Humans Oscillate Between Illusions And Hallucinations

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 13 June 2025 " If one does not see Abraham's experience as a hallucination, one would have to marvel at the reason why god would want to be so sadistic in order to test the faith of a humble believer. The Bible even mentions the harsh method of the sacrifice: "Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain." Then it goes on to say, " Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. " "A 60-year-old man in Uttar Pradesh died by suicide on Bakrid, leaving behind a note claiming he was offering himself as a "sacrifice to Allah." "The dead man, Ish Mohammad Ansari, allegedly used a knife to slit his throat inside a hut next to his home on Saturday morning. ... Humans oscillate between illusions and hallucinations. However hard a Muslim or a Christian may try to justify the whole Episode of Qurbani (Sacrifice), it fills you with a sense of disgust if you don't happen to be a Muslim or a Christian. While sacrificing oneself to an imaginary Allah could be an ultimate act of submission and sacrifice to an average Muslim, it's a hallucination and an extreme manifestation of religious delusion. Don't try to justify or explain it away. Hallucinations and Visions are rampant in Semitic creeds, cultures and civilization. Agreed, the followers of Eastern faiths also have visions of deities but it's not so common a phenomenon as it's in all three faiths, esp. Islam and Christianity. Sickly devout Christians have visions of Jesus and Mary. Angels frequently appear in their visions. The putative Abraham or Ibrahim suffered from hallucinations as the psychiatrist Dr Ghulam rightly pointed out that the ancient humans were prone to having bouts of hallucinations. 'Modern' men suffer from illusions and ancient men had hallucinations. There's not much difference. Evolution has honed our hallucinations to illusions. 'Aadmi Patthar Tha Patthar Hi Raha/ Pahle Tha Sang, Ab Sang-e-Marmar Bana' (Man was a stone and he still remains a stone/ While earlier it was just a stone; now it's a marble stone). The basic attributes of a stone are unchanged. If you hit someone with a piece of a marble stone, the person will be hurt and bleed; though a marble stone is apparently quite smooth. Humans are religiously deluded creatures; unevolved and still crawling and wallowing in the muck and miasma of religiosity. Since primitive humans created god in their own image and not the other way around, they endowed god with all their lowly (human) instincts like revenge, jealousy, bloated sense of supremacy and self-importance and raw anger (today, we euphemise it as Divine Wrath!). So, this man-made totalitarian god does all sorts of sadistic and funny things that humans do. This despot wants unwavering devotion and unquestioning servility and his demands are outlandish. A Pakistani ex-Muslim poet, Farhaan Qadir, who's now an atheist and lives in an undisclosed country in Europe wrote sarcastically, "Farishton Ki Shab-O-Roz Ibadat Se Bhi Jab Ji Na Bhara/ Insaanon Ki Fauj Ko Bhi Uss Mein Shaamil Kar Liya" (Not happy with the non-stop worship of angels / He (Allah) added humans to the horde of worshippers). That's why, initially during the Isra and Mi'raj, Allah commanded Muhammad and the faithful to perform 50 prayers daily! However, Islamic tradition states that after seeking counsel with Moses and experiencing the hardship of the burden, Muhammad requested Allah to reduce the number of prayers, which was eventually reduced to 5 while still being equivalent in reward to the original 50! See the irony! Allah's so-called prophet realises that 50 Namaz every day will be a veritable ordeal but the 'omniscient' god doesn't understand this! What an impractical and unjust god who wants continuous hosannas from the poor humans! Does this 'almighty' suffer from Attention Deficit Syndrome? Muslims should be eternally thankful to Moses for being the chief facilitator, nay sympathizer, in reducing the number of Namaz to 'only' 5 per day! Moreover, the version of Abraham's sacrifice of his son differs in Christianity and Islam. In Christianity, the story in the Bible (Genesis 22) identifies the son as Isaac. In Islam, the story in the Quran identifies the son as Ishmael. Don't they say in Urdu, "Jab Buniyaad Hi Ghalat Ho Toh Sach Ki Gunjaish Kahan?" (When the very basics are wrong, how can there be any truth at all?). Correct me if I'm wrong. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/humans-oscillate-illusions-hallucinations/d/135856 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism