A review of the book
By Dr. Ali Sina
In Why I Am Not A
Muslim, Ibn Warraq, exposes the bitter truth about Islam
without sugarcoating it.
He is learned and his book is well documented. He
lashes out at the western intellectuals who instead of
condemning the assassination order of a savage man like
Khomeini against Salman Rushdi, chose to criticize Rushdi
for his book The Satanic Verses because it was not
“politically correct”.
Warraq talks about the brutal treatments of all
those who fell under the domination of Islam, from the
time of Muhammad to the present days. He talks about the
minorities, philosophers, women and slaves in Islam. Jews
were massacred and exiled by Muhammad in Medina and
Kheibar; their belongings were distributed among the
“believers”, their women and children taken as slaves.
This heinous act of barbarism was repeated time and again
throughout history with Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus,
and in recent years with Ahmedies, Baha’is and other
minorities in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, India, Syria and
everywhere Islam reined.
Warraq talks about
the origin of Islam, its pagan background and the
influence of Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism on
Muhammad. He talks about the origin of Allah in Arab
culture, about the early days of Muhammad as a preacher
and his rivalry with another storyteller “Al Nadir”
and his revenge against him.
Warraq traces back the origin of many Islamic
rituals to Arab superstitions and Muhammad’s strange
belief in jinns, demons and other shadowy beings. He also
describes how Muhammad rehashed the biblical nonsense
about creation, Noah’s Ark, birth of Christ etc. while
misunderstanding a lot of it, like confusing Mary the
mother of Christ with Miriam sister of Aaron, or the
Christian belief in Trinity. You will learn about
Muhammad’s bizarre view of cosmology, science, history,
and medicine. (He prescribed drinking the urine of camel
as a remedy against stomachache!).
Then you will
learn about Muhammad’s metamorphosis from preacher to
despot. How his call for tolerance, when he was still in
Mecca and weak changed to the cry of killing and looting
when he became powerful in Medina. You will learn how
Muhammad encouraged his handful of followers to attack the
caravans, kill the men, rape the women and bring the booty
(20% for himself) to please Allah, while assuring them
that if they are killed their rewards will be “young
boys”, rivers of wine, and many hurries in the other
world. All what Warraq says is backed by Quran and
Ahadith.
The reader becomes
familiar with Muhammad’s favorite way of eliminating his
opponents, namely assassination. Asma Bint Marwan a
poetess who wrote against the prophet was assassinated by
his order in the middle of the night while nursing her
infant. Her five small children where forced to convert to
Islam. Muhammad’s hit list also included Ka’b Ibn al-Ashraf
and Abu Rafi who spoke against him and had to be taken out
traitorously. This policy was adopted by Muslims
throughout the history and is being practiced up to this
day. What we call terrorism, to a Muslim is Jihad (holly
war). The much-publicized fetwa against Rushdi is an
example. Among other things we learn about Muhammad’s
preference for young girls (Ayesha was 9 years old when he
consummated his “marriage” with her) rather at an
advanced age and how he is unabashed to make Allah reveal
Quranic verses to justify his lust for women and his
sexual appetite.
Warraq makes a
thorough study of the totalitarian nature of Islam. He
even goes as far as to compare the impact of monotheism on
human rights versus polytheism and atheism.
For all those who still wonder why Muslims hate so
much the west I recommend reading this book. There is a
whole chapter dedicated to this subject.
Winwoods Reade
said; “A sincerely religious man is often an exceedingly
bad man” This fact applies to no one more than to
Muslims. Here is the proof:
“When
you meet the unbelievers, strike off their heads; then
when you have made wide slaughter among them, carefully
tie up the remaining captives.”
(Quran47.4).
