Religion TheTriumphofDeceit

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Religion-The Triumph of Deceit
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DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.36663.60321
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RELIGION -
THE TRIUMPH OF DECEIT
First Draft 2004

Second Draft 2020
26/11/2020
All rights reserved
Ziaedin Shafiei
Contents
AN APPRENTICE OF RITUALS AND TRADITIONS ........................... 4

FINDING THE RIGHT FOUNDATION ............................................................. 12
EXAMINATION OF MY EARLY-LIFE CONVICTION....................................... 26
PROBING FOR A PROPHET ................................................................... 35
GOD IS A NEGRO ........................................................................................ 46
ARRIVAL OF MUSLIMS ............................................................................... 49
NOBLE DREW ALI ...................................................................................... 61
WALLACE FARD MUHAMMAD ................................................................... 80
ELIJAH MUHAMMAD .................................................................................. 92
EPILOGUE TO BLACK PROPHETS ............................................................... 104
THE LEGACY OF SHIA ......................................................................... 108
THE BAB A SHIITE PAR EXCELLENCE....................................................... 115
HE WHOM GOD SHALL MAKE MANIFEST ................................................ 153
BAHAULLAH ............................................................................................ 165
FACE-LIFTING THE FAITH ......................................................................... 190
ISLAM........................................................................................................ 193
WHAT IS MUHAMMAD’S MESSAGE? ........................................................ 197
Does Hadith Expound the Quran? ...................................................... 213
Unorthodox Believers of Hadith.......................................................... 220
Stoning Saga........................................................................................ 223
ONE RELIGION ......................................................................................... 224
BELIEVING IN JINNI! ................................................................................. 235
SOCIAL ISSUES ......................................................................................... 243
Secondary Sources!? ........................................................................... 250
Minimalist Interpretation .................................................................... 254
Bee or Parrot?..................................................................................... 260
ABROGATION ........................................................................................... 265
Modification to Fasting ....................................................................... 267
Changing of Kiblah ............................................................................. 272
Gradual Prohibition ............................................................................ 274
Was Abrogation necessary? ................................................................ 275
SUPPORTING THE OLD TESTAMENT STORIES ............................................ 277
UNSUBSTANTIATED STORIES ................................................................... 279
INSUFFICIENT SIMILARITY! ...................................................................... 283
SCIENCE IN THE QURAN ........................................................................... 285
MIRACLE.................................................................................................. 287
MESSENGERS WERE SENT TO EVERY COMMUNITY! ................................ 293
WAS MUHAMMAD EXPECTED? ................................................................ 296
CHRISTIANITY ....................................................................................... 301
THE NEW TESTAMENT ............................................................................. 303
Four Gospels!...................................................................................... 307
WHO WAS JESUS?..................................................................................... 329
WAS JESUS A PROPHET? ........................................................................... 345
JESUS THE PROMISED MESSIAH................................................................ 346
Religion – The Triumph of Deceit
OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW....................................................................... 350

WHAT WAS JESUS’ MISSION? .................................................................. 352
JUDAISM .................................................................................................. 357
THE TORAH .............................................................................................. 357
THE TALMUD ........................................................................................... 359
THE HISTORY OF THE TORAH ................................................................... 363
THE TORAH AND CRITICISM ..................................................................... 381
Christians’ Criticism ........................................................................... 384
Muslims’ Criticism .............................................................................. 386
Criticism after Reformation ................................................................ 389
EXTERNAL EVIDENCE .............................................................................. 396
GOD IN THE BEGINNING ........................................................................... 399
THE FIRST MASSACRE! ............................................................................ 406
GOD OF MOSES ........................................................................................ 410
THE LAW ................................................................................................. 420
Slavery ................................................................................................. 424
Human Sacrifice .................................................................................. 426
Mass Slaughter .................................................................................... 428
Miscellaneous laws ............................................................................. 433
PLINTH OF ALL RELIGIONS ....................................................................... 435
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................... 436
WHAT NEXT? ........................................................................................... 443
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................... 449
INDEX ........................................................................................................ 455
Chapter One
An Apprentice of Rituals and Traditions
"I have made a ceaseless effort not

to ridicule, not to bewail, not to
scorn human actions, but to
understand them." Baruch Spinoza
The earliest clear and coherent memory of my childhood is the

delight and excitement I used to feel on being able to wake up
with my parents well before the crack of dawn during the Muslim
fasting month of Ramadan. Like the majority of common
Muslims in my small birthplace in Iran they would get up to brace
themselves for the dawn-to-dusk fasting. We would usually have
a pre-prepared high energy breakfast in a rush and try to drink as
much fluid as we could to prevent thirst during the day. All the
while we were also all ears, listening to the special religious
programme on a large crackling radio. The warm and lamenting
voices of the professional reciters and presenters were creating a
holy atmosphere, transforming even the eating to a sacred
religious ritual. When eventually the radio would announce the
start of the fasting period, by broadcasting the Azan, it was time
4
to stop feeding ourselves and to say the first ritual prayer of the
day.
Why would I get up at that early age and try to commit myself
to fasting is still a mystery to me. Immediately after my tiptoeing
mother would quietly switch on the kitchen light to set the table,
I was wide-awake too. Was it because I would enjoy the special
diet? Surely, this was how my older siblings would understand it.
I could see it from their sneering and snobbery looks when they
saw me awake and inquiring about the menu. I may not have
known exactly what enticed me so much, but I was aware it was
much more persuasive to overcome my pride by having an extra
meal as an uninvited guest. Possibly, it was the change of
atmosphere, the novelty of experiencing something that didn’t
occur regularly, enabling one to brag about it and pretend one was
doing something extraordinary. Maybe at those times my parents
tried to be kinder to me and I longed for those peaceful and
pampered moments. Perhaps it was pure curiosity to discover
what was going on in the adult world. It was as if somehow at that
age I knew that I was a member of a wandering tribe - trying to
follow the same path to ensure I would not be left alone and lost
- my first step towards social cohesion and a sense of belonging.
I must not forget to confess that, as far as I can remember, I
couldn’t and didn’t complete a single day of fasting in those early
years. I would break my fast sheepishly, like other children of my
age, when thirst or hunger started to affect my stomach, thoughts
and faith. I wouldn’t pray either since the prayer was in
meaningless Arabic and involved a sequence of physical body
manoeuvres that I could not properly follow. But I used to watch
my parents with fascination as they prayed. I would occasionally
try out some of the movements whilst mumbling some of those
strange utterances, which of course would make them laugh and
would gain me parental attention.
5
After a few years, my interest in fasting diminished. I didn’t

even bother to wake up to participate in the feast, then knowing
that the responsibility of not having any food or drink from dawn
to dusk for a whole month was a heavy commitment. I decided to
wait until I would reach fifteen, the prescribed age of fasting for
boys. But by that time, I could unquestionably figure out what a
normal human should be, a Shiite Muslim.
My faith was recharged annually on the first ten days of the
first month of the Islamic lunar year, Muharram. During that time,
processions of mourners passed through the streets on their way
from one mosque to another with different eye-catching banners,
various colourful flags, beating drums and clashing cymbals. One
group of male mourners lined up in two facing columns and beat
themselves harshly with the palm of their hands on their bare
chests in a rhythmic motion and in harmony with recitation of a
mournful song. A second group used purposely-built cluster of
metal chains, similar to a bulky but short cat o' nine tails whip
with wooden handle, beating their bare and black-and-blue chests
and shoulders. They were followed by disorganised but genuinely
mournful and howling women, some pulling along their
distressed and bewildered young children who also were tearful
mainly because of their mothers’ loud wailings and anguish.
This annual lamentation is in commemoration of the massacre
of the third leader of Shiites, Imam Hussein, close members of his
family and devoted followers in a one-sided battle about one
thousand and four hundred years ago. I was told that they were
murdered by “the most evil people in the world” in the most tragic
way imaginable. They slaughtered all standing men and carried
off the sick, women and children.
“Why were they martyred?” I remember asking. “Because our
infallible leader and his devoted followers actively sought social
justice by opposing a tyrant usurper. They sought a quality of life
6
that God has bestowed on human societies by sending prophets,

revealing sacred books and nominating their rightful leaders.”
Recreating the highlight of that ultimate sacrifice for a just and
noble cause had cast the most everlasting effect on my psyche to
the point that I was truly under the spell of Shia holocaust.
To my utter dismay, my father didn’t allow me to participate
in those processions as some other children did. Nevertheless, I
used to watch them as they passed by and tried hard to make
myself look and feel sad at the slaughtering of those blameless
people. Around me many were passionately crying their hearts
out but I didn’t cry at all. I used to blame myself for being cold
hearted but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t shed even a
teardrop. Even remembering my own sad times had no effect.
Perhaps, I was just hypnotized by the pounding of drums and the
whole dramatic spectacle and perhaps as then I had no intimation
with immortality, no memorable experience of the death of a
loved one or no deep feeling of the social sense of pain and
despair.
My family moved to a different city when I was about twelve.
Naturally, I didn’t feel at home in the new place among new
people in the beginning, especially that their dialect was different.
I was also informed that they were Sunni Muslims, apparently the
number one enemy of truth and virtue. I found myself wondering
why they had chosen to be on the wrong side of justice and human
integrity? Was it at all possible? How come so many people
insisted on having leaders other than the twelve righteous leaders
of Shiites? Their second leader after the Prophet Mohammad was
Omar, a laughing-stock in Shiites circles. I was assured in my
hometown that he was the arch-enemy of and chief conspirator
against true and pure Islam. I wondered “how stupid or spiteful
they must be to follow such a disreputable character as a Muslim
leader?!” This thought made me even more proud to be a Shiite.
7
Then, with no knowledge of correct history and no understanding

of what was going on in the world, I found myself with a worthy
faith and real nasty enemies.
The Sunni children even called me names. One of those names
was beyond belief but funny. They thought I had a tail being a
Shiite. Their taunting made them even more alien to me. I don’t
know from whom I heard this but some adult told me to answer
them back by saying they had hooves. Then the whole attack and
counter attack made a rhyme, in my native Kurdish dialect, which
I used to sing loudly just for the fun of it. The repetition of the
rhyme changed the myth of hoof into almost a reality. I did not
stop the counter attack even when I saw many of them washing
their feet in a mosque, as part of the obligatory washing ritual
before praying, and noticed they all had feet just like mine. It
appeared as though the enemy assault had blocked even my
infantile reasoning. At the same time, I was confident that their
verbal attack was also baseless. I checked myself several times
and made sure of it. At any rate, there was no room for truth while
we were engaged in childish hostility.
I settled in the new place after a few months and made several
friends. Strangely enough, I found all of them as normal and
friendly as I could imagine and if there were not occasional
interferences from adults we would not ever have known or
noticed any disparity between us. I also found out that our faiths
and meagre religious based knowledge of history were so
irrelevant in our friendships and occasional quarrels. We didn’t
even bother or were not knowledgeable enough to discuss our
differences. I, nonetheless, experienced them, like a divisive tall
wall, reappearing only during annual religious ceremonies.
At the age of sixteen, my family moved to yet another city with
a Shiite population. After a few weeks and while I was still
missing my old friends, I was excitingly informed by a new one
8
that tomorrow would be killing of Omar Day and I was asked to

participate. The existence of such a day was news to me. It turned
out to be a day in which small effigies of Omar were burned by
Shiite children in some cities in Iran after beating them and even
dipping them in toilet bowls or dirty gutters.
The tradition, unpleasant and childish as it was, did not appeal
to me at all. At any rate, by that time religion had become
marginal in my young life. School, homework and play left no
room for anything else until I started my university education.
However, by that time the trickle effect of the religious
environment combined with contempt for other faiths groomed
me to count myself as a devoted Shiite, following the traditional
belief of my parents. I had hearsay knowledge of my religion and
happily embraced what was necessary for a Shiite to know and
do. I could see nothing but the whole truth in my system of belief.
Also, as a young mind with a great deal of emotional outlook, my
feelings were directed towards social justice as the sole purpose
of worldly life, supposedly epitomized in the reign of the first
leader of Shiite, Imam Ali.
In most of the Iranian Universities before the 1979 revolution,
you could be absorbed into one of the two dominant groups; the
Islamic or the Left/Marxist society. Other activities were mainly
organised around those two ideological groups. Each had a proud
history of challenging the authoritarian monarchic regime which
they deemed mere puppet, furtively controlled by western
powers. Both claimed that their main objective was the
establishment of a just, egalitarian and progressive society in an
independent country.
Due to harsh suppression of Left activists and censorship of
their revolutionary literature during the Cold War period in Iran I
didn’t know too much about the Left movement when I started
my higher education. Thus, I cautiously tried to read and learn
9
about Marxism using their reasonably sized library inside the

university premises. Black listed books, including the writings of
all known Marxist leaders, were not on display, however, rumour
had it that you could access them if you were part of the group’s
trusted circle of vetted members.
I neither joined the Left group nor became a member of the
Islamic society. I assume I wasn’t brave enough and didn’t like
the atmosphere of secrecy which shadowed the activities of the
two groups - both of which feared the brutal repression of the
secret service of the tyrant regime. There was another significant
concern which hindered any commitment. The more I knew about
my religion the more I needed to justify it for myself. It was not
anymore a clear and logical guideline for my life but a burden on
my mental capacity. For example, reflecting on my childhood
memory again, I quickly discovered the price for getting up early
in the morning, participating in the meal and feeling holy. What I
was not aware of, besides so many other things from the doctrine
of Shia, was the price you have to pay if you decide to abandon
that faith. I was not informed that you could be lawfully put to
death if you disavow the religious teaching that had been
communicated to you at an ignorant and mentally immature
period of your life.
This clandestine practice is like or even worse than giving a
contract, with page after page of small print, to a blindfolded
person to sign and then expecting either full compliance or
execution. I discovered the punishment for apostasy far too late
to allow me even to think about its fairness. In fact, it didn’t bother
me too much. I hadn’t heard of anybody being executed for
abandoning the faith and I could not yet justify abandoning it
anyway. Who, in his right mind, wants to oppose the law of God,
which is laid down on the basis of justice for humanity? Who
doesn’t want to try one’s best for an egalitarian and peaceful
10
society in which everything is in its right place and free of devious

planning and criminals? Besides, by then I could not easily
separate myself from my deep religious feelings, thinking,
traditions and society. I was genuinely witnessing the practical
benefit of religion on myself. The creed was inviting me to be a
better person, be kind, respect others, look after poor, weak and
sick, and not commit any misdemeanour. Above all, I had such a
wonderful and peaceful time talking to God, not in my
compulsory prayer but while lying in my bed before sleep
overcame me. I used to ask for forgiveness of my wrong deeds
and thoughts during the day and promise to be a better person
tomorrow. I thought He forgave me instantly, being so kind, and
hoped He would help me to achieve my objectives in being pure
and compassionate and defeating the devil inside and evil
impulses. The one-way conversation did not go far beyond this
subject. The main thrust was the acceptance of my recurring
weaknesses and the promise to improve and be a moral person.
Other issues seemed insignificant or out of the question in a one-
way dialogue with an omniscient entity. Obviously, there was
nothing wrong with this kind of life. But was this the whole truth
about my drip-fed-religion? I believed it was, at least for a while.
Therefore, I always blamed my lack of understanding and
sometimes weak faith for any inconsistency I was discovering and
then pushed myself to read and learn more and think deeper. I,
moreover, tried harder to follow the path of my twelve infallible
Shiite leaders and be a faithful, truthful and decent Shiite to the
best of my ability. Like any practicing Shiite, who longs for the
return of the twelfth leader of Shia, Imam Mehdi, whom I was
told was in hiding (occultation) and on his reappearance would
bring peace, justice and harmony to the whole world, I dreamed
to be counted among his followers and see his rein in the promised
utopian society.
11
Finding the Right Foundation
I sustained a huge blow to my religious outlook during my

first semester in university. One day, in front of a local mosque,
a friend and I encountered a dapper and courteous young man on
his way out. He greeted us, introduced himself and immediately
started to commend us for being practising Muslims. He then
asked me if I had read the Quran. ‘No’ I said, a trifle embarrassed,
though I knew that for the majority of Iranians and non-Arab
Muslims around the world the Quran was an alien object.
He was ready for my expected reply and went on to tell us that
the obvious divisions between different sects in Islamic societies
were due to ignorance on the part of Muslims towards their
revealed and revered book. The disunion, therefore, was the root
of the downfall of a once mighty Islamic civilization. He added
that Islam was revealed as Islam not as Shia or Sunni; thus, it was
very obvious that those later divisions were based on something
outside and foreign to the Quran and pure Islam. Muslims were
then divided and set about proving and blindly following their
own corrupted versions of Islam. Their societies subsequently
became weak and backward, allowing reigns of despotic and/or
puppet rulers. He supported his arguments with many short
stories from the time of the Prophet Muhammad in order to
criticize the current outlook of Muslims and widespread pre-
Islamic pagan practices among Shiites.
It was the first time that I heard somebody criticising, in such
a logical way, everything that constituted my belief.
Remembering my short-lived childhood hostilities with Sunnis,
his words affected me profoundly. I realized instantly how poor
my understanding of my religion was and that it was likely I had
12
been consistently following a baseless dogma, almost

blindfolded.
The message was clear and I wondered why Muslims had not
been able to see this simple and obvious picture. If the prophet
Muhammad was only a Muslim and not a Shiite or Sunni, he
therefore had no knowledge of these new sects. How on earth then
could we justify believing in them? This was a strong case against
my cherished faith and my pride.
While I was listening and at the same time wondering why I
had never asked that single question and never tried to learn the
Quran somebody grabbed my arm and took me to one side to tell
me that my new talkative acquaintance was in fact a dangerous
man, possibly a foreign agent. However, I was deaf to his words
and warnings. Strangely enough, this accusation is the main, if
not the only, defence argument the followers of differing branches
of Islam provide when they are confronted by any strong line of
reasoning against their own specific sect. This was my first but
certainly not last experience of this type of usually baseless
accusations, coinciding with the time when I first heard some
truth about the real Islam.
That was the last time I went to a mosque as a Shiite. I
immediately started to read the Quran in Arabic and its Farsi
(Persian) translation to understand its message. I had to read it
many times to make sure my rejection of Shia ideas was right and
I had not made a big mistake again. The more I read the Quran
and the history of Islam the more I was convinced that later
developments of numerous sects including Shia and Sunni were
baseless falsehoods where Islam was concerned. I realised that
my faith and knowledge of history were shaped and shaded by
pure bigotry and hearsay.
I was so excited about this new development that I believed I
had found not only the real truth but also my true mission in life.
13
I thought that Islam was the ultimate truth since God revealed the
Quran to the prophet Muhammad as His final message and
commandments to mankind. Who then can argue with the God of
the universe? Another reassuring point was the claim that the
Quran, in contrast with other religious books, was in harmony
with what was recognized as new science - especially the theory
of evolution proposed by Darwin and the Big Bang theory.
I was introduced to a few like-minded Muslims shortly after
the first meeting. We subsequently launched a group led by the
person who had educated me and other members with the pure
Islamic viewpoints. We eventually called the group the
Renaissance of Muslims. It grew in number to around thirty
people after two years, consisting mainly of students. To prepare
the core members for undertaking the serious social objectives of
the group, we were charged with different responsibilities. We
were also asked to explore various social or political issues. But
our immediate objective was to inform everyone especially young
and religiously active people that Islam does not recognize any
sects. We tried to emphasise that Muslims should revive Islam by
returning to its basic and uncorrupted teaching, the Quran. In the
mean time they should throw away countless lies and false ideas
attributed to Islam in so many corrupted and corrupting books,
which have been revered by different so-called Islamic sects.
We were well aware that our mission was a dangerous one.
Shiite clergymen would denounce us as heretics and if they could,
they would condemn us to death as an active anti-Shia group. To
them eliminating an anti-Shia person is as essential and holy as
praying or fasting. We were blessed that our group was formed
three years before the demise of the monarchic regime of Iran in
1979, due to a popular revolution, and dissolved immediately
after the reign of the new Shia establishment; otherwise all of us
would have been dead and buried a long time ago under the rule
14
of intolerance and rage. But still there were dangers of many sorts
that made us completely secretive as far as our grouping was
concerned. The totalitarian monarchic regime didn’t tolerate any
organised group, let alone one with a plan to gain political power,
even in a democratic process.
One of my chief concerns at that time was the lack of useful
information by which I could advance my understanding of Islam
and its divine plan for a better society in comparison with other
human thoughts and experiences. Iranian governments under the
monarch, helped by the deep-rooted religious establishment, had
a long list of banned literature. Those included not only
revolutionary Marxist and anti-Shia but also any uncensored
religious, political or social literature. Though censorship,
imposing a blacklist system and its ensuing mass media
suppression is medieval by any government, especially one with
progressive and civilized claims, what is more damaging is the
creation of an environment which lacks the vigour to think deep
and thrive continuously. Those regimes rather prefer to
compromise the integrity of human intellect to maintain a tyranny
combined with a kind of social infantilism and corruption all the
way to the root.
Based on meagre information we could banish the false
thinking of Shia from our minds but there were so many issues
which needed much better understanding and careful analysis.
Two examples clarify our predicament then.
The first example is related to the concept of an Islamic
government. Simply, our group didn’t know what an Islamic
social, political and economic system was and how it could be
implemented. Shiites do not have this problem because they have
already created a very short sited system. They assume their
twelve political leaders were nominated by God and those
selected individuals knew how to run their administration as they
15
are believed to be infallible, omniscient and in close contact with

God.
After the occultation of Imam Mehdi, the only duty of faithful
Shiites was praying to God for his return and meanwhile dismiss
any government as illegitimate and corrupt, even the one run by
a Shiite. Meanwhile, Shiite clergies initially nominated
themselves as Imam Mehdi’s agents in dealing with personal
religious matters of devoted Shiites and for collecting their taxes.
Avoiding serious participation in politics lasted for more than a
millennium.
Eventually a few clergies developed the concept of (Absolute)
Guardianship of the Jurist. It simply means that they granted
themselves the undisputed and total authority in the absence of
Imam Mehdi. The proponent of this new idea should actively be
involved in the power struggle and when in government, rule like
not the Prophet Muhammad or Imams but God almighty with
utmost authority. This new concept is not accepted by all clergies
as it cannot be firmly supported by Shiite scriptures and it is
impractical and bothersome where they are not in power.
Therefore, some Shiite clergies still believe in the separation
between clergies’ duties and government as they deem any
administration of a fallible person as illegitimate.
In summary Shiites first believed that people should be
governed by infallible and divinely nominated individual, then
left it to any despot to rule them and then developed the concept
of authoritarian rule of fallible clergy.
Obviously, our group rejected all Shiites inventions, their
extraordinary ideas and whimsical solutions. Therefore, one and
a half millennium of Shiites’ contribution for the establishment of
a righteous society was not useful to us. Still one of our main
objectives was to overthrow the monarchic government but
nobody in our group really knew what an Islamic government
16
should look like. We had a model of it as the Prophet

Mohammad’s reign for ten years in Medina around one thousand
and four hundred years earlier. As a prophet he was obviously not
elected but nominated by God.
After his death the majority of Muslims in Medina selected one
of the early converts and the close companion of Muhammad as
their ruler. He was then called successor of the messenger of God
or just successor, Caliph. The first four successors are referred to
as the Righteous Caliphs among Sunni Muslims. Shortly after the
fifth Caliph abdicated his responsibilities, the political
establishment of Islam plunged into a mixture of tribalism,
nepotism, religious manipulation of masses and tyranny. But the
important point is that the election or nomination of each of the
first five Caliphs was different from the others. This clearly
indicates that Islam didn’t even introduce a solid or preferred
mechanism for electing a leader. Generally, the early Islamic
political system was proved to be neither successful nor useful for
our burgeoning group.
Due to high expectation from the Quran in regard to important
social issues and lack of clear guideline, there were so many
different tendencies within the group degenerating into frictions
and countless hours of useless discussions. One thing was certain
though, the leader of our group assumed an authority similar to
that of the Prophet Muhammad and was supposed to reign
unchallenged and faithfully obeyed until his death. Later when we
encountered a similar group with almost identical thinking and
objectives to our own, he endeavoured to isolate us from them,
perceiving a challenge to his leadership. He even secretly
commandeered a few of their members and appointed them to act
as undercover agents inside the rival group. His reason was that
he was the first to rediscover the truth of Islam and that the
17
member of the other group were not actually pure Muslims, thus,
leadership was fully and rightfully his.
I was sure that he was not entirely right and our group was not
as tolerant and broad-minded as we pretended to be. Nonetheless,
owing to my inexperience, I failed to notice that the person I
trusted most misused our trust and faith for his personal aim and
ambitions under the pretext of endeavour for the most sacred goal.
With this personal experience in addition to our limited
investigation, I could figure out that an Islamic political system,
if it really exists, is not only a totalitarian one but also does not
create a stable and balanced society although Muslim intellectuals
try very hard to introduce one and argue for its superiority.
The second example relates to the unity of Abrahamic
religions and their relation to other religions or ideologies. The
Quran divides all religions and ideologies in two camps. One
camp belongs to the people of the book and the rest are
collectively tagged as unbelievers or infidels. The people of the
book in the Quran mainly consist of followers of preceding
Abrahamic (Semitic) religions including Judaism and
Christianity. They are declared to be on the right path as their
divinely chosen prophets are sent to them with revealed books
containing the very message of the Quran. However, according to
the Quran, their dishonest and selfish religious leaders tried to
hide some part of their revealed scriptures from congregations or
wrongly interpret some part of them in order to divide followers
of Abrahamic religions for their own personal gains. They
specifically tried to prevent the recognition and acceptance of
Muhammad as a Prophet and hold back the rise of Islam in the
Arabian Peninsula. Thus, their followers facing this unholy
deception must be persuaded back to the right belief of either their
own books and their correct interpretation or Islam, the final
revelation of God to humanity.
18
O people of the Book! There has come to you our Messenger,

revealing to you much that you used to hide in the Book, and
passing over much (that is now unnecessary): There has come
to you from Allah a (new) light and a perspicuous Book. 1
Though this fact is clearly and categorically mentioned in the

Quran, all major orthodox Islamic sects believe that the Bible,
both the New and Old Testaments, are not the pristine original
revelations. The common belief is that their actual texts are
changed either deliberately by some deceitful religious leaders or
inadvertently due to the loss or damage of the original copies.
Therefore, they are no longer valid or trusted as the revealed
sacred books.
Believing the verdict of the Quran and along with the leader of
our group I really enjoyed reading the New Testament. It seemed
obvious to me, as an almost impartial even positively biased
reader, that the Bible was not all correct as some part of it, such
as the crucifixion of Jesus, was not compatible with the Quran. It
was also questionable how the Quran had accepted all four
Gospels as genuine revealed books from God to Jesus, but the
vague utopia Jesus portrayed was really pleasing. Overlooking
the controversial issues, Jesus’ passionate battle against the
Pharisees and Sadducees, particularly their narrow-mindedness,
was admirable. I secretly saw myself as one of his disciples in the
same battle against the Pharisees, Sadducees and the falsehood of
my time and place. I was disappointed to see him seemingly
overwhelmed by foreign power and his deceitful enemies.
The two examples illustrate the confusion and challenges the
members were facing. I thought we had a gem but we didn’t know
how to cut, polish and use it. Eventually, our undecided and
1
Quran 5:15
19
bewildered group broke up with bitter personal accusations

among the core leaders, causing the dispersal of the majority of
members, including myself. Some became inactive and some
were absorbed into other groups including, strangely, various
Shia parties. This happened during the establishment of the Shia
government in Iran headed by Khomeini in 1979.
Personally, I found it very hard to swallow the pill of defeat
and disappointment. I was prepared to do anything for my belief
during those years; I especially tried to make sure that my faith
was based on real facts by allocating countless hours to religious
research and contemplating in lieu of academic studies. It was not
easy to see three years of my active life and my hopes for a better
future end in failure. Eventually, I admitted defeat, surrendered to
the reality and quietly decided to conduct a meticulous and
detailed critical review of my historical knowledge and religious
faith before engaging in any serious social or political activities.
As a novice and then lone searcher I was really struggling with
all the confusing information. But I hoped that by further study I
would eventually appreciate the real message of Islam by deeper
understanding of the Quran and other scriptures.
About two years after the Iranian revolution, conditions,
nevertheless, were not favourable to openly conduct a thorough
investigation without fear of chastisement. Even before the
revolution my father was very worried and confused when he saw
me reading the Quran, the Bible and some Marxist literature. He
expressed his concern after a while. I assured him that I hadn’t
converted to Judaism or Christianity and I didn’t intend doing so
but was curious about what the Bible said. By then I also knew
the hollow base of Marxism and convinced him of my opposition
to that exceedingly popular social philosophy among intellectuals
around the world. Convincing my father was easy but the Shia
authority had surely no time and place for a non-conformist.
20
Possessing a banned book could carry a ruthless punishment or

even could bring fatal consequences.
By then it was apparent to me that the majority of religious
people, myself included; do not hold to their faith with conviction
and confidence after due investigation and unbiased reasoning.
People generally inherit their religions as they inherit material
wealth or the colour of their skins from previous generations.
They usually haven’t enough time or motivation to scrutinize
their worldview and faith. In my case, I noticed that although I
had shed the skin of Shia and sectarianism, I still wasn’t shrewd
and critical enough of Islam and in general, religion. In fact, I
noticed that when I became a Muslim, leaving out any
denomination, I only changed my claims without proper critical
analysis of Islam. For example, I was aware of but simply ignored
the fact that the Quran accepts the New Testament as a revealed
book to the person of Jesus. I brushed it under the carpet of trust
and feeble mindedness and didn’t even bother to think about the
issue.
After the Iranian revolution, brutal and destructive fighting
broke out between almost all theists and atheists groups with
personal, tribal, regional, national or international objectives. It
blatantly revealed that, acting like thugs and fighting tooth and
claw, to get to the top of the power hierarchy, was the only reality
and objective of life for all those pretentious groups. Most of the
Muslim and Marxist groups and organisations under the umbrella
of revolutionary establishments adopted the policy of revenge and
total elimination towards the high-ranking officials of the
deposed monarchic regime. Then, organised mob attack,
imprisonment, torture, kangaroo court, summary execution and
murder were gradually accepted as standard practice in the fight
against anyone with any incompatible view to the leadership of
the revolution. The irony was that the despotic policy was carried
21
out under the promise of unsurpassed liberty and justice

supported under the banner of there is no compulsion in religion2
and several other eye-catching verses from the Quran. If Islam
initiated with the slogan there is no god but God the real slogan
of the Iranian revolution was down with anybody expressing a
different opinion.
Opposition groups made sure that they didn’t lag behind in the
recklessness and brutality stakes. For example, a majority of them
instigated or actively supported armed insurgency among ethnic
and regional groups to unsettle and divide the county. They hoped
to build a foothold for themselves in the would be broken-up
areas. Only a few groups and independent individuals felt
responsible enough to weigh up the consequences of their actions
beyond their own advantages. Among them was the moderate and
secular interim government headed by late Mehdi Bazargan. They
soon found themselves caught in the crossfire and swept aside by
the ferocious and destructive forces.
An infamous example of this reckless behaviour resulted in the
Iran hostage crisis. Members of Muslim student associations
(societies) of major universities in the Iranian capital, Tehran,
stormed the American embassy on 4th November 1979. They took
52 staff members hostage for a total of 444 days. The seizing of
the embassy was generally regarded as a preventive action and it
was widely believed that the students’ action was derived from
their genuine anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist beliefs. The
students ostensibly demanded the extradition of the late Shah of
Iran from the USA fearing a coup d’état similar to the one in 1953
and the subsequent return of the tyrant monarch. However,
several days after the hostage crisis, I overheard the true reason
in my university’s prayer room. One of the student leaders, whom
2
The Quran 2:256
22
I knew then by his first name3, and who was one of the
spokespersons in the occupied embassy, confessed to two other
Muslim students that the real reason was their bitter failure to
regain their long-held majority and subsequently leadership and
control in almost all universities.
The fact was that Islamic Association of Students were
gradually losing their credibility and authority among students in
all universities to the credit of various anti-establishment and anti-
imperialist groups including all varieties of Marxists
organisations. Universities then became the haven for all
dissenting and extreme left leaning groups. Hard-liner clergy
leaders and their followers in campuses could not tolerate this
situation. They decided to close universities under the banner of
“Cultural Revolution”.
The then reckless student leader was giving away the reason
for their secret plan. He argued that they had to find a legitimate,
triumphant and revolutionary way out of the universities before
they were pushed. In the meantime, he continued, they had to do
something to show their rival groups their own true characteristic
and potential in the major struggle against the USA - the symbol
of global imperialism. They wanted to show that they, like their
rival revolutionary groups, were not happy with the lenient
domestic and international policies of the then liberal provisional
government of Iran. So, out of desperation, they invaded the
embassy to fulfil all their objectives in one startling move.4
3
Mohsen Mirdamadi
4
Kamal Tabrizi disclosed the original plan of the students in an interview on
18 August 2019. He was the trusted student photographer for the operation. He
claimed that the students only planned to enter the compound of the American
Embassy to force the Marines shoot at them. They even did not want to occupy
it for a very short while as the student leader Asgharzadeh has claimed; "Our
aim was to object against the American government by going to their embassy
and occupying it for several hours". There was thus no plan for taking any
hostage. Based on their experience from a previous attempt they knew that the
government would not tolerate that kind of behaviour and would expel them
from the compound. Tabrizi claimed that “their expectation was that a few of
them would get shot by the Marines and then they would get out of the embassy
23
The students and their minders steered the whole country in

the most hazardous direction. Nonetheless, their short-sighted
plot turned out to be glaringly effective since soon all groups
jumped on the new bandwagon of anti-imperialist struggle,
including almost all their rival student groups, political parties,
intellectuals and clergies. The liberal interim government
resigned. All student groups moved their business to the
perimeter of the embassy for better publicity and the almost
empty universities were soon quietly closed as a precursor to the
policy of social suppression and mass persecution. The promises
of the Islamic utopia on earth were lost among the hollow slogans,
egotism and political survival. That tragedy has since blighted the
country with various catastrophes, beginning with semi-proxy
invasion of Iran by Iraq.
This anarchy, added to my bitter disappointment over the
scandalous break-up of our group, wiped out my utopian dreams
completely. The irony of it was that almost all groups participated
in prosecution and obliteration of the administrators of the old
regime for the very same conduct they themselves immediately
sanctioned after the rapid victory of the revolution and
changeover of the government. They never kept the dismal human
rights principles of the previous regime. In fact, there was no
principle but the rule of the jungle.
It gradually became dangerous to read or keep any literature
not accepted by the Shia establishment. People started dumping
their books in the gutters in the darkness of the nights and shut
their mouths during the day. I accordingly decided not to be
involved in any theological discourse with anybody. What was
the point anyway? What did it matter if God existed or not as long
with lifeless bodies of their friends as evidence of Americans’ ongoing

crimes.” That superficial scenario would give them their needed revolutionary
credentials in the eyes of the nation and especially fellow students.
https://www.asriran.com/fa/news/684885/
24
as people were actually trained to torture or eliminate each other

supposedly with or without God’s sanction? What was the point
of talking about honesty and respect, proving that Shia is not a
true face of Islam, or Marxism is not a verified science?
I had but minimal contact with some peaceful organisations in
order to be in touch with current social events. It was obvious to
keep away from the filth of violent power struggle, which became
prominent after the fall of the Monarchy and the unleashing of
self-styled freedom fighter groups. But a distressed society
doesn’t leave its people in peace, especially the young generation
that could fight in its battles against its enemies. It needs and
hoards any suitable person to fulfil the ambitions of the so-called
wise, kind and righteous leaders. Thus, kept away from internal
struggle, I was called up as a conscript officer to fight foreign
enemies of Islam, which happened to be the army of another
Muslim country under the command of yet another dictator,
Saddam Hussein. Iraq had apparently been egged on to invade
Iran to prevent the new regime from exporting its revolution and
religious ideas to neighbouring countries ruled by despotic
authorities.
The two years of my compulsory national service constituted
the saddest period of my life as I found myself trapped in the
mother of all violence. I had to fight in a war between two ruthless
regimes, attacking and possibly killing helpless people like
myself for the architects of the war. In those atrocious hours and
days, I could not believe what was happening to me. My only
consolation was that I was defending my country and people
against an invading army.
The Iraqi army was practically pushed back behind its
international border by the time my two-year service was almost
at its end. By then Iraq wanted a retiring peace settlement but
Iranian leadership, thrilled by its military success, was
25
contemplating bringing Iraq and possibly other surrounding

Muslim countries under its revolutionary grip. Therefore, they
refused a ceasefire and insisted on fighting on until the demise of
all so-called devilish and oppressing regimes. The decision
makers could not see the piling on tragedy. Instead, there was a
great deal of pressure to expand the armies and bring more and
more young fighters to fuel the seemingly endless war. Shiite
Clergy, who are supposed to be a paradigm of caring, have a
simile for common people, laities are like livestock, meaning that
common people are ignorant. They showed to also believe it
literally.
The war lasted for a further six years without any major shift
in the long battle-line or battle cries. The Iranian leaders were
content to sell their oil to keep the war going until concerned
regional and international powers openly sided with Iraq which
was given the green light for unrestricted and overt use of
chemical weapons inside its own borders. By the end of the war
around one and a half million were killed or seriously wounded.
Being already disillusioned by the revolution and its deranged
forces, I wanted to get away from the country as I knew in
authoritarian societies only a semi-servitude existence is allowed
despite the pretence and bragging of high moral standards, social
justice and civility and façade of democratic institutions. The
reality in those societies is that, to stop others fooling and abusing
you, you must have power, and to attain power you have to fool
and abuse others.
Examination of My Early-Life Conviction
Years after my retreat from Iran I found an opportunity to free

myself from work and concentrate on my long-scheduled plan;
reflecting on life and especially the concept of religion, God and
26
any relevant scientific subject that might shed light on the issue
of existence and its possible goals. In simple words, the intention
was to find my religion or belief based on an adequately thorough
search in contrast to accepting it as a left over from earlier
generation. Moreover, the thought of being devoted to yet another
set of myths kept haunting me and I wanted to end this uncertainty
to the best of my ability.
By carrying out this search, I additionally hoped to find some
simple and reliable enough facts for passing them on as parent. It
is an obvious fact that almost all children are fed with various
historical fabrications, first by their loving parents and then by the
wider society. The association of parental love and
misinformation provides the latter a high credibility in the mind
of every child that cannot be erased easily and can stay credible
for the whole life, perpetuating the cycle of myth and misleading.
This process which initially affects children’s outlook makes the
society unreservedly prepared for a life based on inherent
ignorance and exploitation.
Children, such as I was, are still born into towns and villages
of divergent religions and bred according to the local traditions
and rituals. They are groomed to pray, fast, attend services,
revolve their lives around and even die for various beliefs despite
the fact that they are oblivious of their truth or origins. They are
persistently reminded that their particular way of life and system
of belief is the perfect one while the rest of humankind is in an
abyss of darkness. More often than not, people, from all walks of
life, are persuaded to grasp to their beliefs by exaggerating and
sometimes fabricating transgressions of other groups and
individuals. Wars, usually proxy ones, are still fought in the name
of religion or ideology for which those young and innocent people
are sent to battlefields to kill and die before they have had the
chance to open their eyes to the real world. I trust this
27
investigation can be a small step in the right direction and be

useful to those who wants to review their inherited early life
convictions.
Another key objective was to ask: does God, assuming that He
exists, have any plan for human beings? If so, what is that plan
and what is the message that God wants to convey to his
creatures? During recorded history of mankind there have been
numerous individuals claiming to be sent by God bringing his
plan and message to His people. While usually each new prophet
accepted all prophets before him, at least outwardly, the followers
of the existing creeds generally didn’t and don’t acknowledge the
credibility of the new religion and its founder. Therefore, we
should not only investigate those supposed revealed religions
individually, but also try to find out the actual connection between
them.
There would then be numerous other possibilities. For
example, if two or more true religions were found to be from the
same God, as it is sometimes claimed, then what are their core
similarities and differences and why? More essential still, how
could their followers be persuaded to be united together and
endeavour for a better and peaceful world? How should they be
convinced that they should see only the core and objectives of
their common religions and forget the superficial and irrelevant
exterior that might have been modified in the course of the history
of each faith?
On the other hand, if no religion was found to be true then what
is the truth? Why is a false religion, a lie, so attractive to countless
millions of people? Is there a God or are we just a product of a
mindless and chaotic universe? Such subsequent thoughts can be
partially ignored until the first investigation is completed.
The result of the first phase of the search is summarised in this
volume. I have principally tried to share some of my studies in
28
religion to show a number of pitfalls in our path to truth. It is

obvious that humanity in its effort to appreciate the reality of the
world needs to recognize some of the hidden drawbacks in order
to liberate itself from all the notions of false claims and their
consequences. Then hopefully it will be able to go forward with
a better understanding of the universe and its possible objectives.
The next phase would not be possible if it were still in the
darkness and under the shadow of some false traditions and
baseless beliefs.
The common approach in investigating the truth of a divinely
inspired religion is to scrutinize individual features of the belief.
This may be the most convenient way to reject or accept a religion
or any social system even if the criterion is subjectively set. For
example, one might have a great concern about punitive laws in
Judaism such as stoning an adulterer and adulteress to death 5 and
thus Judaism may be rejected simply on the basis of one’s
disagreement with this religious edict. On the other hand, one may
greatly appreciate the idea of an afterlife proclaimed in some
religions as a reassurance of final justice for humanity, seemingly
reasonable and comforting to the majority of people.
This approach evidently is selective and subjective and it may
not convince everyone. Also, an insufficient understanding of the
faith under investigation is gained by this method. Many people
frequently change their position due to this superficial
acquaintance with their religion. But the bigger problem with this
approach is its bias for approval and admiration by the promoters
and devotees, and rejection by its detractors. Generally, every
complex social and intellectual system can easily be both praised
and criticised or rejected using this method.
Where a religion or any other social theories or systems with
long histories are concerned it would be easy to find in them many
5
For this rule in Islam see Chapter 4
29
shortfalls. Those shortfalls are frequently identified not only

within the religion or the social system itself but also with
transgressions or misinterpretations of its followers. Secular
democracy, for example, is highly valued by almost all free-
thinking people around the world in recent times as it is found to
be the fairest social system yet to be experienced by all societies.
It can, nevertheless, be refuted logically as done by Plato.
Other bases of criticism range from highlighting a few
historical facts - for example Hitler’s being elected in a
democratic system - to attack by competing political systems.
Critics range from egalitarian socialists, the followers of
Marxism, which declares democracy as an illusion, lobby groups
and some dictators not happy to let go of their privileges. The
latter individuals have a common trend of ridiculing democracy
for not being efficient, stable or quick in dealing with important
matters and not being compatible with the culture of the nation
under its rule leading eventually, in their opinions, to moral
decay. But no historical, social, logical or practical reason has yet
shaken the trust of the majority of enlightened people in the
fairness of the core idea of this political system. This is despite
the fact that nearly all organisations of a democratic society such
as armed forces, security services and educational, legal,
commercial, financial and health systems do not run
democratically. They are mainly run based on meritocracy and
corporation with a touch of lobbying, nepotism, cronyism and a
mixture of other systems including dictatorship.
To enrich our understanding of religion we thus need to go one
step beyond selective criticism. Maybe the best approach is to
start investigating the divine connection of religion. As we cannot
directly examine the involvement of God in individual religions,
we may start investigating it in more depth by asking, say:
30
 Does the religion depend on trustworthy sources and an

unyielding logical structure?
 Does it generally comply with its own claims, especially its
link with an omniscient being?
 More specifically, is it in agreement with our undisputable
scientific knowledge and historical facts?
Also, the character and action of individual prophets during his

alleged mission should be put under unsympathetic scrutiny,
provided that a reliable account was available. But after the initial
investigation we should also not forget to scrutinise the history
and effect of a religion, looking especially for its promises and
achievements. Has it established fair and fool proof legal,
economic and political systems? Has it really a genuine and long-
lasting solution for human problems. Have the faithful
community brought justice, harmony and peace among
themselves following its establishment?
Naturally, if a true religion could be found without any
undeniable error in its divine book and the structure of its original
creed with positive effect in societies under its control then it
could be used as a proof of God too, killing two birds with one
stone.
It should be immediately added here that a common mistake in
investigating the existence of God and truthfulness of a
purportedly revealed religion is to combine these two issues
without proper consideration. Simply put, we shouldn’t mix up
the nature of our universe with the claim of an alleged prophet.
The mistake is attributable to the fact that the truthfulness of a
revealed religion and its prophet depends on the existence of God.
But one should note the obvious fact that the reverse of this
argument is not true. If even it is proved that there has not been
any true prophet then it evidently means that they have all lied
31
and the forgery, even one as big as this, doesn’t prove or refute
God. In other words, there are still two possibilities.
 There is no God to send a prophet.

 There is a God who has not sent a prophet.
Conversely, even proving the existence of God by any other

means does not necessarily prove the truth of every single faith.
It does not provide any insight into the reality and survival of a
false religion, its real connection with other religions and the
actual basis of its belief. Then again, if one contests the existence
of God, religious people would always challenge the proof.
Consequently, the true character of various religions and their
messages would be overlooked in this seemingly perpetual
contention.
Thus, in this study a separation between these two issues is
duly applied. The examination, then, is only focused into the
truthfulness of revealed religions, not the existence of God, which
will be considered in a separate study. Accordingly, God and His
characteristics are readily accepted according to the specific
outlook of the religion under investigation. Any criticism or
praise of the assumed God thus will be directed towards the
religion under scrutiny not towards the real God, if It exists.
As a point of departure, the minimum criteria assumed for God
was for Him to be a rational omniscient God, eloquent and
practical enough to relay His guideline, and any other messages,
to humanity in simple and clear language.
In this enquiry, I have tried to mainly focus on the foundation
of each religion rather than plough into their countless sects and
their literature. The prophets are also not judged on the conduct
of their maverick followers. There is a wide spectrum of followers
in every religion as there are numerous highly praised
32
achievements or damaging scandals in each movement which

cannot be directly related to the faith. These are beyond the scope
of a search for a true prophet. The focus here is primarily on the
conduct, claims and teaching of each prophet. Nonetheless, if a
later event in a religion were found to be very important in the
development of subsequent religions the occasion will be given
due examination.
I started with recent prophets, since we may have more reliable
information about them, and went back in time to examine Islam,
Christianity and Judaism, respectively. Of course, the recent
prophets are not household names but the reason for including
them and analysing their backgrounds becomes clearer as the
reader progresses towards the conclusion. Thus, the objective of
the book is better appreciated if read chronologically.
It is assumed that the reader is at least familiar with the basic
teachings of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. I have neither tried
to introduce any of these religions or their prophets to the reader
nor addressed all the controversial issues of each religion. I also
have tried not to beat around the bush or be diplomatic about the
truth. Instead, each religion or prophet is put under harsh scrutiny
from the start in order to find any inherent major fault. Thus, if
some analysis or statements are bold and straight to the point and
might upset some readers, I do apologise for the offence the text
might cause.
It goes without saying that there are some praiseworthy
elements in some of the religions that are considered in this
inquiry. I would like to emphasise that it has not been my
intention to deny or reject those positive points or positive effects
of a particular religion. Nonetheless, the idea of the enquiry and
the book was not to list the positive and negative aspects of those
faiths; instead, to examine their possible shortfalls as a litmus test
33
against their claims of a link to a divine origin or being a complete

divine solution for mankind’s problems.
34
Chapter 2
Probing for a Prophet
... I call upon the professing Christians, I call upon the

philanthropist, I call upon the very tyrant himself, to show
me a page of history, either sacred or profane, on which a
verse can be found, which maintains that the Egyptians
heaped the insupportable insult upon the children of Israel,
by telling them that they were not of the human family.
Can the Whites deny this charge? Have they not, after
having reduced us to the deplorable condition of slaves
under their feet, held us up as descending originally from
the tribes of Monkeys or Orang-utans? O! My God! I
appeal to every man of feeling - is not this insupportable?
Is it not heaping the grossest insult upon our miseries,
because they have got us under their feet and we cannot
help ourselves? Oh! Pity us we pray thee, Lord Jesus,
Master.
David Walker, 1829
While I was looking into the history of Atlantic slavery, a few

questions came to my mind, which I believe are very relevant to the
sincerity and authenticity of the conventional religious worldview. The
questions may be put forward as: “Why did not God send a prophet to
the African slaves in the Americas to save them from their misery?” and
“Why did not God show his wrath to the perpetrators of that heinous
global trade?” In other words, if, according to the Bible and the Quran,
35
it was justified to send Moses and Aaron to emancipate the Israelite

nation from slavery in Egypt, it was then compelling to have a Moses
figure in the Atlantic slavery scandal too. If rebuilding the Jewish
community and their temple after the Babylonian exile was so
important to justify sending another two prophets, Zechariah and
Haggai, at the same time, then the situation of freed slaves in their
captive continent begged a messenger from God too. However, we
apparently do not know of any divinely guided person sent by God to
liberate African slaves, supported by dazzling miracles and a forceful
divine promise to rebuild their life.
Alternatively, if the harsh and inhumane situation in the Americas
was not suitable for the activities of a prophet in that continent, why
God did not send His representative to a suitable country in Africa to
warn greedy and callous African kings and merchants? He could make
the lives of perpetrators unbearable as He made the life of Pharaoh of
Egypt pitiful long time ago. He could do a lot to impede that devilish
and brutal trade at its source. Even if He could not do much, at least He
could make His wish known to the frightened and helpless people
across the continent. What was the justification for abandoning the
Black slaves altogether?
The slavery system in Africa was initiated long before Western
colonialism. Captives of various wars and convicted criminals were the
main source of enslavement. It was developed further by both Arab
Muslims and native African traders. For example, traders kidnaped
people with the help of some African rulers as it happened during the
Atlantic slave trade. They even managed to export their slaves to distant
places in Africa and Asia, though the practice was still on a small scale.
However, the inhumane business was so well established that in some
parts of Asia and Africa having slaves was a sign of nobility. They
measured status with the number of slaves under one’s bondage. Also,
the populations of slaves in some countries were high enough for
instigating serious slave revolt or even planning successful power
seizure.
Slavery was also not a new phenomenon in a large part of the
American continent. For example, slaves constituted about 10% of the
36
population in old Mexico19 before the involvement of Europeans in the

trade. The system, however, was not on the basis of race or permanent
bondage. The Aztec religion demanded from its followers daily human
sacrifices. To feed the gruesome habit Aztec Indians were making wars
to capture live humans for various ceremonies. Some of the captured
who had valuable skills were accepted as slaves. Other sources of slaves
were those who were sold by their parents, volunteers and certain
criminals, such as thieves. In this context, the Atlantic slave trade
erupted and officially lasted for about four and a half centuries. No
doubt it continued illegally after the official abolition of slave trade and
slavery by the main international players.
The Portuguese initiated the new phase of the trade around 1440 and
history shows us that slaves’ wretchedness did not vanish by 1888, the
year in which slavery was abolished in Brazil preceded by Cuba and the
USA in 1886 and 1865, respectively. It left a large part of Africa in
social and economic ruin and created an illiterate Black nation in the
Americas, segregated and without any root and material belongings in
the deep ocean of the Whites’ contempt and hatred. To make sure that
the situation stayed that way their fellow humans created organisations
such as the Ku Klux Klan, maintaining life as a real hell fire for previous
Black slaves. Among various terrorising acts, they practised lynching,
sometimes after Sunday services, where mobs would excitedly look for
a coon barbeque.
Also, thanks to the collaboration of some scientists, their best
specimen, a pygmy named Ota Benga, was kept in a monkey cage as an
example of an evolutionary inferior race. He was on display in a fair
and then, for a while, in an American zoo. He ended his own life
believing that he would never be able to return to his beloved village as
he knew it. There was no family left to return to.
In total the slave ships carried around 12 million Africans36, more
than twice the combined population of England and Wales at the
beginning of the eighteenth century8, in vile conditions so that around
1.5 million of these carefully chosen healthy slaves could not survive
the torturous crossing? Only heaven knows how many were killed or
physically and mentally scarred in the process of slave catching and
37
transportation to the slave ships. To give a documented example, Ota

Benga, who was captured as a slave, was the only surviving member of
his family from his massacred village about the beginning of the
twentieth century, well after the official abolition of the trade6.
Those poor and powerless Africans must have had a devastating life,
constantly in fear that their villages might be raided at any time. They
knew well that after the brutal killing of some, the looting and
destruction of the villages, the young and useful survivors would be
abducted. Life after abduction was too vile to wish for.
Those religious people who think God cures them of their illnesses,
solves their personal problems and responds to their prayers, should feel
very privileged, since the same God did not raise a finger to help
millions of slaves and the whole continent of Africa, yet, He is supposed
to be the personal healer and helper. How selfish can one be to ignore
the then miserable life of so many powerless and dishonoured Black
people in Africa and the Americas for so many years and think only of
his or her life in the world? That is why I think this is the question which
needs a satisfactory answer before anybody can claim a personal serving
and caring God.
One might ask the same question in the case of the Spanish conquest
in South America, the Spanish Inquisition, Indian slavery, the caste
system and the gruesome custom of Suttee, the supposedly voluntary
self-cremating or suicide of widows in Hinduism, and so many other
cases. The latter case, which was eventually banned by the British in
1829, was the tip of an iceberg concerning the systematic cruelty and
contempt towards women as the inferior gender in all societies. The
scale of misery in each case above is comparable to Atlantic slavery.
For example, there were more than eight million slaves in India in the
first half of the twentieth century.
6
It seems British involvement in the abolishment of slavery was not merely
based on humanitarian ground. The empire was able to rely on vast unskilled
and poor Indian and Chinese indentured labourers, coolies, to replace African
slaves. They were recruited with misleading promises or even kidnapped not
knowing that they would be send away to other parts of Empire to work on
vast sugar plantations with the same rights as African slaves under the same
overseers and urged to work by the same drivers with the same whips.
38
Another eye-catching example is the condition of segregated Jews

in medieval European ghettos stretching well towards the end of
nineteenth century. The Jewish people, who apparently used to have so
many prophets as the helping hands of God in the past, and still were
expecting the final Messianic redemption, found themselves abandoned
and trampled mercilessly from all sides. It culminated in the Inquisition
over almost all Europe and then the holocaust in which around six
million Jews were ruthlessly and systematically killed simply because
of their supposed inferior but vicious race. Ironically, the surviving
generation carrying the banner of never again adopted the same
medieval policy towards Palestinians in the new state of Israel under
the façade of democracy and progress.
The list of dreadful and destructive events in all societies is so long
that one should not be blamed for perceiving human history as one
continuous catastrophe. However, I take the Atlantic slavery situation
as one of the prominent examples and will try to find an answer to my
question.
Perhaps God had sent a prophet to the Black slaves or used the
existing religious establishments to enforce his power, will and even
anger. All in all, the necessity for a divine figure in this case was so
great in comparison to other situations documented in the Bible and the
Quran that it would not be a time-wasting idea to search for a saviour
during the transatlantic slave trade. If it is proved that there was no trace
of a messenger of God or an organised mobilisation of existing religious
establishment against that lasting crime, then, the least that could be
concluded was that God has unfortunately left humanity on its own in
recent history, even if He was eagerly involved in human life in the past.
There are a few reports of involvement of some divinely guided
people in the early part of Atlantic slavery trade. They, nevertheless, did
not favour Black African slaves. Rather, the inspired seers strongly
condemned the slaves. For example, one Dominican friar in South
America claimed that an angel of God had informed him that Black
people were captive because of a justifiable reason. That they were
stubborn and warmongers and must not be allowed to live by their own
will. Also, God punished them with black skin since their forefathers
39
had sinned. To put the seal of approval from his Bible he also mentioned
that Blacks were the descendants of Issachar and thus deserved to be
slaves5.
In actual fact, there was no need for this new revelation and reminder
from God. This idea was in vogue among religious establishments and
generally common among European and White American societies
before and throughout the Atlantic slave trade, narrated in several
versions30. The original story is told in the book of Genesis. Ham, the
youngest son of Noah, saw his father’s naked body in a wine-induced
sleep. Noah somehow found out and cursed Ham’s son, Canaan, and
made him slave to his brothers. The interpretation of the story somehow
concluded that the Black inhabitants of Africa are Hamites whom God,
through Noah, has cursed. They are thus deservedly condemned to
slavery by a divine command.
This divine approval from the Bible also solved the problem of
slavery in Christian societies. Owing to the general religious
authorization, slavery was thus considered a normal trade in European
countries involved in the commerce. The main exception was the
gradual objection by then a newly formed Christian sect, the Society of
Friends or Quakers. Under the influence of the Brethren group they
showed their dislike of the immoral practice only about three and a half
centuries after the creation of the new global trade33. Taking the
accepted line, all religious groups in the Americas supported the global
phase of slavery. In fact, various religious societies and religious leaders
in that continent, including some early leaders of the Society of Friends,
owned slaves. They traded and treated them as other owners did with
no worries or guilty conscience.
What about other prominent social groups? Kings and Queens of
Europe benefited handsomely from the trade by securing a high
percentage of the profits for themselves. Therefore, they gave their seals
of approval and helped in the general acceptance and organization of
the human traffic. The blessing of the Church and State made this “out
of sight-out of mind” trade more acceptable among noblemen and
common people in several European countries involved in the trade.
Even a philanthropist such as Thomas Guy, the generous donor to St.
40
Thomas Hospital and founder of Guy's Hospital in London, did not feel
guilty for participating in the exciting new business by possessing and
trading shares in the companies involved in the slave shipment.
On the whole, the acceptance of the business was so overwhelming
that we should not be amazed for the involvement of people such as the
Marquis of Alava, the Catholic slave trader, in the human trafficking,
but should be disturbed by the involvement of people like John Locke7,
a founder of political liberalism.
The key point is that acceptance of the trade extended even to
compassionate and considerate people, religious or secular. With this
wide acceptance the fate of African slaves was totally sealed. A
historian, at the end of the sixteenth century, showed his exasperation
on the wholeheartedly accepted trade and the supporting voices by
asking in utter frustration the question, why does nobody talk or act on
behalf of African slaves?19
Although, few individuals, within various professions, expressed
their concerns among the applauses and lucrative commercial activities,
their isolated views were either ignored in the excitement or fell on deaf
ears. Among those who opposed the devilish trade were a few Popes
and Bishops but none claimed authority from God to abolish slavery in
its new global form. In fact, almost all of them approved the institution
of slavery by the divine authority of the Bible:
44
" 'Your male and female slaves are to come from the
nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45You
may also buy some of the temporary residents living
among you and members of their clans born in your
46
country, and they will become your property. You can
will them to your children as inherited property and can
make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your
fellow Israelites ruthlessly. (Leviticus 25)
7
Locke bought shares in the Royal African Company when it was the
main player in the slave trade in England. He also bought shares in the
Bahama Adventurers which was involved in slave trading in the
Bahama Islands.
41
Therefore, religious authority raised their concerns, primarily with

some technical aspects of the ruthless trade. For example, Pope Pius II
did not approve of a baptised African being taken into slavery.
The most Christian organizations could do, may be epitomized in the
success of Jesuit, Fray Peter Claver, at the beginning of the seventeenth
century, seeking to save millions of perishing souls. He was dubbed the
Saint of the Black slaves since he tried his best to look after the sick and
frightened slaves and reassure them on their arrival to the New World
that they would be safe and wouldn’t be eaten by Whites. He also
baptised babies and moribund slaves into Christianity with the
knowledge that the slaves didn’t know what was going on and that the
slave owners didn’t like their slaves to know anything to do with
Christianity and the Bible. However, slave owners were delighted to see
somebody cheering up their slaves in the docks, since a sick, wounded
and upset slave could not be sold handsomely. Their service was much
more productive in comparison to the numerous seasoning camps which
were put up all over the Caribbean. These camps were created for
breaking slaves to total obedience. Millions didn’t survive the torture
and it was thus a less profitable method in comparison to Claver’s
approach.
One should wholly appreciate the comforting efforts of those men of
God but their compassionate service distorted the caring teaching of
Jesus and was accepted only because it was beneficial to the slave
traders.
Generally, the Church forgot both Israelite slavery stories and the
six-year time limit for keeping a slave decreed in the Old Testament,
(Exodus 21:2-3 sets the limit for men slaves and Deuteronomy 15:12-
18 sets the limit for both men and women slaves). While not siding with
the slaves, it also preached to them to obey their owner with the sanction
that if you disobey your earthly master you offend your heavenly
Master.8 Maybe they eagerly got involved in the debate by reading
selectively from their Bible:
8
Concluding remark of Rev. Pike's sermon to slaves. Incidents in the Life of a
Slave Girl, written by herself, Harriet A. Jacobs, 1861.
42
22
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do
it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favour,
but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.
23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as
working for the Lord, not for men, 24since you know that
you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.
It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25Anyone who does
wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no
favouritism.9
Ephesians 6:5-8 and Peter 2:18 have the same message for devout
Christians. In fact, the latter verse justifies brutality as it was well
known that the business of slavery necessitates violence and
callousness.
"Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your

masters, not only to those who are good and considerate,
but also to those who are harsh."10
The concern of the Church then was not the wickedness of slavery,
it was superficially proselytising slaves, somehow claiming them for the
Church, and in reality, oiling the squeaking wheel of the Atlantic slave
trade. It was not able to see this human tragedy through its divine
blindfold. It was blind to slaves’ abduction from their homeland, the
chains on their hands and feet, suffering on their faces, seasoning camps
and their degraded and bleak future. It was also deaf to their cries of
helplessness. The Church’s concern was to wash part of slaves’ bodies
while uttering some mumbo jumbo and the rest was not their worry,
leaving it to slave traders and owners with their vast plantations and
punishing regimes.
Evangelical activities finally persuaded the slave owners to convert
their so assumed pagan slaves to Christianity. Still, traders and owners
treated slaves like untamed livestock. Some owners practised selective
9
Colossians 3
10
Peter 2:18, NIV
43
breeding in their breeding camps. Some promised a slave woman her

freedom if she could produce fifteen children for one owner. If they
were treated as subhuman what was the grounds for conversion or even
slaves having a faith? Nobody knows exactly how slave owners were
persuaded. Various causes can be proposed. One reason might be
stopping the slaves pursuing their own traditional rituals and chanting.
But selected Christian teachings, which would possibly calm down the
slaves and justify their situation, cannot be ruled out. Slaves were
required to get familiar with and believe in turn the other cheek
philosophy. Frederick Douglass observed this fact in the middle of the
nineteenth century:
I have met many religious coloured people, at the south,

who are under the delusion that God requires them to
submit to slavery, and to wear their chains with meekness
and humility.10
Black slaves were also reassured that Jesus Christ would eventually
return by descending from the clouds and create the just kingdom of
God on earth. Christianity, in this sense, was used as an effective tool
on African slaves to make them accept the reality of their divinely
sanctioned slavery, to settle down and get on working for their owners
and at the same time hope for a better future through a return of the
Messiah. Slaves were thus taught an appropriate version of Christianity
tailor made to justify their life.
On the other hand, the slaves’ harsh conditions pressed them hard to
accept Christianity as a means of communicating with God on a
personal basis to raise their hope and dampen their depression. Their
life situation prepared them to accept anything which would give them
a gleam of optimism. For example, slaves were so hopeless in this life
that they generally believed they would be able to join their loved ones
in their own country only in the next life.
Perhaps it was under the influence of the slavery version of
Christianity, using only selected sections of the Bible such as
Colossians 3 mentioned above, that Nat Turner (1800-1831) saw his
44
visions. He was a gifted and religious slave who was nominated as a

prophet, not by God, but by his parents and their friends from his
childhood.18 Being deeply religious and able to read, he was allowed
to preach the Bible and conduct Church services. Under the influence
of the Bible stories his dream was being a prophet as it was also wished
by his parents and slave congregation. His dreams eventually turned to
confusing visions.
At the age of 21 he ran away, but apparently saw a vision in which
the Spirit of God warned him to return to the service of his earthly
master. Besides interpreting natural phenomena like solar and lunar
eclipses, he frequently saw visions and interpreted them as a
progressing sign of his prophethood and mission. He was selective in
what he considered as a sign for his divine undertaking. For example,
he took a normal eclipse of the Sun as a signal for the beginning of his
uprising but when he became ill and had to abandon his plan, he didn’t
bother to explain the sign of his sickness to restless followers. His
eventual uprising resulted in killing 56 White people, mainly women
and children. His men, about 60 in total, were killed, executed or
escaped. He was captured, tried, hanged and skinned.28
After the abolition of the slave trade and total isolation of the slaves
from their roots, Africans were gradually stripped of their own beliefs
altogether. Later, when the life of the free Blacks in the South became
unbearable, due to insecurity and persecution from the authority, and
they were under immense pressure to enslave themselves, African or
black churches were used as a sanctuary, which accelerated the religious
transformation in effected areas. The segregated black/coloured
churches embraced a sort of Protestant Christianity in America, the
religion of their masters. When they were finally liberated, both owners
and slaves thanked God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost for the happy
occasion, in familiar Christian style, in separate while and coloured
churches35. The transformation was so successful that long after the
abolition, some Black Christians accepted slavery as a process
sanctioned in heaven to civilize and Christianise them.
In general, religious movements within or outside the Americas did
not initiate the gradual progress towards the abolition of the Atlantic
45
slave trade and slavery. The liberation process took off because of
various uprisings by African slaves in response to their appalling
conditions. The consequences of the American Revolution against the
rule of the British Empire, increase of Black population in the Americas
and their widespread discontent and other economic and social
reasons20 were other contributing factors.
To summarize, although some individuals or groups refuted the
Atlantic slave trade and its wicked and immoral consequences, no one
claimed that he was sent by God with divine support to liberate African
slaves. No divine figure offered/promised them a reasonably normal life
in the Americas or tried to return them to their own continent. No one
championed slaves’ freedom through a revelation from God with
miracles or heavenly punishments or rewards. Established religions also
did not bother to condemn the trade and practice, or lead the way to
abolish the slavery system in the Americas. It is true that a few new-
founded Christian sects as well as rationalist activists of the
Enlightenment whole-heartedly participated in the abolition process but
after the superficial liberation, African-American people were
abandoned to fend for themselves with no happy future in sight.
God is a Negro
In 1829 a Black preacher, Robert A. Young, published, An Ethiopian

Manifesto in which he prophesised that a mighty Black Messiah would
arise to free the slaves in the whole Americas15. That prophecy didn’t
materialise. However, long after the abolition of slavery and
reconstruction era, and at the developing stage of the civil rights
movement in America, around the turn of the twentieth century, myriad
prophets, Christ figures and even God himself appeared on the scene.
Being a messenger or God became so popular that by the middle of the
twentieth century there had been more than hundred and fifty self-styled
divine figures.7
It seems that Young’s prophecy, under the influence of the Bible,
was not the solitary sign of hope in that darkness. Turner’s blind and
46
brutal uprising was another evidence for the existence of a general

expectation of a helping hand from God, ranging from a mere prophet
to the return of Jesus. However, before the abolition of slavery no false
claim could go far due to harsh suppression of any organised liberation
movement. It should be pointed out that slaves were barred from any
education and thus they could not read the Bible themselves.
After the abolition and at the end of the jubilant period following
their hollow liberty, the Black people again faced the depressing reality
of their wretchedness. They subsequently summoned up the old hopes
and prophecies. The renewed atmosphere of desperation and
expectation thus created numerous prophets and messiahs.
These religious figures were too many and bare of any authority to
be considered a genuine saviour. Besides, their messages and guidelines
were either far from rational social ideas or not dissimilar to initiatives
of other African-American secular activists of the time. The only
difference between a divine figure and a Black activist was that the latter
didn’t ask for obligatory tithe and didn’t back his argument with God’s
seal of approval. Their lavish life styles and self-centred priorities with
no progress in the right direction were also proofs that they didn’t have
a sincere or genuine plan to rescue the African-American people from
their new miseries and pressing dilemmas. However, many devoted
followers surrounded each divine figure in the hope of a miraculous
salvation.
This phenomenon was only an indication of the desperate and dire
situation of semi-liberated but abandoned Blacks. It demonstrated the
Blacks’ disappointment in the holy Church and civilized institutions.
Like passengers of an airliner that has developed a dangerous fault,
some African-Americans were begging for help from above and
pleading for divine support. They did not care, like the plane passengers,
who called whom for help while they were so occupied with their own
fear and helplessness.
Thus, one should not think that those self-appointed divine figures
were all self-aggrandizing charlatans or their followers were total
lamebrains. In some later cases this was true but these new-age divine
agents ranged mainly from common people, disillusioned under the
47
influence of God’s promises in the Bible, to disappointed Black

preachers trying everything to elevate the life of the Black people and
stave off the towering superiority or ill feelings of the Whites. However,
since they were distracted by constant injustice and did not know how
to tackle their worsening problems, they could not offer any useful
solution.
One of the common features among these new divine figures was
that they tried to cling to every piece of written scriptures to prove that
the Black race had a superior creation background, essence and
personality. It started with the discovery that Moses, Jesus and other
biblical prophets were not White but either Asiatic or African. The
African-Americans put the idea in a few simple words, God is a Negro.
They also quickly discovered that they could use the Bible to their
benefit and therefore a new Bible probing phenomenon started. For
example, they read, with initially moderate interpretation, that the Bible
somehow dismisses White supremacy. They discovered that whiteness
of skin was a punishment of God for sinners not a sign of intelligence
and superiority.
27
Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your
descendants forever." Then Gehazi went from Elisha's
presence and he was leprous, as white as snow. 11
These new discoveries meant that the self-appointed Black prophets

could reinterpret the Bible passages and mix them with different
common religious ideas to prove their own individual points. It made
the Bible a powerful weapon in the hands of new prophets and their
followers; an effective weapon indeed, used by both contesting parties,
White and Black. The situation helped to create a fresh mixture of facts
and fables due to lack of historical knowledge. For example, if the
prophet claimed to be appointed by God to spread true Judaism among
the African-Americans, he was not reluctant to use the New Testament
to claim that Jesus was not only Black but also the promised Messiah.
Accordingly, white Jews were condemned and demonised for having
11
2 Kings 5
48
rejected and crucified Jesus. Though they didn’t make it clear who those
white Jews were in Palestine during the time of Jesus.
Another common feature of those prophets was that they did not
bring any sacred book of their own, and principally accepted the
authority of the Bible as one seamless book. They had their effective
weapon, why abandon it? What they did was to come up with an
exciting favourable interpretation. Their knowledge of the Bible and
their new interpretations were enough in the eyes of their followers to
qualify them securing a special relation with God. If God descended to
his people in the body of Black Jesus it would be normal, in their eyes,
to come down again, as it was promised, or send a prophet to guide
them. Of course, there were some passages of the Bible that didn't
support their agenda or they didn’t like or approve. But Black prophets
like White Christians filtered out those parts as they gradually found out
how to manipulate and employ it and not simply comply with it.
Bible was thus just regarded as a toy to play with and Bible
interpretation became an end in itself. Apart from the new interpretation
to fend off the Whites and ridicule them there was not a tangible new
long-term plan or effort to improve the life of the Black people. The
most they could offer was, for example, asking their followers to wear
uniform outfit. They saw the power in costume. It was easy to see that
Whites ruled with an army in clean and embellished uniforms. Thus,
having their own livery was a sign of not only protest and
distinctiveness but also power and status in the eyes of both Black
leaders and their followers.
Arrival of Muslims
It is estimated that more than 10% of the slaves shipped to Americas
were Muslims. Some were educated in local Islamic schools in their
home country and perhaps were literate in Arabic but like other slaves
they either were not permitted to practice their faith in the plantations
or forcibly converted to Christianity. It seems this forceful conversion
was relaxed to some extent in the USA after the independence.
49
There are reports of a few strong-minded slaves with good

knowledge of Islam who were able to leave notable track records in
plantations. It is highly possible that they believed their own religion
was as good or better than Christianity and were well informed about
the splendour of the Ottoman empire and the Muslims’ rule in Spain
and Portugal in the past. This information could had been a source of
exult and courage to all the victims and it seems those who were born
in plantations with little knowledge of their own roots could grasp these
facts and readily accept Islam as the religion of their ancestors, Moors
or otherwise.
If this reunion was extremely limited during the slavery it was
unrestricted during the Reconstruction era and the civil right movement.
But, like repairing a broken china there was a need for a suitable
bonding glue to reunite poor, uneducated and downtrodden race with its
assumed past religion and culture. There was a need for an appropriate
worldview and gradual plan not alien with the life of the lost
generations.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, Muslim immigrants from
various Islamic sects, with or without the help of the African-
Americans, tried to build their own temples or mosques for worship,
social identity and possible proselytization. Almost all of the Muslim
migrants were labourers with little or no education who went to America
with the hope of a better economic life. Nonetheless, among the new
arrivals a few had some formal Islamic education such as Satti Majid
and even missionaries.
One of these missionaries was Mufti Muhammad Sadiq a notable
scholar of the Ahmadiyya movement. The movement was established
by Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian - a village in the north-west of India
before its independence and division - during the latter part of the
nineteenth century. Ghulam Ahmad encouraged his companions and
followers to get enthusiastically involved in proselytization despite
being under pressure from orthodox Muslims in India.
To have an idea of the worldview and belief of these recent
influential immigrants to America an account of this movement, related
to our subject, is sketched.
50
Ghulam Ahmad, a Muslim mystic and scholar claimed to have

countless prophetic revelations and visions. Here is one example of his
visions while allegedly being in continuous fasting for months
subsisting on only a few grams of bread each day.
“Among the wonders of this kind of fasting that I

experienced, are those fine visions which were shown to
me during that period. Accordingly, I met some of the
prophets of the past and saints of high ranks who have
passed in this Umma (the Muslim nation). Once, while
fully awake, I saw the Holy Prophet Muhammad, on whom
be peace and the blessings of Allah, along with Hasan,
Husain, Ali, God be pleased with him, and Fatima12, God
be pleased with her. This was not a dream but a state of
wakefulness. In short, in this manner I met many sanctified
personages, an account of which would be lengthy.”13
He had visions of being God trying to build a new world.
I saw in one of my meditative visions that I was God

myself … . God entered and permeated me. … in that pure
state, I realized that a new system in a new world was
required. So I initially created the heaven and the Earth
with no order or structure. Then, by the will of God, I lay
a proper order and fitting arrangements. I realized that I
was able to create things. … Then I said “now We should
beget man from clay”. After a while the state of meditative
vision transformed into inspiration and I whispered, "My
omnipotent God has enlightened me with his
14
inspiration."
12
Fatima was the daughter of Prophet Muhammad. Ali was the husband of
Fatima, the third Caliph and first Shiite’s Imam. Hasan and Husain are their
sons who are also second and third Shiite’s Imams. These are esteemed
personalities among Shiites and Sufi Muslims.
13
Kitab al-Bariyya
14
Kitab al-Bariyya
51
In real life, however, Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be the promised

emergence of both:
1. Imam Mehdi15, the eschatological redeemer that has been
described in some Islamic literatures but not in the Quran,
2. The second coming of Jesus Christ as clearly articulated in
the Bible16.
Moreover, Ghulam Ahmad wanted to be recognised among Hindus
as an Avatar or Manifestation17. However, since there is no direct
reference to the Mehdi or the return of the Messiah in the Quran,
Ghulam Ahmad supported his claim using a mixture of supposed
statements of the prophet Muhammad, commentary on the Quran by
some Muslim scholars, the Bible, mystic literature and even Hindu
scriptures. For example, he could have used statements such as the
following two assertions from the prophet Muhammad, recorded in Ibn
Maja and Buakhari, two Sunni Hadith books in which the assumed
prophet Muhammad’s sayings and tradition is documented, to prove
that Ghulam Ahmad was a combined Mehdi and Messiah:
“Mehdi is none else but Jesus (son of Mary)”
“How will you be when the son of Mary descends amongst

you and he will judge people by the Law of the Quran and
not by the law of Gospel.”
15
The meaning of the Mehdi is the guided one. Among Sunni Muslims, he is
a messianic figure who will be born at the end of time and will establish an
upright Islamic government on the whole earth for a limited period before the
day of judgement. Twelver Shiite Muslims believe that he was born about 879
CE and he is considered to be their twelfth righteous leader who is still alive
but in hiding and will return in unspecified future.
16
These types of claims were not few and far between in Islamic societies. For
example, Prior to Ghulam Ahmad, similar claims were made by the Bab and
Bahaullah in Persia. Apparently, Ghulam Ahmad knew of their claims through
a Bahaii missionary, Jamal Effendi, and Bahaii books printed in Bombay by
the Naasiri Press a Bahaii printing and publishing company. Leaders of other
earlier Messianic groups such as Horufism and Nuqtavi also claimed to be both
Mehdi and Jesus.
17
In Hinduism, Vishnu, protector god of the universe, is believed to descend
to earth in different manifestation to save the world.
52
He also claimed, besides other unusual statements, that Jesus did not
die on the cross but he was revived after his crucifixion and then
migrated to Kashmir where he died naturally at old age, that Arabic is
the mother of all languages3 being the language spoken by Adam and
Eve and their offspring.
These claims did not come with convincing proofs. Similarly, his
proofs for being the promised Messiah were so many in quantity but
void of sound logic. For example, he purported to be the son of Mary.
But the problem was that his mother’s name was not Mary. To solve
this dilemma, he tried to prove that God first made him Mary and then
Jesus:
God first named me Mary and then stated that I have

breathed the spirit of Truth in this Mary and named it Jesus.
Hence, in this state of possessing the qualities of Mary,
Jesus came into being and in the Word of God; I came to
be called the son of Mary. There is an indication of this in
the Quran also which to me is a prophecy, that is, the Quran
has given some people from amongst this Muslim nation a
similitude of Mary.18
Besides this sort of grand occurrences, he listed twenty-four reasons

for his authenticity as the promised Messiah and Mehdi, the redeemer
of Islam, in his book Tazkiratu-sh-Shahadatain. Five most logical
reasons are as follows:
1. It is prophesised that the Promised Messiah will appear

to the East of Damascus (capital of present Syria). Is
not Qadian to the East of Damascus?
2. Christianity disintegrates and the hold of the trinity
dwindles like melting snow.
3. My arrival is concurrent with the period of the victory
of the cross. (Compare with the second sign)
18
Haqeeqatul Wahi; Ruhani Khazain, Vol. xxii
53
4. According to the prophecies of the Quran and the

traditions, one of my signs is the invention of the
railways and consequently the redundancy of the camel.
5. The Promised Messiah will be born in the thirteenth
century (Islamic calendar) and will appear in the
fourteenth, just as Jesus appeared after the same period
of time from Moses.
Reason 5 should stop any male reader, residing to the east of

Damascus, mulling over the idea that he might be a promised Messiah
too; because unfortunately according to the Islamic calendar we are in
the fifteenth century. But if there is a will there is a way since Ghulam
Ahmad and his followers also believed that the door of inspiration is
always open and God will send prophets, reformers and messengers in
the future, if he wishes to do so.
“All other religions have finally closed the door of Divine

revelation. It is Islam alone which teaches its followers that
the door of Divine revelation can never be closed, and that
it is impossible that God who at one time used to hold
converse with men, has now ceased to guide His people
and discontinued speaking to them. This is an ideal which,
while it avoids being impracticable and impossible, offers
to every noble heart an unending course of progress.” 19
That is, though according to Muslims the Quran is the final message
from God for humanity, God will send further prophets to people to
assist them in the correct understanding of the Quran and the application
of its pure message in different times and places.
Therefore, he did not believe in Muhammad as the final messenger
of God as Muslims do.
The latter idea created more confusion about Ghulam Ahmad’s real
claim and identity. Sunni Muslims happily welcome the advent of
Mehdi or Messiah but emerging as a new prophet or messenger is
19
The Moslem Sunrise, Issue 1, 1923
54
intolerable in orthodox Islam. He made himself more unpopular by

tampering with a few Islamic commandments and by announcing his
visions, which sometimes could easily be confused with new revelations
or even blasphemy to some literalists or non-mystics. Consequently,
most Muslims leaders did not tolerate Ghulam Ahmad’s ideas and
excommunicated and even tried to prosecute his followers who were so
eager to prove themselves as disciples of the new Messiah and defenders
of true Islam.
The irony is that Mufti Muhammad Sadiq was quick to challenge
any such new claim by any other person anywhere in the world. But he
was happy to be called a prophet himself20. In the first issue of one of
their publications in the United States of America, Moslem Sunrise, we
read.
“Miss Wolff of Montmorency, France, whose prophecy
that Jesus Christ will be re-born in the present year has
suddenly aroused the greatest interest among religious
workers all over France, has been informed by me that the
Promised One has already appeared in India.”
Ghulam Ahmad died in 1908. A successor with the title of

“Successor of the Messiah” was appointed. He sent Dr Mufti
Muhammad Sadiq, one of Ghulam Ahmad’s companion, to America in
1920 for proselytization with the good news that the promised Messiah
has finally arrived and because of this second-coming there would be
reconciliation, world peace and universal justice. Soon Islam would
prevail over all other religions, as has been prophesised in the Quran.
What about the Bible? Along with all other Muslim scholars Ghulam
Ahmad and Sadiq were suspicious of the authenticity of the Bible, both
the Old and New Testaments.
“It is also worth considering that the Gospels, the so-called

