by Sujit Das
Some of those who are Jews change words from their context and say: “We hear and disobey; hear thou as one who heareth not” and “Listen to us!” distorting with their tongues and slandering religion. If they had said: “We hear and we obey: hear thou, and look at us” it had been better for them, and more upright. But Allah hath cursed them for their disbelief. (Q: 4.46)
And when there comes to them a Book from Allah, confirming what is with them,- although from of old they had prayed for victory against those without Faith,- when there comes to them that which they (should) have recognized, they refuse to believe in it but the curse of Allah is on those without Faith. (Q: 2.89)
Jew hatred in Islam started with these verses. No God can so miserably express frustration over the Jews. It was Muhammad himself, who felt helpless at the point of rejection. Therefore, again he started playing a monodrama. Allah took the center stage while Muhammad took a backseat behind the scene. Once the Jews rejected Islam, Muhammad was frustrated, but Allah expressed the frustrations on behalf of Muhammad. Bukhari recorded,
Narrated Abu Huraira: While we were in the Mosque, the Prophet came out and said, “Let us go to the Jews.” We went out till we reached Bait-ul-Midras. He said to them, “If you embrace Islam, you will be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to expel you from this land. So, if anyone amongst you owns some property, he is permitted to sell it, otherwise you should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle” . (Bukhari: 4.53.392)
Gradually, Qur’an and the Hadith collections became a mine of anti-Jewish passages. In recent years some scholars try to argue that Islamic anti-Semitism, i.e., hatred of the Jews is only a recent phenomenon learned from the Nazis during and after the 1940s, and Jews lived peacefully under Muslim rule for centuries (Bostom, 2008, p. 22). Both assertions are gross ignorance of the scholars. It was Muhammad who set the example for anti-Semitism. Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah is full with Muhammad’s deep hatred for Jews, so is Tabari’s history. The frustrated God of Islam continued with anti-Jewish revelations.
Humiliation and abasement were pitched upon them (the Jews) and they incurred the Anger of Allah; because they disbelieved His signs and slew His Prophets unjustly; because they disobeyed and were transgressors . (Q: 2.61).
You will find that the most people in enmity to the believers are the Jews and idolaters . (Q: 5.82).
Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your guides. They are guides of one another. Whosoever of you takes them for a guide shall become one of their numbers. Allah does not guide the wrong-doers. (Q: 5.51).
Believers, many are the rabbis and monks who in falsehood defraud people of their possessions and bar people from the Path of Allah. Give glad tidings of a painful punishment to those who treasure gold and silver and do not spend it in the Way of Allah . (Q: 9.34).
Believers, do not take as guides those who were given the Book before you who have made of your religion a jest and a pastime, nor the unbelievers. Have fear of Allah, if you are believers . (Q: 5.57).
Do those of the Lord and the rabbis not forbid them to speak sinfully and to devour what is unlawful? Evil indeed is what they were doing…The Jews say: ‘The Hand of Allah is chained. ‘Their own hands are chained! And they are cursed for what they said! (Q: 5.63, 64).
In a fury against the Jews; Allah again started contradicting himself. Torah, which Allah had recognized as a divine book containing his “guidance and light” (Q: 5.44), and a “blessing and guidance for the righteous” (Q: 6.154) has now become “perverted by the Jews” (Q: 2.75). The Jews, earlier recognized by Allah as “privileged above all people” (Q: 45.15) are now “liars and illiterates” (Q: 2.78), “those who show the greatest hostility to the believers” (Q: 5.82), and “selfish and envious people” (Q: 2.109) whose hearts are as “hardened as rocks” (Q: 2.74). Now the Jews “ knowingly conceal the truth” (Q: 2.42), and pursue “vague and wishful fancies” (Q: 2.111).
