Having survived the deluge of hate unleashed in the last chapter, let's dive back into the Qur'an. After all, Islam has seduced a billion souls; there must be something godly somewhere. Qur'an 68:1 "I call to witness the Pen and what it writes. You are not a demented madman or possessed." With all the evidence to the contrary, Muhammad found a spirit who didn't think he was crazy. But as reassuring as that may sound to some, it's one of the most disturbing things I have read in a document that purports to be scripture. For if we are to take this at face value, the Islamic god found it necessary to tell his last and most important messenger that he wasn't demon-possessed. Qur'an 68:3 "Nay, truly for you is a never-ending reward." I know it's not polite to gloat, but I told you so. Islam was a business transaction between a man who craved power, sex, and money and a spirit who knew how to scratch an itch. So the most immoral man to claim prophet status, said of himself: Qur'an 68:4 "You are an exalted character of tremendous morality. Soon you will see, and they will see, which of you is afflicted with madness. Surely the Lord knows best who errs from His way, and who follows the right course. So don't listen to those who deny, or those who would form compromises with you to get you to relent. Heed not despicable men or contemptible swearers or back-biters, neither obey feeble oath-mongers, or slanderers, going about defaming, hindering good, transgressing beyond bounds, crude, deep in sin, violent and cruel, greedy, and intrusive, ignoble, and besides all that, mean and infamous because they possesses wealth and numerous sons." I'm astonished that someone would have the gall to pass off this hateful, mean-spirited rant as scripture. There were twenty slurs in this paragraph alone. One would have been more than sufficient. Qur'an 68:15 "When you recite Our proofs and verses (from the Qur'an) they cry, 'Tales of the ancients, mere fables of long ago.' Soon shall We muzzle them and brand the beast on the snout!" Ouch! Muhammad's Lord chafes when he's called a plagiarizer. Must be hitting a little too close to home. Let's turn to the Sira to see how close... Ishaq:180 "According to my information, the Apostle often sat by a young Christian slave named Jabr. The Meccans said, 'He is the one who teaches Muhammad most of what he brings.'" Then Allah revealed, Qur'an 16:103 "We know what they (pagans) say: 'It is only a mortal man who teaches him (Muhammad). But the tongue of the man they wickedly point to is notably foreign, while this (Qur'an) is pure Arabic.'" When accused of plagiarism, the best Team Islam could do was to claim that the Bible Jabr was quoting from wasn't written in Arabic. That's a problem. First, by responding to the Meccan's claim that Muhammad was out of his mind, a demon-possessed madman, plagiarizing scripture, the Qur'an confirmed that these were legitimate concerns. Muhammad's kin were convinced he was demon possessed and insane. Second, the Qur'an continues to reflect man's least civil nature rather than rising above the fray and inspiring humankind. Name-calling isn't divine and the never-ending argument isn't motivational. Further, without the supplemental "scripture" from the Hadith, the Qur'an's response is senseless. No one would have any way of knowing who was talking to whom, or why. Senseless material that floats aimlessly outside place, circumstance, and time doesn't belong in a book that claims to be dictated word for word by God. Third, if Arabic was Allah's chosen language for revelation, why were "his" earlier revelations written in Hebrew and Greek? And as illiterates, Team Islam remains confused as to how translations work. Words are just tools, names for things and ideas mankind uses to convey a message. Every language has a word for demon, god, mad, and plagiarize. But this argument goes to the root of why today's Muslims say their Qur'anic message can't be translated - they still don't understand the nature of language. Little do they know, the Greek Gospels they are so fond of claiming credit for literally began their existence as translations of Aramaic conversations. Fourth, the source of the Qur'an's inspiration and its audience was so dimwitted, the claim was posited that changing the language obfuscated the source. That's as lame as Muslims claiming that Muhammad couldn't have stolen his Qur'an from the Bible because he couldn't read's.ggesting the surahs were miraculous. Yet even the Qur'an pokes holes in this argument by saying the Jews incorrectly read their scriptures to Muhammad, saying words that weren't really on their scrolls. All this Christian source had to do was to verbally convey the gist of the Biblical stories. And judging by the quality of the material we are reading, the prophet was qualified to twist them from there. Fifth, by bringing this argument, the Qur'an injured itself. The rebuttal is a lie. The Qur'an wasn't written in "pure Arabic." The plethora of parentheses in the Qur'an text we have been examining proves this. They were put there to fill in missing words, fix the grammatical errors, solve the problem of dangling participles, and render a discernable message. Moreover, as you'll discover in the "Source Material" appendix, the Qur'an's most important words are foreign. They are Christian Syriac or Rabbinic Hebrew. Allah's book contains many words that have no meaning in any language, including