What is religion? The question is not easy to answer. As St. Augustine said 'of time, most of us know perfectly well what religion is -- until someone asks us to define it'.
The groups, practices and systems that we identify as "religion" are so diverse—e.g., not all religions refer to God or gods, not all religions are concerned with morals, not all religions have beliefs about the afterlife...—that it is no easy task to bring them all under one simple definition.Of course, this difficulty has not stopped people from attempting to define religion. The definitions are quite wide-ranging: some emphasize the personal, others the social; some the beliefs, others the uses; some the structures, others the functions; some the private, others the public; some the mundane, others the transcendent; some the truth, others the illusions. In many cases, a person's definition of religion is actually a definition of his or her own thinking of his or her religion.
While no one definition of religion can completely sum up what religion is, they all tell us something about religion, and, perhaps, bring us closer to an understanding of what we mean when we talk about "religion." Thus a selection of definitions and quotes addressing the question "What is religion?" and we take a look into the Religion of Islam, these thoughts/facts are provided below as a backdrop to the countless suspicions that we gather and understand and question...???
Human beings are born free: free to talk, free to choose our friends, and free to do whatever we THINK we want to do. Our laws are enshrined with all these cardinal points of various individual freedoms, especially in non-Muslim nations. And above all, the greatest freedom we have is the freedom of thought. Absolute followers cannot and will never be freethinkers. Just like sheep, they need only brainlessly follow like morons. The choices rational human beings make are based on their individual capacity to THINK for themselves. Freedom to believe in anything we want is our greatest asset! If we think something is not to our needs, we can rethink and are free to change our minds. It is up to individuals to THINK and to come to a conclusion and act as accordingly...
From the creation of man, we humans have developed our brains to THINK critically and consciously held ourselves responsible for all our actions, deeds and subversive activities—'good' or 'bad', 'right' or 'wrong', 'true' or 'false'. If the human race, with its natural ability to think, believes that there is a genuine God, Who demands and expects to worship, adore, kill, maraud, love and obey to all his/her commands, has NO rational thinking of its own...
In Islam, al-Ilah (the Muslim God) demands believers to surrender to him completely and to obey to his every command given in their Holy Book, the Quran, in its totality. Al-Ilah states that everything recorded in the Quran is his own words. Al-Ilah's unconditional demand to his followers to follow the Quran is absolute. Muslim scholars of more than 200 Islamic sects agree, confirm and believe this is absolutely true that it is mandatory to obey al-Ilah's commands in the Quran with no reservation of any kind by every believing Muslim. (No 'ifs' and 'buts' are allowed).
The Quran, in reality, is a book of an imperfect scripture, allegedly sayings of God, filled with errors, contradictions, stupidities, historical inaccuracies. The contents of the Quran are also not arranged according to importance, continuity, sacredness, biography, chronology, significance or sequence of any sorts, but simply by length: the longest chapter, followed by the next longest. The Verses are disorderly arranged and jumbled up in unrelated subjects/topics. The Quran has no prophecy, no chronology, no geography, no biography of anybody (except bits & pieces of Muhammad's), no ministry, no history, no proverbs, no parables, no miracles, no psalms, no sequence of any sort. It's generally a manual of dos and don'ts, like an instruction manual of a vacuum cleaner, with punitive punishments, reprisals and rewards specified in it. The Quran is, undoubtedly, not a book created by an intelligent being, and is unfit for the intelligent and rational thinking persons. This book fraught with lack of fraud, stupidity and logic and reason (discussed below), which makes it a complete lie.
In demanding absolute and unconditional obedience from his believers, al-Ilah categorically states (Surah 33.36):
"And it becometh not a believing man or a believing woman, when al-Ilah and his messenger have decided an affair (for them), that they should (after that) claim any say in their affair(s); and who so is rebellious to al-Ilah and his messenger, he verily go astray in error manifest."