"And
when the sacred months are passed, kill those who join
other gods with God [i.e. moshrekin.] wherever ye shall
find them; and seize them, besiege them, and lay wait for
them with every kind of ambush: but if they shall convert,
and observe prayer, and pay the obligatory alms, then let
them go their way, for God is Gracious,
Merciful."(Quran 9:5)
And as for
Christians and Jews who rejected him he has this to say:
"Make war upon such of those to whom the
Scriptures have been given and believe not in God, or the
last day, and who forbid not that which God and His
Apostle have forbidden..."( Quran. 9:29)
These are the
injunctions of Muhammad’s Gracious and Merciful God. How
can a “good Muslim” disobey these explicit
“divine” mandates? And how can one who observes them
be a “good person”? This is the question that sincere
Muslims must ask themselves. I am not insinuating that
there are no good people amongst Muslims. Good and bad
people are distributed in equal proportions in all
nations. Yet in Islam good people are often forced to do
bad things and go against their conscience. They often
convince themselves that in this apparent injustice there
must be a hidden wisdom that they do not understand and
that God knows better. Many good people who claim to be
Muslims are often ignorant of true Islam and dismiss the
real orthodox Muslims as hard-liners and fundamentalists.
But as Ibn Warraq in “Why I am not a Muslim” points
out, unlike Christianity, Islam does not leave room for
leniency and tolerance. Islam and fundamentalism are
synonymous terms. You have to break the laws of Muhammad,
just to keep your humanity and be good. No amount of
intellectual acrobatics performed by Muslim apologists can
justify the intolerant and ruthlessness of Muhammad’s
religion.
“Why I Am Not A
Muslim” is worth its weight in gold.
Warraq’s book by far is the best source I found
on Islam. He tells the truth and pays no lip service. The
book’s only flaw is that it is not translated into the
language of people who are victims of Islam. I am sure
that will be taken care of too.
Islam was
established through force and bloodshed. No argument, no
reason, no logic was ever given but the blade of the
sword. Masses were kept in ignorance. Muslims have no
knowledge of Quran and are not aware of its naivete and
inhumane character. Should they read Quran in their own
language and understand it, they would be disappointed to
see the book, far from being a “miracle”, is a hoax;
poorly written, full of errors and bereft of beauty.
Islam has silenced
all voices of reason throughout the history. But now is a
different time. The Internet, although strictly censored
in Islamic countries, is becoming accessible even to
Muslims. Freethinkers can write and publish without the
fear of persecution. I foresee that ere long, the same
devout Muslims will turn their back, against their
religion and will endeavor to liberate the rest of
humanity from the claws of religion in general and Islam
in particular.
Warraq talks about
“Arab Imperialism and Islamic Colonialism”. He
explains eloquently how through Islam, many civilized nations lost their identity,
their dignity and humanity to bow in front of a savage god
of a bunch of uncultured Arabs and follow the wimps of a
fanatic and schizophrenic bloodthirsty madman of Arabia.
Islam is the enemy of science, of freethinking, of reason
and of human rights. It acts as a powerful break on the
advancement of civilization. Warraq keenly points out that
“Islamic Civilization” is a contradiction in terms.
You can either be Islamic or civilized. In another place
he argues that also “Islamic Philosophy” is a
contradiction in terms, because philosophy was regarded as
a “foreign science, which led to heresy, doubt, and
total unbelief”. Brilliant minds like Zacharia Razi and
Avicena never believed in Islam and were attacked by
Muslims. More
recent intellectuals and freethinkers don’t fare better.
For example Ali Dashti, the brilliant scholar and the
author of “23 years”; a book written about Muhammad
and his 23 years of prophetic life, was incarcerated while
in his 80s during Khomeni’s rule and died in prison. In
Warraq’s own words: “Thus we had the spectacle of
periodic persecution of various group considered either
doctrinally suspect or politically subversive; individuals
(philosophers, poets, theologians, scientists,
rationalists, dualists, freethinkers, and mystics) were
imprisoned, tortured, crucified, mutilated, and hanged;
their writings burned. Significantly, none of the
heretical works of Ibn Rawandi, Ibn Warraq, Ibn al-Muqaffa,
and al-Razi has survived. Other individuals are forced to
flee from one ruler to another more tolerant ruler (e.g.
al-Amidi). Some were exiled or banished (Averroes). Many
were forced to disguise their true views and opinions by
difficult or ambiguous language. Those who managed to get
away with blasphemy were those protected by the powerful
and influential.”
|