We have previously discussed the wacky views of Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh like declaring that Twitter is “the source of all evil and devastation.” Now the grand mufti has ruled that chess is forbidden in Islam even though Arabs helped spread chess around the world after conquering Persia in the Seventh Century. Yet, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s supreme Shia religious authority, has previously issued rulings forbidding chess. Likewise, after the 1979 revolution in Iran, chess was declared haram, or forbidden.
At first I was not sure if it was the role of a powerful “bishop” or the mixing of genders with the Queen intermingling with knights and other non-family members. It turns out that the grand mufti believes that chess can encourage gambling and is a waste of time. That is appears is enough to declare it an affront to Islam.
Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh appears to play a pretty hard core version of the game. He insisted that chess is “a cause for hatred and enmity between players.” I am not sure how chess differs from any competitive sport. However, he declared that chess runs afoul of the Qur’an’s ban on “intoxicants, gambling, idolatry and divination”.
Given his position in Saudi Arabia, the announcement could have a substantial impact on chess players in the Kingdom — an association that has existed for centuries. Most people would view declaring a game like chess as anti-Islamic to be rather unhinged but the grand mufti is not just some guy raving about chess in the subway. These declarations are expected to be followed by faithful Muslims regardless of the absurdity of the suggestion. Of course, given the rise of online gambling in Saudi Arabia, there appears to be many Muslims who do not hold with such fatwas against fun.
Source: Guardian
Just remember, every time you put gas in your car, you are putting money in this man’s pocket.
From the Islam Watch website:
About Us:
Who are we?
We are a group of Muslim apostates, who have left Islam out of our own conviction when we discovered that Islam is not a religion at all. Most of us took a prolonged period of time to study, evaluate and contemplate on Islam, the religion of our birth. Having meticulously scrutinized Islam, we concluded that it is not a religion of peace at all, as touted by smooth-talking, self-serving Muslims and their apologists from non-Muslim backgrounds. The core of Islam—namely the Qur’an, Hadis and Sharia—is filled with unbounded hatred of the unbelievers, unbelievably intolerant toward them, and extremely cruel and merciless to those Muslims, who dare to deviate from its doctrines.
We also realized that Islam is beyond reformation, because Muslims—who attempt to modernize and reform its unremitting bigotry, irrational rituals, and cruel and draconian punitive measures—are targeted for annihilation. Our verdict was that the only way to escape from the tyranny of Islam is to leave it altogether. We have, therefore, discarded Islam from our life, so that we can be free to enjoy a normal, pleasant and humane life in complete harmony with all peoples on earth, irrespective of their religion, race or creed.
Having thoroughly understood—through our meticulous investigation of Islam for years to decades—that Islam was nothing but a lie, most of us have left Islam silently, because of the mortal threats of Islam on our life. As Islamic terrorism and violence overwhelms the world, particularly in the post-9/11 years, we also felt that it’s a responsibility upon us to make world’s 1.4+ billion Muslims aware of the falsity of their religion and its cruel nature, so that they can make informed choices and leave Islam to live with love, respect and harmony with the rest of humanity.
We also felt it incumbent upon us to make the non-Muslim world aware of the reality of Islam, and undertake timely precautionary measures against this religion of terror, hatred and mayhem. We tell the world that the ongoing terrorism, unleashed by Islamic militants, is not an aberration from the so-called ‘peaceful religion of Islam’; instead, it is the real Islam preached and practiced by its founder, Prophet Muhammad. A thorough study of the Qur’an and prophetic tradition (Hadith, Sunnah) makes that obvious.
We, therefore, have launched this website to expose the “real Islam”—the Islam that is determined to replace the modern civilization with the 7th-century Arab Bedouin barbarism, peddled by Muslims as the true Islamic Civilization. Let the world watch Islam through http://www.islam-watch.org and be warned.
‘Islam Watch’ is founded by a few Muslim apostates. Hailing mainly from South Asia, some of us left Islam after the 9/11; others have been apostates since prior to that. We aim to establish that Islam is false invention of Muhammad. We feel that it needs to be emasculated, or marginalized, or eliminated altogether, if the Muslim world wants to come out of its current backwardness and quagmire, characterized by poverty, corruption, illiteracy, violence, misrule and tyranny, in which they have been thrown in due to Islamic indoctrination.
To learn more about why some of us have left Islam, please read these testimonies:
1.My Journey to Freedom – M. A. Khan
2.Why I left Islam – Ali Sina
3.Making of an Unbeliever – Abul Kasem
Visit our Leaving Islam page for more testimonies.
Founders & members:
M. A. Khan (USA, Editor)
Abul Kasem (Australia)
Dr. Ali Sina (USA)
Sher Khan (USA)
Syed Kamran Mirza (USA)
Mumin Salih (UK)
Our Challenge
We challenge Muslims to debate on these assertions.
