muslims. It is by itself a heinous crime not to acknowledge Muhammad as the last Prophet of Allah.
Let us read following two verses.
O ye who believe! Choose not your fathers nor your brethren for friends if they take pleasure in disbelief rather than faith. Whoso of you taketh them for friends, such are wrong-doers. (Q: 9.23).
Say: If it be that your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your mates, or your kindred; the wealth that ye have gained; the commerce in which ye fear a decline: or the dwellings in which ye delight - are dearer to you than Allah, or His Messenger, or the striving in His cause; - then wait until Allah brings about His decision: and Allah guides not the rebellious. (Q: 9.24).
Muhammad’s demand to be recognized as a Prophet was so strong that in the above two verses Allah tells the believers to treat their own parents, children and relatives as enemies if they do not believe in Islam. Preaching intolerance, lack of concern and thanklessness towards one’s own parents immediately disqualify Muhammad as a Prophet and proves without doubt that he was a fake and brought no divine message from God.
1.8: Muhammad’s Miracles
According to the Islamic sources, Muhammad performed many miracles. He visited a temple in Jerusalem which did not exist and then ascended to heaven (Q: 17.1), multiplied bread and dates (Bukhari: 5.59.428; 4.56.780), produced water for an army for ablution from a small pot (Bukhari: 1.4.170, 1.4.194, 1.7.340, 4.56.779; Muslim: 30.5656-9), brought rain for seven days until the valleys flooded (Bukhari: 8.73.115), visited the towns of jinns and converted some jinns to Islam (Muslim: 26.5559), stuck a huge solid rock and it became like sand (Bukhari: 5.59.427), fought and subdued a big demon (Bukhari: 1.9.450), etc. When the companions departed from Muhammad on a dark night, they were led by two lights (Allah’s magic light) lighting the way in front of them till they reached their houses (Bukhari: 1.9.454, 4.56.833). The list of Muhammad’s miracles is never-ending.
The moon-splitting miracle (Bukhari: 4.56.831, 4.56.832, 5.58.208, 5.58.209, 6.60.388-91) is amazing. When Muhammad invited Meccans to accept Islam, the Meccans requested him for a miracle. Hence Muhammad split the moon into two. A piece of the moon went towards the mountain. Afterwards this part remained over the mountain, and the other part went beyond the mountain. The two parts of the moon remained apart during the whole lifetime of Muhammad.
The cave miracle is another wonder of Allah which is related to the concerning in hiding in the cave of Thawr. The miracle is that none of these things were there when the Prophet and his companion entered the cave, and that thereafter, the spider hurried to weave its cobwebs, the two pigeons to build their nest and to lay their eggs, and the tree to grow its branches around the door. Ibn Hisham and Haykal had excluded the story. In the same connection, the following verses were revealed.
If you [the people] do not help Muhammad, then know that God Will. For God helped him when the unbelievers drove him out, and he and his companion hid in the cave. At that time, the Prophet said to his companion, `Grieve not for God is with us.’ It was then that God sent down his peace upon him and assisted him with hosts invisible that the word of God might be supreme and that of the unbelievers might be repudiated. God is almighty and all-wise. (Q: 9.40)
Remember how the Unbelievers plotted against thee, to keep thee in bonds, or slay thee, or get thee out (of thy home). They plot and plan, and Allah too plans; but the best of planners is Allah. (Q: 8.30).
Then there is a sword miracle also. Once when Muhammad was sleeping under a tree, someone took hold of his sword to attack him. Muhammad woke up and found him standing upon his head with the sword in his hand. The attacker asked, “Who can protect you from me?” Muhammad said, “ Allah”. The attacker remained standstill and the sword refused to obey him (Muslim: 30.5665).
In various traditional sources (cited Shaikh, 1999, pp. 13-14; Schimmel, 1985, pp. 150-51; Andrae, 1955, p. 35; Dasti, 1985, p. 2; Mahmud, 1978, p. 39) there are many amazing claims about Muhammad.
1. Muhammad was created from a divine light. Allah first created the light of Muhammad, out of which He then proceeded to create everything which constitutes this world.
2. When Muhammad was born, the house was filled with light, the stars in the sky bowed to such an extent as if they are about to fall on the earth, the angels started singing, the idols everywhere fell on their faces, and fire-worshippers in Persia and India noticed that their temple-hearth which had been lit for a thousand years, turned ice-cold, a lake of Persia was flooded which caused the palace of Khosroes (the king of Persia) to crack.
3. Muhammad was born circumcised and detached from the umbilical cord and there was no pollution on his body at the time of birth.
