Prophet Mohammed’s Oversight

WHY STUDY ISLAM ?

I have always been fascinated by Islam. Not only because of the vast numbers of Muslim people who live in India, but also because of the faint antagonism about Muslim people in popular parlance.

“No, man. You cannot have a peaceful coexistence with Muslims.”

“They are different people. They are raised differently. They think differently.”

These words have always sounded very prejudiced to me. And hence, I have always been trying to disprove them, by reading more about Islam and about its culture. And in due time, my liking of Islam has only increased.

Like all great religions, Islam has been used for dual purposes.

The first one has been as a vehicle of education and enlightenment. At the time of advent of Islam, several tribal practices have become outdated and incompatible with civilization. Islam has been successful in eliminating them – especially idolatry and the often accompanying practices of sacrifices, bacchanalia and promiscuity. It has ushered in a new age of scientific temperment and humanism.

The second purpose has been as a way of supporting the government of people. Similar to Buddhism and Christianity, Islam has been used as a way of controlling the volatile masses and establishing a strong government.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

We need to have a good understanding of history to appreciate this in proper context. The age of the mighty kingdoms began around 500 BC (at about the same time throughout the world). Until then, the principal form of government has been through tribal loyalties. At some places – such as in the republics of North India, these gave rise to primitive democracies. At other places – such as in ancient Greece, these gave rise to tiny kingdoms. But by 500 BC, these were giving way for a more modern form of government – the mighty kingdoms. The new monarchies required a more organized and hierarchical ways of control. These hierarchies have been manifest in the forms such as the caste system in ancient India and slavery in ancient Rome.

However, the principles of human equality and freedom had to suffer because of these new hierarchies.

The great religions of the world, in effect, are an answer to this oppression. Jesus Christ has preached about the necessity of love and of human brotherhood. Gauthama Buddha has preached about the futility of sacrifices and of the intermediaries (priests) between men and God. Not surprisingly, the early followers of these religions were violently persecuted. But with the advent of time, the new religions have won the hearts of the people. In India, violence to animals and men was abhorred. And in Europe, slavery and bacchanalia have been eliminated.

But the great religions could not even out the social hierarchies. Economically, it had been unfavorable for an egalitarian system to flourish in those ages. But the religions were helpful in establishing a uniform system of living for the subjects. And the age of the monarchies has resumed, with the new religions serving as tools of eliminating cultural and tribal differences, and establishing a uniform system of living. The great emporer Ashoka of India has achieved this by popularizing Buddhism. This pioneering use of religion to eradicate social differences and unrest – will later be followed by the great emperors in China (Qin dynasty) and in Europe (successors of the Roman empire). Eventually, the new religions had to come to terms with the social inequalities that existed in the world. In Europe, Christianity has been subsumed by the functioning beliefs of the feudal state. In India, Buddhism was replaced by the modified Puranic religions (which drew from ancient Vedic practices, Upanishadic philosophy and the humanitarianism of Buddhism). These religions have been diverse and never uniform, which is the case now – thus not meriting the use of Hinduism as a word for signifying one single religion.

THE RISE OF ISLAM

When Mohammed was born around 600 AD, he had an enormous work spread in front of him. The Arab countries had been living in dark ages for several centuries till then. The Babylonian empire was prematurely destroyed (primarily because of its strategic location in the middle east) and the population fell into several shortsighted tribal kingdoms which engaged themselves with continuous warfare and barbaric customs. The rest of the world had already well advanced to the age of mighty kingdoms.

Prophet Mohammed had the dual duty of establishing a sovereign Arab state (with the characteristics of a mighty kingdom) along with the duty of building a great religion which spreads humanitarianism. And he achieved both of them with considerable grace.

Considering the fact that the great religions primarily arose to answer for the social inequalities in the mighty empires, this development of Islam seems counterintuitive. But in the hands of Mohammed, it achieved both the purposes. Islam in the later ages has been the source of a great and flourishing civilization – which made great contributions in medicine, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics and culture. In fact, this civilization has nourished the developments made by the ancient Greeks and the ancient Indians, when both the later civilizations were in a state of decay.

Islam also achieved its other purpose of establishing a strong Arab state. But as is the case with all the great empires, with time, this empire has also crumbled due to economical reasons. However, this marriage of religion and strong government (the nightmare of secularism) has continued throughout Islamic history, to this very day.

THE MAIN TENETS OF ISLAM

Now that I have presented the historical context for the advent of Islam, let me give you my critical overview of the religion.

At the core, all the great religions of the west are equal. The principal message is that “God is One”. This is the most fundamental of all beliefs and they do not accomodate anything else in violation of this principle. This is in start contrast to the great religions of the east, which have been very liberal (or flippant). In India and China, religion has never been seen as a harsh code of conduct. The belief that “God is One” has been existent and acknowledged since Upanishadic times, but it has not been forced upon people. Instead, debate has been encouraged between all kinds of opinions. This trend can be observed, even to this day, in India and China.