We assert that Islam is not a religion of peace but is founded on war, violence, terrorism, hatred and injustice.
We affirm that Islam is a false religion forged by Muhammad.
We conclude that Islam is responsible for rampant corruption, widespread misrule, implausible tyranny, mindless terrorism, unrelenting violence and pervasive social injustice in the Muslim world.
Our Mission (Why This Site)
Our ultimate aim is to guide Muslims out of the fold of Islam. We also expect that critical voice against Islam will render it somewhat benign.
We plan to achieve our goals in the following manner:
1.We will criticize and expose the real truth about Islam without minding about any political correctness, whatsoever.
2.We will establish that Islam is false in the sense that it was not revealed by any God, but was created by Prophet Muhammad himself to fulfill his greed, ego and ambition.
3.We will prove that Islam has nothing to do with peace; instead, it is a dangerous cult founded through violence, terror, plunder and extreme injustice by Muhammad.
4.We will prove that Islam is incompatible with the modern world. Islamic precepts stand in contravention to the concept of democracy, tolerance, human rights and gender equality, and hence is dangerous for modern civilization.
5.We will demonstrate that Islamic terrorism, as witnessed today, is sanctioned by Islam. Terrorists did not hijack Islam; instead, Islam itself has hijacked some otherwise good human beings and turned them into machines for terror, murder and destruction.
6.We will also awaken the non-Muslim world, especially the West, about the short-term and long-term dangers Islam to their good and benevolent society.
7.As nontheistic humanists, we strongly affirm that human life should be guided by human conscience, wisdom and judgment based on the Golden Rule. This is an ever-changing, dynamic, process; as people gain new experience, scientific knowledge and insights into the workings of the world and human life, our ethical wisdom will change. Opposed to rigid religious doctrines, no particular set of rules or values should be considered absolute and universal. We propagate that ‘Live your own life and let other live theirs, as long as they don’t harm and cause nuisance to others’.
8.”Islam Watch” will be dominated by ex-Muslim and progressive Muslim writers. We will make some room for non-Muslim authors to help us gauge how the non-Muslim world grasps the truth about Islam.
9.To create a critical mass of critics of Islam from Muslim backgrounds, one of our major aims will be to create new writers, critical of Islam, from amongst Muslims. We will put maximum effort in nurturing these nascent talents. To this end, we will urge Muslim writers to pen their critical thoughts on Islam, regardless of how good they are, and we will try to accommodate them in our website.
10.Although “Islam Watch” has been launched by ex-Muslims coming mainly from South Asia, we aim to connect to Muslim apostates and critics from all corners of the world. We encourage them from all parts of the world to voice their opinions through “Islam Watch”.
11.We will publish a select number of Op-Ed/Articles of non-Muslim authors of strongly secular conviction. Selection of articles by non-Muslim authors would be solely at discretion of the editors.
What’s sad is this lunatic actually holds power and influence over millions of Muslims in Saudi Arabia. It’s true, he’s not just some guy on a subway. Extremism is the norm, not the exception, in the ME. Every Muslim theocracy in the ME has their own brand of extremism, but it’s all pretty extreme and intolerant compared with our Western values.
Sad, because the region was renowned for its learning in antiquity.
RWL
Well one thing that provides some hope is that for the large part, you are preaching, here, to the choir. Islam is that very religion that was referred to as the opiate of the masses. It is, unfortunately, a most effective drug.
Challenge to Muslims: Answer These Questions or I Will Apostatize
by Potential Apostate
06 May, 2009
From faithfreedom.org:
Dear Ali Sina, you have a fan here, who thinks quite like you, or if I may say, exactly like you. This fan is me, someone who has talked to you before, but was unwilling to disclose it, because at that time I was a devout Muslim and now I am out of it.
I am pleased to talk to you again, but this time I am on your side (pretty much). I have a very unique idea. This has never happened on faithfreedom.org. Without further ado, I would like to challenge all the Muslims, who use the Internet to try to answer simple questions [I have] given below or I will apostatize. This could only happened on your site, believe me.
Kindly read my email below very carefully and please publish this email as one of your articles in your website. Thanks so much for opening my eyes wider. If I don’t get sensible replies from Muslims within one month, I will declare my apostasy. This article below is a challenge for all those, who think they can convince me not to leave Islam.
For Faithfreedom.org:
———————
From Nothing But Truth,
Mr. Sina, it has been two years I have been reading your articles, debates and satires on your site. I used to reject what you said about Muhammad and Allah; but every time I read a new article on your site, I felt enormous pressure on my shoulders about how I can prove you wrong. I tried and tried and failed in my own mind. I can’t even imagine writing to you and writing about Muhammad and Allah in the words below, because this is something I could have never done.