Arabic. In its defense, the Qur'an says only Allah knows what they mean. But that defeats the whole purpose of scripture. While we're on the subject of exposing the words of fools, the 16th surah says: Qur'an 16:103 "When we replace a message with another, and Allah knows best what He reveals, they say: 'You have made it up.'" The Meccans recognized that Muhammad's Qur'an recitals were conflicting, and that the prophet couldn't keep his stories straight. They knew that internal contradiction was the surest sign that something was bogus. Since Muhammad wasn't able to refute his critic's claims, he had his spirit friend belittle them. Even today, unable to defend Islam, Muslims slander and threaten their accusers. The warning: "Surely We will try them..." in the 68th surah is followed by seven verses of incoherent gibberish. I'll pick up the scripture reading at the 25th verse: "So they departed, conversing in secret, saying, 'We have lost our way.' And when they saw it , they said: 'We are in error! We are made to suffer.' They turned, one against another, in reproach, blaming each other. They said: 'Alas for us! We were disobedient.' Said they: 'Woe to us! Such is the punishment (in this life), but greater is the punishment in the hereafter.'" Nothing pleases an insecure and abused man more than the thought of his critics groveling at his feet - admitting that they were wrong. And when they beg for mercy, none is given. The Qur'an is little more than a mirror reflecting Muhammad's inadequacies. Qur'an 68:35 "Shall We treat those who submit and obey (Muslims) like the disbelievers?" Muhammad's favorite words: "submit and obey." They permeate the Qur'an. The prophet's Islamic empire would be based upon this simple formula. "What is the matter with you? How do you judge? Have you a scripture wherein to learn, or have you a book to read?" Yes. It's Yahweh's Word - known more commonly as the Bible. It comprises the Torah, Poets, Prophets, Gospels, and Epistles. Muhammad would soon come to learn about this book. He'd steal from it, call it inspired, and then assail it. Yet on this day, he's simply illiterate and ill-informed. Taunted by his hecklers, he says that he's better than they are because they don't have a book to read. In actuality, it was Muhammad who had no book and could not read. The Qur'an never approached being a book during Muhammad's lifetime - no matter how many times he and his deity called it one. The surahs remained a loosely kept and unordered assemblage of oral recitals for decades. Qur'an 68:41 "Or do you have Partners? Then let them produce their partners, if they are truthful!" This is a cheap shot. Muhammad is suggesting that the lesser Ka'aba idols are not on par with his deity. Yet since he was never able to coax a single miracle, not even a wiggle, out of either of his stone gods, Ar-Rahman or Allah, this is hypocritical. "On the day when the great calamity of doom befalls them in earnest, and they are ordered to prostrate themselves, they will not. On that day there shall be a severe affliction. Their eyes will be downcast, abasement stupefying them; ignominy will cover them. Seeing that they had been summoned beforehand to bow in adoration, while they were still whole and unhurt, they refused." Requiring prisoners to bow while "still whole and unhurt," sounds more like a POW camp than a place conceived, built, and managed by God - unless, of course, this "god" is Satan. Qur'an 68:44 "Then leave Me alone with such as reject this Message and call Our pronouncements a lie." Once again, the dark spirit of Islam wants to be left alone with his victims so that he can torture men personally. It's hard to imagine a spirit, other than Satan, wanting to spend his days abusing humankind. "Systematically by degrees, step by step, We shall punish them in ways they can not even imagine." What a novel idea: a demented deity. Qur'an 68:48 "So wait with patience for the Lord's Judgment, and be not like the companion of the fish, when he cried out in agony, choked with anger." This is Muhammad's attempt to make the story of Jonah and the whale, which he learned from Zayd, relevant to his situation. And it's not by chance that the four Biblical characters he has mentioned thus far all came out of the Hanif's most famous poem. But feeble is as feeble does: Muhammad can't recall Jonah's name, even though the Hanif gave it to him. And while being absent-minded is forgivable, suggesting that god tortured Jonah is not. Degrading this man and convoluting his mission simply reveals Muhammad's character. "Had not grace from his Lord reached him, he would have been cast off, corrupt on a barren plain, in disgrace while he was a reprobate." Jonah was neither corrupt nor a reprobate. His mission was to save the Assyrians, the mortal enemy of the Jews, and easily the baddest boys on the planet. He went to their capital, Ninevah, and preached. Yahweh worked a miracle and the Assyrians repented, sparing the nation for a century. (Something America may want to consider.) Qur'an 68:51 "And the unbelievers would almost smite you (Muhammad) with their eyes, tripping you when they hear the Message. And they say: 'Surely he is possessed!'" Those who knew Muhammad much better than we could possibly know him today, said that he was possessed by demons. We know this because the dark spirit of Islam attested to it in his book. Perhaps he considered it a compliment. |
