Muhammad bin Abd Allah:-
Although he was borne in relatively recent historical times 571 CE, none the less, it must be emphasised at this earliest opportunity, that there exist no contemporaneous written records in Arabic or in any other medium, regarding his birth, his childhood and his growing up period.
All that the world has available, are the one-sided and doctored reports about him, by his much later followers.
The astounding fact is, that there is very little actually known about him, except for the later created extraordinary stories about his virility, courage, compassion, mercy, justice, sagacity, forbearance, knowledge etc etc.
In reality, the authors of these fables, actually dehumanised Muhammad by endowing him with the superhuman qualities of a son of God to the extreme extent, that he was ultimately made as the reason for the CREATION.
This was done, despite the repeated verses in the Quran attesting to the fact, that he was only a mortal human being, all be it, as the messenger of Allah.
The earliest of these stories were written over a century after his death and the death of almost all of his companions.
As usual with human 'memory' and the passage of time, his followers generated the most diverse, contradictory and unbelievable stories about his actions, sayings, abilities and characteristics. In spite of all these figments of imagination and fables, an analysis of the Ahadith and 'Islamic' history paint an utterly different and very disturbing picture of the man.
It is an absolute fact, that Muhammad was born of pagan parents. His father, Abdullah and his mother, Amina were both pagans and they used to worship many idols. His entire childhood (probably up to his teen) was spent in paganism.
Almost all Muhammadans, past and present, are loath to admit or accept that Muhammad was originally a pagan, in spite of the fact, that there are verses in the Quran asserting this. Most important of all, some of the Hadiths themselves make it very clear that he was.
However, Muhammad’s pagan origin is disclosed by Hisham ibn al-Kalbi, in his important work, Kitab al-Asnam (The Book of Idols p17):
‘We have been told that the Apostle of Allah once mentioned al-Uzza saying, “I have offered a white sheep to al-‘Uzza, while I was a follower of the religion of my people.” ‘
In the statement above, Muhammad clearly admits his past adherence to paganism— the then religion of the Quraysh.
Initially, Muhammad even eulogized the important gods (or idols) of the pagans by agreeing with the Quraysh— at some point, that these gods were the intercessors of Allah. On the same page 17, Hisham ibn al-Kalbi writes:
The Quraysh were wont to circumambulate the Ka’ba and chant:
By Allat and al-‘Uzza,
And Manah, the third idol besides.
Verily they are the most exalted females [gharaniq]
Whose intercession is to be sought.
These were also called “the Daughters of Allah,” and were supposed to intercede before Allah. When the Apostle of Allah was sent, Allah revealed unto him [concerning them] the following:
53.19 Have ye seen Lat. and 'Uzza,
53.20 And another, the third (goddess), Manat?
53.21 What! for you the male sex, and for Him, the female?
53.22 Behold, such would be indeed a division most unfair!
53.23 These are nothing but names which ye have devised,- ye and your fathers,- for which Allah has sent down no authority (whatever). They follow nothing but conjecture and what their own souls desire!- Even though there has already come to them Guidance from their Lord!
When Muhammad became an adult and started to attend the annual assembly of poets at Ukaz, he was deeply impressed and moved by the thoughts, eloquence, sentiment, freethinking and humanism expounded by many of those poets.
He started questioning the idol-worshipping and began to start preaching a new concept of one Allah, the creator—similar to the concepts of the Jews and the Christians of that time.
Nonetheless, he was confused as to which god ought to be his God. Allah, was the supreme god of the pagan Quraysh. The latter's only fault was that besides Allah, they used to worship as the intercessors for Allah, the supreme other smaller gods/goddesses like: Hubal, Al-lat, Al-Uzza, Manat…etc.
So, at the beginning of his new concept of an almighty creator, Allah was out of his mind. Besides, at that time, the magicians, the soothsayers, the sorcerers, and even the Satan worshippers used to vow by Allah. Thus, Muhammad found it utterly despicable to make Allah his God (Ilah).