Below are the questions that disturbed me and no one offered a sensible answer. Even Islamic sites filtered my questions and emailing them turned futile. Through your site, I would like to have answers of the following questions from Muslims, as they have closed all doors for debate and discussions. Face to face conversation is like a suicide. Please allow me to ask these questions from the medium of your site. All Muslims are welcome to leave comments below or email me at nothing.buttruth@yahoo.com. Here’re my questions to Muslims:
Q1. Why would God want his creation to not ask, questions, criticize, debate or experiment ideas that he gave us? This can only happen to cover up lies. This is the reason why we can’t question clergy about things like What’s the proof that God exists and what’s the proof that Muhammad is the prophet of God. Seems like a great deceit to make sheep out of humans. Only truth can stand the fierce scrutiny and criticism and still stand tall.
Q2. Why would God make religions appear only in poor, illiterate and desert areas? 1400 years ago, Greek were more scientific and progressive, why religion didn’t appear there instead? I tell you why. Because Muhammad could have only mislead the gullible, ignorant and poor people. In fact, his first followers were actually poor. Rich and literate people thought of him as crazy. Even today, if I go to a illiterate village and proclaim myself as a big saint, millions will follow me. That’s how easy it is to make stupid people more stupid. That’s why you don’t see new religions forming in Europe.
Q3. If there is Science in Islam, why didn’t God tell us how old the Universe is, how old Earth is, whether it is round or flat, how long it took for it to cool down, how Life began, how Life evolved? It seems that Allah knew only things that were already known at that time by the Greek and ancient scientists and philosophers. If I start a religion today, I wouldn’t forget to add an ayat, “And thou will not spread mischief in the earth which took us fifteen billion years to make. There are altogether eleven dimensions, yet the unbelievers deny our signs.” Ridiculous!
Q4. Why Abrahamic religions, specifically Islam is exclusivist? How can a truth be confined to some people and not others (people living in other places, other times etc. can’t be all wrong). Buddhism on the other hand is not exclusivist like Islam. Buddha even said don’t believe me, don’t believe your holy books, don’t believe what people say, but believe only what’s true to your heart and mind, because truth can only come from inside, not outside (outside = scriptures, prophets, gods).
Q5. Why would God care about whether people believe in him or not? The creator of the universes and each and every atom in them, can’t be so narrow minded, arrogant or stupid. Because arrogance means ‘covering up negative feelings about self’ and genuine God would rather be full of self-esteem than arrogance. God’s name being ‘Al-Mutakab-bir’ is beyond me.
Q6. Why would God choose a mass murderer, rapist, blasphemer, pedophile, madman and power and sex hungry person as his prophet? Marriage with 9 year old Aisha, Marriage with his daughter-in-law Zainab, Marriage with Javairah, his slave after killing his father, husband and brother the same day, killing others just because they don’t believed him, killing someone if they change their religion, killing without reason, spreading Islam not with discussion, logic or spirituality but with murder and war is beyond me.
Q7. Ali Sina says that Muhammad was a mentally sick person or what you call a narcissist having temporal lobe epilepsy. I watched a video on ‘Temporal Lobe Epilepsy’ on YouTube. It is a BBC documentary and the way it describes about the experiences of people with sensitive temporal lobe resembles exactly how Muhammad acted when he used to get revelations, sweating, feeling guilty and sad, feeling that he’ll go mad and that sort of thing. Furthermore, why an angle would make him feel so demonic and depressed is beyond me? Aren’t we humans supposed to experience something enlightening, happy and peaceful when such alleged experiences take place?
Q8. Why shouldn’t we accept for others, laws and morals we deem perfect for ourselves. That’s the only measure of truth. If I speak truth, do good, be gentle, I would want the same to happen to all people. Following this logic, if a Muslim who becomes a Hindu should be killed, shouldn’t we teach these great laws to all other religions. Shouldn’t Hindus, Christians and Jews also kill people who become Muslims? Why not? If what we regard as moral and as truth, shouldn’t that be true to all others?
Q9. It seems that Muhammad was not a nice man, I couldn’t find a single act of kindness from this person in the whole of Islam’s history. The only two stories of kindness were the story of Jew lady who used to throw garbage at prophet and he, at the time of her death came to visit her. And another incident about a young man who used to eat too much sugar and her mother requested Muhammad to ask him to stop it. He didn’t ask him to stop anything but later asked him to stop eating too much sugar because this time around he himself stopped eating too much sugar. Both of these stories are fables and are not found in Quran, Hadiths or the complete Islamic History. If I am wrong, find me any ayat or hadith matching these stories. I will not become apostate if you can tell me a single incident of kindness ever done by Muhammad. Remember, you can’t tell me about what Muhammad said to his followers about how to conduct life and be kind etc. I want his own personal acts of kindness only. Any Schmuck can ask others to do good and himself do otherwise.
Q10. Why a person who is religious is more prone to absurdities and away from reality of life? Why an educated person is less likely to be religious? Doesn’t that mean that religion is for the gullible, weak and immature? Why was Einstein, the most intelligent person who walked on earth was not religious. If it didn’t worked for him (most intelligent) How can you claim that you know better? If he worked it out without religion, why it won’t work for you?