Books of God, contain preposterous claims …
20
In 6th issue we read; “Prophet Sadiq brings Allah’s message into
Chicago and makes proselytes”
55
Another difficulty about these Gospels is that the

references they give of earlier books are mostly wrong;
they could not even give Jesus’ genealogy correctly. …
From the earliest times these Gospels have been open to
the charge that they have not been able to preserve the
purity of their texts, particularly when there were other
books too which were compiled as Gospels. There is no
earthly reason why all the statements of those books
should be rejected, and why all that is contained in the
Gospels, generally so-called, should be admitted as true”.4
They believed that since the Bible was not the trustworthy account
of the untainted revelation of our creator, He has sent the Quran as the
final book. It thus supersedes all previous unreliable books and is valid
until the end of the world. Forthcoming prophets are only needed for
correct interpretation.
Mufti Muhammad Sadiq was successful in his mission by converting
many Christians, Muslims and African-Americans into the Ahmadiyya
movement. Branches of Ahmadiyya Movement’s mosques were
founded in several cities including Chicago in 1922 in which he
established the first headquarter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
He, wholeheartedly, gave the African-Americans responsible roles in
the organisation, attracting Blacks’ attentions.
This new group brought a new facet and stratum to the spectrum of
Black struggles for a new identity and social justice. African-Americans
noticed that these Muslims were proud people contemptuous of
Christians and Christianity, the religion of Whites. They also claimed
the promised Messiah has returned among them. They considered the
Bible as a spurious book while they held the Quran, which they have no
idea what it is and what it says, in high regard as the final revelation
from God. Above all, the key point was that the Quran was in fact
Blacks’ sacred book before their slavery. This line of argument was
another delightful melody in the ears of the black people. The basis of
the argument was summarised in The Moslem Sunrise, (1923, issue
2&3):
56
… The Christian profiteers brought you out of your native

lands of Africa and in Christianizing you made you forget
the religion and language of your forefathers - which were
Islam and Arabic. You have experienced Christianity for
so many years and it has proved to be no good. It is a
failure. Christianity cannot bring real brotherhood to the
nations. So, now leave it alone. And join Islam, the real
faith of Universal Brotherhood. … Join Islam in the
Ahmadia movement, founded by Ahmad of India, the
Prophet of the day and be blessed … 6
In fact, one of the most ground-breaking idea was the

highlighting of the simple fact that Christianity and slavery were
partners in the blacks’ plight. The fact that blacks have been
suffering in the hands of Christians.
Muhammad Sadiq did not stay in America for long as he was
replaced by another missionary. He returned to India in 1923 and
Shortly afterward the publication of The Moslem Sunrise halted for
about 6 years until 1930.
The missionaries of the movement had their own axe to grind thus
they did not seize the opportunity to champion the Blacks’ concerns and
improvement. In fact, almost all of their main objectives and teachings
were alien to the Blacks. For example, they emphasized on Arabic
language as a uniting factor, not realizing the simple reality that
African-Americans could not understand a single word of it. The idea
of integration also was not presented in a suitable manner. They were
mainly concerned to prove Ghulam Ahmad’s claim of being Messiah
who should be followed by whites and blacks rather than providing a
suitable and workable social integration between them.
There was another source for confusion for African-American
population. The reincarnation of both Jesus and Mehdi in one person
does not create too much of a confusion in Islamic countries as Muslims
do not consider Jesus as the Son of God. For them he is one of the highly
esteemed prophets. But in a Christian culture the return of Jesus is the
57
return of God and thus mixing Mehdi and Jesus without the background
knowledge can be the source of countless misperception.
Nevertheless, after a few years exposure to the distinct teaching of
Ahmadiyya made the idea of becoming a prophet or other divine
personality more acceptable among uneducated Black communities
who were in some contact with the movement. It was thus easier and
more acceptable for some individuals to lay claim to prophethood and
some sort of deity in the name of Islam in which Muhammad was
declared to be its prophet and the Quran the final message for
humankind. However, under the influence of their Christian peers they
were wise enough to announce their divine mission for emancipating
the Black people from their long despair and suffering.
Because of the limited exposure of the Black communities to Islam
and almost zero knowledge of the Quran and vast Hadith literature the
numbers of Muslim prophets were not as high as their Christian
counterparts; nonetheless three of them found substantial success
among the African-Americans. Their relative successes were also due
to their unfriendly confrontation with Whites and their various
discriminatory civil and religious establishments, infused in them by
everyday experience compounded by Muslims’ disapproval of
Christianity and its prejudiced institutions. These belated prophets,
genuine or not, are not as famous as Moses or Muhammad but surely,
they had as just a cause and ethical appeal which they tried hard to use
fully.
Like their contemporary innovative Christian prophets or Godheads,
these Muslim reformers used a religious teaching distinctive to their
own backgrounds and their inward and outward motives. The teaching
was occasionally veneered by pretended reference to the Quran and the
Bible, as a backdrop, to support their new claims and plans. But there
was a major difference between the new Christian and Muslim prophets.
While the Christian prophets were taught the English Bible from their
childhood and knew some part of it by heart the Muslim prophets could
not read and understand the Arabic Quran or other Islamic sources and
thus were not familiar with the actual message of Islam. In fact, Indian
Muslims, like non-Arab Muslims around the world, were not familiar
58
enough with the Quran even if they memorized it. The followers of
Ghulam Ahmad didn’t help in this matter either, by not spreading the
tactful teaching of Islam tailored for the American society.
Here is one Hadith they published in the first issue of Moslem
Sunrise, at the time when slavery was already abolished.
"Abu Jariya, an inhabitant of Basrah Coming to Medina,

and being convinced of the apostolic office of Mohammed,
begged of him some great rule of conduct. "Speak evil of
no one," answered the Prophet. "From that time,” says Abu
Jariya,"I never abused anyone, whether freeman or slave.”
, ... .... .. .. ..•..-- ... ...,,
They were unable to come out of their cocoon in the new place. They
went to America with a baggage and were mainly occupied with the
insistence on the fulfilment of the promise of the Mehdi in the person
of Ghulam Ahmad. They were usually engaged in dialogue by relying
on the vast and contradictory Hadith books – the supposed sayings and
biography of the prophet Muhammad - and issues related to their own
sects, which were foreign to Black’s concerns.
Here is main Ahmadiyya statements in dialectic style which Mufti
Muhammed Sadiq published in the last issue of the Moslem Sunrise
magazine before his departure from the United States of America to
India.
CATECHISM.
1. Who are you?
Ans. I am an Ahmadi Moslem.
2. What is an Ahmadi Moslem?
Ans. One who accepts the religion of Islam as expounded by the latest
Divine Reformer, the Prophet Ahmad of India.
3. What do you believe?
Ans. I believe in One God (no Trinity or. Fourinity); I believe in His
Angels, His Prophets and His Books; I believe in life after death and in
Judgment of our deeds good and bad; I believe in boundless forgivings
from God; I believe in God's kingdom prevailing over each and every thing;
I believe that Jesus Christ is dead and gone like all other prophets of God;
I believe in one Spiritual Head of the whole Moslem community, the
Khalifa-tul-Masih,
4. What are the practical obligations of an Ahmadi Moslem?
Ans. To say five daily prayers to God; to keep the month of Fasting;
59
to give alms in charity; to make pilgrimage to Mecca; to live a peaceful

life; to help the cause of the Mission; to give the message of Truth to
others; to visit the sick; to help conveying the coffin of the dead; to visit
the Headquarters at Qadian whenever possible; to sympathize with all.
5. Who is the Founder of Islam?
Ans. The Master Prophet Muhammad on whom be peace and blessings of
God.
6. Who is the Founder of the Ahmadia Movement?
Ans. The Prophet Ahmad of Qadian, the Promised Messiah and Mehdi.
7. Who was the first Successor to the Prophet Ahmad?
Ans. His Hazrat Nur-ud-Din (of the Blessed Memory).
8. Who is the present Head of the Ahmadi Brotherhood?
Ans. His Hazrat Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad (may Allah
save him long)
9. What books are you supposed to study?
Ans. (a) The Holy Quran which contains all the Truth necessary
for man. (b) The Traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad‫ ص‬which
show the way of the Book of God. (c) The Writings of the Promised Messiah,
Ahmad, which truly explain the teachings of the Quran.
10. What is the slogan of Islam?
Ans. There is none adorable but God and Muhammad‫ ص‬is the Messenger
of God.
11. What is the motto of the Ahmadia Movement?
Ans. "I will keep my Faith above the world."
Thus, while Christian prophets were very familiar with and

effectively used the Bible, Muslim prophets were not altogether aware
of the real content of the Quran and its worldview. Therefore, they had
no choice but to ignore the teaching of the sacred book and orthodox
Islam in their missions.
To compensate for this shortfall, they relied somewhat on a more
familiar divine source, the Bible or whatever they knew and deemed as
a divine source, as well as their own imaginative interpretation of Islam
based on snippets of unfounded religious hearsay. This is really strange
since they also regarded the Bible as a spurious book, based on cursory
knowledge they had gained from Muslims. This unusual situation was
the basis of new and extraordinarily confused ideas. They did not simply
acknowledge their ignorance or keep quiet; instead they created new
myths knowing their audience were unable to check their stories and
tricks.
The first Black Muslim prophet, Noble Drew Ali, had been an
activist since 1913 and later claimed to be the last prophet of God for
the Black people of America. Two other prophets, Master Fard
60
Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad, followed him in 1930 and 1934,

respectively, with similar claims. In the following sections their
missions and claims are briefly examined to show that they really had
no link with God.
I would like to emphasise again that not all of the new prophets are
accused of being full-blown cheats. Maybe they were honest activists,
at least at the beginning of their movement, and they wrongly thought
that the best way to their just cause was using God and religion, not
realizing the subsequent confusion that their false claims might create.
This included their own personal dilemma of lying and covering their
secrets for the rest of their lives while inviting their followers to live an
honest and truthful life.
Noble Drew Ali
1
The last Prophet in these days is Noble Drew Ali, who
was prepared divinely in due time by Allah to redeem men
from their sinful ways; and to warn them of the great wrath
which is sure to come upon the earth. (Circle Seven Koran,
48)
Noble Drew Ali
Drew Ali was born Thomas (Timothy) Drew in Virginia (North

Carolina) in 1886. There is no clear and confirmed account of his early
life as it is a mainly dominated by fantasy rather than fact. The issue has
been compounded by his companions with various posthumous myth
making.
It is alleged that he was raised in an Indian Cherokee family21.
Another story conveys that he was saved by God from a blazing furnace
21
“Our Prophet came out of the Cherokee Tribe. The only tribe that produce nobles”,
Fathie Ali Abdat, Before the Fez: The Life and Times of Drew Ali, 1886-1924, Journal
of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion Volume 5, Issue 8, August 2014
61
sometimes during his childhood. God later inspired him towards his
sacred future mission while he was escaping his unfriendly companions
and walking alone along a road. The mission was to unite African-
Americans with their true racial and cultural heritage as they used to be
Moorish Muslim before their slavery and must embrace it again if they
want to enhance their life to its glorious past.
He claimed that he then had travelled with his circus to North Africa
and the Middle East. In Egypt he was recognised by a mystic sage as a
true soul and final reincarnation of the Abrahamic prophets as well as
Buddha and Confucius. The wise man taught him Islam and the real
history of the Black race. He also unveiled to him Muslims’ unsurpassed
scientific and cultural achievements in the past. Finally, accordance
with one version of the story, he was trusted with the lost part of the
Quran22. He was then commissioned by the Sultan of Morocco (Spain’s
colony at the time) to teach Islam to the Negroes in America. It is also
claimed that he received a new name "El Hajj Sheik Abdul Sharif Ali"
while making a pilgrimage to Mecca where he was also given the
authorization to teach Islam in the united states of America.
Back in America, he further claimed that he met President Woodrow
Wilson or Theodore Roosevelt. After presenting his divine knowledge
and clarifying his objective, he was granted permission, by the
president, to carry on with his godly mission.
Noble Drew Ali is the only Black prophet bringing his own revealed
book, which is called Circle Seven Koran (7 inside a circle) or Holy
Koran. It is apparently the lost section of the sacred book of Islam, the
Quran or Koran23, he received in Egypt. He kept the name of his book
almost the same as the Quran. However, these two books are exclusively
different. There was no obvious obstacle to unite the supposed lost
section of the Quran with the surviving one but somehow this was not
done. This will be discussed further when the content of the book is
analysed.
22
Some Muslim mystic sages and well-known scholars from Twelver school of Shia
Islam believed that up to two third of the Quran has been removed/deleted as part of a
political conspiracy to bar Shiite leaders from power or remove Shiite thoughts.
23
The Moslem Sunrise used the holy Quran or El-Quran for the name of the Muslim’s
sacred book but the Koran is also used in the publications when quoting from other
sources, which almost always used this name around the turn of 20th century.
62
He also published a few tutorial pamphlets. One of them is in

question and answer format and is written to introduce Islam to his
followers in simple language and format. The title of the booklet is
Koran Questions for Moorish Americans.12 Several questions and
answers related to our subject are quoted.
Koran Questions for Moorish Children

1. Who made you? ALLAH.
2. Who is ALLAH? ALLAH is the Father of the Universe.
5. Who is Noble Drew Ali? He is Allah’s Prophet.
6. What is a Prophet? A Prophet is a thought of Allah manifested in
the flesh.
7. What is the duty of a Prophet? To save nations from the wrath of
Allah.
15. For what purpose was the Moorish Holy Temple of Science
Founded? For the uplifting of fallen humanity.
16. How did the Prophet begin to uplift the Moorish American? By
teaching them to be themselves.
17. What is our religion? Islamism.
24. Who was Jesus? He was a Prophet of Allah.
28. Why did Allah send Jesus to this earth? To save the Israelites from
the iron-hand oppression of the pale-skin nations of Europe, who
were governing a portion of Palestine at that time.
36. What does the name Jesus mean? Jesus means Justice.
38. What is an Angel? An angel is a thought of Allah manifested in
human flesh.
39. What are Angels used for? To carry messages to the four corners of
the world, to all nations.
40. What is our Prophet to us? He is an angel of Allah who was sent to
bring us the everlasting Gospel of Allah.
43. At what age did Jesus begin to preach? At age twelve.
44. Where did he teach? India, Africa and Europe
54. What is the modern name for the Garden of Eden? Mecca.
55. What is the name of the first physical man? His name cannot be
used, only by Executive Rulers of the A.C. of the M.S.T. of A.
63
56. What are the words of A.C. of the M.S.T. of A.? Adept Chamber of
the Moorish Holy Temple of Science (3rd Heaven).
57. Who were Adam and Eve? They are the one who brought about a
discord in the Holy City of Mecca and were driven out (1925
version). They are the Mothers and Fathers of Civilization
Asiatics and Moslems (1928 version)
58. Where did they go? They went into Europe (1925 version). They
went into Asia (1928 version).
59. What is the modern name given to their children? Roman (1925
version). Asiatics (1928 version).
61. Who is guarding the Holy City of Mecca today to keep unbelievers
away? Angels.
62. What is the modern name for these Angels? Asiatics.
65. Give five names that are given to the descendants of Adam and Eve:
Lucifer, Satan, Devil, Dragon and Beast.
69. What people represent the Higher-self? The Angels who protect the
Holy City of MECCA.
70. What people represent the Lower-self? Those who were cast out of
the Holy City, and those who accept their teachings.
82. What is the first name of the person into whom Jesus was first
reincarnated? Prophet Mohammed, the Conqueror.
93. Will you define the word White? White means purity, Purity means
God, and God means the Ruler of the Land.
97. Who made the Devil? Elohim.
102. According to science, how many days are in a year? Seven days.
It is not clear which Koran this, sadly sometimes comic, questions

and answers booklet refers to. But again, the material in this pamphlet
is almost exclusive to both the Quran and Circle Seven Koran. Note that
some of the teachings show hearsay, cursory or misguided knowledge
of the various subjects peculiar or interesting to uneducated black
Americans. For example, question 82 is alien to Islamic teaching. Also
no one in the past has referred to the Prophet Muhammad as the
Conqueror, which is the common title of Mehmed II, the Ottoman
Sultans who conquered Constantinople in 1453. The author, under the
64
influence of the history of the Ottoman Empire, mixed up the two

Muhammads.
It is most likely that Drew Ali’s question and answer style of
teaching was borrowed from the Moslem Sunrise.
Although, Drew Ali had enough followers to be acknowledged and
respected by the local politicians, his claims were not true. He fabricated
those stories to promote his own pretentious divine status and outward
mission. The truth is that he never left America and his meagre and
misinformed knowledge of Islam was initially the public image of that
almost alien religion in the United States of America. He advertised
himself as a benevolent Muslim with magic power, just like a jinni,
providing effective and speedy cure for any life ailments and nuisances
and free future advice. He needed the name of Islam merely because of
his fraudulent profession which explicitly targeted the uneducated and
vulnerable black community in Newark24.
There are court report evidences in Newark Evening News on 27
June and 17 July 1916 that he was arrested and kept in jail for 16 days
for “pretending powers of clairvoyance” and “selling medicine without
license”.
The detail is that a couple visited a Dr. Drew, advertising as an
“Egyptian Adept Student” in his “occult office”. They found Dr. Drew
“attired in a loosely fitting multicolored gown and with a brilliant purple
hood covering his head”. They had to pay him a marked bill for an
investment advice which he duly provided using a crystal ball resting
on a black velvet. The next visit a few days later costed them another
dollar.
It turned out that the couple were in fact undercover detectives who
subsequently arrested him with his equipment and medicines. In court
the detectives testified that Dr. Drew had claimed to be a fortune teller,
miracle worker, exorcist, nail eater and healer. He also could remove
germs from body with “magnetic influence and mesmeric science”. He
furthermore boasted that he was able to escape his cell at will owing to
24
Drew Ali wrongly claimed that he had a few Muslim friends with whom he
established the Canaanite Temple in Newark, NJ in 1913. He then separated
from them as a result of disagreements in 1916 and allegedly attempted to
establish new temples in several cities on his own initiative.
65
his masterful ability “of breaking through bars”. Drew Ali confessed
that his magical power had been zapped while in jail because of a
brainstorm, justifying his inability to escape.
The same sources also reported that Professor Drew had claimed that
his power is in fact a divine gift from his born but he had improved this
God-given ability in India and developed it further through
correspondence courses.
The reports exactly reflect Drew Ali’s business leaflet when he was
residing in Newark. It reads literally as follows:
PROF. DREW
________________________________
THE EGYPTIAN ADEPT STUDENT
________________________________
Office Hrs. 10 to 12 A.M. 6 to 8 P.M.
181 Warren St. Newark, N.J.
I am a Moslem
Prof. Drew is a man who was born with Divine Power. He was taught
by the Adepts of Egypt. I have the secret of destroying the germs of
tuberculosis and cancer of the lungs in 10 to 30 days. Your Lungs can
stand a very strict examination that the germs are entirely destroyed. Also
destroy the germs of Eating Cancer, Gout, Rheumatism, Lumbago, Heart
trouble, Female Diseases, and serious affections of the body. Call at once
adults and children and be relieved of your sufferings. If you have any
doubt about my treatments you can be healed before a dollar is paid with
security.
Through these Divine Treatments there has been great successes of con-
tagious and long standing diseases which have been cured in 2 or 3 days.
I also give Divine instructions and interpret the Bible from Genesis to
Revelations. Also have 18 years of Christ life that is silent to your Holy
Bible for those who desire to know more about Jesus the Christ.
He apparently carried on deceiving helpless black communities for

many years to come, as the same source reports of his court hearing for
similar accusations in 1920 and 1923. The headline in Newark Evening
News on 8th October 1920 is “Patient Accuses ‘Professor’ of Hypnotic
$325 Theft”.
In the 1920 article Prof. Drew is reported to had claimed to be a
Muslim. Therefore, his business leaflet/card might have been produced
66
around that time. He might had heard of Ahmadiyya scholar, Mufti

Muhammad Sadiq or had been in contact with his organisation but for
sure he had somehow some knowledge of their various publications,
perhaps in conversation with a few Ahmadiyya Muslims.
Eventually he established the Moorish Science Temple of America
(MSTA) in Chicago in 1925, announcing himself a prophet. He
incorporated the temple in 1926. Sixteen branches ensued as the
followers of the movement increased in other cities. Drew Ali and his
companion pushed back the history of the temple making to 1913 by
referring to his “occult offices” as temples. This might be an indication
that Drew Ali started his career as a magician and medicine man since
1913.
Besides his stories about his conversion to Islam in Egypt, Drew Ali
told the African-Americans followers that their ancestors were
originally from Morocco, that they were Asiatic and their religion
before slavery was Islam. All are obviously wrong and betray his stories
of travel to Africa and his basic knowledge of that continent. Regarding
the third fact, only about ten to fifteen percent of African slaves were
Muslims, not all of them. He simply partly copied Ahmadiyya’s
propaganda, apparently believing it himself.
The Moorish Science Temple of America (MST) used to issue
identity cards for all members. Apparently, there was no registration fee
for new members but there was a monthly membership fee of $2 for
men and $1 for women. The following inscription was printed on the
cards showing symbols of Allah, Islam, and Unity;
This is your Nationality and Identification card for the

Moorish Science Temple of America, and Birth rights for
the Moorish Americans. We honour all divine prophets,
Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha and Confucius.
May the blessings of the God of our Father Allah, be upon
you that carry this card. I do hereby declare that you are a
Moslem under the Divine Laws of the Holy Koran of
Mecca, Love, Truth, Peace, Freedom, and Justice.
67
Here the influence of Christianity and Ahmadiyya teachings is

obvious. Muslims do not refer to God as their Father as Christians do.
Moreover, Ahmadiyya followers believed that Buddha and Confucius
were prophets, based purely on their own false belief not the actual fact.
They have ignored the obvious fact that Buddhism is a religion without
a supreme God and revelation in contrast to Semitic religions. There is
also a reference to the Islamic Quran as the Divine Law while there is
no reference to the Circle Seven Koran. This shows that the latter was
composed sometimes later when Drew Ali grew more confident about
his prophethood.
When it comes to the revelation of the Circle Seven Koran, in the
beginning of the book Drew Ali claimed that the book was revealed to
him, not by God, but by Muslims in Africa. In his prologue to the book
we read;
The reason these lessons have not been known is because

the Moslems of India, Egypt and Palestine had these
secrets and kept them back from the outside world, and
when the time appointed by Allah (God) they loosened the
keys and freed the secrets, and for the first time in ages
have these secrets been delivered in the hands of the
Moslems of America.
The first translation of the Quran into English was done by George
Sale in 1734. The translation by an Ahmadiyya scholar was done in
1917. But Drew Ali played his “Eastern Secret” card again in
continuation of his earlier business strategy. Of course, an English
translation of the Quran was not widely available at his time.
Apparently, the Ahmadiyya translation was not even available to Mufti
Muhammad Sadiq. But the Quran was not kept as a secret as it was
claimed.
Islam was revealed in the Arabian Peninsula and as far as orthodox
Islam and the original Quran are concerned no secret was left to be
revealed in Egypt, India or anywhere else. The existence of secret
stories or secret knowledge of Islam was endemic among some Islamic
68
Mystic cults, including Ahmadiyya, as one of their propaganda tactics.

They were claiming to have special ties with the secret world in order
to boast about their leaders or groups.
Let now examine Circle Seven Koran to discover his message to an
underprivileged Black community and his plan for guiding them in their
struggle. This may help to gain an insight into a false prophet. Also, one
might be inquisitive and wants to find out about those secrets and the
relevance of the secret lessons to the life of Black community at the
beginning of the twentieth century.
The first concern was to look for the phenomenon of slavery and the
subsequent sufferings of the black people, in the teachings of Noble
Drew Ali.
It is disappointing to find out that this new religion, long after the
abolition of slavery in the United States of America, has accepted the
reality of slavery by devoting the entire twenty-eighth chapter to this
subject. This chapter tries to bring a just rule and harmony to the
coexistence of “master and servant” by recommending the best
demeanour in master-servant relationship.
1
Repine not, O man, at the state of servitude; it is the
appointment of Allah, and has many advantages; it
removes you from cares and solicitudes in life. 2The
honour of a servant is his fidelity; his highest virtues are
submission and obedience. (Circle Seven Koran, 28)
What was the necessity for a guideline for a bygone situation? This
message seems to be a rephrased version of Colossians 3 with an Islamic
flavour. Later in the book he linked suffering to sin and rebellion against
the established customs:
16
Through sin and disobedience every nation has suffered
slavery, due to the fact that they honoured not the creed
17
and principles of their forefathers. That is why the
nationality of the Moors was taken away from them in
1774 and the word Negro, Black, and coloured, was given
69
to the Asiatic of America who were of Moorish descent,

because they honoured not the principles of their mother
and father, and strayed after the gods of Europe of whom
they knew nothing. (Circle Seven Koran, 47)
Beside so many factual mistakes in these two sentences, Drew Ali is

blaming Black slaves for their suffering and fate. This is the sort of logic
and justification that the slave traders were happy to hear, to justify their
devilish business, not semi liberated Black Americans. If following
European gods was punishable, why did God only punished Africans
and not Europeans? Why was no White captured to experience the same
diabolical conditions as the African slaves endured? This wholesale
formula forgets that not all African slaves turned their backs on their
traditional principles and not all Europeans were pleasing God.
Besides, Drew Ali showed his ignorance of the underlying basis for
the Atlantic Slavery. He showed ignorance of the phenomenon of
imperialism, global economy of the time and its greedy merchants and
put the blame only on poor Africans, the majority of whom were living
a rigorous traditional rustic life. Drew Ali apparently had no knowledge
of the vast continent of Africa and its diverse religious and cultural
identities.
In summary, Drew Ali taught that all Africans were Moorish,
Muslim and descendant of Asians, who then followed the European
gods thus deserving slavery, servitude and despair. Obviously, none of
his teachings was right but the poor followers accepted them all as
revealed divine facts.
If the Black people must be blamed for their misery because they did
not honour the creeds and principles of their forefathers one logically
concludes that those principles should be re-declared and followed.
Drew Ali, following the footsteps of Ahmadiyya followers, thinks that
those principles are given in Islam.
7
Therefore we are returning the Church and Christianity
back to the European Nations, as it was prepared by their
forefathers for their earthly salvation. 8While we, the
70
Moorish Americans are returning to Islam, which was

founded by our forefathers for our earthly and divine
salvation. (Circle Seven Koran, 48)
However, he forgets all about the Islam of his forefathers, or does

not know enough of it, and presents his new Koran. He also forgets that
Christianity must be returned to Europeans since his book contains
Christian and mystic teachings crudely twisted under the influence of
Ahmadiyya’s ideas.
18
Teach them that Allah and man are one; but that through
carnal thoughts and words and deeds, man tore himself
away from Allah; debased himself. 19Teach that the Holy
Breath would make them one again, restoring harmony
and peace; 20That naught can make them one but Love; that
Allah so loved the world that he has clothed his son in flesh
that man may comprehend. (Circle Seven Koran, 2)
These passages have a Christian-Mystic hue and certainly are

opposed to Islamic theology and Drew Ali’s grand solution? Drew Ali
offered “divine instructions and interpret the Bible from Genesis to
Revelations” in his business leaflet but we do not know if this service
was fake too. But for sure the above passages show he was not aware of
the Quran and its core theology. Was he trying to confuse illiterate and
ignorant Black people with the similarity of names to prove his Islamic
credentials? No one really knows. It seems that he probably had not read
the Quran at all even what had published in the Ahmadiyya literature.
That is why when he wanted to quote from a Holy book. He did not
quote from the Quran but the Old Testament and of course it is glossed
with Islamic finish. The quote even was not checked with the Bible for
any mistake.
9
The covenant of the great God-Allah: "Honor they father
and they mother that thy days may be longer upon the earth
land, which the Lord thy God, Allah hath given
71
thee!" (Circle Seven Koran, 48)
He simply had forgotten that he had already rejected ten

commandments in chapter 46.
7
Through the ten commandments the rulers and the rich
live, while the poor suffer and die. (Circle Seven Koran,
46)
The bare truth is that Drew Ali did not have the talent to write a book
of his own. Forty four Chapters of Circle Seven Koran is plagiarized
verbatim from “The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ” book by Levi
A. Dowling and the translation of an ancient book, Unto Thee I
Grant31, attributed to Amenhotep IV or Akhenaton, Egyptian Pharaoh
with monotheistic ideas, or one of his followers. These chapters are
slightly modified to portray an Islamic characteristic. Only the last four
Chapters of the book are original writings. His business leaflet exposes
that he had a copy of Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ book
sometimes after 1917.
The first nineteen chapters of the book are about John the Baptist
and Jesus, which are almost identical to the Aquarian Gospel of Jesus
the Christ. For example, the first chapter is the exact copy of the last
section of the introduction of the book written by Eva A. Dowling. The
only differences are the occasional replacement of the word God with
Allah and the changing of some other words to make it look like a
revealed Islamic book. Similarly, Chapter two is the copy of Chapter
seven, Chapter three is the copy of Chapter eight, Chapter four is the
copy of Chapter fifteen and so on. These selective chapters occupy half
of the Circle Seven Koran. The following is the epilogue to these
nineteen chapters;
These events occurred before He (Jesus) was thirty years

of age and the events after He had risen from the dead. He
appeared back to India, Europe and Africa in the land of
Egypt, and made Himself known unto the world. These
72
events are the eighteen years which are absent in your

"Holy Bible."
The events of John the Baptist. John taught by the Egyptian
sage. The meaning of baptism and how to baptize himself.
And after he was baptized, he was taken at the age of
twelve years into Africa, the land of Egypt, and there he
remained in the Egyptian schools eighteen years. And
there he learned his duty as "fore-runner of Jesus."
Chapters twenty to forty-four are exact copy of the translation of

some sections of Unto thee I Grant (this book might be a 2000 year old
Tibetan book) with usual changes of names. Only the sequences of the
sections are changed and their titles have been modified to emphasise
their divine revelation. For example, the title of Chapter twenty is
changed from “Desire and Love” in the original translation to “Holy
Instruction and Warnings for All Young Men”.
The last four chapters clearly demonstrate Drew Ali’s own ideas and
writings since they are full of obvious errors and mainly dedicated to
his divine appearance as the last prophet for the African-American
people. It means he only contributed less than five pages to the book.
A sample of this section of the book is quoted to appreciate his
knowledge of various issues and ideas.
3
The Egyptians who were the Haematites, and of a direct
descendant of Mizraim, the Arabians, the seed of Hagar,
4
Japanese and Chinese. The Hindoos of India, the
descendants of the ancient Canaanites, Hittites, and
Moabites of the land of Canaan. 5The Asiatic nations of
North, South, and Central America: the Moorish
Americans and Mexicans of North America, Brazilians,
Argentineans and Chileans in South America.
6
Columbians, Nicaraguans, and the natives of San
Salvador in Central America, etc. All of these are
Moslems. 7The Turks are the true descendants of Hagar,
who are the chief protectors of the Islamic Creed of
73
Mecca; beginning from Mohammed the First, the founding

of the uniting of Islam, by the command of the great
universal God-- Allah. (Circle Seven Quran, 45)
This is how Drew Ali raised the hope of the Black people. Moreover,
black Americans wanted to see in what way divine being wanted to
affect their freedom from their seemingly unending suffering and how
He would support His plan to improve their life. The least Blacks
expected were the stories of the youthful Jesus and John the Baptist in
Egypt. However, Drew Ali’s magic worked this time as he gradually
learned to abandon some of his visibly illegal services to avoid
incarceration. He Also learned how to gloss his dishonest activities
more convincingly to be more profitable.
Towards the end of the book the rationale of his false claim of travel
to Egypt becomes clear. He told the story to inform the Black people
that as John was the forerunner of Jesus, Marcus Garvey, the famous
civil right activist, was Drew Ali’s forerunner. Moreover, as John and
Jesus were prepared by God in Egypt and the early mentor of Marcus
Garvey was an Egyptian, Drew Ali was also prepared by Allah in Egypt
through a Muslim priest. In other words, he claimed to be a messianic
figure of his time. But under the influence of his Muslim friends who
according to Islamic teaching accepted Jesus just as a prophet, he
announced himself to be a prophet too, not God incarnate. The last
chapter of the Circle Seven Koran reads:
2
John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus in those days,
to warn and stir up the nation and prepare them to receive
the divine creed which was to be taught by Jesus. 3In these
modern days there came a forerunner, who was divinely
prepared by the great God-Allah and his name is Marcus
Garvey, who did teach and warn the nations of the Earth
to prepare to meet the coming Prophet; who was to bring
the true and divine Creed of Islam, and his name is Noble
Drew Ali: who was prepared and sent to this Earth by
Allah, to teach the old time religion and the everlasting
74
gospel to the sons of men. That every nation shall and must
worship under their own vine and fig tree, and return to
their own and be one with their Father God-Allah. (Circle
Seven Koran, 48)
Generally, Drew Ali used every credible title, book, idea and
personality including the Sultan of Morocco, the President of America,
the Bible and its characters to support his claim but at the same time
Christianity was rejected by him as a false religion created by White
people. From Islam only its name, the name of its book (the Quran),
name of its God (Allah) and the crescent-and-star motif were kept and
there was no mention at all of its principles and commandments, mainly
due to his ignorance of Islam. Even he did not know that eating meat is
allowed in Islam. He forbade his follower to eat any kind of meat but
fish.
Another credible personality in the eyes of the African-Americans
of his time was Marcus Garvey whom Drew Ali boldly exploited.
Obviously, Garvey was not a forerunner to Drew Ali. He did not claim
to be a Muslim or a forerunner to anybody. He had his own plan to
improve the life of the Black people as so many other Black activists in
the Americas did at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the
twentieth century.
Marcus Garvey’s movement was not entirely based on religion and
he was eloquent enough to announce his real mission as he did so. If
Drew Ali used some of the writings or ideas of Marcus Garvey in his
mission, this does not entitle him to claim that Garvey was his
forerunner. Garvey was an honest Christian activist who wanted to see
the essence of the Bible observed. He was furious to see Christianity
and the Bible being misused to justify every satanic endeavour against
destitute people of any colour and race.
Analysing the movement of Marcus Garvey, the founder of
Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), is beyond the
scope of the search for a prophet. But it is worth mentioning that Garvey
was one of the sincere though authoritarian leaders of Black movement
with a clear but unfeasible plan. He passionately encouraged the African-
75
Americans to rediscover and revive their African roots by returning to their

homeland. His main weakness was being very optimistic to the point of
being a dreamer.
Garvey thought that without due experience he could run a huge
business venture. He also made a big mistake in launching a disastrous
shipping enterprise, which caused his eventual downfall, solely due to
conspiracy of the establishment. He thought that the colonial powers of
his time would happily give Africa back to Black Africans and he would
be able to unite them and create his dream Black African state. He
thought, without enough experience in law and working practice of a
court, he could defend himself against competent lawyers and serious
accusations. He thought that honesty was the only tool necessary to
achieve the goals of just causes.
Garvey was an inexperienced forerunner of people like himself. He
did not confuse people with a new baffling ideology or tell them what
he was doing was sanctioned or decreed by God in order to broadcast
his false ideas. People who came after him, if their unfortunate lives
allowed them to think clearly, could see his mistakes easily and carry
on improving their lives without those blunders, as this is the proper
way social problems have been dealt with during the course of the
human progress.
In contrast, Drew Ali’s movement was based on the assumption that
God planned everything for a grand arrival of his new Messiah or
prophet. Even he sent a forerunner to announce Drew Ali’s arrival.
In fact, the only thing Drew Ali achieved was to make himself
eminent and rich, by any fraudulent mean, leading a comparatively
luxurious and sexually fulfilling life. That was all. The lack of any
tangible programme and action for long term improvement in the life of
Black communities is the clear evidence. How did he get away with so
many lies is a miracle.
It has been argued that Drew Ali gave a new sense of identity and
self-respect to his followers. His teaching made his followers elated by
knowing of their own exceptional heritage for which they could be
proud of and perhaps strive to regain. They were also disciplined and
76
had the sense of being among a big community rather than being
helpless individuals.
This is not an acceptable argument. One can extend this type of
reasoning to Drew Ali’s healing service. He gave mothers hope that
their children’s paralysis would be cured with magnetic power and
mesmeric science. But is that business acceptable? Social changes, be it
improvement or deterioration, are long term phenomena. Short term
analysis and conclusion is behind this type of reasoning. It should be
noted that Marcus Garvey and others before him tried this sort of
confidence building mission without forging false identity.
The second counter argument is that one can similarly argue that
Moorish Science Temple of America was a useful place for advancing
science in America because Black community were invited to attend a
science temple. Based on the Newark Evening News reports it is clear
what is the meaning of science in Drew Ali’s world. It was “mesmeric
science” or hypnotism. Therefore, the movement was as cultural as it
was scientific.
Finally, one should judge Drew Ali’s achievement by examining the
result of his mission. Unfortunately, there is nothing to report but the
continuation of deception laced with violence, kidnapping and
homicide. Apparently, almost immediately after Drew Ali passed away
two of his companions proclaimed themselves as his reincarnation.
One of the two companions was Drew Ali’s chauffeur who is said to
have fainted a short while after prophet’s death and when he came
around other members witnessed the sign of the star and crescent in his
eyes! The sign was interpreted that he was in fact the reincarnation of
Drew Ali.
Eventually, the succession struggle culminated in kidnapping of one
contender by his opponents. Police was called but the kidnappers did
not release their hostage peacefully. Two police officers and one MSTA
member were shot dead in subsequent gunfire.
The final chapter of Drew Ali’s life and the succession war show the
dismal culture of the organization. The fact that high-ranking members
only used trickery and violence for winning succession clarifies their
achievements. If the organisation was not culturally deranged it surely
77
was not in the right path to progress, had no healthy mindset and
essential education program vital for revival.
Any movement, which could improve the life of the disadvantaged
Black community, must be appreciated. But Drew Ali’s mission did not
have any genuine plan for any such improvements. Besides selling
Egyptian style clothes, fezz, charms, so called Moorish herbs and
healing oils to the followers and issuing identity cards to them, the
religious mission relayed and relied on false knowledge about their past
and the reality of their current misery. Consequently, it relied on a false
solution, which was a phoney Islam and a confused ideology. A better
future, according to his own proposed targets “Love, Truth, Peace,
Freedom, Equality and Justice”, cannot be achieved by multi-layered
fabrications and trickeries.
It goes without saying that a leader, especially if he is not
commissioned by God, should not falsify his mission as a main plan to
success since most likely this ends up in more disillusion and dismay.
One should not assume justice, progress and prosperity could be
achieved with a big lie. At any rate, the concern here is to see whether
the movement was originated by a direct divine order. Obviously, it was
not so in this case.
To summarise, in Drew Ali’s Circle Seven Koran, whatever its
origin, there is no systematic plan for the Black improvement but some
concocted stories about the lives of Jesus and John, followed by an
ancient moral code. This supposed divine secret was mostly irrelevant
to the life of the Black communities and only proved Drew Ali’s
ignorance and groundless prophethood. How he concluded those secrets
were relevant to the life of Black people in America is yet to be
discovered. Nonetheless, his religion, like his book, was a crude mixture
of all the fashionable ideas he encountered during his active social life
merely to attract followers.
To make the temple service more exciting and appealing he
supported and supplemented his religious enterprise with magic show
and healing sessions in the temple.
The text of a 1927 flyer is:
78
Don’t Miss the Great Moorish Drama

Look! Look!
Come ye everyone and see
The Seventh Wonder of the World
The Great Moorish Drama, which constitutes
…
The Prophet Noble Drew Ali, will be bound with several yards of
rope, as Jesus was bound in the Temple at Jerusalem and escaped
before the authorities could take charge of Him; so will the Prophet
Drew Ali, perform the same act, after being bound by anyone in the
audience and will escape in a few seconds.
He also will heal many in the audience without touching them free
of charge, as they stand in front of their seats manifesting his divine
power.”
…
Admission: ADULTS 50c CHILDREN 25c
Based on Drew Ali’s practice he can fittingly be regarded as the

father of corrupt evangelists.
Drew Ali’s movement came to a fatal end in July 1929. Internal
hostility developed within the movement, stemming from his lavish and
lustful life style and squandering of the temple’s money for his personal
use. It resulted in the murder of one of Drew Ali’s organisers in the
Moorish Science Temple by some of his followers most probably with
the blessing of the Prophet. He was subsequently arrested and then
released on bail but died a few weeks later.
Following his death, the movement divided into numerous hostile
factions some even with Christian and Jewish identities. Since there was
no genuine plan or direction, the original movement almost vanished.
His disciples could not help but fight amongst themselves for the
leadership knowing that the position was the source of huge personal
income and consequent status. This resulted in a bitter internal conflict
which involved police investigation and arrests. It scared Drew’s
followers and their money away.
After Drew’s demise one of his companions, declared himself
Supreme Grand Governor. He tried to reassemble the organisation but
gained little success. According to one account, another companion,
David Ford-el, who is also known as Wallace D. Fard Muhammad,
claimed that he was the reincarnation of Noble Drew Ali. Other
companions denied it on the grounds that he had joined the movement
79
just one month before Drew Ali’s death. At any rate, under the watchful
eyes of the police and law, which then considered the group as an unsafe
establishment, each disciple went his own way to create a new
movement. W. D. Fard found his way to Detroit.
Wallace Fard Muhammad
Praise his holy name! There is No God but Allah. How

that Allah would separate us from the Devils and, then
destroy them; and Change us into a New and Perfect
People; and Fill the Earth with freedom, justice and
equality as it was filled with wickedness; and making we,
the Poor Lost-Founds, the Perfect Rulers.
The original man is the Asiatic Black man; the Maker; the
Owner; the Cream of the planet Earth - Father of
Civilization, God of the Universe.
W. D. Fard
The second individual in this investigation for finding a true prophet

is Wallace Fard (Farrad), W.D. Fard or Wallace Fard Muhammad
founder of the “Lost-Found Nation of Islam in the Wilderness of North
America”. He claimed to be from the Muslim Holy City of Mecca with
half-European half-Meccan genealogy and of the lineage of the Prophet
Muhammad. Apart from having numerous aliases there is no accurate
or detailed biography of this prophet. Similar to Drew Ali, this lack of
verified information has resulted in the diverse depiction of his
contradictory profiles by various individuals.
Fard initially set up an organisation in Detroit with a new name
“Allah Temple of Islam” or “Holey Temple of Islam” disconnecting
himself from Moorish Science Temple of America (MST). He publicly
announced the end of a cosmic era, which will be resulted in salvaging
the American Negroes from systematic injustice and brutality by
80
obliterating their white tormentors from the face of the planet earth. He,
consequently, claimed to be a prophet with the specific mission of
initiating a swift black renaissance before their real upcoming freedom
with the scientific assurance that the black race is physically and
morally much superior to the white race and has historically proven its
abilities and achievements
However, the first clear fact about Fard is that he was evidently a
reluctant prophet since he disappeared without any trace in 1934 after
just three and a half years of his supposed divine assignment leaving
behind about 8000 followers in their admitted misery. His
disappearance was as secretive as his life, but one point is clear that
none of his promises and objectives fulfilled before his apparent
departure from black affairs.
It is also clear from his name and publicly available teaching
materials that he was not from the city of Mecca or any Arabic speaking
country. One theory is that he was born in New Zealand to a British
father and a Polynesian mother. Whatever his genealogy, most probably
he grew up in the west north of Indian subcontinent, which was
principally governed by British East India Company since the middle of
eighteen century until the Independence Day and partition of India in
1947. Fard’s education materials indicate that he had neither an
affiliation with nor any knowledge of Islam whatsoever. His initial
cursory knowledge of that religion was probably gained by murky
teaching of Drew Ali as his understanding of Islam had the same dismal
depth, width and qualities. Fard, on the other hand, seems to have a
slightly better familiarity with Buddhism.
Fard tried to launch a similar movement to MST in Detroit as Drew
Ali’s approach was proved successful in drawing black population in
their thousands. He also accepted and relayed the unfounded religious
and historical misinformation that Drew Ali had publicized in the
Upland South and the Midwest as undeniable facts. Furthermore, if he
wanted to be accepted as an authoritative figure without facing any
unnecessary challenge, he had no option but to repeat some of Drew
Ali’s false claims that the true origin of Black Americans was Asiatic
and Islam was their original religion. Also, similar to the teaching of
81
Ahmadiyya movement and Drew Ali he taught that Europeans

fabricated Christianity by modifying the Bible for their own earthly
salvation and domination. Likewise, further improvisations were
necessary to complete a novel ideology that were most pleasing and
plausible to illiterate black Americans while still being compatible with
MST teaching. For example, the Asiatic origin of African-Americans is
justified with a new argument:
6. Why does the Devil call our people – Africans?
ANS: To make our people of North America believe that
the people on that continent are the only people
they have and are all savage. He bought a trading
post in the jungle of that continent. The original
people live on this continent and they are the ones
who strayed away from civilization and are living
a jungle life. The original people call this continent
– Asia, but the Devils call it, Africa, to try to
divide them. He wants us to think that we are all
different. (Lost-Found Muslim Lesson No. 1)
The Devil in Fard’s ideology is the White race.

Fard emphasized his divine prophecy in his lessons, The Teaching
for the Lost Found Nation of Islam or Problem book, compiled for his
followers. The style of these lessons is strikingly similar to Drew Ali’s
teaching notes. He did not bring any revealed book in similar manner as
Drew Ali’s Circle Seven Koran and for a good reason did not refer to it
whereas he referenced both the Quran and the Bible in his teaching with
the caution that the latter was a corrupt, not corrupted, book.
Nevertheless, he gave his followers a booklet with the title, Secret Ritual
of the Nation of Islam.
He explicitly publicized his prophethood in his lessons and question
papers for teaching and examining new converts. For example, in the
Problem Book he is referred to as “Prophet, W.D. Fard Finder of the
Lost Nation of Asia”. Also, at the bottom of the lesson number two we
read:
82
This Lesson No. 2 was given by our Prophet, W.D. Fard

which contains 40 questions answered by Elijah
Muhammad, one of the Lost-Founds in the wilderness of
North America February 20th, 1934.
Question and answer 39 in that lesson also indicates this point:
39. Now, tell us, would you hope to live to see that the
Gods will take the devil into hell in the very near
future?
ANS. Yes. I fast and pray, Allah, in the name of His

Prophet, W. D. Fard, that I see the Hereafter when
Allah, in His own good time, takes the devil off
our Planet.
These lessons were not exclusively religious as they included some

elementary science, English and mathematics papers which were also
in a question-and-answer format. He named his classes “University of
Islam”. In his teaching he copied and sometimes criticized ideas of other
contemporary prophets or activists such as Father Divine, Booker T.
Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois giving the issues his own twists. For
example, he presented “The Talented Tenth” idea given by Du Bois,
one of Black activists, as follows:
Q 15. Who is the 10%?

ANS. The rich; the slave-makers of the poor; who teach
the poor lies --- to believe that the Almighty, True
and Living God is a spook and cannot be seen by
the physical eye. Otherwise known as: The
Blood-Suckers of The Poor.
Whereas Du Bois originally defined the term, in 1903, as the

educated and intelligent sector of African-Americans that should lead
and elevate the mass.
83
Fard also adopted the idea that white people were the devil (Satan)
from Prophet Cherry, the founder of the first Black Jewish sect. Cherry
regarded the synagogue as the place inhabited by Satan. He quoted the
following verse from the Bible to support his belief.
9
I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who
claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars--I will
make them come and fall down at your feet and
acknowledge that I have loved you.25
Cherry’s interpretation was that the Bible points to the White Jews
in this verse. Fard generalised this idea without any reference to the
Quran or the Bible as his recognised sacred books, and declared the
White race as the devil. Generally, Fard tried to espouse all ideas about
mankind and God from all known sources that were available to him
and attractive to his followers. Cherry’s findings in the corrupt Bible
were as good as Drew Ali’s teachings for his agenda.
Some of the answers in the problem book reveal Fard’s obvious
ignorance of the known facts of his time. For example, he claimed that
Christianity was 551 years old, Buddhism was 35,000 years old and the
Nation of Islam had no birth record, that is, it had neither a beginning
nor an end.
9 What is the birth record of the said Nation of Islam?
ANS: The said Nation of Islam has no birth record, it has no

beginning nor ending, it is older than sun, moon and
star. (Student Enrolment)
Partly under the influence of Noble Drew Ali’s teaching, he taught

his followers that the Black people were from the tribe of Shabazz the
original Muslims nation of Asiatic, not African, descent. Shabazz was a
25
Revelations 3:9
84
familiar name in India26 but had never been used before in Arabia or
Africa.
In the field of science, he claimed that “earthquake is caused by the
Son of man by experimenting on high explosion” or taught that our
planet travels about 1037.33 mph whereas this speed is the speed of any
point on Earth's surface only at the equator due to the rotation of the
earth. These teachings belong to a time when Einstein had long
proposed the theory of relativity - in part response to inability of
classical mechanics in calculating the exact behaviour of the planet
mercury - and our knowledge of our planet and universe was not that
primitive. But for illiterate black people his lessons made him a true
prophet in contact with an omniscient god.
To clarify how he unified fact with fiction and played with science
and ideology at will, the answers to the following three questions are
good examples which also show his cunning ability and real motive
21. Who was the Founder of Unlike Attract and Like Repel?
ANS. An original man, who was a scientist by the name of

Yacub, born twenty miles from the Holy City (Mecca)
in the year – eight thousand four hundred.
22. How old was the Founder?
ANS. When Yacub was six years old, while playing with two
pieces of steel, he discovered one piece had magnetic in
it and the other piece did not. Then he learned that the
piece with magnetic attracted the piece that did not have
magnetic in it. Then he told his people that when he was
old enough, he would make a nation that would be
unlike, and he would teach them tricknollegy, and they
would rule for six thousand years.
23. Tell us what he promised his Nation he would do?
26
Originally the Persian name of a legendary eagle-god Shahbaz or shaahbaz
literally king eagle or royal falcon
85
ANS. That he would make a Devil; graft him from his own
people; and that he would teach them how to rule his
people for six thousand years.
He defined the original man as follows
1. Who is the Original Man?
ANS: The original man is the Asiatic Black man; the Maker;
the Owner; the Cream of the planet Earth, Father of
Civilization, and God of the Universe.
When it comes to the religion of Islam, Fard is similarly creative.

While he claims that Islam is the true and original religion of the
African-Americans, his teaching of it becomes too confused. No single
true remark can be found in his lessons as far as the Quran and orthodox
Islam is concerned. He redefines Islam in his problem book as follows:
“After learning Mathematics, which is Islam, and Islam is

Mathematics, it stands true … “
He taught that Muhammad the Prophet of Islam was still alive and
lived in Mecca:
“Also, a free transportation in the Holy City (Mecca) to see

Brother Muhammad.”
He invokes some Islamic Laws, which had not been mentioned

before anywhere, for example;
“The Law of Islam prescribes that a Student shall not be

given a diploma if he has eight or more absent charges to
his account.”
His belief about the Quran was also innovative:
86
1. Who made the Holy Koran or Bible? How long

ago? Will you tell us why does Islam re-new her
history every twenty-five thousand years?
ANS. The Holy Koran or Bible is made by the original

people, who is Allah, the supreme being, or (Black
man) of Asia. The Koran will expire in the Year
twenty-five thousand; (nine hundred eighty years
from the date of this writing). The Nation of Islam
is all-wise and does everything right and exact.
The planet earth, which is the home of Islam, and
is approximately twenty-five thousand miles in
circumference. So the wise man of the East
(Black man) makes history or Koran to equal his
home circumference---a year to every mile. And,
thus, every time his history lasts twenty-five
thousand years, he renews it for another twenty-
five thousand years.
Based on W.D. Fard’s lessons, it seems that he was not raised and
educated in an orthodox Islamic environment. One obvious fact is that
the Muslim style of writing was not followed in his writings. Usually,
Muslim scholars start every letter or piece of writing with the banner
“In the name of God (Allah) most Gracious, most merciful,” or a shorter
version of it, which cannot be found in any of Fard’s lessons or letters.
Muslims also refer to their prophet with due respect. For example, he is
called prophet Muhammad or Master Muhammad, as was done by
scholars from Ahmadiyya movement, follow up by short blessing
“peace be upon him”. Fard did not follow this common tradition.
He also did not know the basic principles of Islam. Therefore, his
claim of originating from Mecca is definitely unfounded. No Muslim
has ever believed or defined Allah as a Black man of Asia. In this regard
Fard had created a twisted version of Noble Drew Ali’s teaching laced
with Buddhist-friendly Ahmadiyya philosophies and in combination
with the teaching of, say, Father Divine and prophet Cherry. God in
87
Islam is the omnipotent and omniscient creator of the universe including

man. How can a limited and needy man be defined as God in the name
of Islam?
Secondly, nobody had set an expiry date for the Quran before. It is
amazing that Fard sets the date based on the circumference of the planet
earth in miles. Fard tried to show off his scientific credentials to attract
ignorant Black followers. He knew that illiterate and wrecked black
population could not see any fault in his lessons. But it is obvious that
when one tries to mix things as Fard did then the result is total muddle
that even his followers could figure out. For example, if the Black man
of Asia is God then why does he need to send a prophet to himself for
guidance and revival? Equally, if man is God, how does the white man
become the devil, a grafted version of God?
To overcome the last problem, he claimed that White people are a
recent devilish outshoot of human race. An original man called Yacub
had created them 6020 years ago, in an experimental process which took
600 years, a kind of fast pace Darwinian process.
30. Tell us what and how the Devil is made?
ANS. The devil is made from the original people by

Grafting (by separating the Germs). In the Black
man there exists two germs: one - a Black germ,
and one - a brown germ. Yacub, with his Law on
Birth Control- separated the brown germ from the
Black man and grafted it into a white by
destroying the Black germ. After following this
process for six hundred years, the germ became
white, and weak, and was no more original. Also,
by thinning the original blood, it became weak,
and it is no more the same. Thus, this is the way
Yacub made the devil.
This answer shows that Fard was familiar with Darwinism and tried
to use his own version of it in his teachings. The new revelation goes on
88
to inform us that, while the original man has seven and one-half ounces
of brain, which is also original, the devil has six ounces of grafted brain.
The devil's physical power is less than one-third of the original man.
The devil is of weak bone and weak blood because he is grafted from
the original man, therefore his mental and physical power is much
weaker than the original man. Since they are wicked and cannot be
reformed unless we graft them back to the original man in six hundred
years all prophets have decided to take them off the planet instead. So,
they should be destroyed.
The final good news is that “the white civilization would be expired
by 1914”. After that they would just be living on “borrowed time”.
Though Fard claimed that his mission was to awake the Black
African, his creative strategy lacks the honesty, knowledge, logic and a
robust plan to improve the life of the Black community. He could call
himself anything including prophet; he is not the prophet I sought. His
teaching is anything but a salvation programme. His greatest
achievement was to mix every imaginable illusion together to produce
new chimeras of false information. For example, since he knew that the
leader of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (a Christian sect also called the
Watchtower Society) had predicted that the world would end in 1914,
he included the date of that false prophecy in his teachings, long after
that year, and declared the expiry of the white race and its civilization
in 1914. What does borrowed time mean? Whatever the real implication
of this post-prediction, Fard’s followers found this idea really inspiring
and accepted it as a divine revelation.
One of Fard’s achievements was the name changing idea, which is a
legacy of Drew Ali and Ahmadiyya movement in the USA. He ordered
his followers to drop their slave names and request in writing for their
original Islamic names. The cost for the name change was $10 during
the Great Depression. However, he was only concerned with the family
name, because the black people of that time did not bother with their
first name at all and did not consider it to be a slave name too. This is
one of the clear demonstrations of the gullibility and ignorance of the
Black community that they did not even suspect the similarity of their
first names with Whites.
89
To increase his income Fard routinely changed his followers’ names.

For example, one of his ministers Elijah Pool was first named as Elijah
Karim then Gholam Ali and finally Elijah Muhammad. Obviously, this
was a fraud, but the poor, illiterate, oppressed and desperate Black
people did not question this obvious swindle due to the awe he created
of himself as a prophet sent by Allah. It is worth mentioning that this
deceitful scheme also supports the fact that Fard did not have an Islamic
or Arabic background otherwise he could perfect his ploy by changing
the first names as well and double his income. Fard knew that after the
abolition of slavery the slaves changed their surnames, not their first
names, as a first gesture of their free will since during slavery their
surnames were involuntarily the surnames of their owners. Therefore,
he only exploited this popular notion.
The end of Fard’s mission came when in November 1932 one of his
derailed followers, Robert Karriem, ritually murdered an uncommitted
temple member in front of his wife and children and apparently some of
Fard’s followers. Robert confessed that this killing was a religious order
according to the teaching of Fard:
Q 10. Why did Muhammad and any Muslim murder the

devil? What is the Duty of each Muslim in regard
to four devils? What Reward does a Muslim
receive by presenting the four devils at one time?
Ans: Because he is One Hundred Percent wicked and

will not keep and obey the Laws of Islam. His
ways and actions are like a snake of the grafted
type. So Muhammad learned that he could not
reform the devils, so they had to be murdered.
All Muslims will murder the devil they know to be
a snake and, also, if he be allowed to live, he
would sting someone else. Each Muslim is
required to bring four devils. And by bringing and
presenting four at one time, his Reward is a button
to wear on the lapel of his coat.
90
Also, a free transportation to the Holy City

(Mecca) to see Brother Muhammad.
Robert Karriem also confessed that he was looking forward to killing

three more, preferably white, men in order to go to heaven. Following
his confession, Fard and Elijah were arrested as instigators of a Voodoo
killing. Fard denied the approval of the sacrificial killing in his secret
teachings. Based on his lessons and other documents the court did not
believe him. Consequently, he was found guilty. He was ordered to
break up the organisation. To make sure that the organisation would not
continue its clandestine activities he was asked to shut down the temple
and leave the city.
He disobeyed the court order by returning to Detroit twice and

renaming the organisation “Nation of Islam”. The last time the police
were much harsher to him and made sure that Fard would leave and not
return to Detroit. His disciple and successor, Elijah Muhammad, later
declared that Fard had gone back to Mecca. Years later Elijah’s son
talked about a theory that Fard might have been killed by his followers
for the similar reason above or as sacrificial killing similar to Jesus’
sacrifice for his people.
Years after the disappearance of Fard it was found out that Fard’s
real name was Wallace Dodd Ford and he had lived in Los Angeles with
an extensive history of criminal records.14 This finding is supported by
the fact that Elijah Muhammad regularly used the name Dodd when he
did not want to be recognized as Elijah Muhammad. Being a criminal,
Fard frequently changed his name to the extent that more than fifty
aliases are recorded.
Fard lied and lied again. His short-term education in that chaotic time
with Drew Ali was sufficient for him to create his own new world, one
that was real enough for his ignorant followers.
91
Elijah Muhammad
“My mission is to give life to the dead. What I teach brings

them out of death and into life. My mission, as the
Messenger, is to bring the truth to the world before the
world is destroyed. There will be no other Messenger. I am
the last and after me will come God Himself. I do not say
I will live so long as that, but when God comes, if it pleases
Him, I may be with Him. However, if I am not with Him,
this is the final. The truth I bring will give you the
knowledge of yourself and of God.”
Elijah Muhammad, Message to the Blackman
Elijah Poole was born Paul Robert Poole in Sandersville, Georgia,

in October 1897 to a Baptist preacher. His wife introduced him to W.D.
Fard in the latter part of 1931 in Detroit to stop him from the excessive
consumption of alcohol. His frequent drunkenness was his response to
the consequences of the Great Depression on him and his large family.
Eventually he became a member of Fard’s temple changing his name to
Elijah Karriem.
As mentioned in the previous section, the police in Detroit ordered
Prophet Fard to permanently leave the city in 1934. The deportation
was due to a sacrificial killing inspired by his secret teachings. The
crime was committed by one of Fard’s followers in 1932. He reluctantly
obeyed the order by abandoning his sacred divine mission, left the city
and disappeared.
Fard’s departure sparked an internal battle among his close disciples
for his succession. The fight was so fierce that Elijah had to flee for his
life from his angry rivals which included his own brother. He went to
Chicago where he founded the second temple of the movement, under
its new name, the Nation of Islam. But he had to escape again.
Eventually Elijah Muhammad established himself as the successor of
Fard after a few years of fighting and studying and the dissemination of
92
Fard’s posthumously unveiled message among different Black

communities.
Fard established, under the banner of Islam, that every Black man of
Asia was a God. Elijah, however, introduced a new concept to support
his own claim of prophethood after Fard’s disappearance. He deified
Fard as Supreme Allah. He subsequently claimed to be Fard’s last
Messenger for the Black people. To strengthen his status, he also
claimed to be the promised figures in the Bible and the real Muhammad
of the Quran!
I am the Elijah of your Bible and I am the Muhammad of

your Holy Qur'an. Not the Muhammad that was here
nearly 1400 years ago. I am the One the Holy Qur'an is
referring to. The Muhammad of 1400 years ago was a
white man. They put up a sign of the real Muhammad. It's
there in Mecca, Arabia. They call it the Little Black
Stone.27
He claimed that Fard secretly prepared him for prophethood during

his three years and four months mission. Among other divine
disclosures, Fard apparently told him that he was in fact Mehdi, Messiah
and Allah. Therefore, in this new religion Fard Muhammad, God, Allah,
Mehdi and Messiah are the same.
Allah, whom we praise, comes in the person of Master

W.F. Muhammad, the Great Mahdi expected by the
Muslims, and the anti-Christs (the devils) under the names:
Son of Man, Jesus Christ, Messiah, God, Lord,
Jehovah the Last (Jehovah) and the Christ. These
meanings are good and befitting as titles, but the meaning
of His name Mahdi, as mentioned in the Holy Qur-an
Sharrieff 22:54, is better.28
27
Elijah Muhammad, Theology of Time: The God-Science of The Time
28
Elijah Muhammad, Message to The Blackman in America, Chapter 127, The
Battle in the Sky.
93
It should be emphasized that Mahdi is not mentioned anywhere in

the Quran including verse 22:54. Elijah just gave a false reference here
to make his claim more credible.
We believe that Allah (God) appeared in the Person of

Master W. Fard Muhammad, July, 1930 -- the long-
awaited Messiah of the Christians and the Mahdi of the
Muslims. We believe further and lastly that Allah is God
and besides HIM there is no God29 … 30
This new claim cannot be found in Fard’s own writings. Elijah

Poole’s new revelation, if true, is another testimonial that Fard and
Elijah vaguely knew and followed Ahmadiyya’s unique idea. Elijah and
possibly Fard simply copied the claim of Ghulam Ahmad, the leader of
the Ahmadiyya sect, but changed Jesus (for them known as Son of God
or Son-God) to Allah (God), in order to make it look more Islamic,
ignorant of the fact that Jesus is accepted as only a prophet in Islam.
Being completely in the dark, Elijah understood the issue in his own
peculiar way. He even thought that Maulana Muhammad Ali claimed
being Mehdi-Christ not Ghulam Ahmad.
“There have been many who have risen up in Islam in the

past who went in the name of the Mahdi but were not the
true Mahdi. Even to the late Maulana Muhammad Ali, who
also claimed himself to have been Christ, the Messiah,
29
Elijah was not sure about the quantity and nature of God throughout his mission.
For example, compare the Declaration of the oneness of God in this sentence in
comparison with the declaration that every Asiatic man is God and also the
following statements: 6… The history of the two people is a proof; for 6,000 years
the two (black and white) have been and still are unable to get along together in
peace. This is due to the fact that the God of the two people is not the same.
Message to the Blackman in America Chapter 51, The Bible and Holy Quran:
Which One is Right?
30
Elijah Muhammad, Message to the Blackman in America, Secretarius
Publishers, 1997
94
when he was among the Christians, the Jews, Hindu, and

among the Muslims, their Mahdi.”31
This blunder of Fard and Elijah is contrary to the teaching of

orthodox Islam and even the Ahmadiyya sect. Mehdi is an Islamic term
and is the name of a person whom God will send in an undefined future
to bring peace and justice on the planet earth. We should also note that
the idea of a Messianic figure, such as Mehdi, does not originate from
the Quran, which is the main source of Islamic teaching. The idea was
a later development in Islam due to frequent political struggles and
bloodsheds between different political parties and tribes. The defeated
side kept its hope, of a near future victory under a righteous leader, alive
by creating or rekindling the old and widespread idea.
According to the literature in which the idea of the promised Mehdi
originates, the Mehdi would be a human and different from God.
Muslims also believe that Prophet Muhammad was the last prophet and
Mehdi would not be another Prophet but a liberator of humanity from
injustice and despair. On the whole, no orthodox Muslim believes that
God could appear as a man and at the same time be a prophet and Mehdi.
Fard and Elijah mixed them all up.
However, based on the new teaching of Elijah, Fard is believed to be
the incarnation of God, and his birthday, February 26, should be
observed as the Saviour's Day. He is believed to reside in Mecca after
his disappearance from the USA. Thus, those who joined the movement
and wanted to have an Islamic name should have written to Elijah and
he supposedly would have passed their request to Fard in Mecca.
Therefore, because of the imaginary courier delays some people had to
wait for several years to receive their Islamic names. Meanwhile, they
used X as their alternative surname. They added a number to the X if
the first name of several people was the same, such as Jonathan 5X, to
avoid any confusion.
Another change introduced by Elijah was related to the timing of the
Islamic fasting. Elijah changed the fasting time from the lunar Muslim
31
Elijah Muhammad, Message to The Blackman in America, Chapter 123, The
Fulfilment of Prophecies Seen
95
month of Ramadan to the Solar month of December. This was done

despite the fact that they still regarded the Quran as their valid revealed
book. If we remember the expiry time for the Quran was set to twenty-
five thousand years by the sect, which is not yet due.
On the whole, while the movement claimed to have an Islamic
identity with the Quran as their sacred reference book, Elijah and his
followers were trying to fashion it around Elijah’s version of Fard’s
teaching plus those Islamic traditions which benefited and corroborated
his prophethood. The group was as distant from Islam as master, W.D.
Fard. They were as much Muslim as they were Christian or Jew. They
did not even bother to learn how to perform common Islamic rituals
such as Islamic prayers, observed five times a day by all orthodox
Muslims. Malcolm X, one of the close disciples of Elijah and the most
influential and prominent figure in the movement, was taught how to
pray by a Muslim while he was in Mecca after his expulsion from the
movement.
Like Fard’s lessons, some of Elijah’s teachings betray his lack of
knowledge of elementary science or other well-known contemporary
facts. Nevertheless, he was following his teacher in saying things
without proper investigation to show off and pretend to be well
informed and worthy of being a Prophet to his ignorant and mostly
illiterate followers. Here are four examples;
If there is not moisture in the air there can be no sound.

When objects fall through space you cannot hear them
until they hit the atmosphere. Noise comes from objects
striking the atmosphere with moisture in it.
The air is the force that makes the blood flow with the heart
as the pump.
We made it (the Moon) and let him (white race) go and

peek at it. Now he is making instruments to look at the
civilization on Mars. When he sees what is on Mars he
won’t see any mark of his. It is our Mars and our people,
96
so God taught Me. He didn’t know that they were there

until just a few days ago. He used to look at Mars and just
call it a star. Our Fathers made it with some type of
intelligent being like ourselves. They are not animals.
They are intelligent people. The marks that we see on Mars
are not from an ignorant, silly, uncivilized people. They
show signs of civilization and they look something similar
to us. Not exactly, but they look similar. They walk on two
feet and they are not white folks. … The Martian people
have civilization but it is not equal with ours, so God has
taught me. We are their superior. Theology of Time p389
Allah said: When Yakub was six years old, one day, he
was sitting down playing with two pieces of steel. He
noticed the magnetic power in the steel attracting the other.
He looked up at his uncle and said: Uncle, when I get to be
an old man, I am going to make a people who shall rule
you. The uncle said: What will you make; something to
make mischief and cause bloodshed in the land? Yakub
said: Nevertheless, Uncle, I know that which you do not
know.
The last example is what Fard has taught in his lessons. Elijah mixed
Fard’s story with the verse 2:30 in the Quran, a translation of which by
Maulana Muhammad Ali follows:
And when they Lord said to the angels, I am going to place

a ruler in the earth, they said: Wilt Thou place in it such as
make mischief in it and shed blood? And we celebrate Thy
praise and extol Thy holiness. He said: Surely I know what
you know not.
Elijah also knew well that the content of the Bible and especially the
Quran was alien to the God and poly-genesis ideology of the NOI. He
and those members who could access to a translation of the Quran only
97
used and referenced selected verses in it to prop up Elijah’s mission and

to condemn his opponent with hypocrisy32 and damnation. The quotes
below shows that the group scoured the Quran for what they want to
hear:
1
Say: Obey Allah and the Messenger; but if they turn back, Allah
Surely loves not the disbelievers' (Holy Quran 3:31).
2 The religion of Islam demands strict obedience to Allah and
His Messenger. The world "Islam" means submission 33
"obedience." Obedience to God (Allah) is not accepted if one is
disobedient to the Messenger.
3 "The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him
from his Lord, and (so do) the believers" (Holy Qur’an 2:285).
4 A true follower of the Messenger believes as the Messenger
believes, but a hypocrite pretends he believes but is not at all a
believer. There are those who claim they are believers but are
sympathizers of the hypocrites; those are the ones who will
never say anything one way or the other, fearing that they will
show their sympathy for the hypocrite. Such ones are warned in
the Holy Qur-an: "Behold, you are they who may contend on
their behalf in this world's life, but who will contend with Allah
on their behalf on the resurrection day" (Holy Qur’an 4:109)
5 There are those who like to dispute and act hostile toward the
Messenger of Allah. They are also warned in the same chapter:
"And whoever acts hostilely to the Messenger after guidance has
become manifest to him and follows other than the way of the
believers, we turn him to that to which he himself turns and make
him enter hell: And it is an evil resort" (Holy Qur’an 4:115) 34
32
Elijah used the same accusation against Malcom X and his mourning widow:
“The holy Quran forbid the messenger even to stand beside the grave of a
hypocrite. We can't even say a good word for his wife because she was with him
and she still has not declared herself against his blood-bath teaching.” Elijah
Muhammad 1965 Saviour’s Day Address
33
Elijah defined the word Islam according to the situation. He defined it as peace
in Chapter 37, WHAT IS ISLAM?: “9The significance of the name "Islam" is
peace, …”
34
Elijah Muhammad, Message to the Blackman in America, Chapter 113 -The
Teachings of The Holy Quran on Obedience.
98
In general, the group had no will to accept the teaching of Islam as

they openly pretended to follow. There had been continuous
opportunities which they resolutely rejected. Three opportunities are
given here. The obvious one is the fact that they had access to the Quran
but they stubbornly closed their eyes to its edicts. For example, the
complete verse of the Quran 2:285 which was quoted by Elijah above
is:
The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him

from his Lord, and (so do) the believers. They all believe
in Allah and His angels and His Books and His
messengers. We make no difference between any of His
messengers. And they say: We hear and obey; our Lord,
Thy forgiveness (do we crave), and to Thee is the eventual
course.
Elijah only used the section which demanded faith and obedience
from his followers and did not quote the rest of the declaration of faith
in the verse.
One of Elijah’s sons, Wallace D. Muhammad, found the true Islam
by reading the Quran while he was in prison for draft evasion as he
refused to be inducted into the U.S. army on religious grounds. He also
had extensive doctrinal exchanges with an Ahmadiyya missionary for
several years especially during the period that he was a minister in
Philadelphia. When he tried to convey his findings to his father in
several occasions, he was excommunicated each time. He recanted
every time and accepted back to the organisation only after humiliating
public remorse.
Elijah also sent his son Akbar to Cairo to study Islam. His attempts
were stifled when he tried to report the true Islam to his father and his
close disciples.
Simply, Elijah deliberately ignored Islam and saw himself as the
bearer of the whole truth and centre of everything in any occasion. He
even thought the Black Stone of Kaaba in Mecca was the sign for him:
99
They put up a sign of real Muhammad. It’s there in Mecca,

Arabia, They call it the Little Black Stone. I looked at it
and made seven circles around it. I kissed the Little Black
Stone but I didn’t like to kiss it because I knew what it
meant. It means that the people will bow to the real Black
Man that is coming up out of an uneducated people who
do not have the knowledge of the Bible and Holy Qur’an.
That is why they made that Stone an unknown stone. He
will be uneducated. So there I was kissing the sign of
Myself and I didn’t want to tell the Sheik, “This is Me you
are talking about here.”35
I am not going to expound further on Elijah’s mission since it solely

revolved around the same racial idea of Fard with a twist regarding his
own prophethood padded gradually by quotes from other scriptures.
Also, I leave the sad, deceitful and brutal account of the Fruit of Islam,
the paramilitary wing of the group, which was disbanded after the
leadership of Elijah. One thing that cannot be omitted is the story of its
most famous and outspoken member, Malcolm X, as an example of the
desperation and confusion of the group in which he was immersed.
Malcolm’s brothers encouraged him to join the group while he was
in prison. His childhood story epitomises the predicament a Black
family endured after the abolition of slavery until the start of the civil
rights movement, the end of outright exploitation and the start of the
‘use and hate’ period. Those who think that barbarism belongs only to
uncivilized societies need to look at the account of his childhood, or
other politically active families, to reconsider their positions.
At any rate, Malcolm X became one of the top men in the movement
and was a wholehearted defender of the Nation of Islam and Elijah’s
mission. It was his charismatic personality, eloquence, genius and hard
work that increased the membership of the group from a few hundred
to about thirty thousand. Yet, where his own belief and religion was
concerned, he was a confused man, jumping from one opinion to
35
Elijah Muhammad, The Theology of Time - The Secret of Time
100
another during his ministry. In the beginning, he honestly believed in

the teaching of Elijah and turned a blind eye to numerous misconducts
inside the organisation.
An example of his cover up was when he found out through Wallace
D. Muhammad that Elijah had thirteen illegitimate children from illicit
affairs with several of his young personal secretaries. According to
Malcolm’s autobiography both Malcolm and Wallace tried to comb the
Bible to highlight several similar stories from prophets in the past to
justify Elijah’s adultery, while both of them knew well that Elijah, for
the same unlawful act, expelled all those secretaries from the Nation of
Islam. The irony is that at the same time the group was trying so hard to
refute the Bible as a poison book written by White people or the devil,
not God, for their own earthly ends.
7
The Bible is now being called the Poison Book by God Himself,
and who can deny that it is not poison? It has poisoned the very
hearts and minds of the so-called Negroes so much that they can't
agree with each other.36
8 … The Bible is the graveyard of my poor people (the so-called
Negroes) and I would like to dwell upon this book until I am
sure they understand that it is not quite as holy as they thought
it was. I don't mean to say that there is no truth in it; certainly
there is plenty of truth, if understood. Will you accept the
understanding of it?
… it charges Noah and Lot with drunkenness, and Lot with
getting children by his daughter. What a Poison Book. 37
36
Sometimes the Bible is used as a good reference and witness for Elijah’s
ideology: “He taught me for three years (night and day) on the histories of the two
people, Black and white. What He taught me verifies the teaching of the Bible and
the Holy Quran (if rightly understood) of the two people Black and white. (C19
The Black Man, Our Saviour Has Arrived). The present God’s (Master Fard
Muhammad’s) Wisdom is infinite. No Scientist can see an end to This Man’s
Wisdom coming in the future. That is why the Bible and the holy Quran refer to
him as The Greatest and Wisest of Them all and say that He will set up a kingdom
(Civilization) that will live forever.
37
Message to the Blackman in America, Chapter 51, The Bible and Holy Quran:
Which One is Right?
101
For sure, they did not consider the welfare of their followers as their
prime concern throughout the apparent success of the movement, the
same people whom they wanted to save from cruelty and injustice.
Malcolm also had confessed that he and some members of the group
explored the Bible to find support for Elijah’s belief that there is no
judgment day. It was somehow justified for the group to call themselves
Muslims and not only ignore the teaching of the Quran altogether about
this matter but also try to find their preferred belief from a supposedly
refuted poisonous book. Malcolm X like other members of the Nation
of Islam was saying one thing and doing another to protect the
movement and its motley ideas. The main concern and at the same time
the lynchpin of the group, were Elijah himself and his iron-fisted
organisation.
Eventually, when Malcolm was expelled from the group and tried to
bring African-American Moslems back to the reality of Islam he was
assassinated by the group for being a traitor and hypocrite.
What follows are the kinds of problems and questions the intelligent
members of group encountered owing to the confusion created by the
false teachings and unproven claims, together with the type of answers
they were given.
Questions: Since we have been on the Planet 66 trillions

years and Master W.D. Fard Muhammad is only 70 years
old, then He was not yet born at the time of Jesus' birth.
1. Who was ALLAH before M.D. Fard Muhammad?
2. How did W.D. Fard Muhammad come to be ALLAH,

THE SUPREME BEING?
3. Who was ALLAH when Jesus was born?
Answer in short as given by Our Apostle, Mr. Elijah

Muhammad as of 8/21/47
First, our being on the planet Earth is not known in
years, we have no beginning or ending, meaning our
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Nation. The sixty-six trillion years that we have been

taught is the time since departure from the Moon, and not
the beginning of us. That MASTER W.D. FARD
MUHAMMAD is only seventy (70) years old, and was not
born before the time of Jesus is true.
Now How Did He Come to be ALLAH?

First, we are all ALLAH, but MASTER W.D. FARD
MUHAMMAD is SUPREME over all of us, referred to all
times as the SUPREME BEING. He is SUPREME over all
other beings, because HIS WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE,
UNDERSTANDING and POWER to destroy and
reproduce and create another Universe or make a people,
makes HIM GREATER than all, and is WISER than those
before HIM even He who created this Universe, because
this ONE is able to reproduce or destroy it, or bring in a
better one, so says the Holy Quran.
Who was ALLAH Before MASTER W. D. FARD
MUHAMMAD was born? Who was ALLAH when Jesus
was born?
Now there are twelve (12) Imams or Scientists, who have
been ruling all the time, and one of the twelve is always
greater than the other eleven (11), but the God of this world
before the birth of Jesus and up until 1877 was Yacub.
That means that the God of this world, Yacub, although he
lived only 152 years, has ruled for the last six thousand
(6,000) years; therefore, he was in power when Jesus was
born, and that is why Jesus wasn't able to set up His
Kingdom, because the wicked God's time was not up. For
a people who have been taught that the SUPREME BEING
is other than a Being, something spooky-like, it is not so
easy for them to perceive beyond that dark and ignorant
teaching into reality.
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It is worth noting that while one of the group’s doctrines was “every
man is God”, they denied this right to Jesus. Apparently, they tried to
copy Muslims on this subject. The reality is that the group were picking
and mixing ideas from the Bible, an imaginary Quran and other
religious sources to fight their White enemies and defend the original
ideas of their founder, no matter how much confusion it might create.
For example, the idea of twelve Imams is borrowed from the Shia sect
of Islam and its mention above shows the indiscriminate use of various
religious ideas to make a concocted false idea deliberately muddier. It
just shows their depth of ignorance and dishonesty.
However, with persistence and a stroke of luck Elijah’s mishmash
message and movement became one of the most popular religions
among African-Americans.
After Elijah’s death in 1975 his son Wallace Deen Muhammad took
control of the group. After a while he convinced the majority of the
group to denounce the teachings of Fard and his father. Consequently,
he united the group with orthodox Sunni Islam. The growing falsehoods
and bitter hostility were put to an end after forty-five years during which
it created an imaginary world and false hope for about thirty thousand
of destitute Black Americans. Nonetheless, there are a few splinter
groups which still hold to the original teaching of Fard and Elijah.
Epilogue to Black prophets
Though I have looked at all possible claims of prophethood in the

history of Atlantic slavery, I have not mentioned all those I examined.
For example, I have not discussed Mormonism and its prophet Joseph
Smith, since in the Book of Mormon, partly plagiarised from King
James translation of the Bible, there is no mention of the current events
of mankind, as if they do not exist or are not worthy of mention. Smith
claimed to be a prophet at the time when slavery was being
internationally condemned and was nearing its end. But there is no
citation of disapproval in the Smith’s message. Moreover, he tried to
equate black skin with immorality and unfaithfulness (2 Nephi 5:21-23
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& 2 Nephi 30:6). In fact, traditional Mormon teachings consider black

skin a curse of God for those nations that departed from original
monotheism.
Instead, the book of Mormon is concerned with prophet Lehi and his
family who purportedly migrated to America. The book is the account
of this prophet and his descendants covering a time span from 600 BCE
to 400 CE ignoring the actual history of the indigenous people of the
Americas. Smith claimed that Jesus went to America after his
crucifixion and resurrection in Jerusalem. The book is more like a fairy
tale not a revealed book from a living God concerned with the
enhancement of the life of mankind.
The reason I mentioned Mormonism is to recall the point that
creating new religions was not limited to the Black population of the
Americas. Noble Drew Ali was not the only self-claimed prophet to
plagiarise and then present his copied book to his gullible followers as
sacred revelation from his omnipotent God. At least Drew Ali went to
the trouble of trying to change some words to disguise his theft. Smith,
on the other hand, copied thirteen chapters from King James (Isaiah 2-
14) without even trying to change a word. Also, giving lip service to the
established religions was not a method used solely by Black prophets
such as Elijah Muhammad or Father Divine. Smith made the Bible
almost redundant with his new sacred books.
In general, White inhabitants of America originated numerous
Christian sects in their new abode. The migrant community not only
renamed their new dwelling with the name of their place of origin they
even tried to bring the founder of their religion to their new land in order
to feel more at home. This phenomenon explains why immigrant
religious groups in the past expected their saviour or a new Prophet to
rise among them in their new territory.
The second point is that in creating a new religion each community
tries to address the important issues of its life. The Black people of the
Americas had an identity problem. Thus, their main concern was to
create a new genesis story for themselves that gave them a secure and
worthy place in the world. The White people on the other hand did not
count slaves as worthy of even a mention in the new religions created
105
by them. The African-Americans were either left out completely or

given their slave status.
In my search for a genuine prophet in the history of the Atlantic slave
trade I came to the conclusion that God not only did not involve Himself
against this vile act and its consequences but also allowed the Black
people to be deceived and lead astray in His name by the most
horrendous and confused ideas. I justified my search for a prophet in the
history of Atlantic slavery on the basis of my own Abrahamic religious
upbringing. I believed that God helps and consoles oppressed and
destitute people in their despair by his direct action, as we are told he
had done so in the past. Apparently, I was proved wrong.
By exploring the history of Atlantic slavery for a true prophet, I was
hoping to discover some message from my creator regarding those
specific current problems. I hoped to get more insight into this complex
world and be assured of His support for truth and justice. What I found
was the sleight of individuals to exploit and deceive others, in the name
of all sacred and honourable beings, sometimes for their own ends. I
found that deceitful individuals were able to take advantage of gullible
and ignorant masses by calling themselves prophets and by using
established religions or any other useful means such as pseudo-science
as a springboard for their own benefit.
The stories of the three false prophets above, though very brief,
showed that there was no need even to know the message of the original
supportive religion to use it in their dishonest plans. It showed that
where ignorance is sown ignorance is harvested more than ten folds. In
fact, in those situations there is no limit to false claims and there exists
no boundary between truth and falsehood. If the followers were not too
ignorant or dejected to be able to check the real facts, then came more
trick and tyranny with its spiral of secrecy and violence.
The cunning prophets who were investigated briefly in this Chapter
were all the products of the twentieth century and unfortunately still
have some followers. Their relative success is a warning that as long as
a new false faith is created even hard facts and accessibility to massive
true information cannot stop obvious trickery and exploitation. The
cursory examination of the story of Atlantic slavery showed how false
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religious ideas could evolve with such ease and spread through a
distressed and violated group without any limit to the fabrication of new
false claims.
What has been made clear to me up until now is that God is not a
personal helper. Maybe he sent prophets in the past but apparently there
is no sign of His direct or exceptional involvement in the life of
humankind in recent history. He did not involve Himself with colossal
human cruelties and injustice of our time. He did not involve himself
with unjust societies during the long period of Atlantic slavery, as
assumed by conventional religious belief. He also did not involve
himself with the misery of the recent generations of Jews, Native
Americans, Indian women, coolies and lowest caste (untouchables),
Palestinian, Bosnians, Rwanda’s Tutsi minority and other numerous
similar tragic situations. Perhaps He is selective and only involves
himself with his chosen people at a chosen time and place. To clear the
matter there is only one way to find out; search for a rightful prophet to
find God’s possible clear message and the way God works in this world.
107
Chapter 3
The Legacy of Shia
What is the content of Bayan (Exposition, the sacred book

of Babi faith)? It is the judgement of all things. God has
given two signs to mankind, His revelation and the person
to whom they are revealed. The first sign is eternal. It is
the clear testimony of God until the Day of Resurrection.
The latter is a proof only so long as the sign lasts. Although
men do not pay enough attention to Bayan now, they will
be happy to pay their valuable gold to get hold of a copy
of the book soon.
The Bab, (Persian Bayan,
Unit 2, Chapter 3)
Shiites have a noble dream. They believe that the widespread

corruption and injustice on earth will eventually come to a theatrical
end. The divided nations of the world will be united under the global
and virtuous reign of the last nominated Shiite leader. The promised
government will have the full blessing of God who will use all His
unsurpassed might to wipe out his widespread wicked enemies and evil
forces.
But the dream utopia is a mixed blessing as the only God appointed
government of justice and harmony will not reign for ever after but will
rule only at almost the end of human life on Earth. Moreover, the
spectacular virtuous period will only be allowed its victorious
emergence when the whole earth is totally under the whim of Satan, his
supernatural army and his extensive human supporters. That is when
dishonesty becomes the norm of life and prevalent corruption sinks
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humanity to its lowest possible moral decadence, to the point that the
situation cannot get any worse. Thence, God will eventually install the
Shiites’ long desired government headed by Imam Mehdi, God
nominated leader of Shia who has been in hiding since his suspected
birth about 870 CE but ready to emerge and take action as planned. He
will rule the whole earth for a period between a minimum of a few hours
to maximum of forty years. This happy ending will conclude the
eventful story of human life on earth. The judgment day will follow
immediately after the ruling of Imam Mehdi.
The practical implication of this evolved idea in Shia Islam, although
not original, is that one should only expect the thriving of cruel,
repressive and immoral societies headed by despotic governments
before God himself decides to get involved and unleash his divine
forces. Put simply, Shia asserts that humankind on its own is unable to
establish a just society even with the help of divine guidance through
various prophets meaning that somehow God wasted his time by
sending countless prophets. All governments not headed by a God
nominated leader are thus doomed and categorically rejected as corrupt
and unjust.
To support their claim majority of Shiites, scholars or common
believers, maintained that nobody but Imams could comprehend the real
meaning of the Quran. They also have claimed that the existing Quran
was not the whole revealed book to the prophet Muhammad. The
complete version was with Imam Ali, which was then handed down to
succeeding Imams and it is now with Imam Mehdi. So, the real Quran
will only be disclosed when Mehdi returns. Consequently, even a
faithful and pious Muslim ruler cannot understand nor have access to
the full laws of God to govern according to His creed. Even some Shiites
have come to the dire conclusion that one should not strive for the
establishment of a righteous, just and ethical society as it is impossible
to achieve those goals. The only way to such a society is to help it first
sink into its abyss of vices and at the same time pray to God to expedite
the return of Imam Mehdi.
There are nondramatic versions of this myth that are recognized by
other branches of Islam but different sects of Shia have developed the
109
idea to amazing length with numerous twists. There are many versions
of the story and all Shia sects don’t unanimously agree on one
authorized account. However, one of the prominent and surviving sects
of Shia asserts that God appointed twelve successive infallible leaders
(Imams) after the Prophet Muhammad. The messianic mission is then
associated with the return of the last Imam. The sect is known as
Twelver Shia in which the divine appointment of the leadership of the
Imams, Imamat, was made one of the articles of its faith. One need only
be a practising Shiite to appreciate the strong feeling they have
concerning this eschatological prophecy.
There is no logical or practical explanation of why only twelve
leaders, or any limited numbers, were nominated by God to lead
humankind. Why were the majority of them not actually empowered to
have any effect as a leader? Why didn’t they openly announce their
divine appointment to people as the prophet Mohammad did? Why did
some of them help the then existing corrupt and cruel rulers out of fear
for their own lives? Why did the second Imam abdicate and trade his
divine power for land, booty and money. There are no fitting answers
to these types of questions. Nonetheless, Imams’ low-profile existence
and cooperation with the tyrant rulers are justified and accepted by
Shiites as possible tactics for the best interest of their Shiite followers.
Therefore, dissimulation, hiding one’s real faith, mission and plan, have
a deep religious root among Shiites.
But, in spite of the proven ineffectiveness of this supposedly divine
institution, Shia still teaches that the mission of the last leader, Imam
Mehdi, is extraordinarily exceptional. He is regarded as the promised
redeemer who would establish long awaited justice in the world. His life
story, however, does not support the claim. Apparently, the eleventh
divine leader had neither wife nor child. He was also either in prison or
under government surveillance in a designated place for years. Finally,
representing a political threat to the incumbent tyrant, he was poisoned
at the age of twenty-eight. After his death, his female slaves were kept
under close supervision and examined by midwives to make sure that
there were no pregnancies. Besides, his brother fought his mother in
court for his due inheritance since his mother claimed to be the sole heir
110
of the eleventh Imam. Shiites were confused and divided into more than
fourteen different groups based on their belief in diverse versions of
succession of the eleventh Imam.
According to the final and official version of Twelver Shia, the
eleventh Imam, in fact, became the father of a son four years before his
death. It was also claimed that, because of the perilous situation, only a
few close followers of the eleventh Imam were aware of the child’s
existence. Apparently, his mother was a slave and five different names
from various sources were attributed to her. At any rate, until he was a
four-year-old child there had been no sign of his existence, even to his
grandmother and his uncle. When he officially became an Imam,
because of his father’s death, God secretly transferred him from his
usual hiding place and hid him in a subterranean vault, for fear of his
life.
We are told that for sixty-nine years he remained in hiding in the
vault. This period is referred to as the Minor Occultation. Throughout
this period, he was in contact with people through his four successive
mediators or deputies who knew his hiding place. The mediators called
themselves Bab in Arabic, meaning door or gate, and implying that they
were a door or gateway from the hidden leader to his devoted Shiites.
Faithful Shiites handed over their due taxes to the Babs, whom were
regarded as reliable toll collectors for the hidden Imam.
To add to the confusion, there were several other distinguished
Shiites who challenged the original Babs in their claims of being the
gateways to the hidden Imam. The official and illusory Babs fought
each other relentlessly using all means available. For example, they
produced letters sealed with the Imam’s signet ring refuting the false
claims of each other. To please and convince their followers each
claimed higher divine attributes for the Imam. But the most effective
fighting tool was to accuse each other of blasphemy or denounce their
rivals as a potential danger to the authority of the incumbent cruel ruler.
If the accusations were believed, the fate of the unfortunate Bab was
either a long imprisonment or death.
The fourth official Bab did not appoint any successor for himself. He
brought out a letter from the hidden Imam stating that God had decided
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to continue concealing him, but with no more intermediaries, for a long

period until He would decide to make him visible again at the end of the
world. He also warned faithful Shiites that whosoever claimed to have
seen him before the fulfilment of the following two conditions was a
deceiver and impostor;
 Sofiani (a Mehdi from Umayyad descent) will appear in revolt

