The book of Dr. Ibtihal on Islam became a masterpiece because it came with spiritual interpretation of the Qur’an. In that, Dr. Ibtihal did not only show originality but also a genius work. In her book, she claimed that the Qur’an has strong power on its recitor because its words were spiritually infested. She made a contrast between singing and the recitation of the Qur’an. A person might not understand the meaning of a song but still he could be charmed by its tone and music. This was the first stage in being captivated by the recitation of the Qur’an. This captivation would open the person to a spiritual realm. When the person opened his spirit to that realm, another power would take over. That power was spiritual power. Now there are four kinds of spirits in the world; the Holy Spirit, human spirit, angelic spirit, and demonic spirit. Angelic spirits and human spirits do not possess a person. The Holy Spirit of God can take control of a person and help him to live a good spiritual and moral life. On the contrary, the demonic spirits or devils can possess a person, influence him spiritually, and make him to lead a bad spiritual and moral life and turn him into a dangerous being. Now invading, killing, looting, stealing, raping, committing adultery and fornication, coveting, etc are the works of Satan. From this Dr. Ibtihal deduced that the Qur’an recitation opens up the Muslim to such a kind of spiritual control and makes him commit such atrocities like blowing up thousands of innocent people and committing suicide.
Dr. Ibtihal contended that the verses of the Qur’an were all satanic verses. At the time of Muhammad there were some soothsayers known as Kahins. Those Kahins could communicate with evil spirits, which help them to know things that could not possibly be known by the ordinary human mind. In addition, the poets were believed to have satanic assistance in composing their poems. Whether we called him, a Kahin or poet Dr. Ibtihal believed that Muhammad had an encounter with those demonic spirits that deceived him in believing that he was receiving direct revelation from God almighty. The Qur’an testified that some demons met Muhammad, listened to the recitation of the Qur’an, and declared their belief in Islam (Qur’an Sorah Al-Jinn 72: 1-2).
[1] Say: It has been revealed to me that a company of Jinns [demons] listened (to the Qur'an). They said, ' we have really heard a wonderful Recital! [2] 'It gives guidance to the Right, and we have believed therein: we shall not join (in worship) any (gods) with our Lord.
These verses revealed that Muhammad had opened himself to a spiritual realm where demons could easily talk and communicate with him. Nevertheless, for some time, Muhammad was resisting and disbelieving that spirit which claimed to be the angel Gabriel of the Bible. He tried to kill himself out of desperation and frustration. He hated to be called Kahin or poet. However, his wife Khadiga was responsible for misguiding him into the belief that he received a revelation from God. She used a method known to the women of Makka at that time in order to verify whether the spirit that appeared to her husband was an evil spirit or good spirit. She made him to sit on her right thigh and then on her left thigh. When Muhammad could still see the spirit, Khadiga undressed herself and asked him to sit on her lap. The women of Makka at that time believed the evil spirit would not feel any shame to look at the naked woman. However, the good spirit would disappear when a woman exposed her nakedness. When Khadiga exposed herself before that spirit Muhammad said he could not see it. Therefore, Khadiga shouted, “cheer up the son of my uncle, that was an angel and not Satan.” That was the first proof for Muhammad that an angel appeared to him and not a satanic spirit. Then Khadiga took Muhammad to her cousin Waraqa Ibn Nofal to confirm the calling of her husband. Surprisingly, the story of the confirmation told that Waraqa Ibn Nofal was a Christian but still said to Muhammad that what he saw was the Namos of Moses or the Law of Moses. The writer of this story did not know what the Law of Moses (Torah) was and hence confused the word Namos with the word angel. Those were the two people who convinced Muhammad that he saw an angel and not an evil spirit.
Believing that the angel Gabriel appeared to him Muhammad began to preach his message. The words that were written in the Qur’an were believed by Muslims to be dictated to him word for word by the angel Gabriel. However, this claim could be disputed. The words of the Qur’an revealed that on many occasions they were composed to suit some unfavorable or favorable situation of Muhammad. The huge contradiction between the Makkan verses and Medinian verses showed that the Qur’an was composed by its author. If this was the case then where was the influence of a spiritual force in the Qur’an? Dr. Ibtihal was aware of this question and answered it spiritually. She argued that the Kahins and the poets at the time of Muhammad were aware of what they were doing and aware in addition, of the spiritual assistance, that helped them to compose those verses.