During those pagan days, the people of Yemen used to worship another deity whose name was Al-Rahman.
Muhammad, for a while, adopted the name Al-Rahman for God in place of Allah. Coincidentally, Al-Rahman was also the Jewish word Rahmana which was a name for God in the Talmudic period (Noldeke: The Koran, The Origins of the Koran, p.53).
Muhammad cleverly thought, that by using the name Al-Rahman, he ought to be able to attract to his new ‘religion’, the Jews as well as some pagans.
However, when he declared himself to be the messenger of Al-Rahman, the Meccans, too, were at a loss and confused. The Meccans did not know of any Al-Rahman other than the Al-Rahman of al-Yamamah (some writers say Al-Rahman was at Yemen).
When one studies, with an unbiased mind, the first 50 Suras (in chronological order) of the Quran, one will note Muhammad’s confusion regrading Lord, Allah and Al-Rahman. He was quite unsure of whom he should consider as his God (Ilah).
Here is a summary of the first 50 Suras regarding Muhammad’s idea of his Ilah:
Lord [Rab] 68, 92, 89, 94, 100, 108, 105, 114, 97, 106, 75 (11 Suras)
Al-Rahman, Lord—55, 36 (2 Suras)
Al-Rahman, Allah, Lord—20 (1 Sura)
Allah, Lord—96, 73, 74, 81, 87, 53, 85, 50, 38, 7, 72, 25, 35, 56, 26, 27, 28, 17 (18 Suras)
This demonstrates Muhammad’s initial vacillation, confusion and ignorance of the affairs of his God (Ilah).
The Quran also confirms, that when he started to preach his brand of faith, Muhammad was lost, confused and did not know much of religion. Here is what the Quran states:
93:" 7 And He found thee wandering and He gave thee guidance".
Muhammad was lost, then Allah guided him.
In the past Muhammad was heedless 12:3, 42:52
12.3 " We do relate unto thee the most beautiful of stories, in that We reveal to thee this (portion of the) Qur'an: before this, thou too was among those who knew it not"
42.52" And thus have We, by Our Command, sent inspiration to thee: thou knewest not (before) what was Revelation, and what was Faith; but We have made the (Qur'an) a Light, wherewith We guide such of Our servants as We will; and verily thou dost guide (men) to the Straight Way"
Although he grew up among a very pagan society - his own Quraish tribe - he was none the less, surrounded by and exposed to, diverse monotheistic influences emanating from the 'Jewish' and Christian native Arabian tribes in Madina, Mecca and Yemen; also from Ethiopia, Egypt, Sham etc.
He was also very much exposed to the influence of the Hanifs, especially after he married his first wife Khadija who was one, and who was also associated with Christianity through her cousin Waraqa bin Nufal.
Over a period of at least fifteen years, Muhammad accumulated enough knowledge of Biblical stories and Apocrypha - which predicted the arrival of a Messiah, from both the Jews and Christians.
This long trem exposure INSPIRED him to take up the mantle and the mission of bringing about the conversion of his pagan Arabian people, to the belief in the
One and Only God of both the Jews and Christians; the
God of Israel.
There is absolutely no doubt - from studying the early verses of the Suras of the Meccan period of the Quran - that at the very beginning of his self proclaimed mission, he truly believed that he was being 'inspired' by a divine message sent to him through the agency of the angel Gabriel.
Neither Muhammad nor the Pagan Arabs and his later followers - even unto the present time - know what the name Gabriel means, nor where it first appeared in the Bible.
The only certainty that Muhammad had, was that this was the same angel who predicted the arrival of an earlier great prophet/messenger called 'Messiah Jesus son of Mariam'.
Numerous verses of the Quran attest to the fact, that neither Muhammad nor most of the pagan Arabs had any knowledge of previous revelations and hence, they knew none of the Biblical stories, from the creation to the time of Muhammad.