(he will be yet another tyrant who will spread mischief and
corruption)
 A loud noise or cry will be heard from the sky
This period of hiding is called the Major, Complete or Total

Occultation. Since the nature of the sound was not clearly specified and
according to some sources, Sofiani had already appeared long ago,
Shiite scholars found the conditions not meticulous enough. Therefore,
the whole idea was further developed by new generations of clerics. For
example, they tried to fix the minor oversight, in Imam Mehdi’s letter,
by adding several other conditions. The gradual additions to the list,
which was apparently not in an organized and coherent manner,
increased it to more than twenty-four items. Some of these conditions
were again very general, like the spread of tyranny, war, social upheaval
and ignorance, but some were specific. One of these specific conditions,
borrowed from Christianity, is the appearance of Dajjal or false Mehdi,
Antichrist in Christianity, who is described as:
… a disbeliever who does not have more than one eye

which is located on his forehead and shines like a star. On
his forehead is written the following:
"He is a disbeliever", which every person, literate or
ignorant will be able to read. There will be an abundance
of food and a river of water with him at all the times. He
will ride a white donkey whose every step will span a mile.
At his command the sky will rain and the earth will grow
vegetation. The Earth will be at his discretion. He will
bring the dead back to life. He will cry out in a loud voice
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that will be heard all over the world saying: "I am your
almighty God who created you and who sustains you. Run
towards me!"1
Some of these conditions were, naively or owing to a lapse of

memory, borrowed from the past history of Shiite’s political struggles.
Shiites also knew about the return of Jesus. To make their story more
acceptable and at the same time not to contradict Christians’ claims they
combined the return of Mehdi with Jesus. Jesus, however, was given a
supporting role. He would appear behind Mehdi in their first public
prayer and then disappear completely from the scene in the Shiite
version.
Anyhow, according to the belief of Shia, Mehdi will surely return in
Mecca and will start his mission with 313 of his companions who will
emerge and gather around him within one hour. A much larger
combative army will join them afterwards. The mighty army will then
start their main mission, annihilating all despot rulers and their
unbeliever supporters. After the global blood bath he will bring the rule
of justice to all, which is the rule of God as revealed in the Quran, for a
specified period. This period is not accurately identified and depends on
the various sources.
For example, in one authentic religious statement, according to
Twelver Shia, we read that the Prophet Muhammad said;
Even if there were to remain in the existence of this world

but one day, surely God would prolong that day until He
appoint in it a man from my household. His name will be
the same as my name. He will fill the Earth with peace and
justice as it was filled with repression and tyranny.
The number 313 matches the number of the Prophet Muhammad’s

companions who fought beside him in their first battle against the pagan
Meccan army in 626 CE or 2 after Hijra (AH), according to the Islamic
lunar calendar. Like them, Mehdi and his companions would fight only
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with the sword and would exterminate all the unbelievers whatever their
numbers and their weapons.
By creating this story, Shiite establishment surrendered and left the
political scene. The story continues, however, that Mehdi has not
abandoned the faithful people altogether during his Major Occultation.
First of all, he appointed virtuous and knowledgeable Shiite
jurisprudents, religious scholars, as religious arbiters acting as his vice
regents for general religious matters. Believers should ask their
religious questions from them. They should also pay one fifth of certain
items of acquired wealth, or their equivalent values, in addition to their
due religious taxes, to whomever Shiite jurists they trust and follow.
Moreover, Imam is present during every annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
He also meets and consoles any believer in times of trouble and finally
he attends the funeral of every one of them who has no pending religious
obligations, such as outstanding mandatory payments!
This Shia vision portrays a bleak account for the whole life on Earth.
The world is the battlefield between Satan and God. According to this
scenario, God perpetually retreats from the power and prominence of
Satan and his armies on Earth and all he can muster is forty years, at
most, of peaceful and ethical ruling for his believers. The rest is left to
the devil and his human followers. One also wonders why God kept
sending prophets to guide people. If God has the power and will why
hasn’t he taken any action for the whole history of humanity?
Specifically, why didn’t he establish similar administrations as he has
planned to do on future return of Mehdi?
It seems that high ranking Shiite clergies just created the myth for
survival, trouble-free comfortable living and to cover their cowardice.
They also didn’t bother to think of the consequences of their vision
thoroughly. What they made sure of was their own financial wellbeing
by fleecing their trusting followers.
At any rate, Shiites have been passionately waiting for the
reappearance of Imam Mehdi for centuries. They plea to God for the
immediate return of Mehdi at least five times a day, at the end of five
obligatory daily prayers. Also, they gather together every Friday night
to recite a long special prayer, weeping and wailing and beseeching the
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return of their twelfth Imam from God. Moreover, each year on the
supposed birthday of Mehdi they hold different ceremonies, celebrating
his birthday and praying in expectation of his immediate return. Though
the official version of the story tells us that Imam Mehdi will not appear
in that month, in some cities young Shiites dress up in full military outfit
on Mehdi’s birthday to show their readiness for his imminent
appearance.
The Bab a Shiite Par Excellence
Iran has been under the brutal control of different tyrants after the
concealment (Major Occultation) of Mehdi. The most famous
tormenters, known to people outside Iran, were Genghis Khan (1162–
1227) and Tamerlane (Lame Timur, 1336–1405). But still there was no
sign of Mehdi’s return. The army of Genghis Khan invaded and sacked
Iran, killed all defending brave men, raped women and then shared them
among themselves. They destroyed every city that showed any signs of
resistance and even domestic animals were not spared.
For Muslims the humiliation was unbearable. But, thanks to
hedonistic and incompetent rulers, those catastrophes occurred and
afterwards Iran was plunged into a medieval state for centuries.
Eruption of different mystic sects was one of the consequences of the
harsh reality of their life after Genghis Khan’s invasion. But, apparently,
the total submission and the devastation were not enough for their
hidden Imam to return.
In 1848, not in the Americas, in which African-Americans were
crying for a genuine redeemer, but in Iran, a young Shiite clergy, Sayyed
Ali Muhammad Shirazi, the Bab, belonging to the mystic Shaykhi sect
of Shia, announced himself to be a prophet sent by God for the new era.
However, this announcement was not a straightforward one. He first
announced himself as a Bab to Mehdi in 1844. He claimed that he had
several visions of the martyred Imam Hussein, the third Imam of Shiites.
In one of these dreams, he apparently drank seven drops of blood from
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Imam’s severed head and thus was bestowed with the grace of God.
Consequently, all secrets were unfolded to him.38
There is no clear link between these visions and his claim to be a
Bab to Mehdi. But Shaykhis, like other exaggerators Shia or mystic
sects, had their own ways. They could claim to be anything by having a
vision and afterwards interpret it as they wished. This phenomenon had
deep roots in mystic circles. The Bab, like his predecessors, was
apparently practising and adding to his Shaykhi teaching and
contributing to the complex maze and myth of Shia.
Was there any special occurrence in Iran to effect a change in God’s
original plan? Apparently, there was no plan for yet another Bab to
Imam Mehdi or even a new prophet. Shiites were expecting the
triumphant return of Mehdi himself and the establishment of the
eventual justice, not another representative of or gateway to the hidden
Imam.
Iran in the middle of the nineteenth century was under the rule of
tyrant kings aided by the cruel administrations of local despots. The
kingdom was sandwiched between the colonial powers of the then
British and Russian Empires. After two disgraceful defeats at the hand
of the Russians it lost two big chunks of the country along with its pride
as an independent sovereignty. To regain its lost pride Afghanistan was
invaded, but to no avail, owing to the involvement of the British Empire.
Iran was then economically, militarily and politically a broken state.
Consequently, every ambitious local despot, tribal or otherwise,
planned for independence, territorial expansion, economical gains,
higher rank or title, putting more pressure on the people and the king’s
government. Corrupt and snobbish clergies, with their sizable wealth,
also had their own administrations and influences. The bankrupt king,
38
“The spirit of prayer which animates My soul is the direct consequence of a
dream which I had in the year before the declaration of My Mission. In My
vision I saw the head of the Imám Ḥusayn, the Siyyidu’sh-Shuhada’, which
was hanging upon a tree. Drops of blood dripped profusely from His lacerated
throat. With feelings of unsurpassed delight, I approached that tree and,
stretching forth My hands, gathered a few drops of that sacred blood, and drank
them devoutly. When I awoke, I felt that the Spirit of God had permeated and
taken possession of My soul. My heart was thrilled with the joy of His Divine
presence, and the mysteries of His Revelation were unfolded before My eyes
in all their glory.”, Down breaker, P. 163
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not able to rely on his people and army anymore, succumbed to the
pressures and influences of foreign powers. The majority of government
officials were then approved or even appointed by either the Russian or
British governments and, in effect, were paid by and representatives of
those foreign powers inside the court. But all things considered the
situation was not as bad as the invasion of say Genghis Khan or the rule
of Lame Timur. In fact, Iran was long ruled by alien tribal or foreign
powers with brutal diktats and for the majority of Iranians life was as
grim as ever.
But, according to Bahaullah, the next prophet after the Bab, there
were apparently some glaring signs which were missed or ignored by
all people around the word but majority of astronomers:
“Likewise, before the prophethood of Muhammad was

unveiled, the signs were made manifest in the visible
heaven. As to the signs of the invisible heaven, there
appeared four men who successively announced unto the
people the joyful tidings of the rise of that divine
Luminary. Ruzbih, later named Salman, was honoured by
being in their service. As the end of one of these
approached, he would send Ruzbih unto the other, until the
fourth who, feeling his death to be nigh, addressed Ruzbih
saying: “O Ruzbih! when you have taken up my body and
buried it, go to Ḥijáz for there the Daystar of Muhammad
will arise. Happy are you, for you shall behold His face!
And now concerning this wondrous and most exalted
Cause, the advent of the Bab. Know you verily that
majority of astronomers have announced the appearance of
its star in the visible heaven. Likewise, there appeared on
earth Ahmad and Kazim, those twin resplendent lights—
may God sanctify their resting-place! “39
39
Bahaullah, The Book of Certitude (Iqan), Translated by Shoghi Effendi – a
few minor changes in the translation is made for better clarity of the short
quoting.
117
As if God’s action or reaction was in harmony with the calendar, not

events as religious people mainly believe, the new prophet declared
himself almost one thousand lunar years after the commencement of the
Minor Occultation of the hidden Imam.
The Bab had already written his first Arabic book, Qayyum-ul-
Asma, in support of his claim as a Bab40. The book has also been known
as The Best of Stories, the First Book, the new Quran and the true Quran
among the followers of the Bab. In the first Chapter of the book, it is
claimed that it is given to the Bab by the hidden Imam. But is the book
the complete Quran that some Shiites expected to be revealed just before
the end of the world? The answer is simply no. It is not the anticipated
book by Shiites, which was supposed to be almost three times the size
of the existing Quran. The book is in fact written as a commentary of
the twelfth Chapter of the Quran. The name of this Chapter is Joseph
and has 111 versus.
Did he choose Chapter twelfth to relate it to Imam Mehdi, the twelfth
Imam? It is a good guess, as the Bab liked his Abjad41 numerals and
even the name of the book, Qayyum, chosen because its numeral value
is equal to Yusoph (Joseph). Qayyum, in the Quran, is one of the names
and attributes of God. It is also the attribute of an entity that is
responsible for managing the affairs of other beings by sustaining and
educating them.
But under the guise of commentary, all 111 Chapters of the First
Book are written to emphasize two issues, the legitimacy of the Bab as
the gateway to the hidden Imam and that everyone should eagerly accept
his legitimate claim42. The rest of the book is partial plagiarism of the
Quran which is used as embellishment and wrapping around the main
objectives of the book. It seems that the Bab, unlike the early four Babs
about one thousand years ago, was not satisfied with fabricating an
endorsed document merely to prove his linking with Imam Mehdi. The
40
The book was described by Bahaullah as the first, greatest and grandest of
all books. Kitab-I-Iqan, P 153-154
41
Computing the aggregate of the numerical value of Arabic letters in a word
the same as gematria in Hebrew.
42
Qayyum-ul-Asma, Ch 1, 8.
118
exposed book did not fit with what was expected from a Bab or even
Mehdi.
The copying of the style of the Quran is such that he even refers to
the Bab’s opponents as idolaters, polytheists or pagans43. He
subsequently orders his followers not to marry pagan women. The Bab
also copied some of the Quran’s punitive measures. For example, like
the Quran 4:92, one of the punishments for manslaughter is to set free a
Babi slave44. The same ruling is ordered for somebody making a false
statement on behalf of God45. It reaffirms fasting during the month of
Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca, prayer, Zakat (Islamic tax) and cutting
off the hands of a thief.46 Sometimes the copying is very confusing as
he orders people to fight the believers in the two famous idols in pre-
Islamic Arabia, Al-Laat and Al-Uza.47 Obviously those idols were
destroyed after the prophet Muhammad peacefully conquered Mecca
and emptied the house of idols. There were also no recognised group or
even individual devoted to those idols in any country in the nineteenth
century.
The book also reaffirms that good deed will not be of any use in the
afterlife if one denies Islam48. Also, that prophet Muhammad was the
last prophet49 but at the meantime presents his book on an equal footing
with the Quran suggesting the prophethood of the Bab 50. At the same
time in several occasion reiterate that he was just a humble Bab to
Mehdi;
43
Qayyum-ul-Asma, Ch 22, 23, 51, ...
44
Qayyum-ul-Asma, Ch 49
45
46
47
48
49
50
Qayyum-ul-Asma, Ch 4 and 55. The Quran 46:12 refers to the Torah as “And
before this (the Quran), was the Book of Moses as a guide and a mercy”. The
Bab refers to the Quran in the same manner. For example, in Ch 55 we read,
“Are you disbelieving in some parts of the book, which we had previously
revealed to Muhammad? And you disbelieve in some parts of this book. Do
not you fear God?”.
119
O people, I am the gateway (Bab) to your anticipated

Imam. … tell, I do not have any knowledge except what I
have been taught by my Imam51
Whoever announces “in fact I am the Bab” but you, We

will punish him in hell52
It is thus fair to say that the Bab in fact introduced a new religion by
writing his first book at the start of his mission as a Bab to the Imam
Mehdi. Claiming multiple identities was not a completely new
phenomenon. The Bab and some of his companions were certainly
influenced by a few prevailing ideas previously used by earlier esoteric
groups such as Ismailiyah and cryptic Messianic groups such as
Horufism (Letters-ism)53 and Nuqtavi (Dot-ism)54. Multiple identities
of the leaders of those groups were known facts. For example, the
founder of Horufism brought a new religion by mixing a selection of
earlier creeds that were known to him and then supposed that Islam was
abrogated by his new religion. He, meanwhile, thought he was Mehdi.55
Simply, they tried to be everything for everybody.
The Bab was well aware of esoteric ideas through his teachers in
Iraq. One of those ideas was the claim that what has been revealed in
the whole Quran is contained in the first Chapter of it, which further is
contained in the first sentence and even further is contained in the
meaning or interpretation of the first letter, or harf56 in Arabic.
Moreover, Nuqtavi which was branched from Horufism, claimed that
we should go one step further and believe that the whole Quran can be
interpreted from the meaning of the dot (Nuqta) under the same first
51
52
Qayyum-ul-Asma, Ch 59.
53
They claimed that the true meaning of the Quran can be understood only by
a Kabbalistic system of letters and that the whole content of the Quran is
contained in the first Chapter of it.
54
See for example Nuqtat'ul-Kaf, E.G. Browne, P. 4,5,13,14 … in which the
writer, Haji Mirza Jani Kashani, fills these pages with baseless and
scientifically rejected ideas and logics borrowed from Horufism, Nuqtavi and
Shaykhi sects.
55
Nuqtavis also declared the dawn of new era and thus the abrogation of Islam.
56
Horuf is the plural of Harf.
120
letter, ‫ب‬. They subsequently claimed to be the sole group gifted to

understand and disclose these hidden meanings.57
The mystic ideas of those esoteric groups have ever since
spread far, wide and very deep. After a while, almost every
orthodox and mystic group readily and openly accepted their
appealing thoughts. The influence was so widespread that even
Shiites scholars had no choice but to forge or plagiarize a hadith
to boast that their first Imam was the very dot below the first letter
of the Quran, ‫ب‬. The hadith was forged around eighth century AH
and has not been recorded in all four trusted Shia sources written
centuries earlier. The forger of the hadith blissfully forgot the
simple fact that the Qurans in the time of Imam Ali were written
in the Kufic style of Arabic script and had no dots in them.
One of the main ideas generally embraced by almost all
esoteric groups was the ability of any object to be the
manifestation of God. They apparently got this idea from the story
of Moses and the burning bush and argued that if the bush can be
the manifestation of God, so can anything else including any
human being. Thus, being Mehdi and at the same time
manifestation of God was a well-accepted concept among almost
all Shia and esoteric groups.
Another example of early esoteric Messianic influence is the
well know title of the Bab used by all Babis and Bahaiis “Nuqta-
yi Ula“, meaning the primal point.
Pointing to his Messianic mission, it is thus no wonder that the
Bab’s book is highly charged with holy war, martyrdom and even
killing.58 It also explains why not just one Chapter but three (98,
99 and 100) are named “Holy War” and four Chapters (96, 97,
57
Nuqtavis also believed that the soil is the primal point of existence but their
scientific believes are not relevant to our discussion.
58
121
10159 and 102) are named “War”. It is also no wonder that the
commands in say Chapter 100 are “kill every polytheists (non-
Babis) wherever you find them”, “buy weapon”, “thousands of
angles are going to help you in your war” and “angles are ordered
to cut the head of your enemies”. Chapter 101 orders “kill every
non-Babis” and “”do not kill non-Babis during the four nominated
forbidden months” and “resume killing non-Babis after the
forbidden months”. Similarly, the war command in Chapter 102
are “call to arms”, “believers must sell their lives in exchange for
the glorious paradise”, “not to leave any opponent on the face of
earth” and “God has decided to clean the earth from all
unbelievers”. Thus, there is no doubt that the Bab and his trusted
companions knew well the bitter consequences of his daring
challenge as he kept beating on the drum of the Holy War from
day one.
This new opportunity was opened to the Bab by Sheikh Ahmad
Ahsaii, the founder and popular leader of the Shaykhi sect, yet
another branch of Shia. Ahsaii was a genius in cut and paste or
pick and mix theology. He tried to explain his version of Shia with
the help of classic Greek and Islamic philosophy and the then
science of cosmology. But the vital ingredient of his knowledge
was his wild imagination. His outrageous inventiveness can be
demonstrated in his version of the birth of the Jesus Christ in the
so called “City of Women”60.
In response to an inquiry regarding the nature of the virgin birth
of Jesus, Ahsaii claimed that there is a city colonised by women
59
Chapter 101 is also called worship in some copies of the book
60
In this case Ahsaii has tried to mix three stories, the exotic mythical tree of
WaqWaq or the island of WaqWaq trees, the report of a tree in heaven called
Al-Muzna and the virgin birth of Jesus. According to one account WaqWaq
island was governed and inhabited only by women. The tree of Al-Muzna is
mentioned in a hadith in a trusted Hadith book in Shia, Al-Kafi V3, “there is a
tree in the Paradise called Al-Muzna. Whenever God wants to create a believer
with a drop of it (its fluid), then the drop does not even get to any plant or fruit
to be consumed by either a believer or an unbeliever, except God the Almighty
brings out a believer from that drop”.
122
only. In that city there is a tree which has a branch like the male
body and smells like semen. The women are impregnated by the
tree and only produce baby girls. However, the miracle of Jesus
is that he was born somehow from the copulation of the same tree
and Mary, with the intermediation of Archangel Gabriel, but the
new-born was not a girl but wondrously a boy.61
Based on his version of philosophy he denied physical/bodily
resurrection of the dead in the afterlife for which he was rejected as
heretic by some rival Shiite clergymen. However, when he was asked
about the nature of copulation in paradise, he claimed that every
copulation in heaven, between faithful men and houris, the beautiful
virgins of the Quranic paradise, will last for forty years and it will be
accomplished as commonly performed in this world. He thus had the
luxury of choosing any type of resurrection as he deemed right for the
occasion or audience.
Meanwhile, he accepted the myth that all the twelve Imams of Shia
are omnipresent and omniscient and human’s life and death is in their
hands. They are the real causes for the existence of the universe and
they are its administrators. He supported and spread his ideas about
Imams by writing sizeable four-volume commentary on a popular
pilgrims' prayer, Ziyarat-e-Jamia Kabeer, attributed to the tenth Imam,
Ali-al-Hadi. Two of four accepted Hadith collections in Shia as well as
Bihar al-Anwar have narrated the prayer.62
Shiites usually say this prayer in all Imams’ shrines. In fact, the
prayer can be regarded as the Manifesto of Shia. It is not only full of
exaggeration on the status of Imams but also opens the gates of further
imaginations and speculations to every Shiite as it is wide open to any
sort of interpretation. Excerpts of the prayer are quoted here to show the
very ideas used by Shaykhis and other heterodox groups, to support
61
Jawami-al-kalim, Risaliyyi Qatiffiyya.
62
Tahdhib al-Ahkam, V6, P95. Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih (For Him Who is
Not in the Presence of a Jurisprudent) V2 P609. Bihar al-Anwar V 102, P143.
This prayer is also included in a widely used prayers and supplications book,
mafatih al-jinan (Keys to Heavens)
123
their own special line of thinking, were in fact firmly rooted in Orthodox
Twelver Shia.
...
Peace be on you O the family of the Prophet
You are the seat of the Divine mission
Unto you the Angels turn
You are the destination of the Divine revelation
the originating source of mercy
the treasures of knowledge …
the leaders of all nations
You administer and distribute the bounties...
You direct and guide mankind
You protect and support lands
The doors to faith
the trustees of the All-beneficent Allah...
the wisdom of Allah is deposited with you
the secrets of Allah have been put in your safekeeping...
those who are in authority...
The store of His Knowledge
His argument, His path
His light, His proof...
The truly guided, the infallible...
He elected you to have His knowledge
He chose you to be aware of what issues forth or what comes to pass
placed His trust in you to let you know inside and out of His secrets...
made a choice of you to represent Him in His earth...
bear witness to the act of creation you witnessed all that has been
created by Allah...
because for His unavoidable decrees and plan He relies upon you...
you give witness to what takes place in this mortal world
And you are the interceders (for the believers) on the Day of
Judgement...
Allah created you in the form of light
then kept you closely attached with His Throne
until you were sent down in this world as a favour to us...
your special friendship with Him
and the closest nearness you have near Him
My father, mother, family, property and possessions are at your disposal
I beseech Allah and you to bear witness that I believe in you...
I know for sure that you will come back
I believe in your promised return
I anticipate and look for your just and fair order
I anticipate the advent of your State...
I believe in your invisibility visibility
Presence, absence
and in the first of you and the last of you
I entrust to you the total charge of everything concerning me...
till Allah the Supreme gives a new life to His Religion
through you
brings you back again in His ‘Days’
Manifest you to set up His fair and just rule
you take root in and take possession of His earth the world...
124
brought back during your reappearance

called upon to help you in your administration
honoured to live in your safe and sound supervision
right there in the middle of your 'days'
delighted and thrilled by seeing you in person...
Allah had created you in the first place
and then disclosed to you His plan of creation
on account of you He sent down abundant and far-spread rain
because of you the sky prevents itself from falling down
over the earth unless He permits
due to you He drives away troubles and dismisses hardships
with you is that with which His Messengers came down
And with which His Angels descended...
your words are final and decisive...
I implore to you to pardon my sins
And to intercede for me... (www.ziaraat.org)
This prayer clearly shows two facts

1. In Shia, God can be manifested in a human and a human can
have all the attributes of God.
2. The root and extent of Shiites’ exaggerations about the high
status of their Imams and their return to this world was not
new fabrication by Shaykhis. The myth well precedes that
of the hiding of imaginary Imam Mehdi. No wonder that
more than one hundred extremist Shiite groups have
regarded Ali, the first Imam of Shia (the fourth Islamic
leader after the Prophet Muhammad), as their omniscient
and omnipresent God.
Ahsaii, in his commentary, not only tried to rekindle some of the old
inflated, and sometimes mixed up, heretical Shia ideas about the prophet
Muhammad and Imams but also added some new concepts. Among his
proposed new ideas was the existence of a Perfect Shiite63, the Fourth
Pillar64, a mediator between the concealed Imam and people.
Undoubtedly, he implied his own mediation but not openly. What he
63
This can be another example of Nuqtavi influence. They introduced the idea
of perfect human, a celibate whose rank is wahid with the numerical value of
nineteen. They claimed a perfect human is in fact the same God of the sacred
books.
64
The five articles of faith in Shiah Islam are: belief in 1- oneness of God 2-
all previous Prophets 3- afterlife 4- God acts justly 5- divine appointment of
Imams. Kermani branch of Shaykhi openly dropped articles 3 and 4 and
introduced the Forth Pillar/Foundation. Tabrizi branch of Shaykhi follow the
orthodox line.
125
admitted was his ability to meet Imams in his dreams – apparently at

will - and asking their guidance on difficult religious and scientific
issues.
Accordingly, Sayyed Kazim Rashti, who was the successor to
Sheikh Ahsaii, also considered himself a mediator between the hidden
Imam and Shiites. What was also taken more seriously was that Imam’s
essence or spirit could also exist or float in some other people. This was
a crucial interpretation, enabling a Shaykhi to claim being the abode of
an Imam.
Both Ahsaii and Rashti were clever enough to give their arguments
sufficient twists and not deviate too far beyond the red lines of the then
accepted orthodox teaching of Shia or to upset contemporary Shiite
scholars. For example, Rashti did not openly or directly claim to be a
mediator between Imams and people but clearly implied this
responsibility in various ways such as:
“Whatever is revealed in the whole of the Quran is

included in its first Chapter which is included in its first
phrase (in the name of God - ‫ )ﺑﺴﻢ ﷲ‬which is included

in its first letter ( ‫ )ب‬which is included in its dot. 65
The
phrase "in the name of God" is the great name of God that
encompass all the names, and I wanted to explain this
phrase according to what I have learned from the third
Imam one magnificent and beyond description night …. I
asked His Holiness about the meaning of what his noble
father had articulated. The Imam, in my reply, gave general
answers and hints in which there are treasure troves of
secrets and enlightenment by which the doors were opened
for me and the means were provided until the divine
sciences and the heavenly mysteries were revealed to me,
which the pen is incapable of writing them.”66
65
This statement clearly shows the influence of peculiar ideas from earlier
Messianic groups such as Horufism and Nuqtavi.
66
Sharhe Qasideh
126
Both Ahsaii and Rashty also claimed knowing everything, to minute

details, about secret worlds. For example, Rashti produced a textual
map of a city in heaven comprising of countless regions. The first region
has thirty-one and the second thirty-nine areas/zones. Then he claimed
that, within the twenty second zone of the first region, there are three
hundred and sixty alleys. To show off the depth of his knowledge he
then churned out the weird names and a brief description of the
occupants of each alley. This essential information is covered in more
than twenty pages. A few brief ones are quoted: …
 The fourth zone abodes the three names of God - Allah, the Alive
and the Eternal.
 The fifth zone abodes the seventy-three names, of God, which
Adam knows twenty-five, Noah fifteen, Abraham eight, Musa
four, Jesus, the spirit of God, two, and the rest is all with our
Prophet Muhammad, but one of them. … and one of them is
exclusive to God Almighty that is the sun on the bottom of the
aforementioned sea?!.
 The twenty-second zone is the place of fire within the froth of the
sea, and it is the outward names of God that are itemised for the
lower worlds, and it is one of the names that filled the pillars of
everything and is in one of the zones of this region …
 …
 The seventeenth alley is owned by a man who is wearing a
garment made from brocade fabric and is called Shanoot.
 The eighteenth alley is owned by a woman named Tartirush that
is leaning on a bed.
 The nineteenth alley is owned by a man with a crown on his
head and a ring of camphor in his hand67, standing on a turbulent
water whose name is Kasha-an-aiu-yel
 The twentieth alley is owned by a speaking headless lion. His
name is Khayarsh Shorsh.
67
Most probably he refers to a ring similar to the one in the Faravahar, the
symbol of Zoroastrianism.
127
 The twenty-first alley owns by a watchful and horrifying wolf

whose name is Eirades.68
Eventually, the Bab, who was one of Rashti’s youngest and

inexperienced disciples, reaffirmed more openly in his first book that,
apart from himself, both Ahsaii and Rashti were also Babs to the hidden
Imam.69 Rashti predicted that Imam Mehdi would soon come out of
hiding, and thus he wouldn’t choose a successor. He asked his students
to disperse, relinquish their normal life in seeking and waiting for the
return of Imam Mehdi. Maybe the basis of his idea and prediction was
in some Hadiths (here Prophet Muhammad or other Shiite leader’s
statements) where the return of Mehdi was prophesized to be one
thousand years after his occultation.
This lack of clear direction added both to confusion and the sensation
of expectation among Rashti’s followers after his death. Some stayed in
Imam Ali’s shrine for a long period not knowing what was going to
happen. Eventually, all dispersed and gathered around several of his
disciples in various cities of Iran.
At the beginning, Rashti’s distinguished disciples didn’t dare to
claim being the person of Imam Mehdi since they had no evidential
proof and dare not do so. But, following the teaching of their previous
masters a few publicized themselves as Babs. One of them was
Karimkhan, the well-connected and prominent disciples of Rashti and
then self-appointed leader, declared himself a Bab and the sole point of
contact between the faithful Muslims and Imam Mehdi.
About this time and due to the 1000-year deadline several other
individuals, independent of the Shaykhi sect, had openly claimed to be
a Bab or Mehdi himself, each with specific but deceitful personal
objective. The Bab had no choice but to reject others’ claims with his
supposed revelation.
68
Sharhe Qasideh
69
Qayyum-ul-Asma, Ch 24 and 27
128
O polytheists do not accept any other Bab with the Bab,

God witnesses him. Your abode will be in the accursed and
dreadful hell fire, according to the judgment of the Book.70
These appearances of Mehdis and Babs were not new phenomena in

the Islamic world. Due to total domination of the ruling dictators and
narrow mindedness of religious establishments no other options could
be evolved. Therefore, there had been several emergences of Babs and
Mehdis during the Major Occultation of the Imam. They were either
executed or excommunicated by political or religious authorities.
Gradually, hopefuls became sufficiently clever not to nominate
themselves openly but apparently pushed to the scene by their followers
or by spreading their claim just as a rumour until enough power was
gained. Only a few pretenders such as Muhammad Moshasha71 in Iran
and Sayyed Muhammad Jaunpuri72 in India were successful enough to
gain reputation and substantial followers.
It should be reminded that all hopeful Mehdis knew the consequence
of their emergence/manifestation: bloodshed. For example, it is reported
that Muhammad Moshasha retreated to a mosque, before his open
announcement, crying for a year. When asked for the reason of his
lamentation he replied “I am crying for those countless people whom
are going to be killed by me”.73
After a pause and with the approach of one thousand years of the
concealment of the twelfth Imam, the Bab apparently climbed one step
higher on his divine mission and decided to announce himself Mehdi to
his close companions. He was probably encouraged in this stage by one
of his Shaykhi companions while he was still working on his book
Qayyum-ul-Asma.
Originally eighteen of Rashti’s disciples74 accepted his claims of
being either a Bab or Mehdi. To complete the chain of command he
appointed one of his followers as his Bab75, though apparently no one
70
71
1400 - 1461 CE
72
1443 – 1505 CE
73
Ahmad Kasravi, 500 Years History of Khozestan (in Farsi)
74
They are called Letters of the Living, huruf al-hayy.
75
129
respected the new arrangement and he was stuck with the name Bab
ever after.
According to the then established belief in Shia, the Bab needed to
comply with certain conditions under which Mehdi would reappear.
Obviously, he was born in Shiraz and was not the son of the eleventh
Imam and a maidservant, who disappeared about one thousand years
ago. Besides, he had not been in hiding throughout his life, but nobody
was prompted to ask these questions. The atmosphere of expectation
and the new Shaykhi twists made those questions irrelevant. The issue
of the day was the reappearance of the Imam not enquiry about his
origin. But still some signs were necessary for Mehdi’s grand return. He
knew the signs for the manifestation of Mehdi; two of these could be
easily achieved:
 Imam will announce the first stage of his mission to his close
companions in Mecca. This initial announcement will be
followed by an open announcement in Mecca and Karbala (or
Kufah in Iraq) and he will make these two cities his command
centres.
 Some faithful individuals with black standards (banners and
flags) will appear and join him from Khorasan, a province in the
North East of modern Iran.
As mentioned before, the conditions for the return of Mehdi were

numerous and extraordinary, thus impossible to fulfil. But, as the time
was ripe, for hopeful and gullible people, one or two achievable signs
were more than enough. He and his disciples decided to enact the
emerging scenario verbatim, as far as they could. He determined to
travel to Mecca with one of his disciples, Quddus, during the pilgrimage
period and fulfil one of the prophecies. He would then announce his
mission and proceed to Medina (the second most holy city after Mecca
for Muslims) to summon and equip his formidable army. They would
then proceed to Karbala to start the total annihilation of non-believers
and the setting up of the last and global government on earth.
130
Several of the Bab’s followers were asked to travel to Khorasan in

the North East of Iran to announce the imminent return of Imam Mehdi.
They planned to be armed, battle ready and emotionally charged when
proceeding from Khorasan towards Karbala with black banners. They
would then join the Bab there as a cataclysmic sign that the promised
and final holy war was about to begin. A few travelled to Karbala and
Najaf in Iraq to announce the return of the Imam and make necessary
preparation for the coming together of all parties.
It is worth noting that the second condition for the reappearance of
Mehdi was religious-political-military propaganda by promoters of the
Abbasid dynasty against the Umayyad government about one hundred
and sixteen years after Prophet Muhammad’s death. Abbasid bore black
flags and their first successful armed struggle started in the North East
of Iran. As part of their well thought out subversive plan the Abbasid
leaders mobilised people with this religious propaganda proclaiming
that when the black flags appeared from that area it would be a sign of
the end of oppression, cruelty and suffering and the beginning of liberty,
justice and happiness.
This effective propaganda was included, out of ignorance or
deliberately, in the list of conditions of the returning of Mehdi and
accepted by Shiite scholars in their books. If the Bab or his companions
had known that there were originally only two conditions, which were
supposedly set by Imam Mehdi himself in a letter disclosed by the
fourth Bab, they would not have needed to go to all the troubles. Also,
if he could deliver the expected results and overcome the world, why
should the Bab, his followers or anyone be at all bothered about the
signs of this reappearance? Surely, they either knew that they were just
playing a deceitful game or completely deluded.
The Bab declared himself Mehdi in Mecca without success as
nothing extraordinary happened. To his chagrin, God didn’t show any
sign of support. No voice was heard from heaven announcing his
mission, Jesus didn’t descend from the sky to pray behind him and the
Sun didn’t rise from the West, as was anticipated. Dead but righteous
people who were supposed to rise from their graves and gather around
him to complete his 313 companions to start off the mission with their
131
mighty swords didn’t materialize either. Later, in his famous book,

Persian (Farsi) Bayan, the Bab blamed the people for his failure, not
himself or God. He recalled the experience as follows
The prophet Muhammad appointed the ritual of Hajj 1270

lunar years ago. Ever since each year seventy thousand
people have circumambulated the house of God as an
obligatory practice of the Islamic pilgrimage. But since the
appearance of the Founder of the House (the Bab), no
single soul has recognized his presence and objective.
Thus, none reaped its benefit.76
The announcement was also made in Najaf and Karbala. A huge

crowd gathered impatiently around the mausoleum of the third Imam
expecting the reappearance of the Mehdi at any moment. It seemed that
their prayers had been answered at last. What a privilege to serve in
Imam Mehdi’s army. However, the heartbroken Bab either didn’t bother
or didn’t dare to go and openly announce his mission in Karbala too and
he returned to Iran heartbroken.
But in Iran the situation was more promising as his armed followers
had already announced the end of tyranny and the dawn of justice while
proceeding from Khorasan carrying black flags and banners.77 Though
they also faced some operational interruptions but managed to announce
the good news, the imminent reappearance of Imam Mehdi in Mecca,
in a few villages in north-east of the country. They asked the nation to
join righteous people to help initiate the rule of God once and forever.
Believers and seekers of justice were urged to prepare themselves to
join him in the last and victorious crusade, lest they were on the wrong
side of the prophesised cosmic battle between God and Satan. Shiites
were familiar with the supposed prediction of the Prophet Muhammad
regarding the emergence of Imam Mehdi.
76
Persian Bayan, Unit 4, Chapter 16
77
Their main slogan in Mashhad, Khorasan was ya Sahibüzzaman (literally O
The owner of time) which is one of the popular titles of Mehdi. See Tarikh
Nabil (Matale-al-Anwar) P. 257
132
When the time of the emergence arrives, God will bring

the sword and the flag of the Mehdi to a sound/cry calling
out: 'O God's friend, rise and kill the enemy of God!'78
Therefore, they initially didn’t hesitate to join the army of God and
Mehdi. Those who heard the message were really thrilled. But the
excitement of the people caused by the simple, bold and rallying claim
of a few followers of the Bab took the movement on a collision course
with orthodox Shia clergymen and terrified local rulers. With the Imam
on his path to power, the authorities of both groups were in jeopardy. In
fact, the Shiite jurisprudents were supposed to hold authority only
during the absence of Imam Mehdi. They, therefore, investigated the
matter more intently and justifiably enquired about the sure signs of his
return.
The Bab couldn’t prove to the Shiite clergies that he was a mediator
to Imam since the theology of orthodox Shia had already sealed that
pathway. But being an Imam was possible. However, according to the
same theology he couldn’t prove being the Imam himself since neither
clear extraordinary signs nor concrete results of his dramatic
reappearance had been fulfilled. Consequently, on his return from
Mecca he only withdrew the claim of being a Bab to Mehdi and kept
quiet about the higher claim. But he was nonetheless flogged for his
false claim and for being the cause of such a terrifying commotion
among the masses.
The problem for the authorities was that Pandora’s Box was already
open and closing it was futile since his Shaykhi followers were as active
and determined as the Bab. He nevertheless was put under house arrest
and finally imprisoned in Shiraz. Apart from about six months in
Isfahan where he was under the protection of the local ruler he was not
released throughout the rest of his rather short life. Thus, he was,
ironically, a mysterious and hidden figure to his disciples and followers
and perhaps could only communicate with them through second level
Babs or gateways.
78
Amini (Ayatollah) I., Abdulaziz Sachedina (tr.), Al-Mahdi; The Just
Leader of Humanity, Islamic Education Center-Canada, 1996
133
The Bab had a talent. His handwriting was beautiful and he could
write extremely fast. He could not stop himself writing down answers,
even to verbal questions in an ordinary conversation, so as to display
his talent. His answers like some of his other writings contained lengthy
repetitive praise of God, which were usually borrowed from the Quran
and other Islamic religious texts in Arabic. He could easily fill up a few
pages before the main point was made, if any. He prided himself for
being able to write a thousand verses within five hours without any
thought or pause of his pen. This is colossal in comparison to about
6,600 verses in the Quran, which was manifestly revealed during
twenty-three years. In total what is left from his six-year mission is
collected in more than seventy volumes.
In prison the Bab decided that being a Bab or Mehdi was not
sufficient or fulfilling and went one step further. A Mehdi confined to a
prison cell and possessing the talent of speed writing could not achieve
very much. He couldn’t overcome the world purely with his claims and
promised majestic swords in the hands of his followers. Thus, he wanted
to overcome it with his fast though shaky pen. This time he openly
emphasised his claim of being a new prophet.
As Bab or Imam Mehdi, he was only able to bring the justice that
was specified in Islam. Now, being a prophet, he was no longer
committed to the previous rule or revelation. In the past, he had to abide
by difficult and insurmountable conditions. Now he made the conditions
and rules himself. Thus, supposedly, God gave him a new mission. The
gate of the Imam Mehdi becomes the gate of God. He thus started
writing his book, the Arabic Bayan (Explanation), emphasizing more
on his prophethood in comparison to his first book. Bayan was
introduced as a new rule for the new era, a religion purported to be in
line with other Abrahamic religions by approving all previous prophets.
If God asked, 'Whose book is the Quran?' All the faithful

would reply, 'It is God’s Book.' God would continue, 'Is
there any difference between the Quran and the Bayan?'
The broadminded people would answer, 'No, by God, both
are from our Lord.'... God then revealed, 'The Quran was
134
my Word by the tongue of Muhammad the Prophet of God,

and this Bayan is my Word by the tongue of the Essence
of the Seven Letters, the Gate of God (the Bab) ... 79
Moreover, he claimed that his books were his miracles as God’s

outstanding inspired scriptures.
... and whenever somebody imagines the emergence of this

Tree (the Bab) would certainly confirm the supremacy of
God’s masterpiece. The reason is that a twenty-four-year-
old person, who has no knowledge as formally taught to
everyone, can recite divine verses without thought or
hesitation. And he writes a thousand verses of prayer
within five hours without pause of the pen. Moreover, he
produces commentaries (of the Quran) and other scientific
subjects on lofty stages of knowledge of God and his
oneness, such that religious scholars and philosophers duly
confess not being able to comprehend. Undoubtedly, all
those abilities (miracles) are bestowed by God ... 80
The summary of this Chapter is that no one is able to

comprehend what God has revealed in the Bayan save 'He
whom God shall manifest' or those whom God bestows
His knowledge to them … 81
Was the speed of his writing of any use to his society? What was the
precious and urging reason for producing copious unfathomable tomes?
If the Bab’s writing was not even comprehensible by well-read scholars,
then what was the reason for producing them as a cannon of a new
religion?
It should be noted that the official language of Iran was Farsi and not
Arabic. Besides Farsi, people used their ethnic languages like Turkish,
79
80
81
135
Kurdish and other dialects. Arabic was and is the ethnic language of less
than 2% of the population. Although a majority of literate Farsi
speaking Iranians used borrowed Arabic words in their languages,
mainly in their writings, they could not understand or speak Arabic.
Arabic was the language of the seminaries because the Quran and other
Islamic sources were generally written in that language.
The Bab, following the tradition of the seminaries, tried initially to
write his books in Arabic. However, he was not an Arab and could not
write correctly and fluently in that language so he wrote some words
that hitherto were unknown in Arabic or even in Farsi. He also used
words with the alphabetic letters exclusive to Farsi in his Arabic
writings - the Farsi alphabet having four more letters. Whenever it was
not possible to borrow Arabic texts from an Islamic source or he had to
explain something new he simply switched to Farsi language. This is
clearly demonstrated in Chapter One of the Arabic Bayan. In short, he
insisted on writing in Arabic language though he was not capable of
writing grammatically correct sentences. Consequently, his books were
the source of embarrassment to his educated followers, despite the fact
that he tried hard to strengthen his style by imitating Quranic verses.
Maybe due to his incompetence he abandoned the Arabic Bayan
after mere 68 pages. He planned to complete the book by writing 19
Units each containing 19 Chapters but only managed finishing 11 Units
with noticeably short Chapters. He then started writing the Bayan in
Farsi for non-Arabs, targeting for the same numbers of Units.
The Persian Bayan is a completely different book from the Arabic
Bayan but is still full of Arabic words and meaningless sentences so that
some parts are incomprehensible to both Arabs and Farsi speakers. Then
again, he didn’t finish the Persian Bayan either. He managed to write up
to Chapter 10 of Unit 9 in 588 pages, according to one manuscript, and
asked his successor to complete both Arabic and Farsi works after his
death. Instead, he busied himself with writing a summary for the Bayan
and an incomplete commentary on the summary, or other miscellaneous
writings such as prayers and tablets. The Bab successor did not
complete the Arabic Bayan!
136
The Bab was well aware of his incorrect Arabic writings but couldn’t
offer a reasonable justification for his illiteracy. To counteract the bad
effect of his erroneous writings he claimed that God had liberated
grammar, on his request, from its confinement due to a sin it once
committed! With such an excuse he liberated himself from writing
correctly and illegibly.82
The Bab had no choice but to confess that the omniscient God was
not the real writer of the erroneous and inexplicable writings. He then
grudgingly admitted that the real owner and writer of the book was
himself but he still took pride of his own ignorance.
Any criticism is refuted should it focus on vocalization and

textual readings or Arabic grammar. For grammatical rules
are derived from the verses not the verses should obey the
rules. Moreover, it goes without saying that the creator of
these verses has rejected these rules and their knowledge
for himself. For broadminded people, on the contrary, no
testimony is greater than revealing such these verses and
lofty words while being ignorant of those rules. This is
because the objective of these sciences is the
understanding of God's Book. Hence the knowledge of
these sciences was not and is not necessary for any prophet
who reveals the Book of God. 83
The problem was that the Bab assumed all his writings, especially
both unfinished Bayan books, to be not only his revealed books but also
miracles through which his divine mission was verified. In the
meantime, he rejected one of the criteria necessary for validation of his
miracle and claims.
Being brought up in a Shaykhi school the Bab also mixed every
extremist idea together. His books are thus not only a mixture of two
languages with many hitherto unheard words but also a confusing
82
The Emperor Sigismund’s response was more eloquent in the similar
situation. When he was criticised for his ungrammatical Latin speech, he
replied ‘I am the Emperor and above grammar’.
83
137
mixture of all his wild claims. For instance, as Imam Mehdi, according
to the established teaching of orthodox Shia, he was not supposed to
produce a new scripture. But he laid down the laws of the new religion
in Persian Bayan and at the same time he confirmed that he was still the
promised messianic figure of Mehdi, expected by Shia. In fact, after
announcing the return of the prophet Muhammad, his daughter and
eleven infallible Shia leaders and their followers and everyone else to
the world, he consequently introduced himself as the return of Imam
Mehdi!
The summary of this chapter is that the Prophet

Muhammad ... returned to the world and he was the first
servant of God to ... spread the revelation of his Bab to
everyone.
...
… Ali - the first Imam of Shia - has returned to this world
with whoever believed in him and whoever else and he is
the second person to believe in the Point, after the letter S
(sein)!
… Fatima, Muhammad’s daughter, has returned to the
world with whoever believed in her and whoever else …
…
… Musa-abn-Jafar (the seventh Imam) has returned to the
world with whoever believed in him and whoever else …
…
… Hasan-ibn-Ali (the eleventh Imam) has returned to the
world …
... His Holiness Imam Mehdi appeared with verses and
expositions as the revelation to Nuqta-i-Bayan (the Bab)
which is the same as revelation to Muhammad – the Quran
- … . 84
84
Persian Bayan, Unit 1, Chapter 2-15
138
The Persian Bayan also tells us about the return of the four original
Babs, during the short occultation of Mehdi, and their followers.85
Who and where were the seventeen people who had returned to this
world with the Bab? It seems that, based on the Persian Bayan, they
were in fact representing the first eighteen disciples of the Bab, which
are called the Letters of the Living. For example, Qurrat-ul-Ain was in
fact Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad. This does not add up,
since the Bab purports himself as the return of Imam Mehdi and thus
there is a shortage of one saint.
What about “their followers and whoever else”? It seems the Bab
believed that a kind of afterlife had already started and he and all his
disciples and contemporaries were in fact the return of Muhammad,
Imams, their followers and their enemies who were reliving a new cycle
of life. Whatever the case may be, the Bab, as usual, didn’t go beyond
the mesmerising claims to clarify the issue in the Persian Bayan.
Nonetheless, his claims were still in accordance with the Shia
manifesto, Ziyarat-e-Jamia Kabeer. The Bab knew this well and
referred to the prayer in the Persian Bayan to justify some of his
claims86.
In fact, the Bab didn’t cease pronouncing his many new claims,
receiving support from some far-flung Quranic interpretations, Hadith
(here, the record of sayings of the prophet Muhammad, Shiite Imams
and saints) literature peppered by peculiar extremist or exaggerator Shia
and Shaykhi viewpoints. His next open claim was that he was the
manifestation of God, again under the influence of weird Shaykhi
philosophy which imitated ideas from other extremist Shia groups
including Horufism and Nuqtavi ideas. In this new characteristic he
moved on from the Bab of God and announced himself God’s essence,
existence and reality.
85
Abbas Amanat in Resurrection and Renewal, p 191 has changed the four
Babs to four archangels.
86
Unit 4 Chapter 11
139
Verily Ali before Nabil (the Bab) is God’s essence and his
existence. 87
For the rest of his short life, he simply juggled with his claims
according to the situation and the audience. However, almost all of his
early followers who were not in direct contact with him and his
numerous writings believed him to be just a Bab to Mehdi or at most
Imam Mehdi.
Every Babi (follower of the Bab) had a different idea about

the Bab. Some recognized him to be the gate to wilayat (a
Shia term, meaning the authority invested in certain
Prophets and Imams as representatives of God on the
planet earth); some expected him to be the gate (Bab) to
the Promised Mehdi; some thought him to be Imam
Mehdi; only a very few believed him to be the gate of the
Most Great Manifestation. Nonetheless, all were in
agreement of his truth.88
His disciples referred to him, especially after his death, with a

mixture of his earlier and later claims.
The Bab, the Lord, the most exalted, may the life of all be
a sacrifice unto Him89
One should be reminded again that in Shia Islam, these kinds of

claims were neither new nor unusual. The history of Islam and
specifically Shia is full of unusual claims by many pious individuals and
zealous sects. According to Abrahamic religions a prophet had to bring
87
The Talisman of the Religion, Chapter 1 - Ali before Nabil stands for Ali
Muhammad, the Bab, Nabil being numerically equivalent to
Muhammad. This is a peculiar reference to the Bab which was common
among Babis. For example, see Facsimile of Baha's letter to Sayyid Ali
Akbar.
88
Tarikh-i Waqayi‘-i Zanjan by Mirza Husayn-i Zanjani
89
Iqan, Bahaullah
140
miracles as proof of being a simple messenger of God. But Shia clergies

had created such a mentality among themselves and their followers that
they were able to attribute anything to their Imams without a shred of
evidence or any divine support. For example, as mentioned before,
mainstream orthodox Shia clergy believe that all Imams are
representatives of God in the world. Moreover, God has bestowed them
the supervision over the world. In fact, the universe exists because of
them.
It is completely normal for Shiites to call, not only upon Imams, but
also close relatives of Imams for help and cure, despite the fact that they
are long dead. This normal behaviour originates from the idea that they
believe not only Imams but their close relatives are alive, omnipresent
and ready in your service. The existence of tens of thousands of shrines
in Iran is good evidence to this phenomenon.
Some Shiite scholars try to justify the calling for Imams merely for
intersession. This sort of justification is similar to those of Arab pagans
during the advent of Islam. As recoded in the Quran, they used to come
up with similar reasoning regarding the worshiping of their idols.
Moreover, even if their explanation is justified, it still implies that
Imams can hear everybody everywhere and can judge the faithfulness
and sincerity of people. That means they are alive, omnipresent and
omniscient.
Outside the realm of orthodox Shia these kinds of claims have been
gradually stretched and evolved to ideas with wider varieties and
scopes. For example, the followers of numerous groups of exaggerating
Shia believed that Ali actually is God and other Imams are semi-Gods.
Some Sufi and mystic sects believed that not only Prophets and Imams
but also their leaders were manifestations of God. The Bab tries to use
this mythical status of Imams in Persian Bayan90 for justification of his
own status.
It should be noted that various sect leaders employed this strategy
for establishing their own utmost authority on followers. They even
rumoured numerous miracles, suggesting a special contact with God or
the secret world.
90
Unit 6 Chapter 13
141
These myths were so widespread that, for example, several highly

respected orthodox Shiite scholars were believed to be able to travel
round the earth, some in a blink of an eye. The Journey was routinely
supposed to be accomplished during the night to prevent inquisitive
followers asking detailed questions about other continents and their
fauna or anything else that might disprove their ability. In the past,
hardly anybody knew that when a part of the Earth was in pitch-black
darkness, the opposing side was under the glittering light of the Sun.
Thus, with such abounding false claims and gullible audiences the sky
was the limit for the Bab.
The puppet tyrants of national and local governments eased the
Bab’s task by making life miserable for ordinary people so that the
oppressed people were more than happy to support him in order to get
rid of the dire subjugation. Certainly, all of them were familiar with the
necessary signs for the reappearance of the Imam Mehdi. Thus,
although the Bab was restricted to his prison cell, his followers could
point their finger at the immense corruption and injustice, one of the
important signs for Mehdi’s emergence. It wasn’t too difficult to show
that the country was in a dire situation and then justify the imminent
return of the hidden Imam.
While the Bab couldn’t muster and command the promised army in
Mecca, he was relieved to hear that his followers were taking up arms
and had started the sacred battle, jihad or Holy War, in different cities
in Iran in order to get rid of the corrupt system and replace it with a
righteous one.
Despite all the advantages, Bab’s original success was limited.
Approximately sixty percent of the Bab followers were mystic Shaykhi
clergies91. This fact was one of the strong reasons for the limited success
of the movement as its followers were not entirely dependent on the
Bab’s teaching. In fact, his writings, though extensive, were not readily
available to them to the point that even Bahaullah claimed he had no
access to Bayan92. Moreover, if they had access, his writings were so
91
The Babi and Baha'i Religions: From Messianic Shi'ism to a World Religion,
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987
92
The Babi and Baha'i Religions: From Messianic Shi'ism to a World Religion,
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987
142
unfathomable, worthless and repetitive that not even his disciples

bothered to read them. Babi literature usually referred to the Quran or
other Islamic books to substantiate some of their own claims not the
Bab’s numerous writings.
Consequently, there was no single doctrine among his disciples or
followers. This was also due to the Bab’s several claims and the
endemic Shaykhi custom of self-aggrandisement among his followers.
In fact, almost all his disciples were under the impression that they were
divinely connected individuals. Thus, they had the luxury of choosing
whatever ideology they fancied to fulfil their dreams or ambitions.
Moreover, since the Bab was not at liberty to stamp his authority on the
organisation, all his disciples were free to do whatever they found
necessary for the movement. But, except for a few, there is no indication
that his followers were more intelligent or free from the Messianic
delusion than the Bab himself. They were so imbued with myth and
false prophecies that they were almost blind to their social problems,
especially the pressing political and economic dilemmas of their time.
The First Book of the Bab is a good evidence for their attitude to life
and society.
The Bab’s disciples were busy giving themselves pompous names,
following a leader who gave himself several titles such as “Primal
Point” and claiming the station or possession of primal knowledge from
which everything else has been created. Besides, the Bab granted his
early disciples with specific names of God93 such as The Greatest,
Greater Unity, Conqueror and so on. Some of these titles were
understood to be a manifestation of the specific attribute of God.
Following the Shaykhi tradition, some of his followers prided
themselves on being able to write commentaries about one letter (not
word) of the Quran in three or more volumes. God knows what the
difference is between a letter of Arabic alphabet and a letter of the
Quran, which needs so much explanation? It is as if somebody tries to
explain the religious meaning of the letter I in the first sentence of the
93
Studies in Babi and Bahai History: In Iran, Studies in Babi and Baha'I
History, Vol 3, Los Angeles, Kalimat Press, 1986
143
Genesis, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, in a
large book.
At any rate, while Babis leaders were boasting of their Quranic
knowledge, they simultaneously tried to abrogate the current religious
principles and moral codes with blatant dishonesty, cheating their
trusting followers. Some disciples and followers freed themselves from
any religious obligations and announced that the Babis were allowed to
break the existing Islamic laws and moral practices until the arrival of
the Bab’s new revelation and code of conduct, ignoring the declarations
in the Bab’s first book that the law of God is irrefutable and everlasting.
The main reason for this decision stems from Shaykhis’ and mystics’
contempt of the law and any legal system.
This antinomian behavior, or at least the rumor of it, was one of the
important negative factors which halted the spread of the Babi faith
inside Iran. Another damaging move by the Bab and his followers was
that they didn’t notice the integrity, vision and independent character of
the prime minister of the time, Amir Kabir. They might have helped him
on his crusade against injustice, appalling foreign influence, tribal
incursion, corruption, poverty, illiteracy and backwardness. Instead,
they became another thorn in his flesh by launching a religious
rebellion. They thoughtlessly attacked government troops while
chanting and crying out different titles of Imam Mehdi as their Jihad
(holy war) slogan.
To fuel the fire, they tried their best to count their numbers in any
uprising as the magic number of 313. While the West was advancing
towards a higher level of technology and cultural and scientific
revolution were gathering momentum, the best endeavours of the
followers of the Bab was the making of rudimentary weapons because
of the myth that followers of the hidden Imam would fight with the
sword to their absolute victory. To prove that the myth really worked,
they created more supporting lies as true testimony to the falsehood.
Then I saw Mulla Husayn unsheathe his sword and raise

his face towards heaven, and heard him exclaim: `O God I
here completed the proof to this host, but it avails not.'
144
Then he began to attack us on the right and on the left I

swear by God that on that day he wielded the sword in such
wise as transcends the power of man. Only the horsemen
of Mazindaran (a province in the North of Iran) held their
ground and refused to flee. And when Mulla Husayn was
well warmed to the fray, he overtook a fugitive soldier.
The soldier sheltered himself behind a tree, and further
strove to shield himself with his musket. Mulla Husayn
dealt him such a blow with his sword that he clave him and
the tree and the musket into six pieces."94
The Bab himself churned out countless writings in which he neither

bothered to cite the overwhelming problems of the society in which he
lived nor specify the roots of corruption and autocracy. Proposing any
solution is obviously out of the question. He was so far away from
reality that apart from regularly altering his mission and entity, praising
God in writing with lengthy, meaningless and repetitive sentences he
spent time writing lengthy pilgrimage prayers, another Shia legacy. He
also busied himself changing the calendar and producing talismans. By
consecrating the number nineteen, he used it as the basis of an unusual
calendar. He established nineteen-day-months with a new name for each
month in a nineteen-month-year.95 He also renamed the days of the
week. Meanwhile, he encouraged his followers in their battle by
writing;
God has made it compulsory on all Babi Kings to stamp

out all who do not believe this religion. This applies to all
people, except merchants who are in advantageous trade
to Babis, like the Letters of the Gospel ... The exception
only applies to merchants who trade on a large scale ...96
94
Tarikh-i-Jadid
95
The Bab plagiarized his calendar from an earlier messianic group, the Nuqtavi.
He probably copied the periodic concept of history and the central importance
of number 19 from the same group.
96
Bayan, Unit 7, Chapter 16
145
God has himself affirmed through what he has revealed in

his book that one of his righteous people will overcome
one hundred of their enemies, and one hundred of them
will overcome one thousand, and one thousand will
overcome the whole population of earth.2
With such mentality and revealed texts he was responsible for

creating a false prophecy which encouraged thousands of his followers
to fight for him and to get wiped out while, according to the revelations,
they should have won.
If the Bab had one iota of intelligence, he might have exploited the
scandalous political, economic and cultural situation of the times and
won himself credence, honour and leadership. But, unfortunately, until
the final moments of his life he tried to prove that he was living in a
fairyland. His instruction regarding literature and seeking knowledge is
a clear example of his complete ignorance and utter selfishness:
It is not permitted to teach any book except Bayan. It is

permitted for an author to write and teach if the subject is
within the doctrine of the Bab … . All useless knowledge
such as logic, principles of Sharia law, philosophy, archaic
linguistics/languages and other similar sciences are
forbidden. From grammar and syntax, only a minimum
knowledge of these subjects is sufficient … to read Bayan.
However, this is not necessary for Iranians, since they can
easily understand Persian Bayan. … one must not read
more than the essence of Bayan, nor any book other than
this book. This is the righteous path for a seeker and learner
of knowledge until the day when the Truth is established.97
The command is to destroy all books except those written

or shall be written in this religion. … If the command for a
97
146
sacred book is such, what do you expect the ruling to be

for books written by creatures, …?98
Also, in the Arabic Bayan, he reaffirms that it is unlawful to possess

more than one book. Those who disobey this divine instruction should
pay 19 Mithqāl, equal to 80.75 grams, of gold as due punishment. One
then wonders why it even did not occur to the Bab that he must complete
at least one of the two Bayans and stop writing any more books after
them. But he left both Persian and Arabic Bayans incomplete and
carried on writing other books. He even managed to write one of his
massive books, Book of Divine Names during the last two years of his
life.99
The Bab was flogged a few times after he became speechless in his
debate sessions with Shia scholars. Then he had no alternative but to
recant from his claims, at least once in writing, only to reclaim it later.
In these debates, arranged by government officials, he didn’t produce
one logical sentence. He did not mention the oppressed people,
corruption, social dilemmas or his plan and mission to solve them.
In his first encounter, in the city of Shiraz, he simply pronounced his
claim and was forced to renounce it in the pulpit. In Isfahan, he just
exhibited his beautiful and articulate handwriting of repetitive and
sometimes meaningless praise of God without indicating his real
identity and mission.
In his last debate, in the city of Tabriz and in the presence of the
Crown Prince of Iran, he just repeated his claim referring to the
unrelated Hadith (statement) of some Islamic figures for his support. He
98
Persian Bayan, Unit VI, Chapter 6
99
Book of Divine Names is estimated to be more than 2500, and even 3000,
pages. It is like a very long prayer book usually read in shrines by Shiites
pilgrims and totally devoid of any meaning. Browne introduces the book as
follows: “Of all the Bab's writings no category is so unintelligible, and, to the
ordinary reader, so tedious and so unprofitable as this.”, Edward. G. Browne,
Cambridge, 1926, p 206.
MacEoin has a similar opinion: "One of the most puzzling of the Bāb's works
is his lengthy and tortuous Kitab al-asma', ... This huge book consists mainly
of lengthy variations of invocations of the names of God. Its aim, ... is to
enumerate each divine name of which a specific believer is to be regarded as a
manifestation.”, The Sources for Early Babi Doctrine and History: A Survey
Denis MacEoin, Leiden: Brill, 1992, P 91.
147
also claimed that he could reveal a chapter like a chapter in the Quran
under the subject of “my walking stick”. Shiite scholars showed their
ignorance too by asking unrelated and unintelligent religious questions.
Poor Bab either admitted ignorance by staying silent or answered them
wrongly creating a comical situation. In this last debate with Shiite
scholars, he used Abjad as proof of being a Bab or gateway to Imam
Mehdi. Some samples of the dialogue conducted in Tabriz are quoted
here from a Bahaii source:
…
Ques.: Then you are the Gate of the City of Knowledge?
Bab: Yes.
…
Ques.: I ask, then, in medicine, what occurs in the stomach when
a person suffers from indigestion? Why are some cases
amenable to treatment? And why do some go on to
permanent dyspepsia or syncope, or terminate in
hypochondriasis?
Bab: I have not studied medicine.
…
Ques.: If you were in doubt between two and three rakahs, what
would you do?' (Rakah is the unit of Islamic prayer, for
example, Morning Prayer is two and Noon Prayer is four
rakahs).
Bab: I would assume two.
Reply: O impious one! You do not even know what to do in cases
of doubt in prayer and yet you claim to be the Bab!
Bab: I would assume three.
Reply: Evidently if it is not two, you must say three.
…
Ques.: The Lord of the Universe has said, "And know that
whenever you seize anything as a spoil, to God belongs a
fifth thereof, and to His Apostle..." (Quran 8:42), while
you in your Bayan say "a third thereof". On what authority
and why?
148
Bab: A third is a half of a fifth. What difference does it make?

Ques.: In how many ways is nine divisible?
Bab: No reply.
…
Bab: 'My name Ali Mohammed corresponds with Rabb
(Lord)' (In Arabic language the sum of the numerical
values of the letters in Ali Mohammed is 202 which is
also equivalent to the sum of the numerical value of
Rabb)
Reply: Every Ali Mohammed and Mohammed Ali corresponds
to Rabb. Besides then in that case you should claim to be
the Lord, rather than the Bab
…
Bab: I am that person for whose appearance you have waited
a 1,000 years
Reply: That is to say, you are Mehdi, the Lord of the Religion?
Bab: Yes
Ques.: The same in person, or generically?
Bab: In person
Ques.: What is your name and what is the names of your father
and mother? Where is your birthplace and how old are
you?
Bab: My name is Ali Mohammed; my mother was named
Khadija, and my father Mirza Reza the cloth seller; my
birth-place is Shiraz; and of my life behold, 35 years
have passed.
Reply: The name of the Lord of the Religion is Mohammed; his
father was named Hasan and his mother Narjis; his
birthplace was Samarrah; and his age is more than 1,000
years. There is the most complete variance. And besides
I did not send you
Bab: Do you claim to be God?
Reply: Such an Imam is worthy of such a God100
100
A Traveller's Narrative, Abbas Efendi, 1886, Cambridge, 1891
149
It is dishonourable for a nation to generate such a religious scholar

with such a low intellect and understanding owing to the false and
mythical teaching of his predecessors. It is also dishonourable for a
nation that a character such as the Bab could attract attention or be the
cause of a mass religious or social movement. Followers of false
prophets like Drew Ali and W.D. Fard might be forgiven in comparison,
since they were illiterate former slaves, downtrodden and exploited
without a toe in their past culture. But the Bab and his cleric followers
were educated in one of the best Shiite teaching environments. They
also belonged to a nation which claims several thousand years of rich
cultural heritage.
How come literate clergy followed such a person who at first
claimed to be a gateway to their hidden Imam, supported by invented
stories, later changed his claim to being the victorious Imam of Shia
only to alter it once again to prophethood and finally to be the essence
of God himself? They could see that he was proved wrong by his own
contradictions, of every new claim he made or step he took. They could
see him being flogged, they saw his powerlessness and they knew that
he was forced to disavow his claims, but they still supported his claim
of speedy victory, divine mission and even being Godhead.
In fact, some Muslim historians have suggested that there must have
been some other motives behind the movement. They suggest that the
movement must have been conspired and supported by a foreign power.
It was planned by their politicians and implemented by their secret
service agents. It was like setting up a string-puppet rebellious group in
a hostile country to create political instability and intellectual
uncertainty. But they are absolutely wrong as the hub of the movement
was not foreign embassies but religious seminaries. The mythmakers
were not the undercover agents of colonial powers. They were countless
Shiite scholars trying to defend older myths and lies by augmenting
them with new ones.
The myth making industry goes back to the beginning of the political
struggles between different tribes and factions of Islamic societies after
the death of the Prophet of Islam. Pompous and dishonest scholars
stirred those conflicts with false theology. Consequently, many fanciful
150
tales thrived without basis, sanity or control whatsoever. One of those

tales, the messianic myth, was exploited by Sheikh Ahsaii and his
followers such as the Bab at an appropriate time. In a society that was
up to its eyes in injustice and trapped in the claws of tyrants and colonial
powers any claim for a social reform had a strong popular appeal,
especially if it was endorsed by a long anticipated religious dogma.
To be more precise, although the political foreign powers tried to
exploit the situation later, the main responsibility was with Shiite
religious scholars who produced so many myths about the Quran and
religious figures. They were responsible for claiming that even the first
letter (let alone word or sentence) of the Quran has boundless meanings
and those mysteries can be unfolded only by Imams. It was that group
that imposed itself on people as representative of Imam Mehdi, who was
falsely claimed, again by Shiites scholars, to be representative of God.
It was the same group, which established that, challenging and arguing
with them was in fact challenging and arguing with God himself.
It was the same group that was responsible for announcing an unborn
and unseen child as their hidden Imam and then creating a messianic
figure such as Mehdi with a complex life, future return with a bizarre
sign of reappearance and its consequences. In short, Shiite clergies were
the creators of the myth that each one of them was representative of
God, having absolute authority over laity. This unsurpassed authority
was bestowed on them through the imaginative ruling and
disappearance of the hidden Imam by virtue of the fourth or the last Bab.
Even the prophet Muhammad didn’t have the same pivotal and
unquestionable status a Bab or subsequent Shiite clergy enjoyed.
The following two examples show the survival and continuity of this
delusional mentality mixed with fraudulent and self-approval policy
even in the twenty first century among Shiite clergies and their
followers.
 The president of Iran delivered a speech in the United Nation
General Assembly in 2005. After his return to Iran, he met one of
the leading clerics and his entourage and spoke about the highlights
of his trip to the UN. He boasted that he was surrounded in a
mysterious halo during the speech. Obviously, the light was not
151
sensed by anybody or any camera but according to him, a member

of his delegation had noticed the engulfing light and informed him
later. He subsequently admitted that he had felt the mystical light
himself. Moreover, he also boasted and emphasised that everyone
was transfixed to the extent that nobody blinked for half an hour
during his speech.
He was not officially cautioned by the ruling clergy, even for being
such a blatant liar and deceiver, but was allowed to carry on as
usual. He was not rebuked on another occasion when he claimed
that Imam Mehdi would return in two years. Instead, the wife of
one of his ministers wrote a book announcing the president as the
miracle of the third millennium!
 The Iranian presidential election in 2009 was under reasonable
suspicion for vote rigging. Spontaneous demonstrations erupted.
Shocked, angry and occasionally violent crowds protested over the
foul play. The authority crushed the demonstrations with utmost
cruelty and detained thousands of protesters. Some were tortured,
some reportedly raped and some killed in various detention centres.
Thanks to the ruling of Shiite clergies in Iran, torture and killing
have been common practice in detention centres and it didn’t cause
any shock. But, by then, reports of raping young girls and boys by
security officials and interrogators had been unthinkable under a
religious reign. To calm the situation, one of the detention centres
was closed down by the authority, reasoning substandard facilities.
To shift the sentiment in the regime’s favour after all the brutalities
and crimes, the Iranian chief of staff officially released a letter to
nobody else but the hidden Imam! He played the victim in the letter
to complete the dishonesty and moral decadence.
Examining scholars’ titles also reveals the reason for the Bab’s love
of haughty names. While the Prophet Muhammad is called simply
Muhammad in the Quran, some Shiite scholars of the time had several
pompous titles. The Bab was living in a time and place where a title was
essential for eminence and significance in the society. A title was so
152
important and valued that the kings of that era used to sell them to rich
individuals to top up their personal coffers.
The Bab and all Shiite scholars lacked a basic knowledge of the
Quran and its origin, stripped of the various myths created around it.
The Bab accepted all previous prophets before him and claimed that
some of them were manifestations of God on earth with independent
and supreme authority, significance and power. Consequently, he
assumed the same status and authority for himself. This is exactly what
the majority of Shiite scholars have taught about the prophet
Muhammad, all their Imams and some of their close relatives. But the
Quran not only contests this idea but also, at every opportunity, tries to
remind people that Muhammad was just an ordinary mortal who knew
nothing beyond human knowledge. He didn’t even know what would
happen to him after his death. The Quran also teaches that there is no
specified human manifestation of God on earth. Thus, the Bab was the
product of the teaching of Shia dogma and myth making. He went just
one step too far and was definitely not a divinely inspired prophet.
He Whom God Shall Make Manifest
The Bab was executed by firing squad in 1850. The irony was that
the three clergymen who sanctioned his death sentence belonged to a
rival Shaykhi sect.
Besides executing the Bab, the source of the Babis inspiration, the
government had also defeated numerous armed uprisings in which
many Bab’s disciples and ardent Babis had been killed. Baha gives a
sorrowful comparison between the success of a false Mahdi and failure
of the Bab’s movement which summarizes Bab’s achievements:
“When a Sunni Muslim claimed to be Mehdi, about a

hundred thousand souls accepted and obeyed him but
when the true successor/Mehdi arrived whom was
153
supported with the divine light in Iran they martyred him

and tried to extinguish his light.”101
Baha’s lamentation is a response to those who try to use

popular appeal of such movements as a proof of the genuineness
of the Bab’s mission.
The Bab appointed Subhi Azal (Mirza Yahya Nuri) as his
successor a year before his execution. Azal was just nineteen-
year-old when the leadership responsibility was put on his young
shoulder. He not only had the difficult task of explaining the
defeat and execution of the promised and supposedly victorious
Mehdi but also, he and his followers had to keep a low-key profile
or conceal their faith – dissimulate - for fear of panicked political
authority and rattled orthodox Shiite scholars.
His task was made easier as by then the popularity of the
movement was waning and the zealous followers did not
apparently need any convincing. A poem attributed to Qurrat-ul-
Ain shows that core believers were extremely pleased with the
designated successor, jubilant and producing the same literature
as if nothing had happened in the immediate past.102
“O you the admirable deliverer103 announce the good promise,

that the gloomy night is over and the daybreak of enjoyment
has arrived
Give to afflicted the glass of pleasant serenity,
beckon the heartbroken lovers
That the appearance of Azal has sprung,
the stunning face of God has appeared …”
101
Eshraghat, pages7-8
102
The complete poem is in Persian and is published by E.G. Browne in
Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion, pages 344-346.
103
Saghi (‫ )ﺳﺎﻗﯽ‬is a Persian word meaning wine-server and usually a young
lady is implied. In poem and mystic literature various lofty meaning can be
implied as wine can be regarded as the essence of love, life and anything good
and pure. Generally, it is a reference to God in mystic poems.
154
Hiding or keeping a low-key profile didn’t worry them much

too as dissimulation was a permitted religious law in Shia Islam
used during its struggle against cruel governments. The practice
was well used by all Babis but those who were already known and
could not hide their past activities.
Obviously, there was no reason to call for a messianic struggle
or to proselytise further. No matter what the Bab claimed to
represent, people had been joining the movement, sometimes
following their local clergy, mainly on the assumption that Imam
Mehdi had returned. Now it was apparent or proven that the Bab
was yet another bogus Mehdi since he departed without
establishing the promised just and peaceful world. The group’s
fundamental and pressing objective was thus to justify its own
existence in response to the fact that the world was obviously not
redeemed.
It is not known what the theological profile of the group was
after the Bab. They were left with motley theological labyrinth
and wild speculative interpretations. It is also not known what
happened to those followers who regarded the Bab as Imam
Mehdi. Did they all leave the group after his death? Surprisingly,
it seems some didn’t give up. They still believed in the Bab and
his mission for different reasons, even some still considered him
as the promised Imam Mehdi.104 On the whole, the remaining
Babis, no matter what was their belief in the Bab, accepted the
new leader as the Bab’s successor.
On the Bab’s advice, Azal lived in seclusion in fear for his life.
His older half-brother, thirteen years his senior, Mirza Hosein Ali
104
For example, see the correspondences between Mulla Ismaeil and zain-ul-
Mugharebin. Mulla Ismaeil thought that the Bab was Imam Mehdi when he
was in heated debate with zain-ul-Mugharebin regarding the new claim of
Baha.
155
Nori, styling himself Bahaullah, meaning the Glory of God, was

appointed as his deputy.
Apart from Azal’s trying to complete the Persian Bayan, not
much is known about other activities of the group until Azal,
unsuccessfully, tried to gain control in one of the cities in the north
of Iran. In the meantime, some factions inside the sect decided to
revenge their various defeats by attempting to assassinate high
government officials, including the king.
Their first attempt was foiled and those involved were arrested
and some of them executed. Their second attempt was in 1852.
The king of Iran was the target of their plot, but they failed to slay
him and only injured him slightly. The king moved heaven and
earth to revenge the attempted assassination. He ordered the
extermination of more than twenty known Babis, accountable or
not. He gave each Babi to a different social or occupational group
in order to be lynched. No high-ranking religious scholars dared
or wished to avert this barbarism. Only those who weren’t
acknowledged Babis or had high level backing, either from
foreign embassies or inside the government itself, were spared the
lynching.
By then almost all initial eighteen cleric disciples of the Bab
were either killed in various battles with state troops or executed.
Azal who was in hiding escaped to Baghdad in disguise. Some of
his surviving followers joined him, including his older brother
Bahaullah (Baha) who arrived in Baghdad in April 1853. Baha
was first imprisoned after the failed assassination and was
released four months later with the intervention of Russian
officials who also escorted him to the border.
In Baghdad, Azal continued with his solitary existence
apparently for his own protection, secluding himself even from
the majority of the Babis. His brother Baha continued with his
responsibility as his administrator and gateway to the outside
156
world who also supervised and managed Babis affairs both in Iraq
and Iran.
Babis did not attempt to proselytize locally since they knew
they couldn’t attract Arabic speaking people, Shiite or Sunni, to
their faith which was then seen as yet another false Messianic
movement or a new heretical idea. Arabs couldn’t easily be fooled
with the erroneous Arabic writings of the Bab. Thus, Baha’s main
task was to receive Babis’ letters from Iran along with their gifts,
money and questions and respond to them mainly in writing, using
visiting Babis or trusted Babi couriers. The group stayed in
Baghdad for ten years without tangible achievements and with no
real support among local people. Their whole existence relied
entirely on their supporters inside Iran.
But this is not the end of the story for the new religion. The
Bab besides choosing a successor announced another messianic
or Mehdi figure, He whom God shall make Manifest.
All things return to this one thing, and all things are created
through this one thing. This one thing shall be, in the next
resurrection, none other than he whom God shall manifest,
who, in every degree, utters the words, 'Verily, I am God,
no god is there beside Me, the Lord of all things. All save
Me is my creation. Wherefore, O My Creation, worship
Me!' And know that he is the mirror of God, from whom
the mirror of the physical universe (mulk) is rendered
luminous, which is made up of the Letters of the Living.
In him none can be seen except God Himself. Whoever in
the Bayán utters the declaration, 'there is no god but God',
turns towards God through him, for his creation began in
him and to him his creation shall return. 105
105
Persian Bayan, Unit 1, Chapter 1, tr. by Denis MacEoin
157
This revelation made life more difficult for Azal and Baha
from the beginning of their appointments. The appeal of the new
messianic impulse encouraged several Babis to profess to being
the promised figure in Bayan. One of these early candidates,
Zabih, an eighteen-year-old confectioner, based his claim on his
meeting with a young man whom he supposed had a divine origin.
Under the godly influence of the young man, he uttered the phrase
‘Verily, I am God, no god is there beside Me, the Lord of all
things’, as the Bab prophesised in the Bayan. His second reason
was his superior writing ability in comparison to the Bab and
Azal. He specifically claimed that he could, in six hours, produce
twice as many verses, prayers and devotional texts as the Bab.
Basir was the next contender and so the floodgate of He whom
God shall make manifest opened.
Since it was pointless to convince some of the self-appointed
Manifestations, that they were under a false impression, they were
either murdered by Babis, with the endorsement of the leadership,
or excommunicated. The situation was so bad that according to
the Babi sources almost everyone considered himself in the race.
Even excommunication or execution of some hopeful Babis
didn’t deter the rush.
Such was the audacity and effrontery of these demoralized

and misguided Bábís that no less than twenty-five persons,
according to ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá’s testimony, had the
presumption to declare themselves to be the Promised One
foretold by the Báb!106
This comic situation disproves the claims of those people

divided into thinking that either the whole scenario was a mere
foreign creation or that the mission of the Bab really had a genuine
106
God Passes By - Shoghi Effendi
158
divine origin. The race shows that Babis were almost a group of
hallucinated individuals. The Bab’s followers were really full of
punch and enjoyed the new religious game.
Life in Baghdad was thus apparently spent in defending the
faith against Shiites clerics in Iraq and their own numerous false
promised manifestations. The Bab went to great lengths to make
sure that his followers would accept the One whom God shall
make Manifest107. Even he prompted the future leader to abandon
the completion of Bayan if the promised one became manifest.
Babis simply executed whoever had a serious claim of being the
promised figurehead.
The problem was compounded when Baha indicated that the
promised-one could have been him. Some top Babis and Azal
reprimanded him so severely that he escaped from Baghdad
leaving his family behind. He simply disappeared in April 1854,
almost two years after their flight to Iraq. He apparently
absconded to a monastery in Kurdistan intending to become a
hermit Sufi and styled himself as Sufi Muhammad Irani. He
stayed there for two years among Sufi mystics pretending to be
one of them until he thought he had suffered enough hardship and
wrote a letter to Azal and asked for forgiveness. 108 Azal wrote a
merciful letter to him and asked him to return to Baghdad. He
accepted the kind offer and returned in March 1856 and carried
on as Azal’s secretary as before.109
In his book, Iqan (the Book of Certitude), written in Farsi after
his return from Kurdistan, he is remorseful of what he had
wrongly believed of himself. He paid his utmost homage to the
Bab and Azal and pleaded to God to be the Bab and Azal’s special
devotee, ready to give his humble life for them.
107
Bayan Unit 4 Chapter 11
108
Tanbih an-Na'imin
109
Bahaii historians are trying to let us believe that it was Azal who
found the whereabout of Baha and wrote a letter for his return.
159
On every side We witness the menace of their spears, and

in all directions, We recognize the shafts of their arrows.
This, although We have never gloried in anything, nor did
We seek preference over any soul. …
What pen can recount the things We beheld upon Our

return! Two years have elapsed during which Our enemies
have ceaselessly and assiduously contrived to exterminate
Us, whereunto all witness. Nevertheless, none amongst the
faithful hath risen to render Us any assistance, nor did any
one feel inclined to help in Our deliverance. Nay, instead
of assisting Us, what showers of continuous sorrows, their
words and deeds have caused to rain upon Our soul!
Amidst them all, We stand, life in hand, wholly resigned
to His will; that perchance, through God’s loving kindness
and His grace, this revealed and manifest Letter (Baha)
may lay down His life as a sacrifice in the path of the
Primal Point110, (‘and’ not ‘,’ in the original Persian
text) the most exalted Word111. By Him at Whose bidding
the Spirit hath spoken, but for this yearning of Our soul,
We would not, for one moment, have tarried any longer in
this city. "Sufficient Witness is God unto Us." We
conclude Our argument with the words: "There is no
power nor strength but in God alone." "We are God’s, and
to Him shall we return."112
The Primal Point refers to the Bab and the most exalted Word
refers to Azal. The book clearly describes how much high-ranking
Babis were furious with Baha for his false claim and the situation
110
One of the titles of the Bab
111
One of the titles of Azal
112
The Kitab-I-Iqan: The Book of Certitude, Wilmette, IL., Baha’i
Publishing Trust, 1974
160
was really tense even when Baha returned and was writing the
book.
The remorse and praise documented in the book also betrays
the fact that Baha later claimed he actually experienced his initial
vision, of being the One whom God shall make Manifest, a long
while before, supposedly when he was imprisoned in Iran in
1852113. Yet again, in his other writings, his emergence was fixed
at about nine years after the first announcement of the Bab in
1844, which confirms the latter date. In that case Baha deceptively
concealed his real character and mission for about fourteen years.
Bahaiis refer to these years as the Days of Concealment.
The situation was under control until Dayyan, one of the early
Babis, claimed to be the promised person. He almost succeeded
in his effort as some Babis believed and followed him. Azal found
the situation unbearable and tried to put an end to the madness by
writing a 395-page book, Mustayqath (The Wakeful), rejecting
and condemning the claim of Dayyan and other hopefuls. He then
ordered Dayyan’s execution with a coded message. There were
enough faithful volunteers to decode and know their religious
responsibility by physically eliminating him. One succeeded.
The atmosphere of terror and the writing of Azal eventually
deterred everyone but one. Baha rekindled his claim every so
often, reportedly encouraged by one of Babis after his return from
Kurdistan. It is claimed that, finally, at the age of fifty, in 1863,
he mustered enough support and confidence to proclaim himself
to close relatives as the promised Manifestation. This was about
seven years after completing the remorseful book of Iqan. His
forthright announcement and direct challenge to Azal’s authority
was delayed and eventually declared openly about 1866.
113
“The intimation of His Revelation to Bahá’u’lláh in the Síyáh-Chál of
Ṭihrán, in October 1852, marks the birth of His Prophetic Mission and hence
the commencement of the one thousand years or more that must elapse before
the appearance of the next Manifestation of God.” BAHA'U'LLAH, The Kitab-
i-Aqdas, The Most Holy Book, London, Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1993
161
Since Baha was overseeing all communication with followers

in Iran, he could use this exclusive power to declare himself as the
promised figure to all the Babis in that country without any
effective hindrance. Obviously during the three years of his partly
secret claim and before his open challenge to Azal he prepared the
Babis inside Iran for his new status.
It is not easy to guess the response of Babis in Iran to the new
claim. If they had accepted the Bab because of the well-known
and expected Messianic mission and massage, they were in
darkness of what was going on inside the movement far away in
a foreign country in 1863. If Baha was so determined to dethrone
Azal and be the sole authority as early as he claimed then he did
not perform as a reliable and honest deputy between Azal and the
faithful. Thus, the core belief of the then Iranian Babis is a
mystery.
Even top Babis were not clear about their own direction. Baha,
for example, was one of those disciples who decided to cunningly
announce the abrogation of Islam and Islamic laws in Badasht in
1848 while waiting for the Bab’s new law. But, in Baghdad, long
after the new Babi religion had been formed, he was still writing
commentaries on Quranic verses in response to the enquiries from
the Babis and engaging himself with Sufi’s mystic ideas and
writings. Another evidence that Babis did not know the message
of the Bab is the fact that he had already given the new law in his
various books but Babis were either oblivious of it or, even worse,
completely ignored it.
One noticeable point in the book of Iqan is the lack of any
quotation of or specific reference to the two books of Bayan or
any other writing of the Bab. Frequently there are references to
the Quran and sometimes to the Bible and other writings. Babis
were strictly ordered by Bab in Bayan to destroy all books and
forbid their teachings except Bayan. But Azal, Baha and other
162
Babis wrote myriads of books and tablets as if they had not heard
of any such divine order. Besides, Baha wrote mystic books such
as Seven Valleys in the style of classical Sufi writings, a forbidden
subject in Bayan.
Either Baha gave only lip service to Bayan to exploit its
prophecy, or he didn’t bother to read and follow the last glorious
book of God for the new age.
Bayan also ordered his followers not to ask any questions.
They were also ordered not to travel except for pilgrimage or
business114. But one of Baha’s main tasks was to answer Babis
numerous questions relayed to him in writing by the couriers or
ordinary Babi travellers. His numerous written responses
(Tablets) to those questions are clear proof of the degree of
faithlessness and disobedience of the leaders and rank and file of
the Babis. The Tablet of All Food written in 1855 is an example
of such an answer to a question. Baha wrote this Tablet as a
commentary on a particular Quranic verse making the whole state
of affairs sinful according to Babi religion. Their behaviour,
regarding the Bab’s laws as a kind of divine joke, clearly shows
the depth of their dishonesty.
Not knowing the state of mind of Babis at the time, a new
person was now claiming a similar divine mission after so many
false claims by other Babis faithful. Whatever Babis theological
attitude, the majority of them eventually accepted this new
declaration or were forced to believe so. Nevertheless, the path to
victory for Baha was not that smooth. For a start his own brother,
the one whom the Bab selected as his successor and to whom Baha
was proud to be devoted, and also some close family members
could not see the whole truth and denied Baha’s old claim. Babis
divided with lasting bitterness.
114
Persian Bayan, Unit 6 Chapter 16
163
Emigrant Babis were now so busy fighting among themselves

that they forgot about their mission to save the world. The two
leaders tried every possible means to outmanoeuvre their rival.
They even planned to challenge each other, in a mosque, with a
pre-Islamic curse-ritual common in the Arabian Peninsula. The
ritual is performed by praying to God to judge between the
feuding parties by fulfilling the curse of the honest one against the
guilty opponent. More scandalous, each claimed that an attempt
was being made to poison him by his opposite number. The result
was yet more malicious and sometimes bloody confrontations
between the two groups, which spread to Iran as well. The nasty
and bloody dispute lasted for a few years until the Ottoman
authority was forced to intervene.
The authority decided to send the two divisions to two separate
places. Baha and his sixty-five followers and family were sent to
Akka (Acre) in Palestine, which now belongs to the state of Israel.
Azal and his followers were sent to Famagusta in Cyprus where
he continued his reclusive life. Once again, each could not
proselytise among local people since they did not share the same
religious tradition without which their message was unintelligible.
Baha even pretended to be a Muslim in Acre and prayed in
mosque behind Muslim clergies.
The only means of survival for both was the secure connection
of their umbilical cord to Babis in Iran. Baha had long experience
in communication with followers in Iran by means of a trusted
and skilled network. Azal, besides geographical remoteness, had
yet to initiate a new network and thus was not able to compete
with his half-brother. Baha therefore completely outmanoeuvred
Azal and made him almost irrelevant.
164
Bahaullah
Baha, as the One whom God shall make manifest, arrived in

