Who Is Allah, Part I

As we see Muslim violence all around the world, seemingly senseless killings while the perpetrators shout “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is Greatest) and even issue death threats against cartoonist: I think its time we take Theo Van Gogh’s last words to heart. His last words while being murdered in the name of Islam for his production of the 11 minute movie entitled Submission Part I were, “can’t we talk about this?” I think it’s high time we have a talk and find out who is this “being” that seems to drive so many to kill and whose prophet can’t stand in the least to be ridiculed. My sources for this posting will be the Islamic scriptures themselves: beginning with Ishaq’s Sira, called Sirat Rasul Allah, which has many passages similar to the Qur’an and which you can purchase at Amazon.com under the title The Life of Muhammad, The History of al-Tabari, volumes VI - IX, Bukhari’s and Muslim’s Hadith, which are also called the Sunnah (from which Sunni Muslims get their name, because the follow the Sunnah of the prophet), and of course the Qur’an itself.

Like with anything, let’s start at the beginning and go back to the 6th century when Allah (the moon god) was just one of the many gods enshrined in the Ka’aba. In fact, there was also a moon god in ancient Mesopotamia who at one time was called “Sin”, and wouldn’t you know it: one of His symbols was a crescent moon too, but let’s stay with the topic at hand. Since Muhammad is the lone prophet of Islam, let’s begin with him. You can often find out a lot about a person by examining their parents, so let’s go to Ishaq’s Sira, The Life of Muhammad, page 69, and see what it says about Muhammad’s mother when she was pregnant with him: “A voice said to her, you are pregnant with the lord of this people and when he is born say, I put him in the care of the one from the evil of every envier; then call him Muhammad” (the same language that’s in Qur’an Surah 113:5 when it’s referring to evil). So am I missing something here or did the Islamic scriptures just say that Muhammad was to be placed in the care of Satan? Certainly this must be some mistake, and I’m sure Ishaq will straighten all this mess out for us later on.

Well, as the story of Muhammad continues on pages 71 and 72, we find as a child he is placed in the care of some relatives. One day, they suddenly rush to take him back to his mother after some strange encounter with two men “clothed in white” who threw him down to the ground and opened up his belly. And of all the things Muhammad’s relatives and his mother would talk about after something happened to him, what do you suppose it was? If you guessed demon possession, you’re correct! “When she asked if I fear a demon possessed him, I replied that I did.” Well, perhaps we’re jumping to conclusions here, because after all, it could be that Muhammad’s relatives were just a bit eccentric. Let’s continue on with our research.

As Muhammad grew, we find that others are saying a lot of things about him too. I’ll skip over a wide array of pronouncements about the prophet of Allah that are said to be made by Jews, Christians, and Soothsayers (a weird combination indeed) that are in the first 100 pages of Ishaq’s Sira and in Tabari’s VI volume, but one in particular is interesting. On page 79 of The Life of Muhammad, we find that a seer, who was also described as a fortune teller (so in other words an occultist), takes a keen interest in him. “Bring me that boy”, the occultist says, “for by Allah he has a great future.” Hey, nothing beats a good satanic endorsement! But maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves because after all, Muhammad hasn’t yet spoken for himself, or Allah hasn’t yet spoken to Muhammad: but he will, in the cave of Hira.

One of the more detailed accounts of what happened in the cave of Hira is found in Bukhari’s Hadith, Volume 1, Book 1, Number 3, which is narrated by Muhammad’s child bride Aisha, who he married when she was 6 and started having sexual relations with her when she was 9 (Bukhari V7B62N88 and Tabari IX 131). We find Aisha recounting the story told to her by her husband, that an “angel” (who would later identify himself as Gabriel) appears to him in a dream and tells the illiterate Muhammad to read. When Muhammad replies he can’t read, the angel seizes him and presses him to the point of death, while at the same time saying, among other things, “your lord is most generous:” a curious and contradictory statement indeed. This scenario is played out three times, after which Muhammad runs home frightened to his wife Khadija and covers himself in blankets (or in other words, runs home, jumps in bed, and hides under the covers); hence the title of Surah 73 and 74 of the Qur’an (the 3rd and 4th in revelation order), The One Wrapped in Garments and The One Enveloped. So indeed, it must have frightened him for some time. Now I ask you, from a supposed revelation from God, doesn’t this sound a bit odd?

Fortunately, this same event and what followed was written down by Ishaq with added detail in The Life of Muhammad on page 106. After which, Muhammad instinctively knew what he had encountered in that cave: and it wasn’t good. Muhammad said, “Woe is me, poet or possessed…I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself and gain rest.” Yes ladies and gentlemen, you heard right. Muhammad, the lone prophet of Islam said after his first encounter with the “angel” he was demon possessed. This is also confirmed, albeit unknowingly, in Bukhari V9B87N113, when Muhammad said, “A true good dream is from Allah and a bad dream is from Satan.” Yes, he had a very bad dream indeed. So then who was it that appeared to Muhammad in the cave of Hira? As we’ve discovered so far (that Muhammad was to be placed in the care of Satan), and what we shall soon discover, it had to be a demon or the Devil himself. For those of you who are Christians, this shouldn’t sound too far fetched, because in II Corinthians 11:14 Paul writes, “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” Still not convinced? Well, let’s continue on shall we.

Remember Aisha, Muhammad’s 9 year old wife? The cave of Hira wasn't the only place were Muhammad said he received a revelation from Allah. While talking to one of his other wives about his child bride, Muhammad said in Bukhari V5B57N119, “Don’t trouble me by harming Aisha, for by Allah, the inspiration never came to me while I was under the blanket of any woman amongst you except her.” Now just stop and think about that statement for a moment. Muhammad just said, he gets revelations from Allah while in bed with a 9 year old girl. Apparently, Allah approves of having sex with 9 year old girls and rewards Muhammad with Qur’an revelations for doing so: sounds demonic to me. However, even before that event, some of the Meccans saw Muhammad for what he really was, as we find in Bukhari V6B60N475, “A lady came and said, Muhammad! I think your Satan has forsaken you, for I have not seen him with you for two or three nights!” And what do you suppose happened next? Did Allah or Muhammad issue a repudiation of such a claim? No; but they would figure out they had better start doing that with regularity later on. Instead we find as Bukhari continues, Allah revels what would later become Qur’an Surah 93, “By the night when it darkens," Allah loves darkness, "your lord has neither forsaken you nor hates you.” Oops! I guess sometimes the truth just slips out.

While you may be saying, this cannot be! How can these scriptures be called scriptures? Well, these scriptures and many others are taught in every Muslim school from Morocco to Malaysia (and also in Arabic in the West), as coming from Allah himself and Muhammad as the "par excellence" to be imitated. And as we shall see in Part II, these scriptures are only the beginning.