Q11. If God created us and sent Adam from Heaven to Earth, why are there fossils found for all early primates that were neither chimp nor humans? Checkout this link. What does God created something actually mean? Wherever science looks, it finds some process involved, no magic! Is God subjugated to natural laws? In our present lives we don’t see magic happening, no waters parted, no virgin births, no moons being cut and no back to the future Miraj happening. Humans have always attributed magical thinking to past and future events to make a sense of the world they live in. In other words, ‘I didn’t see it happen therefore magic man did it!’ Doesn’t it make sense?
Q12. If we have souls and are either to go to heaven or hell, why don’t animals have souls? Since we’ve evolved from animals, and early humans like homo erectus or homo habilis were intelligent too (slightly lower than us) would they also be judged on the judgment day? If not, why not? They didn’t have any prophets too, because their brains didn’t think in malignant ways like us. We are more clever. Doesn’t that prove that the more clever we get the more potential we have to become notorious and the most likely it is for a God to appear out of no where? (God didn’t made us in his own image, we made God in our own image).
Q13. Buddhists are more moral than Muslims. They won’t burn embassies, temples and churches to prove they are true. They don’t believe in a God. Does it not mean that morality doesn’t depend upon God or absolute laws but inner resolve and commitment? Only immature and morally bankrupt people need fear of hell or greed of heaven to be moral.
Q14. If Quran is the Guidance from God, why can it be shaped in any way of thinking imaginable? A book of guidance from God should be straight forward and objective rather than being subjective and full of discrepancies. But it seems our Omniscient God thinks like humans and learns via trial and error.
Q15. If the only reason one should stick to religion is because of the uncertainties of the afterlife, what if it turned out that, there in fact is a God who tested us all to see whether we become fools at the hands of authority, religion and society or discover the truth and reality of life. All those who allow themselves to become fools may end up in hell and all those who turn to truth and reality are given heaven. Doesn’t it seem more rational for a thinking person to assume, by observing all the multitudes of religions in the world than to follow Islam?
If no Muslim can answer my questions above within one month, I would consider all my accusations along with my questions as true and would proclaim my apostasy (Period).
Peace!
Nothing But Truth.
http://www.islam-watch.org/LeavingIslam/Challenge-to-Muslims-Answer-These-Questions-or-I-Will-Apostatize.htm
Ten Reasons Why Muhammad Was a False Prophet?
Tuesday, 04 September 2012 01:20 by Imran Firasat
There are way too many reason to nullify Muhammad’s claim of being a prophet of God. Here are 10 reasons:
1.No extraordinary natural signs before birth of Muhammad, or predictions from past religious characters about arrival of Muhammad to save the world.
2.Islam did not exist at the time Muhammad was born. He was born to an idolater family and that’s what he followed all his childhood and teenage. That means, Muhammad, born as a Qafir (Infidel), spent 70% of his life as a proud infidel before he invented Islam.
3.His first marriage was with a Jewish woman and not with any Muslimah. So, which religious rites were followed at his marriage ceremony with a Jewish woman if Islam wasn’t yet born? Certainly, a Jewish style marriage ceremony! Even the Quran doesn’t mention anything about the Islamic ceremony of Prophet Muhammad’s first marriage. That simply shows that even Muhammad didn’t have any idea of the existence of Islam or his prophecy.
4.If Muhammad was an adorable prophet sent by Allah, then why didn’t he reveal the truth about Islam, when he was a child or when he got young? Why did he waste 40 years of his life as a non-Muslim idolater? If his purpose of coming in this world was only to reveal Islam and preach it to people, then why he had to wait until more than half of his life, living like a common man and practicing idol-worship?
5.Almost all the rituals and rules of Islam mentioned in the Quran are copied from Judaism, which shows how deeply Muhammad was inspired by Judaism and attracted towards the Torah. So, he found copying and pasting from the Torah into his Quran was the easiest way to invent a new religion.
6.Muhammad spread Islam on the point of the sword and not with love and preaching. His strategy was to rule at any price.
7.Muhammad killed poor, innocent and helpless people, which can’t be justified in any sense as act of a holy prophet.
8.How to call Muhammad a holy prophet, when he sexually abused uncountable number of women, including sometimes ridiculously shamefully, like his marriage with minor Aisha and his own daughter-in-law Zainab. That proves that Muhammad was just another powerful dictator, who knew very well how to take advantage of his power and abuse everyone, anywhere and in any way.
9.Muhammad never performed any miracle, which is expected of a prophet. Instead of helping the suffering people, he used to destroy well-settled, peaceful communities, capturing their lands and making the captured children and women slave.