Akka in August 1868. After a prolonged and bitter separation
from his brother and previous master, he continued his mission
with almost supreme authority over his followers. Before their
departure, the Ottoman authority managed to infiltrate spies from
the rival followers within each of the groups. Out of the four
Azalis accompanying Baha, one was poisoned before departure
and the rest were murdered after reaching their final destination.
Baha started his mission in his new base by sending numerous
letters, as revelations, to all Babi circles. With these revelations of
God, his wrath was also dispatched to confront any Babi who
dared to refute Baha as the new manifestation of God.
Baha, as noted, had several huge deterrents. The first problem
was Azal who was chosen by the Bab himself. Since prescient
God apparently sanctioned whatever the Bab did, Azal wouldn’t
have been nominated if he were deemed to disobey God and deny
the promised one. Thus, in the theological battle between Azal
and Baha the former stood on a firmer ground. There was one
dishonest solution to this problem: to disregard Azal and destroy
any writing in which he and his succession to the Bab was
mentioned. This is exactly what happened. Real history was either
forgotten or reshaped as follows.
 The Bab was represented only as a zealot forerunner to
Baha.
 Azal, who was the nominated successor to the Bab and,
for his own personal safety, tried to control the
movement without being publicly recognized115, was
portrayed as just a vicious, jealous, ignorant and ill-
115
Azal apparently heeded the advice in the Bab’s will, which was “Azal must
protect himself”. However, when the two brothers split, Baha derided Azal for
being too cautious about his safety. See Tablet of Habib, ganje Shayan P. 78.
165
behaved sibling trying in vain to damage the reputation

of his older brother or even eliminate him.
 The nomination of Azal by the Bab was explained as a
clever divine diversion strategy to redirect the harmful
attention of Baha’s enemies away from him.116
 Baha also ordered all early historical records of the
faith to be destroyed or rewritten so that Baha’s
presence was made central in every major event. By
destroying early records, they also tried to make sure
that the new version of history would be considered as
the infallible facts. For example, all copies of Nuqtat-
ul Kaf, a book in which the history of the first eight
years of Babi movement had recorded by an early Babi,
were destroyed. Professor E.G. Browne accidentally
found one copy in France after extensive search
everywhere. He spoiled Baha’s ploy by publishing it.117
This book still cannot be found in any Bahaii library.
As Browne reported “.... the more the Bahaii doctrine spreads,

especially outside of Persia, and most of all in Europe and
America, the more the true history of the original Babi movement
is obscured and distorted.118”
These tricks were however effective on Babis as the majority
of them accepted the new interpretation.119 Apparently, nobody
asked why the supposed divine diversion strategy did not work as
116
Bahaiis ridicule the practice of Taqiyya, precautionary dissimulation, in
Shia not realizing that with this justification they agree with the endorsement
of the same practice by the Bab, Azal and Baha throughout their lives.
117
Nuqtatu'l-Kaf', by Hajji Mirza Jani of Kashan, E. J. W. Gibb Memorial XV,
(Persian, with English Introduction) London, Luzac & Co., 1910
118
Edward G. Browne, ed., Kitab-i Nuqtatu'l-Kaf being the Earliest History of
the Babis compiled by Hajji Mirza Jani of Kashan between the years A.D. 1850
and 1852, edited from the unique Paris ms. suppl. Persan 1071 (London: Luzac
and Co., 1910) xxxv.
119
One account for the downfall of Azalis is the apparent repentance of one Azali
leader after reviewing the Bab’s writings.
166
Baha, not Azal, was captured and sent to prison in Iran. He was
then saved from certain execution by intervention from a foreign
government? Why Baha was so fearful for his own life from Babis
so that he left the movement and escaped to Kurdistan for two
years?
Baha was outwardly one of the ardent believers of the Bab’s
divine being. In his book, Badie, meaning wonderful or exquisite,
he stressed, to his utmost ability, the point that the Bab was the
Lord and Most High. At the same time, he knew that the Bab had
given Azal several titles of high dignity, namely, Fruit of Bayan,
Name of Eternity, Everlasting Mirror and Great way of Truth. But
Baha ignored all about the Most High Lord and his bestowed titles
and gave Azal derogatory titles such as calf (zombie or foolish
person), cow and dung beetles 120. Again, Babis did not dare to
question this gross contradiction.
Baha even affirmed that any deniers, including Azal, is in fact
a bastard who can only confirm this fact with his/her mother.121
In another Tablet Baha’s enemies are limited to those whom Satan
has been in their mothers’ bed.122
Baha’s second problem was the Bab himself. He chose Azal
over Baha as his successor. It was just unimaginable for the Babis
that he did not recognise Baha’s status himself. Moreover, some
of the detailed prophecies and criteria about the one whom God
shall make manifest did not fit with Baha’s situation.
The Bab considered himself as a prophet with a new religion
not a mere forerunner. Baha and other top Babis tried to announce
this very issue in Badasht while the Bab was in prison. The Bab
also predicted that his followers would establish monarchic
120
O you followers of Baha drink from this pure wine of eternity in my
beloved name and against the will of enemies. Let those bogus black dung
beetles be occupied with their filthy beliefs. By my true self, the nose of a
cow cannot smell this purified perfume. Eghtedarat, P58
121
Tablet of Habib, ganje Shayan P. 78.
122
Tablet of Karbalaii Muhammad zaman Ghazvini, ganje Shayan P. 79
167
governments and rule according to the Bab’s Law before the

advent of the one whom God shall make manifest. The following
passage in his later writings is given as an example;
It is a religious order for any king on whom God has

bestowed authority in a Babi country to exterminate all
those who do not believe in Babi religion. 123
The one whom God shall make manifest was expected to

appear after 1511 years and not later than 2001 years. But there
were only sixteen years between the Bab’s execution in 1850 and
Baha’s declaration as the promised-one. There was no sign of any
Babi country or a Babi king. Babis leaders and their associates
were only allowed to stay in the then Ottoman empire under
stringent conditions. Moreover, what were the dramatic changes
in societies during these few years to justify new revelations and
a new Law? Baha tried to settle the problem in his book,
Eghtedarat (Authorities), by declaring that he not only had not
come to abrogate the Bab’s Law in Bayan but also to fulfil it.124
In reality Bayan, which was never obeyed by any Babi, was
shortly made redundant by a very interesting reason. Moreover,
Baha ridiculed as utter nonsense Azal’s writings, the most
divinely sacred mission to complete Bayan, which is known as the
Complement of Bayan. If he wanted to fulfil Bayan there was a
need for a completed one. There is no report of any attempt by
Baha to complete it himself.
One can thus figure out the fact that Baha did not recognise the
Bab for anything. He well knew the low status of the Bab and his
123
Persian Bayan
124
Everyone knows with my manifestation whatever was revealed in Bayan
is reaffirmed, demonstrated and fulfilled … and Persian Bayan has been
endorsed. They nevertheless constantly write that I have abrogated Bayan so
that they may spread doubts and the calf (Azal) may be worshipped.
Eghtedarat, P45-46
168
insignificance and dishonest mission. He only needed him for his

prophesy in Bayan, without which Baha could not claim his own
assumed status. This fact is evident in Baha’s Tablet to Napoleon
the Third. He lists Muhammad, Jesus and Moses as his own
predecessors and there is no mention of the Bab whatsoever.125
There were other criteria for the one whom God shall make
manifest in the Bab’s prophecy. The followers of Azal listed those
criteria and to challenge Baha discussed them in great detail in
five different essays. Unfortunately, for the writers, the response
was given by Baha’s only strong asset, his faithful, obedient and
brutal followers. Every reachable writer was murdered with the
blessing of Baha.126 One of the lucky ones that escaped
elimination was Baha’s sister, Izziyyih Khanum 127 who was one
of ardent followers of Azal. Besides rejecting Baha’s claim on the
basis of Babi criteria, she revealed Baha’s true character by
pointing out the numerous murders of opponents and the
atmosphere of terror that her brother had created amongst his
rivals by surrounding himself with thugs and criminals. 128
What about those criteria that the Bab laid down in such
details? They were simply forgotten, like his other prophecies and
revelations. Beside force and terror, their strong reasoning for
125
Revealed Tablet to the kings and state leaders, Tablet of Napoleon the
Third, (Arabic and Farsi), P 104.
126
Tanbih an-Na'imin (Aunt’s Epistle)
127
Probably because Izziyyih Khanum wrote the epistle after Baha’s death.
Her exchange with Baha’s son is recorded in Tanbih an-Na'imin.
128
See also Dr Habib’s Travel book, Memoirs of Habib, written in Farsi. For
example, in Vol.1, P. 276 we read. There were two Asads (Asad means lion in
Arabic) among Baha’s entourage. One called lion and the short one lioness.
According to Abdul-Baha “the very obedient lioness used to carry a long
machete in Bagdad when escorting Baha to frighten his enemies”.
In P. 189-190 he writes: “After returning from Sulaymaniyah, one day his
holiness, Baha, was walking in a back street with the late Aqa Mirza. A Kebob
shop owner quietly said, ‘These Babis have shown their face again’ His
holiness ordered Aqa Mirza to hit him in the mouth. Aqa Mirza first grabbed
his beard and started striking him in the head. … I mean the movement was
given a new lease of life by the return of his holiness.”
169
persuading Babis was reasoning with Hadith from Shia

literature.129 What a waste of time, effort and above all, lives, for
such a short-lived Babi faith. Poor Azal still endeavoured in vain
to complete the Bab’s work. In fact, if the Bab was right, the
completion of either books of Bayan was not Azal’s own effort; it
was the revelation of God. That is, while God was busy
completing his books by revealing verses to Azal’s heart, he was
also planning a coup through Baha to abrogate or ridicule it.
As the bitter rivalry continued, the new group fiercely attacked
not only Babis, followers of Azal, but also tried to disgrace early
key Babi personalities such as Qurrat-ul-Ain and even the Bab
himself and his religion. Publishing the debate between the Bab
and Shia clergies in Tabriz was deliberately done to display the
weak stature of the Bab. They also identified more weaknesses in
the Babi movements and while tried to highlight them to disgrace
Azal and his followers, completely exonerated themselves from
those scandals.
“During the days of the advent of his majesty, the Bab,

the core teaching and the basis of the religion was:
1. heads should be cut off
2. books and pamphlets should be burnt,
3. monuments should be demolished and laid
waste,
4. the universal slaughter of all except those who
accepted and believed in the Babi faith”130
“As to Siyyid Muḥammad, now given free rein by his

master, Mírzá Yahyá, he had surrounded himself, as
129
See the correspondences between Mulla Ismaeil and zain-ul-Mugharebin.
The latter refers to a Hadith that says “after Mehdi, Husseyn will appear”. The
letters show clearly what was going on in the mind of followers of the two
opposing faithful.
130
Makatib ‘Abdul Baha’, Vol II, p 266
170
Nabíl, who was at that time with him in Karbilá

categorically asserts, with a band of ruffians, whom he
allowed, and even encouraged to snatch at night the
turbans from the heads of wealthy pilgrims who had
congregated in Karbilá, to steal their shoes, to rob the
shrine of the Imám Ḥusayn of its divans and candles, and
seize the drinking cups from the public fountains. The
depths of degradation to which these so-called adherents
of the Faith of the Báb had sunk could not but evoke in
Nabíl the memory of the sublime renunciation shown by
the conduct of the companions of Mullá Ḥusayn” 131
But the troubling case is when Baha, in his last Epistle,

copiously apologised to the king of Iran for Babis’ gross misdeeds
in that country and distanced himself from some of those
malicious thoughts and activities. He then prays to God for the
safety and majesty of the King, the killer of so many Babis
including the Bab, Qurrat-ul-Ain and Quoddus. The same King
who ordered the lynching of about twenty famous Babis as the
assumed fitting punishment for the failed assassination attempt.132
“We meditated upon the deeds, the condition, and the conduct
of the Bábís, wondering what could have led a people so high-
minded, so noble, and of such intelligence, to perpetrate such
an audacious and outrageous act against the person of His
131
Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By
132
O God, my God, and my Master, and my Mainstay, and my Desire, and my
Beloved! I ask Thee by the mysteries which were hid in Thy knowledge, and
by the signs which have diffused the fragrance of Thy loving-kindness, and by
the billows of the ocean of Thy bounty, and by the heaven of Thy grace and
generosity, and by the blood spilt in Thy path, and by the hearts consumed in
their love for Thee, to assist His Majesty the Sháh with Thy power and Thy
sovereignty, that from him may be manifested that which will everlastingly
endure in Thy Books, and Thy Scriptures, and Thy Tablets. Hold Thou his
hand, O my Lord, with the hand of Thine omnipotence, and illuminate him
with the light of Thy knowledge, and adorn him with the adornment of Thy
virtues., … The Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Translated by Shoghi Effendi
171
Majesty. This Wronged One, thereupon, decided to arise,

after His release from prison, and undertake, with the utmost
vigour, the task of regenerating this people. …
We exhorted all men, and particularly this people, through
Our wise counsels and loving admonitions, and forbade them
to engage in sedition, quarrels, disputes and conflict.” 133
Baha’s defaming of Babis’ characters is compounded when we

learn that according to the testimony of his well-respected sister,
Izziyyih Khanum, Baha was in fact the mastermind and financier
behind the assassination attempt. Azal, who at the time of
assassination was in the north of Iran, was not involved in the plot
and he was not even informed. According to Izziyyih Khanum,
Baha’s motive was neither religious nor revenge of the fallen
Babies during their uprisings or earlier assassination plots but a
hasty way to seize power by toppling the king.134 He apparently
promised one of the assassins a high position such as the head of
the army in his impending government.
The third problem was the Quran in which the prophet

Muhammad is declared to be the last prophet of God. Baha had
no choice but to affirm the truthfulness of Abrahamic religions
and prophets. He thus turned to interpretation to resolve the
contradiction. He simply said that Muhammad has been referred
to as the last as well as the first. Problem solved with a lie.135
Apart from the above dilemma, the Quran was one of the least
problems for Baha. In fact, in line with the widespread liberal
interpretation of the Quran by mystic groups the book was a useful
and powerful tool in the hand of Babis to help them with their
various personal and group objectives. A clear example was the
133
The Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Translated by Shoghi Effendi
134
Tanbih an-Na'imin
135
Baha, in his book Iqan, deliberately or unintentionally, routinely altered the
versus of the Quran, errors which could easily be picked up.
172
writing of The First Book, Qayyum-ul-Asma, by the Bab under

the guise of commentary of the Quran.136 The book was certainly
nothing to do with the exegesis of the Quran but its credential was
fully utilised to declare his diverse and contrasting wishes and
objectives. This kind of eisegesis is well demonstrated when the
Bab wrote a lengthy book supposedly on the exegesis of Surah Al
Kausar of the Quran. For example, he claimed he was able to
explain the whole content of the religion of Islam from the
interpretation of letter A (‫ )ا‬with powerful reasoning, convincing
evidence and exquisite verses. In the same line he presented four
different interpretations for the letter K (‫ )ک‬in the book.
Another example is interpreting the idea of afterlife which is
one of the articles of faith in Islam. Baha, similar to the Bab137 did
not believe in the afterlife138 and thus related the versus of afterlife
in the Quran to whatever he fancied. For instance, when he was
Azal’s deputy and wanted to defend Babi religion, he interpreted
heaven and hell to be the acceptance or rejection of the Bab. But
when he wanted to confirm himself as the one whom God shall
make manifest the issue of heaven and hell in the Quran was
related to accepting or rejecting his manifestation.
“It hath been demonstrated and definitely established, through

clear evidences, that by “Resurrection” is meant the rise of the
Manifestation of God to proclaim His Cause, and by
“attainment unto the divine Presence” is meant attainment unto
the presence of His Beauty in the person of His
Manifestation.”139
136
The Bab claimed in Chapter 111 that his first book was the interpretation of
not only the Quran but everything.
137
Persian Bayan, Unity 2, Chapter 1, P 32
138
In fact, the Bab could not make his mind up regarding the nature of the
afterlife as he sometimes confirmed the existence of heaven and hell according
to the teaching of the Quran. See for example Qayyum-ul-Asma and Tanbih
an-Na'imin in which Izziyyih Khanum quotes a few occasions of this
acceptance by the Bab.
139
Iqan, Translated by Shoghi Effendi
173
"Where is heaven and hell fire? Say: The first is meeting me,
and the other is your polytheist soul, if you doubt me.140
In summary, the Quran was a book to freely plagiarize from,

something to hide behind when necessary, a platform for their
mental games and the credibility stamp for their various claims.
The fourth problem was that, like the Bab, Baha was a
prolific author, writing numerous letters (tablets), poems and
books. Baha, like the Bab and the prophet of Islam, declared that
he had no miracles but his writings. He usually refuted those who
credited him with any miracle besides his revelations.
His writings were, however, not something that even the author
to be proud of. Baha revealed so many useless revelations that he
ordered hundreds of thousands of his own revealed verses to be
destroyed141. To justify the destruction of the divine messages, he
subsequently revealed, “none were worthy to hear these
140
The Most Holy Tablets of Bahaullah, Eshraghat and several other tablets,
page 68.
141
God Passes By (translation of Gharn badi) – “according to the testimony of
Nabíl, who was at that time living in Baghdád, the unrecorded verses that
streamed from His lips averaged, in a single day and night, the equivalent of
the Qur’án! As to those verses which He either dictated or wrote Himself, their
number was no less remarkable than either the wealth of material they
contained, or the diversity of subjects to which they referred. A vast, and
indeed the greater, proportion of these writings were, alas, lost irretrievably to
posterity. No less an authority than Mírzá Áqá Ján, Bahá’u’lláh’s amanuensis,
affirms, as reported by Nabíl, that by the express order of Bahá’u’lláh,
hundreds of thousands of verses, mostly written by His own hand, were
obliterated and cast into the river. “Finding me reluctant to execute His orders,”
Mírzá Áqá Ján has related to Nabíl, “Bahá’u’lláh would reassure me saying:
‘None is to be found at this time worthy to hear these melodies.’ … Not once,
or twice, but innumerable times, was I commanded to repeat this act.” … “I
bear witness that the verses revealed by Bahá’u’lláh were superior, in the
rapidity with which they were penned, in the ease with which they flowed, in
their lucidity, their profundity and sweetness to those which I, myself saw pour
from the pen of the Báb when in His presence.”
174
melodies”.142 This is the same person who earlier wrote in Iqan

that “Can a man who believes in a book, and considers it to be
inspired by God, mutilate or destroy it?”.
The real reason was obvious. Those writings were too
insignificant, erroneous and worthless to be published. The
survived works such as books, tablets and letters are about 17000
writings which can be collected in about 100 books, majority of
which are kept away from even Bahaiis.
Izziyyih Khanum, suspected that sometime before the
declaration of Baha’s divine mission he collected and studied all
the Bab’s writings to get familiar with the content and style of his
revelation for possible reference and future imitation.143 Other
Babis also suspected that the destroyed literatures were his early
practice books.144
Baha knew himself that he didn’t really have a meaningful and
genuine message. If he had written in the language of his own
people his trick could be easily identified. Thus, like the Bab he
chose to twist his writing by using Arabic words in profusion.
Even in a country where the majority of the population were
illiterate, the Bab, Azal and Baha dared not say anything people
could easily comprehend.
By writing in Arabic all three could copy the style of the Quran
and borrow its sentences freely to support their claims of divine
authority. In Farsi, they did not have this facility to structure their
revelation accordingly. Thus, their Farsi writings are so full of
Arabic words and even Arabic paragraphs it makes them difficult
for ordinary people to understand. This style of writing in fact
acted as a smoke screen to camouflage the emptiness of their
142
The Babi and Baha'i Religions: From Messianic Shi'ism to a World
Religion, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987
143
Tanbih an-Na'imin
144
See the correspondences between Mulla Ismaeil and zain-ul-Mugharebin.
Mulla Ismaeil, one of the Babis suggests that Baha was in fact practising his
prophethood with these early revelations.
175
message. But, to educated and knowledgeable people it revealed

their lack of knowledge, eloquence and purpose.
Baha’s Arabic writing was much better than the Bab, he at least
let his disciples, especially two of his sons, edit his revelations but
still there are at least a few errors in every page. Bahaiis including
Baha himself had no choice but to accept this embarrassing fact.
“Late in his life he initiated a project to collect and edit his own
writings; one of the things that was done was to eliminate some
of the “Babi-ism” characteristic of his early Arabic writings.”145
Even Baha’s sacred law book, Ketab-I-Aqdas (the most holy
book), the most important book in Bahaii faith was not immune
from this uncomfortable shortfall. Somehow the grammatical and
spelling errors were corrected during the printing of the book in
India.146 The Questions and Answers section which was added
later betrays these problems:
Q. 57: Concerning disparities between certain

revealed verses.
145
John Walbridge, Essays and Notes on Babi and Baha’i History, 2002.
146
One of Baha’s son, Mirza Muhammad Ali, was given permission to correct
any error before printing the book in India about 1890. Thus, there are
differences between an original manuscript completed on 21
February 1877 and the first printed versions. Mohit Tabatabaei compared the
two versions and found more than 200 differences in 64 pages of the book
which were mainly related to grammatical and spelling errors in the
manuscript. In two pages a few sentences were removed from the original
manuscript to make it more readable. Mirza Muhammad Ali even found it
necessary to add the prohibition of opium at the end of the printed version.
Though Abbas Effendi, the successor to Baha, expelled Mirza Muhammad Ali
from the organization but the bulk of those corrections made under his
supervision in India were eventually accepted and used for the translation of
the book to other languages, including English translation in 1992. Mirza
Muhammad Ali was nominated by Baha to be Abbas Effendi’ successor, which
obviously did not happen due to a bitter rift between the two brothers. As
Abbas Effendi’s sons died young, he chose his eldest grandson as his
successor. Mirza Muhammad Ali was apparently in charge of Baha’s
revelations and did not pass them over to Abbas Effendi. Thus, some of Baha’s
revelations or their corrections are either lost or not included in official Bahaii
collection. This issue is referred to in Rahigh Makhtoom (sealed nectar) and
ganjineye hodood va ahkam (Treasure of limits and rules) written by Eshragh
Khavari.
176
Ans: Many Tablets were revealed and dispatched

in their original form without being checked
and reviewed. Consequently, as bidden, they
were again read out in the Holy Presence
(Baha), and brought into conformity with the
grammatical conventions of the people in
order to forestall the cavils of opponents of
the Cause. Another reason for this practice is
that the new style inaugurated by the Herald,
may the souls of all else but Him be offered
up for His sake, was seen to be marked by
substantial latitude in adherence to the rules
of grammar; sacred verses therefore were
then revealed in a style which is for the most
part in conformity with current usage for
ease of understanding and concision of
expression.
The book which actually completed around 1873 also shows

the difficulty Baha and his editors had with their short memories
and incompetence. Soon Baha and his disciples recognized the
shortfall of the book, which was presented to Bahaiis as the
foundation of the new religion. Thus, they supplemented the book
with the Question and Answer section and considerable notes to
moderate and explain the new laws. Meanwhile, his followers had
no option but to indicate obvious embarrassing contradictions in
the different revelations and ask for clarification. They also had
to ask for essential laws, neglected in the original revelation.
These issues were also added to the Questions and Answers
section of the book.
177
Q. 10: Shaving of the head has been forbidden in

the Kitab-i-Aqdas but ordered in the Suriy-i-
Hajj.
Ans.: Everyone is entrusted to observe the Kitab-
i-Aqdas; whatever is revealed there is the
Law of God among His servants. The order
to shave the heads of pilgrims to the sacred
House has been abolished.
The chapter Suriy-i-Hajj is not the same as that in the Quran;

it is one of Baha’s authorship. He wrote numerous pieces under
the title of Sura as each chapter of the Quran is likewise called.
Perhaps he tried to challenge the Quran by introducing similar
chapters. This would prove divine authorship in the eye of
Muslims, Babis and Bahaiis. But these writings could not stand
up to the challenge and are not as famous as Ketab-i-Aqdas.
Sometimes Baha found it hard to explain the contradictions in
different revelations or justify his obvious blunders spotted by
faithful. For example:
Q. 63: In the Kitáb-i-Aqdas obligatory prayer hath

been enjoined, consisting of nine rak'ahs, to
be performed at noon, in the morning and the
evening, but the Tablet of Obligatory
Prayers [the Tablet containing the three
Obligatory Prayers now in use] appeareth to
differ from this.
Ans.: That which hath been revealed in the Kitáb-
i-Aqdas concerneth a different Obligatory
Prayer. Some years ago a number of the
ordinances of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas including
that Obligatory Prayer were, for reasons of
178
wisdom, recorded separately and sent away

together with other sacred writings, for the
purposes of preservation and protection.
Later these three Obligatory Prayers were
revealed.
Baha wrote the book as a replacement to Bayan which was

supposed to be the replacement to the Quran, abrogating both
religions of Babi and Islam. The book, nonetheless, includes
nothing that is innovative and fit for the new era but introduces
Baha as the centre of global attention and contemplation. The
book is written almost in the style of practical law books
commonly written by Shiite jurists, generally known in the west
as the Sharia law. Baha tried to introduce his book as a direct
divine revelation. Therefore, it is slightly reformatted by copying
the style of the Quran too, with the occasional use of some
material from Bayan to create a slightly different style and
content. For example, he accepted and used the Bab’s new
calendar in the book to distinguish it from Shia’s practical law
books, in common use long before his time. As another instance,
in Islam polygamy is allowed and is limited to four wives, a
practice which Baha followed, but he reduced the number of
wives to two for his followers. The Islamic conditions for
polygamy, however, were added later by Abd-ul-Baha, Baha’s
son and successor, to give the practice a face-lift, but he still
managed to portray women as maidservants so that the official
English translation of the book has been slightly changed to hide
the issue for non-Arabs.
63
Beware that you do not take more than two wives.
Whoever is happy with just one partner from among
(God’s) maidservants, the couple then will live in
179
tranquillity. And he who would take into his service a

maid may do so with propriety.
Another example of a later face-lift by Baha was the

substitution of life imprisonment for capital punishment, in the
same paragraph. Apparently, they forgot to remove the first type
of penalty. One wonders which one is the actual divine penalty
for arsonist and murderer. In Islam, a murderer must pay adequate
blood money to the relatives of the deceased, provided they agree,
in order to be set free rather than being executed.
62
Should anyone intentionally destroy a house by fire,
him also shall you burn; should anyone deliberately
take another's life, him also shall you put to death. …
Should ye condemn the arsonist and the murderer to
life imprisonment, it would be permissible according
to the provisions of the Book.
Baha also tried to correct obvious blunders in Bayan.
77
God has relieved you of the ordinance laid down in
the Bayan concerning the destruction of books. We
have permitted you to read such sciences as are
profitable unto you, not those which end in idle
disputation; better is this for you, if you be of them
that comprehend.
126In the Bayan it had been forbidden you to ask Us

questions. The Lord has now relieved you of this
prohibition, that you may be free to ask what you need
to ask, but not those idle questions upon which the
men of former times were wont to dwell. …
180
131
God hath removed the restrictions on travel that
had been imposed in the Bayan. He, verily, is the
Unconstrained; He does as He pleases and ordains
whatsoever He will.
It is worth to repeat here that these essential corrections to

Bayan indicate that the Bab was not merely a harbinger to Baha
as it is publicized by Bahaiis but a prophet with a divine message
similar to Islam and a religion in need of some radical
modification. But the important question here is why did Babis,
including Azal and Baha, disregard the Bab’s divine commands,
in both Arabic and Farsi Bayan books, before the mission of
Baha? Why did no Babi obey the then new religion of Bayan?
They were all sinful individuals as they read and wrote books,
travelled, asked questions and answered them profusely in
writing. They even did not pay the due penalties for openly
committing all those sins on daily basis. Their disregard of the
Bab’s command is a clear sign that those Babis knew well that the
Babi religion was the product of a self-absorbed and deranged
mind and complete failure. They, however, tried their hard to
introduce it to the world as a new religion for the modern world.
At any rate, despite all obstacles, Baha continued his mission
and created a new religion with new books and fresh claims only
16 years after the Bab’s death. He also introduced a divine
programme for the future of mankind with a new Messiah figure
one thousand-years hence. New prayers and a new Kiblah, the
location to face during prayer, were also introduced, differing
from what the Bab revealed. The new Kiblah was Baha’s abode
during the latter part of his lifetime and then his burial place.
Baha’s achievement, during his twenty-four years domicile in
Akka (1868-1892), was the authorship of a few books, numerous
181
letters to heads of states, religious authorities and his followers.

Like the Bab he devoted time to choose worthy titles for his
entourage, such as The Barber of the Truth, Servant of God, The
Baker of Divine Unity and Gabriel the Trustworthy. Also, despite
his apparently divine mission and abrogation of the old scriptures
and decrees, he occasionally prayed in a Muslim Mosque in Akka,
facing towards Mecca pretending to be just an ordinary Muslim.
The rest of his time was spent creating a clandestine and
tyrannical family organization which grew rich by collecting 19%
religious taxes as well other financial gains from rich and sinful
people.
Should anyone acquire one hundred mithqals (425g)

of gold, nineteen mithqals (80.75g) thereof are God's
and to be rendered unto Him147
God hath imposed a fine on every adulterer and
adulteress, to be paid to the House of Justice: nine
mithqals (38.25g) of gold, to be doubled if they
should repeat the offence.148
Disgruntled followers or passive challengers were punished

harshly. Baha’s son, Abdul-Baha, was proud of his father’s
achievements and behaviour.
“Though he was alone and unaided and his assistants

and supporters were a few weak individuals149, he
147
Aqdas 97. In general, 19% tax applies once to total wealth not including
one’s dwelling house. Also, 19% tax applies to any income minus expenses.
148
Aqdas 49
149
See Memoirs of Habib, Vol 1, P 107, 11 Oct 1914, to learn that Abd-ul-
Baha confessed biting and badly treating the same faithful and self-
sacrificing servants, such as Bashir Afandy. He also remembered how Baha
had been kicking Mirza Mustafa, as he was thrown helplessly to the ground,
for no obvious reason and in return Mustafa were trying to kiss Baha’s feet.
He then admired the servants for not only not complaining in response to
182
forced Iraq shaken to its foundations. Hypocrites

were worried and frightened of him all the time. His
authority/violence was so deeply ingrained in
everyone’s psyche that nobody in the cities of
Karbala and Najaf dared to disapprove him or had the
courage to commit any rudeness against him, even in
the middle of the night.”150
According to Abdul-Baha the belligerent behaviour by Baha

and his associates was the norm when the group was not even in
power.151 The general rule given in the Tablet of Ahmad is: “Be
as a flame of fire to my enemies”. Accordingly, Bahaiis frequently
murdered their opponents, as has been described by Baha’s sister,
with ease and canny religious trickery. They had no choice but to
confess to one case, the elimination of three Babis in Akka.
Though Baha tried his best to distance himself from these
summary executions, it exposed the atmosphere of terror within
the organisation. The second and the last successor to Baha
blamed the Babi victims for the crime. His version of the story, so
told to justify the slayings of their old co-religionist, is as follows:
“Reinforced by these recruits, he, together with his

old associates, acting as spies, embarked on a
campaign of abuse, calumny and intrigue, even more
pernicious than that which had been launched by him
in Constantinople, calculated to arouse an already
prejudiced and suspicious populace to a new pitch of
animosity and excitement. A fresh danger now clearly
threatened the life of Baha'u'llah. Though He Himself
such awful treatments but also showing gratitude. He concluded that their
servile behaviour was admirable and the sign of their strong faith.
150
Makatib Abd-ul-Baha, Vol 2, P 177
151
See also Memoirs of Habib, Vol.1, P. 276 which corroborate this sort of
behaviour.
183
had stringently forbidden His followers, on several

occasions, both verbally and in writing, any
retaliatory acts against their tormentors, and had even
sent back to Beirut an irresponsible Arab convert,
who had meditated avenging the wrongs suffered by
his beloved Leader, seven of the companions
clandestinely sought out and slew three of their
persecutors, among whom were Siyyid Muhammad
and Aqa Jan.”152
The irony is that everything was carried out under the banner
of a new religion, a new involvement of God in world affairs,
peace, justice and unity.
Now comes the crux of the matter. Not so long ago Baha
forcefully denied the accusation that he was planning to abrogate
Bayan. He also was furious with the accuser, Azal, and argued
that he only wanted to fulfil Bayan. Now Bahais leadership found
a good reason to justify the abrogation of Bayan by bringing a
new book Aqdas. The reason for the abrogation was the very
crimes which was committed by themselves and the followers.153
There is no doubt that Bahais murdered those three in

Acre but certainly it was not done with the permission
or agreement of Baha. The book of Aqdas had not
been revealed by then or at least had not yet
distributed to Bahaiis.154 Therefore, Bayan and other
152
God Passes By
153
Baha endorsed a second reason for the abrogation of the Quran by the Bab;
mere objections of Muslims to his initial claims. But, even if objection is a
valid reason for abrogation, it is a fact that the first book of the Bab, which
comes with new laws, was written before his public announcement. See the
book of Badie in Farsi, P. 162-163
154
This passage shows that Azal was in fact right that Baha’s main intension
was to abrogate the Bayan.
184
books of the Bab were generally followed by

everyone. Therefore, killings of deniers, dissenters
and enemies155 of Baha was carried out as an
imperative religious duty according to the orders of
the Bab. One of the reasons for the abrogation of
Bayan was the occurrences of these anomalous
events.156
If we accept this confession, it shows that this event was not

unique and the religion of the Bab was utterly scandalous and in
need of urgent closure. To be exact, there was an urgent need for
a new religion because people simply trying to follow an almost
new religion whose creator was still deified and worshiped.
The problem was not limited to creating a new totalitarian
administration for a short time in Akka; the show was set to go on
forever in global dimension. To start with, Baha nominated his
two sons as his divine successors and the sole interpreters of his
divine message. He clearly showed that the movement was a
family enterprise in parallel with Shiism, in which all Imams were
selectively imagined from Imam Ali’s genealogical line of
descendant.
Baha also tried to introduce himself to the outside world as a
manifestation of God, charging human beings with new
responsibilities, a new direction and new revelations. In the
beginning of Ketab-i-Aqdas, he revealed the new decree to
humankind. Their most important responsibility was to recognise
Baha as the divine essence and obey him.
The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the

recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of His
155
The order in Bayan is, to kill anyone who upsets “He whom God shall
make Manifest”.
156
Kashf-al-Ghita, P 348
185
Revelation and the Fountain of His laws; Who represents

the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the
world of creation. Whoso achieves this duty has attained
unto all good; and whoso is deprived thereof has gone
astray, though he be the author of every righteous deed. It
behoves everyone who reaches this most sublime station,
this summit of transcendent glory, to observe every
ordinance of Him Who is the Desire of the world. These
twin duties are inseparable. Neither is acceptable without
the other. Thus has it been decreed by Him Who is the
Source of Divine inspiration157
He who attaineth to My love hath title to a throne of gold,

to sit thereon in honor over all the world; he who is
deprived thereof, though he sit upon the dust, that dust
would seek refuge with God, the Lord of all Religions.158
This is a polished and more understandable version of what the

Bab said at the beginning of his own sacred book, Bayan, only a
short time before.
... and in the first chapter of the number of All Things, the
decree which God - praised be He and glorified - has
rendered obligatory is the declaration: 'there is no god but
God, truly, truly'. Wherefore, the whole of the Bayan shall
return to this declaration, and the appearance of a new
creation shall take place from it. The recognition of this
declaration is conditional on recognition of the Point of the
Bayan (the Bab), which God has made the essence of the
Letters of the Seven. Whoever realizes that he is the Point
of the Quran in his end and the Point of the Bayan in his
beginning, and that he is the Primal Will that exists in its
own self, through whose decree all things are created and
157
Ketab-I-Aqdas
158
Ketab-I-Aqdas
186
in whom they subsist, his essence has borne witness to the

singleness of his Lord. But whoever has not believed in
him is rejected and shall enter the fire. What fire is further
removed than he who has not believed in him? And he who
has believed shall enter into affirmation. What paradise is
more exalted than the one who believes in him? It is a
declaration that has praised and magnified and extolled
and sanctified and glorified its Lord at morn and
eventide.159
Indeed Baha, like the Bab, tried to establish a sort of human

worship whenever they found an opportunity or felt confident.
Their claims were done under the cover of esoteric concept of the
Unity of Being (Vahdat-e-Vojoud) or Pantheism. As both did not
elaborate on this issue one does not know the real reason for their
claims. What is clear is the existence of several writings in which
the Bab160 and Baha claimed to be God. Some of Baha’s works
such as the two books of Mobin and Badi directly introduce Baha
and the Bab as God. But, generally, both confused their followers
by proposing different qualities for their divine position (station)
such as the sign of God, essence of God, embodiment of God or
God Himself with all His attributes. The later claims of Baha were
in his supposedly most important book, Ketab-I-Aqdas:
132
O peoples of the world! Give ear unto the call of Him
Who is the Lord of Names, Who proclaim unto you from
His habitation in the Most Great Prison: "Verily, no God
is there but Me, the Powerful, the Mighty, the All-
Subduing, the Most Exalted, the Omniscient, the All-
Wise."161
159
Persian Bayan, unit 1, Chapter1, Tr. by D. MacEoin
160
The Talisman of The Religion, P 5 (Arabic)
161
Ketab-I-Aqdas
187
143
He (The Bab) has previously made known unto you that
which would be uttered by this Dayspring of Divine
wisdom. He said, and He speaks the truth: "He (Bahaullah)
is the One Who will under all conditions proclaim: 'Verily,
there is none other God besides Me, the One, the
Incomparable, the Omniscient, the All-Informed.'" This is
a station which God has assigned exclusively to this
sublime, this unique and wondrous Revelation. This is a
token of His bounteous favour, if you be of them who
comprehend, and a sign of His irresistible decree. This is
His Most Great Name, His Most Exalted Word, and the
Dayspring of His Most Excellent Titles, if ye could
understand. Nay more, through Him every Fountainhead,
every Dawning-place of Divine guidance is made
manifest. Reflect, O people, on that which hath been sent
down in truth; ponder thereon, and be not of the
transgressors.162
Accordingly, Baha’s son was given the title of Abd-ul-Baha,

meaning the servant of Baha, and followers were ordered to concentrate
on Baha, as well as facing his residence, during their prayers. Towards
the end of his life, ordinary followers were not allowed to see his face
and were forced to prostrate themselves and crawl towards him if he
summoned them to his palace, called Behja. Of course, this formality
was not followed for foreign individuals such as Prof. Browne.
Baha, like his predecessor, changed his claims depending on the
situation or his audience. For example, at the same time as he was
boasting to his followers about his Godhead, in a letter to the king of
Iran, he introduced himself as his servant adding that he was just an
ordinary believer in God and his signs. He assured the king that he had
not been doing anything wrong during his exile, he had not been
colluding with anybody to conspire against the king and the country and
would not consider any secret planning. He confirmed that he and his
group had always been believers in Islam and the Quran and thus
162
Ketab-I-Aqdas
188
deserves mercy from the king. There is no talk of the one whom God
made manifest, no new religion, no new book, no shred of courage and
honesty.
O King of earth, listen to the cry of this servant. I am a

servant (human being) who believes in God and His signs
and I have sacrificed my life in His way. … 163
Yet in another letter to Pope Pius IX he wrote:
O Pope, break the veil. He who is the Lord of Lords has

come.164
Baha even does not bother to address Napoleon the Third in his letter
(Tablet) to him. Most probably a few of these letters were written after
the downfall of the king or the head of state. Another possibility is that
those letters were not intended to be sent to anyone and just were used
as propaganda material for the followers.
One can carry on and disclose more shortfalls and trickeries under
the banner of Babi or Bahaii faith or religion. However, based on what
has been discussed, neither the Bab nor Baha were genuine prophets.
They were just as delusional as Shiites and Shaykhis of their time. A
scientific comment from Baha, in Iqan, is a reflection of the common
unfounded information of the then science of Alchemy. He believed
copper could change to gold either instantly by exposing it to the real
elixir or naturally in seventy years provided it was not affected by
dryness!
[165] For instance, consider the substance of copper. Were

it to be protected in its own mine from becoming
solidified, it would, within the space of seventy years,
attain to the state of gold. There are some, however, who
163
Revealed Tablet to the kings and state leaders, Tablet of the King of
Iran, (Arabic and Farsi), P 145.
164
Revealed Tablet to the kings and state leaders, Tablet of the Pope, (Arabic
and Farsi), P 73.
189
maintain that copper itself is gold, which by becoming

solidified is in a diseased condition, and hath not therefore
reached its own state.
[166] Be that as it may, the real elixir will, in one instant,
cause the substance of copper to attain the state of gold,
and will traverse the seventy-year stages in a single
moment. Could this gold be called copper? Could it be
claimed that it hath not attained the state of gold, whilst the
touch-stone is at hand to assay it and distinguish it from
copper?165
Face-lifting the Faith
According to the rule imposed for our search, the behaviour and
story of Bahaiis after the death of Baha is not accountable in our search
for a prophet. The same principle will be followed for all other religions
considered in this study. However, in the Bahaii faith a central control
mechanism has been in place to bar an enquiring follower from the true
history of the faith using any mean including expulsion to defend the
Baha’s version of the history. The existing Bahaii authority, the
Universal House of Justice, assumes infallibility in all religious matters.
Control is also in place to iron out, interpret or hide the controversial
issues. It tries to introduce new ideas to keep the faith up to date and
popular. The organisation has introduced several facelift versions of
Bahaii faith in line with the nationality and background of their
audience.
Defence of the distorted Bahaii faith has left existing Bahaii
authority with several dilemmas. It tries its best to hide, distort or
moderate the Bab’s and Baha’s life histories, original claims and their
close links and exclusive nourishment from the wild aggrandizement of
Shaykhism and the mesmerising myth of Shia. It tries hard to look down
on the Bab as a mere forerunner of Baha and to cover up his own claim
of being a Bab to Mehdi, Imam Mehdi, prophet or manifestation of God
165
Kitab-I-Iqan
190
with a new divine book just 16 years before the advent of Bahaii faith.
It tries its best to forget about Azal, or to reinterpret Azal’s succession
to the Bab as a mere diversion sign for the protection of Baha. It
endeavours to hide or distort the conflict between the two brothers, Azal
and Baha, and to denounce Azal as a foolish, incompetent and jealous
brother who could not accept Baha’s grandeur. In general, according to
the official version, there has been no human worship, no false
prophecy, no error, no change of heart, no power struggle, no poisoning,
no excommunication, no murder, no cover up and no family feud in this
apparently peace seeking new faith for our age.
The Bahaii authority does its best to present Baha as a new prophet
in line with the Abrahamic prophets for the new era. He is introduced
as a prophet who came to abrogate the old laws and bring in fitting
modern laws for our age. However, when it comes to the sacred law of
God in Ketab-i-Aqdas, they find it so restricted to its time, place and
social ethnicity that the authority feels shy to ask non-Iranians to
recognize or follow it. Therefore, a relaxed or filtered set of rules is
introduced for non-Iranians depending on the location and inherent
culture of their followers.
The Bab and Baha are also promoted on the basis of their supposed
new messages for new societies. However, sending two prophets in
succession to the same people and being forgetful of the rest of
humankind is not a wise prophet management by God, especially so
when the law brought in by the first one was eradicated in such a short
time. If relaxed rules were really necessary, it would have been much
better if at least one of them had been sent to another part of the world
with an appropriate divine law for those societies. The reality was that
both prophets were so intertwined with their Shaykhi tradition that their
messages were only acceptable to only a small group of the sect, not
even all Shaykhi groups or all Iranians, let alone the whole world.
Now, who decides about the relaxed sets of laws and on what
authority? Why cannot a new rule for the new world be applied as it was
ordered in the new book rather than its full application be postponed? If
there was no necessity for the revelation of the original version of the
191
law for all humanity, why has there been so much divine insistence and
verification about such local and ineffective laws?
Hold fast by the Ketab-i-Aqdas which the Merciful has

sent down with His holy and mighty power; verily it is the
balance of God among you with which are balanced all the
deeds and it is from the Mighty, the Powerful.166
These are the limits of God which have been written by the
great Pen in books and tablets. Hold fast by the injunctions
of God and His commandments and be not like those who
follow laws laid down by themselves, and throw the laws
laid down by God behind them because they follow
conjectures and whims. And the sincere ones find in the
limits of God the water of life for people of all sects and
the lamp of wisdom and success for those in the earths and
the heavens ... Beware lest you refrain from acting upon
anything which has been plainly laid down in the tablet.167
Universal house of justice should be asked why they hide 90% of the
writings of the Bab, Baha and their two successors. One then wonders
what is the Bahaii religion? It brings to mind the parable of the elephant
in a dark room. Are we shown only the 10% of the elephant?
Finally, for those who are eager to follow the latest religion I would
like to invite them considering latest prophets such as Wallace Fard
Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad. They were manifested in the land
of modernity and progress in twentieth century thus are more modern.
166
Bahaullah, Aqdas
167
Bahaullah, Aqdas, 17
192
Chapter 4
Islam
5
On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel
that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or
for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he
slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would
be as if he saved the life of the whole people.
(The Quran, 32)
If the accounts and history of some recently founded religions such

as the Babi and Bahaii faiths or the Nation of Islam were documented
relatively close to the actual events, the surviving history of Islam and
its preceding established religions and biography of their founders were
recorded long after their emergence. In the case of Islam, for example,
a Muslim historian, Ibn Ishaq who died 150 years after Prophet
Muhammad’s death (160AH), wrote the earliest partly-surviving
biography of the prophet of Islam combined with the history of early
Islam. It is believed that the biography was written around 110AH. The
author, apparently, had included all stories and poems he could find in
which Muhammad was mentioned. Besides that overdue document, the
only existing and commonly accepted witness to the development of
Islam is the Quran.
From the above two sources the Quran is more trustworthy from a
historical point of view. It not only has been written in intimate parallel
with the then burgeoning faith but also was the subject of scrutiny by
193
both Muslims and non-Muslims from the early development of Islam.

However, it is a well-known fact that the Quran is not a biography of
Muhammad or a detailed account of the development of the faith. For
example, the momentous event of the migration of Muhammad and
Muslims from Mecca to Medina (Yathrib), which marks the beginning
of the Muslim calendar, is hardly mentioned in the Quran. The same is
true of the migration and return of one or two parties of Muslims to
Ethiopia (Abyssinia). They had to flee Mecca due to intolerance towards
the followers of the new faith resulting in harsh persecution of
vulnerable Muslims by pagan tribes in Mecca. Three years social and
economic boycott of Muslims and their supporting clans by Meccan
tribes, and their long suffering and starvation in a mountain hideout
outside Mecca is also completely absent.
The reason for omissions of the detailed history of the faith is that
the Quran was supposed to be the revelation of God to the Prophet
disclosing the complete and final religion to mankind not an exhaustive
biography of Muhammad or a history of early Muslims. Undoubtedly,
there are some fleeting accounts of the Muslims’ eventful mission and
the development of the religion in the book. However, mentioning of
those few events are not regarded as an end in themselves. They are
touched on as a mean of supporting or emphasising a religious point or
to remind Muslims of their religious duties.
Therefore, where the history of early Muslims is concerned, we are
left with no choice but to rely on Ibn Ishaq’s book, The Life of Apostle
Muhammad, a recorded history far removed from Muhammad’s time.
But, unfortunately, only a revised or summarized version of Ibn Ishaq’s
book is available and the original work has perished. A Muslim
historian, Ibn Hisham who died in 218AH, completed the revision of
the biography several decades after the original work. Ibn Ishaq is
claimed to have included every story he had heard irrespective of its
accuracy and truth. More likely the reviser kept the material which was
deemed more trustworthy, was touched upon in the Quran and was
related to the Prophet’s mission.
Whatever the reason for the modification, the necessity of a revised
version is a sign of uncertainty or controversy about the original
194
narration. We should also not forget that Muslims went through a

turbulent history after Muhammad. Rapid expansion of Islam brought
immense power and wealth and created divergent aspirations among
powerful or connected individuals. It naturally produced deep tension
within various groups who unremittingly engaged in a bitter power
struggle. It eventually resulted in the ruling of a clan which had
unwaveringly opposed Islam until Muhammad conquered Mecca two
years before his death. Muslims had then been ruled by two despotic
and bitterly opposed dynasties in succession, the Umayyad and the
Abbasid. In the time of the writing of the original biography Muslins
had already been engaged in at least three major civil wars resulting in
a militant transition from the former to the latter dynasty. Therefore,
both original biography of Muhammad and its revision could not be
deemed as unadulterated and correct recording of the events.
Furthermore, the eruption of numerous Islamic sects from about forty
years after Muhammad’s death, 50 AH, had undeniably tainted the true
history. Nevertheless, the revised text of the Life of Apostle Muhammad
is the principal source of the detailed history of early Islam, Muhammad
and Muslims.
Our experiences with records of the histories of the Babi and Bahaii
faiths and the Nation of Islam show that most facts are deliberately
ignored by faithful followers, and replaced with lies and propaganda,
especially when internal frictions or external hostilities are rife. For
example, in the Bahaii Faith, the significance and even the name of the
successor to the Bab, Azal, was non-existent amongst the followers of
the faith in a matter of a decade or so. To sustain the fallacy Bahaii
leaders tried their utmost to destroy the real history of the new
movement recorded in Nuqtatu'l-Kaf. They then replaced it with a
revised version of the book called Tarikh-i-Jadid or New History.
Professor E.G. Browne was astounded when he was confronted with
this bitter fact of history:
My researches amongst the Babis in Persia had, at a

comparatively early stage, revealed to me the fact that
since Count Gobineau composed his work great changes
195
had taken place in their organization and attitude. I had

expected to find Mirza Yahya Subh-i-Azal ("Hazrat-i-
Ezel" as Gobineau calls him) universally acknowledged by
them as the Bab's successor and the sole head to whom
they confessed allegiance. My surprise was great when I
discovered that, so far from this being the case, the
majority of the Babis spoke only of Baha as their chief and
prophet; asserted that the Bab was merely his herald.168
Fortunately, some independent and unbiased accounts of recent

religions exist so that their true histories and important facts can be
recovered. But this is not true of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. For
example, Count Gobineau brought a copy of Nuqtatu’l-Kaf to the west
in the early stage of Babism. That copy was the only known complete
copy spared from destruction by Bahaiis and through that E.G. Browne
discovered and exposed the extent of the historical distortion of the Babi
faith by Bahaiis. The discovery of the new distortion cannot prove or
deny the accuracy of Nuqtatu’l-Kaf but shows the bizarre twists of
events.
A revision of the history of Islam can also be a sign that reality being
greatly distorted. Since there is no complete surviving copy of the
original book the true facts and reason for revision may never be
discovered. But the key point is the fact that the original copy also did
not reflect the truth, being written more than 100 turbulent years after
Muhammad’s death. Considering the way religious followers present
the history of their faith, without impartial assessment or objective
investigation, it is imperative not to rely on those accounts, especially if
the historians not only are not eyewitnesses but also far removed from
the time and the place of the events. Thus, while in the previous chapters
historical facts were considered as one of the main investigative tools
for recent religions, the same cannot be applied to their earlier
counterparts. To investigate the truth of Islam, Christianity and Judaism,
therefore, it is thus essential to rely mainly on the contents of their
168
Browne, E. G. (tr.), Traveller's Narrative (Makála-I-Shakhsí Sayyáh,
Abbas Efendi, 1886), London, Cambridge University Press, 1975
196
corresponding sacred books. This type of investigation, undoubtedly,

leads to conclusions that not only are most reliable but also acceptable
by the sincere followers.
The reason that a similar type of investigation was not carried out in
previous cases derived from specific reasons in each individual case.
The Nation of Islam accepted the Quran and sometimes the Bible as
their religious books. These books were not revealed to the founder of
the faith. Therefore, a justified reason for a divine mission of the
founder could not be investigated from those sacred books, unless his
name was mentioned or his mission was clearly identified or predicted
in those earlier manuscripts.
In the case of the Babi faith this method was not followed since
Bayan, Bab’s major books in Arabic and Farsi versions, are not readily
available to all and the books are so full of linguistic errors and empty
of tangible meanings that they leave no room for constructive criticism.
Other errors concerning scientific and historic facts are also numerous
in Bayan but not remarked upon because the aim was not to expose all
the errors but to find a true prophet. When the Bab almost playfully
juggled with his true identity it was pointless to mention his false
scientific statements. Listing all possible errors did not do justice to the
main points. In the case of Bahaii faith, though some passages from
Baha’s books were mentioned the true story of this faith was thought to
be more important and can serve as an eye opener rather than to list all
the errors in his books.
What is Muhammad’s Message?
Judging by the legacies of Prophet Muhammad to his followers, one

has no choice but to admire him for his unsurpassed achievements. He
is to be admired for his amazing success in uniting and bonding
separate, selfish and conflicting tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, who
were busy looting each other, by an ethical rule rather than that of the
sword and tribal kinship in a matter of just two decades. He is admirable
because he firmly established the equality of human beings as a fact.
197
Even at the peak of his glorious success he never considered himself

more important than or different from other human beings169. But was
he a prophet? To answer this question we need to examine his message.
What is Muhammad’s message? In other words what is Islam? For
a novice searcher it becomes frustrating to realize that there are
hundreds of versions of Islam including almost every belief and idea.
Besides two main sects, Sunni and Shia, each branching to numerous
renowned and unfamiliar factions, schools and wings, there are many
strange groups with stranger principles. For example, the Nation of
Islam, created outside the realm of the Islamic scripture, obviously
claims to follow Islam. The sect has made the Quran completely
redundant by following its own agenda of black race supremacy to the
point of claiming that black people are God. Thus, to find the message
of Muhammad the focus will be on orthodox Islam. But still the path to
unambiguous fact is not straightforward.
The scholars of orthodox Islam accept two written sources from
which the message of Muhammad may be fully understood: the Quran
and the Sunnah. The former is a book which Muhammad claimed was
gradually revealed to him by God through the archangel Gabriel during
a period of twenty-three years. The latter is the record of Muhammad’s
tradition. To be more precise, the Sunnah of the prophet Muhammad is
defined as his sayings, deeds and habits including his reaction to various
events – be it refusal, silence or approval - occurred during his lifetime.
The report of the Sunnah is known as Hadith. The word is used for a
single report. It is also used collectively for the whole tradition. Muslims
regard both the Quran and Hadith as works of revelation or divine
inspiration.
The third Caliph ordered the collection of the Quran in one volume,
arranged from longest to shortest Chapters, for distributing it to
different parts of the vast Islamic empire as the principal source of
religious thought and law of Islam. Hadith was not similarly treated,
169
There are a few exceptions to this verdict. For example, Muhammad allocated
some of the booties for his family (8:42), also allowed himself to marry any
number of women whom were willing to propose to be his wife (33:51) and no
one was allowed to marry his wives (33:54). As these issues are debatable, we do
not consider them any further.
198
neither by Muhammad nor his companions. Nevertheless, it is claimed

that the Sunnah was for the most part narrated verbally at least a hundred
years before a selection of it was written down.
Now the question is, can we identify Hadith as part of the Islamic
message? The answer is no. Several reasons support this judgement.
The Quran does not propose Muhammad’s sayings or deeds as part
of Islam. There is no single unambiguous verse in the Quran
recognizing or authenticating the Sunnah as part of Islam. The Quran
advocates itself as the only necessary and sufficient revelation from God
to Muhammad for mankind. Just a few examples are quoted below:
101
O you who believe! Ask not questions about things
which, if made plain to you, may cause you trouble. But if
you ask about things when the Quran is being revealed,
they will be made plain to you, Allah will forgive those:
for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Forbearing.170
23
Allah has revealed (from time to time) the most beautiful
Message in the form of a Book, consistent with itself, (yet)
repeating (its teaching in various aspects): ... Such is the
guidance of Allah: He guides therewith whom He pleases,
but such as Allah leaves to stray, can have none to guide.
… 41Verily We have revealed the Book to you in Truth, for
(instructing) mankind. He, then, that receives guidance
benefits his own soul: but he that strays injures his own
soul. Nor are you set over them to dispose of their
affairs.”171
“19Say: ... This Quran has been revealed to me by

inspiration, that I may warn you and all whom it
reaches.”172
170
Quran, 5
171
Quran, 39
172
Quran, 6
199
44
… and We have sent down unto you (also) the Message
(the Quran); that you may explain clearly to men what is
sent for them, and that they may give thought. … 64And
We sent down the Book to you for the express purpose,
that you should make clear to them those things in which
they differ, and that it should be a guide and a mercy to
those who believe.173
“31That which We have revealed to you of the Book is the

Truth,- confirming what was (revealed) before it: for Allah
is assuredly- with respect to His Servants - well acquainted
and Fully Observant. 32Then We have given the Book for
inheritance to such of Our Servants as We have chosen:
but there are among them some who wrong their own
souls; some who follow a middle course; and some who
are, by Allah's leave, foremost in good deeds; that is the
highest Grace.”174
Apart from the non-existence of direct verses in support of the

Sunnah there are other verses, which imply that the Sunnah of
Muhammad is not a part of Islam. For example, the Quran rebuffs Jews
who followed the example of their prophets and instead invites them to
follow the Torah.
“93All food was lawful to the Children of Israel, except

what Israel made unlawful for itself before the Law (of
Moses) was revealed. Say: "Bring you the Torah and study
it, if you be men of truth."”175
The second reason is that neither the Quran nor Muhammad ordered
his sayings, deeds or conduct to be documented by official scribes for
accurate and safe recording. This practice, however, was employed for
173
Quran, 16
174
Quran, 35
175
Quran, 3
200
the recording of the Quran. Muhammad had numerous official scribes

who after writing every Quranic revelation read it back to Muhammad
for verification and any possible correction. The complete Quran,
though not contained in one volume, existed in a written form before
Muhammad’s death. On the contrary there are some reported statements
from the prophet in which he apparently forbade recording the Sunnah.
An example is given from book 42, chapter 17 of Sahih Muslim, which
is one of the main Hadith collections.
Prophet said: Do not write down anything from me. He

who writes anything from me except the Quran he must
erase it … (No. 7147)
The third reason is the fact that Muhammad successors and

companions didn’t compile or distribute Hadith as part of the Islamic
sources, to preserve it from possible alteration. The companions of
Muhammad collected the Quran in one volume since they wanted to
preserve it as the revelation of God and the only source of their religion.
There was no such motive for collecting the Sunnah. Also, its collection
was forbidden, possibly to stop the spread of unconfirmed reports about
Muhammad.
Some reports claim that the reason for not collecting the Sunnah was
that the companions feared it might be confused with the Quran or
divert the attention of Muslims to Hadith. These explanations are
obviously not acceptable since Muslims believe that the Quran is a
miraculous document which surpasses any other literary work of
genius.
50
Yes they say: "Why are not Signs (miracles) sent down to him
from his Lord?" Say: "The signs are indeed with Allah: and I
am indeed a clear Warner." 51And is it not enough for them that
we have sent down to thee the Book which is rehearsed to
them? Verily, in it is Mercy and a Reminder to those who
believe.176
176
Quran, 29
201
Currently there are many Hadith books but no Arabic speaking

person confuses the exquisite and elegant language of the Quran with
Hadith or at least no one has claimed so. Also, how could the early
faithful Muslims accept that an important and essential source of their
religion heralded by the last prophet be forgotten, purely on baseless
speculation? This would make a mockery of God’s final divine message
and plan for humanity.
There are a few reports of collections of Hadith by some of
Muhammad’s companions but their purpose isn’t made known. Also,
since there is no surviving copy of those writings indicates that either
the reports are later fabrications or early Muslims didn’t deem it
essential to protect the Sunnah as part of their religion and preserve its
written sources.
In fact, accepting the Sunnah, as part of Islam was a later
development, long after the rule of the first four Caliphs (Muslim
leaders after Muhammad). Apparently, its writing and distribution was
originally discouraged by some companions of Muhammad including
the second Caliph. But its narration later flourished to fuel rivalry
between different political parties and ideological sects and also to
compensate for assumed and sometimes real shortfalls in the Quran
regarding social and legal issues.
In verifying the Sunnah, Muslim scholars refer to some verses in the
Quran and sayings of Muhammad to support their claims. But those
verses are not related to the Sunnah. As an example, one of the verses
of the Quran presented as proof of the Sunnah is part of verse 7 of
Chapter 59:
“So take what the Messenger assigns to (gives) you, and

deny yourselves that which he withholds from (forbids)
you. And fear Allah; for Allah is strict in Punishment.”
But the issue in this verse, and those before and after it, is about
dividing booty after a war not endorsing the Sunnah. The full verse is
as follows;
202
“7What Allah has bestowed on His Messenger (and taken

away) from the people of the townships,- belongs to
Allah,- to His Messenger and to kindred and orphans, the
needy and the wayfarer; In order that it may not (merely)
make a circuit between the wealthy among you. So take
what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves
that which he withholds from you. And fear Allah; for
Allah is strict in Punishment.”177
Another reason presented is based on sayings of Muhammad. For

example, there is a passage in Muhammad’s last or farewell sermon in
which he reputedly reminds Muslim of his Sunnah.
O People, … I leave behind me two things, the Quran and

my example, the Sunnah, and if you follow these you will
never go astray.178
The main response to this claim is that, if the Sunnah of prophet is

really that important why this sentence was not recorded in the Quran?
Why didn’t the Quran clearly clarify this important issue? There are also
at least two other versions of the sermon, which renders this Hadith
totally unreliable. The relevant passage in one version that complies
with the Quran is:
I have left among you the Book of Allah, and if you hold
fast to it, you would never go astray.179
Without support from the Quran, the proof of the Sunnah based on
reported sayings of Muhammad is not valid. Simply, it can’t be its own
witness. Moreover, there exist some orders that strictly forbid the
writing and spread of Hadith. In fact, its writing was forbidden during
177
Quran, 59
178
Al-Muwatta, 46/3
179
Sahih Muslim, Book 7, No. 2803
203
the first century of Islam. Hence no early Hadith book was written.
Nevertheless, about eighty-five years after the first Caliph reputedly
burned his text of some Muhammad’s sayings, an Umayyad ruler
ordered Hadith to be preserved by collecting them in books. He ordered
the collection and recording of Hadith because he feared the efforts of
scientists might be forgotten. There is no reference in this story of
preserving one of the sources of Islam. Apparently, the mission didn’t
go far due to the early death of the ruler. Whatever happened, there is
no sign of any collection by the two responsible scholars commissioned
for the project.
That Hadith is a later creation for supporting emerging sects and
political groups cannot be more apparent from the fact that the two main
sects of Islam, Sunni and Shia, have their own separate sources of
Hadith. Moreover, Sunnites added the sayings and actions of
Muhammad’s companions, more than 100,000 people, to the Sunnah.
Shiites, on the other hand, added Etrah (in this context, sayings, deeds
and customs of the prophet’s selected relatives, kindred or household)
to the Sunnah.
Adding Etrah is, incredibly again, on the basis of a Shia version of
the Muhammad’s farewell sermon after performing his last pilgrimage
to Mecca with about 40,000 Muslims. The existence of at least three
different versions of such an important sermon in front of such a large
number of faithful shows how easily every sect could forge its own
baseless belief and attribute it to their prophet. The relevant passage in
the Shia version of the sermon reads:
I am leaving for you two precious things and if you adhere

to both of them, you will never go astray after me. They
are the Book of Allah and my selected progeny (Al-Etrah)
that is my family (Ahlul-Bayt). The two shall never
separate from each other until they come to me by the Pool
(of Paradise).
More confusing still is the fact that the above passage denies the
Sunnah of Muhammad himself as a source of Islam since it only refers
204
to the Quran and Al-Etrah. This initiates some more controversial issues
but it is better left untouched since it is not related to our search. What
is Al-Etrah? Shiites use various words to explain the meaning of it in
this context such as progeny, family, relatives, kindred and household.
But no matter what words is used they are all imprecise and confusing
vocabulary on this subject. For example, they do not include
Muhammad’s wives for obvious political and sectarian reasons. In
reality, family here only includes one of Muhammad’s four daughters,
Fatima, her husband, Imam Ali, and their specified children and
descendants, who according to Shiites were divinely selected and
commissioned for the leadership of all Muslims after the prophet
Muhammad. They are given the title of Imam in Shia and are supposed
to be the exclusive authorised source of trusted Hadith or even new
divine revelation.
The problem with the Shiites’ claim is the lack of original writing
from their leaders supporting the story of Shia. No single Imam wrote
or encouraged the writing of the Shia doctrine either in the style of the
Quran or a Hadith book. Quite the opposite, Imam Ali apparently
highlighted the problems a Hadith may create even during the life of the
prophet Muhammad180. What is important is that in the sermon
attributed to him he didn’t recommend the collection of correct Hadiths
as a solution. He also didn’t claim a special relationship with God,
leadership or quality separate from other early Muslim leaders.
In summary and in reality, according to orthodox Muslim scholars,
Muhammad left not only the Quran for the guidance of mankind but
also several Hadith sources. Basically, accepted and authorised Hadith
in Sunni Islam are six collections the earliest of which dates to about
180
Certainly, what is current among the people is both right and wrong, true and false,
repealing and repealed, general and particular, definite and indefinite, exact and
surmised. Even during the Prophet's days false sayings had been attributed to him, so
much so that he had to say during his sermon that, "Whoever attributes falsehoods to me
makes his abode in Hell." Those who relate traditions are of four categories, no more,
First: The lying hypocrites, … Second: Those who are mistaken, … Third: Those who are
ignorant, … Fourth: Those who memorise truthfully. … The sayings of the Prophet used
to be of two types. One was particular and the other common. Sometimes a man would
hear him but he would not know what Allah, the Glorified, meant by it or what the
Messenger of Allah meant by it. In this way the listener carries it and memorises it
without knowing its meaning and its real intention, or what was its reason. … Nahj-ul-
balagha, Sermon number 210
205
230 years after Muhammad’s death or 240AH. Shiites claim that they
possessed much earlier writings of Hadith going back to the collection
of the fourth Caliph, Ali (the first Imam of Shia). True or not, there is
no evidential existence of these collections, which are also not referred
to directly in any of the existing Shia or Sunni collections. In reality, the
authorised or main sources of Hadith in Shia Islam are collected in four
collections, the earliest of which is dated about 300AH.
Are the collections free from any error? Can Muslims refer to them
with confidence to find the true message and command of God?
Answers to both questions are no, as Muslim scholars of the two main
sects of Islam who have examined their own collections confess that the
books are in need of some major cleaning. Due to impurity in all
collections knowledgeable Muslims don’t use the term “authentic” for
the collections and refer to them as main collections. There are
numerous other collections which aren’t regarded as reliable as the main
collections but are still highly respected, reproduced and referred to as
often as the trusted main books. For instance, Imam Malik, the founder
of the Maliki School within Sunni Islam, wrote Al-Muwatta prior to the
main collections. It is highly trusted by all Sunni Muslims. In fact, it is
regarded as a main collection by some Sunni Muslims instead of the Ibn
Majah collection.
As far as the collectors were concerned, they did their best to record
only genuine Hadith. Obviously, they didn’t trust every Hadith they
received and didn’t include all they heard in their collections. A few
claimed that they accepted only about one percent or less of the Hadiths
(Ahadith) they knew. For example, the most eminent Sunni collector,
Al-Bukhari, trusted only 2,000 Hadiths from the 40,000 he encountered
in one stage of his life and finally accepted 7,275 Hadiths from the
600,000 he knew. Of these 7,275 Hadiths only about 2760 are non-
duplicates. These figures are really shocking and demonstrate the
extensive dimension of forgery. It is also lamentable to see so many
people were occupied with forgery in the name of truth. The awfully
low percentage of correct Hadith and the staggering forgery
206
corroborates the earlier claim that Muhammad’s biography should also

be treated with due suspicion181.
The collectors have not been scruples enough as there are two main
obvious flaws in the books. The first defect is that both sets contain
numerous illogical, fallacious or contradictory narratives. The second
defect is related to verbal narrators of Hadith. A late collection of
Sunnah required each Hadith to be augmented by an unbroken chain of
trustworthy narrators, from the time of the prophet Muhammad or one
of his companions to the time of recording, for a credible verbal
transmission. Neither set of sources gives the complete chain of
narrators for all Hadiths.
The fact is that, after massive filtering by the main collectors there
are still Hadiths in all collections that are contrary to Islamic beliefs and
teachings. This problem makes the discovery of the true message of
Muhammad really difficult not only for ordinary people but also for
expert scholars.
Muslim scholars have tried to defend these defective collections by
arguing that the collectors endeavoured to include all they knew as raw
material for later investigation. But, according to the collectors
themselves this new explanation is obviously not correct as the
collectors scrupulously selected their Hadiths. Also, Islam wasn’t
supposed to be explored through complicated, contradictive and
corrupted sources. Islam was believed to be the pure revelation and
undistorted message of God for humanity. It was supposed to be plain
and without any ambiguity, not a complicated and jumbled puzzle to be
unfolded only by expert scholars after backbreaking efforts.
Muslims claim that Islam is the complete and ultimate religion for
mankind. They claim that Muhammad’s message is the final and
uncorrupted revelation of God, which replaces the modified and
distorted older scriptures including the Old and New Testaments. But
they forget that one of Islam’s supposed essential sources is not only
corrupted but also originates from two different and dissimilar
181
Hadith is divided into legal tradition, doctrinal or dogmatic tradition and
Maghazi which may be translated as prophetic campaigns or biography. The
latter wasn’t narrated or collected as carefully and meticulously as other types
of Hadith.
207
collections, documented centuries, not years or decades, after the actual

events.
The contradictions in these two different sets of Hadith are not
limited to trivial issues but concern important matters such as articles of
faith. According to Muslims’ own claims and criteria the ambiguity in
Hadith is a proof of Islam’s invalidity as well if Hadith is accepted as
one source of Islam?
But Muslim scholars have ignored this simple fact. Instead they have
created two investigating and sieving methods for purifying this
embarrassing huge body of forged Hadith texts. Accordingly, one
branch of investigation deals with the verbal narrators. It tries to
separate truthful narrators from bogus forgers. The other branch deals
with the content of the Hadith. It evaluates the actual text for separating
a true Hadith from a forged one.
The first method puts the oral reporters under scrutiny. It involves
creating and recording the biography and then examining the life and
real personality of all people who are mentioned as narrators in all
Hadith collections. Numerous volumes have been dedicated to the
biographies of the concerned people. It is claimed that these sets of
books enable scholars to judge the belief, integrity and reliability of oral
reporters.
Knowing true characters of narrators is, no doubt, one of the
necessary conditions for investigation of a truthful Hadith but who can
testify that the biography writers and their sources were honest
themselves. More importantly the collectors of biographies couldn’t
directly know the true character of the narrators of Hadith, majority of
who were then long dead. Strangely enough the collectors of
biographies in fact relied on some narrations, which similar to Hadith
involved some more narrators, for the true characters of the long-gone
narrators of Hadith. The first investigation method thus seems to rely on
dubious grounds. It is obviously subjective through and through and
therefore totally unreliable. The very idea that the true personality of
people may be known and then be related to their honesty in narration
of a Hadith is also just wishful thinking.
208
The main problem with the chain of narrators is ignoring the vital
validity check for the word of God. Muslims believe that prophets need
a miracle for the proof of their missions meaning that the word of God
should be accompanied by a miracle for its validity. In studying and
filtering Hadith, however, they have no choice but rely on memory and
honesty of fallible people not trusted prophets. It means that Muslims
plainly have disregarded their own essential criterion if they insist on
the validity of Hadith.
If we even suppose that the biographers and their sources were
unblemished it would still be impossible to affirm a true Hadith with a
reliable chain of narrators. It is a well-known fact that some faithful
Muslims confessed to fabricating some false Hadiths complete with
perfect chain of narrators in order to entice other Muslims to read the
Quran or perform other religious duties. Thus, the limited, unreliable
and subjective knowledge about the narrators may enable one to reject
some of the false Hadiths but isn’t valid and honest enough to identify
those which are God’s messages.
Finally, some of the Hadith collectors have also collected the
biographies of the Hadith narrators including Al-Bukhari, who is one of
the most trusted Hadith collectors among Sunnis, and Shaikh Tusi, who
has written two out of four main Hadith collections for Shiites. Tusi also
wrote three out of four trusted collections of biographies. It seems that
they were in much better position to do better purification of the Hadith
if it was possible. With numerous errors in the biography books the task
is near impossible now.
What about the second proposed method of investigation? Simply
put the authenticity of a text in a Hadith is acknowledged if it is not
contrary to the Quran, indisputable Hadiths, science, logic, historical
facts and common sense. The Hadith should also be grammatically
correct and in decent and fitting Arabic language. In other words, the
content of the Hadith must be free of any non-Islamic, incorrect,
obscene or false contents.
The problem with this proposal is that the examination of Hadith text
is not an acceptable religious, logical and scientific discipline. An
example shows the weakness of this method of filtering Hadith in legal
209
traditions. Suppose there are three different Hadiths prescribing 20, 40

and 80 lashes as punishment for drinking. Which one is contradictory
to the Quran, trusted Hadiths, science, reasoning, logic and common
sense? The question is just inappropriate. In fact, some punitive
sentences in the Quran are not based on scientific facts, common sense
or logical reasoning. Hence using these criteria for Hadith is
unacceptable. Moreover, agreement with trusted Hadith should not be
considered as a criterion. The whole idea of Hadith purification is to
identify correct Hadiths. Therefore, separating some Hadiths as
authentic and use them as criteria in the investigation is against the
original premise.
Muslim scholars, nevertheless, insist that their methodical investigation
of the text in combination with the biography of the narrators can
identify a true Hadith from a forged one.
The creation of these two branches of the so-called science for
filtering Hadith, after initial selection by the collectors, confirms that
God’s revelation through Sunnah is not crystal clear. One should also
note that Muslims haven’t yet separated true Hadiths from false ones
and the controversy is as fresh as it was one thousand years ago.
If these sciences were useful, Shiite and Sunni scholars, after at least
one thousand years of study and careful research, would have resolved
their differences. On the contrary they are divided as ever. One should
listen to the opinions of rival sects about each other to appreciate the
real validity of Hadith. In other words, the issue of Hadith must be
embarrassing to Muslim scholars but they blatantly ignore this
controversial and scandalous subject by accusing their rival sects of
forgery. That says it all as the creation of the pseudo sciences is just
smoke screen for the accepted forgery and dishonesty. Moreover, real
science stagnated or went through a steady decline among Muslims after
sieving of Hadith and its study became the main occupation of scholars
in all Islamic seminaries.
Accordingly, a researcher or seeker of Islam has been prevented
from the real truth by layer upon layer of insurmountable complications.
It isn’t anymore the case of seek the truth and you will find it, it is being
lost in a labyrinth of sacred lies in the hope of finding the exit to the
210
truth. To summarise the issue, this is the story of Islam according to the
Muslim scholars.
Advent of Islam: God looked upon the earth and found it full of
corrupted and corrupt scriptures, and bewildered
people. Merciful God decided to provide them with
a complete, unadulterated and clear guidance. He
sent Prophet Muhammad to mankind with His final
and complete message. Muhammad accepted this
huge responsibility and delivered the message and
lived among people as a prime example to be
emulated by humankind.
st
1 Generation: After Mohammad passed away the Quran was collected
in one volume as the first part of the sacred message
for future generations. But, to prevent a seeker of
this final message from the real Islam, God, or
maybe Satan - this needs to be investigated by
Muslim scholars - deferred the writing of the second
essential part of the message, the accurate record of
Muhammad’s tradition or Sunnah. To make the
situation even worse God then sent or allowed some
crooks, even inadvertently some of the prophet
companions, to falsely claim that Muhammad said
or did something, which he never said or did.
2nd Generation: To make the seeker of truth more bewildered God
delayed the writing of the slightly corrupted Sunnah
for another generation and in the meantime He sent
some more crooks to falsely claim that they have
heard it from a second person, a companion of
Muhammad from the earlier generation, who
claimed he saw Muhammad did or said such and
such.
3rd Generation: God delayed the writing of his more diluted message
for another generation and in the meantime He sent
some more crooks to falsely claim they heard from
211
a second person who claimed he heard from a third

person that Muhammad did or said such and such.
Now in this mesmerizing game God desired a seeker
of His final uncorrupted message to know all those
people who had narrated a Hadith and check for
their real existence, good memory, honesty and firm
religious belief to find a part of what Muhammad
did, said or approved and then add all those results
together to get the message.
th
4 Generation: But to make the life of the seeker of the truth still
more difficult, God sent some more crooks in the
guise of honest religious Muslims to create a perfect
chain of people who claimed they had heard
Muhammad said or did such and such. Thus, not
only a seeker of the truth should know all those
people in the narrative chain but also he or she
should be an infallible expert in Islam, biography of
Muhammad, history of the religion and Arabic
language and grammar to be capable of
distinguishing between the right Hadith and the false
one. It simply means in order to start learning Islam
from Hadith one should already be an Arabic
speaking ultimate expert in Islam.
Biography Creation: Some Shiites testified that Shiite narrators were
wholesome Muslims and almost infallible while
Sunnis have totally lost it. Therefore, only the Shiite
narrators were eligible in reporting Hadith and
Sunnis were not qualified. Some Sunnis testified
that that Sunni narrators were pure Muslims and
almost infallible while Shiites are liars. Therefore,
only the Sunni narrators were eligible in reporting
Hadith and Shiites were not qualified. Some also
heard their biographies from a second person of
earlier generations who heard them from a third
person of earlier generation and so on and so forth.
212
Hadith collection: The game went on for yet more time until God sent
some Muslims to travel to all corners of the then vast
Islamic world in search of some genuine Hadith.
These fallible and gullible collectors recorded true
and false Hadiths in their collections. God was
happy that He finally had provided people with His
uncorrupted message especially that they had a
choice between at least two different sets, Sunni and
Shia versions, of his unambiguous message until the
day of judgement.
Biography Collections: Both Sunnis and Shiites scholars collected the
biographies of all the narrators of Hadith as a
justification and support of their Hadith collections.
Then everyone was doubly assured about the true
message of God.
Believer in Hadith are thus pretending to have the pure message of God
through Muhammad but in reality have ended up scavenging in the
rubbish bin of storytellers.
Does Hadith Expound the Quran?
Since the search for Muhammad’s message is practically impossible

from the Hadith and there is no reference to it in the Quran, we shall
erase it from our search. But as an illustration of how the Hadith
confuses rather than elucidates Islamic issues, a simple example of its
content and use is given here.
In the Quran, the punishment for committing adultery is one hundred
lashes for both mischievous parties. There are no other punishments or
conditions considered when the specific sentence was announced
despite the fact that a large section of one chapter, Sura, in the Quran is
devoted to this issue. The whole section related to the subject is
deliberately quoted below to show the considerable amount of verses
that has been dedicated to this subject.
213
2
The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication
- flog each of them with a hundred stripes. Let not
compassion moves you in their case, in a matter prescribed
by Allah, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day; and let
a party of the believers witness their punishment. 3Let no
man guilty of adultery or fornication marry any but a
woman similarly guilty, or an unbeliever: nor let any but
such a man or an unbeliever marry such a woman: to the
Believers such a thing is forbidden. 4And those who launch
a charge against chaste women, and produce not four
witnesses (to support their allegations),- flog them with
eighty stripes; and reject their evidence ever after: for such
5
men are wicked transgressors, Unless they repent
thereafter and mend (their conduct); for Allah is Oft-
Forgiving, Most Merciful. 6And for those who launch a
charge against their spouses, and have (in support) no
evidence but their own,- their solitary evidence (can be
received) if they bear witness four times (with an oath) by
God that they are solemnly telling the truth; 7And the fifth
(oath) (should be) that they solemnly invoke the curse of
Allah on themselves if they tell a lie. 8But it would avert
the punishment from the wife, if she bears witness four
times (with an oath) by Allah, that (her husband) is telling
a lie; 9And the fifth (oath) should be that she solemnly
invokes the wrath of Allah on herself if (her accuser) is
telling the truth. 10If it were not for Allah's grace and mercy
on you, and that Allah is Oft-Returning, full of Wisdom,-
11
(you would be ruined indeed). Those who brought
forward the lie are a body among yourselves: think it not
to be an evil to you; On the contrary it is good for you: to
every man among them (will come the punishment) of the
sin that he earned, and to him who took on himself the lead
among them, will be a penalty grievous. 12Why did not the
believers - men and women - when you heard of the affair,-
put the best construction on it in their own minds and say,
214
"This (charge) is an obvious lie"? 13Why did they not bring

four witnesses to prove it? When they have not brought the
witnesses, such men, in the sight of Allah, (stand forth)
themselves as liars! 14Were it not for the grace and mercy
of Allah on you, in this world and the Hereafter, a grievous
penalty would have seized you in that you rushed glibly
into this affair. 15Behold, you received it on your tongues,
and said out of your mouths things of which you had no
knowledge; and you thought it to be a light matter, while it
was most serious in the sight of God. 16And why did you
not, when you heard it, say? - "It is not right of us to speak
of this: Glory to Allah! this is a most serious slander!"
17
God do admonish you, that you may never repeat such
(conduct), if you are (true) believers. 18And Allah makes
the Signs plain to you: for Allah is full of knowledge and
19
wisdom. Those who love (to see) scandal published
broadcast among the believers, will have a grievous
penalty in this life and in the hereafter: Allah knows, and
20
you know not. Were it not for the grace and mercy of
Allah on you, and that Allah is full of kindness and mercy,
(you would be ruined indeed). 21O you who believe follow
not Satan's footsteps: if any will follow the footsteps of
Satan, he will (but) command what is shameful and wrong:
and were it not for the grace and mercy of Allah on you,
not one of you would ever have been pure: but Allah does
purify whom He pleases: and Allah is One Who hears and
knows (all things). ... 23Those who slander chaste women,
indiscreet but believing, are cursed in this life and in the
Hereafter: for them is a grievous Penalty,- 24On the Day
when their tongues, their hands, and their feet will bear
25
witness against them as to their actions. On that Day
Allah will pay them back (all) their just dues, and they will
realise that Allah is the (very) Truth, that makes all things
26
manifest. Women impure are for men impure, and men
impure for women impure and women of purity are for
215
men of purity, and men of purity are for women of purity:

these are not affected by what people say: for them there is
forgiveness, and a provision honourable. (Quran 24)
It is unusual for the Quran to dedicate such a large section to one

sinful act and its punishment. In comparison, punishment for theft is
wrapped up in just two verses.
38
As to the thief, Male or female, cut off his or her hands:
a punishment by way of example, from Allah, for their
39
crime: and Allah is exalted in power. But if the thief
repents after his crime, and amends his conduct, Allah
turns to him in forgiveness; for Allah is Oft-forgiving,
Most Merciful. (Quran 5)
Also, the important issue of the finality of Muhammad’s

prophethood is mentioned only in the last part of a verse. But despite
the fact that so much has been written in the Quran about the issue of
adultery no other punishment was sanctioned182.
Surprisingly the punishment is different and much more severe in
Hadith. Punishment for adultery in Hadith is one hundred lashes and
exile for one year for an unmarried person and one hundred lashes and
then stoning to death for a married person. The fact that stoning is still
carried out in some Islamic countries indicates that Muslims believe in
Hadith rather than the original Quranic command. The irony is that in
several Hadiths Jews are blamed for following their tradition rather than
their sacred book in this very issue. For example:
“A Jew and a Jewess were brought to Muhammad who had

committed adultery. Muhammad came to the Jews and
said: What do you find in Torah (Pentateuch) for one who
commits adultery? They said: We darken their faces and
182
In fact, there is a house arrest punishment for a woman guilty of adultery.
The pertinent verse and its ruling are apparently abrogated by the flogging
command. The issue will be analysed later in this Chapter.
216
make them ride on the donkey with their faces turned to

the opposite direction while their backs touching each
other, and then they are taken round the town. He asked
them to bring Torah. They brought it and recited it until
when they came to the verse pertaining to stoning, the
person who was reading placed his hand on the verse
pertaining to stoning, and read only that which was
between his hands and what was subsequent to that. One
of Muhammad companion commands the Jew to lift his
hand. He lifted it and there was the verse pertaining to
stoning. Allah's Messenger pronounced judgment about
both of them and they were stoned.”183
There are many mistakes in this Hadith which is not our concern
here. However, the narrator forgot to include any proof or witness for
the adultery in this fabricated scenario since he was so busy blaming
Jews for their faithlessness and cover up.
The fact of the matter is that, according to Hadith which is accepted
by all Muslims, the verses for adultery in chapter 24 of the Quran were
revealed because one of Muhammad’s wives was accused of adultery.
Obviously, she was married, so that the punishment, if the accusation
were proven, should had been one hundred lashes and then being stoned
to death not just flogging as prescribed in the Quran. Also, in verse 24:6,
quoted above, the adultery of a married person is unambiguously
mentioned but no stoning to death is prescribed. Moreover, the
punishment for a maid (faithful slave girl) is set as half that for a free
woman.
25
If any of you have not the means wherewith to wed free
believing women, they may wed believing girls from
among those whom your right hands possess: … when
they are taken in wedlock, if they fall into shame (commit
adultery), their punishment is half that for free women. …
(Quran 4)
183
Sahih Muslim Book 17, Number 4211
217
This makes a mockery of the Quran if the Hadith is correct. Why

does the Quran prescribe a punishment, which is completely irrelevant,
ineffective and incomplete despite so many verses devoted to the
subject? How can the ‘stoning to death’ punishment be halved for a
maid? If the Quran was not even able to competently and honestly solve
a simple contemporary issue how can one expect it to solve all
mankind’s problems in later times?
To confuse the issue more, there are some other Hadiths claiming
there was a verse relating to stoning in the Quran but later the verse or
verses were quietly removed or eaten by a goat! This unsubstantiated
claim is exactly what is needed to render the Quran a pruned, thus
corrupted, revelation and Islam invalid, according to clear Quranic
criterion. One of these narratives claims:
“The second Caliph sat on the pulpit of Muhammad and

said: Surely God sent Muhammad with truth and He sent
down the Book upon him, in which the verse of stoning
was included. We recited it, memorized it and understood
it. Allah awarded the punishment of stoning to death (to
the married person) and, after him, we also awarded the
punishment of stoning, I am afraid that people may forget
it with the lapse of time, and then say: We do not find the
punishment of stoning in the Quran, and thus go astray by
abandoning this duty prescribed by God. Stoning is a duty
laid down in the Book of Allah for a married person who
commits adultery when proof is established or there is
pregnancy or a confession.”184
The narrators and collectors forgot that the companions of

Muhammad were more anxious to collect all the verses of the Quran.
During the compilation of the Quran, thousands of them were alive and
were consulted by the collectors. Omar, the second Caliph as a
prominent and powerful individual could then point out the obvious
184
Sahih Muslim Book 17, Number 4194
218
omission. The narrators of such Hadith also forgot that the Quran was
not yet collected into a volume at the time when the second Caliph was
alive. The majority of scholars believe that it was collected in one
volume at the order of the third Caliph, and thus the concern wasn’t at
all relevant. On the other hand, if Prophet Muhammad or the first
Caliph, Abubaker, initiated the collection of the Quran into one volume,
as some other scholars believe, everyone, including the second Caliph
could remind Muhammad, Abubaker or the scribers about the omission
and fix this obvious mistake. If Muhammad and/or all his companions
forgot to include that revealed verse in the Quran or deliberately neglect
it, then Muslims should be very concerned about the integrity of the
Quran and Islam. Finally, the second Caliph could simply fix the
problem during his reign of ten and a half years, and not simply lament
it.
It should also be noted that none of the several Hadiths devoted to
this issue, in the main authorised collections, reveals the content of the
stoning verse. They were in a position to say what the verse was and
solve the problem once and for all. Besides, the Quran doesn’t prescribe
exile as an additional punishment, and there is no mention of an omitted
verse pertaining to exile. Thus, a Muslim must either accept that those
Hadiths, which claim there was a verse in the Quran regarding the
stoning of an adulterer or adulteress to death, are pure fabrication or
agree to some deletion and adulteration of the Quran and Islam. In the
former case, one must then be very suspicious about any collection that
includes such an obvious fabrication.
Now the point is whether stoning to death as a punishment for
adultery is an Islamic order? The Quran does not prescribe it but the
Sunnah insists on stoning. If there was no clear ruling in the Quran and
the issue was not given such generous coverage then one could easily
argue that the Sunnah might have a case. But the Quran has given the
issue considerable attention and abandoned the stoning. However,
Islamic scholars have decided to ignore the clear ruling of the Quran
and stick to fabricated Hadiths.
219
Unorthodox Believers of Hadith
Strangely enough, some opponents and critics of Islam intentionally

use Hadith in their analysis and presentation of the religion while they
are also aware of the feeble root of both the Sunnah and the biography
of Muhammad. They very well know that relying on Hadith is like
swimming in a sea of lie. However, their faith in, and use of, some later
developed stories about Muhammad is comparable to belief of
unlettered religious zealots. This is somehow mysterious after
scrupulous research by western scholars such as Ignaz Goldziher in
Hadith literature. He firmly pointed out the sectarian and political
effects as major factors for genesis of Hadith industry. In fact, while all
non-Muslims scholars try to prove the Sunnah as fabricated and
consequently an unreliable source of Islam, nonetheless, non-Muslim
polemicists insist on using some very well-known fictitious Hadiths and
the unreliable biography of Muhammad to interpret the Quran and
repudiate Islam based on unsubstantiated materials. Famous among this
abuse of the Hadith and biography is the high regard for the, now
famous, Satanic verses (Hadith al-Garaniq al-Ula) among some western
polemicists. The supposed verses are concerned with three prominent
pagan goddesses; Lat, Uzza and Manat. They are mentioned in Chapter
fifty-three of the Quran.
19
Have you seen Lat and Uzza,
20
And another, the third (goddess), Manat?
21
What! for you the male sex, and for Him, the female?
22
Behold, such would be indeed a division most unfair!
23
These are nothing but names which you have devised,-
you and your fathers,- for which Allah has sent down
no authority (whatever). They follow nothing but
conjecture and what their own souls desire!- Even
though there has already come to them Guidance from
their Lord!
…
220
62
But fall you down in prostration to God, and adore
(Him). (Quran 53)
The Hadith is narrated in varied versions.12 All early versions of the

Hadith are allegedly copied or orally received (i.e. Al Tabari version)
from Ibn Ishaq's original but extinct biography of Muhammad. The
earliest record concerning this issue is thus about 200 years after
Muhammad’s death.
It basically claims that pagans offered Muhammad a compromise
solution to end their simmering hostility. They offered to worship
Muhammad’s god for a year and in return Muslims would worship
pagan gods for the following year! In the meantime Muhammad must
not revile pagan idols. If accepted they would make Muhammad their
king and give him money and wives. Muhammad answered that he
would await God’s decision! God then revealed verses 109:1-6 and
strongly rejected the offer. Pagans didn’t give up and pressurised
Muhammad but verses 39:64-66 was revealed and rejected the
compromise offer once more. Pagans piled up the pressure even more
to the point that Muhammad wished that God hadn’t revealed to him
anything distasteful to pagans! Eventually Muhammad gave way and
recited the following verses instead of verses 21 to 26 in chapter 53,
quoted above:
They are the sublime birds (cranes),

Truly their intercession is to be hoped for.
Muhammad is then claimed that it was Satan who cunningly

interrupted the revelation of Gabriel by including the two verses. The
rest of the Chapter is obviously in line with Muhammad’s distinctive
monotheistic message. The narration emphasizes that the rest of the
Chapter continued without any excitement or interruption neither from
present Muslims nor pagans as if nothing unusual had occurred. By
reciting these two verses, Muhammad thus paid homage to the three
pagan goddesses, which the Arabs regarded as God’s daughters.
Apparently, all presenting pagans were pleased with Muhammad’s
221
homage. The Hadith implies that Muhammad recited the whole chapter
and when he ended the last verse (verse 62) all pagans and Muslims
prostrated together as prescribed in the last verse and then dispersed
happily.
One should remember that Allah was the supreme god of Arabs too
and it was not exclusive to Islam and Muhammad. Thus, the offer in the
deal is meaningless. Moreover, the pagans were shrewd enough not to
offer a compromising deal to the then weak and downtrodden Muslims.
Also, it is assumed that during the recitation no Muslim was attentive
enough or dared to question Muhammad for this change of heart after
several years of proclaiming monotheism and rejecting the goddesses
and other idols. Muhammad is also portrayed as dumb a person as if he
didn’t have any conscious mind and was not aware of the significance
of what he was asked and what had just happened. Neither did the pagan
Arabs notice the scornful tone of verse 19. They didn’t get excited at
all! Moreover, there is no follow up story after the bombshell, no
celebration, no discussion, no promised wives and wealth, nothing at
all. They didn’t make Muhammad their king as promised or even bother
to congratulate him for this second thought. Everyone just joyfully
prostrated and went home. The event was also so insignificant to get
narrated only by one chain of narrators.
The believer in this Hadith forgets this simple fact that if Muhammad
had uttered the Satanic verses he would had absolutely discredited
himself as a prophet in the eye of his opponents. After the supposed
correction, he shouldn’t have expected anything but derision from
present and future Arab pagans. They would torment and ridicule him
in their poems over and over about the issue during their continued
hostilities for years to come. The unorthodox believers ignore the
principal belief of Muhammad and Muslims; there is no god but Allah,
which pervades the entire Quran and Muslims’ belief from day one and
was the keystone of their faith. Playing ignorant, they then use these
fabricated verses and their associated stories to accuse Muhammad of
leniency towards Arab pagans and their idols and compromise his strict
monotheism in time of difficulty and hardship.
222
The point here is not to accept or reject a story or go to the detail.