Islam, however, is the most severe of all religions in enforcing this belief. Mohammed, at any cost, did not want the Arab lands to degenerate into backward tribal customs. His principal contributions are primarily to make the religion fool-proof to any kind of encroachment on this belief. Mohammed has observed that the Jewish religion and the Christian religion have been flippant in this aspect. And due to this fact, the great teachings of the ancient prophets have been diluted and modified to suit the purposes of the powerful.

Firstly, he has put down his messages carefully in written word, which is available today as the book of Quran. Secondly, he has outruled the possibility of anybody propagating alternate views – by proclaiming that he is the last of the prophets. Thirdly, he has taken pains to prevent any attempt at deifying himself or revering himself at the expense of the one God.

At first sight, these are ingenious ideas, and one cannot but congratulate Mohammed on everything that he has accomplished. But Mohammed has overlooked on a critical point, and this is the subject of this blog.

HOW RACISM WAS FORGOTTEN IN ISLAM

Mohammed forgot to decouple race from religion.

In fact, this is not so much of a mistake, because the issue of race has not been understood clearly during his times. But, during the current times, it is necessary to understand its implications and how this issue of race has been succeeding in corrupting the teachings of the pure religion that Mohammed has intended.

Let’s look at how the issue of race has corrupted one of his important teachings – that of not deifying himself at the expense of the one God. Mohammed has actually taken pains to see that nobody in Arabia draws a picture or makes a sculpture of himself. This is to warrant the possiblility of future generations from worshipping his images. But in spite of all his thinking, Mohammed could not preclude this possibility.

What happened was that Mohammed’s children and his successors – managed to stake claim to the mantle of chief religious head (not “prophet”, but functionally the same person) after himself. In fact, these claims have not surfaced until the death of Mohammed. But by the time they have surfaced, they were unpreventable and they were numerous. The history of Islam got bloodied in its very earliest chapters – with the claimants for the throne striking at each other and murdering the enemies. This continues to this day, with the major figureheads of Islam staking claim to a straight descent through Mohammed’s blood line.

Unfortunately, Muslims have failed to realize that this is in direct contradiction with Mohammed’s wishes – of not deifying himself. This is the same as not deifying his descendents or his tribe.

The dual purpose of Islam – to establish a sovereign empire along with a mighty religion, has also aided in fuelling racial hatred. The Muslims tended to look upon themselves as the chosen people and waged wars against other nations, all in the name of the religion.

In fact, Mohammed had also been a warrior, and he had been a sound politician. But his primary purpose was to keep the belief (of One God) alive, and he had dealt brutally with his opponents whenever he felt that this belief was at stake. He waged a war against the barbaric kings of Mecca and killed their soldiers when they threatened to trample upon his religion. Also, he had mercilessly killed the Jewish tribes of Banu Qaynuqa and Banu Nadir, when he thought that they were a threat to the survival of Islam.

This will definitely mar the claims for Mohammed’s sainthood – as understood in Indian or European terms. But, before making this comment, we have to understand the dual purposes that Mohammed had to achieve.

But after Mohammed, with Islam no longer under threat, his successors have used his actions as an okay to mercilessly slaughter other civilizations. This has especially been true in India (with its outward appearance of polytheism and primitive customs) The Muslims (in fact, the Arab conquerors) thought they are doing a service to the nation by plundering, raping and murdering the existing ruling classes. It did not matter that ancient Indians have already been great monotheistic philosophers. In the name of religion, the Arabs have advanced their own racist interests. This is also true in the advance of Islam in the west. All the crusader wars that were fought with Christians over control of Jerusalem have been termed as Jihad.

To this day, the feeling of racial supremacy is well alive in Arab people. Saudi Arabia considers itself the guardian of the Muslim teachings. Why not Indonesia – with its majority of Muslim people ? No, because Saudi Arabia holds the shrines of Mecca and Madina. Because Saudi Arabian clerics can claim direct descendence from the Prophet himself !

Arabs in Sudan murder the African people in the name of a better culture (which is just a euphimism for better race). Al Qaeda wants to wage a terrorist war against the entire western civilization. The word used is Jihad. Even Palastenians call their battle with the zionist Israelis as Jihad. Somalis wage a war against Ethiopians in the same name. Kashmiri Muslims wage a war against the native Kashmiri pandits in the very same name. But the age of idelogy wars has long been past – currently people no longer kill you for what you believe in. Religion (Jihad) is just an excuse for fuelling the age-old racial hatred (which is still very much alive). Mohammed will be ashamed to see how this word is being abused.

Islam is no longer under threat. It is acknowledged as one of the mighty religions of the world and has a thriving following of several million people. Using a word like Jihad for a selfish battle with a racial agenda is a shame. And most often, the battle is with the very own supporters of the core belief of “One God”.

If only Mohammed had remembered to warn his people about the dangers of racism, Islam would be the religion that he intended it to be.