10.In his life, Muhammad did immense harm to humanity but that was not enough for his satanic mind. So, before dying, he left the messages of Jihad to his followers for conquering the whole world, all of humanity, in the name of Islam, which continues causing great sufferings to our lives to this day. Wouldn’t a true prophet sacrifice his own life for his people, instead of destroying lives on every flimsy excuses? It shows that Muhammad was not a prophet – neither in life nor in death.
It is hard to find a holy personality in other religions, who committed atrocious crimes like those of Muhammad. Let’s have a look at some other famous religious characters from history:
Jesus Christ: He didn’t initiate any war, never killed innocent people, and didn’t abuse women like Muhammad. He has not left any question mark on his character before leaving this world.
Budha: A man who left his home, luxury life and all the advantages he could have because of his rich background, just because he was really looking for truth and peace and make them reach to the humanity, which he did without putting sword on anyone’s neck. That’s like a truly holy personality.
Ram: Even in Hinduism, Rama, the god of the idol-worshipping Hindus was a much better example than Muhammad, who spent many years of his life in jungles, leaving behind his entire luxurious kingdom. He engaged in some war, but on valid excuses. He never killed or tortured poor people on flimsy excuses as did Muhammad. He never forced someone to embrace Hinduism.
I am not justifying that any of the religions mentioned above is true, but all I want to say is that in comparison to Muhammad, those religious personalities stand higher in esteem and cleaner in character.
On the other hand, evil Muhammad did all kinds of things what civilized humanity and laws deem as criminal and barbaric. Wouldn’t you now say that Muhammad was a bloody prophet? Oh, come on! Come out of the illusion, accept the reality and be practical. A man, who cunningly declared himself a prophet, fooled the world by copying and pasting from the Torah to create his own holy book, the “Quran”, can’t be a prophet. A man, who never gave life to someone but snatched lives of innocent people, can’t be holy, can he? A man, who before leaving this world, has left so much pain, turbulence and destruction, can not be a God-sent prophet, can he?
Muhammad by his own actions has left a giant “question mark” on his character because of which he will never ever be accepted as a holy prophet by sane, educated, people, brave enough to call dirty what is dirty.
Muhammad: you are on curse of many widows, orphan children and helpless parents who got their loving children becoming victims of your cunning desires. Shame on you the blood-thirsty self-claimed prophet of no God.
http://www.islam-watch.org/authors/151-firasat/1132-ten-reasons-why-muhammad-was-a-false-prophet.html
My God!
RWL… you left me speechless for once. I would just ignore these posts of yours considering how wrong they are factually, historically, logically and theologically…but am afraid someone among those reading us might take any of it as factual.
So here we go:
——————————–
There are way too many reason to nullify Muhammad’s claim of being a prophet of God. Here are 10 reasons:
1.No extraordinary natural signs before birth of Muhammad, or predictions from past religious characters about arrival of Muhammad to save the world.
PROOFS OF MUHAMMAD’S PROPHETHOOD IN THE NEW AND OLD TESTAMENT
“Almost all the previous Prophets predicted the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. Despite the changes they have undergone over time, we can still find indications to his coming in the Torah, Psalms and the Gospels.” http://www.thewaytotruth.org/prophetmuhammad/proofs.html
2.Islam did not exist at the time Muhammad was born. He was born to an idolater family and that’s what he followed all his childhood and teenage. That means, Muhammad, born as a Qafir (Infidel), spent 70% of his life as a proud infidel before he invented Islam.
According to that logic, Abraham was not a Prophet, nor was Moses or Noah… for each was raised in the community they preached to, and came up with something opposite what they knew. Jesus himself challenged the established religious perspective of his time, and went against what was in practice, and against the priests. The reason why a prophet would be sent is guide people back to whatever it is they went away from, the worship of the one God and His true religion. Each of them fought against the worship of idols in some form or another, either physical idols or metaphorical idols. By the way, a qafir means someone who does not believe, you are mixing your terms.
The historical record also does not suggest that Muhammad worshiped idols. Matter of fact, when the revelation came to him, it found in the cave where he retreated often to meditate, part of his distance from his polytheistic society.
3.His first marriage was with a Jewish woman and not with any Muslimah. So, which religious rites were followed at his marriage ceremony with a Jewish woman if Islam wasn’t yet born? Certainly, a Jewish style marriage ceremony! Even the Quran doesn’t mention anything about the Islamic ceremony of Prophet Muhammad’s first marriage. That simply shows that even Muhammad didn’t have any idea of the existence of Islam or his prophecy.
What? That’s a crazy assertion and an even crazier conclusion. Do you even know what Islam is? How could Muhammad know about Islam when Islam came through him? It is akin stating that Jesus did not know about Christianity, therefore he is a fraud? Or since Moses did not know about his future prophetic nature and about Judaism, therefor he was a fraud.
His first marriage was to Khadijah, 15 years his senior, a rich merchant who hired him to man her caravans. THERE IS NO REAL RECORD, EVER, THAT CLAIMS SHE WAS JEWISH. That is incredibly false and incredibly ignorant actually! Her lineage is well traced, as is everything related to the Prophet. Her family was one of the most established ones in Mecca.