This is beyond the objective of the book. What is important, however,
is that when a source is unreliable then it should not be given any
historical or factual credit. The whole point is to separate fact from
fiction. Muddying the water doesn’t help anyone in investigating
genuineness of Islam.
Stoning Saga
Returning to our main example, some Muslim and non-Muslim

polemicists have also tried to use fabricated Hadiths to prove that
stoning to death was in fact enjoined in the Quran and that verse was
not included in, or later removed from, the Quran. The fabricated verse
is quoted in several different forms, which is the first indication of a
counterfeit effort. All versions are only included in unauthorised Hadith
collections and are attributed to Omar. Four versions are quoted here:
The old man (Sheikh) and the old woman (Sheikhah),

when they commit adultery, stone them without doubt185
The old man and the old woman, when they commit
adultery, stone them without doubt as an exemplary
punishment from God and His prophet.186
If an old man and an old woman commit adultery stone

them both for the pleasure they have sought.
The old man and the old woman, when they commit
adultery, stone them as an exemplary punishment from
Allah, and Allah is Mighty and Wise.’"187
185
Al Muwatta, Malik b. Anas
186
Sunan Sulaiman Tayalis
187
Al-Itqan fii Ulum al-Qur'an, As-Suyuti
223
Those who are familiar with the Arabic language recognize that the
above fabrication wasn’t originated by an Arabic speaking person. For
example, T. Noldeke identified the foreign words used in such a short
verse. There are two main mistakes in the Hadith related to the subject.
The first is the use of the words Sheikh and Sheikhah which are not
suitable words for an old man and woman as these words are commonly
used as honorific title in Arabian Peninsula. The second and obvious
mistake, even for non-Arabs, is the selection of the words for a man and
a woman. Sheikh means a man of old age besides its honorific term.
Limiting punishment of adultery to old people wouldn’t be a wise law
as suggested by the Hadith. Also, the word is not specific enough in a
law court. The non-Arab counterfeiter couldn’t betray his bogus attempt
better than in the choice of wrong and indistinct vocabulary.
Another point noted in the above example is how a false Hadith can
confuse so many issues in so many diverse subjects and how Hadith is
detrimental to Islamic purity and original simplicity. The problem is
compounded with the existence of numerous Hadiths relating to one
issue each attempting to prove its specific point of view or assertion by
connecting its lie to Muhammad or one of his high-ranking companions.
Finally, the inclusion of the Hadith in some collections shows the
incompetence of some of the Hadith collectors which couldn’t even
identify obvious mistakes.
One Religion
So far, we have identified the Quran as the only reliable and

untainted source of Muhammad’s message. Those Muslims who are yet
to be convinced about the late fabrication of Hadith should note that the
Quran is still regarded – by all sects - as the main source, containing the
essence of Islam, and authenticated Hadith as its expansion, detailed
explanation and practical implementation.
With acknowledging this simple fact, discarding Hadith doesn’t
hinder our search for a true religion. Also, evaluating Islam solely on
the basis of the message of the Quran makes it more credible as it is the
only source that is accepted by all Muslims and because of the inclusion
224
of false narratives in the Hadith sources, a fact that is accepted by all

Muslim and non-Muslim scholars.
As it is well known, Hadith is a prime weapon in the hands of the
opponents of Islam enabling them to discredit and ridicule it with ease.
It is enough to open any Hadith book to find a few untrue, illogical or
unscientific statements on almost every page. Some Hadiths are a real
source of embarrassment for an educated Muslim.
The intention here is not to accept or reject Islam lightly or
irresponsibly. The aim is to find the truth of Muhammad’s prophethood
from his real message. Therefore, any false or ambiguous source is not
considered since the uncertainty of the source would affect the
credibility of the argument. It should be noted that some criticism of
Islam on the basis of Hadith has already been refuted by some groups
of Muslims on the ground that they aren’t credible enough and I would
not like to get involved in the same game.
What follows is an analysis of the Quran for its claim as being a
divine revelation and for the integrity of Muhammad’s prophetic
mission.
It is well known fact that the Quran introduces Islam as a follow-up
religion to Judaism and Christianity for mankind. It declares that all
previous religions are from one God and the law of God is the same and
immutable. Thus, He has given the same commands to all prophets and
nations and expects mankind to follow His one and only set of laws.
In the Quran, Jesus and Moses are highly praised and treated
similarly to Noah, Abraham and Muhammad as great prophets of God.
They are lauded as the prime models for humanity since they submitted
themselves totally to the will of God. It also reaffirms the divine origin
and integrity of all revealed books particularly both the Torah
(especially Pentateuch or the first five books in the Old Testament
which is supposedly revealed to Moses) and the Gospels in the New
Testament.
13
The same religion has He established for you as that
which He enjoined on Noah - the which We have sent by
inspiration to you - and that which We enjoined on
225
Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Namely, that you should

remain steadfast in religion, and make no divisions therein:
to those who worship other things than Allah, hard is the
(way) to which you call them.188
136
Say you: "We believe in Allah, and the revelation given
to us, and to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the
Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given
to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference
between one and another of them: And we bow to Allah
(in Islam)."189
3
It is He Who sent down to you (step by step), in truth, the
Book (Quran), confirming what went before it; and He sent
down the Law (Torah) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before
this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion
(of judgment between right and wrong).190
The Quran points out that since both the Torah (the Law) and the
Gospel are the revealed words of God to Moses and Jesus for Jews and
Christians, respectively, they should be followed sincerely by their
adherents. It also urges Muslims to follow their own book and not the
vain desires of others.
44
It was We who revealed the Law (Torah): therein was
guidance and light. By its standard have been judged the
Jews, by the prophets who bowed (as in Islam) to Allah's
will, by the rabbis and the doctors of law: for to them was
entrusted the protection of Allah's book, and they were
witnesses thereto: therefore fear not men, but fear me, and
sell not my signs for a miserable price. If any do fail to
judge by (the light of) what Allah has revealed, they are
188
Quran, 42
189
Quran, 2
190
Quran, 3
226
45
(no better than) Unbelievers. We ordained therein for
them: "Life for life, eye for eye, nose or nose, ear for ear,
tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal." But if any
one remits the retaliation by way of charity, it is an act of
atonement for himself. And if any fail to judge by (the light
of) what Allah has revealed, they are (No better than)
wrong-doers.
46
And in their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary,
confirming the Law (Torah) that had come before him: We
sent him the Gospel: therein was guidance and light, and
confirmation of the Law (Torah) that had come before
him: a guidance and an admonition to those who fear
Allah. 47Let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah
has revealed therein. If any do fail to judge by (the light
of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than)
those who rebel.
48
To you We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the
scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety: so
judge between them by what Allah hath revealed, and
follow not their vain desires, diverging from the Truth that
hath come to you. … 191
Muhammad never doubted the integrity of the Torah and the Gospel.
His concern was the dishonesty of some rabbis and the doctors of law
and, on a lesser scale, Christian fathers as possessors and guardians of
the sacred books for hiding or distorting those revealed books.
Therefore, in a striking way he tried to remind them of their religious
duty.
5
The similitude of those who were charged with the
(obligations of the) Mosaic Law (Torah), but who
subsequently failed in those (obligations), is that of a
donkey which carries huge tomes (but understands them
not). Evil is the similitude of people who falsify the Signs
191
Quran, 5
227
of Allah (reject the revelations of God): and Allah guides

not people who do wrong.192
66
If only they had stood fast by the Law (Torah), the
Gospel, and all the revelation that was sent to them from
their Lord, they would have enjoyed happiness from every
side. There is from among them a party on the right course:
but many of them follow a course that is evil. … 68Say: "O
People of the Book! you have no ground to stand upon
unless you stand fast by the Law (Torah), the Gospel, and
all the revelation that has come to you from your Lord." It
is the revelation that comes to you from your Lord, that
increases in most of them their obstinate rebellion and
blasphemy. But sorrow you not over (these) people
without Faith. 69Those who believe (in the Qur'an), those
who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians and
the Christians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day,
and work righteousness,- on them shall be no fear, nor
shall they grieve.193
93
… Say: "Bring you the Torah and study it, if you be men
of truth."194
Now, the question is, if the Law was given to Moses and Jesus, and
if the criterion of judgment between right and wrong was already made
known then what is the reason for repetition of it while both the previous
revelations were still in effect? In other words, what is the justification
for yet another book repeating the same principle? The Quran offers a
few explanations which is better read in its original tone.
“50I have come to you, to attest the Law (Torah) which was
before me. And to make lawful to you part of what was
192
Quran, 62
193
Quran, 5
194
Quran, 3
228
(Before) forbidden to you; I have come to you with a Sign

from your Lord. So, fear Allah, and obey me.”195
154
Moreover, We gave Moses the Book, completing (Our
favour) to those who would do right, and explaining all
things in detail, - and a guide and a mercy, that they might
believe in the meeting with their Lord. 155And this (Quran)
is a Book which We have revealed as a blessing: so follow
156
it and be righteous, that you may receive mercy: Lest
you should say: "The Book was sent down to two Peoples
before us, and for our part, we remained unacquainted with
157
all that they learned by assiduous study:" Or lest you
should say: "If the Book had only been sent down to us,
we should have followed its guidance better than they."
Now then has come unto you a clear (sign) from your
Lord,- and a guide and a mercy: then who could do more
wrong than one who rejects Allah's signs, and turns away
therefrom? In good time shall We requite those who turn
away from Our signs, with a dreadful penalty, for their
turning away.196
The Quran also justifies its own existence on the basis of being the
revelation to a nation which had never had a prophet among them to
regulate their life according to God’s global rule.
44
But We had not given them Books which they could
study, nor sent messengers to them before you as
Warners.197
7
Thus have We sent by inspiration to you an Arabic
Qur'an: that you may warn the Mother of Cities (Mecca)
and all around her,- and warn (them) of the Day of
195
Quran, 3
196
Quran, 6
197
Quran, 34
229
Assembly, of which there is no doubt: (when) some will

be in the Garden, and some in the Blazing Fire.198
Another, slightly different, reason given in the Quran, to justify its

new revelation, is that for each nation there has been a prophet and each
nation deserves to have its own revealed book in its own language thus
allowing no excuse for those people who may pretend ignorance of the
right path. It does not put forward the passing of time, environmental
differences and specific conditions as reasons for justifying a new
revelation for other nations. It simply states that every nation had its
own prophet and book. Thus, with the coming of the prophet
Muhammad in Arabia and a divine Arabic book for Arabs justice has
been achieved for all. Now since every nation has its own book, the
Quran considers Muhammad as the final prophet.
Obviously, not all nations have had revealed books in their own
languages. Also, based on the statement of the Quran, one expects that
all Abrahamic religions should agree on, at least, fundamental issues of
their faith. In particular, they should have the same set of law.
Unfortunately, this is not the case and there are numerous differences
ranging from minor to essential issues.
Contrary to the declaration of the Quran there is not a set of fixed
laws in these three main books and the Quran fails to address or justify
the existence of different contradictory laws in the three revelations.
There is no shortage of examples such as punishment for theft and
adultery, pilgrimage to Mecca, praying, fasting, which will be discussed
later, celestial organization of the world and even creation story.
The law concerning divorced or widowed women is clear
illustration. Islam allows a man to remarry his divorced wife who in the
meantime has married another man and has then been divorced. A man
cannot remarry his divorced wife if he has divorced her three times
unless the woman marries another man and then is divorced by him. The
rule in the New Testament is that the man should not divorce his wife
at all unless she has been unfaithful and the one who marries her would
be considered as an adulterer. On the other hand, the Torah does not
198
Quran, 42
230
allow remarriage to a previous wife if she has married another man and
is then divorced or widowed.
There are greater differences between the three religions than there
are similarities. The only explanation in the Quran, opposing its claim
of one global religion for all, is a vague and general statement:
48
… To each among you have we prescribed a law and an
open way. If Allah had so willed, He would have made you
a single people, but (His plan is) to test you in what He has
given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues. The goal of
you all is to Allah; it is He that will show you the truth of
the matters in which you dispute;199
But the disparities between the books are not limited to social and
economic laws, rituals and punishment. Neither is important theological
issues presented in a consistent manner. A striking dissimilarity is the
concept of the afterlife. The future of mankind is painted differently in
the Quran compared with the Torah. In the Torah, there is no mention
of departure to heaven or hell after one’s death, while the Quran is
saturated200 with this divine concept to the extent that belief in the
afterlife is an article of the Islamic faith. It is strange to see that, in line
with the Old Testament, the Quran does not mention hell as punishment
when it narrates Noah’s mission to his people. Here people are only
threatened with earthly punishment. The same is true for the enemies of
Moses and Israel.
After studying the evolution of the concept of Imamate, divinely
nominated leadership in Shia Islam, one wonders if the evolution of the
concept of afterlife has had the same fate. In that case, political Shiites
in their effort to seize power started to argue that Imam Ali was the
better candidate in comparison to all the Caliphs before him. Then
gradually his status was elevated in their minds to the level of God. Then
the same status was accepted for his selected children. To save
199
Quran, 5
200
The best part of the Quran was related to the subject of afterlife during the
early years of its revelation and about one third of the verses in the Quran -
about 2000 verses - are related to the hereafter.
231
embarrassment, Ali’s wife and Prophet Muhammad were also included

in the list followed by more selected relatives of other Imams, especially
Ali’s son, Imam Husseyn. Subsequently, believing in the concept of
their leadership is now one vital article of faith in Shia.
Likewise, there is a hint of afterlife in the Pentateuch.
9
When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you,
do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations
there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their
son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or
11
sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts
spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the
dead.201
But gradually the general concept of heaven and hell was crept into
the Old Testament by later prophets such as Isaiah202 and Daniel.
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake:

some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting
contempt.203
Young Daniel was taken to Babylon and oddly enough204 was among
the liberated Jews by Cyrus. Thus, most probably, the idea of
resurrection was borrowed from Zoroastrianism as he also served in
Cyrus’s court205.
But not every Jewish group accepted the new concept. For example,
the Sadducees did not believe in anything not written in the Pentateuch
such as angels and life after death. However, the idea of afterlife is a
confirmed fact among Pharisees and in the New Testament but not
considered in any details as it is depicted in the Quran.
201
Deuteronomy 18:9-11, NIV.
202
Isaiah 26:19. Most scholars think that the book was written after exile.
203
Daniel, 12:2, NIV.
204
The captivity period of Jews was about seventy years. Daniel should have
been at least eighty-five years old when Cyrus captured Babylon.
205
Most scholars think that Daniel is a fictitious character and the book of
Daniel has written much later at about second century BCE.
232
Most probably Muhammad was influenced by a later development

of the concept in Zoroastrianism which has been documented in the
book of Ardā Wīrāz or Ardai Viraf206. The book is apparently written
after Zoroastrian clergies (magi) noticed a dramatic decline in publics’
faith following the invasion of Alexander the Great. A virtuous magus,
Ardai Viraf, was given a mixture of alcoholic drink and narcotic by a
selected group of magi in order that he can explore the afterlife in his
drink/drug induced trance and confirm the validity of paradise and hell
as asserted by Zoroastrianism207. After one week of exploration of
heaven and hell he woke up and exposed the details in the book. Ten
Chapters of the book describe what Ardai Viraf had seen in heaven and
eighty-five Chapters describe his exploration of hell.
The Quran is silent on these important variations between the three
Abrahamic religions and thus excuses itself for not offering any reason
for the existence of dissimilarities in the three sacred books. The only
problem the Quran suggests is the existence of erroneous interpretations
among Jews or Christians concerning prophets or laws mentioned in
their holy books. An example was the story of giving up lawful food by
Israel (Jacob)208. But Muhammad does not explain dissimilarities of
important matters such as why Moses, prophets before him and their
followers were left in complete darkness about their destinies and the
major concept of the afterlife?
Another point regarding the Gospels is the fact that God did not
reveal it to Jesus, as the Quran claims. Jesus did not produce a book as
Moses supposedly did. The earliest Gospel, which is the account of
Jesus’ mission and life, was written around 50CE as the Gospel
according to Thomas followed by the Gospel according to Mark. Surly
they were written after Jesus’ death. Moreover, Muslim scholars try
their best to prove that the Gospels are corrupted and full of obvious
206
J. A. Pope, The Ardai Viraf Nameh or the Revelations of Ardai Viraf,
London, 1816.
207
The magi copied Zoroaster who gave the same special drink laced with
narcotic to a king when he questioned Zoroaster about his own fate in the
afterlife.
208
All food was lawful to the Children of Israel except what Israel had made
unlawful to himself before the Torah was revealed. Say, [O Muhammad], "So
bring the Torah and recite it, if you should be truthful. Quran 3:93
233
mistakes. However, Muhammad thought that the Gospel - the Quran

doesn’t mention the existence of different versions of Gospels - existed
in the seventh century was the revealed book from God to Jesus. He
urged Christians to follow their book earnestly and ordered Muslims to
regard the book as a sacred revelation of God to Jesus. This assertion is
an obvious mistake and can only be made by a human not omniscient
God.
There is a second fact. It is widely known that some of Islamic
decrees are in fact pre-Islamic Arabian customs. The Quran accepted
those customs and at the same time modified some of those that were in
conflict with the Islamic strict monotheism. It also rejected those
customs that were harmful to vulnerable people such as tribal vendetta
and infanticide.
Examples of accepted customs are Pilgrimage to Mecca, Hajj, and
four sacred months in which war, taking revenge or any other kind of
dispute is forbidden. Evidently, according to the Bible, these topics and
detailed rituals were alien to previous Abrahamic prophets and their
followers. There is also no mention of five daily prayers in the Bible
corresponding to Islamic prayers. Either Muhammad accepted and
accordingly modified the form and content from one of the popular
prayers performed by various pagan worshipers in Mecca or he adopted
them from Manichaean prayer.
A common Manichaean washed and prayed four times in a day in
contrast to seven prayers for high-ranking individuals. Whatever the
exact source of prayer in Islam, it seems that Muslims were familiar
enough with the ritual that the Quran did not find it necessary to
introduce the prayer sequences or go to any detail. The numbers and
timings of prayers in a day and their general contents are though
mentioned.
But the influence of pre-Islamic pagan culture is not confined to a
few customs, one of which, Hajj and its ceremonies are certainly
included in the new faith as one of the five pillars of Islam along with
declarations of faith, prayer, fasting and Islamic tax (Zakat). What is of
great concern is that a slightly modified theological structure of pre-
Islamic Arabia is also adapted in the Quran. This is simply not
234
acceptable. Adapting the theology of an idolatrous nation is not like

adapting several useful and valuable well-established traditions.
The Quran thus gives credence to a nation’s pagan worldview. This
is the same nation that, according to the Quran, had no previous prophet
or revealed book to clearly learn and understand the structure and
hierarchy of the celestial beings. Let us look at the pre-Islamic theology,
which has been accepted by the Quran.
Believing in Jinni!
In numerous places in the Quran, the existence of a type of creature

other than human is advocated; even Chapter 72 is named after this type
of being. The creature is called jinni (djinni, genie or jinn which is also
used as its plural) and apparently consists of a class of entities which
have been created from a sort of energy or smokeless fire.
“27And the Jinn race, We had created before, from the fire
of a scorching wind.”209
There are a lot of details in the Quran regarding these creatures

which is exclusive to Islam among Abrahamic religions. Their leader is
Satan whose other name is Iblis. He is also referred to as an angel who
disobeyed God and was consequently incurred eternal punishment in
hell deferred until the cataclysmic end of the world.
“50Behold! We said to the angels, "Bow down to Adam":

They bowed down except Iblis. He was one of the Jinn,
and he broke the Command of his Lord. Will you then take
him and his progeny as protectors rather than Me? And
they are enemies to you! Evil would be the exchange for
the wrong-doers!.”210
209
Quran, 15
210
Quran, 18
235
They are responsible for expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden.
Human eyes cannot see and their ears cannot hear them but jinn can see
and hear human.
27
O ye Children of Adam! Let not Satan seduce you, in the
same manner as He got your parents out of the Garden,
stripping them of their raiment, to expose their shame: for
he and his tribe watch you from a position where you
cannot see them: We made the evil ones friends (only) to
those without faith.211
It seems also that they have human attributes, even reproduce their
offspring and maybe die as human does. Satan, on the other hand, has
been granted eternal life in this world.
“61Behold! We said to the angels: "Bow down unto

Adam": They bowed down except Iblis: He said, "Shall I
62
bow down to one whom Thou did create from clay?" He
said: "You tell me? This is the one whom you have
honoured above me! If You will but respite me to the Day
of Judgment, I will surely bring his descendants under my
sway - all but a few!" 63(Allah) said: "Go your way; if any
of them follow you, verily Hell will be the recompense of
64
you (all)- an ample recompense. "Lead to destruction
those whom you can among them, with your (seductive)
voice; make assaults on them with your cavalry and your
infantry; mutually share with them wealth and children;
and make promises to them." But Satan promises them
65
nothing but deceit. "As for My servants, no authority
shall you have over them:" Enough is thy Lord for a
Disposer of affairs.212
211
Quran, 7
212
Quran, 17
236
They are responsible for their actions. They can listen to human
prophets, and will be brought to the Day of Judgment and will be
rewarded or punished along with humankind in heaven or hell,
according to their deed in this world.
“1Say: It has been revealed to me that a company of jinn

listened (to the Qur'an). They said, 'We have really heard a
wonderful Recital! 2'It gives guidance to the Right, and we
have believed therein: we shall not join (in worship) any
(gods) with our Lord. 3'And Exalted is the Majesty of our
Lord: He has taken neither a wife nor a son. 4'There were
some foolish ones among us, who used to utter extravagant
lies against God; 5'But we do think that no man or spirit
should say aught that untrue against God. 6'True, there
were persons among mankind who took shelter with
persons among the jinn, but they increased them in folly.
7
'And they (came to) think as you thought, that God would
not raise up any one (to Judgment). 8'And we pried into the
secrets of heaven; but we found it filled with stern guards
and flaming fires. 9'We used, indeed, to sit there in (hidden)
stations, to (steal) a hearing; but any who listen now will
find a flaming fire watching him in ambush.”213
These unseen entities were seized to work for King Solomon and
also were included in his army.
“12And to Solomon (We made) the Wind (obedient): Its

early morning (stride) was a month's (journey), and its
evening (stride) was a month's (journey); and We made a
Font of molten brass to flow for him; and there were Jinn
that worked in front of him, by the leave of his Lord, and
if any of them turned aside from our command, We made
him taste of the Penalty of the Blazing Fire. 13They worked
for him as he desired, (making) arches, images, basons as
213
Quran, 72
237
large as reservoirs, and (cooking) cauldrons fixed (in their

places): "Work you, sons of David, with thanks! but few of
My servants are grateful!".214
“17And before Solomon were marshalled his hosts,- of jinn

and men and birds, and they were all kept in order and
ranks.”215
“39Said an 'Ifrit, of the jinn: "I will bring it to you before

you rise from your council: indeed I have full strength for
the purpose, and may be trusted."”216
Jinn were not strange to Arabs before Islam. Besides God (Allah)
and numerous numbers of other gods, they used to believe in
supernatural creatures like angels, Satan and jinn. All these creatures in
the Arabic mythology were accepted in the Quran and Islam except
numerous pagan gods. The Quran, however, rebuffed Arabs in their
misconceptions about the relation of these creatures to God and their
other attributes:
“149Now ask them their opinion: Is it that your Lord has

150
(only) daughters, and they have sons?- Or that We
created the angels female, and they are witnesses
(thereto)?”217
“100Yet they make the jinn equals with God, though God
did create the jinn; and they falsely, having no knowledge,
attribute to Him sons and daughters. Praise and glory be to
Him! (for He is) above what they attribute to Him!”218
214
Quran, 34
215
Quran, 27
216
Quran, 27
217
Quran, 37
218
Quran, 6
238
“40Has then your Lord (O Pagans!) preferred for you sons,

and taken for Himself daughters among the angels? Truly
you utter a most dreadful saying!”219
Arabs believed that a jinni, whatever its actual nature, could chose a
human for himself by jumping on him and squeezing his chest, then
disclose to him some knowledge beyond the reach of mankind. The
receiver of this type of revelation was able to express the discovery as
eloquent poems. There was then a close relationship between the jinni
and its chosen man who was hopeless without the help of his jinni in
composing those noble poems. His jinni gave the poems to him in a state
of ecstasy, poems full of wisdom, rhetoric, eloquence and beauty.220
There are several references in the Quran in this regard:
“36And say: "What! shall we give up our gods for the sake
of a Poet possessed by jinni?"”221
“29Therefore proclaim you the praises (of thy Lord): for by

the Grace of your Lord, you are no (vulgar) soothsayer, nor
are you one possessed by jinni.”222
Poets thus had a high and respected status among the tribes of
Arabia. Being in contact with a more knowledgeable and higher-ranking
creatures, they usually had advisory roles in the tribes’ various strategic
affairs.
Given that the Quran accepts jinni’s ability to compose wise and
eloquent piece of literature, it invites the race of jinn and human to a
challenge.
“88Say: "If the whole of mankind and jinn were to gather

together to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not
219
Quran, 17
220
IZUTSU, T., Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an, McGill-Queen's
University Press, 2002
221
Quran, 37
222
Quran, 52
239
produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other

with help and support.”223
What about Satan, Chief jinni? Besides his ability to seduce people,
Satan has been given the ability to make people forget things, inflict
suffering and create mayhem.
“61But when they reached the Junction, they forgot

(about) their fish, which took its course through the sea
62
(straight) as in a tunnel. When they had passed on
(some distance), Moses said to his attendant: "Bring us
our early meal; truly we have suffered much fatigue at
this (stage of) our journey." 63He replied: "Did you see
(what happened) when we took refuge on the rock? I did
indeed forget (about) the fish: none but Satan made me
forget to tell (you) about it: it took its course through the
sea in a marvellous way!"”224
“41Commemorate Our Servant Job. Behold he cried to his

Lord: "The Evil One (Satan) has afflicted me with
distress and suffering!"”225
The story behind Verse 38:41 above may be in relation to the Bible’s
account of Job’s sickness and suffering. He was tormented as a result of
an incredible bet between God and Satan in which God incited Satan
against an innocent and upright man. The setting has a striking
similarity to Greek mythologies but it seems that the Quran has
generalised and extended Job’s fate to the whole humanity. The bet is
in place, Satan at work, the suffering arena is this world and judgement
in the hereafter.
Interestingly, according to the Bible, Job didn’t know anything about
Satan and believed that the suffering was inflicted by God himself:
223
Quran, 17
224
Quran, 18
225
Quran, 38
240
“3Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my

servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is
blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns
evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you
incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."
4
"Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has
for his own life. 5But stretch out your hand and strike his
flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face."
6
The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your
hands; but you must spare his life." 7So Satan went out
from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with
painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his
head. 8Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped
himself with it as he sat among the ashes. 9His wife said to
him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God
10
and die!" He replied, "You are talking like a foolish
woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”226
If, according to the Quran, Satan and his army of cunning and
malevolent jinn are unleashed as the sworn enemy of human to afflict
sickness, distress, suffering, bodily harm and forgetfulness as well as
temptation to sin, then Islamic theology has given Satan a somewhat
demigod power. His evil power is unleashed against human beings, as
in the case of Job, while God adopts an inactive role and simply is busy
recording the outcome of this cruel, pointless and one-sided onslaught
for a fair judgement in the afterlife.
Satan, consequently, is not a mere tempter but has been given the
responsibility to make the majority of human beings’ lives miserable in
this existence and forever hereafter. In other words, he is not only the
unchallenged tormentor in this world but also the cause of unending and
sadistic misery and torture for “all but a few” in the afterlife.
226
Job, 2
241
But, whatever the attributes of Satan, he is not mentioned in the

entire Pentateuch. The notion that the serpent is a metaphor for Satan in
the creation story in the Old Testament can’t be right since the Bible
describes the serpent unambiguously.
1
Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals
the LORD God had made.227
14
So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have
done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all
the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you
15
will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put
enmity between you and the woman, and between your
offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will
strike his heel."228
Jinni is not mentioned in the entire Bible, both the New and Old
Testaments. Satan is also a later creation in the Bible and was apparently
included in the theology of the Bible after Jews were brought under the
protection of the Persian Empire following their liberation from their
exile in Babylon. Consequently, they were influenced by the
Zoroastrian theology of dualism in which the world is the arena for a
cosmic battle between God, good force, and Satan, evil force.
To summarise, the Quran not only accepted pre-Islamic Arabian
obligations and worship method such as pilgrimage to Mecca and its
rituals almost in their entirety but also accepted a large part of its
theology. How come an unseen creature like jinni, which plays a big
role in the Quran, is completely left out in the other sacred books which
are accepted as divine revelations by the Quran? The same can be said
about Satan who according to the Quran is the creature responsible for
the expulsion of Adam and Eve from heaven. As pointed out earlier,
Satan isn’t mentioned in the majority of the Biblical text and his role is
very ambiguous in the four books of the Old Testament where he is
227
Genesis, 3
228
Genesis, 3
242
given a mention while he is allotted such a significant role in human life

in the Quran.
One expects at least to see the same description of the celestial
structure in all sacred books if the Quran were correct that Islam is the
same as the religions before it. But this new structure and arrangement
is only mentioned in the Quran without any reference to it in the
previous revealed books.
To claim that both the Old and New Testament books come from the
same God is somehow to give lip service to the Bible. The unexpected
appearance of jinni in the Quran needs a lot of explanation. How come
only the Arabs with no previous divine guidance could identify such an
able, important and hidden creature in the world when God himself did
not inform his earlier prophets?
Social Issues
There are a few general statements about government in the Quran

but an outline of Islamic political structure is not specified. After some
deliberation one might come to the conclusion that this could be one of
the miracles of the Quran. One may argue that a society is a dynamic
and ever-changing entity; hence, its political system should be
structured and organised accordingly. Therefore, if the Quran did not
introduce a specific structure for an Islamic government, this was
because it did not want to impose a single political formation for
different societies of that time and the future. What the Quran was trying
to achieve for humanity was a correct outlook of the world not a specific
social, political and legal system. Thus, the best political advice the
Quran could offer was general guideline such as:
38
Those who hearken to their Lord, and establish regular
Prayer; who (conduct) their affairs by mutual
243
Consultation; who spend out of what We bestow on them

for Sustenance;229
But on the other hand, the book is strewn with specific orders. They
relate to inheritance, punitive laws, marriage, trade, relations between
people and so on. Even specific orders are given in the Quran to regulate
the relation between Muhammad and his wives. For example:
“11O you who believe! When you are told to make room in
the assemblies, (spread out and) make room: (ample) room
will Allah provide for you. And when you are told to rise
up, rise up Allah will rise up, to (suitable) ranks (and
degrees), those of you who believe and who have been
granted (mystic) Knowledge. And Allah is well-
acquainted with all you do. 12O you who believe! When
you consult the Messenger in private, spend something in
charity before your private consultation. That will be best
for you, and most conducive to purity (of conduct). But if
you find not (the wherewithal), Allah is Oft-Forgiving,
Most Merciful. 13Is it that you are afraid of spending sums
in charity before your private consultation (with him)? If,
then, you do not so, and Allah forgives you, then (at least)
establish regular prayer; practise regular charity; and obey
Allah and His Messenger. And Allah is well-acquainted
with all that you do.”230
“53O you who believe! Enter not the Prophet's houses,-

until leave is given you,- for a meal, (and then) not (so
early as) to wait for its preparation: but when you are
invited, enter; and when you have taken your meal,
disperse, without seeking familiar talk. Such (behaviour)
annoys the Prophet: he is ashamed to dismiss you, but
Allah is not ashamed (to tell you) the truth. And when you
229
Quran, 42
230
Quran, 58
244
ask (his ladies) for anything you want, ask them from
before a screen: that makes for greater purity for your
hearts and for theirs. Nor is it right for you that you should
annoy Allah's Messenger, or that you should marry his
widows after him at any time. Truly such a thing is in
Allah's sight an enormity.”231
If trivial details of social manners for a specified time and place are
included in the Quran, why are the important political issues not
included? Referring to the foregoing verse, some Muslim scholars argue
that marriage to the prophet’s widows was forbidden because their
future husbands might have used them for political or financial gains.
In the meantime, the Quran is totally silent about the configuration of
the political system? The history of Islam has clearly demonstrated that
by not recognising a specific or general political system countless splits
and never-ending internecine conflicts between different factions have
resulted after Muhammad’s death.
A prime example of Muslims’ confusion regarding an Islamic
political system is their indecisiveness about electing their leaders or
governments dating from the dawn of Islam. When Muhammad died,
several leading Muslim dignitaries hastily elected the first Caliph
(Successor to the prophet Muhammad) as their leader in the presence of
a small but neither passive nor silent crowd. The second Caliph was
appointed by his predecessor. The second Caliph nominated a six-man
committee to elect the third Caliph among themselves. Fourth and fifth
successors were elected by spontaneous people power in the capital of
the then vast Islamic state. Afterwards the government regressed to its
post Islamic tradition and became a tribal dynasty in which usually an
older son or brother of the previous tribal leader succeeded him.
Moreover, each of these successors had his own policy and way of
ruling.
On the other hand, numerous Shia sects were created based on the
principle that only an infallible person could be Muslims leader, which
they called Imam. Imams are then nominated by God not people or even
231
Quran, 33
245
faithful. This idea produced a few problems. How should people know
their appointed leader? The creators of this myth tried to fix this concern
and made the selection easier for people by keeping the leadership in
one family. The appointed leaders were Ali (the third Caliph) and his
offspring from his first wife, Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter. Obviously,
the fix was not effective. Different Shia sects were then formed based
on which child or brother of a supposedly infallible and departed leader
they should accept as their new infallible leader. In fact, Shia political
system was in principal equal to the incumbent oppressive dynasty with
which they were in conflict. The only difference was that their leaders
were already nominated by God. Shiites theologians forged a wealth of
revelations from God to those leaders and concocted numerous sayings
of the Prophet to back up this idea.
When more than one son or brother claimed to succeed the deceased
leader, new sects were readily created. When there was some
dissatisfaction with the successor among a section of Shiites then they
could easily use a fashionable myth such as the Messianic idea of
Mehdi. In this case the successor was stripped off from his infallibility
and tagged as bogus. The last deceased Imam was then believed to be
alive and deemed to return soon to claim back his rightful leadership.
The concept of Mehdi was also due to the utter frustration and impasse
of different oppressed groups in being able to conduct their affairs with
mutual consultation as expected in an Islamic society. Their short-
sightedness and their irresponsible approach by just expecting the return
of their saviour put an end on developing any useful and practical ideas
or effective and positive participation in their social affairs. The
Messianic idea has also blocked the possibility of developing an
alternative political system hitherto.
The lasting political mayhem is a strong witness that a cohesive
political and social structure should have been introduced as part of
Islam. Strangely enough the Quran is only concerned with trivial social
matters. It made sure that Mohammad’s wives are not used in a political
game but essential issues concerning the shape of the government and
its political institutions which has affected all Muslim societies is
completely left out.
246
Now let us consider legal issues like punishment for adultery and
theft. There is an unambiguous and fixed sentence in each case. They
are not left to the future judgement of different societies to decide on
specific cases. Circumstances, age, gender and other conditions are also
not considered. In the case of adultery both man and woman should be
lashed a hundred times and hands of a thief should be cut off,
disregarding the severity of the crime, his financial or social status or
any other external and specific conditions.
What about the philosophy of the criminal law? For example, if a
thief’s hands should be amputated, how he and his dependant relatives
are to eke out a living? Again, the Quran is silent since at the time of its
revelation the tribal caring system had an answer for this problem. In
fact, the Quran mainly accepted the punishment methods of either the
pre-Islamic Arabia or the established religions in that region and thus
its legal ruling did not raise too many questions or problems at the time.
For example, the above two punishments are adopted from pre-Islamic
Arab penal code and are not prescribed in either the Old or New
Testaments.
These examples indicate that Muhammad only addressed different
social issues that were inherently and intimately related to the lifestyle
of early Muslims, neglecting specific details necessary to deal with
slightly different situations. The Quran thus is limited to the way of life
and social tradition of its time with inadequate jurisprudence foresight,
therefore, must not be regarded as a universal law book. Even so, some
of the laws given in the Quran are incomplete or confusing even for
early Muslims. The clear example is the problem Muslims have had
with their inheritance law which is exhaustively provided in the Quran.
11
Allah (thus) directs you as regards your Children's
(Inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two
females: if only daughters, two or more, their share is two-
thirds of the inheritance; if only one, her share is a half.
For parents, a sixth share of the inheritance to each, if the
deceased left children; if no children, and the parents are
the (only) heirs, the mother has a third; if the deceased Left
247
brothers (or sisters) the mother has a sixth. … . 12In what

your wives leave, your share is a half, if they leave no
child; but if they leave a child, you get a fourth; after
payment of legacies and debts. In what you leave, their
share is a fourth, if you leave no child; but if you leave a
child, they get an eighth; after payment of legacies and
debts. If the man or woman whose inheritance is in
question, has left neither ascendants nor descendants, but
has left a brother or a sister, each one of the two gets a
sixth; but if more than two, they share in a third; after
payment of legacies and debts; so that no loss is caused (to
any one). … .232
176
They ask you for a legal decision. Say: Allah directs
(thus) about those who leave no descendants or ascendants
as heirs. If it is a man that dies, leaving a sister but no child,
she shall have half the inheritance: If (such a deceased
was) a woman, who left no child, her brother takes her
inheritance: If there are two sisters, they shall have two-
thirds of the inheritance (between them): if there are
brothers and sisters, (they share), the male having twice
the share of the female. Thus does Allah make clear to you
(His law), lest you err. And Allah has knowledge of all
things.233
Apparently, only immediate family are entitled to inheritance in the

Quran. These specific orders for inheritance have left numerous cases
unresolved. For example, suppose a deceased leaves only a daughter or
a sister. She is only entitled to a half of the inheritance. There is no
provision for the other half. What if the deceased leaves a daughter, his
father and/or mother, again a fraction of the fund is not regulated. Sunni
Muslims allow extended family to inherit and give the remaining fund
232
Quran, 4
233
Quran, 4
248
to the closest male heir. To make it legally acceptable they follow

Hadith since the Quran does not provide a solution.
On the other hand, if the inheritance should be divided between three
daughters (they take 2/3), both parents (they take 1/3) and one wife (she
takes 1/8), the sum of all portions goes higher than the actual
inheritance. Two major sects of Islam resolve the numerous similar
situations differently, which is the sign of indistinctness and shortfall of
the law.
The examples raise a common problem concerning the details of a
law. This is a dilemma the Quran and any other book of law is faced
with. Either the book should devote volumes to details or remain
concise, inflexible and incomplete. Even in the first case, these details
are only valid for the time and place of the revelation and will be useless
for future generations as societies progress or new issues evolve.
The shortfall in addressing all social issues in enough depth is the
main genuine reasons why Muslims took refuge in other sources such
as Hadith. They found their sacred book incomplete and
unsophisticated, unable to answer all aspects of their developing lives.
For example, there is no punishment for serious crimes such as rape.
Also, minor issues such as punishment for eating pork and any other
forbidden foods and drinks. Likewise, there is no punishment for say
not wearing hijab, lying, bribery, cheating, dishonesty and nepotism.
One supposes that there should definitely be a punishment for rape.
Hence, Muslims are left wondering whether punitive measures for
minor and major offenses are left out deliberately or have been
overlooked. In some cases, the ruling is even not explicit such as
punishment for consenting homosexual relationship between two men.
16
If two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish
them both. If they repent and amend, leave them alone; for
Allah is Oft-returning, most Merciful.234
234
Quran, 4
249
At the same time the penalty for women who were involved in
consenting but unlawful sexual relation was set to be terminal
imprisonment in the preceding verse.
15
If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, take the
evidence of four (Reliable) witnesses from amongst you
against them; and if they testify, confine them to houses
until death do claim them, or Allah ordain for them some
(other) way.235
There is a strong possibility that the verse is related to a consented

homosexual relation between two women. Most Muslim interpreters of
the Quran, however, think it is not related to homosexuality. In this case
the above two verses seem to have been abrogated. This issue will be
discussed later in this chapter. But the point here is the ambiguity
regarding the punishment for men and not for women guilty of the same
misdeed.
Secondary Sources!?
Believing that God has given Muslims the final and complete
religion, they tried to find an answer for every issue and problem using
the combined resources of the Quran and the supposed tradition of the
prophet Muhammad. When Muslims gradually realised that they still
could not get all their answers from either the Quran or the Sunnah they
first extended the Sunnah to the companions or extended family of the
Prophet. When they still found the inadequacy of the stretched and
falsely augmented Sunnah they gradually brought one or more of the
following items into consideration in each sect or school, which are
referred to as secondary sources.
 analogical deduction by Muslim scholars/jurists - reasoning by

strict analogy with the similar ruling in the Quran and Sunnah
235
Quran, 4
250
 expert opinion or independent reasoning of Muslim scholars/jurists

 consensus of Muslim scholars/jurists
 consideration of community benefit and custom
 using intellect and reason when investigating Sunnah – opposing to
those jurists who accept any Hadith irrespective of its content or
source
Muslim scholars finally introduced secondary sources as abiding

constituents of Islam. The decision of a Muslim jurist, fatwa, was
deemed to be sanctioned by God and religiously binding. Common
people are thus assumed unqualified to comprehend Islam directly as
the real diktat of God is hard to uncover needing trained experts and
interpreters. Laity must just blindly follow their scholars as accepted by
all Islamic sects at the present.
This may be the main reason why the majority of Muslims don’t
know the content and message of their sacred book and the feeble and
contradicting base of their religious structure.
Some of the new sources were totally alien to Muhammad and his
companions but very relevant in later Muslim societies. Nevertheless,
due to incompleteness of their primary sources Muslims cannot
eliminate them from their religion. Furthermore, including secondary
sources has been a mixed blessing as this unavoidable path has been the
cause of numerous conflicts between Muslims scholars resulting in
more sects.
On the other hand, more often than not an individual or a group out
of ignorance, innocence or naivety hanker for an Islam without some of
the later supplements which they think had smothered pure and vibrant
Islam and alienated common people from its original sources. The result
is yet again more sects and new hostilities. A good example of this
widespread trend is the creation of the inflexible, intolerant and
aggressive Wahhabi sect which was founded in Arabian Peninsula in
eighteenth century.
Secondary sources created other hidden but ultimately detrimental
problems to the essence of Islam. For example, analogical deduction
can be based on false Hadiths and thus is not always a correct solution.
251
It can also be used subjectively. Moreover, sometimes a proper analogy

cannot be made. An example concerning punishment for drinking
intoxicants clarifies the issue.
There is no punishment for drinking in the Quran. Based on Hadith
literature, the Prophet Muhammad apparently ordered Muslims to beat
the guilty person up with whatever they found handy, such as their
shoes, and as much as they deemed appropriate. It seems that either the
related Hadiths were later fabrication or early Muslims did not follow
the Prophet’s example or Sunnah since the first Caliph introduced forty
lashes, which is also recorded in Hadith books. Omar, the second
Caliph, further increased the punishment to 80 lashes. In our time 80
lashes is the standard punishment for drinking in almost all sects of
Islam.
To justify the latter judgment and sentence, one of Muslim scholars
referred to an alleged analogy. The story goes that Omar consulted
Muslims in this matter. Ali, the fourth Caliph, suggested that drinking
would make a person lose his mind and consequently may falsely accuse
someone of committing adultery. Hence drinking deserves the same
punishment of an accuser of adultery that is 80 lashes for a freeman and
40 lashes for a slave. Omar and apparently all his contemporary
Muslims accepted the analogy and carried on with the agreed punitive
measure.
But it goes without saying that similarly there are so many other
possible crimes a drunker can commit. Why only one specific crime
should be considered for analogy. One may consult Hadith and find that
Al-Nasaa’i, 5666 suggests that a drunker can commit both adultery and
murder in a quick sequence. Even worse, Hadith suggests that drinking
alcohol is equivalent to idolatry or it is the root of all evils.
The Messenger of Allaah said: “The one who is addicted to

alcohol is like one who worships an idol.” 236
Finally, it can be argued that the analogy and the prescribed

punishment maybe fit for a drunker with impairment of physical and
236
Ibn Maajah, 3375
252
mental faculties but not for moderate drinking as long as one maintains
soberness.
The above example also shows yet again that Muslims are generally
left with so many confusing options from their sacred sources not a
clear-cut judgement. It also shows that not only they ignore the
judgment and command of the Quran as we saw in the adultery case -
and the latter case too - but also easily ignore Muhammad’s Sunnah
which they have painstakingly collected to enable them to follow his
example.
But this is not the end of the story as in fact in some Muslim societies
the standard punishment is meted out only for the first-time drinker. The
number of lashes doubles for the second offence and trebles for the third
offence. The offender is not allowed to drink for the fifth time since the
fourth offence justifies capital punishment!
One wonders from where all these extra rulings have come from. The
fact is that scholars and jurists have quietly gone one step further. In the
past the mere reason for their existence and concern was digging out
and exposing Islam and God’s decree from the Quran and Hadith. We
are still told by scholars that human beings need religion since we are
fallible and not able to conduct our own affairs fairly and independently.
Logically, we need God’s law and guidance through His prophets.
Faithful thank God who provided the religion of Islam and the glorious
Quran and example of infallible prophet Muhammad. But after facing
the reality of insufficient sources the scholars and jurists have gradually
become bold enough to abandon their logic and have given themselves
the right to create new laws and instructions under the umbrella of
scholar’s expert opinion and independent reasoning or other secondary
sources.
In fact, jurists have given themselves the right to override or abandon
any Quranic dictate, enforce any new measure and mete out any
punishment if situation necessitates based on their own discretion and
expediency. In short, the weakness and shortfalls of the revealed source
has gradually resulted in the power and sovereignty of Jurists. The
primary sources are in fact the fallible persons of jurists now and the
253
rest of the sources are just their tools for becoming the absolute
authority, even the glorious Quran.
What is the use of incomplete and obsolete laws in a revealed book?
Should a scripture lay down an unchanging order on legal or any other
social issues with the knowledge that it would become obsolete or
ineffective in the near future? In other words, if a law for a primitive
society cannot be applied to another primitive society, as the different
laws of various prophets in the past clearly demonstrate, then the
relevance of any fixed divine law for future generations falls under
serious suspicion. The Quran addresses this issue briefly by claiming
that its new law, whatever it succeeds, is better than the old one.
106
None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be
forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar:
Do not you know that Allah Has power over all things?237
This is not a proper answer to why the Quran is then regarded as the
everlasting final law for humankind. The other insincere but eagerly
accepted answer to this impasse was to silently ignore the decrees in
previous revelations and to introduce new ones suitable for modern
societies. The accepted new laws are then naturally introduced as an
eternal divine commandment. All the previous prophets we have so far
considered in our search earnestly accepted and implemented this latter
popular policy. That is paying lip service or superficially agreeing with
previous divine laws, but proudly following popular and acceptable
laws of their own time and prescribing them for future generations.
Minimalist Interpretation
The inadequacy of orthodox Islam using Quran and Sunnah in

solving social issues and human affairs is so striking that some
contemporary Islamic scholars have tried putting forward new theories
237
Quran, 2
254
and ideas. One of these ideas is the belief that religion is not maximalist.
That is its sources do not raise and cover every religious issue in details
for every society and every time and every condition. Rather a religion
is minimalist, meaning it deals with the human issues such as religious
rituals, ethic, science, economy and law with the reasonable or
necessary minimum.
The prime example given to clarify the minimalist idea is the ritual
washing with clean water before praying. It is called Wudu by Muslims,
which is ordered in the Quran and Sunnah. From a minimalist point of
view this is the necessary minimum required for cleaning oneself before
praying. One can use soap or other cleansing products and facilities if
one wishes or it is necessary for thorough cleaning, say to stop spreading
harmful microorganisms.
Similarly, the proponents argue that one month of fasting during the
month of Ramadan is the necessary minimum, and praying five times a
day is also necessary minimum for Muslims to get closer to God.
Amputation of hands (not one hand) ordered in verse 5:38 is also the
minimum measure to stop this kind of crime. There are, they continue,
many other ways to create a safe and prosperous society and remove the
economic reason for theft. For example, a government must try its best
to put in place a social welfare scheme for all the citizens.
This new idea seems reasonable as Muslims usually pray more than
five times a day and use cleaning products besides water and so on.
However, this is a dangerous idea for fixing the endemic shortfall of the
Quran and Sunnah. First of all, the Quran could easily say so if
necessary minimum was intended and put a stop on any confusion from
the advent of Islam. Secondly, the Quran goes to enough details to
resolve an involved issue. For example, minimum cleaning before
praying is ordered in the Quran. It is called Tayammum. Simply put,
where clean water is not available clean sand or dust can be used to rub
face and hands before praying. Also, there is another washing ritual
more comprehensive than Wudu. It is called Ghusl which is similar to
taking a shower as described in the following passages:
255
10
O you who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind
befogged, until you can understand all that you say,- nor in
a state of ceremonial impurity (Except when travelling on
the road), until after washing your whole body. If you are
ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from offices of
nature, or you have been in contact with women, and you
find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth,
and rub therewith your faces and hands. For Allah doth blot
out sins and forgive again and again.238
It seems that the Quran has tried to consider all possible cases
known at the time and directed Muslims accordingly based on the then
available cleansing materials. It even has clarified the exempt cases.
This attention to details is also true for the number of wives a Muslim
man can concurrently marry. As clarified in the Quran, minimum is zero
and then a man can marry a captive woman or maidservant to maximum
of four chaste and free women from followers of accepted religions.
There are more details on matrimony, such as one is not allowed to
marry his father’s widow, which again shows that the Quran has tried
to consider even exceptional conditions. These details are in
disagreement with the minimalist interpretation of Islam.
But the main problem is how to interpret the minimum and
maximum in different cases. We should not forget that minimum and
maximum are inexact quantities. They may be allowed to be used
loosely in some trivial situations, as identified by the proponents of this
new idea, but as there are no boundaries for minimum and maximum
they should not be used in any serious subjects. Proposing such an idea
is invitation to confusion and extremism. For example, minimalist idea
maintains that punitive measures are minimum requirement to stop
crimes. Other social measures are also necessary to prevent disruptive
behaviours such as robbery.
Of course, this is true! Nobody, including minimalists, believes that
the Quran has neglected other measures to improve social and economic
well-being. Religions are primarily and fundamentally supposed to
238
Quran, 4
256
address those personal and social-economical shortfalls and provide

adequate remedies to correct them. Minimalist idea thus, at least, does
not provide any useful or extra reflection.
But the main danger is this; one may argue that the punitive
measure in the Quran is the necessary minimum and harsher
punishment can be duly prescribed. Isn’t it true that sinners are going
to be burned for eternity in hell fire? Now the question is; if in the Quran
the minimum punishment for theft is cutting off the hands what is the
maximum? What can stop any Islamic authority from stoning to death
some individuals as punishment for drinking alcohol or torturing them
over and over for years or to their death for minor crimes? In
comparison to what is going to happen in hell any punishment in this
world is nothing but minimum.
Fortunately, the author of the Quran has tried to stop this type of
ideas and behaviours by limiting a punishment equal to the committed
crime. Even in the case of manslaughter it suggests forgiveness (this is
minimum) if only a faithful slave is liberated. Otherwise, the close
relative of the deceased person should be financially compensated if
they do not just accept an apology and assurance that the killing was
accidental and not a premeditated murder. Moreover, if the guilty
person is not wealthy enough to be able to liberate a slave just
undertaking two months fasting would be sufficient according to the
Quran. That is, a murderer who claims that his action has been just a
mistake or an accident can be saved from severe and maximum
punishment of death penalty. In fact, if minimum punishment was
intended, we should not have had death penalty in Islam.
It should be emphasized that there are countless
circumstances for any crime. The Quran does it best to set the
minimum and maximum punishments for different scenarios as
the following verse clarifies. Proposing that the Quran only
prescribes a minimum does not do justice to it.
92
Never should a believer kill a believer; but (If it so
happens) by mistake, (Compensation is due): If one (so)
kills a believer, it is ordained that he should free a
257
believing slave, and pay compensation to the deceased's

family, unless they remit it freely. If the deceased
belonged to a people at war with you, and he was a
believer, the freeing of a believing slave (Is enough). If he
belonged to a people with whom you have treaty of
Mutual alliance, compensation should be paid to his
family, and a believing slave be freed. For those who find
this beyond their means, (is prescribed) a fast for two
months running: by way of repentance to Allah: for Allah
has all knowledge and all wisdom.239
In the case of a proven murder, death penalty is prescribed only if

relatives do not accept a reasonable financial compensation and insist
on the punishment. There is neither slave release nor fasting in this case.
Maybe liberation of a slave is dropped to enable the murderer propose
a better settlement for relatives.
178
O you who believe! the law of equality is prescribed to
you in cases of murder: the free for the free, the slave for
the slave, the woman for the woman. But if any remission
is made by the brother of the slain, then grant any
reasonable demand, and compensate him with handsome
gratitude, this is a concession and a Mercy from your
Lord. After this whoever exceeds the limits shall be in
grave penalty.240
After all these details it is mentioned in the Quran that these are the
limits and believers must not exceed it.
Finally, in a few cases the Quran has prescribed several
punishments for the same misdeed and not just one or the minimum.
33
The punishment of those who wage war against
Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main
239
Quran, 4
240
Quran, 2
258
for mischief through the land is: execution, or

crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from
opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their
disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs
in the Hereafter;241
It is clearer now that Quranic rulings well suit the society and
culture in which it was developed. No wonder it orders releasing of a
slave as a compensation for manslaughter or marrying a slave if a man
is not capable to marry a free woman. Also, it goes to enough details if
necessary, elucidating minimums, standard and maximums, if
applicable, in each case. Another example of this close-knit relationship
between the Quran and its immediate audiences is that there is no
punishment for say drinking alcohols or eating pork in the Quran as
there was not any punishment for it among settlements in the Arabian
Peninsula of the time.
Muslim scholars are still trying hard to fix the obvious and
inevitable shortfalls in Islamic resources. They are meanwhile trying to
present Islam as a complete and final solution for humanity. Their
mission is not only impossible but also aggravates the problem, be it
Hadith forgery, creating an authoritarian guardianship of the Islamic
jurists or minimalist expectation and interpretation of the Quran. In the
first case it has resulted in numerous divisions and deceptions to the
point that some scholars or jurists in the past abandoned their
intelligence altogether and tried to accept and accommodate all Hadiths
which were reputed to be the true sayings or actions of Mohammad242.
The second case has given the world the phenomenon of Velayat-e
Faqih, the absolute and unlimited rule of the Islamic jurist in all aspects
of human affairs. The third case results in an anything goes religion.
241
Quran, 5
242
Followers of Hanbali and Dhahiri sub-sect in Sunni and Akhbary sub-sect
in Shia
259
Bee or Parrot?
There has been another uncanny suggestion to solve the

problem of indistinct, incomplete, incompetent and cultural
dependent sources. The claim is that, contrary to the hitherto
common belief, the Quran is not a direct and word-for-word
transmission of divine message through angel Gabriel to
Muhammad. That is a prophet does not hear divine revelation in
his ears while in trance. Instead, it is proposed that Muhammad
was able to create the Quran using his higher quality senses
exclusive to prophets which is not bestowed to ordinary human.
The Quran is thus a collection of writings/dreams produced by
Muhammad himself resulting from a combination of
Mohammad’s life experiences and prophetic dreams, exactly as a
talented poet produces a poem book. The size of a scripture
depends on the life span of the prophet. Thus, the Quran could be
smaller in size if the Prophet Muhammad died say at the age of 60
or could increase to few volumes if he lived for another 20 years.
To support the argument a verse in the Quran is used in which
bees’ activities are attributed to revelation.
68
And your Lord revealed to the bee to build its hives in
hills, on trees, and in (men's) habitations;243
Using an analogy, the proponents then suppose the same

mechanism of revelation for a prophet mission, adding that a
prophet is not merely repeating a revelation to humankind like a
parrot rather he acts and live like a honey producing bee and the
result is the Quran.
In this case a prophet is able to discover some secrets of the
world such as the existing of God with all the admirable attributes,
and detail portrayal of afterlife and angles in his prophetic trance.
He then mercifully discloses those facts to his fellow human as
God’s infallible revelation with his own words. But, besides these
243
Quran, 16
260
vital messages, which the proponents call essential aspects, the

prophet had to live and deal with some accidental aspects,
meaning personal, family and social issues. Naturally, they are
historically and culturally determined and hence can be discarded
if new social conditions dictate. It is suggested that these
accidental aspects of the Quran determine the length of the
document depending on the religious questions he was asked, the
challenges he faced, the wars he fought and the life style he
conducted.
The objective of this idea is to separate the Quran between
fallible writings and the infallible message of the Quran which is
essentially a God oriented worldview along with the attributes of
God, the hereafter and the rules for worship. It is then concluded
that the material and social issues are not in fact revelation as such
and subsequently shouldn’t necessarily be correct or acceptable
for all times.
But the crux of this idea is that: what has been written in the
Quran which is related to essential aspects can only be interpreted
like a dream. Thus, we need qualified dream interpreters not
exegetes or commentators of the Quran. As this has not been done
during the last fourteen centuries after the advent of Islam, we do
not have any clue of its actual meaning. Therefore, we need to
start interpreting it from now on.
This bizarre idea is welcomed as it admits the human origin
of the Quran with its shortfalls. It also entails the falsehood of the
Hadith industry and the minimalist idea as the material and social
section of the Quran is now deemed to be tightly related on local
and historical events which may be irrelevant for future
generations and could have been much less or much more, and not
just minimum. It is related to the era and concerns of Muhammad
while he was living in a specific society and can now be easily
discarded and not acknowledged as necessary minimum. But the
idea still tries to reiterate some part of the Quran as infallible
divine revelation.
The common responses to this idea can include:
261
1. If the Quran is the result of Muhammad’s dreams and

he wrote it himself why he did not clarify this fact
there and then? Why has this reality only been
understood centuries later?
2. This is the weakest and most demeaning way to
present Islam by trying to argue that neither
proponents nor opponents know what has been said
in the Quran.
3. Human does not go to sleep to solve either daily or
deep issues. Why does a prophet need to go to sleep
to see the reality of life and universe? Why does one
need to be in a state of trance to reflect on a case, in
the process of producing a correct and universal social
law? Is not a prophet supposed to be alert and use his
brain when trying to solve a human problem?
4. what is the point of sending a prophet if we have not
understood the supposed final and clear message of
God after fourteen centuries and we are not going to
understand it in near future as there is no qualified
interpreter of dream around?
5. Why threatening people with hell fire or enticing
them with houris in paradise for centuries knowing
that they do not understand the real meaning of the
revealed message and have no clue what is really
expected of them and what is expecting them?
6. If there has not been an interpreter since the advent
of Islam what is the possibility that we can have one
soon? What are the criteria for being an infallible
interpreter? Apparently, a prophet does not qualify
since Prophet Muhammad did not provide a helping
hand by interpreting his own messages/dreams.
7. What does stop a few charlatans, self-aggrandize or
deluded people to forge their own qualifications and
come up with certain meanings. Who is then qualified
to judge their honesty? Is a genuine interpreter
262
expected to show some miracles for his/her

truthfulness?
8. If those parts of the Quran, which relates to the
material world and human societies and thus can be
thoroughly examined are fallible what is the warranty
that the metaphysical sections are correct?
9. How can we distinguish between a genuine and false
prophet? It is not acceptable to separate the evidently
defenceless parts of the Quran and treat them
separately. In that case all the Bab’s books, Genghis
Khan’s code of law, Yassa, or in fact any other book
can also be regarded as revelation from God apart
from the incorrect sentences or sections.
10. This idea is not new at all. Numerous esoteric sects
within Islam, known generally as Bāṭinīyah, were
created solely based on the same issue. Principally,
the founders of these sects emphasised that the Quran
must not be understood based on its literal or outward
meaning at all, which some thought is completely
irrelevant in comparison to the true meaning. Rather
it needs to be interpreted exclusively on the basis of
its hidden or inward meanings. The other key point
was that ordinary people have no access to the hidden
message. Its understanding is thus exclusive to
selected special people. Based on historical effects of
this type of ideas some well-known historian and
scholars considered Bāṭinīyah as most destructive to
Islam in comparison to external enemies. The only
difference between this new idea and what proposed
in Bāṭinīyah is that the latter did not suggest that the
Quran was Muhammed’s own writing. But it does not
really matter when both agree that hidden messages
were projected in the irrelevant literal text. Also, if the
proponents of the new idea cannot yet interpret the
Quran how they know the real writer. There might as
263
well be a hidden message in a verse or two regarding

this issue.
The assumption of extra sensory power or quality exclusive to

prophets also needs some explanation. The Quran has not
attributed Muhammad with an extraordinary characteristic. On the
contrary it has reiterated that he was just an ordinary human
being.244 He did not know what would expecting him in this life
and the hereafter.245 Moreover, based on the Quran itself, we
should not distinguish between different sections of it. The Quran
reiterates again and again that it is all a revelation from God and
it was revealed to Muhammad as it was revealed to other prophets
with the distinction that it is a message and guideline for humanity
until the Day of Judgment.
82
Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it
been from other than Allah, they would surely have
found therein much discrepancy.246
The final reason against the separation of the so called

essential and accidental aspects in the Quran was presented earlier
in this chapter. Simply put, The Quran and Muhammad readily
accepted some pagan worldview, such as believing in Jinn,
celestial structure as well as various worship rituals such as
pilgrimage to Mecca. That is Muhammad’s worldview and other
essential aspects like its social conduct was largely influenced by
the knowledge and culture of his time-place and was not based on
a prophetic experience or dream. If the accidental aspects are
earthly, adopted and fallible then based on the same logic the
essential aspects are borrowed too and thus fallible and mortal too.
244
Say: "I am but a man like yourselves (but) the inspiration has come
to me that your Allah is one Allah: Quran 38:110.
245
…nor do I know what will be done with me or with you,… , Quran 46:9
246
Quran, 4
264
Abrogation
The third problem in the Quran is the apparent abrogation and

deletion of some earlier verses and replacing them with new ones. This
issue is raised and defended in the Quran and is generally known as
Abrogation. Besides verse 2:106, which was quoted before, the subject
is discussed in another chapter of the Quran as follows:
“101When We substitute one revelation for another,- and

Allah knows best what He reveals (in stages),- they say,
"Thou art but a forger": but most of them understand not.
102
Say, the Holy Spirit has brought the revelation from thy
Lord in Truth, in order to strengthen those who believe,
and as a Guide and Glad Tidings to Muslims.247
There are two schools of thoughts regarding abrogation among

Muslim scholars. The proponents of one school believe that abrogation
in the above verses does not mean replacing one law or verse in the
Quran with another. They argue that the Quran is as immutable as it is
claimed to be:
21
Nay, this is a Glorious Qur'an, 22(Inscribed) in a Tablet
Preserved! (Quran 85)
27
And recite (and teach) what has been revealed to you of
the Book of your Lord: none can change His Words, and
none will you find as a refuge other than Him.248
Abrogation therefore simply means replacing an earlier set of laws,

revealed to an earlier prophet, with new laws given to a later prophet.
This, they argue, was due to various special circumstances or peculiar
characteristics of the people in one region in the past, which
necessitated the introduction of specific or temporary laws by past
prophets. They also argue that this supposedly progressive revelation
247
Quran 16
248
Quran 18
265
does not apply to the core of God’s immutable religion but is only
related to minor issues. Moreover, a specific or transitory rule might
seem different from the succeeding one in form but is consistent with
the same principle.
The idea of abrogation or progressive revelation, the argument
continues, was launched to reveal rules which were suitable for old
generations and societies of the past. By the time of the Prophet
Muhammad, all societies adequately developed, hence the law of God
was bestowed on them with an eternal characteristic.
To substantiate their argument, besides citing the abundance of
prophets in the past who each brought a slightly different law, they
resort to their own version of interpretation of the above two passages.
For example, they suggest that two other verses, which come later in
chapter 16 of the Quran, support their argument that the abrogation is a
replacement of the laws of previous prophets.
“118To the Jews We prohibited such things as We have

mentioned to you before: We did them no wrong, but they
were used to doing wrong to themselves.” …
“124The Sabbath was only made (strict) for those who
disagreed (as to its observance); But Allah will judge
between them on the Day of Judgment, as to their
differences.” 249
This group of scholars might be right since the context of the two
passages could describe the replacement the law of earlier scripture with
a new one. But abrogation is not limited to the change of law from one
scripture to the next. It also applies to the Quran itself as has been
pointed out by the second group of Muslim scholars. It seems that God
has implicitly and explicitly abrogated several verses or laws in the
Quran and replaced them with new ones.
Some earlier religious scholars have gone too far by citing about five
hundred abrogated verses in the Quran. However, the majority of these
cases are not relevant. Recent scholars suggest a different number of
249
Quran 16
266
abrogated verses ranging from one to twenty-one verses. A universally

accepted case is:
12
O you who believe! When you consult the Messenger in
private, spend something in charity before your private
consultation. That will be best for you, and most conducive
to purity (of conduct). But if you find not (the
wherewithal), Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. 13Is
it that you are afraid of spending sums in charity before
your private consultation (with him)? If, then, you do not
so, and Allah forgives you, then (at least) establish regular
prayer; practise regular charity; and obey Allah and His
Messenger. And Allah is well-acquainted with all that you
do.250
The proponents of abrogation in the Quran argue that initially a new

rule was established in one verse and dismissed in the next. The first
group might have some point in challenging and dismissing this
example of abrogation and explain it as an exception of the general rule;
nevertheless, there are many other cases of abrogation in the Quran
which are indefensible. Three cases will be examined related to fasting,
changing the direction of prayer and forbidding the consumption of
alcoholic drinking.
Modification to Fasting
One lunar month of fasting is prescribed for Muslims in the Quran.

Muslims should not consciously consume any drink or food from dawn
to dusk during the whole month of Ramadan. They should also refrain
from any lawful sexual activities during the whole fasting period.
250
Quran, 58
267
183
O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it
was prescribed to those before you, that you may (learn)
self-restraint,
184
(Fasting) for a fixed number of days; ...
185
Ramadhan is the (month) in which was sent down the
Qur'an, as a guide to mankind, also clear (Signs) for
guidance and judgment (Between right and wrong). So
every one of you who is present (at his home) during that
month should spend it in fasting, but if any one is ill, or on
a journey, the prescribed period (Should be made up) by
days later. ... 251
There are three issues concerning fasting in the Quran. Firstly, it

orders Muslims to fast as those before them who had been ordered to do
so. However, the Quran does not mention who those-before-Muslims
were. There is no command in the entire Pentateuch regarding a similar
fasting, thus, none of great prophets of God were aware of the ritual in
its Islamic format.
Though fasting is mentioned in the Bible, there is no one month
compulsory fasting in Judaism and Christianity, the main protagonists
of the revealed books. There is only one day compulsory fasting in
Judaism if one interprets ‘deny oneself’ as fasting in the following
passages;
“30because on this day atonement will be made for you, to

cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean
from all your sins. 31It is a Sabbath of rest, and you must
deny yourselves (or must humble yourselves or afflict your
soul, depending on translation); it is a lasting
252
ordinance.”
251
Quran, 2
252
Leviticus, 16
268
“7On the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred

assembly. You must deny yourselves and do no work.” 253
Jesus asked his disciples to deny themselves and take up

their cross and follow him. Therefore, deny oneself does not explicitly
mean fasting. Moreover, observing Sabbath does not normally include
fasting. But as Jews traditionally fast in the Day of Atonement, Yom
Kippur, deny oneself is interpreted to include fasting as well.
In Judaism, fasting is abstaining from food and drink by an
individual or a group of Jews as a sign of mourning, humbling oneself
or as amendment of sins. It is considered as a way to express deep
lamentation for the past sins and as a mean to prepare for self-evaluation
and spiritual healing leading to ethical perfection. It is also one of the
ways that one can turn to God wholeheartedly during a calamity.
“12They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul
and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the LORD and
the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the
sword.”254
“12"Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all

your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."” 255
Though, refraining from food and drink is mentioned in the Bible,

but usually washing and anointing is also prohibited. Sexual abstinence
and avoiding leather footwear later added to the list. There are several
specific periods of fasting mentioned in the Bible for one-off occasions.
This ranges from a period between sunrise-to-sunset to three
consecutive days. For example:
“16"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and
fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.
253
Numbers, 29
254
2 Samuel, 1
255
Joel, 2
269
I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I

will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And
if I perish, I perish." ” 256
The fasting observed by pre-Islamic peoples, recorded in the Quran,

was a silent fasting of a few apostles. There is no mention of any regular
fasting for a whole month.
“26So eat and drink and cool (your) eye. And if you do see
any man, say, 'I have vowed a fast to (God) Most Gracious,
and this day will I enter into not talk with any human
being'”257
Therefore, the tradition of fasting, similar to the Islamic fasting, has

not been ordered or observed in earlier Abrahamic religions. So, which
community observed a similar fasting tradition which the Quran claim
to follow? Most probably Islamic fasting was adapted from
Manichaeism. This is a religion, originated in Persia, which is a
complex amalgamation of Zoroastrianism, Paganism, Christianity and
Gnosticism founded in the third century AD. The religion rapidly spread
to the west and east of Persia as far as the Roman Empire and China.
Manichaean had several fasting traditions in harmony with their
particular creation story. One of their important daytime fasting periods
for common believers, hearers, lasted for twenty-eight days prior to the
vernal equinox. The fasting was prescribed in commemoration of
twenty-eight days of the suffering and death of Mani (Manes), founder
of Manichaeism, in prison258. Most probably, it was not Mani’s order
and the practice was later established as a lamentation ritual. The fasting
ended with a confessional ceremony during the last night in which Mani
was believed to return at the midnight and forgave the vigil confessors
of their sins. The following day was then celebrated. This day of
festivity was named Bema or Throne.
256
Esther, 4
257
Quran, 19
258
BOYCE M., A Reader in Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian: texts with Notes,
Acta Iranica 9, Leiden, 1975
270
Accordingly, the Quran orders Muslims to fast for all days of a

whole month from the crack of dawn to nightfall and the way it is
presented makes it appear as if fasting is the established religious duty
of all the previous Abrahamic religions.
The second point is that it did not take long before the rule for fasting
was modified in Islam. At the beginning, lawful sexual intercourse was
forbidden during the whole month of fasting, maybe following the strict
sexual abstinence in Manichaeism. Later, based on the reasoning that
people could not cope with this kind of difficult fasting and had tried to
cheat, it was dropped and lawful sexual intercourse was allowed during
the nights of the fasting month.
187
Permitted to you, on the night of the fasts, is the
approach to your wives. They are your garments and you
are their garments. God knows what you used to do
secretly among yourselves; but He turned to you and
forgave you; so now associate with them, and seek what
Allah has ordained for you, and eat and drink, until the
white thread of dawn appears to you distinct from its black
thread; then complete your fast till the night appears; but
do not associate with your wives while you are in retreat in
the mosques. Those are the Limits (set by) Allah:
Approach not nigh thereto. Thus does Allah make clear His
Signs to men: that they may learn self-restraint.259
It is very strange that this supposedly well-established religious duty

has not been properly regulated by God despite numerous prophets are
being sent to previous nations. It seems God discovers the difficulty and
cheating only after the fasting was made compulsory for Muslims.
Subsequently, He modifies the rule.
Do we find similar cheating case in the past? When God, apparently,
found out that the Israelites broke the limit of the Sabbath he got very
angry and punished them severely. According to the Bible, wilful
259
Quran, 2
271
violation of the Sabbath was punishable by death260. The punishment in

the Quran is less severe but still is unforgiving:
65
And well you knew those amongst you who transgressed
in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them: "Be you
apes, despised and rejected."261
But in the fasting case, He forgave the transgressors and just dropped
the rule.
The third point is concerned with the abrogation of the second type.
Verse 2:187 implies that a verse concerning fasting has already been
revealed, one of the conditions being to refrain from lawful sexual
intercourse during the whole month of Ramadan, a ruling that was
consequentially abrogated in the above verse. But the original verse or
verses for abstaining from copulation during the nights of fasting do not
appear in the Quran. Neither can this be found in Hadith since Hadith
narrators had their own agendas, as indicated previously. They did not
bother to look at this issue at all.
At any rate, we have identified a negated ruling with the original
decree nowhere to be found. This shows that the source of an important
religious duty in Islam cannot be clearly identified. Either the verse was
revealed, abrogated and intentionally was not included in the Quran or
no divine order was given and Muhammad himself copied the fasting
tradition from an obscure contemporary group of religious people. In
the former case, obviously the second kind of abrogation is applied. In
the latter case, the basis of an important Islamic practice becomes
unclear.
Changing of Kiblah
Another case for abrogation is related to Qibla or Kiblah, the

direction of the place to which Muslims must turn during their prayer.
260
Exodus 31, 14-15 and Numbers, 15, 32-36
261
Quran, 2
272
For a while, followers of Muhammad pray facing Jerusalem. They

copied the Jews in this matter. Later on, when Muhammad became
frustrated with some Jewish conspiracies and hostilities in Medina the
direction of prayer was changed from Jerusalem to Mecca.
“142The fools among the people will say: "What has turned
them from the Qibla to which they were used?" Say: To
Allah belong both East and West: He guides whom He will
to a Way that is straight. 143Thus, have We made of you an
nation justly balanced, that you might be witnesses over
the nations, and the Messenger a witness over yourselves;
and We appointed the Qibla to which you were used, only
to test those who followed the Messenger from those who
would turn on their heels (From the Faith). Indeed it was
(A change) momentous, except to those guided by Allah.
And never would Allah Make your faith of no effect. For
Allah is to all people Most surely full of kindness, Most
Merciful. 144We see the turning of your face (for guidance
to the heavens: now Shall We turn you to a Qibla that shall
please you. Turn then your face in the direction of the
sacred Mosque: Wherever you are, turn your faces in that
direction. The people of the Book know well that that is
the truth from their Lord. Nor is Allah unmindful of what
145
they do. Even if you were to bring to the people of the
Book all the Signs (together), they would not follow your
Qibla; nor are you going to follow their Qibla; nor indeed
will they follow each other's Qibla. If you after the
knowledge has reached you, Were to follow their (vain)
desires,-then were you Indeed (clearly) in the wrong.” 262
Verse 2:143 implies that God has already appointed a Kiblah for
Muslims. But again, there is no sign of this verse in the Quran nor,
again, this verse is mentioned in the Sunnah. Verse 2:144 implies that
Muhammad did not like the first appointed Kiblah and thus God
262
Quran, 2
273
changed the direction of prayer to Mecca. This is another strong case

for abrogation of the second kind without any trace of the original
ruling.
Gradual Prohibition
Another example of abrogation in the Quran is the gradual process

of forbidding the consumption of alcoholic drinking. Accordingly,
Muslim scholars argue that the Quran forbade drinking in three stages.
Initially wine was considered one of God’s presents and blessing for
mankind.
67
And from the fruit of the date-palm and the vine, you get
out wholesome drink and food: behold, in this also is a
sign for those who are wise. 263
For the same reason two versus (4:43) and (2:219) do not directly
forbade drinking. Firstly, Muslims were asked to refrain from
performing their mandatory prayers while they were under the influence
of alcohol:
43
O you who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind
befogged, until you can understand all that you say,- 264
In the next phase it was pointed out that harms of alcohol outweigh
its benefits:
219
They ask you concerning wine and gambling. Say: "In
them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is
greater than the profit." 265
The total prohibition is left to verse (5:93).
263
Quran, 16
264
Quran, 4
265
Quran, 2
274
93
O you who believe! Intoxicants and gambling,
(dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an
abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such
(abomination), that you may prosper. 266
Obviously, drinking was initially considered as blessing from God

and later become handiwork of Satan.
When the Quran finally forbade drinking and abrogated the earlier
creeds, their associated three verses were not taken out of the book.
Whereas, as observed earlier, at least two abrogated verses, if existed,
are not included in the Quran, one related to Fasting and one related to
Kiblah.
It should also be remembered that the gradual and phasing-in policy
was not followed for other duties like Fasting. In the latter case, initially
a harsher rule was given and then a more moderate rule was followed.
One could otherwise argue, as some Muslim scholars have remarked,
that the Quran gradually introduced the Islamic law into a newly
converted society. With fasting example this argument becomes
baseless.
Was Abrogation necessary?
Is abrogation of the second kind necessary in general? It is

sometimes. Democratic nations around the world change their laws
regularly. But the Quran is supposed to be an everlasting law of God
and the law of God is declared immutable in the book. Also, there is no
logical or practical justification for disorganized changes in the law
within such a short period. The Quran usually does not discuss the
reason or provide genuine justification for introducing the original
revelations and their later changes. It only declares that the wise God is
free to reveal whatever he considers appropriate or the changes were
266
Quran, 5
275
deliberate to test people’s faith and commitment or make the rule more
palatable.
Obviously, in each of the three cases mentioned above the necessity
of bringing in one law and then substituting it with another one is not
justified at all. For example, why forbid something during the fasting
period, the whole month of Ramadan, and cancel it later with the
knowledge that fasting was introduced in the Quran as an established
obligation for all believers in the past? Obviously, the nature of people
had not changed in such a short period after the first ruling.
In the case of Kiblah, if the direction had been changed after Mecca
was sanitised of its numerous idols, one could argue that the initial
command and the change of direction were justified. Muslims must not
direct their faces during prayer towards a house of idols. But based on
historical evidence the change of direction took place in the second year
of immigration to Medina. At that time, Mecca prided itself on getting
rid of Muhammad, his message and followers. The Sacred Mosque in
Mecca was indeed the house of idols.
Also, God himself, according to the Quran, appointed a Kiblah for
Jews as he did for Muslims. The Quran also emphasizes that it does not
matter what direction one faces during a prayer since God is
everywhere. This makes the rationalization of the change more
questionable. It also begs the question why Mecca was not appointed in
the first place? What initially prevented God from appointing Mecca as
Kiblah?
More important point is that why should there be several Kiblahs for
the supposed single Abrahamic religion? The Quran claims to be a
revelation of the same God, announcing the same objectives and laws
as the previous scriptures. God is supposed to bring unity among
mankind, not this type of pointless religious diversity. The questions do
not finish here. For example, why were Christians not given a different
Kiblah as Muslims or any Kiblah at all in the New Testament to face
to? What were other prophets’ Kiblahs?
The fact is that, God did not appoint any Kiblah for any prophet
before Moses and He did not appoint Jerusalem as Kiblah through
Moses or any other prophets in the Bible. There was no prayer in the
276
Ten Commandments requiring a Kiblah to face to. Muhammad simply

copied a later Jewish tradition which was practiced in the Arabian
Peninsula among Jews and thought it was a necessary part of a religion
and a divine order from God.
Abrogation is thus a sign of the trial-and-error strategy. Only
someone with limited knowledge and conflicting feelings, not the
omniscient God, can use this tentative method.
Supporting the Old Testament stories
At the beginning of this Chapter Muhammad was admired for

establishing equality among races. In order to comply with what had
been documented in the Bible, however, he obliged himself to forget his
broad teaching and supported the story of conquering the Promised
Land as reported in chapters thirteen and fourteen of the book of
Numbers in the Old Testament.
“20Remember Moses said to his people: "O my people!