So as believers, Muslims have no right to think independently about their own affairs, because al-Ilah and his messenger have already done the thinking for them. All that Muslims are required to do is just to obey (like sheep) to al-Ilah's words as in the Quran, and becoming totally obedient morons. If these Muslims do not obey and follow all the commands, they will be considered by al-Ilah as "rebellious" and face consequences. In the same verse, al-Ilah also demands Muslims to obey his human messenger, Muhammad (giving equal status with al-Ilah???). No other religion on earth demands from its followers such absolute and unconditional obedience to a human messenger and his puppet god. This defies all logic. Why shouldn't Muslims use their God-given brains for independent, rational thinking into their own affairs?
Islam is like a magician: once he put an illusory spell over his audience, he has complete control of everything he wants people to believe and do! By taking control of Muslims mind, and making them force Islam on those not in controls, Islam deprives Muslims from questioning and leaving Islam, even if one wishes so? Either you believe and behave, or you will be forced by true believers to conform; thus Islam keeps an absolute grip on the community. Almost everything in Islamic community is forced upon against the will and rational thinking of the individual: there's no choice of one's own.
And, exceptional rewards are promised to believers: al-Ilah attempts to sell them a fake death insurance policy to reward them with eternal paradise filled with wine, honey, and angelic virgins... Al-Ilah also attempts to shame, threaten, and bribe Muslims into leaving their worldly life and sign up for jihad, with the promise of gaining entry into paradise.
Islam is sure a trap with no way out. If a Muslim tries to get out, he/she will be killed as an apostate (Surah 4:89). This is why Muslims dare not criticize Muslims, who commit violence, murder, bombings, etc? With no rational thinking allowed, Islam has proved itself to be a bloody murderous trap! Is this from God? Will God(s) ever be so merciless and have narcissist thinking? Or this may be just a plain fake religion?
Once an ideology gets control of its believers, it will only work its way up, just like communism that got control of half the world in the twentieth century! However, people, at least from the outside, were able to criticize communism and its propaganda, leading its eventual fall to obscurity... Truth always finds a way to emerge victorious in the end; truth always sets you FREE!!!
Jewish Prophets were Muslims?In the same light, al-Ilah claims in numerous verses that all Jewish prophets are believers in Islam and demands that those Jewish prophets were 'Muslims'. But the problem here is that, al-Ilah did not specify who those Jewish prophets were, leaving his believers in darkness forever. There is no complete list of these Jewish prophets in the Quran, let alone the proof of their ever being 'Muslim'—that too, before the Quran was revealed or invented? Are those Jewish prophets, not mentioned in the Quran (but mentioned in the Jewish/Christian scriptures), were ever a part of al-Ilah's Scripture or were they just figment of Muhammads' imaginations or just hoax? How did those Jewish prophets ever know about al-Ilah or Muhammad or Islam as a religion, which would later on come to the world. (Indeed, the Quran did not exist until 786 CE, 154 years after Muhammad's death in 632, when the Quran was complied as a religious book. see "The Invention of Islam"). Moses and Jesus was recorded by their followers/Apostles, who lived with them (and the Quran/al-Ilah have the cheeks to claim the Bible is all corrupted!!!); and there is not a single acceptable historical record of any Jewish Prophet(s) of ever having been a Muslim.
Just a claim that they were 'Muslim' does not necessarily make them 'Muslim', does it? It's a silly, laughable claims at best; the world must be wondering why Islam makes such hideous and preposterous claim on Jewish Prophets like Abraham, Noah, Moses, etc. These stupid assumptions even astound the Christians as well. Jews are so passionate of their Jewishness that the majority of them don't even accept Jesus as a Jew. This is just because, Jesus tried to reform Judaism by shedding some of the barbaric Jewish beliefs of the previous era, such as stoning for adultery, which Islam has blindly copied and Muslims are following till today. By copying those Mosaic codes, al-Ilah and Muhammad had thought that the Jews would embrace Islam easily. But did it happen or would it ever? It's not even remotely possible. All these facts make it crystal-clear that al-Ilah, Muhammad and the Quran are plain and simple lies: Islam is a completely fake. Period!
