A Good Reason to Leave Islam

By Mumin Salih

The history of religion is probably parallel to the history of man; they came to existence together and may disappear together. As humans became more sophisticated, they became more aware of their lack of understanding of life and death. That lack of understanding provided fertile grounds that nurtured gossips and theories of all kinds. With continued human development, people thought of those questions concerning life and death and probably each person formulated his/her own theories and interpretations. Most people were honest enough to keep their own ideas to themselves without forcing it on others because they knew they made it up. Others were not that honest and proposed their own imagination as true answers for those questions surrounding life and the after life. That was the origin of religion and those dishonest people became the guardians of religions; clergymen, priests, ministers, sheikhs etc, you name it.

The above is my own imagination about the rise of religion, which I do not want to force on anyone. It is simplified and unlikely to be completely accurate, but it does indicate that religion was the product of two things that came together: ignorance and dishonesty. Religion was a product invented by the dishonest and sold to the ignorant.

There is nothing wrong in having no answers, but it is unacceptable to fake answers when there aren't any.

God

I do not intend to delve into the question of god’s existence because the issue doesn't bother me anymore. Nobody can be confident enough, or certain enough, to completely rule out the possibility of God’s existence. However, it is easy to rule out that God, if existed, needs to send prophets, write books or create confusing religions as Allah, the Islamic god, did.

‘Does it matter to Allah that humans follow a religion?’ The Islamic answer is “definitely Yes, they must follow Islam” which leads to the question: ‘If so, why didn't he create them to automatically follow Islam, by making a few changes to their DNA?’ From the Islamic point of view there is no point in creating all humans to be good and sin free, like prophets, because that will eliminate the need for Hell, the thrill of torture and the fun of the judgment day.

It would be more fun to make it like school education, where only those who work hard pass the test. In fact it is meant to be precisely like that, like school education, as the Quran states in numerous occasions (the emphasis is mine):

Q.3:142: “Do you think that you will enter the garden while Allah (the all knowing!) has not yet known those who strive hard from among you, and known the patient”.

Q.34: 21:".... that We (the all knowing!) may distinguish him who believes in the hereafter from him who is in doubt concerning it; ..."

Q.47: 31: And most certainly We (the all knowing!) will try you until We have known those among you who exert themselves hard, and the patient, and made your case manifest.

The above is the kind of information we are supposed to learn from the Quran: Allah, the all knowing, doesn't know! This is why it is recommended that you completely shut down your intelligence once you start reading the Quran, otherwise you cannot taste its perfection.

According to the Islamic logic: rather than creating good and sin free people, it is more fun to create a religion and then reward those who follow it and torture those who do not. For additional excitement, it is better to make it a confusing religion based on a confusing book that only the Arabs can read. This is just like making the exam questions tough and confusing (otherwise everybody can pass!).The climax of this fun was when Allah appointed Muhammad (believed to be illiterate) to be in charge of it all.

The above imagination fits only a god with seventh century knowledge and culture and who was raised in Arabia.

Islam - What is Islam about?

When Islam came to life fourteen centuries ago, the world was already full with religions. The persistent theme in the Quran is that the ancient people turned their backs to god, but the available evidence points to the contrary. Every tribe worshiped its god with obvious probity and sincerity. Everybody wanted to do his/her best to please god.

The Islamic god, Allah, was already known and worshipped in Arabia. Muhammad’s father name was Abdu-allah. Nearly all the Islamic rituals like pilgrimage, fasting, prayers and inheritance traditions were known and practiced by the Ahnaf and Sabean.

It appears that Muhammad didn't make any substantially new additions to what is already known in Arabia. However, by looking carefully we find that he did make one significant addition. It was an important addition that shaped Islam and made the bulk of it – he made it obligatory to believe in him as a prophet. Muhammad added his name to the religion to be second only to Allah’s name.

That is what Islam is about – glorifying Muhammad!

Islam starts with a big lie

Most Muslims are born to Muslim parents and had no choice but to become Muslims. The very effective indoctrination helps them not only to accept their fate but also to die for it. Increasingly there are more Muslims who convert to Islam from other religions. They usually come from troubled backgrounds with little or non existent religious roots, which explains why converts are usually Europeans or Americans. You don't see Arab Christian converts, despite the fact the Arab Christians are fluent in Arabic and have been in contact with Islam for longer time.

Muslims have the habit to pronounce the shahada several times a day. Those who convert to Islam must start by pronouncing the Shahada, which entitles them to acquire the title of Muslims. The Arabic word ‘shahada’ means ‘visualized or seen with the eyes’.  The official Shahada statement is: “I see that there is no god but Allah and I see that Muhammad is the prophet of Allah”.

“I see?” This is as big as a lie can get!

No human can claim that he has seen (or researched and found, or proved etc.) god and that god was Allah. Also no human can claim to have seen Muhammad to be a prophet of that god. Big lie from the beginning to the end. The existence of god is debatable and is impossible to prove either way. Even if Muslims have proved the existence of god, with eye witness certainty, how can they rule out the existence of other gods? And how a Muslim can prove that ‘Allah’ is actually the name of that god? Stating that Muhammad was a prophet, is a bigger lie. Assuming he existed, which is also debatable, Muhammad is dead and the only way to say, with eye witness certainty, that he was seen to be a prophet is to lie.