For the first thirteen years of his 'prophetic' mission in Mecca, while he was weak, the Suras were moderate in tone and content, conciliatory towards his Quraysh tribe which has been rejecting him as well as towards the People of the Book - both the Jews and the Christians. This was the period when he and his followers - who were doing their best to overthrow the religious and economic status quo - were allegedly persecuted by the establishment.
After almost thirteen years of the best of his efforts at peaceful persuasion, he was only able to 'convert' an astoundingly small number of people, of less than one hundred souls many of whom, were either his friends, his relatives and some of their slaves.
This was, by any standard of logic, an utter failure and defeat for his efforts, his powers of persuasion, and the contents of his message.
It was during this conciliatory period also, that the verse NOT to use force to convert people - because the message of the Quran being so sublime- was 'revealed' to him:
2:256 "Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clear from error; whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things".
In retrospect, it is obvious that the message was neither sublime nor convincing enough to allow people to convert WITHOUT the use of force. In fact, this Quranic verse from the Meccan period was later ABROGATED - like hundreds of others - to justify the use of foce to convert people to his own perverted vision of what Allah demands from his own creation, which is: complete and utter subservience and enslavement.
During this 'prophetic' period in Mecca, his livelihood was supported by his wife Khadija, since even according to the Ahadith, he did little business but mostly preaching, 'meditating' and scheming.
It is also important to note, that although Khadija was supposed to have been wealthy, many of the Ahadith reports about Muhammad after her death, showed him in a very poorly condition finanacially, so much so, that he and his wives used to go hungry for long periods of time.
In fact, during his early months in Madina, he lived literally on the charity of others.
Where did Khadija's wealth go? It is logical to surmise, that since he was unemployed and unemployable after Khadija's death, then it is no great wonder that he was destitute.
The Ahadith, very wisely, do not dwell on this side of his life, especially since they got worse after his emigration to Madina.
Besides 'proclaiming the Unity of Allah', Muhammad did not do actual work to earn a living.
Muhammad's fortunes changed dramatically when some members of the Aus tribe in Madina asked him to come over and become their leader and judge. They swore allegiance
- the two Pledges of Aqaba- to him personally and declared to protect him at all costs.
From that moment on, in the year 622 CE, his attitude towards all those who opposed him among the Quraysh hardened and the first ANTAGONISTIC, WARMONGERING,HATEMONGERING and adversarial verses started to be 'revealed' to him, as and when he needed them.
It seems that Allah, the master of the Universe, was extremely attentive to Muhammad's politico-sexual-religious needs and provided him with the appropriate Quranic 'divine sanctions' as and when he required them.
He was 'ordained', allowed and sanctioned by Allah, to declare war upon his own 'unbelieving' tribe (2:193, 22:39/41) and even to break the Truce of the Sacred Months in pursuit of plunder (2:217) for starters.
More and more verses were 'revealed' at his beck and call, justifying every action and need - almost entirely for personal gain- whether political, religious or carnal. These 'divinely sanctioned' verses were especially, and very conveniently 'descended', to justify acts that were blatantly contrary to previously held ideas and traditions of the Arabs.
Since the Madina had a large number of Jews (Judaized Arabs), Muhammad thought that they were much more inclined to believe in his Monotheistic message than the pagan Quraysh.
It never entered his mind, that they too, would not accept him (as a prophet) or his message, since he was not offering them a single precept, concept, thought or idea that was in any way shape or form, equal to or superior, to what they already had in their Bible.
Muhammad - in his Quran of course - was plagiarising, plundering, pirating and/or perverting from their Bible and Scriptures whatever suited his purposes. This resulted in a mind set identical to that of a scorned lover: feeling rejected, insulted, humiliated, spurned and slighted.