4.If Muhammad was an adorable(?) prophet sent by Allah, then why didn’t he reveal the truth about Islam, when he was a child or when he got young? Why did he waste 40 years of his life as a non-Muslim idolater? If his purpose of coming in this world was only to reveal Islam and preach it to people, then why he had to wait until more than half of his life, living like a common man and practicing idol-worship?
That’s the dumbest question I have ever read! See above.
5.Almost all the rituals and rules of Islam mentioned in the Quran are copied from Judaism, which shows how deeply Muhammad was inspired by Judaism and attracted towards the Torah. So, he found copying and pasting from the Torah into his Quran was the easiest way to invent a new religion.
Islam, Christianity, Judaism, all are from the same source, God. Obviously whoever wrote this never bothered reading the Quran, as is the wont of islamophobes, he’d seen that the quran states very unequivocally that all Prophets, and therefore all divine messages are one and the same. That is why the quran goes to great lengths to tell us the story of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Yusuf, Lot, Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus, Mary and Muhamad, among others. The problem would have been if the Quran never linked to previous messages. That is why also many of the first converts were Christians and Jews in whom the Quran echoed their own holy books.
6.Muhammad spread Islam on the point of the sword and not with love and preaching. His strategy was to rule at any price.
Again, RWL, hard to have a discussion with someone who is so ignorant or so deceptive (I suspect the former.) Everything you say goes against the historical record, even and especially the one written by orientalists.
Aggression is Forbidden. Fighting is permitted only in self-defence.
The Quranic verses on this are very clear. God repeats, “do not aggress”, multiple times. Only if attacked, is one permitted to fight back. If the other party refrains from aggression and offers one peace, we are told to stop fighting.
Unequivocally, the general populace was not forced or induced to convert to Islam. If anything, they were encouraged to continue living their lives as they had for centuries before. In the example of the conquest of Jerusalem, the caliph at the time, Umar ibn al-Khattab, wrote in the surrender treaty with the patriarchs of city:
He [Umar] has given them an assurance of safety for themselves, for their property, their churches, their crosses, the sick and healthy of the city…Their churches will not be inhabited by Muslims and will not be destroyed…They will not be forcibly converted.²
No other empire or state at the time had such ideas about religious tolerance. Umar, being a companion of the Prophet, sets a precedent in this treaty about the treatment of conquered peoples in Islamic law. The rest of the conquered lands, in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Persia had similar treaties. Whether the citizens of the conquered lands were Christian, Jew, Sabians, or Zoroastrians, they were allowed to keep their religious traditions. There exists not one example of forced conversion in these early conquests. http://lostislamichistory.com/did-islam-spread-by-the-sword/
7.Muhammad killed poor, innocent and helpless people, which can’t be justified in any sense as act of a holy prophet.
That’s a lie, as documented above and everywhere else. do you have a proof?
8.How to call Muhammad a holy prophet, when he sexually abused uncountable number of women, including sometimes ridiculously shamefully, like his marriage with minor Aisha and his own daughter-in-law Zainab. That proves that Muhammad was just another powerful dictator, who knew very well how to take advantage of his power and abuse everyone, anywhere and in any way.
Muhamad ruled by consultation, never deciding on anything without asking advice from his companions (as evidenced in their process for choosing a leader thereafter)died penniless, like Jesus before him, like Moses before them…like most prophets before.
He lived in a hut less comfortable than his companions’…slept on a straw mat…had few belongings…went hungry often…gave away everything he had…protected and provided to the poor, the widows and orphans…matter of fact, the whole quranic message is a social treatise on helping and protecting the poor, women and the orphans. Most of his wives were older women whom he married to give them a home and protection.
And as for Aisha, though many Muslims believe she was 6, the historical record states she wasn’t. Aisha being immature when married would have gone against the Quran’s edict to have women approve of their marriage, and only when they have reached maturity.
