By Ali Sina 

In every religion there is something good, something bad and something terribly ugly. The good is what is being preached, the bad is what is being practiced and the ugly is the outcome.

All religions preach honesty, modesty, detachment, kindness, justice and other virtues. These are of course our own spiritual heritage. We humans aspire to evolve spiritually and are attracted towards these qualities. Even those societies that have had no religion at all (in Americas and the Far East) have upheld these qualities. The societies that did not have the tradition of receiving messengers from an invisible god were not worse than those who had them.

But what religions practice is not what they preach. Unfortunately,  even the very founders of some of the religions often fail to live an ethical life. The Bible is full of stories of atrocities of Moses, his killings of innocent people all sanctioned by his unfair god. We know very little of Jesus. The Gospels were written 30 to 60 years after his death and cannot be relied as authentic. Yet there are indications in the New Testament that show if he had power, he would probably be as unfair as his predecessor (see `Luk 10:12,13 , 19:27 and Rev 2:22, 23 ) However we do have a lot of stories recorded from Muhammad. Many of them are considered  authentic (Sahih) that can give us a good glimpse into the mind of the man who claimed to be the prophet and the mercy of God to mankind. Yet the picture we get from this last prophet is anything but holy.

He massacred and exterminated all the Jews from Arabia and instigated hatred between his followers and the Jews that has lasted for over 1400 years and has cost millions of lives. Prior to him Arabs and Jews lived in harmony and were allies.

He sent assassins to kill his critics in the middle of the night, who committed no other crime than composing poetries ridiculing his holiness, even if they where old or mothers of several infants. (*)

He raped Jewish girls 40 years younger than him whom he captured in his raids in the same day that he killed their loved ones and their relatives.

He enriched himself by looting caravans, killing the men, usurping their properties and SELLING their wives and daughters as slaves.

After his affluent wife Khadija died and after he enriched himself with spoils of his wars on defenseless people, he invaded the boundaries of decency and performed sex with twenty women, some only 9 years old, some he married, some he captured in wars, some were his slaves and maid servants and some just “offered” themselves to him. He did even lust after the beautiful wife of his own adopted son.

Muhammad founded a religion that has brought nothing but hatred and discord between his followers (among themselves) and his followers and the rest of mankind. So much war, so many killings that took place in the name of Islam and are taking place still in various corners of the world.

He heralded a misogynistic religion that has undermined the rights of women and subjected them to mistreatment and abuse. Contrary to the claims of the Islamic apologists Islam has actually took away the rights of women and women in Arabia were better off before Islam than after Islam. This is of course much more true in the case of other today’s Islamic countries like Iran where in the life time of Muhammad a Queen reigned.

As I write these notes, a couple of Muslims are being prosecuted for blowing the Pan Am flight killing 280 innocent people and ruining the lives of 280 families. While the accused deny the charges and blame the Palestinians for this cowardice attack, we have to question ourselves, where these Islamic terrorist, that are now burgeoning from Philippines to Timor, from Indonesia to Afghanistan, from Iran to Libya, from Canada to US, got their inspiration to kill? Do you think that Islam has nothing to do with that? There are many verses of Quran that encourage the believers to kill the non-believers. In Islam the end justifies the means.

Modernist Muslims prefer to live in denial than come to terms with the fact that Quran is responsible for all these atrocities perpetrated by Muslims. They call for peace, tolerance and freedom of speech. They condemn the extremists and the fundamentalists for misinterpreting Quran. Yet they are the ones who are misinterpreting it, and are not willing to let go the book that promotes war, hatred and suffocation of thoughts.

It is time that we questioned ourselves, when we accept Islam as a legitimate religion, aren’t we promoting a doctrine that rears terrorists? What we THINK Islam is, is irrelevant, what we WANT Islam to be is inconsequential. What Islam REALLY  is matters.

Islam is not a religion that promotes peace. It orders its believers to kill all those who do not accept its dogma, without mercy. It instructs its followers to subdue the Christians and the Jews and make them pay Jizyah (penalty tax).

Islam is not a religion that promotes equality of genders. Muhammad said women are “deficient in intelligence”, that majority of them go to hell because they are disobedient to their husbands, that they should be beaten if they fail to please their husbands.

Islam is not a religion that promotes equality for all humanity. It clearly regards the non-Muslims as second-class citizens and for those who are not either Jews or Christians it prescribes death. It also allows slavery.

Islam is not a religion that promotes freedom of thought and speech. It curtails the right of all the non-Muslims to teach their religion, to congregate and to celebrate their belief. It instructs killing all those who decide to break rank and think freely and independently.

If what I write offends you, it is not because there is anything offensive in my writings. It is because we Muslims have been cocooned in lies for so long that now the light of truth is blinding us. Religion is compared to opium and we are so much intoxicated by it that any attempt to wean us from it will be faced with hostility and anger.

I am not attacking or insulting my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters. They are in my blood and I am in theirs. I am trying to wake them up, to shake them up, to bring them to their senses and show them the hidden and dark side of Islam. I don’t do that because I want to hurt them, I do that because I love them. Because our peace and security, our prosperity and happiness, our unity and integration with the rest of our brothers and sisters in humanity cannot be achieved as long as we are cocooned in the lies of Islam and shackled in hate towards those who do not agree with us..

My writings are my gift of love to my fellow human beings. I do not profit from them nor I seek fame thereof. On the contrary I am being hated by the majority of my Muslim readers and if found I will be put to death. I am not a sadist and tormenting others does not give me pleasure. I feel the pain of every suffering person. I cry like a child when I see the atrocities that some of us inflict on the rest of us. I am at lost when I see the apathy and indifference of some for the misfortunes of others. I am a human, part of humanity, feeling the pain of humanity. It is our responsibility to make each other see the truth. No one will do that for us; no one can do that for us; and no one should do that for us.

I earnestly invite you to study the Quran and question it. Read this book and think with open mind. If you think I am mistaken, show me; I am open to change. Otherwise please join me in this spiritual undertaking. Let us wake up our brothers and sisters. Let us not look down at the unbelievers with disdain. Let us quench this hate that is burning in our hearts. Let us embrace all humanity as our kin. Let us demolish the walls that have separated us from the rest of mankind. Let us descend from this pedestal of self-righteousness. Let us regard women as equal, Let us forget what Muhammad said and listen to the voice of reason. And let us love humanity above any doctrine or deity.