Allah started sending new revelations cursing the Jews – “the curse of Allah is on those without faith” (Q: 2.89), and changed the direction of Qibla to Mecca from Jerusalem (Q: 2.144). Muhammad started calling himself a Rasul instead of Nabi, the day of Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Friday (Juma) and many other Jewish customs and practices were modified (Khan, 2009, p. 45). This is called “devaluation” of the target. As Zayn & Dibble (2007, pp. 7, 8) described, “ When anyone tries to interfere with the image he [the Narcissist] has so carefully created, he experiences an injured feeling. To protect himself from that feeling, the Narcissist uses different types of defense mechanism. One such mechanism is ‘devaluation’. By emotionally injuring others he protects his false self. That is why he felt the need to insult you or make you feel badly about yourself” . The devaluation is not only shocking and devastating but also unexpected.
Muhammad continued devaluing the Jews with a great zeal. Now he started belittling Moses forgetting that once he had given much superior status to Moses.
Jabir Bin ‘Abdullah narrated that when Umar came to Allah’s Messenger, he said, “We hear the narration from the Jews, which sounds pleasing to us, so should we not write some of them?” Whereupon he said, ‘Do you want to be baffled as the Jews and the Christians were baffled? I have brought to you (guidance) bright and pure and if Moses were alive now there would have been no alternative left for him but to follow me. ’ (Tirmidhi: 177)
If (Moses) were alive (now), and he found my prophethood, he would have definitely followed me. (Darimi and Mishkat: 1.20).
The only way Muhammad could re-inflate his false self was by diminishing, debasing or degrading the Jews. Allah, the “string-puppet” of Muhammad now claimed that He had transformed Jews into apes and swine. By the way, this is an ideal example of magical thinking. A human cannot be transformed to apes or swine by simply cursing them.
Say: ‘Shall I tell you who will receive a worse recompense from Allah than that? Those whom Allah has cursed and with whom He is angry, and made some of them apes and swine … (Q: 5.60)
O you who have been given the Book! Believe that which We have revealed, verifying what you have, before We alter faces then turn them on their backs, or curse them as We cursed the violators of the Sabbath, and the command of Allah shall be executed. (Q: 4.47)
You have surely known of those amongst you who transgressed the Sabbath. We said to them: ‘Be apes, despised! (Q: 2.65)
And when they had scornfully persisted in what they had been forbidden, We said to them: ‘Be apes, despised’. (Q: 7.166)
Even after so much devaluation, the Jews remained indifferent. The Narcissist felt that his false world was crumbling. Probably, Muhammad saw glimpses of his true self (which he tried so desperately to dominate). He had praised, respected, admired and applauded the Jews in an embarrassingly exaggerated and profuse manner, even had accepted the divine status of Moses, but now the time is up; it is time for narcissistic rage. It is time to abuse and humiliate the Jews in every possible way and to show violent displays of ill-treatment and rage attacks because the Jews failed to comply with his narcissistic requirements. The goal was to get from the Jews what he wanted. A Narcissist does not especially care which method he uses, so long as he finds one that works.
“Hell hath no fury like the Narcissist denied ”. Muhammad felt an unbridled urge to destroy the Jews. Ultimately he turned his sword against the Jews without any provocation and declared,
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews . (Muslim: 41.6985)
A Narcissist’s natural reaction to rejection is to rage and pull down the self-worth of others to make him feel superior to others, to soothe his internal
pain and hostility, and to rebuild his self-worth. The narcissistic rage cannot be compared with the healthy anger of a normal person. A healthy person needs a provocation to become angry but the Narcissist does not. Zayn & Dibble (2007, p. 86) described, “ The narcissistic rage can be triggered when the Narcissist feels challenged, insulted or criticized – even when someone just disagrees with him. He experiences this challenge as a threat to his very identity: his false self, and the false reality he’s so painstakingly created in all relationships” .
This explains why Muhammad’s anger and hatred for the Jews did not quench out so easily. In narcissistic injury, the pain is devastating. After so much rejection, now it is time for him to take revenge. Zayn & Dibble (2007, p. 85) concluded,
“The only goal of narcissistic rage is to obliterate the target”.