Jewish and Christian Scripture included in the Quran?Al-Ilah claims in Surah 3:50 that "he revealed the Torah", and in Surah 5:48 "al-Ilah claims he revealed the Gospel and the Torah".
So, was al-Ilah really revealing to Jesus the Gospel about his trials in front of Pontius Pilate the Roman Governor in Jerusalem? Was al-Ilah whispering into Jesus' ears of all the happenings around the fourteen Stations of the Cross, about Jesus' shout to God, the torn temple curtains, the earthquake, the breaking open of graves, the Roman army officer's response, about the Romans fleeing, and foretelling Jesus in 'detailed whispers' of all the numerous events which are to follow, while Jesus was bleeding in agony by the Roman tortures and death on the cross?
These are all part and parcel of the Gospel. So did al-Ilah reveal this entire Gospel to Jesus as al-Ilah claims? It does sound absurd, ridiculous and plain stupid, doesn't it? Al-Ilah further claims that all Jewish/Christian Scriptures came from him, but mentions only Torah and the Gospels in the Quran. The problem here is that the Torah is only 'five' out of the 'thirty nine' books of the Old Testament, just 12.8% of the total Jewish Scriptures (Judaism counts them as 24 books only, because they join some together in the Tanakh). Concerning the Bible, al-Ilah mentions just an Injil (Gospel). But there are several Injils (Gospels) in the Christian Bible with 66 books divided into 'Testaments' (Old and New). In Surah 5:46, "al-Ilah clearly claims he revealed the Gospel (Not in the plural form) to Jesus". So, which Injil (Gospel) did al-Ilah ever refer to?
Since the Quran says, "baby Jesus talked in his cradle", we can assume from this that it was the "Gospel of Luke", which only describes the birth of Jesus Christ. But there is a problem here, because less than 10% of this very Gospel is in the Quran. But al-Ilah's ridiculous tale of baby Jesus talking in his cradle is a laughable joke to Christians? Even if we take one whole Gospel, from a total of 66 books, it is just 1.5% of the Bible only... The Torah is NOT the Jewish Scriptures, but just a very small part Tanakh; and the Gospel of Luke is NOT all the Christian Scriptures, but just a tiny part of the Bible!!!
And al-Ilah laughably claims that ALL scriptures of Judaism and Christianity are in his holy crap, the Quran. How can this claim of al-Ilah ever be true? Is some part of the Quran written in invisible ink that on-one can see? It is no wonder that so little of the Torah and the Gospel of Luke are mentioned in the Quran leaving out most of the prophets from both these Books, and that too inaccurately???
The Quran is relatively a small book and three Qurans will be need to accommodate everything from the Jewish scripture alone; and with the Bible, it will be even more voluminous. It is clear that al-Ilah had no clear idea of the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. He falsely claims that he revealed it obviously to fool his ignorant Muslim followers. It is also obvious that only some parts of the 'Torah' and the 'Gospel of Luke' were ever plagiarized/copied from these two 'Holy Books'. How those Jewish Prophets ever became Muslim in pre-Islamic times is ridiculous and mind bogglingly! If al-Ilah is God, shouldn't have He known all these? To rational person, al-Ilah would obviously come, not as God, but a completely fake creation of Muhammad! When al-Ilah is fake, it doesn't need affirming what Islam is!
Facing the Kaba for prayingThe Arabs were facing the Kaaba in Mecca for their prayers in pre-Islamic times. As per the Pagan Arab practices of respect in Mecca and Medina, they always showed respect by facing to their respected and venerated God(s). Muhammad and his followers in his early days of preaching did the same. Then his narcissist al-Ilah changed his mind, after Muslims' migration to Medina, demanding that ALL Muslims face only Jerusalem instead, for all their prayers (Surah 2:142-145).
Years later, al-Ilah changed his mind again, demanding that Muslims face the Kaaba while praying. This is how the Quran was invented: al-Ilah cannot make up his mind and keep changing things around like a childish game. When Muslims were facing Jerusalem for praying, they were showing their backsides to the Kaaba, a mark of disrespect in Arab tradition.