Call in remembrance the favour of God unto you, when He
produced prophets among you, made you kings, and gave
you what He had not given to any other among the peoples.
21
"O my people! Enter the holy land which God has
assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for
22
then will you be overthrown, to your own ruin." They
said: "O Moses! In this land are a people of exceeding
strength: Never shall we enter it until they leave it: if
23
(once) they leave, then shall we enter." (But) among
(their) God-fearing men were two on whom God had
bestowed His grace: They said: "Assault them at the
(proper) Gate: when once you are in, victory will be yours;
But on God put your trust if you have faith." 24They said:
"O Moses! while they remain there, never shall we be able
to enter, to the end of time. Go thou, and thy Lord, and
fight you two, while we sit here (and watch)." 25He said:
"O my Lord! I have power only over myself and my
277
brother: so separate us from this rebellious people!" 26God

said: "Therefore will the land be out of their reach for forty
years: In distraction will they wander through the land: But
sorrow thou not over these rebellious people.”267
Apparently, the motive for repeating this story was to soften the
hearts of Jews and Christians and encourage them to cooperate with
him. Muhammad tried to remind them, especially Jews, that they should
not repeat the mistakes and excuses as when Moses was sent to them.
Now they should accept and readily follow him as a prophet and they
would then conquer their enemies and prosper. The verse preceding the
above story may clear the point.
19
O People of the Book! Now has come unto you, making
(things) clear unto you, Our Messenger, after the break in
(the series of) our messengers, lest you should say: "There
came unto us no bringer of glad tidings and no warner
(from evil)": But now has come unto you a bringer of glad
tidings and a warner (from evil). And Allah hath power
over all things.268
Here there is no explanation as to why the Israelites should go and

rout out those entirely foreign people and seize their land. Why were
they not given a chance, like Israelites, to follow the law of God and be
spared? While the Quran teaches that theft invokes a rigorous hand
severance punishment in this world and even more severe punishment
hereafter, in the above verses it supports full heartedly carnage without
providing proper reason or justification. This outright support clearly
shows that Islam endorses killing and happily possessing other people’s
lands, houses, wives and other belongings, only if they do not hold to
the same faith or are not of the certain race.
267
Quran, 5
268
Quran, 5
278
Unsubstantiated Stories
There are some differences between the stories in the Bible and the
Quran. Some can be justified, but a few are too obvious to disregard.
For example, Noah died at the age of 950, as claimed in the Bible269.
The Quran proposes that this was his age before the flood.
14
We (once) sent Noah to his people, and he tarried among
them a thousand years less fifty: but the Deluge
overwhelmed them while they (persisted in) sin. 270
Muslim scholars are certain that the version in the Quran is the
correct account since they believe that the existing Bible is not the
original scripture and has been defiled by human beings. But again, the
Quran accepts the integrity of the existing Bible and at the same time
disagrees with its facts.
Moreover, there is strong evidence that the Quran copied other
Jewish stories which is not recorded in the Bible. They were apparently
narrated in other Jewish texts like Talmud or oral tradition of the time.
Some of these stories are known myths or mistakes; nevertheless, the
Quran inadvertently accepts them as historical and more importantly
religious facts.
It is not suggested that Muhammad knew the contents of all the
Jewish literature of his time. He knew these stories which was
traditionally taught and circulated by rabbis mainly in verbal form.
One example of such a mistake is in a third or fourth century
document attributed to Jonathan ben Uzziel who was a first century
rabbi. The document is called Targum which is a transcript of an oral
explanation of the Hebrew text of the Bible in Aramaic. The mistake is
related to Abraham’s exodus from Ur.
27
This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of
Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of
269
Genesis 9, 29
270
Quran, 29
279
Lot. 28While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in
Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29Abram and
31
Nahor both married. … Terah took his son Abram, his
grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai,
the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from
Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came
to Haran, they settled there. 271
7
He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you
out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take
possession of it." 272
It would seem unremarkable. Nevertheless, apparently the rabbi,

ignoring the clear report in Genesis 11: 27-31, mistook “Or” for Ur. Ur
in Aramaic means a city and “Or” means fire or light. He thus read the
latter verse as if God saved Abraham from a fiery furnace of the
Chaldeans.
And He said to him, I am the Lord who brought thee out

of the fiery furnace of the Kasdai (Chaldeans), to give thee
this land to inherit. And he said, Lord God, by what may I
know that I shall be the heir of it?273
Further, he commented on Genesis 11:27 as, "And it was when

Nimrod had cast Abram into the furnace of fire because he would not
274
worship his idol, and the fire had no power to burn him, … ". His
comment on verse 28 was that Haran died in the fire of the Chaldeans.
He ignored verse 31, “and together they set out from Ur of the
Chaldeans to go to Canaan” since it did not corroborate his story. At
any rate, this third or fourth century false interpretation of the Bible
found its way into the Quran.
271
Genesis, 11
272
Genesis, 15
273
ETHERIDGE, J. W., (tr.) The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel On the
Pentateuch With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee, 1862
274
Ibid
280
68
They said, "Burn him and protect your gods, if you do
(anything at all)!" 69We said, "O Fire! be thou cool, and (a
70
means of) safety for Abraham!" Then they sought a
stratagem against him: but We made them the ones that
lost most! 71But We delivered him and (his nephew) Lot
(and directed them) to the land which We have blessed for
the nations. 275
The rabbi is also the first Jew to use Gehenna as a place for severe
punishment. Gehenna was the Hebrew name of the valley of Hinnom to
the south of Jerusalem in which the dwellers of the city dumped and
burned their rubbish.276 The Arabic translation of this word in its new
meaning is also used in the Quran as Hell.
In fact, the Quran borrows the bulk of its Jewish histories from the
above Targum or similar embellished oral tradition circulated among
the Jews of his time and not from the Bible.
Similarly, there are several differences between the stories in the
canon New Testaments and the Quran. For example, the Quran does not
accept that Jesus was crucified. It also teaches Muslim that Mary
delivered Jesus on her own under a palm tree somewhere outside her
town. During her pregnancy, she was comforted and guided by Jesus,
while he was still growing in her womb. When Jesus was born, Mary
took him back to the town where she was severely criticised for her
gross misconduct. New-born Jesus spoke to the crowd and defended the
chastity and integrity of her mother. Moreover, he is attributed with
miracles not recorded in the canon New Testament.
One of the reasons for these differences stems from the fact that the
Christians of the Arabian Peninsula accepted or possessed different
books from the established western canon277. Muhammad while familiar
with the detailed story of Jesus’ birth and miracles was apparently
275
Quran, 21
276
HANSON, J. W., The Bible Hell, Boston, Universalist Publishing House, 1888
277
See Chapter 5
281
unaware of the time gap between Moses and Jesus. It seems that he and
the Christians living in the Arabian Peninsula didn’t have access to the
two Gospels according to Matthew and Luke. The reason is that in those
Gospels the genealogy of Jesus is clearly identified. Muhammad
mistook Miriam, Moses and Aaron’s sister with Mary, Jesus’ mother.
27
At length she (Mary) brought the (babe) to her people,
carrying him (in her arms). They said: "O Mary! truly an
amazing thing has you brought! 28"O sister of Aaron! Your
father was not a man of evil, nor your mother a woman
unchaste!" 278
Some researchers in Islam usually ignore this reality and wrongly

conclude that Muhammad wasn’t as familiar with Christianity as he was
with Judaism. But it seems that he was familiar with both Judaism and
Christianity practiced in Arabia. We should remember that Christian
canon is not unique and several different codices were in existence until
each region chose its own codex or canon. One of the oldest codices is
Claromontanus collected in the middle of the sixth century indicating
that even by then the selection of the New Testament books was not a
concluded issue. Besides those codices numerous religious writings and
beliefs were in existence that were not included in any of the canons or
orthodox dogmas and were actively purged by the Church only in areas
under their authority.
Arabia, being far away from Rome, was not highly affected by the
systematic purge of so-called heretic Christian beliefs and writings by
the Roman Catholic Church. Consequently, beliefs and scriptures of the
Christians living in Arabia were poles apart from the western
Christianity or what accepted say in Alexandria. For example, one
unconventional idea among several Christian sects was the denial of
Jesus’ crucifixion which was as well the established belief of
Manichaeism. The story goes that Romans authority mistakenly
278
Quran,19
282
crucified another person identical in appearance to Jesus. The Quran

readily acknowledges this version. After repeating the story, it vaguely
testifies that Jesus went up to God afterwards. There is no mention of
his death and most probably he went up to God alive.
Quranic stories related to Jesus and Christianity can similarly be
traced to some Christian folklore, which was initially written in the
Gospel of Thomas, History of the Nativity of Mary and the Infancy of
the Saviour19 and other Christian apocrypha. In other words, the Quran
did not tell some new facts regarding Jesus’ mission through divine
revelation. Whatever its apocryphal sources, it seems that – according
to the Quran - there was a general agreement between the common
Christian knowledge in the Arabian Peninsula of the time and what is
presented in the Quran. In fact, Muhammad was only challenged by
some Jews regarding the crucifixion of Jesus
157
That they (Jews) said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the
son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not,
nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those
who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge,
but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-
158
Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in
Power, Wise;- 279
Insufficient Similarity!
The key point made so far is that there is no genuine consistency

between Islam and its previous Semitic religions. This argument is
different from the usual denunciation of Islam. Religious scholars in the
West usually criticise Islam for copying the beliefs and stories of
Christianity and Judaism. Here the criticism is that the similarity to
those religions is not as intimate and extensive as the Quran claims to
be.
279
Quran, 4
283
192
Verily this is a Revelation from the Lord of the Worlds:
193 194
With it came down the spirit of Faith and Truth To
195
your heart and mind, that you may admonish. In the
196
perspicuous Arabic tongue. Without doubt it is
197
(announced) in the mystic Books of former peoples. Is
it not a Sign to them that the Learned of the Children of
Israel knew it (as true)?280
Instead, Islam seems to be a mixture of snippets of Judaism and

Christianity practiced at the time in Arabian Peninsula, plus some pagan
traditions and other popular Middle Eastern religions and rituals
practiced then in the area. Muhammad picked useful and pragmatic
elements from each discipline and to his best ability mixed them,
naturally adding and modifying here and there to make them suitable to
the state of his society.
What is the reason behind the mixture of different unorthodox Judeo-
Christian ideas and rituals, and other traditions? Recall now the mission
of Elijah Muhammad the founder of Black Muslim Movement in the
USA. There are a lot of similarities between the statuses of different
religious communities during the birth of the two creeds. Mecca was
almost isolated from Christian empires. Therefore, it seems that various
heretic Christian sects or ideas were in existence in the region. Jews
were also autonomous communities and free from any persecution.
Manichean were under persecution in the Persian Empire and some of
them might have found themselves a haven in Arabian Peninsula for
freely practising their own religion.
The Prophet Muhammad was familiar with the outline of Jewish and
Christian stories and traditions through verbal transmission from the
existing sects but was not familiar with the Bible as it was not written
in Arabic. Therefore, like Elijah Muhammad, he only copied well
known stories and rituals from Abrahamic religions as he understood
them. The rest of the mixture was some established Meccan,
Manichaean and other obscure religious rituals and worldviews.
280
Quran, 26
284
As some later prophets, such as the founder of Ahmadiyya sect,

wrongly considered Buddha and Confucius as prophets of God and their
teachings as revealed religions, Muhammad also thought that some
well-known and obscure groups, such as Manicheans and Sabians, were
followers of revealed religions. Hence, their traditions and believes
influenced Muhammad’s worldview, religious thinking and worship.
Science in the Quran
Although the Quran is not a scientific book, there are several verses
in which a few scientific issues have inadvertently been called to
attention. Muslims believe that the Quran is in agreement with current
scientific understanding of the world. This claim may be given credit in
comparison to other supposedly revealed books or Hadith books.
However, not all Quranic statements are correct regarding scientific
issues. For example, mountains are assumed to be tent pegs of the
earth281 which are firmly fixed to stop earth from shaking282.
It is a fact that mountains are not fixed and the probability of
earthquake is much higher in mountainous areas due to ongoing
collision or other relative movements of two or more plate tectonics.
But as the depth of the earth crust becomes thicker in mountainous
sections, up to three times thicker, Muslims present the idea of mountain
being a peg as some sort of science fact. They wrongly try to establish
that mountains have long roots which can then be assimilated to a peg.
Some distinguish between quaking and shaking to get round the
problem of high occurrence of earthquake in mountainous regions283.
But the Quran only uses the word for quaking 284only when this world
is going to dramatically end.
The Quran has also used two different verbs for the creation of
mountains one of which implies that the mountains are thrown or
281
Quran, 78:7
282
Quran, 31:10
283
See Quran 31:10, 73:14, 56:4 and 99:1 for four different words used for
shaking of earth
284
Quran, 99:1
285
dropped on earth285. This verb is used for throwing or tossing of Moses’

walking stick on the ground to become a serpent286. It seems
Muhammad thought the mountains were dropped on earth to stop earth
quake not knowing the real process of mountain making.
Another example concerning embryology is given here in more
detail. The Quran teaches that the cause of human reproduction is only
a man’s sperm. Women’s contribution is merely a fertile growing
ground. In the entire Quran there is no single mention that women have
any share in human reproduction by providing their eggs.
58
Do you then see?- The (human Seed) that you throw out,-
59
Is it you who create it, or are We the Creators?” 287
“45That He did create in pairs,- male and female, 46From a

(drop of) seed when lodged (in its place)” 288
“36Does man thinks that he will be left uncontrolled,

(without purpose)? 37Was he not a drop of sperm emitted
(in lowly form)? 38Then did he become a leech-like clot;
then did (Allah) make and fashion (him) in due proportion.
39
And of him He made two sexes, male and female.” 289
Besides the Quran teaches that the production of semen takes place
somewhere inside the upper torso.
5
Now let man but think from what he is created! 6He is
created from a drop emitted- 7Proceeding from between
the backbone and the ribs: 290
When Muhammad was questioned about menstruation, the answer

in the Quran was not linked with human reproduction. It is simply stated
285
Quran, 31:10
286
Quran, 7:107
287
Quran, 56
288
Quran, 53
289
Quran, 75
290
Quran, 86
286
that menstruation is a discomfort for women. There was an opportunity

for the Quran to say something beyond simple observation to prove its
divine origin to its future readers. But it does not give any other reason
than pain and pollution.
“222They ask you concerning women's courses. Say: They

are a hurt and a pollution: So keep away from women in
their courses, and do not approach them until they are
clean. But when they have purified themselves, you may
approach them in any manner, time, or place ordained for
you by Allah. For Allah loves those who turn to Him
constantly and He loves those who keep themselves pure
and clean.” 291
Miracle
A prophet is not a prophet without powerful and flawless evidence,

or miracle, as a convincing proof of the extraordinary divine
intervention in human life through an individual. Faithful, nonetheless,
forget about the main reason for a miracle and usually are not happy
with one or two of them as the proof of a new religion. They try to
create and believe in various miracles not only for the founder but also
extend it to various saints.
Islam is not exceptional as Hadith books are full of miracles. With
the scandalous untrustworthiness of Hadith, one should no doubt
dismiss all those reports but there is still one fundamental problem even
for a genuine claim. Performing miracles by a prophet in front of a
crowd is not reliable evidence of prophethood for absents if the
extraordinary act was not always present for a thorough examination.
Even a truthful and reliable record of a miracle is not a sufficient proof
for future generation as the opportunity for examining and eliminating
291
Quran, 2
287
the involvements of all kinds of trickeries or natural causes is not

anymore possible.
The Quran on the one hand insists that Muhammad didn’t have to
perform any extraordinary act to prove his divine mission as his only
and sufficient miracle and proof was the Quran itself. On the other hand,
it reports of some unusual events and divine help and intervention
during Muhammad’s mission which cannot be counted as less than
miracles. Muslims, encouraged by this acknowledgement of the Quran,
have extended this type of heavenly involvements even to
Muhammad’s childhood and reports of numerous miraculous events in
Hadith books are widespread. Famous among them is the splitting of
the moon miracle.
Both the refusal to perform a miracle and the reports of extraordinary
events in the Quran needs to be investigated further. Here is how the
Quran argues the first case:
“90They say: "We shall not believe in you, until you cause
a spring to gush forth for us from the earth, 91"Or (until)
you have a garden of date trees and vines, and cause rivers
to gush forth in their midst, carrying abundant water; 92"Or
thou cause the sky to fall in pieces, as you say (will
happen), against us; or you bring Allah and the angels
before (us) face to face: 93"Or you have a house adorned
with gold, or you mount a ladder right into the skies. No,
we shall not even believe in your mounting until you send
down to us a book that we could read." Say: "Glory to my
94
Lord! Am I aught but a man,- a messenger?" What
kept men back from belief when Guidance came to them,
was nothing but this: they said, "Has Allah sent a man (like
us) to be (His) Messenger?" 95Say, "If there were settled,
on earth, angels walking about in peace and quiet, We
should certainly have sent them down from the heavens an
96
angel for a messenger." Say: "Enough is Allah for a
288
witness between me and you: for He is well acquainted

with His servants, and He sees (all things).” 292
133
They say: "Why does he not bring us a sign from his
Lord?" Has not a Clear Sign come to them of all that was
in the former Books of revelation? 293
While the Quran insist that Muhammad shouldn’t perform any

miracle, it confirms that pervious prophets used miracles as signs of
their divine mission and support. For example, the Quran admits that
Moses was granted nine clear signs or proofs294. The famous one of
them was the turning his walking stick into a serpent. Some of those
signs mentioned in the Quran are known Biblical plagues.
133
So We sent (plagues) on them: wholesale death, locusts,
lice, frogs, and blood: Signs openly self-explained: but
they were steeped in arrogance,- a people given to sin. 295
The list of miracles for Jesus is not short either, some of which is
quoted here:
49
"And (appoint him) a messenger to the Children of Israel,
(with this message): "'I have come to you, with a Sign from
your Lord, in that I make for you out of clay, as it were,
the figure of a bird, and breathe into it, and it becomes a
bird by Allah's leave: And I heal those born blind, and the
lepers, and I quicken the dead, by Allah's leave; and I
declare to you what you eat, and what you store in your
houses. Surely therein is a Sign for you if you did
believe;296
292
Quran, 17
293
Quran, 20
294
Quran, 17:101
295
Quran, 7
296
Quran, 3
289
According to the Quran, all other prophets were ordinary men as

Muhammad was and in addition the miracles were performed by God’s
leave not independently by the prophets themselves. By admitting to
these facts, it seems that the Quran doesn’t provide a valid justification
for the lack of similar miracles or signs in Muhammad’s mission. One
then might ask if there were no difference between Muhammad and
previous prophets why then others were given numerous miracles and
Muhammad the last prophet of God offers just an excuse for not
performing one for pagan Arabs?
Muslim scholars have tried to solve this problem by arguing that
each nation had a recognised achievement, which was the source of its
pride. Whenever God sent a prophet to a nation, miracles were
performed in accordance with that nation’s highest achievement to
demonstrate the superiority of God’s work in comparison to human
capability. For example, Moses defeated best Egyptian magicians in
front of the Pharaoh. Arabs were also proud of their poetry and eloquent
speeches and thus God gave Muhammad the Quran, which supersedes
any other Arabic masterpieces because of its exemplary beauty,
eloquence and wisdom. Moreover, it is ever present for all to judge its
extraordinary character.
There are several problems with this argument. As we noticed
miracles attributed to Jesus and Moses are diverse and cannot be
regarded as one type for each prophet. Moreover, according to the
Quran, Moses didn’t just perform miracles to prove his mission to the
people of Israel and the Egyptians but he continued his bout of
miraculous acts even after the liberation of the people of Israel from
slavery in Egypt. Similarly, Jesus’ life from his conception and birth to
rising to heaven was filled with miracles. Also, as we noted the Quran
does not argue as the Muslim scholars do. After fuelling people’s
expectation by listing copious historical miracles, it simply tells them
that Muhammad was just an ordinary man and cannot perform similar
marvels in front of them. Meanwhile it astonishingly reports of a Night
Journey to heaven which nobody saw or noticed.
290
Its second line of defence is that, even if Muhammad had performed

numerous miracles people would have rejected them as ingenious magic
and denied his mission, similar to previous nations.
With all known historical miracles in the so called Hadith books,
some Muslim scholars conclude that Muhammad must have performed
some miracles besides the Quran. As there was no single one to be
demonstrated in the Quran, they simply created them as they wished. It
should be emphasised that the Night Journey doesn’t count, as it was a
private affair. This shows that regardless of all their reasoning for
proving the Quran as the only miracle of Muhammad, Muslims still
don’t heed and insist on reporting and believing in unsubstantiated
miracles. They should at least listen and accept their own argument by
denying and rejecting those false reports of various miracles.
Now what about those divine interventions reported in the Quran?
Apparently, God caused a sandstorm in order to weaken and demoralize
pagans before the first major battle between them and Muslim armies.
He then sent rain and a few thousand of His angels to help Muslims
defeat the pagan forces. Their watershed victory was thus credited to a
helping hand from God.
9
O you who believe! Remember the Grace of Allah,
(bestowed) on you, when there came down on you hosts
(to overwhelm you): But We sent against them a hurricane
and forces that you saw not: but Allah sees (clearly) all that
you do.297
124
Remember you said to the Faithful: "Is it not enough for
you that Allah should help you with three thousand angels
125
(Specially) sent down? "Yes, - if you remain firm, and
act aright, even if the enemy should rush here on you in
hot haste, your Lord would help you with five thousand
angels Making a terrific onslaught.298
297
Quran, 33
298
Quran, 3
291
9
Remember you implored the assistance of your Lord, and
He answered you: "I will assist you with a thousand of the
… 11
angels, ranks on ranks." Remember He covered you
with a sort of drowsiness, to give you calm as from
Himself, and he caused rain to descend on you from
heaven, to clean you therewith, to remove from you the
stain of Satan, to strengthen your hearts, and to plant your
feet firmly therewith.299
As noted, the numbers of helpful angels are variously recorded in the

two different chapters. Also, it is clearly mentioned in the Quran that
Muslims did not see the army of angels. The wonders they saw were
natural ones: a sort of drowsiness, calm and rain in Muslims’ camp and
perhaps the sandstorm in the camp of their enemy in a dessert
environment, all of which couldn’t be qualified as miracles.
This was God’s last support. In their second major battle with the
Meccan army, which eventually ended with the defeat of Muslims, no
mention of help or miracles is recorded. The blame for the defeat was
placed on some section of the army. They deserted a strategic position,
against a strict order, when they mistakenly thought the enemy had been
defeated and the battle was over.
152
Allah did indeed fulfil His promise to you when you
with His permission were about to annihilate your enemy,-
until you flinched and fell to disputing about the order, and
disobeyed it after He brought you in sight (of the booty)
which you covet. Among you are some that hanker after
this world and some that desire the Hereafter. Then did He
divert you from your foes in order to test you but He
forgave you: For Allah is full of grace to those who
believe.300
299
Quran, 8
300
Quran, 3
292
This time the door of the sky was shut to Muhammad and the Muslim
army, and no noticeable miraculous help was received. Muhammad was
spared certain death by an epic resistance of a few of his brave and
faithful companions. After that defeat no mention of divine intervention
was recorded in the Quran.
Messengers Were Sent to Every Community!
One obvious mistake in the Quran relates to the fact that various
religious Empires and communities surrounded Muhammad and Mecca.
Zoroastrians and Manicheans in the Persian Empire, Christians in the
Eastern Roman Empire and Abyssinian (Ethiopian) bordered the
Arabian Peninsula before the rise of Islam. There was an Arab Christian
dynasty of Al-Hira before the advent of Islam. They were a coalition of
Aramean and Christian tribes along the border between Iraq and the
desert. The coalition usually acted as a vassal to its powerful
neighbours, the Sassanian kings of Persia. There existed, also, the
Christian Arab tribe of Ghassan situated on the western side of the
Syrian Desert. Besides, a religious group known as Sabian existed in
Southern Arabia in addition to a few Jewish and Christian tribes, which
were scattered in other regions. Moreover, the stories of missions of
numerous prophets were common knowledge in the region.
“163We have sent you inspiration, as We sent it to Noah and

the Messengers after him: we sent inspiration to Abraham,
Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah,
Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the
Psalms.”301
65 73
To the 'Ad people, (We sent) Hud, … To the
85
Thamud people (We sent) Salih, … To the
302
Madyan people We sent Shu'aib,
301
Quran, 4
302
Quran, 7
293
Based on those stories Muhammad was under the impression that

God had sent countless prophets to various towns and even small tribes
everywhere.
94
Whenever We sent a prophet to a town, We took up its
people in suffering and adversity, in order that they might
learn humility.303
47
To every people (was sent) a messenger: when their
messenger comes (before them), the matter will be judged
between them with justice, and they will not be
wronged.304
36
For We assuredly sent amongst every People (nation) a
messenger, (with the Command), "Serve Allah, and
eschew Evil": of the People were some whom Allah
guided, and some on whom error became inevitably
(established). So travel through the earth, and see what was
the end of those who denied (the Truth).305
24
Verily We have sent you in truth, as a bearer of glad
tidings, and as a warner: and there never was a people,
without a warner having lived among them (in the past).306
Is it true that God sent a messenger to every single nation? The Quran
teaches us that God even sent prophets to small towns. But again, this
is the misapprehension of a person with limited geographical and
historical knowledge. Have native Australians ever received a
messenger in the past equipped with miracles and a divine book? What
about all the nations of Europe, Eastern Asia, Indian subcontinent,
Africa, the Americas? Were the Chinese sent a prophet with a revealed
303
Quran, 7
304
Quran, 10
305
Quran, 16
306
Quran, 35
294
Chinese book? Did God send a Japanese sacred book similar to the
Bible? The answer is clearly no. Muhammad was extrapolating local
conditions in the Middle East to the entire world. Muhamad’s claims is
bold but false and cannot be originated from an omniscient God.
Now another question emerges. Why did all the prophets come from
a small region in the Middle East? There is no sign of a prophet in the
rest of the world at least until recent times. I searched for a prophet
during the Atlantic slavery period and overall, during other periods and
places for the same reason. It goes without saying that God did not send
a messenger to the Indian subcontinent to stop the same type of idolatry
practised in Arabia. He did not send a messenger to stop the vile slavery
in that area, to stop the practice of suttee and the caste system and so
many other ordeals. Surely aboriginal Australians and other nations of
the world needed one or two divine guides for at least a better
understanding of their world.
Did God care only for a small section of planet earth that He sent so
many prophets in the past or could the situation be analogous to the case
of “He whom God shall make Manifest” in the Babi faith? In that
situation, Babis were racing each other to become God’s promised one.
We recall too that because of the high expectation for the return of
Mehdi there have been numerous Mehdi figures in the Islamic world
especially at some specific times.
The question is then, were prophets and saviours, too, expected in
the Middle East in the past? The answer is resounding yes, and the wave
of promises and expectations may be the cause of numerous messengers
in that part of the world. But we cannot conclude, by mere analogy, that
all prophets are as bogus as those prophets we have already examined.
A firm conclusion about other prophets can only be made after the
message of each individual prophet is carefully examined. We
investigated the case for Muhammad in this chapter and, based on the
issues raised, I think he was not a true prophet. We finish this chapter
by briefly looking at the issue of promise and expectation in
Muhammad’s case.
295
Was Muhammad Expected?
As mentioned, before the advent of Islam, several Jewish

communities, descendants of Jewish refugees, were established in
Medina and other places in the west segment of the Arabian Peninsula.
They all expected a Messiah, as promised in their sacred books, that was
supposed to lead them to prominence and victory over their enemies.
Several pre-Islamic poems307 and the Quran show that Christianity was
also a recognized religion in Arabia and the Christians of the region
expected a saviour or prophet too besides the promise of the return of
Jesus.
Maybe it was under the influence of the monotheistic religions that
some Arabs including poets such as Qus Ibn Sa‘idah rejected idol
worshipping before the rise of Islam in Mecca. Another such person was
Waraqah ibn Nawfal cousin of Khadijah, Muhammad’s first wife, who
after accepting Christianity translated some Christian writings, probably
some passages of a Gospel.
It should be mentioned here that the communities under
investigation were isolated settlements in Arabia who were relying on
oral communication of orthodox and unconventional anecdotes and
their free interpretations. It seems that they were communicating in
Arabic and most probably were not familiar with their scriptures which
according to the Quran were written in different languages. The Quran
also tells us that the scriptures were not readily available to common
Jewish and Christian followers. This cannot be far from truth as we
know that written scriptures were rare, written in say Hebrew, Aramaic
or Greek and kept in sacred places under the control of religious leaders.
They were definitely not the subject of everyday reading and
contemplation.
The existence of different sects, absence of readable scriptures,
mixing of ideas and misunderstanding could easily produce profusion
of confused ideas. The bewildering religion of Manichaeism is a prime
example of mixing of ideas and free interpretation of the world and past
307
IZUTSU, T., Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an, McGill-Queen's
296
religions. A later example is the creation of Nation of Islam in the

United States of America.
Even in our time written scripture has little effect on followers.
Human seems to follow an undocumented conflicting dogma well
tucked away from reality and criticism. For this reason, we should not
imagine that everything was analysed logically and patiently by
followers of past religions and pagans. A prophet thus could back up his
claims by endless vague religious concepts as we discovered in earlier
chapters.
Jews, possibly on the basis of the prophecies in the Old Testament,
such as Isaiah 42, were expecting the next prophet to be sent to them in
that region, which is referred to as Kedar in the Bible. There is a
reference to their vague expectation in the Quran:
“89And when there comes to them a Book from God,

confirming what is with them,- although from of old they
had prayed for victory against those without Faith,- when
there comes to them that which they (should) have
recognised, they refuse to believe in it but the curse of God
is on those without Faith.”308
Verses 7:157 and 61:6, which will be quoted shortly, also directly
refer to this kind of expectation in Christian and Jewish communities.
As a travelling businessman, Muhammad was not isolated from the
followers of Semitic religions and their expectations.
Most probably, Christians in Arabia spread a variety of stories and
good news, which were recorded in various Gospels such as the Gospel
of Thomas, John and others that haven’t survived. It seems that in one
or more of those writings Jesus was reputed to have directly prophesised
the coming of a new prophet. The promise in the Gospel of John could
be one such prophecy:
16
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; ... 26But
308
Quran, 2
297
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father

will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have
said unto you.309
It seems that the promised figure in those Gospels available to the

Christians of the region, such as the one prophesised in the Gospel
according to John, was interpreted as a prophet not the Holy Spirit, as
is commonly interpreted by Christians in the west. The Quran refers to
the Holy Spirit as an archangel who reveals God’s message to prophets.
In this light, sending Holy Spirit can thus be interpreted to mean the
mission and advent of a new prophet. Most probably, Christians of the
region influenced Muhammad on this issue. The idea is not new and
other groups such as Essenes, a Jewish sect around the advent of Jesus,
had similar belief.
Consequently, the Christians of Arabia believed in a Trinity which
was other than the more prominent Trinity of the Roman Church and
very similar to Collyridianism an obscure Christian heretic. They
replaced the Holy Spirit with Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. This is what
the Quran also reports to be the belief of Christians who were living
around Mecca.
116
When God says, 'Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to
people, "Take me and my mother as two gods alongside
God"?' ... 310
If Muhammad was not correct his enemies and competitors could

embarrass him and reject the integrity of the Quran and Muhammad
himself by declaring the Christians true faith. Muhammad was, at least,
familiar with the main ideas of the available Bibles and was certainly
familiar with Christian beliefs of the area since at least a few Christians
lived in Mecca. He wasn’t the sort of man to make such an obvious
mistake. The fact that several Christians including some of their
309
John, 14
310
Quran, 5
298
scholars accepted Islam during Muhammad’s lifetime proves the

veracity of the Quran in this regard.
At any rate, Muhammad took advantage of the current Jewish and
Christian beliefs in the region. He assumed the promised prophet in the
Gospel to be himself and claimed that his advent was prophesised by
Jesus in addition to his promise in the Jewish scripture:
157
Those who follow the messenger, the unlettered
Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own
(scriptures), - in the Torah and the Gospel; - for he
commands them what is just and forbids them what is
evil;... 311
6
And remember, Jesus, the son of Mary, said: "O Children
of Israel! I am the messenger of Allah (sent) to you,
confirming the Law (which came) before me, and giving
Glad Tidings of a Messenger to come after me, whose
name shall be Ahmad." But when he came to them with
Clear Signs, they said, "this is evident sorcery!"312
The only problem here is that the name Muhammad is different from
Ahmad. It seems that the Quran could not claim the promised prophet
as simply Muhammad and left the matching of the names to individual
endeavour. Maybe the reason was due to records, even poems besides
the Christian texts, in which the name of Ahmad was given to the future
prophet. All things considered, Muhammad and most probably some
Arabs in Arabia were aware of the promised prophet in the Bible. The
fact that at least one person claimed prophethood just before the claim
of Muhammad supports this argument.
This expectation is proved, in the course of religious history, to be a
strong motivation for a wide spectrum of people, ranging from a genius
and genuine reformer like Muhammad to a pure charlatan seeking only
worldly ends like W.D. Fard Muhammad, to use that expectation and
311
Quran, 7
312
Quran, 61
299
with miraculous determination spread their ideas as a religion.

Muhammad destroyed the idols in Mecca and replaced tribal and
barbaric system in Arabia with an egalitarian and God orientated
system, a magnificent and praiseworthy revolution for his time.
Today, there is no record of Jesus’ specific prophecy. Jesus didn’t
leave any texts and the only promise of a future Godsend figure appears
in the Gospel according to John. New Testament scholars have proved
beyond doubt that this Gospel was written about 100 CE by an
anonymous writer. Muslim themselves don’t waste time in rejecting the
New Testament as an anthology of spurious writings forged to replace
the original Gospel revealed by God to Jesus. They don’t accept any of
the four Gospels as reliable religious texts. However, where the
prophecy of Muhammad is concerned, they try passionately to prove
that the promised figure in the Gospel according to John 14:26 is
nobody but Muhammad, the Comforter. This shows the unique
chemistry of promise and expectation in religious communities.
Suddenly an assumed corrupted and corrupt book is valued dearly and
regarded as if God Himself has written every word of it not only with
His great ability but also after long and careful deliberation.
300
Chapter 5
Christianity
41
… "The only Father we have is God
himself." 42Jesus said to them (the Jews), "If
God were your Father, you would love me,
for I came from God and now am here. I have
not come on my own; but he sent me.
(John 8)
The promise of total victory and the reality of total defeat and
submission to foreign Greek and Roman armies were the bare facts of
life for Jews in Palestine prior to the advent of Jesus. Now that power
was in the hands of foreigners, Jews were trying their best to keep their
hope and the symbol of that hope, their Temple, clean of any tarnish.
Nevertheless, as the time-honoured rule of the game dictates, the result
of the clash between Jews and their conqueror was not only military
defeat and humiliation; the winner wanted it all. That is the abiding of
the vanquished to an inferior level of humanity, belief and worldview.
This explains the efforts of the custodian of the Temple to compromise
and cooperate with the enemy in order to keep the hope alive, though
sometimes not so honestly.
The mental defeat had already begun with their defeat on the
battleground and before long the mind submitted to the victor under
various guises, ranging from Hellenists to outright collaborators. Those
who could not face the shame of either defeat or collaboration escaped
to the wilderness and waited for the promised Messiah or any other help
301
from God. John the Baptist, his followers and probably Essenes were
examples of such proud Jews who in the struggle for autonomy and
authority had to rediscover and revive themselves and their religion.
The situation was not ideal in Palestine following the sweeping
victory of Alexander the Great in the Middle East in 336 BCE. While
he was busy conquering new territories, he did not concern himself with
overpowering the mind of defeated nations. Nevertheless, some of his
successors had other plans. Antiochus Epiphanies (God made manifest),
his successor in Palestine, started his offensive move against Judaism
straight away. As low rank soldiers are the essential forces in a military
war, religious war is a contest between two godheads. Thus, Antiochus
wanted his God, Zeus, on the battlefront, inside the Temple with the
Yahweh. People of Yahweh had to make a lot of sacrifices to stop the
statue of Zeus being erected in their temple, which was devoted to and
somehow owned by the holder of the promises of help and victory,
Yahweh.
The situation was dire for people in the cities and villages. Not only
did they have to support their symbol of hope by visiting the Temple
more frequently and paying generously, they now had to pay extra taxes
to the enemy. The situation went from bad to worse, the farmers got into
debt, and many lost their sacred lands. On the other hand, in their
cultural battle, the society was polarised by an emerging Hellenistic
group among Jews. Thus, the internal conflict was added to the external
threat against the traditional views.
As is common in such kinds of confused situations, afflicted people
follow anyone promising immediate victory and total defeat of the
enemy. In fact, many Messiahs, prophets and kings rose up and were
followed by the destitute Jews in the hope of liberation from the yoke
of foreigners. Matitiyahu (died 167 BCE) and his son Judah, the leaders
of the Maccabees revolt, were fractionally successful but others were
heavily defeated and worse than that, the economic and political
burdens were becoming more unbearable with every revolt. However,
hatred towards the enemy and hope or certainty of their victory pushed
the devoted people to clutch at their own spiritual resources more and
more faithfully.
302
Romans occupied Palestine about sixty years before Jesus was born.
Around his birthday, there was a tax revolt near Nazareth headed by
appointed king of the Jews, Judas, son of Hezekiah. There were also
three other revolts at the same time. Roman army crushed all brutally
and the living participants ended up as slaves.
Jesus was born in this charged environment. He was born in a Jewish
family affected by occupation. He thus was inadvertently entwined in
the struggle for freedom from childhood. Close to the time of his short
mission there were two more known figures leading Jews to make sense
of their situation, John the Baptist, who was beheaded by anxious
occupiers, and the revolt of the Samaritan prophet in 36 CE. In 62 CE,
Jesus the son of Ananias announced prophecies of doom over
Jerusalem. Jewish and Roman authorities duly punished him. They were
worried that the unrelenting prophet might cause mob insurgency. In 67
CE another revolt ended with the destruction of both the Temple and
Jerusalem. Jews were expelled from the city and it was then used as
barracks by Romans for about sixty years. This was followed by revolts
in 115 and again in 136 headed by false but hopeful Messiahs.
Thus, the mission of Jesus was one among many of the struggles that
Jews had undertaken in order to bring harmony to their puzzled and
devastated lives. Although Jesus’ mission appeared to have ended in
failure because of his crucifixion, an interpretation of his messianic
message became the source of a dramatic change in the political and
religious history of mankind.
The New Testament

The story of Jesus’ life and mission is outlined in the New Testament
and early Christian apocrypha. Our judgement on Jesus is based solely
on these writings since there is no other account of his life from either
neutral or rival sources. To be more precise, there are the occasional
mentions of him in the works of a few Jewish and, so called, pagan
historians. These references, however, were made long after his
crucifixion. Therefore, these documents are secondary evidence and
mainly rely on statements, behaviour and achievements of Christians in
303
their judgements of Jesus. Moreover, they are just a few lines of

assessment not a detailed or even short biography of Jesus. For example,
the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus briefly mentioned Jesus in his
book, Antiquities of the Jews, which was published in 93 CE. His
account of Jesus, also known as Josephus’ testimony, is the earliest
reference to him from an independent source. Regrettably, Josephus
devoted only one paragraph to Jesus’ life and mission. Later, Christians
altered the related text by adding a few phrases to the original
paragraph.313 The amateurish revision has convinced some historians
that the whole paragraph might have been a forgery. However, it seems
that there has been a genuine paragraph about Jesus in Josephus’ book
since the amendments are readily recognizable. Moreover, a newly
discovered Arabic version of the book contains the original passage and
thus makes the latter argument more convincing314. Whatever the case
may be, the crude effort has rendered the text distrustful since some
suggest that two scribes might have accomplished the forgery in two
different occasions.
The revised paragraph is quoted here in which the suspicious phrases
are shown in italic.
Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be

lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful
works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with
pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and
many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ. When Pilate, at
the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had
condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the
first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive
again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold
these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning
313
MEIER, J. P., A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Vol. I,
The Roots of the Problem and the Person, New York, Doubleday, 1991
314
PINES, S., An Arabic Version of the Testimonium Flavianum and its Implications,
Jerusalem, Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1971
304
him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are

not extinct at this day.315
As it is obvious, there is not enough information in the paragraph

from a religious point of view. Even if we suppose that the disputed
texts are authentic, Josephus’ testimony and other historical reports are
only useful for historical research such as the existence of Jesus and
effect of his mission in various societies. They do not shed any light on
his life and mission in detail to be useful for a seeker of a true revealed
religion. Therefore, we have no choice but to rely on the New Testament
and the Christian Apocrypha for information on Christianity and its
founder.
But the not so good news is the fact that the New Testament was
neither revealed to Jesus nor did he commission any of his disciples to
write it. It is a fourth century collection of twenty-seven writings, which
were initially composed by several Christian authors during the first two
centuries CE. A few Christian Fathers chose them from among
numerous other similar religious documents shortly after the Roman
Empire accepted Christianity as the state religion. Following the
initiation of the Christian canon book, the Church presented the
collection as the divinely inspired book of God. Meanwhile, it
discarded, despised and tried its best to destroy the non-selected texts as
heretical and evil inspired literatures. Subsequently, the ardent
followers of rejected writings were considered heretics and duly
condemned.
What then has this anthology to do with God? Christians believe that
God inspired its contents directly to its authors. This claim, if true,
means that God promised, in the Old Testament, to send a liberator, king
or prophet to the Jews. He sent a forerunner, John the Baptist, to
announce his imminent coming and then sent the expected individual.
However, it took a few centuries to firmly declare the identity of that
person, his message and mission. This is not a convincing argument. On
the other hand, one cannot simply proclaim an inspired book for
Christianity without proof. Moreover, there must be a strong
315
JOSEPHUS F., Antiquities of the Jews, translated by William Whiston
305
justification and stronger evidence for a follow-up documentation if

God did not send a revealed book with Jesus in the first place. Then
again, we, humans, cannot impose a book on a “revealed religion”; it
should be the other way round.
For a seeker of a true religion these facts are sufficient enough to
leave Christianity to historians. In fact, do not these facts make
Christianity in reality a man-made religion? The answer, Christians
claim, is given in the book itself; it is inerrant and infallible which
strongly endorse its divine origin. But this only remaining and desperate
response, even if true, does not change the fact that Jesus was not the
bearer of a revealed book for Christians.
What do the various books in the New Testament offer to justify its
divine authority? We are going to examine the book to evaluate its
rationale. Nonetheless, it should be mentioned that the early Fathers
themselves were not unanimously united on the selection of the sacred
scripture. The books did not hold any evidence to be readily linked to
God or for guaranteed inclusion in the New Testament canon. Although
it was believed that the canon books were either written by Jesus’
disciples or approved by them, the compilers did not accept a text
simply because it was thought to have been written by the disciples. The
lack of an indisputable justification for the selection of the canon made
the early Fathers seek other reasons, such as numerological arguments,
to convince the faithful.316 By and large, it seems that the major factor
for the insertion of the books in the New Testament was their acceptance
by a few influential Christian Fathers.317 Their comforting and
reassuring reasons for defending the choice could have been decided
afterwards. In simple words, a few Bishops endorsed the truth of the
Christian book as the final message of God for humanity. These Fathers
had then the blessing of a recently converted Roman Emperor to
implement their decision.
This was not the first time that a canon was chosen for Christians.
Marcion, the heretical founder of Marcionites, was the first person to
316
CHADWICK, H., The Early Church, Penguin books Ltd, 1967
317
ROGERSON, J., (ed.) The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible, New
York, Oxford University Press, 2001
306
propose a canonical Christian book.318 His sacred book consisted solely

of an edited version of Gospel of Luke and Paul’s writings. He even
discarded the Old Testament as a superseded book, reasoning the
emergence of Christianity and his own selected scripture. Then,
gradually each Christian group nominated or followed its own favourite
selection. After the conversion of Constantine, the Emperor of Rome,
an official effort was thus made to authorise a unified New Testament
for all Christians.
Four Gospels!
The New Testament begins with four different Gospels. Each Gospel
presents aspects of Jesus’ life, teaching and mission either for a specific
audience or based on a different theological conception, which
developed after the crucifixion of Jesus. The inclusion of four Gospels
in the book is a major witness that Christianity had initially no revealed,
inspired or authorised original document for its supposedly new and
unique message. To rectify this problem Christians claim that all the
four Gospels are in fact inspired by God. They may look slightly
different on surface but there is no single discrepancy between them.
Their differences are just various aspects of an extraordinary historical
fact. Combined together they provide a deeper and richer picture of that
divine mission which also appeals to various people with different
backgrounds and understanding.
But the Gospels patently disagree with each other. An example is
contradicting narrations of the events following the supposed
resurrection of Jesus after his burial by Joseph of Arimathaea. Mark 16
tells us that three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James
and Salome visited the tomb whereas in Matthew 28 the visitors are only
the first two women and John tells us only Mary Magdalene was
present. In Mark they saw a young man to the right side of the sepulchre
while in Matthew they saw an angle descended from heaven causing a
great earthquake. In Luke 24 two men were present while in John 20
they saw two angles. Either three women were present or two and either
318
CHADWICK, H., The Early Church, Penguin books Ltd, 1967
307
they saw one or two men or one or two angels. What happened there is
also told differently. The presence of these contradictions proves that at
least three of the gospels are false in this narration which happens to be
the base for the core of Christianity, resurrection.
On the other hand, there is no logical or theological reason why only
four Gospels are included in the New Testament canon. There had been
numerous other Gospels available to Christians when the council of
Laodicea were finalising the initial contents of the canon in 363. Early
Christian fathers proposed far-flung justification for inclusion of the
four Gospels. For example, Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons, considered
four as a sacred number, corresponding to the four corners of the world
or four faces of the cherubim!
Inevitably, the lack of a revealed or authorised book and doctrine
was the cause of uncertainty and diverse understanding among the
followers of Jesus from the beginning of his mission. This was not an
insignificant issue for the newly hatched religion. At least, it proved
harmful to the unity of the faith. Apparently, ambiguity developed into
intense argument among Jesus’ disciples and caused several divisions
among early Christians. Each then declared others heretic and eternally
condemned. This is evident from Paul’s letters.
6
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one
who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a
different gospel-- 7which is really no gospel at all.
Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion
and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if
we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other
than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally
condemned!319
Even Peter and Paul who spread the faith in Antioch did not see eye
to eye on some important issues.
319
Galatians, 1
308
11
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face,
because he was clearly in the wrong. 12Before certain men
came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But
when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate
himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those
who belonged to the circumcision group. 13The other Jews
joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even
Barnabas was led astray.320
One should note that Peter was one of Jesus’ early disciples. He also
was representative of Jerusalem Church under the leadership of Jesus’
brother, James the Just. Christians regard Peter as the rock on which the
Church was built. However, Paul could not be less kind to him. We
don’t know Peter’s argument and defence. Nonetheless, what must
concern us is the fact that these disputing and undecided groups and
individuals, and their descendants were the writers of numerous
Christian writings, some of which were later accredited with divine
origin.
The disagreements were not limited to early Christians and minor
issues. Confusion was even gradually crept into dogma. The most
controversial topic was the divinity of Jesus and his relation to God and
the Holy Spirit. This doctrinal article was hotly contested among the
Christian fathers for centuries without reaching a reasonable resolution
or an acceptable clarification.
There is another drawback; contrary to the Christians’ claims, there
are several reasons to doubt the reliability and the declared origin of the
four Gospels. Scholars have established that Jesus’ disciples wrote none
of the known Gospels and their real authors are not known. Noticeably,
Mark and Luke have not been mentioned as Jesus’ disciples. Moreover,
these four books not only cannot be identified as eyewitness accounts
but also are not written reasonably close to the time of actual events.
There is also no specific reference to these Gospels in the
correspondence between Christians or in any other literature of the time
until around 180CE in the writings of Irenaeus. There is a strong
320
Galatians, 2
309
possibility that people familiar with Roman culture might as well have
edited the canon Gospels since the form of these four books resemble
Roman biographies of the time.
These conclusions are mainly based on evidences scattered
abundantly in the contents of the Gospels. One example, which proves
beyond doubt that there had been numerous versions of the Gospels and
their latter recordings, is demonstrated in one of the canon Gospels. The
opening of the Gospel according to Luke mentions that there had been
many different writings on the life of Jesus, using reports that had been
handed down by the original eyewitnesses.
1
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things
that have been fulfilled among us, 2just as they were
handed down to us by those who from the first were
eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3Therefore, since I
myself have carefully investigated everything from the
beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly
account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4so that you
may know the certainty of the things you have been
taught.321
As is made clear, Luke wrote the book on his own initiative. He did
not claim to receive any revelation, inspiration, lesson or
encouragement in writing this Gospel.
Further evidence, showing that the Gospel according to Matthew is
not written by the disciple is that it contains materials from Mark’s
Gospel that discounts its being an eyewitness account. Also, the way the
story is written strongly indicates that disciple Matthew was not the
author. For example, in that Gospel there is a report of the first
encounter of Jesus and disciple Matthew.
9
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named
Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me,"
he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
321
Luke, 1
310
10
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many
tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his
disciples.322
If the author were disciple Matthew, he would not refer to himself as

“a man called Matthew” or “him”. Moreover, the author would not
narrate so insensibly his first meeting with Jesus if he were Matthew the
tax collector meeting “Son of Man” or “Son of God”. At least he would
have mentioned his feeling and reasons to follow Jesus so readily.
Besides, disciple Matthew did certainly not witness the events in the
first eight Chapters before the meeting.
The same is true for those reports that none of the disciples were
present, like the events after Jesus’ arrest. The Gospels do not draw any
hint to this issue and there is no change of narration in those sections to
show the awareness of the authors of this important problem. In fact, in
line with Luke’s assertion, no Gospel is written from an eyewitness
approach.
Based on all the evidence, scholars have come to the conclusion that
the earliest Gospel in the canon, the Gospel according to Mark, was
written about the time of the destruction of the Temple by the Roman
army in 70 CE. Apparently, its author was not at all familiar with Jewish
scripture and customs since he made several mistakes in this Gospel
related to important issues in the religious life of Jews. For example, he
seems to be unfamiliar with the Jewish custom of the Sabbath323 in
which any trade is forbidden, and he thought mistakenly that “do not
defraud” is one of the Ten Commandments324. Most probably the author
was not from Palestine since his account also shows his ignorance of
the history and geography of the region.
The Gospels according to Matthew and Luke have been written
using Mark and a second source, around 85CE. Somebody familiar with
Judaism and Jewish culture probably wrote the Gospel according to
Matthew since after copying almost the entire Gospel of Mark; nearly
322
Matthew, 9
323
Mark, 15:42-46
324
Mark, 10:19
311
all the mistakes made in the latter book relating to Jewish customs are
corrected. Finally, the Gospel according to John is believed to have been
written around the turn of the first century. This Gospel is very different
from the first three Gospels. For example, there is no record of Mary’s
virgin impregnation (virgin birth), Jesus’ temptation by Satan or the
announcement that the kingdom of God is coming. Moreover, this
Gospel has a tinge of Gnostic philosophy.
As different Christian groups produced and followed their own
Gospel or Gospels before the formation of the New Testament canon,
there have been other Gospels that are dated and referred to in other
sources before the time of the council’s decision. One example of those
earliest surviving writings is the Gospel according to Thomas. This
Gospel is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. It is dated prior
to the other Gospels and has important parallels with the existing New
Testament, but is not composed in a continuous narrative form. It was
also composed under the influence of Gnostic theology, which was not
supported by New Testament compilers. Maybe these were enough
reasons for this Gospel to be considered heretical and left out from the
canon. Two sayings from this Gospel are quoted here to show that it is
not a consistent document.
16.)
Men think that
I came to bring peace to the world
They do not know that
I bring division,
fire and sword and war.
There shall be five in a house
With three against two
and two against three;
The father against the son,
and the son against the father,
and they shall stand alone.325
325
JOHNSON, N., The Gospel of Thomas
312
72.)
A man requested:
Tell my brothers
to divide my father’s things with me.
He replied:
Who made me a divider?
Turning to his disciples, he said:
Do I divide things up?326
Another Gospel, which was excluded from the Western canon, is the
Gospel of the Egyptians. It advocates a celibate life style as the
salvation plan for humanity, with the understanding that the practice
will eventually restore humanity’s initial genderless state from the
existing sinful situation stemming from differences between male and
female! This theology was the result of an innovative interpretation of
the fall story after the creation story in the Old Testament.
Some other rejected Gospels are, Andrew, Barnabas, Bartholomew,
Basilides, the Ebionites, the Hebrews (in which the Holy Spirit is
identified as Christ’s Mother), Mary, Matthias, the Nativity of Mary,
Nicodemus, Peter, Philip, the Seventy, Truth, the Twelve (Apostles)
and so many others.
To copy the style and pattern of the Old Testament, the council
included some writings relative to the theological philosophy and
history of the Church in the New Testament canon. These include the
Act of Apostles, written by the author of the Gospel according to Luke,
and several letters (epistles). These letters are attributed to Paul, James,
Peter, John and Jude. Paul’s writings contain hardly any mention of
Jesus’ life or teaching since he was not among the twelve disciples and
accepted Christianity sometime after Jesus’ crucifixion. He was mainly
concerned with the reason and purpose for Jesus’ birth and death. His
letters thus laid the theological foundation of Christianity and was found
vital for the faith.
Not all miscellaneous writings were accepted as canon. The
excluded writings were then branded as heretic. Two of those
326
JOHNSON, N., The Gospel of Thomas
313
documents that the council of Laodicea did not include in the canon
were John's Apocalypse or the Book of Revelation and the Shepherd of
Hermas. The former was accepted in the council of Carthage in 397 CE,
but the latter, despite its popularity and its inclusion in some early copies
of the New Testament, was excluded. Their reason was its late
authorship and the low status of its writer. In fact, the theology of this
text was not in line with the rest of the canon or the theologians of the
time. For example:
First of all, believe that there is one God who created and
finished all things, and made all things out of nothing. He
alone is able to contain the whole, but Himself cannot be
contained. Have faith therefore in Him, and fear Him; and
fearing Him, exercise self-control. Keep these commands,
and you will cast away from you all wickedness, and put
on the strength of righteousness, and live to God, if you
keep this commandment.327
Whatever the history of the New Testament, the Roman Catholic

Church popularised it as a divinely inspired and infallible set of
writings. It has been held to be an absolutely accurate account of Jesus,
saints and God’s final and clear message for humanity, from the
beginning of the canon to the end. To monopolize the theology after the
compilation of the canon, other Gospels and religious writings, even
pagan documents, were systematically destroyed.
Destruction of the Great Alexandrian library by the direct order of
Bishop Theophilus in 391CE is an example of this harsh control of
knowledge and information.328 Nonetheless, the history of the New
Testament development shows that contrary to common authorised
belief, not only speculative interpretations had a substantial role in the
creation of individual writings but also the contents of New Testament
canon were guided by the theology of their times and places, internecine
327
The Shepherd of Hermas, First Commandment, Tr. by Roberts-Donaldson
328
OSMAN, A., Out of Egypt: The Roots of Christianity Revealed, Arrow
Books, London, 1999
314
rivalries and prejudices. Another witness to this claim is that Armenian,

Coptic, Eastern, Ethiopian, Nestorian, and Western Churches all have
significantly different canons.
As mentioned earlier, the reason for this inconsistency is that Jesus
produced neither a book nor engraved tablets of stone as God’s clear
and final covenant with people. This is despite the Christians’ claim that
Jesus’ objective was far important than Moses’ mission. Other reasons
are the lack of clarity and direction in the teachings of Jesus, his very
short mission of about three years and the confusion resulting from the
empty promise of the eschatological second coming or the advent of the
kingdom of God. Also, we should not forget that Christians were under
surveillance and cruel persecution for nearly three centuries. Therefore,
there was not a free flow of information between various groups of
believers in different remote places. This resulted in isolated and
unconnected Christian communities each following its own do-it-
yourself writings.
The existence of other Gospels and early Christian writings beg the
question of why the New Testament canon is still considered the
inspired and wholly infallible word of God while the many other
Gospels are considered heretic. What are the main criteria for a piece
of writing to qualify it as an infallible inspiration of God? Do those
criteria apply to the books of the New Testament? Orthodox Christians
believe that the books of canon are written by apostles and are free from
any error; error of fact, doctrine or principle.
We reflected on the authorship of the canon earlier. It was noted that,
based on the confession of the writer of the Gospel according to Luke
and for other reasons, the Gospels were not recorded by disciples of
Jesus. What about the second criterion? Is the Western New Testament
canon free of any error? Is it a reliable account of life, character and
mission of Jesus of Nazareth?
Unfortunately, this can be proved otherwise. A brief look at the four
Gospels shows that they disagree in detail and are sometimes
contradictory. About half of the material of the Gospels according to
Matthew is not reported in the other Gospels. This is the same for the
315
Gospel according to Luke. The fourth Gospel is almost different from

other Gospels.
An obvious contradiction is two different lineages given for Jesus in
the Gospels according to Matthew and Luke while there is no lineage
given in the Gospels according to Mark and John. Luke lists fifty-six
generations between Abraham and Jesus while Matthew lists only forty-
two generations (in reality forty one names are given in this Gospel)
with completely different names even for the father of Joseph the
alleged father of Jesus. Following is the two truncated lists of Jesus’
lineages according to the two Gospels of Luke and Matthew:
Luke Matthew
1 Jesus Jesus
2 Joseph Joseph
3 Heli Jacob
4 Matthat Matthan
5 Levi Eleazar
6 Melki Eliud
7 Jannai Akim
8 Joseph Zadok
9 Mattathias Azor
10 Amos Eliakim
11 Nahum Abiud
12 Esli Zerubbabel
13 Nagge Salathiel (after deportation to Babylon)
… …
Nathan Solomon
David David
The disparities between the four Gospels are not limited to earthly
topics; important religious subjects are also recorded differently. One
controversial example is related to the issue of salvation, and the fact
that having faith in Jesus carried sufficient weight allowing
disobedience of the Law. Matthew and Luke (10:36-37) claim that man
316
is justified by his work not by faith alone while John has a different
idea, that is, we are justified by our faith not by works.
21
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter
the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of
my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that
day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in
your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'
23
Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away
from me, you evildoers!'329
16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world
to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever
does not believe stands condemned already because he has
not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.330
There are also some obvious mistakes in individual Gospels. A few

examples are given here.
In the Gospel according to Matthew, it is supposed to be fourteen
generations from the exile in Babylon to the birth of Jesus but actually
only thirteen generations are mentioned. Also, according to the Old
Testament, God cursed Jehoiachin (Coniah, Jeconiah or Jechonias) and
his descendants and ruled them out as future kings of Israel. Yet, they
appear in Matthew’s list. Thus, according to Matthew, Jesus is the
offspring of a person who is divinely prohibited to establish a kingdom.
28
Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken pot,
an object no one wants? Why will he and his children be
29
hurled out, cast into a land they do not know? O land,
land, land, hear the word of the LORD! 30This is what the
329
Matthew, 7
330
John, 3
317
LORD says: "Record this man as if childless, a man who

will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring
will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule
anymore in Judah."331
Luke was a doctor by profession332. Surely, as part of his work, he

must have had sufficient knowledge of various plants. However, in the
Gospel according to Luke, similar to the Gospels of Thomas and
Matthew, the mustard plant is categorized as a tree on whose branches
birds make their nests.
18
Then Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like?
19
What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed,
which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and
became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its
branches."333
Apparently, the authors had not seen a mustard plant in their life.
Therefore, they naively copied false knowledge. Mark, Matthew and
Thomas also inform us that a mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds.
In Mark, Jesus’ journey from Tyre to the Sea of Galilee passes
through Sidon and the region of the Decapolis. The author, besides his
unawareness of Jewish customs, mentioned earlier, apparently did not
know the geography of the area and mistakenly took Jesus first north
along the coast of Lebanon, instead of going south east, and then took
a longer path to the south of the sea of Galilee and finally to the sea
itself. Moreover, Galilee is identified as a sea although it is only a
freshwater lake.
Finally, in the Gospel according to John, Jesus quotes from a
scripture that doesn't exist in the Bible, 'Out of the believer's heart shall
flow rivers of living water’334.
331
Jeremiah, 22
332
Colossians, 4:14
333
Luke, 13
334
John, 7:38
318
The lists of errors and contradictions are long indeed including

historical, cultural and geographical errors. These contradictions in the
New Testament are the basis for bewildering factions in Christianity
since it is possible to dig out any conceivable theology from its motley
contents. But the major problem with the Gospels is not their many
errors and contradictions; it is that the writers have tried their best to
change the facts in order to shape their story to conform to their
perceived image of Jesus and his mission.
The modifications are so obvious that even some Christian scholars
openly admit them and consider Gospels as faction, something between
fact and fiction. The question is how much fact, if any, is in those books
and why Christianity needed any fabrication? But the key question for
a searcher of truth is that the scripts are not telling the whole truth
especially those issues related to the peculiar concept of Christianity. In
fact, early Christian history is liberally altered and wrapped in myth?
One obvious example is Matthew’s deliberate alteration of the
lineage of Jesus to limit it by 3x14 generations from Abraham to Jesus.
Fourteen generations from Abraham to King David, fourteen
generations from King David to the Babylonian exile, and another
fourteen from the Babylonian exile to Jesus Christ. To achieve this
seemingly pointless goal he has, for example, omitted three descendants
of Joram, mentioned in II Chronicles (14:13) in the Old Testament,
Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah. This type of alteration thus suggest that
the list is not the result of an inadvertent error, it is outright fabrication
and one wonders what other facts have been sacrificed to distort the life
of Jesus in order to fashion a false image for him.
Matthew and Luke apparently wanted to create an image of the
Messiah for Jesus. Thus, to comply with the prophecy of the Old
Testament, they invented a genealogy to link him with the king David
and changed his birthplace from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem, the
town where David lived. The prophecy they used for their story is
mentioned in 2 Samuel as follows:
12
When your days are over and you (David) rest with your
fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who
319
will come from your own body, and I will establish his
kingdom.335
To show that the complication and fabrication does not stop here,
both Gospels also claim that the Holy Spirit, not Joseph, made Mary
pregnant to bring the story in line with the Isaiah’s prophecy in the Old
Testament.
14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The
virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and
will call him Immanuel (means God with us).336
This is beyond any logic. If the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary and
the Gospels try to popularize the idea that God was the father of Jesus
and not Joseph, then what was the point of fabricating a lineage to David
through Joseph for Jesus? What did the writers really want to prove?
Moreover, the apparent prophecy is baseless. The whole idea of the
virgin birth is based on the incorrect translation of the Hebrew word
almah in Isaiah (7,14). Almah means a young woman not a virgin,
which is bethuleh in Hebrew337. One can also read the whole chapter to
discover that Isaiah 7 is the story of impending invasion of Judah by the
joint forces of Aram (Syria) and the northern kingdom of Israel seven
hundred years before the birth of Jesus. God promised Israelites in the
then southern kingdom that the incursion would not be successful. He
also promised that a young woman would give birth to a son. The
invading kingdoms would then perish before the boy could discriminate
between right and wrong. Finally, both Gospels make sure that the son
impregnated by the Holy Spirit should be named Jesus whereas Isaiah
(7,14) wants the child to be named Immanuel.
After Jesus’ birth, the family are made to undergo a journey to Egypt,
according to the Gospel of Matthew, to comply with another prophecy
in Isaiah 19 and Hosea 11:
335
2 Samuel, 7
336
Isaiah, 7
337
WEISS-ROSMARIN, T,. Judaism and Christianity: The Differences, New
York, Jonathan David, 1988
320
15
… And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through
the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."338
Another example is related to the identity of John the Baptist.

Matthew claims that he was the return of Elijah while the Gospel
according to John does not believe so.
13
For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.
14
And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who
was to come. 15He who has ears, let him hear. 339
19
Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of
Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.
20
He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not
the Christ. " 21They asked him, "Then who are you? Are
you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?"
He answered, "No."340
Matthew apparently tried to create this identity for John the Baptist
to comply with a prophecy in the Old Testament and, consequently,
widespread Jewish belief of his time. Jews expected the return of Elijah
from heaven before “the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
LORD”341.
10
The disciples asked him, "Why then do the teachers of
the law say that Elijah must come first?" 11Jesus replied,
"To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. 12But
I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not
recognize him, but have done to him everything they
338
Matthew, 2
339
Matthew, 11
340
John, 1
341
Malachi 4:5
321
wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer

at their hands." 342
Similar alterations and fabrications are made in the story of the

crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and his atonement plan. To
fabricate the story, the early Christians under the leadership of Paul
reinterpreted the supposed sin of Adam, and Eve, as a burden on every
single soul343.
They claimed that Jesus had been crucified to redeem the whole of
humanity from wholesale damnation stemming from that original or
ancestral sin. It seems that the story of redemption also demanded that
Jesus had to be someone different from an ordinary prophet, since in the
past so many Jewish prophets have been killed, some by the Jews
themselves, and nobody suggested they had come to die to redeem
humanity from its burden. Jesus had to be higher in rank. Thus, under
the influence of a pagan culture and myth, the Pauline sect introduced
Jesus as God incarnate.
That only Paul was aware of this plan is a big mystery. Apparently,
Paul did not meet Jesus. His contact with Christians began when he
became one of the disciples’ staunch tormenters and official persecutors
sometime after the crucifixion of Jesus. His account of his conversion
to Christianity has resemblance to the emergence of a prophet. He even
claimed that the gospel was directly revealed to him.
11
I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached
is not something that man made up. 12I did not receive it
from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by
revelation from Jesus Christ.344
To put it simply, in the Old Testament God promised to send a

Messiah. He sent John the Baptist as a forerunner and then the Messiah.
However, apparently, they failed to unfold His plan and did not
342
Matthew, 17
343
Romans, 5:8-21
344
Galatians, 1
322
announce His message. Jesus thus denied the true gospel to those Jews
whom he had come to save. It simply means, all those prophesies for
restoring the kingdom, the early herald, miracles, sending the disciples
to give good news to Jews and generally the whole Jesus’ mission were
a hollow razzmatazz. The true message was quietly revealed only to
Paul.
Besides Paul’s new revelation, the only Gospel that holds any hint
of this peculiar mission of Jesus, in a very ambiguous way, is the Gospel
of John:
29
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and
said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world!345
Paul’s idea is in contrast to the teaching of both the New and Old
Testaments apart from the above quoted vague point in John, 1-29. For
example, John the Baptist did not mention anything about this divine
plan, whereas he was supposed to announce Jesus and prepare the way
for him. If Jesus came to die for the people what is the point of sending
somebody to announce his coming but not to broadcast his one and only
mission? John baptised people, including Jesus, as a sign of their
repentance, for the remission of their own sins, their conduct that did
not accord with the Torah, not original sin. He said, if true, Jesus would
come and baptise with the Holy Ghost. He did not say that Jesus would
be crucified to redeem original sin.
Even the Gospel according to John has several passages that do not
accord with the redemption philosophy. For example, the following
verses are taken from an argument between Jesus, the Pharisees and the
Jews. Jesus had the opportunity of declaring his plan and message but
in contrast, there was no talk of him going to die to redeem the world
from the burden of original sin. He even emphasised that after his death
Jews who would not believe in him being from God, would die in sin.
He added that the Jews who believed would be saved as a reward for
345
John, 1
323
following the truth and by obeying the word of God, not by the
supposed redemption.
12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the
light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in
darkness, but will have the light of life." … 21Once more
Jesus said to them, "I am going away, and you will look
for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you
31
cannot come." … To the Jews who had believed him,
Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my
disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will
set you free." … 41 … You are doing the things your own
father does." "We are not illegitimate children," they
protested. "The only Father we have is God himself." …
55
Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did
not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep
his word. 346
Not only is there no mention of the redemption of original sin in the

Gospels, but also Jesus affirmed children’s innocence and asked people
to similarly change and humble themselves in order to be able to enter
the kingdom of heaven.
2
He called a little child and had him stand among them.
3
And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and
become like little children, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself
like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.347
13
People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him
touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14When Jesus
saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little
children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the
346
John, 8
347
Matthew, 18
324
kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the

truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like
a little child will never enter it."348
Jesus’ idea of sin and sinners was totally detached from original sin.
For example:
12
On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who
need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this
means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come
to call the righteous, but sinners."349
In fact, according to the four Gospels, Jesus did not claim to have
come to die in order to redeem humanity from the burden of original
sin. His claims are very and very clear as quoted here:
34
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the
earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I
have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter
against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-
in-law-- 36a man's enemies will be the members of his own
household.'350
37
and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is
looking for you!" 38Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere
else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also.
39
That is why I have come." So he travelled throughout
Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out
demons.351
31
Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a
348
Mark, 10
349
Matthew, 9
350
Matthew, 10
351
Mark, 1
325
doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance."352
49
"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it
were already kindled! 50But I have a baptism to undergo,
and how distressed I am until it is completed!353
39
Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so
that the blind will see and those who see will become
blind."354
45
When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46I
have come into the world as a light, so that no one who
believes in me should stay in darkness. 47"As for the person
who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge
him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.355
If he came to die, why was he wasting his time beating about the
bush by gathering disciples, buying swords, rebuking Sadducees and
Pharisees, cursing a fig tree and riding a donkey in the pretence of being
the promised Messiah? Why did God, who loved people so much, not
allow Jesus to be killed by Herod and save the lives of all children under
the age of two in Bethlehem and its vicinity? The Gospel writers gloss
over this crime as if it never happened. God saved Jesus, who was meant
to die, by sending an angel ordering Joseph to escape to Egypt, and
allowed the slaughter of the children, who were supposed to be saved
by Jesus.
Jesus, and his forerunner John the Baptist, not only neglected to refer
to the original sin and his crucifixion as a mean to eradicate it but also
promised to finalize his mission by coming back to establish the
kingdom of God on earth. Moreover, Jesus met some of his disciples
after he supposedly rose from the dead. What is not reported is that he
352
Luke, 5
353
Luke, 12
354
John, 9
355
John, 12
326
did not mention anything relating to the grand redemption of all people
or even believers alone. He did not congratulate anyone for being free
from the burden of original sin.
Why was there so much secrecy among those who were supposedly
involved in the grand plan? The point is that the plan only materialised
in the mind of later followers influenced by foreign and dominate pagan
cultures with no apparent or tangible evidence on the life of destitute
Jews or any other nation or individual. For example, the curse on
women was not lifted and they continued suffering the pain of
childbirth. Men still have to work hard for a living and no sympathetic
change was noticed from the cursed earth, as clearly described in
Genesis 3.
Early Christian history of renowned believers also does not report
belief in original sin and final redemption. For example, around the turn
of the first century Elchesai claimed that he had a vision in which he
saw two angels, about 96 miles in height356, one male and his sibling
female who revealed themselves as the Son of God and the Holy Spirit.
They affirmed to Elchesai that Jesus was an angel born of human
parents and would be reborn periodically357 in the future to enable the
path of salvation, which is the correct application of the Law. Although
there was a mention of a baptism to redeem sins committed by
individuals, there was no mention of redemption of original sin in
Elchesai’s teaching.
It is worth mentioning that the Nazarene or Ebionites, headed by
James, Jesus’ brother, followed Mosaic Law. This is the same group
that Paul referred to, derogatorily, as a circumcision group358. They
believed that Jesus was an ordinary man not God incarnate. The story
that Jesus died on the cross to redeem humanity from original sin was
also news to them. Peter, like other disciples, was one of the Nazarenes,
but later was falsely declared by the Roman Church as the first Bishop
356
Roberts, A., and J. Donaldson (Ed.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 5, The
Fathers of the Third Century, Book IX, Chapter IX, HIPPOLYTUS (St.), The
Refutation of All Heresies, Hendrickson, 1994
357
CHIDESTER, D., Christianity: A Global History, The Penguin Press, 2000
358
Galatians, 2:12
327
of Rome. Based on this forgery the subsequent popes were legitimised

as his successors.
The new interpretation of original sin completely neglects some
righteous prophets of the Old Testament and their close relationship
with God. It ignores the fact that God once wiped out every single soul
from the face of the Earth but Noah, the just and perfect man, and his
close family because they were righteous, and according to the Bible,
existing people are descendants of those righteous survivors. It also
ignores some other teachings from prophets.
19
"Yet you ask, 'Why does the son not share the guilt of his
father?' Since the son has done what is just and right and
has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live.
20
The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will
not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share
the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man
will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked
will be charged against him. 21"But if a wicked man turns
away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my
decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live;
he will not die.359
For a seeker of truth, Christianity is thus a mesmerising labyrinth not

a leading light, comfort and panacea as it is claimed to be. Christians
should thus be forgiven not having clear understanding of their religion.
There are so many bewildering issues in the New Testament that
Christians’ main intellectual creativity is devoted to their clarification
and then justification whereas religion is supposed to provide clear
guidance and reassurance.
There was little reason for concern about the New Testament
fabrications if the story of Jesus was a biography of an ordinary man in
the history of mankind. However, the point is that the story is told as a
grand plan of God for the forgiveness of humankind once and for all.
Does not the plan plead for better documentation and clarity rather than
359
Ezekiel, 18
328
relying on the confusing narratives known as the New Testament and

weeding out countless other, so called, heretical documents? Why did
the writers of the Gospels have to plough through the Old Testament to
collect different irrelevant predictions and prophecies and then combine
them with stories of pagan cultures and their own speculative
interpretation to make an indistinguishable personality known as Jesus
in order to prove God’s new plan?
Why has God allowed confusion to rule from the beginning of
Christianity? Isn’t God capable of doing much better? Is producing one
undisputed clear and correct book outside the ability of God? Why did
God leave the compilation of the New Testament to the council of
Laodicea, 330 years after Jesus and after numerous disputes between
different factions of Christians? Why did He not clearly mention the
mission and nature of Jesus to stop any misunderstanding? Why did He
lie by promising his early return? Is it too much to ask from Him?
Who was Jesus?
In the English New Testament Jesus is referred to as the Son of God,

Son of Man, Word (Logos), Lord, Messiah, prophet and rabbi. Capital
letters are added in various English translations of the script to
emphasize the special relationship between God and Jesus since the
father-son relationship is mentioned between God and other people
throughout the Bible. The translators, entirely on their own authority,
discriminated former relationship from others just because they
believed it to be so. Nonetheless, the capital letters in these names are
only speculative, reflecting the strong preconception of the translators
and their disrespect to the original texts in such a controversial issue.
Original Greek texts do not support the distinction between, say, son
and Son. The same is true for Hebrew or other Languages in which
earlier copies of the New Testament were written.
The first title has been a source of controversy from the beginning
of the Roman Church’s existence. There has been an unending debate
on the actual meaning of this name. Originally, the term was simply the
329
title of any king of ancient Israel. But the early fathers of the Church
eventually and officially interpreted this name as God the Son. In
reaction to the famous controversy of Arianism, the Fathers of the
Roman Church had their first ecumenical council in Nicea in 325 CE.
They confirmed that they had one God, the Father Almighty. But they
decided to believe also in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son
of God, true God from true God.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all

things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the only-begotten of his Father, of the
substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very
God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one
substance with the Father. By whom all things were made,
both which be in heaven and in earth. Who for us men and
for our salvation came down [from heaven] and was
incarnate and was made man. He suffered and the third day
he rose again, and ascended into heaven. And he shall
come again to judge both the leaving and the dead. And
[we believe] in the Holy Ghost.
And whosoever shall say that there was a time when the
Son of God was not, or that before he was begotten he was
not, or that he was made of things that were not, or that he
is of a different substance or essence [from the Father] or
that he is a creature, or subject to change or conversion -
all that so say, the Catholic and Apostolic Church
anathematizes them.
The 318 or so participant bishops thus proposed a dualism since they

forgot to include and emphasize the divinity of the Holy Spirit. To
correct this oversight, they had to assemble again in Constantinople 56
years later. This time they made sure that the divine Trinity was well
defined. They also reworded the Nicene Creed to better reflect the
characteristic of God. Finally, they removed the last sentence of the
original creed known as anathema to conceal the existence of different
330
and controversial ideas among earlier bishops regarding the issue of

God.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of

heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of
God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, Light of
Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of
one substance with the Father, by whom all things were
made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down
from heaven and was made incarnate by the Holy Ghost
and the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was
crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and
was buried, and the third day he rose again according to
the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the
Right Hand of the Father. And he shall come again with
glory to judge both the quick and the dead. Whose
kingdom shall have no end. And [we believe] in the Holy
Ghost, the Lord and Giver-of-Life, who proceed from the
Father, who with the Father and the Son together is
worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And
[we believe] in one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins,
[and] we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life
of the world to come.
Five other ecumenical councils were needed with the span of four
centuries to finely tune the theology to the satisfaction of the Roman
Catholic Church. Nevertheless, none of these councils tried to specify
clearly the nature of the Holy Spirit and the process of his becoming, an
existence similar to the one invented for the existence of Jesus in the
New Testament. Also, it seems that they did not recognise Jesus’ true
identity, throughout. If it was necessary to distinguish between the three
entities then Jesus should have been recognised as the Son of Holy Spirit
331
not the Son of God the Father. All Gospels teach us that it was the Holy
Spirit who impregnated Mary.
At any rate, Jesus was believed to be the second person of a Divine
Trinity despite the fact that there is no mention of a Trinity in the
Gospels. The Gospels are also silent about the divinity of the Holy Spirit
but he is regarded as the third person in the Trinity. All in all, after all
these councils’ clarifications the Trinity is a puzzling issue. Robert
Ingersoll tried to clarify the depth of the difficulty of the Christian
Trinity as follows:
Christ, according to the faith, is the second person in the

Trinity, the Father being the first and the Holy Ghost third.
Each of these persons is God. Christ is his own father and
his own son. The Holy Ghost is neither father nor son, but
both. The son was begotten by the father, but existed
before he was begotten--just the same before as after.
Christ is just as old as his father, and the father is just as
young as his son. The Holy Ghost proceeded from the
Father and Son, but was equal to the Father and Son before
he proceeded, that is to say, before he existed, but he is of
the same age as the other two. So it is declared that the
Father is God, and the Son and the Holy Ghost God, and
these three Gods make one God. According to the celestial
multiplication table, once one is three, and three time one
is one, and according to heavenly subtraction if we take
two from three, three are left. The addition is equally
peculiar: if we add two to one we have but one. Each one
equal to himself and to the other two. Nothing ever was,
nothing ever can be more perfectly idiotic and absurd than
the dogma of the Trinity.360
The long span of the resolution period should have been an

embarrassing time for Christian Fathers. Nonetheless, they had no
choice but to explain this complicated case. Their theology had to
360
Ingersoll's Works, Vol. 4, p. 266-67
332
conform to both the monotheism of the Old Testament and polytheism

of the Greco-Roman religion. No wonder it took several councils’
voting to resolve the nature of God. Unfortunately, it ultimately
introduced a chimera God opposite to the one declared in both the New
and Old Testaments that “the God your Lord is one”.
28
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them
debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good
answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which
29
is the most important?" "The most important one,"
answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God,
the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and
with all your strength.'361
In fact, it may be true that Jesus sometimes referred to himself as

Son of God (son of god) but it is also true that he called others, God’s
children. This reference was not a new trend among Jews of the time
and was apparently used for any faithful person.
17
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet
returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell
them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my
God and your God.' "362
One should note that Jesus referred to God as his God, which
becomes inexplicable if he was God himself. Calling God "Father" was
the accepted metaphor of the time as other similar metaphors like King,
Shepherd or Rock. Metaphor was part of the language of the Old and
New Testaments and it did not intend a physical relationship. For
example;
361
Mark, 12
362
John, 20
333
6
"I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." 7I will
proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are
my Son; today I have become your Father (have begotten
you). 8Ask of me, and I will make the nations your
inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.363
22
Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the LORD says: Israel
is my firstborn son, 23and I told you, "Let my son go, so he
may worship me." But you refused to let him go; so I will
kill your firstborn son.' "364
14
because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons
of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a
slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship
16
(adoption). And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The
Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's
children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs
of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his
sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.365
Interestingly, the same types of metaphors were used in another

Jewish community of the time, namely the Essenes, who referred to
themselves as Sons of Light. They were Jews with strict monotheist
beliefs, dietary laws and circumcision. The reference to the Son of God
in their writings, found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, indicates that
metaphorical use of the term was very common, and not intended to
mean an entity physically related to God. Essenes also believed that
“God gives prophets His Holy Spirit” without considering the latter as
the third person in the so-called divine trinity. It seems that they used
the metaphor as powerfully as Jesus since they were expecting the
emergence of the Messiah who was tantamount to the Son of God both
in the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In fact, some scholars
363
Psalm, 2
364
Exodus, 4
365
Romans, 8
334
believe that the community in Qumran who are the supposed writers of
the Scrolls were the core disciples of Jesus under the guidance of Jesus’
brother, James the Just. Rightly or wrongly, their writings prove that the
metaphorical use of Son of God and other terms were in common usage
in Jewish societies of the time.
Jesus’ followers were Jews and sometimes called him rabbi.
Nobody thought of him as God, patently clear when Jews, Jesus among
them, believed in one God hidden from human eyes. In fact, in several
places in the New Testament Jesus rebukes those who try to attribute
him with God-like qualities. A famous case is the story of the rich young
man and the Commandment:
17
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell
on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what
must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18"Why do you call me
good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God
alone. 19You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do
not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false
testimony, do not defraud, honour your father and
mother.'"366
Note that in this story Jesus is also silent regarding his plan to die to
redeem mankind from original sin. Another example can be given in his
trial by the devil!
5
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand
on the highest point of the temple. 6"If you are the Son of
God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "
'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will
lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your
foot against a stone.'" 7Jesus answered him, "It is also
written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 8Again,
the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. 9"All
366
Mark, 10
335
this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and
worship me." 10Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan!
For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve
him only.' "367
How can this issue be explained that Jesus, as the second person of
the Trinity, could be unaware of the kingdoms of the world and not
possess it? On the other hand, he refers to God, as his God and Lord not
Father adding that He only must be worshiped and served.
There are also passages in which he refers to himself as prophet, not
God. For example, when the news spread that Herod wanted to kill
Jesus, he said:
33
In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and
the next day--for surely no prophet can die outside
Jerusalem!368
The last example is Peter’s speech at Pentecost who announcing:
22
"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man
accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs,
which God did among you through him, as you yourselves
know.369
How was it that the Roman Church decided Jesus was God
incarnate? It is a mystery beyond the most speculative interpretation of
the theology of both the Old and New Testaments. Some scholars have
proposed that the rationale of the Christian Trinity might have been
political.370 Roman imperial religion, before the advent of Jesus,
identified the deified emperor as Son of God and saviour under whose
rule peace and justice would be established. In fact, Pontifex Maximus
was the title used by emperors, which was introduced into Christianity
367
Matthew, 4
368
Luke, 13
369
Acts, 2
370
HICK, J., The Metaphor of God Incarnate, London, SCM Press, 1993
336
as the title of ensuing popes. After Constantine was converted to