According to Dr. Ibtihal while the Qur’an was the thoughts and ideas of Muhammad, it was also empowered spiritually. For that reason the Qur’an had spiritual power that surpassed any spiritual power in the world barring the Bible. The Qur’an and the Bible were spiritual books but they had different sources. The Bible and the Qur’an contradicted each other in their claims to be divinely revealed. If the Bible was correct, then the Qur’an was false and vice versa. The Qur’an was composed for two purposes, to destroy the message of the Bible and destroy human beings. In many verses, the Qur’an rejected the foundations of the Gospel of Jesus when it claimed that Christ was not crucified nor did he die for the sins of the world. It also rejected the divinity of Jesus and considered it a blasphemy. It was said, Christianity stands and falls with the crucifixion, resurrection, and divinity of Jesus Christ. The Qur’an rejected all those three fundamentals of Christianity. The Qur’an stated that any one who called Jesus God was an unbeliever. Secondly, Muhammad claimed to have been given a direct order from God to kill anyone who refused to acclaim him as the messenger of God. In the verse of the Sword Muhammad claimed that God ordered his followers to kill the unbelievers of Arabia if they refused to accept him as a prophet. In Sorah, al-Touba verse 29 Muhammad gave his followers full authority to slaughter the Jews and Christians if they refused to accept him as a prophet or pay money as ransom. The second caliph Omar extended the punishment of the Jews and Christians by forbidding them to build any new Church or repair any damage that happened to their churches. That was understood by the Shari’a as not allowing Christians and Jews to build synagogues and churches in a Muslim country. For this reason today, Christians and Jews are not permitted in Saudi Arabia to have places of worship. In one of his sayings, Muhammad said, “No two religions should be allowed in the Peninsula of Arabia.” “The prophet in his fatal illness said, “Allah cursed Jews and Christians because they took their prophets’ graves as places for praying’”(al-Bukhari: V2, B 23 hadith no. 414). The same hadith was narrated in Muwta Malik as follows: “The last words the prophet said before he died were, “Allah cursed the Jews and Christians because they took their prophets’ graves as places for praying. No two religions should be allowed in the Peninsula of the Arabia.”
The main thesis of the book of Dr. Ibtihal was that the words of the Qur’an could possess a person the same way evil spirits could possess him. In other words, the words of the Qur’an were evil spirits. Every word and every letter in the Qur’an were infested by an evil power that could possess and direct the person as it wanted. The Muslim terrorists in fact were possessed people. Dr. Ibtihal arrived at this conclusion when she compared a gangster or notorious criminal with a religious terrorist. In the case of the criminal no matter how evil he might be, still he would care about his life whereas the terrorist would not hesitate for a second to blow himself up in order to kill others. The greatest evil in life is to kill oneself. The terrorist would love to kill himself and others. The terrorist would love to do the work of Satan because he was possessed and controlled by Satan. Jesus Christ said about Satan, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy . . . ” If we look at the full verse we would see the huge difference between Muhammad and Christ and we would know for sure that the former message is from Satan and the latter from God, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10: 10). Muhammad believed that Allah commanded him to slay any one who refused to bear witness for him as a messenger of God. In this way, there is no difference between Muhammad and Satan. Both come to steal, kill, and destroy.
The Qur’an is a poetical book and could be put into tone. The recitation of the Qur’an is nothing but chanting those evil spirits that control every letter and word of it. For this reason the Quran is not allowed to be translated in any other language. Dr. Ibtihal understood why this restriction was imposed only on the Quran. The Qur’an would lose its spiritual power when it was converted into another language. That spiritual power was associated with the Arabic language in which the Qur’an was originally composed. Dr. Ibtihal suggested that the Qur’an spiritually influenced even the entire Arabic language. Muslims who do not know the Arabic language are not allowed to pray except by reciting the Arabic verses of the Qur’an. In other words, a non-Arab Muslim has to chant the verses of the Qur’an five times in a day in order to pray to Allah. The so-called translations of the Qur’an are considered to be mere interpretations by Muslim scholars. Ninety percent of Muslims recite the verses of the Qur’an daily without knowing their meanings. Muslims are strictly forbidden to interpret or try to understand the words of the Qur’an by themselves. Any one who interprets a verse of the Qur’an is promised to occupy his seat in hell. The Qur’an itself says that no one would know it’s meaning except those who were given special knowledge. In fact, the Qur’an was meant to be recited rather than read. The recitation of the Qur’an is a sort of spiritual chanting and invoking of evil spirits. Dr. Ibtihal gave some examples of people in Sudan known as Fakis who used the verses of the Qur’an to do harm to others. When the verses of the Qur’an were recited, they invoked evil spirits. Those people controlled those evil spirits and sent them to whomsoever they wanted.
Dr. Ibtihal concluded the chapter of the spiritual interpretations of the Qur’an by saying that the religious terrorists were neither criminals nor victims. They were people who sold themselves to Satan and were controlled by him. Those religious terrorists were demonically possessed. Those demons used them to do mass killing and killing themselves too. Dr. Ibtihal tried to avoid an important question but somehow she gave a vague answer to it. Should we conclude that every Muslim in the world is spiritually infected or demon possessed? She said that not every Muslim was possessed but every one was potential to such demonic influence. She also said that still those potential Muslims were used by Satan in other ways such as beating their women and abusing them or appreciating the works of notorious religious terrorists such as Osama bin Laden and Ayiman al-Zawahari.
Dr. Ibtihal also spoke in separate chapters, which she linked to her arguments in this chapter. In those chapters she tried to prove that those demons did not only use religious terrorists to kill non-Muslims but also very often stirred religious strife among Muslims themselves and used them to kill each other. There is no religion in the world that it is followers hate and kill each other more than Islam. I would discuss this point in separate chapters in order to go along with the arrangements of the author. Before we do that we would like to trace along with Dr. Ibtihal the origin of Islam. Besides, the spiritual interpretations of the Qur’an Dr. Ibtihal offered detailed historical accounts of the origin of Islam. She believed that Muhammad could not be alone credited with establishing an Arabian religion. Before him there were Arab poets and sages who tried to form a religion for the Arab Bedouins but for various reasons they could not succeed. However, Muhammad is highly indebted to those predecessors because he incorporated most of their religious doctrines in his new religion.
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| Dr. Ibtihal Al-Khatib |
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