Why did the Muslims disrespect the Kaaba in this way on al-Ilah's orders?
Was al-Ilah's first command wrong? Was this al-Ilah so fickle minded?
Why should Muslims worldwide face the Kaaba to pray in the first place?
If God is everywhere, why face only in one direction to pray?
Is al-Ilah squatting only in the Kaaba?
How did this thinking ever come about?
In pre-Islamic Arab Paganism, it was disrespectful to face something deemed holy, or someone respectful—a person of high regard, like a king, parents, grandparents, etc., when in communication with them.
The Flat EarthIn Surah 15:19, "al-Ilah says that the Earth is flat (and not a sphere) "the earth spread out like a carpet" and to drum this "scientific Islamic theory of a flat earth" into the believing Muslims, earth is also referred in Surah 20:53 as a bed, in 43:10 as a resting place, in 78:6 as an expanse, in 84:3 as spread out, and in 88:20 as spread. As if that is not enough stupidity, al-Ilah goes further and confirms in Surah 18:87 that "the sun sets everyday in a muddy spring water on the earth", and people living there.
The claim that a huge sun would land on an spring on the surface of our tiny planet earth sends all logics out the window???
The heat from burning fires of the Sun which are in thousands of degrees centigrade will set the whole earth into a ball of flames and disintegrate it in just milliseconds, even before it gets within a million Kilometers of earth's atmosphere.
Where on this spherical earth has "its setting-place"?
The fact that the sun is a ball of fire that cannot even come a bit closer to the earth seems didn't dawn on this al-Ilah yet. Al-Ilah also thought that the earth is flat, and that the sun sets everyday on it?
This al-Ilah also thought that he was cleverer than the Pagans and decided to be one up on them and made it compulsory for Muslims to face the Kaaba to pray. And why not: he thought, when he thought the world is flat as a carpet or a bed. But when the world is a sphere in actuality, Muslims end up facing the outer space, not the Kabaa, thanks to al-Ilah's poor understanding of the universe! This has become a comic of errors with Muslims straining themselves five times everyday trying to face the Kaaba, but failing to do so. Is al-Ilah, the alleged creator of the universe, so stupid, or was it just Muhammad, who actually invented the Quran, full of errors.
And what about al-Ilah's other "scientific Islamic theory" in Surah 39:5, which says the Sun revolving around the earth. With so many illogical and erroneous verses in the Quran, none can imagine that Islam is from a true almighty God. Islam is just a fake creation of Muhammad, plain and simple!
Quran multiple authorsThe Quran was at the least took a minimum of 154 years in the making, AFTER Muhammad died. And it is known for sure that there were many people involved in coining the verses of the Quran. It must have taken Muhammad and his 700 companions, Muhammad's wives, his concubines, slaves, relatives, friends, scribes, t least one was a Christian (whom the Pagan Arabs accused of inventing the Quran for Muhammad), two caliphs; and Zayed Ibn Thabit, who compiled, recompiled and re-recompiled, and edited and re-edited and even withdrew the initially distributed Qurans under Abu Bakr and had them burnt. The Satan also had a hand in the making of the Quran as admitted in Surah 22:52. How can the Satan beat or deceive al-Ilah to make his contribution in this Quran? How come al-Ilah fails to thwart Satan's intended interference in His creation of the final holy book to mankind?
Al-Ilah's fickle mind and DeceptionAl-Ilah himself clearly prove in Surah 2.106 that He has an unstable, fickle mind:
"Such of Our revelations as We abrogate (cancel, Naskh) or cause to be forgotten, we bring (in place) one better or the like thereof. Knowest thou not that al-Ilah is Able to do all things."
Now if this al-Ilah is 'able to do all things', then why didn't this al-Ilah get it right in the very first instance, instead of canceling and replacing lots of Surahs?
Why did al-Ilah write a Surah in Muhammad's heart and then replace it with a better Surah? By replacing with a better Surah, al-Ilah is admitting that all his initial Surahs were not good.
