Monotheism and Muhammad

Submitted by Jason (United States), Sep 10, 2010 at 19:54

You did not understand my comments about a possible, moderate, tolerant faith based on Arabian custom before Muhammad. I did not say monotheism has to reject Muhammad and the Quran. I said that any tolerant faith would have to, because Muhammadanism is not. Monotheism is another matter. Muhammad taught monotheism, but not ethical monotheism. Muhammad's theology was anything but ethical. Muhammad taught that lying and deception were God-approved tactics of jihad warfare. Muhammad was a self-serving moral relativist. Meccan pagans did not need Muhammad to reveal the One True God to them. They already had Jews and Christians living among them at the time.

The Meccans themselves retained a distant memory of having once themselves been monotheistic before they added idols to their temple, although that fact is not known for certain. Some of the Meccan pagans on their own initiative commissioned Muhammad to restore monotheism to them. They encouraged Muhammad to learn from Christian and Jewish scholars. Indeed, Muhammad had the potential to be used for God's purpose, but he instead chose to make the worst of his situation and to give in to evil and be a psychopath. While Muhammad showed contempt for other people's views, the Meccans were tolerant to a fault, as we ourselves may end up being if we don't wake up.

The Meccans were not sexist or antisemite, as Muhammad was and his followers became after him. The Meccans did tolerate some sexual behaviors we would criminalize today, as many cultures did out of ignorance. There does not even seem to be evidence of the alleged grudge of Ishmael against his half-brother Isaac, as that seems to have been resurrected from the dead by Muhammad. The Meccans even had some customs that gave honor to women, such as a customary declaration that one's favorite wife was like one's mother. The Meccans also tended to treat adopted children as their own. Yet Muhammad would not allow either of these honorable practices in his unethical monotheism. These elements of Meccan custom could have been retained in monotheism but for Muhammad. I am not suggesting that you would want an Arabian faith personally. I was saying that such a faith could be tolerant, just as Christianity and Judaism can be tolerant. But a Quran-based faith can never be tolerant, because the Quran teaches intolerance.

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