Christianity, the stability of the Roman Empire demanded that its
Christian belief should have a tolerable common theology acceptable
both to the empire and the Church. He assembled the council for the
appropriate change. The council, under the excuse of political
expediency, changed the metaphorical Son of God to the metaphysical
God the Son.
Though this hypothesis is true, it does not provide the complete
explanation. Absence of an authoritative establishment and/or
revelation and the profound influence of widespread foreign cultures
should be added to the effect of political might and philosophy of the
Roman Empire. Firstly, it seems that Christianity became a pick and
mix theology ever since Paul tried to preach the message to Gentiles. In
absence of an authoritative revelation, personal understanding and
judgements were followed as the next best option. This tradition ran
wild for almost three centuries until the Roman court accepted the faith.
It then promoted the version that best accorded with the official doctrine
of the Empire. Afterwards all efforts were focused on explanation and
institutionalisation of the selected version as Orthodox Christianity.
To demonstrate the widespread practice of pick and mix theology we
may consider uncertainty regarding the nature of Jesus and the general
wild speculation about his real character among early Christians. Here,
it is sufficient to give a brief outline of the beliefs of Christian
intellectuals such as Marcion of Sinope, Valentinus and Justin Martyr
in the second century. They all defended Christianity against the Greco-
Roman worldview and Judaism.
Bishop Marcion was born in 110CE and was the son of the Bishop
of Sinope in Pontus. Marcion advocated a type of Gnostic Christianity.
He believed in two Gods not three, an inferior and self-contradictory
creator God and a superior God, Jesus, who redeemed humanity. His
dualism would not accommodate the story of the incarnation and
resurrection. He also rejected the Hebrew Bible and based his
Christianity on merely two sources, namely the Gospel according to
Luke and Paul’s epistles.
337
Valentinus, the writer of the Gospel of Truth, systematised Gnostic

Christianity which survived as an influential sect for centuries. He
believed in a universe of one God who created a spiritual realm full of
divine creatures with authority and wisdom. The material world, in his
view was accidentally created. This so-called original error was the
cause of imperfection in the world. Jesus being one of the creatures from
the spiritual realm descended to this material word to call and awake
those who possess a spark of wisdom.
St. Justin, born about 100CE, following Plato, believed in one
supreme God who was responsible for creation. But Logos is a divine
medium between the transcendent God and the material world. He
accepted Greco-Roman gods simply as demons who were real and
powerful devil forces in the world and the cause of its devilish nature.
The diverse ideas of these three Christian intellectuals reveal that the
theology of the Church gradually became very elastic beyond the
geographical borders of its conception. In fact, the influence of a
dominant pagan culture on Christians goes back to almost the beginning
of Christianity. One should note that the idea of the ‘Son of God’ was
part of Greek myths personified in the characters of Hercules, the
greatest hero of Greek mythology, Dionysus (Bacchus) and others. Like
most real Greek heroes, Hercules had a god as his father, in his case the
supreme deity Zeus, and a mortal woman, Alcmene, as his mother.
Dionysus was also the Son of Zeus and Semele, a mortal heroine
mother. The idea of the resurrection was not strange in Greek culture
either. In fact, Dionysus was associated with the resurrection of
Zagreus. Zagreus, son of Zeus and Persephone, was killed and eaten but
his heart was saved and was reborn through Dionysus.
The resemblance between Dionysus and Jesus is very close, even as
to the account of their fate on the cross and ascension into heaven. St.
Justin Martyr, the Christian apologist in the second century had the
difficult task of explaining these similarities. He argued that Dionysus
was sent before Jesus as an imitation Christ in a deliberate and
diabolical plot by demons to send nations astray.
338
For having heard it proclaimed through the prophets that

the Christ was to come, and that the ungodly among men
were to be punished by fire, they put forward many to be
called sons of Jupiter, under the impression that they
would be able to produce in men the idea that the things
which were said with regard to Christ were mere
marvellous tales, like the things which were said by the
poets. And these things were said both among the Greeks
and among all nations where they [the demons] heard the
prophets foretelling that Christ would specially be
believed in; but that in hearing what was said by the
prophets they did not accurately understand it, but imitated
what was said of our Christ, like men who are in error, we
will make plain. The prophet Moses, then, was, as we have
already said, older than all writers; and by him, as we have
also said before, it was thus predicted: "There shall not fail
a prince from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
until He come for whom it is reserved; and He shall be the
desire of the Gentiles, binding His foal to the vine,
washing His robe in the blood of the grape." The devils,
accordingly, when they heard these prophetic words, said
that Bacchus was the son of Jupiter, and gave out that he
was the discoverer of the vine, and they number wine [or,
the ass] among his mysteries; and they taught that, having
been torn in pieces, he ascended into heaven. 371
The following passage from Acts also shows the Greeks popular
beliefs around the time of Jesus;
8
In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was
lame from birth and had never walked. 9He listened to Paul
as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that
he had faith to be healed 10and called out, "Stand up on
your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
371
First Apology, 54
339
11
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted
in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to
us in human form!" 12Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul
they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13The
priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city,
brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and
the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. 14But when
the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their
clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15"Men,
why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like
you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn
from these worthless things to the living God, who made
heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16In the
past, he let all nations go their own way. 17Yet he has not
left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by
giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he
provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with
joy." 18Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping
the crowd from sacrificing to them.372
Note that the two disciples invited the Greeks to believe in a living
God not Jesus. There was no talk of the love of God sending his only
son to redeem the world but providing rain and crops.
The effect of Mithraism, a branch or an adaptation of the Persian
religion of Zoroastrianism, cannot be ruled out in the story of the
reincarnation of Jesus. Mithraism was popular and prominent in Tarsus,
the hometown of Paul where he also escaped after being unkindly
received in Jerusalem by the followers of Jesus. The Greeks of Asia
Minor regarded Mithra as the Greek god of the sun and Sunday as a
holy day. Mithra (beneficent one) was allegedly born in a manger,
among adoring shepherds, on December 25. Zoroastrians also awaited
their own Messiah, Saushyant or Saoshyant (saviour), who was
supposed to appear in an unspecified future to initiate the process of the
eternal triumph of good over evil. Christianity is not the only religion
372
Acts, 14
340
to include this idea. The tenth and final incarnation of Vishnu in

Hinduism is also inspired by Zoroastrianism. This might explain why
the Gospel according to Matthew refers to the visit of three wise men
‘from the east’. Matthew, thus, emphasises the Messiahship of Jesus by
getting the seal of approval from three Magi, the high priests of
Zoroastrianism. The similarity between these two faiths cannot be
accidental, especially Baptism and the adaptation of Sunday instead of
Saturday as the holy day. Again, St. Justin Martyr condemned the myth
of Mithraism as a wicked plot of devils. His reflection regarding the
ritual of the Eucharist in Mithraism was as follows:
Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said,

"This do you in remembrance of Me, this is My body; "and
that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and
given thanks, He said, "This is My blood;" and gave it to
them alone, which the wicked devils have imitated in the
mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same thing to be
done. For, that bread and a cup of water are placed with
certain incantations in the mystic rites of one who is being
initiated, you either know or can learn.373
There are similar religious personalities in the history of other

ancient cultures. Other famous religious figures with similar stories to
Jesus are Krishna and to some extent Tammuz and Prometheus. It seems
that the Gospel writers used not only the Old Testament prophecies to
embellish the life of Jesus but also exploited a popular saviour story of
the time. They borrowed those variously known and acceptable features
of the saviour story for their popular appeal among nations. The
existence of a similar personality in geographically linked nations, from
Egypt to the Indian subcontinent of that time, shows how an optimistic
religious vision was happily copied into the belief systems of different
and diverse cultures. The spread of the same story around the world,
especially among powerful and dominant cultures, made it a credible
fact from the viewpoint of other nations.
373
Justin Martyr, First Apology, Chapter 66
341
Christians thus had no option but to fall in love with the widespread
saviour story. St. Justin Martyr was fully aware of the popular myth and
its worldwide acceptance by pagans and Christians.
And when we say also that the Word, who is the first-birth
of God, was produced without sexual union, and that He,
Jesus Christ, our Teacher, was crucified and died, and rose
again, and ascended into heaven, we propound nothing
different from what you believe regarding those whom you
esteem sons of Jupiter. For you know how many sons your
esteemed writers ascribed to Jupiter: Mercury, the
interpreting word and teacher of all; Aesculapius, who,
though he was a great physician, was struck by a
thunderbolt, and so ascended to heaven; and Bacchus (the
god of wine) too, after he had been torn limb from limb;
… , it is needless to tell to those who already know.374
Changing the Nativity date is an example of a gradual adaptation of

foreign creed and culture by doubtful ethnic groups. An early Christian
from Syria explained the ease by which this foreign date was adapted
and subsequent principled decisions were made on the basis of pure
expediency. Consequently, the facts were simply sacrificed by some
popular justification and then completely forgotten.
The reason why the fathers transferred the celebration of

the sixth of January to the twenty-fifth of December was
this. It was a custom of the heathen to celebrate on the
same twenty-fifth of December the birthday of the Sun, at
which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these
solemnities and festivals, the Christians also took part.
Accordingly, when the doctors of the Church perceived
that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took
counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be
374
KUHN, A. B., The Lost Light: An Interpretation of Ancient Scriptures,
Kessinger Publishing Company, 1997
342
solemnized on that day and the festival of the Epiphany on

the sixth of January. Accordingly, along with this custom,
the practice has prevailed of kindling fires until the
sixth.375
The problem of the early Christians was the impossible task of

creating a Jesus who could conform to several contrasting Old
Testament prophecies and at the same time comply with the characters
of the popular pagan stories. Moreover, a saviour who conforms to the
story of the martyrs of the fourth book of Maccabees, persecuted
righteous man, and the Greek myth of the noble death of a teacher376. In
addition, they thought by disapproval or systematic elimination of
already widespread similar stories among other nations, they might be
able to gain credence for their own account of an exclusive saviour. In
this process the real face of Jesus was, partly or almost completely,
hidden under the unrealistic mask of an amalgamation of admired
heroes of accepted religions and cultures of the time.
The stories of recent prophets such as Noble Drew Ali, Elijah
Muhammad and the Bab may be given as examples of the effect of
popular ideas on reshaping new religious personalities. We remember
that Noble Drew Ali endeavoured to represent his own life and supposed
divine mission according to the story of Jesus Christ. At the same time,
he also wanted to be regarded as a new Muslim prophet with a revealed
Islamic book. He plagiarised popular Christian stories and ethical adage
to produce his sacred book. He used any other beneficial scraps to gain
a popular and respected appeal among the African-American
population. He faked his travel to Egypt as a predetermined preparation
for his mission. He even introduced a popular forerunner for himself.
All the same, Drew Ali was not what he pretended to be.
Mysterious W.D. Fard introduced himself as a new Muslim prophet
for African-Americans but was later elevated to the status of Supreme
God by his disciple and successor. The new title was granted since it
375
Frazer, Sir J. G., The Golden Bough, New York, Macmillan, 1922
376
Mack B. L., Who Wrote the New Testament? : The Making of the
Christian Myth, San Francisco, Harper, 1996
343
was deemed suitable to justify the mission of Elijah Mohammad, his

succeeding prophet.
Bahaiis have tried to introduce a Baha similar to Jesus in Christian
societies with a forerunner and a comparable mission. They have also
used the present popular appeal for world peace. They pretend that the
objective of their faith is world peace, which is completely alien to the
original ideas of its founders. The Bab had several identities such as
Imam Mehdi, prophet and essence of God. After Baha decided to
become the promised manifestation of God on earth, the Bab was given
another mission and title, a forerunner to Baha, to suit the new twist. At
any rate, it seems that any adventurous religious personality, besides his
own original claims, is left with no choice but to accept what his
followers attribute to him in order to suit their own temporary objectives
and benefits.
As mentioned earlier, military submission to a dominant power is
always followed by stealthy cultural subjection. This latter subjection is
subtler. The defeated culture keeps the structure and facade of its belief
but sooner or later its core changes. If Jews did not allow the statue of
Zeus to be erected in their temple, they started an unavoidable and
irreversible desperate process to completely demolish it. Later their
descendants replaced their sacred books by a set, which happily copied
and mixed Greek worldview with their old tradition as a new divine
revelation. One only needs to look at the beginning of the Gospel
according to John to see the head of Zeus sticking out in the temple of
Christianity. Yes, after just a few decades, the Greek idea of Logos
(Word) became a divine body in the new Jewish movement. Gradually
the descendants of David emerged as a new Dionysos/Horus character.
Judaism submitted to Greco-Roman paganism and emerged as Roman
Catholicism. On the whole, some of the stories of the four Gospels are
simply a clear attempt to show the features and abilities of Jesus to outdo
various sons of Jupiter or the sons of God in other dominant cultures.
What about the search for a prophet? Whatever has been pointed out
about Jesus and whatever the reason for various fabrications to reshape
his identity, it does not concern us in our search for a prophet. We might
say that the fictitious image of Jesus was a later development and our
344
concern is the true life and mission of Jesus, not what was assumed
about him afterwards.
Before we start to search for the real Jesus let it be cleared once more
that, we do not look at miracles as a proof for prophethood. What we
should be looking for is the message and plan of God for humanity, not
bygone miracles. It is reported that Jesus performed miracles.
Irrespective of the reliability of the report the reply of Jesus is enough
here as an answer.
21
At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the
Christ (Messiah)!' or, 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it.
22
For false Christs and false prophets will appear and
perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect--if that
23
were possible. So be on your guard; I have told you
everything ahead of time.377
Was Jesus a prophet?
It came to our notice that all the previous prophets considered in our
search, appeared in a society that expected a prophet or other Godsent
figures. Based on official or unauthorized prophecies, which were
popularized by the incumbent religious establishment, these divine
messengers were expected to appear sooner or later to solve specific or
general social problems. Any new pretentious messenger of God, who
used the acknowledged prophecy, had thus to accept all the previous
divine figures and prophecies before him. If he did not accept one of the
prophets in the chain of prophethood, his own claim was rendered null
and void in the eyes of society, and his mission was a non-starter.
Therefore, those prophets that we have previously considered all
claimed that their teachings were the continuation or fulfilment of the
ideas and missions of past prophets.
377
Mark, 13
345
We also noticed that in reality they either completely ignored the

teaching of past religions or embellished their own new teaching with
previous ones for a superficial similarity. For example, the Prophet of
Islam claimed to bring the same message from God as other Abrahamic
prophets whereas in reality the bulk of his theology was the then current
belief in the Arabian Peninsula. Elijah Muhammad not only distorted
previous religions by introducing words borrowed from Islam,
Christianity and Judaism into his own system of belief but also
introduced a new evolutionary history for mankind. Baha gave only lip
service to all Semitic prophets and the Bab, making him a mere
forerunner of himself and made the Bab’s new revelation and his
appointed successor redundant.
Do the above two facts apply to Jesus? Indeed, they do. But there is
a problem in this case, and that is the reliability of the recorded life and
sayings of Jesus. It must be emphasised again that according to Biblical
scholars the four Gospels were written decades after the crucifixion of
Jesus. Therefore, they are not eyewitness accounts of His life. The
Gospels are consequently the record of verbal tradition, which prior to
the written word could easily have come under constant alteration
depending on political and social changes. However, despite numerous
obvious errors, contradictions and forgery in the New Testament there
might be some facts that have credence about the life of Jesus. These
facts are roughly those parts of Jesus’ three-year mission with no
miracles and no fulfilment of prophecy.
Jesus the Promised Messiah
Messiah means the anointed one. It refers to the ancient Jewish

practice of anointing a king with sacred oil on his accession to the
throne. A prophet or priest performed this service as part of the
inauguration ceremony. There is no doubt that Jews expected a Messiah,
a descendant of victorious King David, to rebuild the Temple, restore
the kingdom and overcome Israel’s enemies. In fact, according to the
Old Testament God originally promised this to King David. Ironically,
346
he was the same king who was forbidden, by God, to build the first
Temple himself because he had shed blood and was a man of war.
12
When your days are over and you rest with your fathers,
I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will
come from your own body, and I will establish his
kingdom. 13He is the one who will build a house for my
Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
forever. 14I will be his father, and he will be my son. When
he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with
15
floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be
taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I
removed from before you. 16Your house and your kingdom
will endure forever before me; your throne will be
established forever.' "378
Apparently, King Solomon fulfilled the prophecy. Nonetheless,

Jews reviewed this prophecy after the Babylonian army demolished
their temple. They rebuilt their temple after their return from exile but
their sovereignty and independence was yet to be achieved. The
expectation of the Messiah may have become intensified due to the
occupation of Jerusalem by Romans around 63 BCE. In fact, there are
reports of several Messianic figures before and after the arrival of Jesus.
Bar Kochba is an example of this expectation of an anointed king. Jews
gathered around this leader as the Messiah in their uprising in 132 CE
in which about half a million Jews were killed by the Roman army. In
several places in the New Testament, Jesus admitted that he was the
promised Messiah and his admission led to his crucifixion as a political
agitator.
27
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around
Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do
28
people say I am?" They replied, "Some say John the
Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the
378
2 Samuel, 7
347
prophets." 29"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you

say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ (the
Anointed One). " 30Jesus warned them not to tell anyone
about him. 379
61
But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ
62
(Messiah), the Son of the Blessed One?" "I am," said
Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right
hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of
heaven." 380
In fact, traditional Judaism was always expecting a divine figure in

the form of a prophet or a Messiah, especially after the destruction of
Jerusalem and the first holy temple by the Babylonian. The expectation
of a Messiah was more favourable and prominent after the period of
prophets. Especially when people faced the reality that even those
prophets, i.e. religion and religious figure alone, could not save Israel
from external powers.
We remember that the Bab tried to accomplish the prophesized signs
of his appearance when he wanted to announce himself as Imam Mehdi.
Jesus had the same plan to prove his claim of being the promised
Messiah. He made his entrance into Jerusalem according to what was
prophesised in Zechariah and believed by expectant and wishful Jews.
7
When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks
over it, he sat on it. 8Many people spread their cloaks on
the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the
fields. 9Those who went ahead and those who followed
shouted, "Hosanna! " "Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord!" 10"Blessed is the coming kingdom of
our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!" 381
379
Mark, 8
380
Mark, 14
381
Mark, 11
348
Similar to the Bab’s mission, except that he rode on the colt and
aroused excitement among some hopeful Jews, nothing happened. The
Messiah, who did not want to assist Gentiles and Samaritans because
they were not Jews, arrived in Jerusalem to fulfil the Jewish prophecy.
Nevertheless, the temple was already constructed there and he did not
restore the promised kingdom. He was caught, condemned and
crucified, utterly stunned by his fate to the extent that on the cross he
blamed God for leaving him on his own.
46
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-- which means, "My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?"382
This bitter end was the result of an apparent conspiracy involving

one of his twelve selected disciples of whom he had prophesised as
follows:
28
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of
all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne,
you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.383
When the dust settled, the bare reality was as glaring as the
brightness of the sun. Not only was Jesus forsaken but also Jews were
abandoned under the tyranny of Rome. The kingdom of Satan on earth
persisted as usual and suffered no harm at all. The story of Jesus, if it is
truly narrated, is the sad end of a devoted activist who was under the
firm conviction that his charismatic personality and knowledge of the
Law qualified him to link himself to God and appoint himself as His
promised Messiah. His mission ended in total failure regardless of what
has later been attributed to him by the Church.
382
Matthew, 27
383
Matthew, 19
349
Observance of the Law
In common with the prophets mentioned in our search, Jesus claimed

that he had come to fulfil the Law and teachings of the prophets before
him:
17
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil
18
them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth
disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a
pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until
everything is accomplished. 19Anyone who breaks one of
the least of these commandments and teaches others to do
the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but
whoever practices and teaches these commands will be
called great in the kingdom of heaven.384
17
It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the
least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.385
He had to accept the teaching of all prophets before him since they
were the same prophets who had announced the coming of a Messiah.
But did he keep his pledge? Unfortunately, not, since in the same
chapter he announces;
31
"It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must
32
give her a certificate of divorce.' But I tell you that
anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital
unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and
anyone who marries the divorced woman commits
adultery.386
384
Matthew, 5
385
Luke, 16
386
Matthew, 5
350
Jesus went so far as to order that a divorcee was not allowed to

remarry, contrary to the Law of Moses.
7
"Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man
give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
8
Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives
because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way
from the beginning. 9I tell you that anyone who divorces
his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries
another woman, commits adultery."387
He declared all food clean388, abolishing the Jewish dietary Law, and
even ordered his disciples to ignore the Law and follow His order:
38
"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth
for tooth.' 39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If
someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the
other also.389
Also, when his disciples patently broke the Law, he offered excuses
for their supposed transgressions rather than asking them to be obedient.
It seems he was not there to see the Law being fulfilled but, rather as
the Pharisees and Sadducees, sought justification for any misconduct.
The famous story of “the stoning of the adulteress” is a clear example
where Jesus tried to prevent the Law being fulfilled. He actually mocked
the Law, making it almost ineffective. He only used the teaching of the
prophets to firstly invalidate and put in contempt rabbis and other
religious figures and secondly support his own claim of being a
Messiah. It seems that he conveniently forgot his powerful reasoning
for opposing the Pharisees and teachers of the law:
387
Matthew, 19
388
Mark, 7:18-19
389
Matthew, 5
351
9
And he (Jesus) said to them: "You have a fine way of
setting aside the commands of God in order to observe (set
up) your own traditions!390
He contradicted himself by saying that if one of your eyes offends

you it is better to put it out rather than go to hell with two eyes, and at
the same time allowed an adulteress to go free in contradiction of the
Law.
What Was Jesus’ Mission?
So far, the similarity of Jesus’ mission with other supposed prophets

has been made clear. What did he achieve? Based on the Gospels he
made big claims and achieved nothing. His failure to fulfil his
prophecies made his disciples and followers reinterpret his life and
insist that he actually did what he was supposed to do since his kingdom
is not in this world but in heaven. Nobody explained why Jesus insisted
on going to Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to fulfil the prophecy
and left the rest of the mission to be achieved in heaven.
5
"Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to
you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a
donkey.' " (Zechariah 9,9) 6The disciples went and did as
Jesus had instructed them.391
If he did not come to achieve anything on earth then why did he

come at all? Riding on the back of a donkey to Jerusalem can hardly be
regarded as a divine achievement or a sign of divine involvement in the
Israelites lives in such difficult times. Jews were in no doubt that the
prophecy in the Old Testament was for this world. God wanted the
kingdom to be restored by a descendant of King David. The Messiah
390
Mark, 7
391
Matthew, 21
352
was supposed to restore the fallen Davidic Empire on Israelian soil after
the exile.
But there is another point in the Jesus’ saga. Jesus, like his
contemporary Jews, expected God’s grand and imminent involvement
in the world. Jews expected that the present world order would soon be
abolished by God and a new period of justice and peace would begin.
Jesus and the Jews were awaiting this new world order based on the
prophecy of Daniel:
13
"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was
one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.
He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his
presence. 14He was given authority, glory and sovereign
power; all peoples, nations and men of every language
worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will
never be destroyed.392
In the new kingdom, God would vindicate the faithful of Israel and
Jerusalem would be the centre of the kingdom. That meant distraught
Jews had at least two hopes of salvation. One was the coming of the
Messiah and the other was the Kingdom of God. Jesus, or the writers
of the Gospels, tried to combine these two solutions into the advent of
Jesus Christ.
Jesus, thus, was impatient to announce the coming of the new
kingdom to the Jews. That is the reason why he urged people to leave
everything and follow him in his mission. He sent his disciples to the
lost sheep of Israel to give them the good news and this was the regular
practice of his disciples after his death.
He was so engrossed in his specific mission that he almost became a
racist reformer caring about none but Israelites. His good news and care
were offered solely to the lost sheep of Israel. To give a similar example
in our time, his mission was comparable to W.D. Fard and Elijah
392
Daniel, 7
353
Muhammad who similarly excluded white people from their salvation

missions.
22
A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him,
crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My
daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
23
Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him
and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out
after us." 24He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep
of Israel." 25The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord,
help me!" she said. 26He replied, "It is not right to take the
children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
27
"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from their masters' table." 28Then Jesus answered,
"Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted."
And her daughter was healed from that very hour.393
5
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following
instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any
town of the Samaritans. 6Go rather to the lost sheep of
Israel. 7As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of
heaven is near.' 8Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those
who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have
received, freely give.394
And he was so sure about the imminence of the new kingdom that
he tried to make necessary preparation for it, the task John the Baptist
supposedly should have done. In portraying the future however, he
made an obviously false prediction:
30
"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in
the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They
will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky,
393
Matthew, 15
394
Matthew, 10
354
with power and great glory. 31And he will send his angels
with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from
the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32
"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its
twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that
summer is near. 33Even so, when you see all these things,
you know that it is near, right at the door. 34I tell you the
truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all
these things have happened. 35Heaven and earth will pass
away, but my words will never pass away.395
23
When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I
tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the
cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.396
Two other Gospels have also reported the above prophecy397. In fact,
at his swift trial conducted before the council of Jewish priests, Jesus
did not defend himself but only talked about the new kingdom and his
coming in clouds of heaven, trying to join Messiahship to the image of
the Son of Man. He had the opportunity to elaborate on his mission but
apart from the above claims, he said nothing. Maybe when he was
captured and was sure of his death, he still did not want to accept the
truth and tried to gloss over his failure. The only option left, or he could
think of, was his return after his death.
The second coming turned out to be an empty promise, like his
Messiahship. He was expected to come back very soon and before the
death of any of his disciples. They and their followers became confused
when some of them passed away. They wanted an explanation. Paul
crafted this answer for them:
15
According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we
who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord,
395
Matthew, 24
396
Matthew, 10
397
Mark, 13:30 and Luke, 21:32
355
will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

16
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with
a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with
the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise
first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
18
Therefore encourage each other with these words.398
There is nothing left to add. A reformer in a specific suffering nation

claimed to be their promised powerful king (Messiah) but when he was
captured, he prophesized an early majestic return resulting in final
victory which was never materialized. Therefore, based on Jesus’
claims, promises, missions and achievements he cannot be regarded as
a prophet or any Godsend figure. I leave the final words to
Deuteronomy.
20
But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name
anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet
who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to
death." 21You may say to yourselves, "How can we know
when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?" 22If
what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does
not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD
has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously.
Do not be afraid of him.399
398
I Thessalonians, 4
399
Deuteronomy, 18
356
Chapter 6
Judaism
1
Praise the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are
very great; you are clothed with splendour and majesty.
2
He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches
out the heavens like a tent. 3and lays the beams of his upper
chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind. 4He makes winds his
messengers, flames of fire his servants. 5He set the earth
on its foundations; it can never be moved. 6You covered it
with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above
the mountains. 7But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the
sound of your thunder they took to flight; 8they flowed
over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the
place you assigned for them. 9You set a boundary they
cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth. (Psalm
104)
The Torah
This chapter examines the Old Testament, the assumed mother of all
divine books in Abrahamic religions, and the religion which it directly
promotes, namely Judaism. Indirectly, but to a large extent, it is also
used as a supporting pole by other religions such as Christianity and
357
Islam as the contents of their books profoundly and intimately rely on

the content and integrity of the Old Testament.
The intention is to examine the book for its consistency, reliability
and accuracy as indications of its authorship by the omniscient God.
One would like to see whether the Old Testament clarifies the meaning
and purpose of creation? Does it help humanity to make sense of its
existence? Does it provide an ethical and reasonable general guideline
for its life? Does it demonstrate in any other way its link to the God of
the universe?
Before analysing the content of the book two issues need to be
clarified. The first issue concerning the Old Testament is its sectarian
nature. It is sent to one nation or more accurately to one family, the
children of Israel. Is it due to the unique quality of the nation or God
just wanted to build a sample nation and show the rest of the humanity
the benefit of his divine guideline?
The second issue is that the Old Testament is in fact a collection of
books that supposedly revealed to various prophets. Why has God sent
his guideline piecemeal? Is humanity in need of progressive or
continuous revelation and reminding? These issues are not trivial but
are secondary and justify inspection if only the religion and its book is
found divinely originated.
Here the Old Testament is defined as meaning the Written Torah
accepted by Jews. The Written Torah consists of twenty-four books
which during its final collection organised in three sections, the Torah
or the Pentateuch (meaning five scrolls in Greek), Prophets and
Writings.
Jews believe that God is the author of the five books of the
Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy)
who revealed it directly to Moses. Orthodox Jews also believe that the
Pentateuch is complete, necessary and sufficient on its own. If the
Israelites had not sinned, only the Pentateuch would have been revealed
to them by God and they would never have had the need for further
prophets or divine books.
Jews also believe that the eight books of the Prophets section are the
exact record of what God communicated to the great and virtuous
358
prophets and are regarded as God’s exact words. However, the eleven
books of the Writings section are not regarded as verbatim revelation
but are the divinely inspired writings of the prophets themselves. All the
same, they are still truthful and without any theological misdirection or
error.
At first, these books were obviously not in a one-volume collection
since they were written at different times spanning many centuries.
Before their final collection in one book, they were kept in separate
collections or scrolls along with other scrolls that did not make it into
the Written Torah. The existing Written Torah was compiled between
the second century BCE and second century CE mainly in two versions
(Greek and Hebrew).
The excluded scrolls were apparently not credible enough or
contained some controversial issues. An example of an abandoned book
is Ecclesiasticus in which its writer, Joshua (Jesus) Ben Sira, criticised
all Israelite kings apart from King David, Hezekiah and Josiah. The
unacceptable books are referred to as Apocrypha, some of which are
included in the Old Testament accepted by different denominations of
Christianity. For example, the Catholic Bible has seven extra books in
the Old Testament section in comparison with the written Torah
accepted by Orthodox Jews. There had also been some books whose
names are mentioned in the Written Torah but they are apparently
extinct. For example, The Book of the Wars of the Lord400 and The Book
of Jashar401 do not exist anymore.
The Talmud
Apart from the Written Torah, there is the Oral Torah or the Talmud
(the Jerusalem or Palestinian and the more respected Babylonian
versions). The Talmud comprises the explanation, interpretation and
practical implementation of the Written Torah. Orthodox Jews ascribe
the Talmud to God himself. They claim that while God was giving
400
Numbers, 21:14
401
Joshua, 10:13
359
Moses the 613 commandments on Mount Sinai, he also gave him

detailed explanations for their rightful practical implementation. Moses
then passed the knowledge on to Joshua and from him to later prophets
and rabies. The Oral Torah is thus a set of rules by which higher
religious authorities could apply the Written Torah in all possible future
cases.
It is claimed that the Talmud was not supposed to be recorded in a
book since it could invoke different interpretations by laity and lead to
various schools and finally a divided nation. But eventually, the Oral
Torah was also put into writing a few decades after the destruction of
the Second Temple in 70 CE. It took about four centuries to be
completed in its final form.
The language of the Talmud is very difficult to comprehend as it is
written in a cryptic language with many foreign ambiguous words.
Ironically, the Talmud needs plenty of clarification too.402 In reality
explaining the explainer has demanded a branch of religious scholarship
in Judaism.
Since the Talmud is not authorised by the Written Torah and the
main purpose of it is, allegedly, explaining the Written Torah and
applying the Law in changing circumstances, it is not of any concern in
our search for a true prophet. Besides some Jewish individuals, groups
and sects have rejected the necessity and validity of the Oral Torah
throughout its history.403 Thus, in this investigation, only the Written
Torah is considered and is referred to as simply the Torah, the Bible or
the Old Testament, interchangeably.
402
The Babylonian Talmud, like Hadith collections in Islam, is large and a lot
of issues discussed in it are not short-term ones. For example, in Chapter 9 the
following case is discussed. “Whence do we deduce that one who carries an
idol is as unclean (ritually) as a woman suffering from menstruation? From the
passage [Isaiah, xxx. 23]: "Thou wilt cast them away as a filthy thing. 'Get thee
hence!', wilt thou say unto them." Thus, in the same manner as a woman
suffering from menstruation causes (ritual) uncleanness, so does also an idol.”
It suggests that the Talmud is just an extension that the Rabbis have created to
cover the shortfalls of the written Torah. The relation between the Talmud and
written Torah is exactly like the relation between Hadith books and the Quran.
403
Karaites Jews only accept the authority of the written Torah. Accordingly,
the Talmud is not considered as divine revelation. Sadducees also rejected the
Oral Law and opposed Pharisees who represented the rabbinical authority and
the Oral Law.
360
However, one noticeable fact is that there is no mention of oral Torah

in the Pentateuch. Also, several prophets were sent to Israel after Moses
and none of them brought any book, new commandment or explanation
of the Pentateuch. These facts indicate that God did not find it necessary
to explain or add anything to what was given to Moses. The main
concern of the prophets was applying the existing commandments and
make Israelites believe and follow the Pentateuch, not to explain, extend
or elucidate it to them.
Therefore, with the knowledge we have gained from the creation of
Hadith and Sunna in Islam, one may suspect that Talmud was a later
creation by the priests themselves. Its existence can only signify the
shortfall, possible contradiction and ambiguity of the Torah for Jews in
their ever-varying conditions of life with the passing of time.
Browsing the Pentateuch reveals that it is not a concise book at all
as it is full of detailed accounts of numerous subjects related to the
issues of a specific time and condition. Sometimes the details are
repeated all over again ad nauseam. In general, it seems that God has
explained a matter sufficiently and clearly in the Torah without leaving
the details to the Oral Torah. A good example is the instruction for
different types of animal sacrifice and offerings, which are given in
sufficient details in several sections of the Pentateuch.
3
" 'If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to
offer a male without defect. He must present it at the
entrance to the Tent of Meeting so that it will be acceptable
to the LORD. 4He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt
offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make
atonement for him. 5He is to slaughter the young bull
before the LORD, and then Aaron's sons the priests shall
bring the blood and sprinkle it against the altar on all sides
at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 6He is to skin the
burnt offering and cut it into pieces. 7The sons of Aaron
the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on
the fire. 8Then Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the
pieces, including the head and the fat, on the burning wood
361
that is on the altar. 9He is to wash the inner parts and the
legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the
altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an
aroma pleasing to the LORD.404
Other examples are detailed instructions to cure leprosy405 and

building the tabernacle, a tent or similar portable dwelling place for
God’s presence and the Ark of the Covenant. Even some of the
craftsmen for the building of the tabernacle are nominated by name in
the Torah. It seems odd that God included the full instruction for
building His tent in the Bible and did not incorporate it in the Oral Torah
as it was a priestly affair and ordinary people were not involved in its
planning.
The Torah like the Quran, thus, seems to have deficiency problem.
It covers a limited number of social issues, relevant to the life of
Israelites in a specific time and place, which could not be easily
expanded to answer the social issues of diverse societies. Priests of later
generations, while not admitting it, found it necessary to cover the
shortfall of the Torah. Gradually the Oral Torah developed to its
existing status by the addition of countless new explanations and
commentaries for new areas of life, which are not addressed in the Old
Testament. When they were confident enough that they have covered
everything in Talmud and had the opportunity to write it down they did
not miss the chance to do so.
This reminds one of the same predicaments Muslim scholars and
authorities came across when they realized inadequacy of the Quran in
all areas of law. They also had to produce numerous explanations,
additions and modifications under the cover of sayings of the Prophet
Muhammad and his tradition. Moreover, by forging extra materials,
they also tried, intentionally or inadvertently, to hide the shortfalls of
the Quran concerning vague statements and new issues faced by later
generations. In Judaism these shortfalls are justified under
implementation in different circumstances.
404
Leviticus, 1
405
Leviticus,14
362
In summary, the existence of the Talmud simply implies that God

was not able enough to reveal his commands completely, needing the
involvement of human beings, despite sending so many prophets on
continuous bases.
The History of the Torah
The Torah has an ambiguous history. Moses supposedly received

the Pentateuch immediately after the Exodus, which was dated by
Bishop Ussher at about 1446 BCE. It seems that it was initially written
on tablets of stones as the only available option and at the same time the
long-lasting medium, to protect the word of God for everyone.
Pentateuch alone should then have roughly consisted of more than 850
stone tablets. But there is no surviving copy of the Bible from the period
before the Babylonian exile at 586 BCE. The only surviving part of the
Old Testament during these 860 years is three verses, Numbers 6:24-
26, written on silver amulets dated just before the Babylonian exile. In
comparison numerous writings from neighbouring nations have
survived. For example, several versions of the Sumerian and
Babylonian flood stories have been discovered, some dating back to the
17th century BCE but the Biblical version is just not there. Besides no
worthy or relevant artefacts has been discovered to corroborate the
claimed history and achievements of the nation of Israel.
Before the Babylonian exile, Jews, in Israel and Judah, did not have
an extensive publishing capability. Most probably the Torah, if existed,
was accessible only to high priests. The sacred documents were well
hidden from the laity inside or beside the Ark of the Covenant in a
distinguished place like the tabernacle or temple. Meanwhile they were
no doubt the centre of attention and devotion and apparently under the
protection of both the priests and the living God helped by a few other
celestial beings. If we also remember that the nation was actually lived
in twelve different regions, it is thus a mystery that almost nothing of
those divine books has survived throughout their land.
363
Based on this vacuum, and other reasons, some scholars believe that
the production of the Bible as a written scripture was in fact a later
endeavour started by the effort of King Hezekiah in Judah, southern
Israelite kingdom. He was ruling about the time when the Assyrians
annihilated the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BCE.
The objective of this study is not solving this complex and uncertain
historical subject but to show that we have no option but to conduct our
examination on the accepted and existing collection. However, since a
few issues that have been raised in some of the books of the Prophets
section entail serious consequences, they need to be considered as part
of the validity check on the sacred book, especially the Pentateuch.
What does the Old Testament tell us about its history? Curiously,
apart from the two Tablets containing the Ten Commandments there is
almost no mention of the supposed colossal writing collection of the
Pentateuch and the subsequent revelations of later prophets. There is
even no hint of their existence where it is imperative to be included
along other sacred items. For example, while the Pentateuch elaborates
in length on the building and ornaments of Tabernacle, there is no
mention for the accommodation of God’s revelation in any form. On the
other hand, the two tablets of stone are twice made and ordered to be
put inside a golden box, the Ark of the Covenant. The ark is then ordered
to be placed behind curtain in inner section of the tabernacle. There are
thus regularly mentions of the two tablets, the ark, curtain and
everything else inside the tent and almost silence about the rest of the
Pentateuch.
31They were responsible for the care of the ark, the table,
the lampstand, the altars, the articles of the sanctuary used
in ministering, the curtain, and everything related to their
use.406
According to the Bible, Moses was only given the two tablets of
stone on Mount Sinai or Horeb containing the Ten Commandments.
406
Numbers, 3
364
There is however a mention to the Book of the Covenant407. This is a

reference to the Ten Commandments or an expanded or alternative
version of it, which will be explained later. Besides them, there is
mentions of the Book of the Wars of the LORD408 and a book of the Law
that Moses himself wrote. The former book has not survived and its
author is not known! The latter is cited in the book of Deuteronomy. It
is assumed that the Law book is either Deuteronomy itself or just all
613 commandments given to Moses in different times.
9
So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests,
the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the
10
LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. Then Moses
commanded them: "At the end of every seven years, in the
year for cancelling debts, during the Feast of Tabernacles,
11
when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your
God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law
before them in their hearing. 12Assemble the people, men,
women and children, and the aliens living in your towns
so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God
13
and follow carefully all the words of this law. Their
children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn
to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land
you are crossing the Jordan to possess." … 24After Moses
finished writing in a book the words of this law from
beginning to end, 25he gave this command to the Levites
who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD: 26"Take
this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the
covenant of the LORD your God. There it will remain as a
witness against you.409
Is this report reliable? Deuteronomy is the supposed writing of

Moses but it seems that it has been written a long time after Moses. The
407
Exodus 24:7, I Kings 8:9
408
Number 21:14
409
Deuteronomy, 31
365
book not only reports the death of Moses and his burial by God but also
tells us about the inferior quality of other prophets sent after him. Moses
and God are also referred to in the third person.
5
So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land
of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. 6And he
buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against
Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this
10
day. ... And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like
unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.410
Accordingly, the testimony is not an eyewitness account. Jews

nonetheless claim that the author of the book is in fact God himself. If
those verses, but not the rest of Deuteronomy, were not revealed to
Moses then the recipient might have been Joshua or some other chosen
prophets. This valid claim is not supported by the Bible as Joshua and
other books of the Bible attribute the authorship of the Law to Moses.
7
Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do
according to all the law which Moses my servant
commanded you; turn not from it to the right hand or to the
left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8This
book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you
shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful
to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall
make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good
success.411
Even if we accept this argument Moses seems to have written or

received only a law book as the text clearly refers to some instruction
that should be followed by Israelites. There is no talk of five books of
Pentateuch especially the history of the patriarchs, which is recorded in
the book of Genesis. But it seems that even attributing the bulk of
410
Deuteronomy, 34
411
Joshua, 1
366
Deuteronomy to Moses is also baseless as it did not exist during the

reign of King Solomon. This is also true for Joshua.
When King Solomon, reined from 971 to 931 BCE, built the first
temple, he brought the tabernacle and its sacred contents from Zion to
its new place. The book of I Kings in the Bible does not report of any
book or scroll among the contents. Besides, when Solomon opened the
Ark of the Covenant, only the two tablets of stone containing the Ten
Commandments were found. There is no reference to any book at the
side of the Ark where it should have been. In Solomon’s subsequent
prayer and conversation with the god of Israel, no mention of the rest of
the Torah is recorded.
4
and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of
Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and
Levites carried them up, … 9There was nothing in the ark
except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at
Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the
21
Israelites after they came out of Egypt. … I have
provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant
of the LORD that he made with our fathers when he
brought them out of Egypt."412
This silence about the books and their whereabouts is continued until
the emancipated Israelite in Babylonian encouraged to go back to
Jerusalem. In fact, there is then a suspicious silence about the Ark of
Covenant and its contents after it was placed in the Solomon Temple.
Before the construction of the first temple the ark was twice captured
by Philistines and then supposedly returned because of its miraculous
character!
It seems that sometimes from 830 to 700 BCE the Ark of the
Covenant was lost. This was possibly during the victory of the King of
Moab or one of the two invasions by the Egyptian and northern Israel
armies since in both cases the temple was plundered. There is no report
or mention of the Ark and its contents when Babylonian destroyed the
412
I Kings, 8
367
temple. There is even no report of its destruction by the invading army

or taking it to Babylon as booty along with other precious items they
took from the temple, suggesting that it had already disappeared. To
summarize, there existed only two tablets of stones during the reign of
Solomon and then they were lost.
Another storey that corroborates the disappearance or nonexistence
of the Bible and the Ark and its contents is a surprise finding of a book
in the temple. According to 2 Kings, about 622 BCE, Hilkiah the high
priest found the Book of the Covenant in the Solomon temple. Based on
the content of the existing Old Testament, the revealed book up to then
must had included the whole Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel
and Isaiah, which supposedly must had been written before the reign of
King Josiah. If we remember that all those books were written
presumably on numerous dried mud blocks or several leather or papyrus
scrolls then the possibility of losing all of them was tenuous indeed. The
first temple was a small building of 60 by 20 by 30 cubits (a cubit is
about 0.46 meters or 18 inches long). The building was too small for
bulky stone tablets, dried mud blocks or scrolls of books to be lost in it,
particularly that the interior structure of the temple was simple.
At any rate it was reported that just the book of covenant was found
with no reference to the Ark of the Covenant. Was the book the one that
is mentioned in Exodus 24,7 and I King quoted above? In this case it
means that the priest found the two stone tablets. But the two tablets
were supposed to be inside the ark suggesting that there was no ark in
the temple. The claim of finding any other document, probably the book
of Deuteronomy, points to a forgery.
Whichever was found, what was followed after the discovery of the
book summarizes the state of the culture and religion of the Jewish
nation at that time. The Bible record could not be more revealing.
13
"Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people
and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has
been found. Great is the LORD's anger that burns against
us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this
368
book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is

written there concerning us." 413
1
Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and
Jerusalem. 2He went up to the temple of the LORD with
the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and
the prophets - all the people from the least to the greatest.
He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the
Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the
LORD. 3The king stood by the pillar and renewed the
covenant in the presence of the LORD - to follow the
LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees
with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the
words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the
people pledged themselves to the covenant. 4The king
ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and
the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD
all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry
hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of
the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. 5He did
away with the pagan priests appointed by the kings of
Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of
Judah and on those around Jerusalem - those who burned
incense to Baal, to the Sun and the Moon, to the
constellations and to all the starry hosts. 6He took the
Asherah pole from the temple of the LORD to the Kidron
Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it
to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the
common people. 7He also tore down the quarters of the
male shrine prostitutes, which were in the temple of the
LORD and where women did weaving for Asherah.
8
Josiah (Josias) brought all the priests from the towns of
Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to
Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. … 10He
413
2 King, 22
369
desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben

Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or
11
daughter in the fire to Molech. He removed from the
entrance to the temple of the LORD the horses that the
kings of Judah had dedicated to the Sun. They were in the
court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melech.
Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the Sun …
13
The king also desecrated the high places that were east
of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption - the
ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the
vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of
Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the people of
19
Ammon. … Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah
removed and defiled all the shrines at the high places that
the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria that
had provoked the LORD to anger. 20Josiah slaughtered all
the priests of those high places on the altars and burned
human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
24
… Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and
spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other
detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did
to fulfil the requirements of the law written in the book that
Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the
LORD.414
The religious attitude of the nation of Israel was shocking indeed

especially when the responsibility for adulteration of religion and
idolatry was laid on the shoulders of prophets, priests and anointed
kings. But here we are not concerned about people’s beliefs. The
question is what books were Jews following before the discovery of the
book in the temple?
The story is told as if the nation of Israel and their spiritual leaders
at that time did not have the faintest idea of the contents of either their
414
2 Kings, 23
370
voluminous books415 or even the mere Ten Commandments. No part of

those books encourages worshipping any other god but Yahweh the
exclusive god of Israel. On the contrary, it was made clear that severe
punishment was the consequence of disobedience or breaking the
Covenant.
What about Israelites’ oral tradition? Where were the teachings and
tradition of Moses in the Oral Torah? Why did nobody know of the
content of the tradition that, theoretically, must have been in the hearts
of the priests as its rightful guardians and its trusted conveyers to later
generations of experts? From whom or which source were those
prophets, mentioned in the story, getting their pagan ideas?
The story thus elucidates two important issues. Firstly, the existence
of Oral Torah after Moses is just a myth. Secondly, it backs up the other
sections of the Old Testament that there has not been a set of books
similar to the existing Old Testament at that time. At most, there existed
the mislaid and apparently long forgotten book of covenant, only if we
accept that the whole nation of Israel went into a kind of comma at some
time and woke up with their cultural memory erased.
There is another possibility, some scholars think that either prophet
Jeremiah or his scribe, Baruck, was actually the author of the allegedly
discovered book of the covenant. The claim of Jeremiah’s authorship
may not be true due to his strong criticism of the recording of the law
which gives the game away.
8
" 'How can you say, "We are wise, for we have the law of
the LORD," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has
handled it falsely? 416
There is also a possibility that Shaphan, trusted secretary of King

Josiah, had written the book. Whoever the writer and whatever the book,
it was new writing since the Bible tell us that Solomon did actually build
415
In fact, Leviticus 18:21 and 20:2-5 only forbid the sacrifice of one’s own
seed to Molech, a Canaanite god of fire whose worship was introduced into
Judah by Solomon and Ahaz. Thus, the verses imply that one can sacrifice
others to Molech. This goes against the monotheism of the Ten
Commandments and other books of Pentateuch.
416
Jeremiah, 8
371
the temple and we know that besides two stone tablets there was no sign
of any other books inside or beside the Ark of the Covenant after the
construction of the temple. Those two stone tablets were then taken
away by foreign invaders from the temple inside the Ark of the
Covenant and destroyed. In simple words, there was no book to be lost.
Israelites were also supposed to hold their book in the highest regard
and to keep it not only beside the Ark of the Covenant but also in their
mind. The possibility of losing their book in the temple was almost as
inconceivable as losing it in their hearts and minds.
All in all, the report of the existence of only two tablets during the
reign of King Solomon, their loss in a plunder and the state of Israelites’
worship and religion during the reign of king Josiah and the claim of
finding a book confirm beyond doubt that the book was forged, not
found. In this case, we may conclude that the stories of the Pentateuch
were composed myth and folk-tale, at least partially, created by
Israelites priests during and after king Josiah’s reign and attributed to
Moses.
Josiah was eight-year-old when he was anointed as king. Most
probably, Shaphan was in charge during the first ten years of the king’s
rule. Obviously, the high priest and his associates wanted to centralise
and spread their power and influence challenging the crushing pressure
of the Assyrian and Babylonian armies which changed the political map
of the Near East. King Josiah and his court were also searching for the
reason behind the defeat and annihilation of the northern kingdom of
Israel and a way to salvage their own kingdom, Judah, in the South.
Perhaps they found the root of their problems in a divided nation with
numerous prophets, priests and gods who were fuelling power struggles
and frequent divisions.
Moreover, as a subservient nation, Israelites had to worship the god
of Assyrian or other past victorious nations. Maybe Josiah returned to
the exclusive worship of the god of Israel as a defiant gesture when he
tried to regain his sovereignty because of the apparent power decline of
his feared enemy, Assyrians. Therefore, they followed the reform of
King Hezekiah, great-grandfather of King Josiah. Hezekiah somehow
managed to save Jerusalem from an Assyrian offensive. Later his reform
372
was perceived to be the major reasons for the survival of the kingdom.
Hezekiah even smashed the bronze snake that Moses had supposedly
made417 to make it clear how serious he was in his reform against idols
and idolatry.
The new book was thus used as an effective tool to inspire the pride
of the nation. Israel was then asked to worship its own god and was
provided with its own law. Josiah wanted to change the course of the
Israelites defeat and the destruction of the Davidic kingdom by uniting
all Judah behind one god, Yahweh, under management of his priests.
Nonetheless, King Josiah’s effort, like the reform of King Hezekiah,
was short-lived. In both cases their successors didn’t respect the new
reform and the idea of worshiping only one god. Eventually Judah was
invaded and crushed by the Babylonian army twenty-two years after
Josiah was killed in a battle with the Egyptian army. The last king from
the house of David was Zedekiah, a mere Babylonian vassal.
Based on linguistic analysis, most scholars believe that the forged
book was the book of Deuteronomy. The writer also wrote Joshua,
Judges and Samuel since they have the same literary composition as the
book of Kings. In this case, a different author must have produced the
rest of the Pentateuch - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers - and
the books of Judges, Ruth and Isaiah. Consequently, the latter books
must have been the product of exile and post exile periods. The late
production of the Pentateuch may explain why, for example, Moses, the
supposed writer of the Pentateuch, did not include belief in the afterlife
in his teachings. The Bible tells us that he was brought up in an Egyptian
royal family with their long-established belief in the hereafter.
Particularly that Egyptians not only believed in the life after death but
also meticulously prepared themselves for it.
Whatever happened we have not reached the end of the story.
According to the Assyrian and Babylonian war policy, eminent and
skilled Jews were deported three times from Israel and Judah leaving
only poor and helpless Jews behind. This culminated in the demolition
of the first, Solomon, temple in Jerusalem, complete destruction of the
417
2 King 18:4
373
city and the exile of Jews to Babylon in 586 BCE until their liberation
by Cyrus, the king of Persia in about 538 BCE.
God’s worthless and empty promise to David was broken by
Nebuchadnezzar’s brutal force. He first conquered the kingdom and
made Zedekiah his vassal. He then ended the rule of the house of David
when Zedekiah double-crossed him. Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers
murdered Zedekiah’s children in the most appalling way in front of him.
They then blinded Zedekiah and took him to Babylon. Gedaliah,
grandson of Shaphan, the high priest of Josiah, was replaced him as the
vassal of Judah. A few months later, a relative of Zedekiah assassinated
him. Those Israelites who were terrified of immediate reprisal of
Babylonian army escaped to Egypt.
They didn’t or couldn’t take the sacred content of the temple and
were shown that the assassination effort was a big mistake as the
Babylonian army returned to Jerusalem, destroyed its defensive wall,
plundered the valuable contents of the temple and other buildings and
then burnt them to the ground. The remaining Jews were deported to
Babylon. From what they took, apparently nothing but precious metallic
items were returned to Jerusalem, as reported in the Bible. As a result,
the re-composition of the books of Torah, whatever they were before
the exile, must have been due to a fresh effort after the exile, that is
almost one millennium after Moses.
Those exiles had a huge effect on the common culture and religious
belief of deported Jews, and obviously the content of the Torah.
Assyrian had their own sophisticated culture, which is believed to be
the predecessor to other system of beliefs in the region such as
Babylonian and Persian religions. How much Assyrian and Babylonian
cultures were effective in the final form of the Torah is not completely
known. Nonetheless, as an example, two of the creation stories in the
Bible have some Babylonian influences. The most obvious effect was
adopting the story of six days of creation followed by a sabbatical rest
reported in the Babylonian creation story of the Enuma Elish. Actually,
a seven-day week was originated in the Babylonian civilization. Other
nations had more days in a week but eventually every one adopted the
Babylonian version.
374
What about the influence of Persian religion on the Bible? Jews were
under Persian control from 538 until 332 BCE, from Cyrus the Great
until Darius III. However, it seems that their cultural influence on the
Torah was not as high as the previous two cultures. The reason is that
Jews were not living among Persians. They either were returned to
Jerusalem or remained settled in Babylonia.
Persia was also going through a major cultural shift during the
liberation and return of the Jews to Jerusalem. In fact, Darius I who
ruled from 522 to 486 BCE was the first king to acknowledge
Zoroastrianism. It took a while for this complex and dualist religion to
be established as the official creed of the empire. In fact, succeeding
kings followed a mixture of the new religion and older polytheism. It
was thus long after Jew’s liberation that the new religion became very
influential in all aspects of Persians’ lives. By that time, the Torah was
almost in its final shape.
Nonetheless, the Persians did not leave the Jews entirely isolated
from their own new and old religions. Moreover, the court of the Persian
king was a shrewd manipulator of the masses, using any possible
religious, economic and political means. Like the Romans, they allowed
a defeated nation to follow its own religion as long as it was supervised
and managed by their trusted agents.
It seems that Nehemiah and Ezra, who were in favour at the court of
the Persian king, were two of those individuals that it trusted, controlled
and put in power in Jerusalem. They must thus have adopted a
favourable attitude towards Persian policies in the region. Based on
historical facts, the military strategy of the Persian court in the west of
the country was to defend their kingdom against Egypt’s power, the
main threat to the Empire. They very much needed the exiled Israelites
to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city as a defensive post. The
Persians tried their best, even offering financial incentives, to influence
liberated Jews to return to their ruined city. They, additionally,
populated the city with people from other nations to revive Jerusalem.
1
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfil
the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD
375
moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a

proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing:
2
"This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: " 'The LORD, the
God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth
and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at
Jerusalem in Judah. 3Anyone of his people among you-
may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem
in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of
Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. 4And the people of any
place where survivors may now be living are to provide
him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and
with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.'
" 5Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the
priests and Levites-everyone whose heart God had moved-
prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in
Jerusalem.418
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah imply that the rebuilding of the
temple and city did not go smoothly. Apparently, there were a lot of
frictions between the Jews and other nations to the point that the
reconstruction of the temple was delayed for a long time. But another
possibility is that there was no sincere or organised will to rebuild the
temple.
Nehemiah arrived in about 444 BCE long after the temple was
rebuilt. He mended the defence wall. He also refurbished the temple
with precious furniture, including some of the sacred content of the first
temple brought back by Ezra from Babylon. But his main concern as an
appointed governor was looking after the city not rebuilding Torah.
That task was carried out by Ezra the scribe.
Ezra arrived from Babylon about 458 BCE, 80 years after the
liberation of Israelites and 14 years before Nehemiah but seems to start
his public mission after rebuilding of the wall by the governor. Some
scholars even think that he arrived in Jerusalem long after Nehemiah.
418
Ezra, 1
376
He persuaded the remaining Jews to return to Jerusalem with political

encouragement and financial support of the Persian court.
Apparently, this latecomer turned out to be the major advocate of the
purity of the nation of Israel to the point that, shortly after his arrival,
he announced interracial marriage a sinful act. Consequently, he asked
Jews to dismiss their foreign wives, husbands and children. Was not he
aware, as a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, that Moses married a
foreign wife with the full support of God?419 Did he not know other laws
related to marriage with a foreign wife? We simply don’t know if it was
his ignorance of the book of Numbers or that the book did not exist.
Also, we do not know his real motive. Most probably, he tried to isolate
and protect the Israelites from the influence of other cultures.
It appears, however, that the main task of Ezra was to rewrite the
Torah. In fact, some scholars believe that Ezra, the trustee of the Persian
Empire and a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, was the architect
behind the recollection and initial editing of the existing Torah.
13
Now I (Artaxerxes, the Persian king) decree that any of
the Israelites in my kingdom, including priests and
Levites, who wish to go to Jerusalem with you (Ezra), may
go. 14You are sent by the king and his seven advisers to
inquire about Judah and Jerusalem with regard to the Law
of your God, which is in your hand. 15Moreover, you are
to take with you the silver and gold that the king and his
advisers have freely given to the God of Israel, whose
dwelling is in Jerusalem.420
1
all the people assembled as one man in the square before
the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the
Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had
commanded for Israel. 2So on the first day of the seventh
month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the
assembly, which was made up of men and women and all
419
Numbers, 12
420
Ezra, 7
377
who were able to understand. 3He read it aloud from

daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water
Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who
could understand. And all the people listened attentively
to the Book of the Law.421
That is, Ezra produced the Book of the Law of Moses almost one
hundred and thirty years after the exile. There was no reference to the
book during all those years. Moreover, there was still no sign of the
books of Prophets, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel and Isaiah.
Accurate judgement of the texts during and after the exile and the
final compilation of the Jewish scripture is a very complicated issue due
to lack of sufficient information. But, the favourable tone of the Bible
towards Persian kings indicates the friendly relations between the
possible writers and editors of the Bible and their rulers in Persia.
Moreover, there are also some favourable passages towards the
Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. Is it thus the Bible might had been
written during the rule of Gedaliah or during the exile in Babylon? In
either case the author was not influenced or inspired by God rather by
the crushing grip of a superpower. It advocates a God who not only
always approves and glorifies the victorious kings and nations but also
in fact He plans everything that happens in the world. He chooses and
uses the victors as He pleases. War, killing innocent people and plunder
are part of His written scenario.
The following are two passages from the Torah to show the military
influence of Babylonian and Persian powers on the contents of the
Bible. Their kings are praised like a devoted and God-fearing Israelite
monarchs and prophets. Also, the passages simply reflect the foreign
policy of Babylonian and Persian Kings.
5
With my great power and outstretched arm I made the
earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I
give it to anyone I please. 6Now I will hand all your
countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of
421
Nehemiah, 8
378
Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him.

7
All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson
until the time for his land comes; then many nations and
great kings will subjugate him. 8" ' "If, however, any nation
or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that
nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the
LORD, until I destroy it by his hand. 9So do not listen to
your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams,
your mediums or your sorcerers who tell you, 'You will not
serve the king of Babylon.' 10They prophesy lies to you that
will only serve to remove you far from your lands; I will
banish you and you will perish. 11But if any nation will bow
its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve
him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it
and to live there, declares the LORD." ' "422
1
"This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before
him and to strip kings of their armour, to open doors before
him so that gates will not be shut: 2I will go before you and
will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron. 3I will give you the treasures
of darkness, riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of
Israel, who summons you by name. 4For the sake of Jacob
my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name
and bestow on you a title of honour, though you do not
acknowledge me. 5I am the LORD, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you,
though you have not acknowledged me, 6so that from the
rising of the Sun to the place of its setting men may know
there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no
other. 7I form the light and create darkness, I bring
422
Jeremiah, 27
379
prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these

things. 8"You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let
the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let
salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the
11
LORD, have created it. … "This is what the LORD says-
the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things
to come, do you question me about my children, or give
me orders about the work of my hands? … 13I will raise up
Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways
straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but
not for a price or reward, says the LORD Almighty." 14This
is what the LORD says: "The products of Egypt and the
merchandise of Cush, and those tall Sabeans- they will
come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind
you, coming over to you in chains. They will bow down
before you and plead with you, saying, 'Surely God is with
you, and there is no other; there is no other god.' "423
Apart from the Bible’s favourable tone towards the Persian kings,
there are noticeable religious influences from Zoroastrianism. These are
evident in the belief in a universal and transcendental God, who
whatever creates is good, instead of a local and tribal patron and warlord
god before the exile. The impression of the Spirit of God has its root
exclusively in Persia and it is imported into Genesis. In later writings,
we may add belief in good angels and devils, belief in Paradise for
faithful. Moses is also claimed to have spoken to God face to face as
Zoroaster.
Scholars have little information about the post-exile history of Jews
until the end of the fourth century BCE during which the Torah and
Judaism experienced its new form. After Alexander the Great defeated
the Persians and captured Palestine the Hellenistic culture had a final
effect on the formation of the Torah especially in the Writings section.
During this period, Jews translated the Torah into Greek, producing the
423
Isaiah, 45
380
version known as the Septuagint, an epic effort by seventy-two

translators.
The fact regarding the writing and collection of the Torah during and
after the exile is not our concern. We only sought the origin of the
Pentateuch and the pre-exile scriptures. Based on the Old Testament
account, there is no evidence of any sacred book until the reign of
Josiah. There are consistent reports of two tablets of stone until the reign
of Solomon. However, the reason for them going missing or their
whereabouts is not reported in the book. Therefore, according to the
Bible the stories of patriarch and all prophets before Josiah are later
composition. As the stones were also lost there is no credible evidence
for their existence and specifically their contents.
The Torah and Criticism
If dismissing the Quran or even the New Testament is really difficult

for a novice searcher of truth, it is due to the fact that those books rely
heavily on the Torah as an established divine revelation. On the other
hand, their followers try to distance themselves from the Torah and even
dismiss it as either a superseded revelation or a corrupted book. While
the religious books borrow some or all of their credibility from the
Torah and identify themselves as a logical and necessary continuation
of it, the relationship between any of those religious books and the
Torah is exceptionally strange and complex indeed.
As mentioned before, each religion has its own interpretation and
criticism of the Jewish scripture, but all of them unite in one issue, they
insist that their own prophets or divine figures are promised in the
Torah. This claim is stronger in the cases of Mohammad and Jesus, as
their missions relied completely on the truth of the contents of the Torah
and built on its support;
381
157
Those who follow the Apostle, the unlettered Prophet
(Muhammad), whom they find mentioned in their own
(Scriptures), in the Law (the Torah) and the Gospel.424
45
"But do not think I will accuse you before the Father.
Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46If
you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote
about me. 47But since you do not believe what he wrote,
how are you going to believe what I say?"425
Even Elijah Mohammad insisted that he was the promised Elijah of

the Torah. One reason for these false claims is the fact that those false
prophets needed as much support as they could muster from existing
and established religious beliefs, thus, they moulded the content of the
Torah to fit their own mission or understanding of the divine plan for
humanity.
Another reason, which became clear from the study of Christianity,
is that the Torah is full of promises for future generations and, thus, is
open to abuse. A good example is the list of the promised divine figures
that Jews were expecting about the time of the advent of John the Baptist
and Jesus Christ. John the Baptist, being honest, would not accept
representing the return of any of them while others could not resist the
temptation and introduced themselves, like Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian
or the Bab, the embodiment of one or an amalgamation of all expected
divine figures.
13
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he
asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man
is?" 14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say
Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
424
Quran, 7
425
John, 5
382
16
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God."426
After the Torah collected in a book, Jews considered its content so

sacred that no one dared to question or criticise it. Even as late as the
thirteenth century Jewish scholars like Maimonides and Kimhi tried to
interpret the Torah rationally and allegorically rather than argue against
the integrity of its content. The most damning attack from within any
Jewish society on the Old Testament could only be found in the book
itself. For example,
8
" 'How can you say, "We are wise, for we have the law of
the LORD," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has
handled it falsely? 427
As the scripture was found to be full of errors, based on obsolete and

short-sighted outlooks, it was necessary to either abandon the book or
revitalize it by giving it a variety of new characteristics and faces.
Several complementing methods were gradually devised including:
 Oral Torah; for a continuous fresh face in dealing with
mainly social issues.
 Allegorical interpretation; for continuous rational
interpretation
 Esoteric characteristic; for explaining blatant errors and
infusing secret meaning
 Prophetic characteristic; for a miraculous attribute. The
contemporary version of this technique is the charade of the
Bible Code.
 Continuous inspiration and revelation; to authenticate any
new interpretation and explanation.
Each method has become a world of its own without any limit in its
inventive ideas. Obviously, all methods were and are wide open to
426
Matthew, 16
427
Jeremiah, 8
383
abuse. In fact, Christians used all new tools to create their own DIY
religion to the chagrin of Jews.
Allegorical and other interpretation of the Torah may explain away
some blatant errors and discrepancies in the book but not all of them. In
effect it creates lasting deceptive problems. Firstly, the Torah has
become a playground for any imaginative idea. One clear and
widespread example has been the idea of the original sin devised by
Paul and followed by billions of Christians since.
The problem is that each story can be interpreted in numerous
different ways as Philo has clearly shown in the story of Cane and Able.
To limit the inventiveness and stopping faithful proposing any wild and
out of mark interpretation some rabbis have proposed a central thread
or theme which all interpretations should revolve around it; such as love
or compassion. Yet again these criteria are completely arbitrary.
On the other hand, which part of the book should be interpreted say
allegorically and who decides? Should one consider the whole book as
a mystical writing only because it is strewn with errors throughout?
Should the sections for treating leprosy and mildew be treated
allegorically or mystically too?
Finally, what is the point if each verse can be interpreted in more
than three million ways? The rabbis have forgotten their own premise
that the purpose of revelation is not occupying them with a word game
but providing humanity with clear commandments and guidance. We
are supposed not be able to conduct our life ourselves as we are not able
to find the best way, knowledge and moral codes. We therefore need the
guidance of God. God is also supposed answering human concerns and
its big questions not confusing it with witchcraft. If each verse can be
interpreted in numerous different ways, then we are back to our
guideless dilemma.
Christians’ Criticism
Early Christians had several good reasons for separating themselves

from Jews. Jews were actively irritating them. Apart from Jesus’s strong
criticism of Pharisees and Sadducees and their apparent involvement in
384
his trial another good example is the story of Saul who fervently stalked
Christians from city to city to prosecute them. He later claimed that in
one of his journeys, on the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him and
rebuked him. He subsequently repented, became a devoted Christian
and changed his name to Paul.
Later with the weakness of Jews, the enmity between the two
religions evolved into a fierce rivalry which even reached to sacred
writings.
Among these writings is the apocryphal book of 2 Esdras, ascribed
to Ezra, written around the end of first century CE. The author expresses
his grief about life and confides to God that as all the copies of the Torah
were burnt, people are left with no books and, thus, did not know the
content of their sacred writings. He pleaded with God to send the Holy
Spirit to inspire him in rewriting the scriptures. He, with the help of five
scribes in forty days, wrote 94 books, 24 books of the Torah and 70
secret books for wise people.
Scholars believe that Christians wrote 2 Esdras. The exact motive
for this text is unknown, although their rivalry with Jews is suggested.
However, it shows that even rival Christians believed that God inspired
the content of the Torah, despite the loss of the original copies by fire.
Whether the loss of the Torah by fire was a known fact at the time or a
fabricated story is not apparent.
Gentile Christians, having contempt for the law of the Torah,
gradually separated themselves from Judaism during the first two
centuries. Some reached the conclusion that with the advent of Jesus,
the Torah had been rendered obsolete and its only use was its witness to
the Gospels and Jesus.
This trend culminated in the claim of Marcion (85-160) and his many
followers that the Torah was no longer needed and should be discarded
as the Christians’ sacred scripture. Marcion reflected on the stark
differences between the two Testaments, especially their Gods and
moral codes. He went so far as to accuse Yahweh of barbarism against
humanity and His past prophets of lewdness. The problem with this type
of statements was that the follower of the new religion knew better that
Christianity and the Messiahship of Jesus were unjustified without the
385
prophecies of the Torah and the stories of those lewd kings and prophets
and its barbaric god. In fact, the New Testament becomes unintelligible
without the prophecies of the Old Testament.
Thus, after some deliberation, a revised version of the Old Testament
was eventually included in the holy book of Christians and defended as
its supporting pole without which the New Testament becomes
incoherent and baseless. The revision was carried out to draw attention
to the prophecies relating to the arrival of the Messiah by including the
apocryphal Book of Malachi at the end of the Torah, making the two
Testaments seamlessly related. Nonetheless, by lowering the status of
the Torah some early Christian Fathers, like St. Augustine (354-430),
were able to question the extraordinary events or irrational statements
mentioned in the Torah, especially, in the book of Genesis.
As any irrationality or error in the Torah was not helpful for
Christianity, they had no choice but to deny their own judgement. Their
best solution was to copy Jews and not to read the Torah literally. Their
efforts were then largely focused on a new interpretation of the Holy
Scripture not on rejecting the factual integrity of its contents. Some
early Fathers such as St. Gregory of Nyssa (died circa 385) thus
suggested that one should look for allegorical interpretations and
mystical meanings beneath the mask of plain texts. This approach
presented the book with a gloss of mystery and granted it with extra
credibility by interpreting difficult parts allegorically.
Muslims’ Criticism
As mentioned before, the Quran accepted both the Torah and the
Gospel as two highly respected and infallible revealed books and invited
the contemporary Jews in Arabia to study, contemplate and obey the
Torah as the true revelation of God.
93
All food was lawful to the Children of Israel, except what
Israel made unlawful for itself, before the Law (of Moses)
386
was revealed. Say: "Bring you the Law (the Torah) and
study it, if you be men of truth."428
This verse and verse 7:157 quoted earlier in this section show
emphatically that Muhammad was convinced of the integrity and divine
origin of the Torah. His companions and early Muslims readily accepted
this judgment. Like Muhammad they had no access to the content of the
Torah, be it language barrier or inaccessibility of the book in remote
Arabian settlements. This was the situation during rapid territorial
expansion and then long power struggle. They were also confident
enough of their book not to bother about the Bible and its content for a
long time. An obvious example of this acceptance is references to the
Torah as a reliable revealed source in Hadith collections. They reported
that the prophet Muhammad resolved various disputes among Jews in
accordance to the existing Jewish scripture.
However, when Muslims had the chance to study the Old Testament,
they found to their horror that the personality and behaviour of some of
the highly praised prophets in the Quran did not match with what is
actually recorded in the Torah. Their behaviour did not measure up in
any way to the high moral standard of the Quran which all past prophets
had supposedly followed. They had also learned from the Quran that the
Torah has been revealed to Moses as the criterion for right and wrong.
It was not found to be so either.
48
In the past We granted to Moses and Aaron the
criterion (for judgment), and a Light and a Message for
those who would do right,- 429
12
And before this, was the Book of Moses as a guide
and a mercy: And this Book confirms (it) in the Arabic
tongue; to admonish the unjust, and as Glad Tidings to
those who do right.430
428
Quran, 3
429
Quran, 21
430
Quran, 46
387
The Quran glorifies the prophets and kings of the Torah. They are
all considered as the sublime symbol of morality and wisdom with
perfect lifestyle in service of God. Therefore, against the clear judgment
of the Quran and early Muslims they dismissed the existing Torah - and
along with it the New Testament for different reasons - as corrupted and
distorted books.
As a result of this new and widespread judgement, Muslims studied
the Bible with an unsympathetic approach. Muslim scholars or even
Jews in Muslim countries, like Isaac Ibn Yashush and Rabbi Ben Ezra
(Ibn Ezra), questioned the integrity of some parts of it based on its
comparison with the content of the Quran, historical data, and analysis
of the text. For example, Isaac Ibn Yashush noted that Moses could not
have listed the eight kings of Edomite in Genesis 36, since they lived
long after him.
It should be emphasised again that the Quran depicts all prophets
mentioned in the Bible as highly pious and infallible individuals a far
cry from the devious and sinful people introduced in the Torah. For
example, the Quran does not report the story of drunken Lot and his
sleeping with his two daughters or Jacob cheating his father, Isaac, and
his older brother, Esau, to be the sole heir to the family wealth and
status. It is true that the Quran approves of the forceful expansion of the
twelve Israelite tribes into Palestine and glorifies Kings David and
Solomon but it is silent about the ensuing genocides. There is no
reference to sawing prisoners of war to pieces and the burning brick
kilns in which king David roasted to death captured men, women and
children.
Being aware of the content of the Old Testament, Muslim scholars,
like some early Christian Fathers, could not believe the gruesome
accounts of the book and had to distance themselves from these
atrocities and appalling immoralities. The contradiction was so striking
that the only option available to them was to dismiss the Torah as a
counterfeit set of books ascribed wrongly to God. They may have also
referred to some verses in the Bible such as Jeremiah 8:8, quoted earlier,
to back up their new claim.
388
To explain the contradiction between their own verdict and the

Quran, they argued that the Quran refers to the original and uncorrupted
Torah not the existing distorted one. But the fact is that there is no such
issue as the lost and an extant Torah in the Quran and Muslims clearly
contradict their own revealed book when they dismiss the existing
Bible.
In any case, while the hypothetical original but vanished Torah was
still regarded as a highly respected book among Muslims, a revealed
book, the existing Torah was dismissed as the work of corrupt priests.
The latter was believed to have been written to justify the authors’ own
shortfalls, atrocities and corruptions. Thus, Muslims have completely
shielded themselves of any attack on the Bible whereas Christians incur
the harm of any critical blow on Judaism and its scripture. However,
and this is an important point, when it was necessary and beneficial, the
existing forged Bible with all its shortfalls and corruptions was
considered reliable enough to refer to in Islamic discourses. Its main use
was of course the supposed announcement of Muhammad as a future
prophet.
Criticism after Reformation
The Reformation changed the attitude of Bible criticism in the West.

Scholars began to doubt the reliability and integrity of the Bible. They
hesitated to relate its content to an omniscient God, which made the
religious authorities react with cursing, imprisonment or
excommunication of the writers and blacklisting their writings. The new
analysis started when inquisitive individuals noticed a strange style,
obvious discrepancies and repetitions in the Old Testament. For
example, they found that Pentateuch consistently refers to Moses in the
third person or following the flood people lived more than four hundred
years after God set a limit for maximum age of human being to one
hundred and twenty years. Also, Moses was unlikely to have written
about his own death in the Pentateuch.
8
The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab
thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was
389
over. 9Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of
wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the
Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had
commanded Moses. 10Since then, no prophet has risen in
Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 431
They then noted and questioned the geographical, historical and

logical problems and finally they analysed the text and style of writing
for deeper investigation. Jewish scholar, Spinoza, championed the
critical analysis and the study of the history of the Torah by confirming
the conclusions of his suspicious predecessors. He found out that
isolated problematic cases were just the tip of the iceberg when he
highlighted the prevalent inconsistencies throughout the Pentateuch. He
also noticed the later authorship of the Torah. For example, he cited
Deuteronomy 34:10 (quoted above) to conclude that the writer was
aware of many Israelite prophets after Moses to pass his judgment about
them, “Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses”.
In the past two centuries, scholars, drawing on archaeology,
linguistic analysis, ancient history and newly discovered old copies,
have put the Torah under new examination. German scholar J.
Wellhausen published the most well-known accounts of these studies
about 1876. Based on the Hebrew version of the Pentateuch, he agreed
with the disapproving attitude of some of his predecessors towards the
Bible by concluding that the existing Pentateuch was assembled in
about the 5th century BCE. It was composed by combining four distinct
sources from four different time frames. An editor or a team of editors
made an apparently seamless story from these sources adding, naturally,
now and again some comments of their own, or including a few facts
borrowed from known foreign ideas and unknown other sources. It was
shown that the structure of the text and the use of dissimilar words
betray the differences between different accounts.
Since the identity of the authors of the different sources were not
known, letter names, namely J, E, D (probably written by Jeremiah432)
431
Deuteronomy, 34
432
FRIEDMAN, R. E., Who Wrote the Bible, London, Jonathan Cape, 1988
390
and P were assigned to the sources. The conclusion at the time was that
J or the Yahwistic source (the source in which the God of Israel is called
Yahweh) was composed around the 10th century, E or the Elohistic
account was composed around the 9th century, D or the Deuteronomist
source dates to 7th century and finally P or the Priestly account, which
is the largest section dates from about 6th century. The latter is the
account that contains the bulk of the laws and rituals not considered in
other sources. It thus suggests their later developments by a priestly
system. However, recent research suggests its composition before the D
source.
The fact is that, despite the best efforts of the editors the stories in
the Bible are not flawless. The obvious problem is that some of the
events are reported from two or more sources. There are thus clear
variations in detail, contradictions and even plagiarism. For example:
 In the J source Moses’ father-in-law is called Reuel433 whereas he is
called Jethro in the E source434.
 In the flood story the P source suggests that Noah was ordered to
take one pair of each kind of animal to the ark435 whereas the J source
believes he was asked to take extra six pairs of clean animals in
addition to the animals in the P source436.
 Isaiah 37 is the exact copy of II Kings 19, also the last two verses in
II chronicle 36 is repeated exactly in Ezra 1:1-3.
One significant example of repetitions and differences in the

Pentateuch is the existence of three records of the Ten Commandments
from three sources. They are recorded in Exodus 20 from P,
Deuteronomy 5 from D, and Exodus 34 from J sources.437 The first two
versions are almost identical, except for the two different justifications
for keeping Sabbath, but the last version is starkly different. This
version was supposed to be the contents of the second set of two stone
tablets after Moses smashed the first set in anger. The new
433
i.e. Exodus 2:18
434
i.e. Exodus 3:1
435
Genesis 7:8
436
Genesis 7:2
437
391
commandments are count as the Ten Commandment because they are

recognised so by the Bible itself.
27
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these
words, for in accordance with these words I have made a
28
covenant with you and with Israel." Moses was there
with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating
bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the
words of the covenant - the Ten Commandments. 29When
Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets
of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his
face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.438
The two dissimilar lists are quoted below from the Holman Christian
Standard Bible.
Exodus 20 Exodus 34
1. 3 Do not have other gods besides 1. 12

Be careful not to make a
Me. treaty with the inhabitants of
the land that you are going to
enter; otherwise, they will
become a snare among you.
13
Instead, you must tear
down their altars, smash their
sacred pillars, and chop down
14
their Asherah poles. You
are to never bow down to
another god because the
LORD, being jealous by
nature, is a jealous God.
438
Exodus, 34
392
15
2. Do not make an idol for yourself, 2. Do not make a treaty with
whether in the shape of anything the inhabitants of the land, or
in the heavens above or on the else when they prostitute
earth below or in the waters themselves with their gods
under the earth. 5You must not and sacrifice to their gods,
bow down to them or worship they will invite you, and you
them; for I, the LORD your will eat of their sacrifice.
16
God, am a jealous God, Then you will take some of
punishing the children for the their daughters [as brides] for
fathers' sin, to the third and your sons. Their daughters
fourth [generations] of those will prostitute themselves
6
who hate Me, but showing with their gods and cause
faithful love to a thousand your sons to prostitute
[generations] of those who love themselves with their gods.
Me and keep My commands.
3. 7 Do not misuse the name of the 3. 17Do not make cast images of
LORD your God, because the gods for yourselves.
LORD will punish anyone who
misuses His name.
8 18
4. Remember to dedicate the 4. Observe the Festival of
9
Sabbath day: You are to labor Unleavened Bread. You are
six days and do all your work, to eat unleavened bread for
10
but the seventh day is a seven days at the appointed
Sabbath to the LORD your God. time in the month of Abib as
You must not do any work— I commanded you. For you
you, your son or daughter, your came out of Egypt in the
male or female slave, your month of Abib.
livestock, or the foreigner who
11
is within your gates. For the
LORD made the heavens and
the earth, the sea, and everything
in them in six days; then He
rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the
393
Sabbath day and declared it

holy.
12 19
5. Honor your father and your 5. The firstborn male from
mother so that you may have a every womb belongs to Me,
long life in the land that the including all your male
LORD your God is giving you. livestock, the firstborn of
20
cattle or sheep. You must
redeem the firstborn of a
donkey with a sheep, but if
you do not redeem [it], break
its neck. You must redeem all
the firstborn of your sons. No
one is to appear before Me
empty-handed.
13 21
6. Do not murder. 6. You are to labor six days but
(Q)
you must rest on the
seventh day; you must even
rest during plowing and
harvesting times.
7. 14 Do not commit adultery. 7. 22
Observe the Festival of
Weeks with the first fruits of
the wheat harvest, and the
Festival of Ingathering at the
turn of the [agricultural] year.
23
Three times a year all your
males are to appear before
the Lord GOD, the God of
24
Israel. For I will drive out
nations before you and
enlarge your territory. No
one will covet your land
when you go up three times a
year to appear before the
LORD your God.
394
8. 15 Do not steal. 8. 25Do not present the blood for

My sacrifice with anything
leavened. The sacrifice of the
Passover Festival must not
remain until morning.
16 26
9. Do not give false testimony 9. Bring the best first fruits of
against your neighbor. your land to the house of the
LORD your God.
10. 17 Do not covet your neighbor's 10. You must not boil a young
house. Do not covet your goat in its mother's milk.
neighbor's wife, his male or
female slave, his ox or donkey,
or anything that belongs to your
neighbor.
Later scholars have identified more than four sources. There is

currently a tendency among some scholars to regard all the sources as
post-exile writings. It seems that they were written by different and rival
lineages of priests whose initial origins were in the two kingdoms of
Israel. Each author tried to secure his own interests by, for example,
promoting his own ancestors as the rightful priests to perform Temple
duties. All in all, though the origin of each source has been linked to a
specific group, time and place, the authors and times of recording of
these sources cannot be known exactly. Also, we do not know the extent
of each source the editors used in the final form.
All things considered, the existence of different accounts has made
the Torah a rich mine of contradiction and inconsistency throughout.
The differences between various descriptions are often so distinctive
that some scholars believe each version might have been a completely
independent account from the others. For example, they try to prove that
there have been two different Mosseses439 or five Abrahams12 (one
Hebrew, one Aramean, one from Yemen, one from Beersheba and one
439
PHILLIPS, G., The Moses Legacy: The Evidence of History, London, Pan
Macmillan, 2003
395
of Genesis 15) combined together in the stories of the Bible as one

person.
External Evidence
What about external confirmation of the events in the Bible?