And what does "cause to be forgotten" got to do with canceling and replacing some/all the Surahs? As if this is not deceitful enough, al-Ilah has to repeat this deceit in Surah 16:101:
"And when we put a revelation in place of (another) revelation, - And al-Ilah sknoweth best what He revealeth – they say: Lo! Thou art but inventing. Most of them know not."
These facts prove it right the Pagan Arabs' charge that Muhammad verses were a deceitful invention. Although the Quran cliams "al-Ilah knoweth best", His words prove it otherwise.
The question must also be asked: Why did al-Ilah waste so much time in writing, canceling, rewriting, writing, replacing, rewriting, his messages to mankind?
Didn't He have anything else useful to do?
Don't all these facts points to hands of an ordinary man, a self-appointed prophet, in the making of the Quran? So Islam confirms itself to be a fake by its own admissions.
Not so powerful al-IlahOne would know by now that al-Ilah claimed that it was he who revealed the Jewish and the Christian Scriptures to the Jews/Christians. But Surah 2:159 says,
"Those who hide the Proofs and the Guidance which We had made it clear in the Scriptures: such are accursed of al-Ilah and accursed of those who have the power to curse."
Now there are lots of questions here unanswered within
this Surah stated below:1. Why did al-Ilah want, or allow, the scriptures he supposedly gave to the Jews/Christians be corrupted?
2. If al-Ilah was indeed a God, couldn't he by just flicking his fingers, taken the scriptures back than to blabber it in the Quran?
3. Were the Jews and Christians so powerful, that they could hide their scriptures from this al-Ilah?
4. Was al-Ilah so weak in comparison with the Jews/Christians God(s)?
5. Since al-Ilah claims, it is he who gave the Scriptures, isn't there anything left of it, in his memory, than to deny at a later time of its' corruptions?
6. What kind of a God is al-Ilah, if the Jews and the Christians can hide something from him?
7. Why is al-Ilah cursing the Jews and the Christians for/from hiding their own holy scriptures?
8. If al-Ilah "made it clear", surely he should be able to reproduce it, instead of cursing.
9. Or did al-Ilah want it to plagiarize/copy in full into the Quran?
10. So who is this powerless al-Ilah? Is it this Muhammad himself who is saying all this?
Whatever be the answers to these questions, it, without doubt, does prove that Islam is a fake religion. Whoever was inventing this Quran, he failed to proceed properly without plagiarizing/copying a little from here and there of the Jewish/Christian texts. Like Surah 2:140 says,
"Or say ye that Abraham and Ismael, and Isaac, and Jacob, or the tribes were Jews and Christians? Do ye know best, or doth al-Ilah? And who is more unjust than he who hideth a testimony, which he had received from al-Ilah? al-Ilah is not unaware of what ye do."
Here again al-Ilah is threatening the Jews and the Christians from hiding their own testimonies –their Scriptures. Hiding scriptures is also repeated in Surah 3:187. Why do they need the scriptures if not to copy it into their Quran? So by killing and wiping out the Jews and the Christians from Arabia and other Islamic countries, Muhammad tried to wipe out those, with knowledge or possession of the Scriptures of the Jews and the Christians, albeit unsuccessfully. It was impossible for Muhammad to wipe out all Christians and Jews and their holy books.
Muslims are quick to condemn the Jewish and Christian scriptures as changed and corrupted. Over this, they laugh at, mock, make fun of, scorn and even condemn the Jewish and Christian scriptures. But when one ever questions the Maulanas (Muslim clergy) 'what part or the specifics of the corruption does al-Ilah in the Quran talk about?' they have no answers.