Muhammad was not able to accept or understand, that his advances towards the 'Jews' were neither asked for nor sought out, excepting in his own mind. This rejection turned into anger, which progressively became a malignant jealousy and hatred requiring 'revenge' at its most primal: death, destruction, plunder, rape and enslavement, all of which he very shortly turned into reality, first on the Jewish and Christian Arabian tribes and finally against all the remaining Arab ones, the pagans.
This process was continued by his followers for the next 1400 years over three continents; slaughtering, plundering, subjugating, raping and enslaving millions of innocent peoples
In The Name of Allah;
the Compassionate; the Mercifull.
At his death bed, he instructed his followers with " I leave you two things, the Quran and my Sunna". His Sunna was, his alleged life style, his utterances, his deeds, his decisions, his daily life actions, how he washed, how he prayed, his dislikes and likes etc., etc.
This legacy unfortunately, condemned his followers to constraints and emasculations that have chained and grounded them in the TIME WARP of the seventh century.
They cannot free themselves from the shackles that he bequeathed them, without actually refusing to follow almost everything he did or said. To free themselves, his followers have to t disregard all items that are anachronistic and not relevant or logical for our modern times .
Contrary to all Muhammadan propaganda, most of the greatest intellectual 'Muslims' were not fundamentalists; they were not very observant of its tenets and were invariably not Arabs but from the 'Islamised' conquered peoples.
The only periods in Muhammadan Islamic history that science and philosophy progressed, were, when there was tolerance between them and the non Muhammadans amongst them as transpired for short periods of time in Spain.
It is an unquestionable historical reality, that human progress can occur with enormous strides in societies which allow for diversity of thought and the exchange of ideas and cannot succeed in a thought and behaviour controlled conditions that pertain under Muhammadanism such as happened recently in Afghanistan under the Taliban for example.
Another very pertinent fact is, that in the almost 500 years from 1450 to 1950 CE the Muhammadan world of hundreds of millions of people cannot name even FIVE human beings of their lot who have contributed anything of value to human progress whether in the sciences, medicine, art, engineering, chemistry, physics, music, mathematics, astronomy, discoveries or anything else for that matter.
This can be contrasted with the age of enlightenment that brought Europe out of the Dark Ages into the 21st century.
*** Muhammad took literally the provisions of punishments ordained in the Bible and applied them with improvisations upon his followers and others.
The best example is the punishment of Rajam/ Stoning to death. The Bible prescribes the death penalty against adulerers but was rarely applied - for realistic reasons - by the the followers of Moses.
Muhammad none the less applied it without mercy to his followers and even to Jews under his control.
Muhammad left a unique legacy to his followers; a legacy which has only one agenda in mind:
To convert the whole of humanity to become believers in "Allah and in Muhammad as his apostle", at any cost and by any and all means possible ***
Sahih Al-Bukhari HadithHadith 4.747 Narrated byRabia bin Abi Abdur Rahman
I heard Anas bin Malik describing the Prophet saying, "He was of medium height amongst the people, neither tall nor short; he had a rosy colour, neither absolutely white nor deep brown; his hair was neither completely curly nor quite lank. Divine Inspiration was revealed to him when he was forty years old. He stayed ten years in Mecca receiving the Divine Inspiration, and stayed in Medina for ten more years. When he expired, he had scarcely twenty white hairs in his head and beard." Rabi'a said, "I saw some of his hairs and it was red. When I asked about that, I was told that it turned red because of scent."
*** The legal sources of Islam are the Quran and the Hadiths.
The Quran is allegedly the exact words of Allah; its authenticity, originality and totality are supposedly intact.
The Hadiths are the presumed reports of the sayings, deeds and approvals of Muhammad. His sayings and deeds are called Sunnah.
The Seerah, are the writings of the followers of Muhammad regarding his life; his biogrphies.
Hence, it is the life history of SEVENTH CENTURY Muhammad which provides examples of daily living for Muhammadan Muslims of the
TWENTY FIRST CENTURY ***