Historical records of surrounding countries of the time do not support
the earlier stories in the Bible. According to the Bible, Israel (Jacob)
lived about 2000 BCE, Moses’ triumphant return from Egypt took place
about 1450 BCE and David was the victorious king of Israel around
1000 BCE. However, there is not a single historical source outside the
Torah to correspond to the biblical accounts during the first thousand
years of Israel’s existence.
The earliest document in which the name of Israel or anything
related to the stories in the Bible has been mentioned is an Egyptian
stele of about 1210 BCE. The stele is a poetic eulogy to Pharaoh
Merneptah, at the end of which the name of Israel is included among
other defeated nations crushed by the Pharaoh. The next document is
the stele of Mesha, king of Moab about 830 BCE. The text records
achievements and cruelties of the king, defeating the king of Israel and
capturing the vessels of Yahweh. The mere mention of Israel in two
steles is, thus, the only external records of about 1200 years of the
history of Israel but not its religion or books.
There is no doubt that the nation of Israel was in Palestine for
centuries before 1000 BCE. The latest studies show that the people
either migrated peacefully to the area or were, like others, natives of
Palestine. The latter is supported by DNA tests of the Palestinians and
Israelis living in the state of Israel.440 Moreover, Israel is a Canaanite
name consisting of Isra, meaning fight for/with, and El who was
Canaanite’s leading deity or common name for god in Canaan.
Therefore, this very name betrays the association of the nation to El and
Canaan. Historical records, however, do not support the escape of a
440
STURGIS, M., It Ain't Necessarily So: Investigating the Truth of the
Biblical Past; introduction by John McCarthy, London, Headline, 2001.
396
confederation of twelve tribes, a million or so in number, from Egypt

who subsequently occupied the land by force, as recorded in the Bible.
What about archaeological records? After decades of investigations
in Palestine, no clear evidence has been found for the biblical stories.
There is no archaeological support for Noah’s flood, slavery in Egypt,
Joshua’s victory or David’s and Solomon’s grand kingdoms despite
considerable excavations of the numerous sites, sponsored by devout
religious organisations, museums and universities around the world. It
is interesting to learn that these archaeological efforts have resulted in
finding many other forgotten civilizations in the area.
On the other hand, the diplomatic correspondences of the two
Pharaohs of Egypt, Amenhotep III and Akhetaten, show that Canaan
was a province of Egypt at the time when Israelites were supposed to
have arrived and conquered the land of Palestine. This is backed by the
discovery of numerous Egyptian sites, both residential compounds and
military outposts, in the area. These findings are a denial of the Bible
story regarding the Israelites’ escape from Egypt. Moreover,
archaeological evidence does not confirm that Joshua captured any of
the cities that the Bible, extravagantly in two different versions, claims
he conquered. Around that time, from the fourteenth to the twelfth
century BCE, almost all the cities were either uninhabited or intact.
Some religious scholars have used irrelevant archaeological findings
and have tried to relate them to the Bible’s story. But such connections
rely too much on the imagination to have any weight. For example,
recent archaeological studies have discovered that around 5600 BCE,
approximately at the end of the last ice age, the level of water of the
Mediterranean Sea gradually rose and eventually connected to the Black
Sea through the Bosporus Strait. The Black Sea was then a small fresh
water lake at a much lower level compared to the global water level.
This connection was the cause of a gigantic flood and enlargement of
the Black Sea.
God is supposed to have written the Bible; thus, it must comply with
fact. However, the story of the Flood in the Bible can’t be related to this
natural phenomenon. The former story is reported as a global calamity
while the latter was not a global deluge at all. Moreover, what was the
397
reason to save all the animals in the Ark or report that God punished the
whole of mankind and drowned them all? Simply, the details of the
flood story in the Bible are clear evidence that there is no actual link
between new archaeological findings and Noah’s Flood.
The lack of archaeological evidence for the Bible text is so pressing
that some scholars suggest diverse ideas for the origin of these stories.
One recent proposal is that the geographic location of the Bible was in
Arabia not in Palestine, based purely on Biblical place-name analysis of
the text compared with names of places in Arabia441.
So far, we have observed that the Bible does not comply with various
scientific disciplines and its own claim of being a collection of infallible
books from God, revealed to several prophets. Like the New Testament
the cornerstone of the Torah, Pentateuch, is not one reliable book. It is
an amalgamation of several writings, which is strewn with error,
contradictions and repetitions. This fact in itself reveals its forged
nature. One might withdraw at this point and conclude that Judaism is
yet another evolved myth with no solid and divine root. This cannot be
far from truth.
It was highly likely that the liberated Jews, like Black African-
Americans at the beginning of the twentieth century, tried to create a
new grand identity and splendid ancestral history for themselves. The
nation of Israel, similarly, used popular Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian,
Greek and Roman myth and mixed them with their own folklore and
then attributed the story to God. Nonetheless, it would be worthwhile
to inspect the main content of the book and appreciate its message for
humanity. It might be beneficial to find out what the Bible contains that
has so much fascinated and hypnotized humans for so long. In other
words, the Bible might not be a pure revelation from God but perhaps
its content is admirable, credible and useful to human life. Therefore, in
the next section the contents of the Pentateuch will be browsed for this
purpose.
441
SALIBI, K. S., The Bible Came from Arabia, London, Jonathan Cape, 1985
398
God in the Beginning
Who am I?
Why am I here?
What is my destination?
It is a well-known fact that the creation story recorded in Genesis is

one of the main reasons for many educated people to dismiss Judaism,
and along with it the whole idea of God and religion. There are several
illogical and unscientific statements in the creation story that are a
source of embarrassment and disappointment for learned Jews and
Christians. For example, in verses 7-8 the Bible states that God created
heaven or the sky to separate two firmaments of waters. Also, the Sun
and the Moon were created in the fourth day, that is after four mornings
and evenings, and after the creation of all kind of plants, those that bear
grains and fruits. Later it asserts that snakes eat only dust following the
serpent’s conspiracy against the will of God!
The creation story is not only contrary to logical and scientific
understanding of the world but also the composition of the story proves
the findings of religious scholars that the existing Torah is not one
revealed scripture, rather a mixture of several sources combined by a
very skilful editor. Based solely on the first five Chapters it becomes
clear that the creation story is obviously a polished combination of at
least three different accounts of the then earlier or existing stories. The
first story is told in Genesis 1:1-2:3 immediately followed by the second
account in Genesis 2:4-25.
There are discrepancies in these stories. For example, while the first
account puts the creation of animals before the creation of Adam and
Eve, in the second source animals are created after Adam in the Garden
of Eden, followed by Eve as a companion to Adam. There is also a third
version at the beginning of Chapter five. This version does not cover the
creation of the world and starts its account from the creation of the first
man and woman. In this version, the first-born child of Adam and Eve
is called Seth whereas the second version names him as Cain.
399
Besides the obvious contradictions, the universe and life in Genesis

are based on a pure earth-centric worldview. Even God himself lives
on earth in the Garden of Eden. The Sun, the Moon and stars are put in
the heavens to govern day and night on earth. Heaven, at the same time,
is created to separate the two sources of water, one on the surface of
earth and one above as the cause of rain. The writer, ignorant of the
cycle of water on the planet earth, has solved the enigmatic phenomenon
of rain by putting a source of water on top of the heaven. This idea was
copied from the Sumerian creation story442, which was also reproduced
in a hymn to Ra from the Papyrus of Hunefer. Heaven, as a
consequence, is uninhabited, simply the place for different sources of
light. It is sandwiched between the Earth and the firmament of water on
top of it. No angels or other creatures live there as believers now
assume. It seems there is no place to live other than Earth, and no better
place than the Garden of Eden.
God himself is a very down to earth and human-like God. He walks
in the Garden, is ignorant of what his creatures are doing behind his
back and his creatures can hide themselves from him among the trees.
If we remember that the gods and goddesses of antiquity were usually
created with human body then the writers of the Torah simply reversed
the action by pointing out that Yahweh created Adam in his own image.
While God is gullible, one of his creatures, the crafty serpent, is not
and besides being more honest can reason with better logic and
persuasion. Very soon, it completely ruined God’s plan after His six
days of hard work. The punishment of the unwise Adam, (surely, he was
not wise enough to know good from bad before eating the fruits of the
tree), was expulsion from the Garden, beyond the oasis, to an unfruitful
and barren land. All women were also punished with subjection to men
and pain during childbirth.
One ironic point is that God in his encounter with Adam committed
the first sin in the whole world by lying to him and made a false
prophecy. He warned Adam of immediate death if he dared to eat from
the Tree of Knowledge.
442
KRAMER, S. N., History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts in Man's
Recorded History, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981
400
16
And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free
17
to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat
from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when
(in the day, according to NRSV) you eat of it you will
surely die."443
Adam did not die after eating from the tree. He was condemned to a
new harsh life outside the garden because he, not Eve, became wise and
comparable to God or gods. Speaking of death, there is no provision of
any other existence beyond this life. God was in fact worried that Adam
might as well eat from the tree of life and live forever.444 Actually, this
worry was one of the reasons why Adam and Eve were banished from
the Garden of Eden. There is no talk of any life after death, let alone
eternal life either in Heaven or Hell, not even when they were in the
Garden as a gardener. There is no mention of what happened to the
mysterious garden and its maintenance either, since according to the
book of Genesis God created Adam “to dress it and to keep it”445 for
Him.
As mentioned, it seems that the two Creation Stories could not have
been written by anybody familiar with the Egyptian civilization where
the idea of an afterlife was common and well established. It is most
probable that the story was partly influenced by Babylonian, Assyrian
and Persian cultures.
Babylonian influence can be detected from the theme of a woman
and a cunning snake robbing Gilgamesh of his immortality. Snake in
the Babylonian culture was the symbol of knowledge of life renewal.
Other signs of Babylonian influence are mention of Euphrates, Tigris446
and the sabbatical rest after six days of creation by God. Also, there is
a parallel between the six-day creation story in the Bible and six steps
443
Genesis, 2
444
Genesis, 3:22
445
Genesis, 2:15
446
Genesis, 2:14. The names of two more rivers mentioned in Genesis are
Pishon, which supposedly runs through the entire land of Havilah, and Gihon
which flows through the whole land of Cush. They are yet to be definitely
identified with any existing river.
401
of creation in Enuma Elish. The latter story of the Tower of Babylon

reinforces the impact.
Assyrian influence can be detected from the story of Sumerian gods’
divine garden. They created or begat a gardener to look after the garden.
Like Adam, he also was allowed to eat from all of its products except
possibly one. Somehow, he was cursed, transformed to a mortal
individual and expelled from the garden.
Persian influence is evident from the borrowing of the idea of spirit
of God from Zoroastrian religion and emphasizing the goodness of
God’s creation.
Some argue that the creation story does not resemble a scientific
statement of factual occurrence but, like a parable or poem, is a
metaphor of creation. Even we accept this argument, the truth is that
numerous people and groups have considered the creation story as an
undeniable fact. An obvious example is the belief of the majority of
Christians in the existence of original sin, upon which the whole
theological structure of Christianity is based. Moreover, what is the
purpose of making illogical and unscientific statements? Where was the
harm if the creation of the Sun was recorded first in the Creation Story
before light, day and night on the earth? Where was the harm if the
source of rain was stated correctly rather than setting a water reservoir
on top of heaven? Would it not have been proven beyond doubt to later
generations that the author was really an omniscient entity if the
circulation of water on the earth had been described correctly? In short,
why didn’t God give the facts of creation in a logical order, instead of
contradictive repetition, and why is the story at odds with scientific
discoveries?
How does this story enlighten an enquirer about the facts of life and
elucidate the place of human beings in the universe? What is the answer
to, ‘Who am I’ and ‘Why am I here’? The answer in the second version
of the Creation Story is that God wanted a dumb keeper for the Garden
of Eden; just a slow-witted gardener and nothing else. What is the
difference between this illogical story and the creation story dictated by
W.D. Fard and his followers? Why is this God so clumsy as to let man
end up having a miserable life, all because He created a foolish creature
402
forever living an idiotic life; a mechanical artefact who could not see
good from evil? What was good in the eye of God became so anguishing
indeed for humans. To summarize, the Bible has definitely no answer
to any profound philosophical questions whatsoever.
It appears that until the revelation of the Ten Commandments there
was no law given to humans to regulate their lives. Having eaten the
forbidden fruit, they knew good from evil and there was no need to send
any extra instructions. The only responsibility of selective human
beings was settled as a covenant between God and Abraham. Abraham
and his descendants were promised the land of Canaan if they were
circumcised.
Humanity did not stay untroubled though. It seems that God did not
predict the outcome of interaction between people on the surface of the
unkind earth, after their disgraceful fall or expulsion. People might have
distinguished between good and evil but interactions between weak but
insatiable human beings were far more complicated than God could
predict from the beginning. Consequently, their wicked conduct was not
pleasing to God at all. To solve this unseen problem, He involved
himself in the life of humanity and used his only weapon, harsh but
inconsistent and perplexing punishment.
This unpredictability made things more confusing. It was more
difficult, if not impossible, to differentiate between good and bad
behaviour, to discern the rule of the game and find the norm of life.
Sometimes it was exactly the situation where the parable ‘strain at a
gnat but swallow a camel’ applied. For example, Ham’s son, Canaan,
and his descendants were condemned to be slaves to his uncles and their
descendants forever, just because Ham saw his father’s naked body
while he was sleeping in his tent. Noah was in this compromising
situation as he got drunk after drinking some wine made from his own
vineyard.447 Strangely, the supposed criminal, Ham, and his other three
sons448 were spared from any due punishment. Moreover, God seems to
have assumed the role of a blind executioner here, since Noah sets the
punishment as if his word automatically and without any critical
447
Genesis 9:21
448
According to Genesis 10:6 Ham’s sons were Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan
403
assessment was accepted and executed by God. On the other hand, God
not only did not punished Abraham for seeing the naked body of his
sister but also blessed his marriage with her.
After the expulsion, God is always around the corner and watches
all human’s activities in order to judge and punish or reward. When Cain
killed his own brother, God personally meted out his punishment. Cain
was set free instead of being severely punished for killing his brother.
Cain’s punishment was to be merely a fugitive on the earth. However,
he soon married, God knows with whom because apparently apart from
him only Adam and Eve were dwelling on the surface of the Earth at
that time, had a son and settled down and built a city! In simple words,
he was made a vagabond as his punishment for a murder but later settled
down without God’s disapproval.
Apparently, God did not live in the Garden of Eden any more. He
probably dwelt on mountain tops but sometimes came down on earth,
appeared to some, wrestled with Jacob, confided and discussed his
genocide plan with Abraham, enabled his barren wife to become
pregnant and punished wicked people. Sometimes he is portrayed as a
vigilante gang leader. For example, He appeared to Abraham
accompanied with his angels, all in human form, in their way to punish
his unruly creatures. He ate with his two companions from what
Abraham prepared for them, and then rested under the shadow of trees.
He promised to return to Abraham the following year.
Thus, the idea of God, in the mind of the writers of the Bible, was
totally anthropomorphic. He was almost a powerful and brutal mindless
vigilant thug and not, for example, an omnipresent, omniscient and
mighty divine being as it is portrayed by any contemporary Jewish
group. The wrestling with Jacob is a good example of the notion of God
in the mind of writers of the Torah. He is depicted as a weak nocturnal
human being. He did not even know the name of his creature. The story
is narrated as follows:
22
That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two
maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of
the Jabbok. 23After he had sent them across the stream, he
404
sent over all his possessions. 24So Jacob was left alone, and
25
a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man
saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the
socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he
wrestled with the man. 26Then the man said, "Let me go,
for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go
unless you bless me." 27The man asked him, "What is your
name?" "Jacob," he answered. 28Then the man said, "Your
name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have
struggled with God and with men and have overcome."
29
Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."
But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he
blessed him there. 30So Jacob called the place Peniel (face
of God), saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and
yet my life was spared."449
After the Flood, God sometime delegated due punishment to people

and sometimes to his various angels or sons of God. No explanation
about the nature and origin of the latter type of creature is given. In both
cases, the proportion of punishment to crime was irrelevant, and it did
not concern God to inject a bit of sanity into the world. He also promised
unmeasured and unfulfilled rewards to a few devoted individuals. For
example:
14
The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him,
"Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and
south, east and west. 15All the land that you see I will give
16
to you and your offspring forever. I will make your
offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could
count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 450
Gradually, God became more remote from human life and he and
his command centre moved to heaven. He left earth to its people. After
449
Genesis, 32
450
Genesis, 13
405
the move to heaven, occasionally angels carried his messages to human

beings on earth. Nonetheless, from heaven, He was still very involved
in the life of apparently devout people. For example, he ordered
Abraham to migrate to Canaan and helped him whenever he got into
trouble during his journey.
Now that God had ascended to the sky and could not be seen by his
people, he desired due recognition and worship by humans.
Additionally, he tested the degree of one’s faith and devotion. He even
did not tolerate the slightest doubt of his ability to perform miracles as
He got annoyed by Sarai (Sarah) who innocently but logically thought
that at her old age she could not bear a child. The original gardener had
now to handle his life to the satisfaction of a changing and more
demanding God. The result was more mayhem and punishment.
The First Massacre!

After the story of Adam and Eve and their children, sons of God
(gods) unexpectedly appeared on the scene who took the daughters of
men for wives. Yet again unpredictably, giants, Nephilim, appeared on
earth! These stories are totally incomprehensible. The following versus
shows the difficulties the editors of the Bible had when they tried to
connect these various unrelated issues together and project some
meaning or logic to it.
1
When men began to increase in number on the earth and
daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God saw that the
daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of
them they chose. 3Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will
not contend (My spirit will not remain in) with man
forever, for he is mortal (corrupt); his days will be a
hundred and twenty years."
4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-and also
afterward-when the sons of God went to the daughters of
406
men and had children by them. They were the heroes of

old, men of renown.451
After all these ambiguous statements which do not seem to relate to

anything at all, God suddenly decided that the human race was wicked
beyond His wildest expectations and decided to eradicate not only
mankind but also every beast and creeping thing and the fowls of the air
without explaining what wickedness and violation of human beings
deserved this punishment. To eliminate humanity, including innocent
children, from the surface of the Earth God wanted to wipe out
everything.
Surprisingly, he did not eradicate humans and managed to save all
the animals as well. Finally, after receiving burnt offerings from Noah
God decided not to do it again, why, because he remembered that in
spite of everything man is wicked and evil!452
One might ask, what is the message of this holocaust? If God wanted
to eradicate everything, why did he save everything and, in the
meantime, punished innocent children and wreaked havoc? How come
only Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives were worthy of
rescue?
The reality is that the story of the flood is not supported by facts.
There are questionable issues which are not addressed in the story
though they are edited from two different sources. Those details given
in the Bible are contradictory and show the ignorance of the writers of
any floating or stationary structure suitable for keeping large numbers
of animals. The sizable three storey water-tight ark was ordered to be
built with just one door and one small window so that from inside
nobody could see the outside world. The window is mentioned merely
for the end of the story and was just big enough for letting a dove or
raven to fly off and bring back an indication of the level of the flood
water around the ark!
God who was in close contact with Noah before the flood and
personally closed the ark’s door was unable to tell him when it was the
451
Genesis, 6
452
Genesis, 8:21
407
right time to come out. Therefore, a dove or raven was used. Moreover,
it is not scientifically acceptable to believe that the level of water rose
about 8850 meters, the height of the highest peak, to cover the whole
earth. From where did the water come from and where did it go after the
flood in so short a period? How did the animals manage to survive in
their devastated habitats?
It seems that the writers of Genesis heard similar Babylonian flood
stories, Atrahasis and Gilgamesh epics, while they were in exile in
Babylon and made another blunder - scientifically, logically and
morally - by reproducing the story in the Bible as a fact.
In both versions, the hero is divinely warned and guided to build a
watertight boat to embark with his close family and a collection of
animals. Both boats are grounded on a high mountain and after the flood
both heroes offer animal sacrifices and are assured that this will never
happen again.
The interesting point is that the Bible version has some mistakes not
made in the Babylonian version. For example, one version of the Bible
story says that Noah first sent a raven and then a dove to investigate the
end of the flood. Both found nowhere to perch and returned to the Ark.
After seven days, he sent the dove again. This time the dove came back
with a new olive branch in its beak. The possibility that the new branch
was produced in the matter of a week following the abatement of the
flood and after everything was under water for a year is untenable. In
the Babylonian version, a raven was sent for the third survey and it did
not come back, implying that the water had retreated.453
To complete the story of the Flood it is worth mentioning that the
Babylonian version records some pre-flood kings who lived longer than
normal and there are also monsters in the Babylonian creation stories.
These may be the reason behind the mingled passages immediately
before the Flood story.
This sort of mayhem and haphazard justice is abundant in Genesis.
More examples are:
453
16. WILSON, I., The Bible Is History, London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
1999
408
 Lot's wife, against God’s instruction, looked behind her while

fleeing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Her sentence for
this disobedience was capital punishment by being turned to a
pillar of salt.
 To preserve Lot’s seed, his two daughters got their father so
drunk that he slept with them, separately, on two consecutive
nights. Both got pregnant from the unholy union. No question
asked. We remember the punishment another drunkard associate
of God set for his sons who unintentionally looked at his father’s
naked body. This time Lot was too drunk to be unforgiving. God
seems to follow suit.
 Jacob on instruction from his mother lied to and cheated his father
Isaac, and of course God to become Isaac’s heir instead of his
bigger brother, Esau.
 Shechem a Hivite boy was in love with Jacob’s daughter, Dinah,
and apparently stripped her of her virginity before marriage. To
avenge the crime her brothers, against the will of Jacob, tricked
all the inhabitants of Shechem’s city and killed all the male
inhabitants, looted the city and then took their wives and children
as slaves. They were not as eager for justice when it came to their
own conduct. Two of Jacob's sons are the sinful Reuben and
Judah.
 Reuben slept with his father's concubine wife and Judah willingly
slept with a harlot, which he later found out to be his daughter in
law. The story is perplexing indeed regarding God’s judgment
and justice. God slew Er, Judah’s first son and husband of Tamar
since he is reported to have been wicked in the sight of God.
There is no mention of the nature of his wickedness. To preserve
the seed of his dead son Judah, following the tradition, ordered
his second son Onan to sleep with Tamar and try to produce
offspring in his brother’s stead. The child would be Er’s child in
the eye of law, which entitled him to be the heir of rich Judah;
otherwise, Onan himself would be the heir. Thus, Onan
performed onanism that is he spilled his semen on the ground
during their copulations to avoid producing offspring for his
409
brother, and made God angry. This was enough reason for God
to slay Onan too. Judah sent Tamar back to her father with the
promise that he would send his third son to her when he was old
enough. But Judah did not send him when he became eligible and
Tamar planned to revenge Judah. She put on a veil and pretended
to be a prostitute and Judah proposed to sleep with her for the
payment of a young goat. When he found out that Tamar was with
child by prostitution, his reaction was "Bring her out and have her
burned to death!" But when Tamar proved to him that he was the
father of the child he forgave and forgot. So did God. From this
unholy union, two boys were born, Perez and Zerah, the former a
reported ancestor of Jesus according to the Gospel according to
Matthew. Interestingly, God was not angry at all with Judah and
Tamar and no one was killed for this sinful union.
The reason behind these confusing stories of unhinged God and the
outrageous conduct of supposedly highly respected people (prophets
according to the Quran) is not known. What is known is that Old
Testament treasured by people like Elijah Mohammad. He and his close
disciples used these stories to justify Elijah’s clandestine sexual life and
ruthless justice under the façade of prophethood and divine mission.
God of Moses
Moses is the first, and for Jews the last, prophet to bring a set of
instructions from God (Yahweh) to men. Except for belief in a jealous
God, there are no other articles of faith in the Ten Commandments. Not
even faith in the afterlife or angels. There is also no prayer while facing
Jerusalem and no fasting. Obligations are that Israelites must serve and
bow down to Yahweh alone, not take the name of God in vain, keep the
Sabbath and honour their parents. The rest are a few prohibitions or
various offerings, although the latter set of commands was ordered in
the second set of stone tablets.
Israelites must always fear God and occasionally hope for his grace
since whatever happens in the world is because of God’s wayward
410
action in response to human deed, be it the gift of wealth, disease, death

of a child, victory or defeat. There is no destination for man after his
death. The only promise, if Israelites behaviour pleases God, is their
prospering life in the Promised Land. This is exclusive to Israelites and
they must attain it with their brutal army and deceptions. Others do not
count at all; they are there to be enslaved or horribly killed since they
worship other gods.
The punishment system at some point was transferred to and
regulated by Israelites. As a result, God seems to have washed his hands
of interfering directly in human life. He used to seek out sinful people
like uncircumcised Moses, semen waster Onan or the killer of Abel and
punish them accordingly; but now he does not even bother to reveal the
murderer to the people for due punishment. Now the people must find
the killer themselves under the supervision of a Levitical priest by
killing a calf.
Who was the God that Moses introduced to the Israelites? Was he
any different from the God before the slavery? Was he a truthful, just
and moral God? The answer is that he was the same deranged and unjust
God of the past. However, there are some differences. He kicked Adam
and Eve out of the Garden of Eden because he was not omnipresent and
omniscient enough to see the devious snake causing problems and he
was not omnipotent since he was afraid that Adam would become like
one of his types just by eating from the tree of life.
22
And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like
one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed
to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and
eat, and live forever."454
After the fall he progressively evolved in every way. He became

more powerful and maybe more knowledgeable but definitely not
omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. He then closely involved
himself in the life of the people as if nothing had happened in the garden.
However, he was not there when Abel was murdered. He was absent
454
Genesis, 3
411
during the famine allowing his beloved Israel (Jacob) to suffer from
starvation so the people had to go to Egypt for food. He did not warn
Jacob of the ominous future, thus prepared the way for enslavement of
the Israelites in Egypt for about 400 years.
He woke up after 430 years of Israelite migration and decided to
have the entire nation under his protection. The plan was to rescue the
Israelites from slavery, to send them to Palestine and enslave or
annihilate the native people of that land. Thus, the God of Moses does
not care about justice; he is the same nepotic God. The only difference
is that in the past He was dealing mainly with individuals, He is now
dealing with nations. Therefore, there is more excuse to punish.
Despite the effort of editors of the Torah to produce a seamless
document with one God as their author, God is not presented in a single
and consistent way. This was probably due to the fact that they had no
option but to preserve the content of each source as much as they could.
Thus, all different sources have been used in the narratives of the
Pentateuch without careful editing.
An obvious example is the seeing of God. In some places God can
be seen without any issue. Adam and Eve were living with him in the
Garden of Eden. Abraham and his wife saw and served him. Jacob
wrestled with him. However, in other places He cannot be seen since
the observer will die. Yet, in another place only His back can be seen.
Yet again, His presence could be discerned without a physical
appearance.
9
Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy
elders of Israel went up 10and saw the God of Israel. Under
his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire,
11
clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand
against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and
they ate and drank. 455
455
Exodus, 24
412
11
The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man
speaks with his friend. 456
20
But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may
see me and live." 457
23
Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back;
but my face must not be seen."458
10
Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses,
whom the LORD knew face to face,459
Later the belief that God must not be seen became popular. Even
looking at the ark of God, the Ark of Covenant, was a crime to be
punished by death since early Israelites actually believed the Ark to be
God's abode.
19
But God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh,
putting seventy (most Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint
50,070) of them to death because they had looked into the
ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the
heavy blow the LORD had dealt them460
In general, the God of Moses is presented as the personal god of the

Israelites. He is introduced as something with a human shape and
limited dimensions and abilities. He has a face, a back, feet and fingers.
He does not have any helpers like the angels or host of the heavens. God
himself directed and led the whole exodus operation. Even when God
wanted to kill Moses, He followed him personally to carry out the
killing.
456
Exodus, 33
457
Exodus, 33
458
Exodus, 33
459
Deuteronomy, 34
460
1Samuel, 6
413
The whole story of the escape from Egypt is narrated without

mention and involvement of an angel in Deuteronomy. There is an
explanation for this461 but it is not our concern here for the search of a
true prophet. The same narration in Exodus involves an angel of God in
only two cases, as “a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” and the
guide in front of the Israelites. But it is God himself who chiefly went
in front of the Israelites in a cloud and later resided in the tent made by
artisans and governed Israelite affairs, directed wars and smelled the
burnt offering. After the exodus of Israelites from Egypt, he called up
Moses himself from a mountaintop and descended from a cloud to write
or engrave the Ten Commandments for him or to be seen by people
from a distance. He talked face to face with Moses without the
involvement of an angel.
God then seemed very hesitant and jittery with a very harsh attitude
towards problems. He was introduced as a stern tribal chief or
something like the Greek gods, He was not a resolute and predictable
God. For example, God, who wanted to save Israelite from slavery and
to give them the Ten Commandments and the Promised Land, seems to
overlook his priorities. After he ordered Moses to go and save Israelites
from the tyranny of the Pharaoh he unexpectedly tried to kill Moses, as
is reported in an amazing story462, only because he, or based on a
different interpretation, his son was not circumcised. His clever wife,
Zipporah, came to his rescue with a trickery. She quickly circumcised
her own son with a sharp stone and held the disconnected foreskin to
Moses' genitals to pretend that it was Moses himself that had been
circumcised. God was fooled, again, by yet more trickery and Moses
was saved to fulfil his grand mission.
22
Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the LORD says: Israel
is my firstborn son, 23and I told you, "Let my son go, so he
may worship me." But you refused to let him go; so I will
kill your firstborn son.' " 24At a lodging place on the way,
the LORD met {Moses} and was about to kill him. 25But
461
462
Exodus, 4:22-26
414
Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and
touched (Moses') feet with it. "Surely you are a bridegroom
of blood to me," she said. 26So the LORD let him alone.
(At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to
circumcision.)
Sometimes Moses acted like an angel bringing messages from God

to the Israelites and returned their replies to God implying that God
could not hear them himself from the mountaintop.
7
So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the
people and set before them all the words the LORD had
commanded him to speak. 8The people all responded
together, "We will do everything the LORD has said." So
Moses brought their answer back to the LORD. 9The
LORD said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a
dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with
you and will always put their trust in you." Then Moses
told the LORD what the people had said.463
On other occasions, Moses tried to act like a wise vizier criticising

God for being unreasonable and impatient. Moses then guided Him to
wiser and more God-like decisions and stopped him from committing
evil acts. The situation in one case was similar to the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah and the intervention of Abraham to save the cities
and their occupants.
9
"I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and
10
they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so
that my anger may burn against them and that I may
destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."
11
But Moses sought the favour of the LORD his God. "O
LORD," he said, "why should your anger burn against your
people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power
463
Exodus, 19
415
12
and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'It
was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them
in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the
earth'? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring
13
disaster on your people. Remember your servants
Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your
own self: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the
stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this
land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance
forever.' " 14Then the LORD relented and did not bring on
his people the disaster he had threatened.464
God’s other main concern was about his regal Tabernacle and its fine
furniture. He personally nominated the best artisans to build them. He
even gave the detailed design of his tent, and the recipe for the incense
and oil to anoint it. He ordered specific materials, the best available at
the time, to be used in each part of the tent. God, who created
everything, has resigned from creating and delegated artisanship to
humans. Even the base material, gold and other expensive material
should be provided by the supposedly former impoverished slaves, the
Israelites. They were also taxed, as a price for their lives, to maintain
the tent. God the provider had then turned into God the receiver under
the cover of protection money.
God worked with three criteria, whim, smell of burnt offerings and
relationship or nepotism. Aaron, the chief architect in the golden calf
conspiracy against the only God, was made the High Priest. While God
was busy explaining the detail of Aaron’s special garments to provide
him with majesty and splendour, Aaron himself was busy denying him
by making a Golden Lord for the impatient Israelites. Neither God nor
Moses punished Aaron, while Moses ordered about 3000 of Israelites to
be killed for their false worship.
21
He said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that
you led them into such great sin?" 22"Do not be angry, my
464
Exodus, 32
416
lord," Aaron answered. "You know how prone these

people are to evil. 23They said to me, 'Make us gods who
will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us
up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.'
24
So I told them, 'Whoever has any gold jewellery, take it
off.' Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the
fire, and out came this calf!" 25Moses saw that the people
were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of
control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.465
Thus, the theology of Pentateuch revolved solely around a human-

like and racist God who eventually settled in a luxurious tent. His
bizarre justice was the cause of mayhem and genocide. Simply put, he
applauded himself to exalt Joseph in Egypt, but washed his hands of the
starvation of his much-loved Israel and his family. The result of
starvation was the later enslavement of the Israelite nation, ten
catastrophes in Egypt, forty years of wandering of the Israelites and then
genocide in Palestine. He is a simple example of a chaos instigator.
Following is just one of the consequences of Israelites slavery:
5
Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn
son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son
of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the
firstborn of the cattle as well. 6There will be loud wailing
throughout Egypt - worse than there has ever been or ever
will be again.466
After Moses God appeared to few prophets who brought his

messages to his only nation, Israel, to warn them of their unacceptable
behave or order them to attack other nations because they worshiped
other gods.
465
Exodus, 32
466
Exodus, 11
417
9
Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my
mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your
mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and
kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and
11
overthrow, to build and to plant.” The word of
the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see
12
the branch of an almond tree,” I replied. The Lord said
to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see
that my word is fulfilled.” 13 The word of the Lord came to
me again: “What do you see?” “I see a pot that is boiling,”
I answered. “It is tilting toward us from the north.”
14
The Lord said to me, “From the north disaster will be
poured out on all who live in the land. 15 I am about to
summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,”
16
declares the Lord. … I will pronounce my judgments on
my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me,
in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what
their hands have made.467
God who used to live in the Garden of Eden, eat with people and
communicate with some individuals regularly when they were
conscious, is now completely vanished but to a few, especially,
powerful kings and priests, and mainly in their dreams. His prophets
even had to interpret natural phenomenon and play with words468 for
their various prophesies. Sometimes, this line was also closed and the
prophets prophesied through other known gods such as Baal (Jeremiah
2,8). In summary, the God of the Torah is presented with various
personalities and characteristic.
Moreover, the Torah does not introduce a unique theology. For
instance, there is no mention of the afterlife at all in the whole
Pentateuch. There is only reference to Sheol, which is defined as the
underworld and abode of the dead of the good as well as of the bad
people (Numbers 16,30).
467
Jeremiah 1 (NIV)
468
“The Hebrew for watching sounds like the Hebrew for almond tree”. (NIV)
418
35
All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he
refused to be comforted. "No," he (Jacob) said, "in
mourning will I go down to the grave (Sheol) to my son."
So his father wept for him.469
The afterlife as Heaven and Hell is post-exilic theology and

introduced later in the book of Daniel under the influence of
Zoroastrianism. The same is true for Satan, who erupts from nowhere
just once without any proper introduction.
Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a

census of Israel.470
It returns in Job as accuser among angels or sons of God.
1
On another day the angels (the sons of God) came to
present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came
with them to present himself before him. 2And the LORD
said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan
answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and
471
going back and forth in it."
In general, each book sometimes even each chapter in a book has its
own special theology. But what almost all have forgotten to recount are
angels. The creation of angels is missing from all three versions of the
creation stories. How they came into being is not explained anywhere
else in the Bible. In some parts of Genesis there seems to be only
immortal and powerful gods and mortal and god-like human beings in
the world with no mediator between them. That is if we do not count
fauna, flora and inert materials like different kinds of statues as celestial
beings.
469
Genesis 37
470
1 Chronicles 21:1
471
Job 2:1-2
419
In these sections, there is no mention of other celestial creatures like

Cherubim or other types of angels. For instance, there is no mention of
angels in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the third and fifth
books of the Pentateuch. The same is true for the fourth book, Numbers,
except in the strange story of Balaam with his speaking donkey. An
angel is referred to once more in this book as a guide in the escape from
Egypt. Another unique citing of this creature appears in the book of
Exodus.
In God-human sections of the book, when God wants to
communicate with humans, he does it directly. But in other sections,
angels appear to be companions of God in a mission. Yet, in another
section angels are introduced as the link between the remote God and
humans. This discrepancy is obviously due to the fact that Pentateuch
contains a mixture of several sources.
As mentioned before, this confusion is even extended to the nature
of God. In some places, the God of Israel is regarded as one god among
numerous other gods. For example, in Leviticus 18:21 and 20:2-5
Molech is accepted as one of the gods. We should also not forget that
Elohim a name used for God by the E source is a plural name meaning
gods not God. In other places, He is referred to as the only God of
universe.
The Law
The injustice and bizarre instructions do not stop after the revelation
of the Ten Commandments. For example, King David the pinnacle of
the Jews’ dream leader of a future utopia slept with Bathsheba the wife
of his faithful and gallant commander, Uriah. After he found out that
Bathsheba was pregnant, he called Uriah from the front line to update
him on the latest developments in the battlefront. But the main concern
of David was for Uriah to go home and sleep with his wife to cover-up
his own guilt. But committed Uriah was so occupied with his own duties
and soldiers that he did not go home and consequently did not fall into
420
the trap. King David conspired to kill him, cover his sin perfectly and
possess the would-be widow, exclusively.
He derided the Ten Commandments, by disobeying at least three of
them in the above case, besides the other cruel things he did in his life.
But he is still a dear king in the eyes of God, Jews, Christians and
Muslims. God did not punish him for his sins but killed one of his
children instead and promised him that his kingdom would never end,
with no conditions attached, not even circumcision let alone obeying the
Ten Commandments, all because of David’s great faithfulness. He and
Bathsheba lived happily ever after and had Solomon, whom the Lord
loved.
2
One evening David got up from his bed … From the roof
he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
3
and David sent someone to find out about her. The man
said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the
wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 4Then David sent messengers
to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. … 5The
woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am
pregnant." 6So David sent this word to Joab: "Send me
Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent him to David. 7When
Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how
the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8Then David
said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your
feet." So, Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king
was sent after him. 9But Uriah slept at the entrance to the
palace with all his master's servants and did not go down
to his house. 10When David was told, "Uriah did not go
home," he asked him, "Haven't you just come from a
distance? Why didn't you go home?" 11Uriah said to David,
"The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my
master Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open
fields. How could I go to my house to eat, drink and lie
with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a
thing!" 12Then David said to him, "Stay here one more day,
421
and tomorrow I will send you back." So, Uriah remained

in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13At David's invitation,
he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk.
But in the evening, Uriah went out to sleep on his mat
among his master's servants; he did not go home. 14In the
morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with
Uriah. 15In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where
the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will
be struck down and die." 16So while Joab had the city under
siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest
defenders were. 17When the men of the city came out and
fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell;
moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.472
Killing or punishing children and other innocent people for the crime
committed by a favourite individual seems to be the primary and
preferred law of the God of the Bible. On just one occasion, seventy
thousand innocent Israelites were killed because of David’s
wrongdoing.
15
So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that morning
until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousands
16
of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. When the
angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the
LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the
angel who was afflicting the people, "Enough! Withdraw
your hand." The angel of the LORD was then at the
threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17When David saw
the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the
LORD, "I am the one who has sinned and done wrong.
These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand
fall upon me and my family." 473
472
2 Samuel 11
473
2 Samuel, 24
422
Sometimes children and other innocent people are killed for no

pressing reason. For example, like a brutal torturer who does everything
to get a desired confession from an accused person, God allowed Job’s
seven sons, three daughters and numerous servants to be killed just to
test Job’s truthfulness.
12
The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he
has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a
finger." … 14a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen
were ploughing and the donkeys were grazing nearby,
15
and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put
the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has
escaped to tell you!" 16While he was still speaking, another
messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the
sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the
only one who has escaped to tell you!" 17While he was still
speaking, another messenger came and said, "The
Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on
your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to
the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell
you!" 18While he was still speaking, yet another messenger
came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting
19
and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, when
suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and
struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them
and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped
to tell you!"474
Another example of God’s absurd order is the strange decree to

Hosea due to wrongdoing of Israel:
2
When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the
LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife
474
Job 1
423
and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of

the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD."475
Is Hosea trying to cover up his relationship with a harlot or is he

acting according to a decree from his God? Both hypotheses are
disturbing indeed as the first case shows the level of corruption,
hypocrisy and exploitation of people by false prophets and the second
is an irrelevant and confusing solution for the unfaithfulness of Israel.
God seems to be triumphant and cruel in his authority and victory, and
confused and weird in defeat. On another occasion, he forced Ezekiel to
eat bread mixed with human excrement to remember the starvation of
Israelites during their siege of Jerusalem.
And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it
with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.476
But the main and disturbing concern is not the dishonest and
unethical conduct of God or a God approved and cherished king or
prophet in the past. The worry is the establishment of a cruel and
inhuman system, backed by a long-established religion. Three of these
religious laws are slavery, human sacrifice and mass slaughter approved
by the Torah.
Slavery
According to Genesis, Noah established slavery. He apparently

wanted to punish his son, Ham, because he saw Noah’s naked body
while he was sleeping from drunkenness. According to the strange logic
of the Old Testament, he cursed his grandson, Canaan, one of the four
sons of Ham, and his descendants into perpetual slavery.
475
Hosea 1
476
Ezekiel 4:12
424
24
When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his
25
youngest son had done to him, he said, "Cursed be
Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." 26
He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem. 27 May God extend the
territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be his, or their, slave."477
It is quite difficult to connect Ham’s guilt to the punishment.

Nonetheless, Moses approved the practice and brought laws to regulate
the institution. He further removed the initial limit of slavery to a
section of human beings, namely Canaanites.
2
"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six
years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without
paying anything. 3If he comes alone, he is to go free alone;
but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him.
4
If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or
daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her
master, and only the man shall go free. 5"But if the servant
declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children and
do not want to go free,' 6then his master must take him
before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the
doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be
his servant for life.478
Slaves were not given most of the rights granted to the Israelites.
One law even allows their masters to beat them to death without any
ensuing punishment provided the slave dies after a day or two.
20
And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod,
and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.
477
Genesis 9
478
Exodus 21
425
21
Notwithstanding, if he continues a day or two, he shall
not be punished: for he is his money.479
Solomon used the idea of slavery as part of taxing scheme.480 He

even used slaves for the building of the temple.
13
King Solomon conscripted labourers from all Israel-
14
thirty thousand men. He sent them off to Lebanon in
shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one
month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram
was in charge of the forced labour. 15Solomon had seventy
thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the
16
hills, as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who
supervised the project and directed the workmen.481
Human Sacrifice
Besides the story of Isaac’s sacrifice, human sacrifice to God is

ordained to Moses in Leviticus and ostensibly put to practice by Moses
himself and later by Jephthah a Judge of Israel. There are some
exceptions to the general law, for instance, Leviticus 18:21 and 20:2-5
forbid the sacrifice of one’s own seed to Molech, a Canaanite god of
fire whose worship was introduced into Judah by Solomon and Ahaz.
Also, in another passage in the Pentateuch, God condemns sacrifice to
God and other gods to be applied to one’s own seed482. The following
verses are self-revealing.
28
But nothing that a man owns and devotes to the LORD -
whether man or animal or family land - may be sold or
redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the
479
Exodus 21, King James
480
DRANE, J., Introducing the Old Testament, Oxford, Lion Publishing, 2000
481
I King 5
482
Deuteronomy 12:31
426
29
LORD. No person devoted to destruction may be
ransomed; he must be put to death.483
31
So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD
32
commanded Moses. The plunder remaining from the
spoils that the soldiers took was 675,000 sheep, 3372,000
34 35
cattle, 61,000 donkeys and 32,000 women who had
36
never slept with a man. The half share of those who
37
fought in the battle was: 337,500 sheep, of which the
38
tribute for the LORD was 675; 36,000 cattle, of which
39
the tribute for the LORD was 72; 30,500 donkeys, of
which the tribute for the LORD was 61; 4016,000 people,
of which the tribute for the LORD was 32. 41Moses gave
the tribute to Eleazar the priest as the LORD's part, as the
LORD commanded Moses.484
30
And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: "If you give the
31
Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the
door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from
the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it
as a burnt offering." 32Then Jephthah went over to fight the
Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands. 33He
devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of
Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued
Ammon. 34When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah,
who should come out to meet him but his daughter,
dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only
child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter.
35
When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My
daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched,
because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot
break." 36"My father," she replied, "you have given your
word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now
483
Leviticus 27
484
Numbers 31
427
that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the

37
Ammonites. But grant me this one request," she said.
"Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my
friends, because I will never marry." 38"You may go," he
said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls
went into the hills and wept because she would never
marry. 39After the two months, she returned to her father
and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.
From this comes the Israelite custom.485
Mass Slaughter
Mass slaughter is the norm in the Torah to the point that it is ordered
or mentioned in almost every book of the Bible. God carried out the
first annihilation in the Noah’s Flood story. Then, with the help of
angels he repeated the wholesale killings in Sodom and Gomorrah or
kept his silence when Israel’s sons copied him in the city of Shechem.
After the resignation of God from directly interfering in human life, he
unleashed Israel to carry on his task, even against his own nation. Three
more of these mass murders are quoted.
27
Then he said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God
of Israel, says: 'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back
and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each
28
killing his brother and friend and neighbour.' " The
Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three
thousand of the people died. 29Then Moses said, "You have
been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against
your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this
day."486
485
Judges 11
486
Exodus 32
428
9
The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children
and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as
plunder. 10They burned all the towns where the Midianites
had settled, as well as all their camps. 11They took all the
12
plunder and spoils, including the people and animals,
and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and
Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp
on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
13
Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the
community went to meet them outside the camp. 14Moses
was angry with the officers of the army-the commanders
of thousands and commanders of hundreds - who returned
15
from the battle. "Have you allowed all the women to
live?" he asked them. 16"They were the ones who followed
Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the
Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor,
so that a plague struck the LORD's people. 17Now kill all
the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man,
18
but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept
with a man.487
10
When you march up to attack a city, make its people an
offer of peace. 11If they accept and open their gates, all the
people in it shall be subject to forced labour and shall work
for you. 12If they refuse to make peace and they engage you
in battle, lay siege to that city. 13When the LORD your God
delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in
14
it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and
everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder
for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD
your God gives you from your enemies. 15This is how you
are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and
16
do not belong to the nations nearby. However, in the
487
Numbers 31
429
cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as

an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.488
Israelites and God’s angels were more than happy to obey the order
as the Torah narrates their proud act of genocide in numerous cases.
King David used brick kiln, harrow, saw and axe to annihilate the
inhabitants of the defeated city of Ammon. He used the latest available
technology to roast men, women and children alive.
31
and brought out the people who were there, consigning
them to labour with saws and with iron picks and axes, and
he made them work at brick making. He did this to all the
Ammonite towns. Then David and his entire army returned
to Jerusalem.489
The defeated people were not on strike to be forced to work in their own
brick making kilns. Why did King David force them to make bricks?
Their mission was destruction and not construction. Moreover, the
victorious army didn’t want to take bricks back to Jerusalem as they
already had looted the cities and had valuables from the cities in great
abundance (2 Samuel 12:30). The answer is that the NIV version,
unfortunately, tries to cover up the obvious atrocities with false
translation. The same verses by two other translations, King James
Version and New American Standard Bible, are also quoted to show the
real meaning of this passage. Few other passages such as 1 Chronicles
20:3 and Hebrews 11:37 support the real meaning.
31
And he brought forth the people that were therein, and
put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under
axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln:
and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of
488
Deuteronomy 20
489
2 Samuel 12, NIV
430
Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto

Jerusalem.490
31
He also brought out the people who were in it, and set
them under saws, sharp iron instruments, and iron axes,
and made them pass through the brick kiln. And thus he
did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and
all the people returned to Jerusalem.491
This unwanted side-track from our main issue shows that even in our
time faithful believers consciously try to disguise a shocking face of a
religion. The cover up is done in the service of the most sacred reality,
omniscient and omnipresent God. The examples of this type of
distortion are not few and far between. Exodus 21:20-21 is another
example of this distortion. The verse gives the slave owner the right to
bit the slave so severely, say, with a rod that the slave dies after a day.
Some translations try to restrict the biting to the level that the slave
recovers after a day or two. Despite this type of attempts, the Bible is
still full of exposed atrocities. Bible readers are very familiar with
passages like:
21
They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with
the sword every living thing in it - men and women, young
and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.492
Another problem with this type of cover up is giving two contrasting

faces to a passage, and in general, to a religion. The forged version is
suitable for preaching, proselytization and public relation exercises,
used during the weakness of a religion. The real and unmasked version,
on the other hand, is used during its strength or only among faithful
circles as their little secrets.
490
2 Samuel 12, King James translation
491
2 Samuel 12, New American Standard Bible
492
Joshua 6
431
The result of this managed religious propaganda can be summarized

in an example. Moses is usually recognized as the law-giving prophet
but his complete law is not popularized. Therefore, only limited
individuals associate him with cruelty and barbarism. Religious people
hardly recognize him as a mass executioner of women and children.
They are not aware of his shocking question from his war officers
regarding captured women and children: “Have you allowed all the
women to live?”. It was Moses who then commanded: “Now kill all the
boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for
yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.”
Contrasting ideas, resulting from this type of cover-up, are common
in all religions and are not exclusive to the Bible. For example, Muslims
in their propaganda try to use those verses of the Quran that propagate
tolerance and kindness towards non-Muslims. But we are well aware
that radical Muslims and tyrant Muslim governments can find numerous
verses in the Quran to justify or even encourage killing of any innocent
non-Muslim. In reality, non-Muslims may include any devout Muslim
with slightly different views to a radical group or a threatened Islamic
government.
The Holocaust of the Second World War, the attempted
extermination of all Jews in Europe, which was one of many holocausts
of the twentieth century, is indelible in the minds of any human being,
especially individuals and their families affected by the tragedy. In fact,
when I heard that the Italian writer Primo Levi committed suicide in
1987, I felt very sorry for him though I never knew him. I was thinking
that life must have been hell for him remembering the atrocities during
his imprisonment at the Auschwitz concentration camp in the last two
years of the Second World War in which he was captured as a member
of a partisan group. He physically survived the experience but was
deeply scarred inside as a conscious human being, the scar that resulted
in his depression and possibly caused his death.
But I was much more disturbed when I first read the above passages
in the Bible. Is not the message of the passages a divine invitation to
and justification of holocaust? The writers of the Bible depict prophets
of God and the anointed kings as much crueller and more chauvinistic
432
than Hitler’s racist regime, not allowing anybody to survive to tell his
ordeal as Levi did.
One wonders how religious communities and individuals - Jew,
Christian or Muslim - can be proud of a religion or tradition that
approves and practices human sacrifice to God and gives its seal of
approval to numerous holocausts? How come they do not see
humanity’s darkest side in those passages? How come Jews who rightly
tried to shame, jail and even execute the perpetrators of Hitler’s
holocaust do not disprove the Torah’s numerous holocausts? Simply I
feel Levi, as well as other holocaust survivals, should have used their
moral stamina after their own experience to condemn Moses and King
David’s genocides, as well, with more vigour. In simpler words the
response to those religious people, especially Jews, who announced that
God died in Auschwitz is that that God had already died in the brick
kilns of King David. In fact, he was dead when Moses offered the
prisoners of war to his God, men, women and children.
Now, nothing is left to say, when not only believers do not reject
genocides, atrocities and violence from their own side but also try to
cover it up or justify it.
Miscellaneous laws
Apart from the above revealed laws, which religious people,

especially Jews, should wish were never mentioned in the Torah, there
are various burnt offerings that were also abandoned after the
destruction of the second Temple. Furthermore, one hopes the Bible’s
remedy for mildew and dealing with dreaded skin diseases is not
approved and followed by Jews anymore. Another discarded instruction
is stoning to death. One should note that stoning to death is not limited
to a woman adulteress but is extended to unruly children.
18
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not
obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when
they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold
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of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town.
20
They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn
and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and
21
a drunkard." Then all the men of his town shall stone
him to death. You must purge the evil from among you.
All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.493
The remedy for leprosy is another forsaken prescription. The

instruction for curing this illness reminds one of witchdoctors. The
treatment was revealed from God to Moses in Leviticus chapter 14, the
summary of which is as follow;
Catch two clean birds and kill one in an earthen vessel over running
water. Bring cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop and dip them with the
live bird in the blood of the slaughtered bird. The priest then must
sprinkle the blood on the leper seven times and pronounce the leper
clean. Then the priest lets the bird free to fly away. The leper then should
wash all his clothes and shave all his hair and wash.
After living away from his tent for seven days, he must shave and
wash all over again. On the next day he should bring two he lambs, one
ewe lamb, flour mingled with oil and some more oil. Now the priest
must bring the man before God at the door of the tabernacle. Then the
priest takes one lamb for trespass offering and takes oil for wave
offering before the Lord. He then wipes some of its blood on the tip of
the right ear, thumb of his right hand and big toe of his right foot. Then
he sprinkles oil with his right finger seven times before the Lord and
wipes the rest of the oil on the tip of his right ear, thumb and big toe and
head while making atonement for the patient before the Lord. The priest
then offers the sin offering, and the burnt offering and the meat offering,
each with atonement from the Lord. Finally, kill a couple of doves and
offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. For poor
people there is less expensive treatment.
For other skin diseases, unclean bodily discharges, leprosy on the
walls of a house, mildew, and garment mould, there are revealed
493
Deuteronomy 21
434
treatments too. These are worth reading in the Bible, Leviticus chapter
13 to 16.
Obviously, Jews do not practise all these ancient prescriptions today.
How come they still relate the Torah to an omniscient God is beyond
logic.
Plinth of all religions
One can carry on and explore further and deeper in order to discredit
the Old Testament as a divine book or disclose false claims of its
prophets who announced themselves to be genuine messengers of God.
However, I think I have written enough about the book and have shown,
though concisely, the unreliability of the book, its stone age, tribal,
whimsical and cruel god, some of its absurd and heartless laws and its
insensitivity and callousness towards humanity as a whole.
The Old Testament is the plinth of all Abrahamic religions.
Unfortunately, like other religious books considered in this study, it was
found to be an unreliable set of books in every sense. Moreover, it is
wrongly ascribed to God in order to give all those lies the gloss of divine
approval.
We noted, as has long been known, that the Pentateuch is not a
revealed book. It is an anthology combining several accounts of folklore
stories of the nation of Israel, with no known origin for each account
and no external and independent support for the authenticity of its
narrative. The book is full of contradictions and errors and not at all a
product of a divine and omniscient being. Additionally, some of its
stories have been borrowed from other nations’ myths and this very fact
points to a forged document wrongly credited to God.
What does puzzle me now? What is then recorded in the Torah that
has fascinated its believers? What is there that proves the involvement
of omniscient God in the production or inspiration of the book? For me,
this last hope for a revelation and message from God was found to be
also baseless.
435
Chapter 7
Conclusion
30
"Therefore," declares the LORD, "I am against the
prophets who steal from one another words supposedly
31
from me. Yes," declares the LORD, "I am against the
prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'The
32
LORD declares.' Indeed, I am against those who
prophesy false dreams," declares the LORD. "They tell
them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet
I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these
people in the least," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 23)
This writing is the result of a personal investigation for finding

convincing answers to the three old questions. Who am I? Why am I
here? What is my destination?
As a first step, I hoped that by careful examination and deep
understanding of a genuine revealed religion it would be possible to
fathom a clear image of the world and figure out the true purpose of life
and its possible destiny. I thus focused on searching for a true religion
or prophet in order to comprehend and examine the possible message
of God for humanity through His assumed revealed scripture. In other
words, I tried to examine one allegedly important source of knowledge
through a thorough investigation of revealed religions, divorced from a
denominational position. As a positive bias, in the course of exploration
for a true religion, the existence of God was assumed according to the
religion under study. I then tried to examine the true history, sacred
writings, claims and achievements of individual religions for due
judgement and selection.
436
Based on my previous religious teachings and beliefs I took it for

granted that God would not leave His people on their own. He, at least,
would guide human lives to His best possible abilities. To begin with, I
thus searched for a prophet in cataclysmic places in recent times.
Unfortunately, not only I could not find a genuine divine messenger or
redeemer in these conditions but also, I found numerous spurious divine
figures. They made the already bleak situation worse and created more
misery, chaos and misunderstanding. Their motives were as varied as
human nature. Nonetheless, in the majority of cases the main motives
were personal gains and self-promotion, but neither the dire situation
nor theological illusion could be ruled out. Obviously, no miraculous
celestial or terrestrial help or any other extraordinary action from any
heavenly agent was noticed to alleviate each situation or back up any
claim of help from above.
Seeing that each recent false prophet had sizeable followers, I tried
to find out the reason for the widespread acceptance of a forged religion.
The first and obvious factor is the general ignorance of people to actual
and historical truth, as was clear in the case of Noble Drew Ali and
Elijah Mohammad. How did the false prophets employ this wide-
ranging ignorance? A major technique was noted to be the acceptance
of one or more well-established and respected religions by the new
prophet.
In practice, the prophet used only the terminology and a few useful
tenets of the earlier popular and respected religions. He or occasionally
she then tried to convince the followers that the new divine mission was
a continuation of those previous religions, especially tailored for them.
It was also noted that there was no need for the new prophet and his
followers to be wholeheartedly faithful to the previous religions or even
boast tenuous and meagre knowledge about them. Occasional lip
service or little superficial agreement with the older religions would be
sufficient.
Recent religious founders have additionally tried to use all available
useful means to achieve widespread popularity and acceptance among
a variety of people. This may include some elementary scientific
knowledge or accepted philosophical and social thoughts and
437
movements. They thus created a fragmented chimera of unrelated ideas

with jumbled ingredients in their brand-new enterprise. Their false but
powerful credibility of being commissioned and backed by God filled
and sealed any crack and chasm in the new religion and theology.
The prophets also tried to endow their followers with a bogus special
place in the world, making them to be proud of what they actually were
and set themselves apart from the rest. In addition, they were promised
a quick victory or immediate attainment of their desired and sacred
objectives. Then the combination of the supposedly divine backing, all
credits of the past prophets and all possible sacred and priceless
achievements in the immediate future created a formidable force behind
the new religion. The leader and followers were then justified to carry
out any right or wrong action, in the name of the new faith, in order to
fulfil their divine, sacred and fruitful mission.
It was also noted that how a clearly false story could become a real
fact and useful to the prophet and ignorant people in their desperate
struggle for a better condition of life. Also, how a false idea could travel
throughout the world and gather truth, strength and momentum in
suitable places. We noted that an infamous wrong idea or interpretation
could still be accepted in a new religion because of its popular appeal.
Also, the current concern of people and the founders and their culture
can greatly shape and colour the ideology and conduct of a new faithful.
For example, Nat Turner claimed to follow a divine order. Nonetheless,
his mission turned out to be a reflection of the primitive and brutal
environment in which he lived. His way to freedom was as barbaric as
his experience of everyday life.
Fortunately, in the age of information and communication these
religions could not be favourably analysed, glorified and followed
forever. Their falsehoods could be readily identified and they were not
given the opportunity to thrive. But their examinations show how easily
even an amusing myth can magically turn into an undisputed fact and
divine religion in the eyes of ignorant, desperate and hopeful people.
After examination of the contemporary history in search for a true
prophet I turned to conventional religions and tried to investigate the
messages and missions of some recent and early prophets. After an
438
investigation of the Abrahamic religions, it became clear that each

supposedly revealed religion of the group and its book or books were
also fabricated with reference to, and support from its previous religions
and books. They used exactly similar techniques used by the prophets
of the African-American population in the first half of the twentieth
century. Their supports of previous religions were paying lip service in
order to legitimise the new faith. However, each new religion
introduced new personal and social laws, customs and rituals and more
importantly a new worldview which was a reflection of the then ethos
and existing common knowledge about the universe. Therefore, the
unity of all Abrahamic religions was found to be an obvious
misinformation.
Examining and comparing the traditional Abrahamic religions and
the new African-American religions reveals a lot of similarities. I didn’t
consider this issue in detail since it was not the objective of this study.
The comparison, however, helps illuminating dark corners of earlier
religions and is useful for a better understanding of them and their
founders.
The study showed that expecting a unique message from Abrahamic
religions is futile as the message of each religion was coloured by the
customs and outlooks of its own time and place of origin and was very
much influenced and evolved by worldviews, experiences and
problems of its believers throughout its birth and history. The obvious
conclusion is that Abrahamic religions do not originate from an
omniscient and omnipresent entity rather they were concocted by clever
and mostly deceitful peoples. If they were from one God, as they are
promoted, their messages were neatly matched and their sacred books
were free from any error and contradiction. We found that they all failed
in these two criteria necessary for their vindication.
One irrefutable error in a religious book should be sufficient enough
to reject it as a divine revelation. But the problem is that all religious
books are full of indefensible mistakes and obvious contradictions so
that they expose themselves on a cursory examination as mine let alone
a deep investigation.
439
The most disturbing issue is that unfortunately religion has survived

by repeated lies. The lie can be affirmation of past religions by a new
false prophet, a false translation; imaginative, allegorical or mystical
interpretation of errors and contradictions, distorting the history,
attributing miracles or some popular statement to a prophet or outright
false claims. In our time, religion, especially the Abrahamic type, is
credited with truth only because so many different societies defend its
various versions. They are assumed to be tightly knitted to each other
by a divine being, defending one universal value and commendable
ethical system.
The fact is that the bond between religions is one sided. None of
older Abrahamic religions accept the newer ones. In effect, the
acceptance of a new religion is the annulment and denial of the older
one. There is no need to mention that Judaism has never accepted
Christianity, Islam and Bahaism as divine religions, unless some
catastrophic, political or social concerns force a superficial brief bond.
Only newer religions acknowledge older ones and, as was pointed out,
for a good reason. But when a new prophet accepts an older and
established religion for its own end, he has no choice but to accept all
the older religions in the chain. Therefore, the established religions not
only get more credits but also get connected together with false bonds
in the eyes of later faithful and outside world. Thus, the one-way
acceptance in Abrahamic religions has in fact benefitted both sides. The
losers in this charade are followers, the truth and the opportunity to
think correctly.
The existence of several dissimilar Abrahamic religions and their
numerous sects has proven not only their human roots but also their
incompetence in providing genuine long-term solutions for societies.
As the promise of all conventional religions for creating a better world
is empty, they all have come up with their last deception which is the
promise of the appearance of a Messiah figure in unknown future. The
Messiah would overcome oppression and inequality and bring the long-
awaited justice, peace and harmony. This promise is the confession of
those religions, admitting not being competent enough to satisfactorily
govern human affairs and conducts. Yet again this widespread promise
440
by various religions has given them a kind of extra credence and virility.
So often a messianic figure is proven with the mere justification that all
other religions are expecting one.
To summarise, those who claimed that they were sent by God and
had divine missions were in fact either under a false impression or made
false claims. It can be judged with a clear conscience that the founders
of all the religions investigated in this study were self-appointed and
were not in any way linked to a divine being. As a matter of fact, it
seems that humanity in its effort to discover the reality of life has been
misled by the numerous lies of deceitful, gullible or expedient people
throughout its history. They boldly and proudly pretended to have a
revelation from God in order to confuse and lead nations astray. What
is extraordinary is that this perpetual falsehood is not only done under
the umbrella of divine guidance but also it has not been invented
exclusively by unchecked claims of deceitful individuals, as some
prophets seem to have a deep honest faith in their own missions.
This study started from earlier religions and ended up with Judaism.
The study was conducted in this way in order to investigate individual
religions based on their own merits and messages and not a wholesale
refusal. I could have started the study from Judaism and after refuting
it, could have rejected its follow-up religions. But, by using the former
method, we noticed that all religions have gradually but determinedly
inoculated their followers against this type of indiscriminate dejection
and attack. They either refute the previous religions themselves in a very
delicate way or freely interpret the contents of sacred books to obscure
the issue and isolate their own religion from any shortfall in previous
ones. Their followers thus endorse, in their own peculiar way, preceding
religions only when their own credibility is concerned and no more. No
need to say that a new religion is always an abomination in the eyes of
an established one. So, if their shallow and brittle love is one sided their
strong hate is unfortunately two sided.
As a matter of fact, I was not so disappointed when I found that self-
appointed prophets such as Elijah Mohammad or Bahaullah were false
messengers of God as I was brought up to believe that Muhammad, the
prophet of Islam, was the last divine messenger and any prophet after
441
him would be bogus. Therefore, this confirmation of my previous

beliefs was not hard to swallow. However, discovering that Muhammad
himself was a false prophet as well was not easy to cope with, though I
had had serious questions.
From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to demonstrate that Islam was
the true and final religion and Muhammad was an undeniable prophet
of God. But there are persuasive indications that he was not a genuine
messenger. The same conclusion was reached for the founders of
Christianity and Judaism. In fact, refuting Judaism was the hardest since
that religion and its book were the last hope for evidence of involvement
of God in human affairs, at least for a believer in one of
Abrahamic/Semitic dogmas.
My subsequent disappointment turned sometimes to nihilism and at
other times to anger. It was the depression of someone who discovers
that he has been cheated all along with so many tricks and fallacies in
the name of truth and a divine plan.
During the scrutiny of the Quran, I realised that all the so-called
revealed and conventional religions originated from a small region of
the planet earth, namely, the Middle (Near) East. It was difficult to
believe that God sent so many messengers to only that small region in
the past and did not find it necessary to guide the rest of the humanity
scattered around the world. It didn’t seem right at all and I realized later
that the whole story of prophethood was mainly based on false
expectations of some nations in that region for divine guidance.
After that realisation, I found it really hard to justify carrying on with
my investigation into the claims of Christianity and Judaism as revealed
religions. But I was determined to reach my original objectives and by
examining both religions it became clear that they are indeed, like
others I looked at, houses of cards built by false desires, new tricks and
constant lies and held together by a mixture of inventive interpretations,
hope, gullibility and the dishonesty of numerous individuals and
societies. The infinite dimensions and continuity of trickery in different
guises were a shocking revelation during my search.
It seems that one spark of hope lay behind each revealed religion for
destitute people. Hope for yet another prophet whose achievement
442
would be different from the previous ones, hope for final and total
justice and hope for a Messiah, the Promised Land or the final victory
and annihilation of enemies. Those false hopes and illusory utopias
were glaring enough to disguise any baseless claim or justify any
malevolence committed in the name of God. Those hopes also
guaranteed countless devoted and zealous followers. But,
unfortunately, the result in each case was yet another derivative of lies
and deceit.
My search started with questioning unjust slavery. Now I realise that
almost every population in the world has all along been slaves to
ignorance, deceit and shadowy self-created forces as far as we can go
back in human history. It was hard to realise that I, along with billions
other souls, have been robbed of my life by working like a blind slave
for a spurious religion or ideology, even ready to die for its false claims.
There was no justice for black slaves and there has been no justice for
the majority of people throughout history. Simply, this is not at all
satisfying or acceptable.
What Next?
Is there a way out of the spiral of lie and deceit? Can we eventually
discover why we are created and what is our destiny without reference
to false claims of external information from deluded, manipulative or
devious people? Finding convincing answers is quite challenging.
These questions and the search for finding their answers are not new.
In the past, people searched frantically and struggled hard to make sense
of their hard life, to justify individual’s position and status in the
societies and universe, to inject sanity into their chaotic surroundings,
to give meaning to pain, sickness and death.
Buddha is a good example. He apparently relinquished his
comfortable life in search of answers to these very questions but
unfortunately in the confines of the Hindu worldview. He didn’t find
any answers after several years of searching and meditating, and
eventually settled for living the sort of life that he supposed wouldn’t
force him to go through it over and over again. He in fact created an
443
evidently self-survival regime but couldn’t find and didn’t give answers
to the questions and problems he originally sought.
One of the reasons for the failure may be the influence of religion.
Religious thinking has stifled the genuine effort in general and religious
hegemony and tyranny suppressed it subsequently. An example here
explains the problem. Orthodox Jews have been under this false
impression that if they worship the god of Israel and obey his law, they
would live a fulfilling life. Otherwise they would incur vagrancy,
slavery and other miseries of existence. This black and white outlook
has been their only analysis of their history and personal or social life
and they dared not to think deeper and wider. In fact, the sin-
punishment relation is deemed to be so correlated that they have turned
the argument around. Whenever some calamities, sickness or
misfortunes occur they just try to find a contributory misdeed
committed either by themselves or other faithful.
This idea of vengeful divine punishment system and sin-based
events has spread to other religions. Indeed, whenever some large-scale
calamities such as famine, hurricane or tsunami occurs religious people
try to find out which moral code had been broken to bring out God’s
wrath. For example, some Muslims think that women’s immodesty and
immorality caused the Tsunami in 2004. Activities of religious police
in effected regions to enforce Islamic dressing code for women shows
the scale of this type of mentality. Similar way of thinking is also
widespread in Christian societies.
Sometime people endure lifetime suffering due to this deep-rooted
perception. For example, a birth defect is considered a divine
punishment among orthodox believers. As a result, those children are
abandoned or kept hidden from people to cover the underlying infamy
and disgrace. Parents feel guilty, wondering all their lives what sin they
might have committed to suffer the punishment. The brain is therefore
trained and programmed to find the answers in the coffin of the
traditional thinking and shut itself completely from the outside reality.
Hence no effort for possible solution is made.
In effect, the real facts were and still are very difficult to grasp and
for the same reason false prophets and pseudo-science have crowded
444
the scene and generally have tried to copy from each other. Whenever
a system of thought and its moral code has been constructed and
popularised, its followers have defended the precious belief they had
created with utmost vigilance. Even Plato, one of the main founders of
the western philosophy and knowledge, condemned any philosophical,
social or moral reform in his imagined perfect society, Magnesia.
Hence, geographical isolation and division were usually the main cause
of conflicting worldviews rather than fresh thoughts in the past.
Accordingly, a cast-iron false thought and worldview could reign in one
region without any significant change or challenge for centuries.
This rigid and false tradition has been accepted in our time among
orthodox followers of various religions despite progressing scientific
knowledge and improved social freedom and communication. It seems
any new effort in finding real answers to the old questions is not yet
assumed to be necessary since we are under the false impression that
we have been given all the answers in our sacred books. In fact, creating
an acceptable philosophical worldview is so difficult that even some
previously religious intellectuals have proposed accepting and
promoting the creative and artistic dimensions of religion. This is the
type of continuous self-cheating due to total domination of religion on
our mentality.
I feel humbler and definitely more alarmed after encountering all
these difficulties and the realization of the complexity of the issue.
Destruction is always much easier than construction. I have done the
easier job, demolishing my cosy but flimsy spiritual abode within
myself, breaking all my ideological bones without being able to rebuild
anything. Naturally, I feel much more anxious than before, since I have
this dreadful thought that like my helpless ancestors, I will not be able
to find the reason and destiny of intellectual existence.
As an ex-believer in Islam, I feel betrayed, empty and lost. I can
appreciate and identify with the anxieties and scepticism of the
nineteen-century intellectuals in Europe who reached the same
conclusions about religion. But what is the truth in this vast and
mysterious universe? Obviously, I must carry on finding some
445
constructive answers and not allowing doom and gloom stopping me in

this unfinished journey.
There are two points which I should remind myself of, again and
again, during any further investigations. The most important lesson is
that I should not trust and follow anything thrown at me as the Bible.
This lesson may seem to be a cliché and banal or trivial statement but
unfortunately disgruntled human easily accepts any alternative idea or
offer without a proper assessment. A good example of this phenomenon
is widespread acceptance of Marxism by millions without proper
understanding of its facts and consequences during the twentieth
century.
A different example is conversion from one religion to another. One
of these religions for some discontented Iranian Muslims is
Zoroastrianism. They simply ignore the fact that Zoroaster claimed to
be a prophet and his religion is apparently the first revealed religion.
Simply put, it is the First Deception of its kind. Besides, that religion is
so obscure, ancient and naturally augmented with centuries of
contributions from narrow-minded clergies in the service of despots. Its
motley content is thus an excellent ground for further deception.
Finally, the converts overlook the key damaging effect of all religions
on societies which is its suppression of democracy, liberty and creative
thinking, assessment and effort. By relying on God’s divine commands,
religions have tried to stifle any genuine human efforts for managing its
own affairs and solving its social problems. One should take note that
despots in history have tried to tie themselves with God and be
surrounded with clergies to grant themselves total authority with
admiration.
Second lesson is that I may not be able to think objectively in finding
the truth since I might be still under the spell of my previous
convictions, though unconsciously. I then must try much harder not to
fall in the trap and convenience of my past worldview. An example of
this trapping is the idea of finding solace in art, music and the ingenious
artefacts including those created under religious aspirations mentioned
earlier. In this apparent unjust world, the opponents of this idea offer
spiritual cakes to the starved-of-fact majority of swindled people. For
446
example, how can one, especially a woman, ignore the now banned
tradition of Suttee and Hindu Indian widows who lost their husbands
and were under unbearable pressure to choose between being burned
alive and ostracizing? How can one ignore the fate of their young
children who have seen the distress and disaster of their father’s death
and now their mother’s, and are left to face their harsh future at the
hands of the abusive human race?
How can one, especially a woman, forget the cruel response of
Moses when he noticed the prisoners of war and angrily retorted to his
victorious war officers; “Have you allowed all the women to live?”.
Why one should overlook the fact that the law of Moses regarding a
defeated enemy nation includes: “kill all the boys. And kill every
woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl
who has never slept with a man.”
How can one snub the past and present religious induced tragedies
effecting majority of human beings and find peace in art and credit
religion for its contribution? This idea seems to be another attempt to
justify or help the continuation of original deception by creating false
hopes under fake pretensions. A better solution is a determined effort to
reject religion wholeheartedly based on the fact that it is a continuous
lie, grasp the reality and develop a just social system for all rather than
painting over our self-inflicting tragedy of religion.
During the examination of various religions, I developed a kind of
dislike towards the word “hope” since I found it responsible for a
majority of traps to capture human attention and loyalty for dishonest
causes. Now my only option is the hope that one day I may be able to
find the answers to some of the three old age questions. So far, I have
simply tried to remove one tiny bit of the large barrier that has clogged
correct communication and understanding between my surroundings
and myself that has been the source of division and hatred between
mankind for time immemorial. The major elusive challenge is still
ahead.
In short, this book didn’t intend to show a new confident way of
reflecting on the mystery of life. I have merely tried to report and share
some part of my investigations on revealed religions. I have shown to
447
myself that these well-trodden paths that have been opened to us in the
past seem to take us nowhere due to its deceptive nature. I have tried to
understand and expose the trap of religion and the claim of divine
intervention in human affairs, which have prevented us from setting off
on the right path to the truth.
It is quite obvious that mankind in its effort to understand the reality
of the world needs to be aware of all the drawbacks in order to liberate
itself from all the notions and illusions of different fantasy solutions.
Then hopefully it will be able to go forward with better understanding
of the universe and its objectives. The next step will not be possible
while we are still in the darkness and under the shadow of our old
traditions and myths. Meanwhile, we should stop hating, despising and
fighting each other for not following each other’s false paths.
448
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Autobiography of Malcolm X, Penguin Books, 1968
22.MEMON, N. O., Three in one: An Enemy, a Disbeliever, a
Liar, Alislam
23.MORGAN, K., Slavery, Atlantic Trade and the British
Economy, 1660-1800 (New Studies in Economic and Social
History), Cambridge University Press, 2001
24.MUHAMMAD, E., The Divine Sayings of The Elijah
Muhammad, Secretarius Publishers, 2002
25.___. Message to the Blackman in America, Secretarius
Publishers, 1997
26.___. The Theology of Time: (The Secret of the Time),
Secretarius Publishers, 1997
27.MUHAMMAD, E., Our Saviour Has Arrived, Secretarius
Publishers, 1997
28.OATES, S. B., The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce
Rebellion, New York, Harper and Row, 1975
29.PHILLIPS, T., Britain's Slave Trade, Pan Macmillan; 1999
30.PRIEST, J., Bible Defence of Slavery, and Origin, Fortunes,
and History of the Negro Race. Glasgow, KY: W.S. Brown,
1852
31.Ramatherio, S., Unto Thee I Grant, San Francisco, The Oriental
Literature Syndicate, 1925
32.SADIQ Mufti M., (ed.) True Salvation of the American
Negroes: The Real Solution to the Negro Question, The
Moslem Sunrise, April-July 1923
33.Walker, D., Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World,
Boston, 1829
34.WALVIN, J., Britain’s Slave Empire, Gloucestershire,
Teempus Publishing Ltd, 2000
35.___. Making the Black Atlantic: Britain and the Black Dispora,
London, Cassell, 2000
36.___. The Slave Trade, Sutton Pocket Histories, Sutton
Publishing, 1999, PP xii
Chapter 3
1. AMINI (Ayatollah) I., Abdulaziz Sachedina (tr.), Al-Mahdi;

The Just Leader of Humanity, Islamic Education Center-
Canada, 1996
2. Bab, Selections From The Writings Of The Bab, Tehran, Amry
Publication, Translation of the book by Baha'i World Centre,
1982
3. BAHA'U'LLAH, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, The Most Holy Book,
London, Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1993
4. ___. The Kitab-I-Iqan: The Book of Certitude, Wilmette, IL.,
Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1974
450
5. ___. Surah-i-Hajj I (Tablet of Pilgrimage to the House of the

Báb), trans. Denis MacEoin Rituals in Babism and Baha'ism.
London, British Academic Press, 1994
6. ___. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Shoghi Effendi (tr.),
Wilmette, IL., Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1953, pp. 165
7. Browne, E. G. (ed.). Materials for the Study of the Babi
Religion, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1918
8. ___. (ed.), Nuqtatu'l-Kaf', by Hajji Mirza Jani of Kashan, E. J.
W. Gibb Memorial XV, (Persian, with English Introduction)
London, Luzac & Co., 1910
9. ___. (tr.), New History (tarikh-i-jadid) of Mirza Ali-Muhammed
the Bab, The. London: Cambridge University Press, 1893
10. ___. (tr.), A Traveller's Narrative, (Abbas Efendi, 1886),
Cambridge, 1891
11. HINNELLS, J. R. (ed.), The New Penguin Handbook of Living
Religions, London, Penguin Books, 1998
12. MACEOIN, D. M., ‘The Trial of the Bab: Shiite Orthodoxy
Confronts its Mirror Image’, Occasional Papers in Shaykhi,
Babi and Baha'i Studies, No. 1, May 1997
13. ___. Rituals in Babism and Baha'ism, Pembroke Persian Series,
Vol. 2, Charles Melville Series ed. London, British Academic
Press, 1994
14. ___. Early Babi Doctrine and History: A Survey of Source
Materials, Leiden, Brill, 1992
15. MILLER, W. McE., The Bahai Faith: Its History and
Teachings, South Pasadena, William Carey Library, 1974
16. SMITH, P., A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baha'i Faith,
Oneworld Publications Ltd, 1999
17. ___. The Babi and Baha'i Religions: From Messianic Shi'ism
to a World Religion, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
1987
18. ___. (ed.) Studies in Babi and Bahai History: In Iran, Studies
in Babi and Baha'I History, Vol 3, Los Angeles, Kalimat Press,
1986
19. SHOGHI EFFENDI, God Passes By, Wilmette: Bahá'í
Publishing Trust, 1971
20. Quoted in Nabil, Dawnbreakers, 253 – WINTERS, J., “Dying for
God: Martyrdom in the Shii and Babi Religions”, Thesis
submitted for Master of Arts, University of Toronto, 1997
Chapter 4
1. AL-AZAMI, M.M., Studies in Hadith Methodology,

Indianapolis, American Trust Publication,1997
2. ARMSTRONG, K., Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet,
San Francisco, Harper, 2001
3. --- Islam: A Short History, London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
2000
4. BOYCE M., A Reader in Manichaean Middle Persian and
Parthian: texts with Notes, Acta Iranica 9, Leiden, 1975
451
5. Browne, E. G. (tr.), Traveller's Narrative (Makála-I-Shakhsí

Sayyáh, Abbas Efendi, 1886), London, Cambridge University
Press, 1975
6. ESPOSITO, J., Islam the Straight Path, New York, Oxford
7. ETHERIDGE, J. W., (tr.) The Targums of Onkelos and
Jonathan Ben Uzziel On the Pentateuch With The Fragments
of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee, 1862
8. GOLDZIHER, I., Muslim studies. Edited by S. M. Stern.
Translated by C. R. Barber and S. M. Stern, Vol. 2, Chicago,
Aldine, 1973
9. HANSON, J. W., The Bible Hell, Boston, Universalist
Publishing House, 1888
10. HUME, D., An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,
Harvard Classics Vol. 37, New York, P.F. Collier & Son, 1910
11. IZUTSU, T., Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an, McGill-
Queen's University Press, 2002
12. HAYKAL, M. Husayn. The Life of Muhammad, Indiana (tr. I.
R. A. al Faruqi), American Trust Publications, 1976
14. IBN ISHAQ, Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ishaq's Sirat
Rasul Allah, (tr. Alfred Guillaume), Oxford University Press,
1998
15. LEWIS, B., (ed.) The World of Islam: Faith, People, Culture,
London, Thames and Hudson, 1992
16. NADWI, A. H. A., Muhammad Rasulullah: The Apostle of
Mercy, Lucknow, Academy of Islamic Research and
Publications, 1982
17. RODINSON, M., Mohammed, New York, Pantheon Books,
1971.
18. SIDDIQUI, M.Z., Hadith Literature, Cambridge, The Islamic
Texts Society, 1993
19. TISDALL, W., The Sources of Islam, Sir William Muir (tr.),
Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark, 1901
20. WIDENGREN, G., Mani and Manichaeism, (Trans. Charles
Kessler), History of Religious Series. London, Weidenfeld and
Nicholson, 1965
21. WATT, W.M., Muhammad at Mecca, London, Oxford
22. --- Muhammad at Medina, London, Oxford University Press,
1956
Chapter 5
1. ACHARYA S., The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story

Ever Sold, Adventures Unlimited Press, 1999
2. ARMSTRONG, K., A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest
of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Ballantine Books, 1994
452
3. BETZ, O., and Riesner, R., Jesus, Qumran and the Vatican,
SCM Press Ltd, 1994
4. CHADWICK, H., The Early Church, Penguin books Ltd, 1967
5. CHIDESTER, D., Christianity: A Global History, The Penguin
Press, 2000
6. Frazer, Sir J. G., The Golden Bough, New York,
Macmillan, 1922
7. FREDRIKSEN, P., Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A
Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity, New York,
Knopf, 1999
8. FREKE, T., and P. Gandy, The Jesus Mysteries: Was the
Original Jesus a Pagan God? London, Thorsons, 1999
9. HICK, J., (ed.) The Myth of God Incarnate, London, SCM
Press, 1977
10. HICK, J., The Metaphor of God Incarnate, London, SCM
Press, 1993
12. HOULDEN, L., (ed.), Judaism and Christianity, London,
Routledge, 1988
13. INGERSOLL, R. G., Works of Robert G. Ingersoll (Lectures)
Vol. 4, 1929
14. JOHNSON, N., (Tra.) The Gospel of Thomas
15. JOSEPHUS F., Antiquities of the Jews, translated by William
Whiston
16. KUHN, A. B., The Lost Light: An Interpretation Of Ancient
Scriptures, Kessinger Publishing Company, 1997
17. Mack B. L., Who Wrote the New Testament? : The Making of
the Christian Myth, San Francisco, Harper, 1996
18. MARTYR St. J., (Leslie William Barnard Tra.), the First and
Second Apologies, Ancient Christian Writers, No 56, Paulist
Press, 1997
19. MEIER, J. P., A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus,
Vol. I, The Roots of the Problem and the Person, New York,
Doubleday, 1991
20. MORGAN, R. with Barton, J., Biblical Interpretation, The
Oxford Bible Series, New York, Oxford University Press, 1988
21. NEUSNER, J. and Chilton, B., Jewish and Christian Doctrines,
London, Routledge, 2000
22. OSMAN, A., Out of Egypt: The Roots of Christianity Revealed,
Arrow Books, London, 1999
23. PERCIVAL, H., (ed.), The Seven Ecumenical Councils, Nicene
and Post Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, Vol. 14, Edinburgh: T & T
Clark, 1899
24. PINES, S., An Arabic Version of the Testimonium Flavianum
and its Implications, Jerusalem, Israel Academy of Sciences
and Humanities, 1971
25. Roberts, A., and J. Donaldson (Ed.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.
5, The Fathers of the Third Century, Book IX, Chapter IX,
HIPPOLYTUS (St.), The Refutation of All Heresies,
Hendrickson, 1994
26. ROGERSON, J., (ed.) The Oxford Illustrated History of the
Bible, New York, Oxford University Press, 2001
453
27. TILBY, A., Son of God, Introduction by J. Bowen, London,

Hodder & Stoughton, 2001
28. WEISS-ROSMARIN, T,. Judaism and Christianity: The
Differences, New York, Jonathan David, 1988
29. WILSON, A. N., Jesus, London, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1992
Chapter 6
1. ANDERSON, G. W., A Critical Introduction to the Old

Testament, London, Gerald Duckworth, 1974
2. DRANE, J., Introducing the Old Testament, Oxford, Lion
Publishing, 2000
3. FRIEDMAN, R. E., Who Wrote the Bible, London, Jonathan
Cape, 1988
5. HOULDEN, L., (ed.), Judaism and Christianity, London,
Routledge, 1988
6. KRAMER, S. N., History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts
in Man's Recorded History, Philadelphia, University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1981
7. MORGAN, R. with BARTON, J., Biblical Interpretation, The
Oxford Bible Series, New York, Oxford University Press, 1988
8. NEUSNER, J. and Chilton, B., Jewish and Christian Doctrines,
London, Routledge, 2000
9. PHILLIPS, G., The Moses Legacy: The Evidence of History,
London, Pan Macmillan, 2003
10. ROGERSON, J., (ed.) The Oxford Illustrated History of the
Bible, New York, Oxford University Press, 2001
11. SALIBI, K. S., The Bible Came from Arabia, London, Jonathan
Cape, 1985
12. SALIBI, K., Secrets of the Bible People, London, Saqi Books,
1988
13. SOLOMON, N., Judaism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford,
Oxford University Press, 1996
14. STURGIS, M., It Ain't Necessarily So: Investigating the Truth
of the Biblical Past; introduction by John McCarthy, London,
Headline, 2001.
15. WEISS-ROSMARIN, T., Judaism and Christianity: The
Differences, New York, Jonathan David, 1988
16. WILSON, I., The Bible Is History, London, Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1999
454
Index
Mithras, 341
A
N
abrogate, 144, 162, 191, 254
abrogation, 265, 267 Noah, 40
Abubaker, 219
Adam, 53, 236, 322, 399
Ahsaii, 122
O
Ali, 138, 141, 205, 206, 246, 252 Occultation, 114
Omar, 7, 219, 252
D Ota Benga, 37
Darwin, 14
P
G prophet Muhammad, 13, 14, 17, 119, 131,
138, 197, 250, 362, 387
Genghis Khan, 115, 263
Q
H
Qayyum-ul-Asma, 118, 119, 120, 121, 128,
Ham, 40 129, 173
Hamites, 40 Qibla, 273
Quakers, 40
I
R
Iblis, 235
Imam Ramadan, 4, 96, 267
Ali, 9 Rashti, 126
Hussein, 6
Islam, 193, 198
S
J Satan, 84, 108, 132, 211, 221, 235, 238, 275
satanic, 76
Jinni, 235 Satanic verses, 220
Saushyant, 340
sermon, 203, 204, 205
K Shaykhi, 115
Kiblah, 181, 273
T
L Timur, 115, 117
Levi, 432 Twelver, 113
M W
Maccabees, 302 Wahhabi, 251
Matitiyahu, 302
maximalist, 255 Z
minimalist, 255, 261
Mithra, 340 Zeus, 302, 338, 340, 344
Mithraism, 340, 341 Zoroastrianism, 270, 340, 375, 419, 446
455
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AN APPRENTICE OF RITUALS AND TRADITIONS ........................... 4

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW....................................................................... 350

An Apprentice of Rituals and Traditions

"I have made a ceaseless effort not

The earliest clear and coherent memory of my childhood is the

After a few years, my interest in fasting diminished. I didn’t

that God has bestowed on human societies by sending prophets,

Then, with no knowledge of correct history and no understanding

that tomorrow would be killing of Omar Day and I was asked to

about Marxism using their reasonably sized library inside the

society in which everything is in its right place and free of devious

Finding the Right Foundation

I sustained a huge blow to my religious outlook during my

been consistently following a baseless dogma, almost

are believed to be infallible, omniscient and in close contact with

should look like. We had a model of it as the Prophet

O people of the Book! There has come to you our Messenger,

Though this fact is clearly and categorically mentioned in the

bewildered group broke up with bitter personal accusations

Possessing a banned book could carry a ruthless punishment or

out under the promise of unsurpassed liberty and justice

The students and their minders steered the whole country in

with lifeless bodies of their friends as evidence of Americans’ ongoing

as people were actually trained to torture or eliminate each other

contemplating bringing Iraq and possibly other surrounding

Examination of My Early-Life Conviction

Years after my retreat from Iran I found an opportunity to free

investigation can be a small step in the right direction and be

religion to show a number of pitfalls in our path to truth. It is

shortfalls. Those shortfalls are frequently identified not only

 Does the religion depend on trustworthy sources and an

Also, the character and action of individual prophets during his

 There is no God to send a prophet.

Conversely, even proving the existence of God by any other

achievements or damaging scandals in each movement which

against their claims of a link to a divine origin or being a complete

... I call upon the professing Christians, I call upon the

David Walker, 1829

While I was looking into the history of Atlantic slavery, a few

it was justified to send Moses and Aaron to emancipate the Israelite

population in old Mexico19 before the involvement of Europeans in the

transportation to the slave ships. To give a documented example, Ota

Another eye-catching example is the condition of segregated Jews

Therefore, religious authority raised their concerns, primarily with

"Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your

breeding in their breeding camps. Some promised a slave woman her

I have met many religious coloured people, at the south,

visions. He was a gifted and religious slave who was nominated as a

In 1829 a Black preacher, Robert A. Young, published, An Ethiopian

brutal uprising was another evidence for the existence of a general

influence of God’s promises in the Bible, to disappointed Black

These new discoveries meant that the self-appointed Black prophets

There are reports of a few strong-minded slaves with good

Ghulam Ahmad, a Muslim mystic and scholar claimed to have

“Among the wonders of this kind of fasting that I

He had visions of being God trying to build a new world.