Questions That Need Unambiguous Answers

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 9 August 2022 So Long As the Cult of Muhammad Survives, True Realization of Spirituality Is Not Possible Among the Muslims ------ Have you ever noticed that Kalma, La Ilaha Illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah, is arrogantly assertive and egotistical? Its literal English meaning is: There's no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. To recapitulate, 25 prophets are mentioned in the Qur'an, although some believe there have been 1, 24000. Since it's believed that Ummi (unlettered) Muhammad got the revelations from 'heaven' and he added or interpolated nothing, it stands to reason, why an 'omnipotent' and 'omniscient' Allah needed to proclaim through Muhammad that he alone, and no one else, is worth-worshipping and Muhammad is his messenger? If Allah sent 'prophets' in all eras, in terms of 'gradational betterment', why on earth did he stop sending new 'prophets'? This shows that the very root of Islam, Kalma encapsulates the faith in Islam, is megalomaniac and reeks of Hengfenota (Dutch agnostic Benedict Spinoza's term for a so-called 'divine' proclamation with suspect elements of human interference). Day in and day out, the Muazzin begins his call to prayers by proclaiming, "Ashaddu Alla Ilaha Illallah Wa Ashaddu Anna Muhammad Ar Rasulullah " (I bear witness that there's no deity-none truly to be worshipped-but, Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah: Shahada). This is absolute spiritual superciliousness and an insult to other faiths and their gods. If Muhammad is the last messenger, what about religions and their 'founders' or 'prophets' that came after Islam? How and where'll you place Bahaullah, the founder of Bahai faith (splintered away from Shia Islam in Iran), that alienated itself from Muhammad's Islam? Ahmadiyyas are heretics and no longer in the fold of Islam, then will Muslims call Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiany a sanctimonious tartuffian? Christianity also called Muhammad a false prophet, so much so that Italian great Dante Alighieri roasted Muhammad in eternal hellfire in his classic ' Divine Comedy.' Why should Allah or the Semitic 'gods' be pathologically jealous of other gods? Jealousy is a common human trait. Then, how can it be a divine attribute when Allah orders destruction of Pagan and polytheistic idols and sanctions the killing of polytheists in the Quran? Why did Allah's religious concoctions stop with Islam and Muhammad when just a 500-yr-old Sikhism had not one but ten 'enlightened' gurus who, according to Sikhs, were no less than any prophet of any era? They (Sikhs) are right from their perspective, just like Muslims think that they've the absolute monopoly of truth. Why didn't Allah replace Muhammad with Moses and Jesus (Judaism and Christianity) in the Kalma? Is Christianity or Judaism any way lesser faiths than Islam? Why did Allah send revelations on 'prophets' belonging to a particular patch of land and why not in the eastern world? Lastly, if the Qur'an is a divine book, wasn't it Muhammad's duty to compile it during his lifetime? After all, these messages are supposed to be 'revelations' from none other than Allah! Many Arabs criticised the Quran when it was first created because they argued that a so-called genuine book from god or Allah would be revealed as one piece and wouldn't be exasperatingly repetitive. There cannot be two views about the Qur'an being ridiculously repetitive, and often about the most trivial things. Even the yokels of the desert doubted the veracity of Quranic verses. I asked these discomforting questions when I was studying religions. No one could give me satisfactory answers. Muslim 'scholars' gave the most evasive, hollow, baffling and misleading explanations. No wonder, more and more questioning Muslims are leaving Islam and calling themselves ex-Muslims. So long as the cult of Muhammad survives, true realization of spirituality is not possible among the Muslims. I know, modern Imam Ghazalis and Ibn Arabis will try tooth and nail to explain these posers, but will nosedive in their futile attempts as the very foundations of Islam or for that matter, any faith are so dilapidated and rickety. They'll condemn me, but who cares? Truth is forever on the scaffold. To quote Ahmad Faraz, “Aaj Hum Daar Pe Khainche Gaye Jin Baaton Par/ Kya Ajab Kal Woh Zamane Ko Nisaabon Mein Milein” (The things I'm being excoriated for today/Don't be surprised, if you might get to see them tomorrow in the text books). ----- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. 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