I was taking a look upon my old posts and discovered that I've been very radical. Sometimes I've used fallacies in my arguments too. I think I've changed and see everything from relativity point of view. For example, I've written very bold about Islam and Muslims. But if I want to be more realistic, I should open my eyes because bigotry is like double-edged sword.
Anyhow, I've changed and I'm not that person anymore.
It’s the name of a book, written in 1995 by Ibn Warraq, Pakistani religious critic. The name is homage to Bertrand Russell’s “Why I Am Not a Christian”. Unfortunately, many Muslims are unfamiliar with this informative book. It’s the criticism of an ex-Muslim on Quran and Islam.
Some years ago it was translated to French and Persian, but I doubt its Arabic translation. By the way, majority of Iranian Muslims are unfamiliar even with the existence of such a book.
Below are some excerpts from book. If its not yet translated to Arabic, I believe there is an emergency to do so.
The first paragraph of the introduction:
I was born into a Muslim family and grew up in a country that now describes itself as an Islamic republic. My close family members identify themselves as Muslim: some more orthodox, others less. My earliest memories are of my circumcision and my first day at Koranic school—psychoanalysts may make what they wish of that. Even before I could read or write the national language I learned to read the Koran in Arabic without understanding a word of it—a common experience for thousands of Muslim children. As soon as I was able to think for myself, I discarded all the religious dogmas that had been foisted on me. I now consider myself a secular humanist who believes that all religions are sick men’s dreams, false—demonstrably false—and pernicious.”
From Preface:
I am not a scholar or a specialist. I certainly do not lay claim to originality; I lean heavily on the works of real scholars. I present to the reader in a more digestible form what I have culled from their works. I have quoted extensively, and where I have not quoted, I have paraphrased, all with the proper acknowledgments in the notes and bibliography. There is hardly an image or thought that I can claim to be my own creation. If some critic were to dub this work “an extended annotated bibliography” 1 would not be offended.
From The Origins of Islam:
The most important stages in [Islam's] history were characterised by the assimilation of foreign influences, . . . Its founder, Muhammad, did not proclaim new ideas. He did not enrich earlier conceptions of man’s relation to the transcendental and infinite. . . . The Arab Prophet’s message was an eclectic composite of religious ideas and regulations. The ideas were suggested to him by contacts, which had stirred him deeply, with Jewish, Christian, and other elements.
“Ignaz Goldziher”
From Problems of Sources:
The Prophet Muhammad died in A.D. 632. The earliest material on his life that we possess was written by Ibn Ishaq in A.D. 750, in other words, a hundred twenty years after Muhammad’s death. The question of authenticity becomes even more critical, because the original form of Ibn Ishaq’s work is lost and is only available in parts in a later recension by Ibn Hisham who died in A.D. 834, two hundred years after the death of the Prophet.
The Zaynab Affair (pp. 99-100)
One day the Prophet set out to visit his adopted son Zaid. Zaid had been one of the earliest converts to Islam—the third, in fact—and he was very loyal to his foster father, who in return held him in high regard. Zaid was married to Zaynab bint Jahsh, a cousin of the Prophet. By all accounts—and this point is very important for our story—she was very beautiful. On the day concerned, Zaid was not at home, but Zaynab, rather lightly clad, and hence revealing a great many of her charms, opened the door to the Prophet, and asked him in. As she hastly prepared to receive him, Muhammad was smitten by her beauty: “Gracious Lord! Good Heavens! How you do turn the hearts of men!” exclaimed the Prophet. He declined to enter and went away in some confusion. However, Zaynab had heard his words and repeated them to Zaid, when he returned home. Zaid went straight to the Prophet and dutifully offered to divorce his wife for him. Muhammad declined, adding, “Keep your wife and fear God.” Zaynab now seemed quite taken with the idea of marrying the Prophet, and Zaid, seeing that Muhammad still yearned for her, divorced her. Still, fear of public opinion made Muhammad hesitate: after all, an adopted son was in every respect equal to a natural son; therefore, such a union would have been seen as incestuous by the Arabs of his time. As always, a revelation came to him in time, enabling him to “cast his scruples to the wind.” While Muhammad was sitting next to his wife Aisha, he suddenly went into one of his prophetic swoons. When he had recovered, he said, “Who will go and congratulate Zaynab and say that the Lord has joined her to me in marriage?” Thus
we find in sura 33.2—33.7 and 33.37-33.40:God has not given to a man two hearts within him. . . . neither has He made your adopted sons to be as your own sons. . . . Let your adopted sons go by their own father’s name. This is more just with God. And it is not for a believer, man or woman, to have any choice in their affairs, when God and His Apostle have decreed a matter. . . . And remember, when you said to the person whom God has shown favor, and to whom you also have shown favor, “Keep your wife to yourself, and fear God” and you did conceal in your soul what God was about to reveal and you did fear [the opinion] of men when you should have feared God. And when Zaid had settled concerning her to divorce her, we married her to you, that it might not be a crime in the faithful to marry the wives of their adopted sons, when they have settled the affair concerning them. God’s bidding must be performed. Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but he is the Apostle of God, and the seal of the Prophets.
The most natural and immediate reaction to the preceding account must surely be that of the Prophet’s own wife, Aisha, who is said to have remarked wittily on this occasion, “Truly your God seems to have been very quick in fulfilling your prayers.”
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