4. Muhammad was a Prophet when the body and soul of Adam were still in the making.
The only purpose of the above astonishing claims was to prove that Muhammad was a chosen Prophet of Allah before his birth and he was born guided. In fact the Muslim scholars claim that his prophethood was established even before Adam was created. It is said that Allah made an agreement with all the future Prophets, and under Allah’s agreement all the future Prophets accepted and acknowledged Prophet Muhammad as the final Prophet and told their followers to believe in him. When Amina (Muhammad’s mother) was pregnant, she heard a voice tell her, “ You are pregnant with the Lord of this people, and when he is born, say ‘I put him in the care of the One from the evil of every envier’, then call him Muhammad ”. Sometimes Amina would see a strong light shining from her belly by which she could make out the castles of Syria (Aslan, 2006, p. 19). When looked through the spectacle of blind faith, the miracle claims are great. But blind faith or blind belief is something felt by the mind. It distinguishes the ideas of judgment from the fictions of the imagination (Hume, 1992, p. 42). Let us see, how they look like through the spectacle of science, reason and logic.
1.8.1: Refuting the Claims of Muhammad’s Miracles
Some of the miracles; e.g., al-asra al-miraj (two parts of the night journey), were Muhammad’s hallucinations. This will be discussed in details in next chapter. Many other miracles were attributed to Muhammad so as to make him look saintly, which were all fabrications of his sycophant followers. In addition, there are many miracles which were claimed by Muhammad himself which no one but he could verify, and many contemporary Muslims doubted them because some of those miracles are too ridiculous, hardly more than childish jokes, and Muhammad proved himself a laughing stock. Qur’an confirms that the pagan Meccans repeatedly asked Muhammad to perform a miracle so that they could believe him.
They say: ‘We will not believe in you until you make a spring gush from the earth for us, or, until you own a garden of palms and vines and cause rivers to gush forth with abundant water in them; or, until you cause the sky to fall upon us in pieces, as you have claimed, or, as a surety bring Allah with the angels in front; or, until you possess an ornate house of gold, or ascend into the heavens; and we will not believe in your ascension until you have brought down for us a book which we can read. (Q: 17.90-93).
Therefore, Allah performed a mountain miracle for Muhammad. According to an old tradition (Walker, 2002, p. 220), when the Meccans demanded Muhammad to prove his divine mission by making a mountain move, he replied that only Allah has the power to do that. However, by repeated demands from Meccans, Muhammad thought of giving it a try. Turning to the direction of Mount Safa, Muhammad commanded it to come to him, but with much humiliation, the Mount Safa did not come. Then Muhammad exclaimed, “ Allah is compassionate! Had it come it would have caused an earthquake or fallen upon us to our destruction. I will therefore go to the mountain instead, and thank God for his mercy!!! ” Surprisingly, when Muslims read this story with the spectacle of faith, they see a miracle in it.
However, this incident gave birth to the popular saying – “If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain”, which means, you have to do things for yourself instead of expecting the world to give you what you want, or, God does not act according to man’s will.
Then again some Meccans asked Muhammad to send Gabriel or some other angel to them so that they could believe Muhammad – “ O Muhammad, if an angel had been sent with thee to speak to men about thee and to be seen with thee”. (Ishaq: 181). By seeing Muhammad in a mess, Allah came for his rescue and replied in a revelation (Q: 6.9) that in order to send an angel, he would have had to make him appear as a man and that would leave the nonbelievers in an utterly confused state (Spencer, 2006, p. 75). Allah also consoled Muhammad telling him that before him many other Prophets were mocked.
They say: Why is not an angel sent down to him?” If we did send down an angel, the matter would be settled at once, and no respite would be granted them. (Q: 6.8)
Other Messengers have been mocked before you. But those who scoffed at them were encompassed by that they had mocked. (Q: 6.10)
And they say: “What sort of a messenger is this, who eats food, and walks through the streets? Why has not an angel been sent down to him to give admonition with him? (Q: 25.7)
If We had made him an angel, We would have given him the resemblance of a man, and would have as such confused them with that in which they are already confused. (Q: 6.9)
Messengers before thee, indeed, were mocked, but that whereat they mocked surrounded those who scoffed at them. (Q: 21.41)
The Meccans again wanted to know why there was no miracle if Allah was so powerful. Muhammad was comparing himself to Moses and Jesus. Both of them were visited by angels and did miracles. Why Muhammad could not? The Meccans disputed his claims and mocked him mercilessly saying his religion was a forgery, a counterfeit. Qur’an says,