Muslims cover up these mistakes and contradictions and such stupidities in their holy Quran by giving anyone an opportunity to question any doctrine of the Quran or saying of Muhammad. They brainwash the Muslim kids from childhood with Islamic teachings, without ever allowing them critically investigate those teaching. In Islamic schools, the teaching are done in a repetitive manner aiming at memorizing the Quran by heart, not understanding it. These constant parroting and repetitions, leads a child into believing what they are taught is period: , they are turned into braindead zombies. They child may never have to chnace to fathom what they are taught, which is all a bunch of gibberish! If anyone try to question the errors of the Quran, Muslims go on the offensive? The Quran threatens:
"Those who believe and keep their duty (to al-lah). Theirs are good tidings in the life of the world and in the Hereafter –There is no changing in the words of al-Ilah (in the Quran) –That is the supreme Triumph." [Surah 10:64-65]
"There is none to alter the decisions of Allah." [Surah 6:34]
The fallacies, corruptions, and lies of the Quran and Muhammad thus remain unchallenged. Islamic lies, thus, perpetuate.
Doubtful al-Ilah
Allah goes further and commands Muhammad in Surah 10:95says
"And is thou (Muhammad) art in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto thee, then question those (Christians) who read the scripture (that was) before thee (Bible). So be not thou of the waverers."
From this Surah, we can see that al-Ilah is asking Muhammad to ask the Christians whenever, he is in doubt about the Quran. So here you have a so-called 'prophet' who is told by a so-called God, to learn from ordinary Christians, to clear his/her doubts. So what kind of a 'prophet' is this Muhammad really? When even al-Ilah wants him to seek the Christians' help for Islam?
Now we come to the coup de grace for this faux pas! In the Arabic Quran, Surah 27:91 says,
"I am commanded only to serve the Lord of this land which he had Hallowed, and unto him all things belong. And I am commanded to be of those who surrender."
Now if all the words in the Quran are from al-Ilah, then 'I' refers to al-Ilah. So the question is: who has commanded al-Ilah according to this Surah? And is this al-Ilah serving a Lord? If this Surah is true, then al-Ilah is not God period. Because a True God does not have to serve anyone, right? The Quran obviously declaring that al-Ilah is not a God. This again proves that al-Ilah is fake, so is the Quran and Islam!
Cover up by Islamic scholars
I must also point out that the most recognized English translation (recognized by the OIC) is the M. M. Pickthall's Quran. He must have been horrified to recognize this corruption in the Quran and he cleverly tried to cover this up, by adding the word 'Say' as though al-Ilah is telling Muhammad to say and Muhammad's name in brackets, to imply as though, "(Say): I (Muhammad) am commanded only to serve the Lord..." But M. M. Pickthall was not clever enough for this deceit to cover up for al-Ilah. Because if it is Muhammad speaking, then it would contradict this Surah 10:65 and Surah 6:34 as mentioned above; wherein al-Ilah says his words in the Quran cannot be changed. And in Surah 10:39 says,
"Or say they: He hath invented it? Say: then bring a Surah like unto it, and call on all ye can beside al-Ilah, if ye are truthful."
This Surah confirms that only al-Ilah speaks in the Quran. For the skeptics, let me give another example as in Surah 19:64 says,
"We come not down save by commandment of thy Lord. Unto him belongeth all that is before us and all that is behind us and all that is between those two, and thy Lord was never forgetful".
Pickthall solved this problem in the Quran by deceitfully adding the word 'angels' in brackets, thus;
"We (angels) come not down save by commandment of thy Lord..."
But the problem is, it confirms that angels are the ones speaking in the Quran, right? This has completely changed the connotation/dynamics of this Surah. The question here needs answering, is the Quran only the words of al-Ilah, or is it a free for all, to whoever can state their views??? It appears at least, angels, Muhammad, al-Ilah are speaking in the Quran. And if al-Ilah was the speaker of these Surahs, then it is wrong; he is not the God he claims to be! If someone else is speaking these Surahs, it is also wrong, because then the words in the Quran are not ONLY from al-Ilah, as the Quran claims. It is a Catch-22 situation: Muslim scholars cannot deny. neither solves this... The Muslims are themselves trapped with so many of such Surahs in the holy Quran! Either way or whichever way, one interprets them, the fact remains THAT THE Quran IS CORRUPTED/CHANGED.
Islam is therefore FAKE!!!... And with this, I rest my case!
Lennard James is a Pakistani-born writer.
