To Shakeel: You got me with my forgotten promise to god.

Submitted by Plato (United Arab Emirates), May 23, 2007 at 08:46

[God took promise from everyone, but when we come into this world, we do not remember this promise. Because this world has been prepared for test, the outcome of this test will impact the Hereafter.]

Shakeel you got me there. I was struck dumb when I read that. Your Hindu heritage is visible here. The caste system is based on a similar principle. You are born into a particular caste or into the animal kingdom based on what you did in a previous life. But you have no memory of the shenanigans you indulged in in your previous incarnation. So what you are saying is before Allah placed us in our mother's womb or maybe while in it he made a contract with us to become his devoted slaves when we see the light of day. Did Allah also tell us in what condition we will be born and whether we choose to be born in that condition? When I pop out into the world I could be a paraplegic, blind, deaf and dumb, HIV positive, or be born to abusive parents, or in sub-Saharan Africa and so on. Shakeel would you have chosen to be nurtured in any woman's womb which would afflict you with those conditions. Allah seems to have given you a choice and you chose well, but he did not give millions of others such a choice.

And this test Allah gives is the most blatantly biased one can think of. Allah favours more than a billion to be born into Muslim families so that they have a good chance to reach paradise. But for the large majority Allah's choice is for them to be born to infidels and so His test is loaded against them from the beginning. Allah also brings forth millions with pea brains, grain-sized brains or badly scrambled ones who would not even know what you or Allah is talking about. Why are Allah's tests so unfair?

[Since the people have forgotten this promise that's why God sends the messengers, who remember them about the forgotten promise.]

That's a real mercy, God sending us reminders after making us forget this promise the moment we open our eyes in the world. Would it not have been simpler to let us retain the memory of that promise? Some of his favourite reminders (Rasools) had to go through hell, including getting killed, to get their message across.

[ All of us have natural tendency to believe in one god, but we remain in doubt about that until a messenger comes to us and tells about that god and recite His guidance to us.]

Really? Not me at least, my tendency was to laugh at the concept of a Creator, a Creator who seems to love destruction, diseases, disasters and other diabolical events and still wants to be considered merciful. Your messenger, the last Rasool, came and recited His guidance for 13 years in Mecca with very little success. Success came only the Meccans felt the point of his and his companions swords at their throats. Yes ,even I would remember the promise I gave and that there is only one god when a sword is about to cut open my Adam's apple.

[Although, parents diverted him from monotheism, but if he is a moral person who leads all his life morally (a natural guidance), he becomes monotheists finally because of his life experiences.]

Here is Allah's bias visible. Infidel parents divert a child from monotheism. Children are easily moulded by adults. Muslim children have no such problem. Allah chose to put those children in polytheists hands. Should Allah not forgive those polytheistic children for the error he committed in giving them pagans as parents? Or does Allah not have a choice in selecting parents for us? Who, pray is a moral person? You have not defined this person. Natural guidance has not done much good. If you look around there are more polytheists than monotheists. Which leads to the conclusion that polytheists are the ones who lead moral lives. A conclusion easily proved if morality is not just linked only to sex, like in Islam. Non-violent behaviour, respect for all faiths, respect for the inviolability of a woman's person, these are some of the important moral values of polytheists lacking in monotheists of the Arabian variety.

[ It is the duty of God to guide him toward Him.]

Allah has signally failed in this duty you have imposed on Him. The manority of humankind has always been polytheists and despite Allah's will are likely to remain so.

[Whenever older messages of God were corrupted by the human interventions, God would send another messenger with original message. So in the past, messengers came after messengers. Since after Muhammad (sws), God were not to send any more messengers, He preserved the message forever in the form of recitation in the hearts of people.]

What you have just said is that Allah was a loser till he hit upon Mohammed. God's choices were poor before he created Mohammed if he had to send messenger after messenger. Why the sudden decision not to send any more messengers, was Allah who did not grow weak even after creating the whole universe becoming tired? Why did Allah not take the easy way out and preserve his message 'forever in the form of recitation in the hearts of people' right from Eve and Adam? Great are the wonders of Allah!

[I have already answered you that the purpose of telling the stories of past people is to teach a moral lesson and not to preserve history records.]

They are interesting stories. But what I wanted to know was why the stories being recited had very narrow historical and geographical boundaries. The all-knowing Allah could have picked interesting moral stories from all across His globe. The Arabs then and now form only a small portion of humanity. Either sheer bias towards other people or Allah is the god of Arabs only. Which is it?

[The wise will hear what God is teaching to him but fool will only listen to stories and ask where are others?]