Determination of the true age of Aisha
It appears that Maulana Muhammad Ali was the first Islamic scholar directly to challenge the notion that Aisha was aged six and nine, respectively, at the time of her nikah and consummation of marriage. This he did in, at least, the following writings: his English booklet Prophet of Islam, his larger English book Muhammad, the Prophet, and in the footnotes in his voluminous Urdu translation and commentary of Sahih Bukhari entitled Fadl-ul-Bari, these three writings being published in the 1920s and 1930s. In the booklet Prophet of Islam, which was later incorporated in 1948 as the first chapter of his book Living Thoughts of the Prophet Muhammad, he writes in a lengthy footnote as follows:
“A great misconception prevails as to the age at which Aisha was taken in marriage by the Prophet. Ibn Sa‘d has stated in the Tabaqat that when Abu Bakr [father of Aisha] was approached on behalf of the Holy Prophet, he replied that the girl had already been betrothed to Jubair, and that he would have to settle the matter first with him. This shows that Aisha must have been approaching majority at the time. Again, the Isaba, speaking of the Prophet’s daughter Fatima, says that she was born five years before the Call and was about five years older than Aisha. This shows that Aisha must have been about ten years at the time of her betrothal to the Prophet, and not six years as she is generally supposed to be. This is further borne out by the fact that Aisha herself is reported to have stated that when the chapter [of the Holy Quran] entitled The Moon, the fifty-fourth chapter, was revealed, she was a girl playing about and remembered certain verses then revealed. Now the fifty-fourth chapter was undoubtedly revealed before the sixth year of the Call. All these considerations point to but one conclusion, viz., that Aisha could not have been less than ten years of age at the time of her nikah, which was virtually only a betrothal. And there is one report in the Tabaqat that Aisha was nine years of age at the time of nikah. Again it is a fact admitted on all hands that the nikah of Aisha took place in the tenth year of the Call in the month of Shawwal, while there is also preponderance of evidence as to the consummation of her marriage taking place in the second year of Hijra in the same month, which shows that full five years had elapsed between the nikah and the consummation. Hence there is not the least doubt that Aisha was at least nine or ten years of age at the time of betrothal, and fourteen or fifteen years at the time of marriage.” [4] (Bolding is mine.)
To facilitate understanding dates of these events, please note that it was in the tenth year of the Call, i.e. the tenth year after the Holy Prophet Muhammad received his calling from God to his mission of prophethood, that his wife Khadija passed away, and the approach was made to Abu Bakr for the hand of his daughter Aisha. The hijra or emigration of the Holy Prophet to Madina took place three years later, and Aisha came to the household of the Holy Prophet in the second year after hijra. So if Aisha was born in the year of the Call, she would be ten years old at the time of the nikah and fifteen years old at the time of the consummation of the marriage.
Later research
Research subsequent to the time of Maulana Muhammad Ali has shown that she was older than this. An excellent short work presenting such evidence is the Urdu pamphlet Rukhsati kai waqt Sayyida Aisha Siddiqa ki umar (‘The age of Lady Aisha at the time of the start of her married life’) by Abu Tahir Irfani.[4a] Points 1 to 3 below have been brought to light in this pamphlet.
1. The famous classical historian of Islam, Ibn Jarir Tabari, wrote in his ‘History’:
“In the time before Islam, Abu Bakr married two women. The first was Fatila daughter of Abdul Uzza, from whom Abdullah and Asma were born. Then he married Umm Ruman, from whom Abdur Rahman and Aisha were born. These four were born before Islam.” [5]
Being born before Islam means being born before the Call.
2. The compiler of the famous Hadith collection Mishkat al-Masabih, Imam Wali-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Khatib, who died 700 years ago, has also written brief biographical notes on the narrators of Hadith reports. He writes under Asma, the older daughter of Abu Bakr:
“She was the sister of Aisha Siddiqa, wife of the Holy Prophet, and was ten years older than her. … In 73 A.H. … Asma died at the age of one hundred years.” [6]
This would make Asma 28 years of age in 1 A.H., the year of the Hijra, thus making Aisha 18 years old in 1 A.H. So Aisha would be 19 years old at the time of the consummation of her marriage, and 14 or 15 years old at the time of her nikah. It would place her year of birth at four or five years before the Call.h t t p:/ /w w w . muslim. org/islam/aisha-age.htm
9.Muhammad never performed any miracle, which is expected of a prophet. Instead of helping the suffering people, he used to destroy well-settled, peaceful communities, capturing their lands and making the captured children and women slave.
See above. Simple, utter BS. Look up islamic 10 rules of war. Still the only one to limit aggression to self-defense and only to the measure of the offense.
10.In his life, Muhammad did immense harm to humanity but that was not enough for his satanic mind. So, before dying, he left the messages of Jihad to his followers for conquering the whole world, all of humanity, in the name of Islam, which continues causing great sufferings to our lives to this day. Wouldn’t a true prophet sacrifice his own life for his people, instead of destroying lives on every flimsy excuses? It shows that Muhammad was not a prophet – neither in life nor in death.
Muhamad’s legacy was one where all faiths and prophets before him are revered.
Where every human being is worth the same no matter their birth, means, ethnicity or gender.
Where an eye for an eye is tempered with forgive if you can.
Where help the poor, the widows and the orphans is demanded.
Where take care of animals and the environment is expected.
If that ain’t a benefit to humanity, then what is?
The Prophet Muhammad’s Last Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
After praising, and thanking Allah he said: (and let’s remember that by Muslims, though many Muslims don’t understand it that way, it is meant everyone who believes)
“O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and TAKE THESE WORDS TO THOSE WHO COULD NOT BE PRESENT HERE TODAY.