The fates of the three Jewish tribes who lived in and around Yathrib (before the advent of Islam, Medina was known as Yathrib); the Banu Qainuka, the Banu Nadir and the Banu Quraiza were well recorded in various Islamic sources. Those three tribes were the original inhabitants. The Narcissist Prophet of Islam forced the Qainuka and Nadir tribe into exile and mass assassinated some 800 to 900 male members of the Quraiza tribe and reduced their children and women to slavery.
With the elimination of the Quraiza, Medina was cleansed of the Jews. The malignant Narcissist’s attention now turned to the Jewish community in Khaybar, another powerful Jewish stronghold in Arabian Peninsula. During 627, Muhammad got the leader of the Jews of Khaybar, Abu Rafi assassinated. Then in May 628, he set upon an expedition against them with himself at the command of a strong army some 1,600 fighting men. Kinana, the young grandson of Abu Rafi, was the leader of the Jews. He was tortured for the information of the whereabouts of his treasure and then put to death. All the fighting-aged men were put to sword and their women and children were taken as captives (Bukhari: 2.14.68). Tabari and Ishaq recorded,
May Allah’s anger be intense against those who have bloodied the face of His Prophet . (Tabari: VII.120)
So Muhammad began seizing their herds and their property bit by bit. He conquered home by home . (Tabari: VIII.116; Ishaq: 511)
After the Khaybar massacre, Muhammad turned to the Jews of Fadak (a city situated two/three days of travel from Medina). The people of Fadak refused to accept Islam but offered Muhammad half of their land. So, Muhammad took half the land and allowed them to live there. This half land was the sole property of the Prophet because the Muslims did not have to fight a battle with the Jews.
After the Messenger had finished with the Khaybar Jews, Allah cast terror into the hearts of the Jews in Fadak. (Tabari: VIII.129)
Narcissists cannot feel the pain of others. Mass killing is seen as a direct avenue to fame and attention (Twenge & Campbell, 2010, p. 200). Muhammad was a predator and just did not know what it meant to be human. Those helpless people of three Jewish tribes were like two dimensional caricatures for him. They were given no right to survive because they were of no use for Muhammad for his narcissistic fix. Vaknin (1999, p. 149) wrote, “ The Narcissist is always the most fanatical, the most extreme, the most dangerous. At stake is never the preservation of the group – but his very own survival. As with other Narcissistic supply sources, once the group is no longer instrumental – the Narcissist loses all interest in it, devalues it and ignores it. In extreme cases, he might even wish to destroy it (as a punishment or revenge for its incompetence at securing his Narcissistic supply)” .
During the first five years of Muhammad’s mission, about twenty out of 114 chapters of Qur’an were revealed. These chapters mention very little about Christ, Bible and Christianity in general. Only after Muhammad had sent away some of his followers to Christian Abyssinia in 615, new revelations started coming down from Allah confirming Biblical stories, e.g., the Surah Maryam that talks about Virgin Mary, John the Baptist and miraculous birth of Jesus; affirming the Christian faith (Khan, 2009, p. 61). As Vaknin (1999, p. 149) wrote, “ Narcissists switch groups and ideologies with the ease with which they change partners, spouses and value systems. Narcissists are Narcissists first and members of their group only in the second place ”. Muhammad was in action again and this trend continued until some early period of his mission in Medina. By seeing the Biblical stories in the Qur’an, some Christians were confused and they mistook Islam as another prospering sect of Christianity. Some of them converted to Muhammad’s sect. This way Muhammad was partially successful in deceiving them. Allah generously declared that the Christians would also escape hellfire,
Those who believe in Qur’an … and the Christians … shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. (Q: 2.62).
However, the mainstream Christians paid him little attention. Christ specifically spoke of the false Prophets yet to come, and warned that if people report such a one in the desert – “do not go there” (Matt: 24.26). By seeing the rejection, Muhammad felt that he had been treated unjustly. Shortly; the Christians, like the Jews, turned to be his major critics adding insult to injury. The malignant Narcissist, despite borrowing so intensely from the Christian faith to formulate his religion, now would not hesitate to condemn the Christians. He denied the divinity of Jesus and his resurrection. Allah denied that Christ died on the Cross. If the death of Jesus on the Cross for the sin of mankind is denied, the Christian faith loses much of its claimed greatness. This is how the Narcissist took his sick revenge. Since Christians did not accept Islam, Qur’an invoked Allah’s curse on them.