Yet that is how people become Muslims! by signing a false statement!

The shahada is only the first lie in Islam, because everything that follows about that religion is based on lies-big lies.

From what has been explained so far, a decent person should reject Islam even if Muhammad or the Quran were perfect with no blemishes at all. But far from it.

Muhammad

None of the Islamic prophets was a good example to follow(1), but Muhammad was an extreme case. His life story is only written by Muslims yet it depicts an evil man, certainly not a prophet.

The following are only examples taken from sirat Ibn Hisham but they are also found in both Sahih books of Bukhari and Muslim:

* Muhammad, in many authentic hadiths, made it conditional that a true believer (in Allah) must love Allah him more than anything. The following Hadith is narrated by Bukhari: “I swear by He who created me, no one of you is a believer unless he loves me more than he loves himself, his wealth, his children and all mankind put together!”

What a humble personality! Why is it a requirement to love Muhammad (so much) in order to believe in Allah? And how is it possible to love somebody so much, especially that he may never have existed?

That Islamic requirement posed a real problem to me as a young Muslim. I was not convinced that I truly loved Muhammad more than my close relatives. In fact, Muhammad was automatically downgraded in my mind just because he demanded that love. But thanks to the Satan, I managed to live with so many secret sins because I blamed it all on him.Muhammad once urinated in a bowl in the night. Next morning, he realized that a lady, Umm Ayman, drank from that bowl thinking it was water, Muhammad smiled to her and assured her she will never suffer of stomach problems again, suggesting his urine was a blessing! In a similar incident narrated by Umm Umayma, an Abyssinian maid named Baraka drank the urine and Muhammad assured her that she will not go to hell(2)!

That was the conduct of the perfect man of Islam. That is what Muslims are supposed to emulate. Urinating in a bowl of water with no apology!

1. Muhammad’s sexual life was sickening and reflected a deranged personality. He used to make daily rounds on his wives to have sex with all of them, one by one, without washing in between. With Muhammad’s vast knowledge in medicine (3), how it escaped his mind that he could spread infection? No wonder that it is the religious people who tend to practice polygamy in Muslim countries.
2. Muhammad’s affair with Maria, the Coptic maid, suggests that he was both dishonest and unfaithful to Hafsa, his wife. He visited Hafsa and conspired to make her leave the house and used the opportunity to have sex with her maid. He was caught in action by his wife who returned home early. To calm her down, he promised not to do it. Even that promise was too much for Muhammad to keep. Soon, he used the Quran and released some verses to support his case to break that promise!
3. Muhammad’s marriage to Zainab was despicable and beyond contempt. He made her husband divorce her, breaking the poor man’s heart and ruining his emotional and family life, all to satisfy his sexual needs. Muhammad didn't mind to break the rules of adoption, which he banned, to pave the way to his marriage.
4. Muhammad’s marriage to Safyia was detestable and cruel. He raided the tribe of Bani Nadeer, in Khayber, early in the morning. He started by setting fire to their palm trees and finished by torturing Kenana, the chief of the tribe, and killing him. All men were killed and all women and children were enslaved. With blood all over the place he had the gut to take the beautiful widow of Kenana as a wife and had sex with her only hours after her entire tribe was massacred.
5. Muhammad’s marriage to Juwayreyia Bint Al Harith followed a similar scenario. He raided Bani Al Mustalak, killed their leader and married his wife only days after the death of her husband.

Any of the above stories is enough to make any person with respectable intelligence and morality conclude that Muhammad was an evil man; certainly not a prophet.

The Quran

The Quran is the back bone of Islam. It is claimed that it is the word of Allah, which reached us intact, unlike the Bible or the Torah. If the Quran falls, Islam falls immediately, which explains why Muslims are prepared to go to any length and do anything to preserve that imaginary picture of a perfect Quran.

To reduce criticism of the Quran, Muslims managed to dismiss all non Arabs as not qualified to debate the Quran on the basis that the Quran is written in a very sophisticated style that can be understood only by the highly qualified Arabs. Armed with such an excuse, the Muslims also managed to dismiss the majority of the Arabs as not qualified to debate the Quran.

In Muslim circles, the myth of Quranic miracles often comes up and they would talk about it for hours. However, when challenged they would shield themselves behind the excuse “I am not a scholar and not qualified to discuss the issue with you”.

There are no miracles in the Quran (4) and all the claims that have been made were proved to be lies. You would not expect miracles in a book full with mistakes of all kinds.

The so called miracles are mostly about claims that the Quran contains information that agrees with science. Of course, any book is supposed to agree with science.  However, the Quran doe not agree with science at all. On the other hand, the finding of one error in the Quran is a proof that it is not divine and Muhammad was an impostor and Islam is a lie.

The reader is assured that the Quran contains hundreds of errors in its language (5), in its logic (6,7,8) and in its science (9,10). There are no Muslims who can explain any of the errors in the Quran. When challenged, their only strategy is to invent new meanings for the offending words!

I stopped looking at the claims of scientific and numerical miracles in the Quran; I think they have reached thousands by now. A researcher needs to live for centuries to research and disprove every one of those claims. I looked at some of them, the important ones, and they are all lies.

I am afraid the Quran is an insult to its author(s) and is a living proof that Muhammad was an impostor and Islam is a collection of lies.