O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your LORD, and that HE will indeed reckon your deeds. ALLAH has forbidden you to take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligation shall henceforth be waived. Your capital, however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. Allah has Judged that there shall be no interest and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn ‘Abd’al Muttalib (Prophet’s uncle) shall henceforth be waived…
Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.
O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under Allah’s trust and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste.
O People, listen to me in earnest, worship ALLAH, say your five daily prayers (Salah), fast during the month of Ramadan, and give your wealth in Zakat. Perform Hajj if you can afford to.
All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.
Remember, one day you will appear before ALLAH and answer your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.
O People, NO PROPHET OR APOSTLE WILL COME AFTER ME AND NO NEW FAITH WILL BE BORN. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the QURAN and my example, the SUNNAH and if you follow these you will never go astray.
All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness, O ALLAH, that I have conveyed your message to your people”.
Po,
I see that you are having comprehension problems, again. Those 3 articles are from the website Islam Watch. Please read my last article about who are the members of Islam Watch: they are ex-Muslims (and they are not Christians, either).
Many times on this blog when there is a discussion of Islam or Florida some person will employ the term “dogma”. That happens to be the name of a female (bitch) dog in our dogpac who happens to be a mother of ten litters of puppies over the years. Her name is Dogma with a capital D. She is a ma or a mother. She is not Islamic. She is not from Florida like Jeb, Rubio, or others.
To characterize some notion or philosophy as dogmatic or as dogma is a stretch. All religions are horse itShay but I do not want to offend horses in the race and I employ Pig Latin so as to not offend. So, if you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, or whatever, then you are full of horse itShay. There is no dog in the race. Dogs are not in the human race.
This guy is perfect for the role of a religious nut case in a James Bond spoof. He couldn’t be in a straight up Bond movie because he is simply too far gone. The only place for this guy is in a comedy. Unfortunately Saudi Arabia is a tragedy.
Or, Chess is a facsimile of war. It allows anyone to own the act of war in a peaceful manner. Ya can’t have any of that in a serious religion, country, kingdom, dictatorship, tribe, cave, etc. Next they will wanting to have opinions, interpret stuff on their own, seeing through the dark glass clearly, whoa.
We’ve been bombing the wrong countries.
I would like to declare belief in a diety an affront to humanity. It diminishes the accomplishments of man and stands in the way of true peace and progress. It muddles the minds of believers into taking as fact things that can not be true. It enslaves people to the power and whim of a few who declare themselves to be the mouthpiece of god. Free your mind; dump god!
Was the mufti referring to the game or the broadway show?
He must hate the rule that once you lift a piece from the board you must move it. Moreover, there is an unveiled woman on the board which has more power than her hubby.
Chess demands training, concentration, and strategy. Religious authoritarians shun those values unless they are used strictly for dogmatic purposes.
Dogma not only blinds its protagonist, but it muzzles all other opposition.
Maajid Nawaz
I back him on Twitter, but chess is a bishop too far. Down with the Grand Mufti.
And i am suppose to welcome them with open arms. While ME MO for the last thousand years has been ” immigrate”….sorry i am voting for the guy demanding borders…..and if he doesn’t straight away….the anger replaces congress. Too. And if that congress doesnt we got two things over our shoulders..
A purse or an an ar15.. But by trump neither of the two are needed in the next five years.
He is ruining Islam. Signed~ a cool Muslim.
well let me be more clear…this mufti is ruining the perception of Islam. You can’t really ruin a faith, only distort the image of it to unsuspecting minds. But true Muslims knows he is making stuff up. If you have any questions about Islam, email me by going to by blog and I will be happy to enlighten you. Thanks for sharing….it’s quite entertaining.
“These declarations are expected to be followed by faithful Muslims regardless of the absurdity of the suggestion.”
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Nope! Just go on twitter for the next few days and you’ll see exactly how much faithful Muslims listen to the grand mufti. A hashtag will make the rounds making fun of this exact fatwa.
The only pressure on Muslims is upon the ones living in S. Arabia who might be forced t take the game underground.
As for the remaining 99% of Muslims worldwide, 90% would not even know about this fatwa. I did not know about it until today.
If one really wants to know how independent thinkers Muslims, are, go on any islamic website, 10 people, 12 opinions.
The game of chess reminds the minions of just who they are. They are the pawns in the front row. The Mullah is the King in the back protected by the pawns. So the big cheese guys in Islam do not want their minions to play a game which shows the relationship of King, Queen, Bishop, Rook, and pawns. Checkmate.
Perhaps the many chess pieces– especially the more alluring ones, with heads–are simply too distracting, since they tempt those engaged in the game to behead those pieces belonging to the opponent?
Feelings of inadequacy often cause such behavior. It’s like taking your baseball and going home. Useful only when it’s the only base ball and ridiculous when it’ one of millions. Methinks the Mullet is a touch more politician than he would have us believe but doesn’t have the panache to carry it off.