Well let us say I am a doubting Thomas. Remember St Thomas wanted to touch Jesus's scars before he would believe what had happened to Him, so let's say I am like that, a doubting fool. Just as wise men listen to stories fools also do. But the difference between fools and wise men is that the fool will pester the story teller to show him some proof for the fantastic tales he is reciting. The fool does not wish to be taken for a fool. Being wise, wise men apparently don't mind being taken for fools.

[Rasool is very different from me or any other person, because he brings God's judgement on earth which no one can escape. Righteous is rewarded and wrong-doer is punished and the same thing will happen on last Day]

Rasool/Rasools are very different indeed. They, especially the last of the lot, can kill people who do not listen to his teachings, which is apparently is a mercy. Teachings where women can be thrashed, where women are considered mentally deficient, where there is no bar on keeping slaves but usury is barred, where adulterers can be stoned to death are all righteous . Rasool brings Allah's judgement to kill, maim, polytheists. That is being righteous. This part of being righteous is special to Islam. The others are more or less common. Polytheists and apostates who were within reach of the Rasool were unfortunate enough to suffer twice the punishment of other polytheists. Once by the righteous prophet and then on Judgement Day. Fortunately planes and other modes were not invented otherwise as insisted by Allah of the Rasool there would have not just slaughter in the land of Arabia but over the globe. (8:67 YUSUFALI: It is not fitting for a prophet that he should have prisoners of war until he hath thoroughly subdued the land. Ye look for the temporal goods of this world; but Allah looketh to the Hereafter: And Allah is Exalted in might, Wise.)

[Rasool (sws) married to so many women not for sexual pleasure but to get kinships with other tribes.]

Lets see now. When he married/made into a concubine Rehana was he seeking kinship with the souls of the Banu Quraiza he had dispatched to the nether world? When he married the child Aisha whose kinship was he seeking. Abu Bakr's? Was he afraid that he would turn against him? And we know he married Zaynab to teach mankind a great moral lesson. Or was it to further cement his relationship to his own tribe? If he was not seeking sexual pleasure why did he choose the most beautiful young women. Safiya, Juwairiya, Rehana, Zaynab,Maria. He could have chosen ugly women of his own age.

[20% of spoil was the right of God an Prophet (sws), but not that he wants worldly pleasure, but because he runs so many institutions for the betterment of general public like judiciary, educational and food supply for the needy. When prophet (sws) died, all of his wealth (which was very petty because he used to distribute it as a charity) was distributed in public. Prophet (sws) said that prophet do not leave anything as inheritance.]

The Prophet want's to take booty so he drags God into the picture. After all does not the Koran insist that everything belongs to Allah, not just 20%? Allah was made complicit in the acceptance of booty after the notorious Nahla incident so as to legitimise the Prophet accepting and enjoying other people's property. And could not Allah have thought of a better way than looting caravans and other tribes to finance the government institutions. If this is Allah's way then what objection do you have to Bush making a grab for Iraqi and Saudi oil? Oh I forgot, looting to run his institution is halal only for the last of the Rasools. When Bush does it he becomes the Great Satan? The Prophet distributed booty for charity? LOL. Read your sira. He distributed plenty as bribes to gain converts. And he did not have to leave any inheritance as all his wives and daughters were already well taken care of. Aisha could even rasie a large army against Ali.

[His beloved companion was to kill the apostates which were preached by Muhammad (sws) as a Rasool in his lifetime. Muhammad (sws) advised his companions to kill any apostate who was preached by him because as I said earlier, Rasool is judgment of God on earth and wrong doer must get a punishment and apostate is a wrong-doer]

After reading that I understand why Muslims murmur 'peace be upon him' superstitiously whenever the word Muhammad is mentioned. Not only did Muhammad (pbuh) bring Allah's judgement of death to people around him when alive he even left instructions to his companions to do the same. A case of reaching out from the grave to deliver Allah's judgement. Muhammad (pbuh) needs all the PBUHs he can to exorcise the aura of death hanging over his name. Shakeel, tell us why an apostate is a wrong-doer.

[ However, when his companions conquered other countries like Persia, Egypt etc, no one was killed on the account of being non-Muslim or apostate because these people were not preached by Rasool and they got the message indirectly.]

Oh the lucky Persians, Egyptians. So if you are out earshot of the Prophet when he is preaching you escape an early death? Let us forget the lucky Persians and Egyptians for a moment. What about the unlucky millions in India. Unluckily for the Hindus the companions did not live long enough for them to be conquered by them. So they had to suffer tens of millions dead by Muslims who were not companions and had no such instructions.

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