And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah’s messenger - they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain. But Allah took him up unto Himself. Allah was ever Mighty, Wise. (Q: 4.157-8).
And with those who say: “Lo! we are Christians,” We made a covenant, but they forgot a part of that whereof they were admonished. Therefore We have stirred up enmity and hatred among them till the Day of Resurrection, when Allah will inform them of their handiwork . (Q: 5.14).
Indeed those who say: ‘Allah is the third of the Trinity’ became unbelievers. There is but One God. If they do not desist in what they say, a painful punishment will afflict those of them that disbelieve . (Q: 5.73).
From the above verses we can see how much Allah was ignorant about basic tenets of Christianity. Allah thought that the Christians believe in three Gods and on this ground He attacked them. This is nothing more than a gross misrepresentation and distortion of the historic Christian position, as anyone with even an elementary knowledge of the Bible and church history can attest. To continue with Allah’s hatred for the Christians,
Lord, she said, ‘how can I bear a child when no human being has touched me? He replied: ‘Such is the Will of Allah. He creates whom He will. When He decrees a thing, He only says: Be and it is . (Q: 3.47).
Say: O followers of the Book! Be not unduly immoderate in your religion, and do not follow the low desires of people who went astray before and led many astray and went astray from the right path. (Q: 5.77).
O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His messengers. Say not “Trinity”: desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah. (Q: 4.171).
Allah prescribed eternal hellfire for the Christians with Jews and idolaters for not joining Islam.
Lo! Those who disbelieve, among the People of the Scripture and the idolaters, will abide in fire of hell. They are the worst of created beings. (Q: 98.6)
They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary. The Messiah (himself) said: O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Lo! Whoso ascribeth partners unto Allah, for him All
ah hath forbidden paradise. The abode of Allah is the Fire. For the evildoers there will be no helpers. (Q: 5.72).
After condemning the main doctrine of Christianity, Muhammad turned to the Christian priests. These priests, according to Muhammad, were greedy and devourer of people’s wealth by evil means because they prevented the Christians from joining Islam. In the following two verses, Allah is clearly very angry with them.
They have taken as lords beside Allah their rabbis and their monks and the Messiah son of Mary, when they were bidden to worship only One Allah. There is no Allah save Him. Be He glorified from all that they ascribe as partner (unto Him)! (Q: 9.31).
O ye who believe! Lo! many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) monks devour the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar (men) from the way of Allah. They who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah, unto them give tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom. (Q: 9.34).
Even after condemning the main doctrine of Christianity, attacking the priests and prescribing hellfire for the Christians, the Narcissist was not happy. His super inflated ego was not satisfied. In the following ahadith, Muhammad made some absurd claims similar to what he made about the Jews,
Narrated Abu Huraira, Allah’s Apostle said “How will you be when the son of Mary (i.e. Jesus) descends amongst you and he will judge people by the Law of the Qur’an and not by the law of Gospel . (Bukhari: 4.55.658)
Narrated Abu Huraira, Allah’s Apostle said, By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, surely (Jesus) the son of Mary will soon descend amongst you and will judge mankind justly (as a Just Ruler); he will break the Cross and kill the pigs and there will be no Jizya (taxation taken from Kafirs). Money will be in abundance so that nobody will accept it, and a single prostration to Allah (in prayer) will be better than the whole world and whatever is in it. (Bukhari: 4.55.657)
Now Muhammad decided to take arms against Christians. With divine sanction from Allah, Muhammad launched military campaigns against all the kings who had rejected his call for submission to Islam. Amongst them there were Arab Christian kings of Yamama, Oman and Bahrain, and powerful foreign Christian rulers like, Governor of Egypt and the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. The Governor of Egypt offered Muhammad with two beautiful slave girls as friendly gifts.