Mis-And Dis-Information about Muhammad (sws)
MIS- AND DIS-INFORMATION ABOUT MUHAMMAD(sws)
All self-interestedly quarrelling immature human groups both employ disinformation against and are victims of misinformation spread about them by their rivals. I draw the attention of the reader to my word ‘immature’. Only spiritually mature people can be objective even when the conclusions from their objective observations and remarks are against their interests. I humbly think then that we must begin by defining maturity. A man is mature to the degree that:
(i) Realistic justice comes for him before everything else
(ii) His motivation is always the causation of greatest good to the greatest number of people
(iii) His attitude is firmly embedded in universal loving-kindness (rahmat).
To succeed as a mature person he is aware at all times that he needs and wants to find the truth, to see truth as truth and do as the truth demands and thereby act wisely, because wisdom is the grand total of all the above three qualities.
Why do you think Sufis and perhaps many other spiritual traditions point a finger to the human ego (that only too selfish centre in the heart of all men and women) as the only obstacle before spiritual maturation? In a Sufi anecdote sheikh Abu Yazid asks the Almighty “O Lord, how to come to Thee?” to which the Almighty answers “I am only one step from thee- just step upon thy ego and thou wilt find me”. Which means, the moment you sop being selfish you can attain justice, charity, a responsible attitude- all three on a universal scale- which combination amount to wisdom.
Allah says in the Qur’an: “Kill your egos” (2: 54). Allah describes the nature of the human ego in several places in His Qur’an. For example in the Qur’anic chapter about the story of Joseph (chapter 12) this description is from the tongue of Joseph son of Jacob (upon them be peace) in a statement he made in connection with his attempted temptation by the wife of the Egyptian official whose household slave he was. After years of wrongful imprisonment Joseph is fetched from the dungeon for having correctly interpreted the dream of the king and uses the occasion to clear his name in the matter of the sex scandal involving the wife of the official in whose home he used to be a servant. After making the women conspirators confess being in the wrong Joseph comments in all saintly humility: “I am not absolving my ego; verily the ego always demands commission of evils except what my Lord mercifully helps against” meaning that despite having an ego like anybody else he was protected by God in the matter (12: 53)
The first evil our egos demand from us is for us to feel that in one sense or another we are the greatest, the best person around and our desires must be accommodated by others. We are simply the best person or the best group of persons, like a family, tribe or race, club or party. From the Jewish claim that Jews are the sons and absolute, inalienable favourites of God to the Nazi claim that ‘Aryans’ (especially Teutons) are the best and highest human race this “I am or we are the best” claim lies throughout human history as the chief cause of giving and receiving offence as well as exchange of blows consequent to the offence. The Devil, that best and most time-honoured religious metaphor for the human proneness to evil motivated by selfishness and pride, entirely specialises in the inculcation and exploitation of this prejudice in man in all his career of corrupting human souls and relations. In the Qur’an we find reported the very first sin ever. It is not the so-called original sin of Christianity invented by St Augustine. It is the rebellion of the Satan against God. In the Qur’an God creates Adam to become his deputy/representative on earth and commands all angels- among which the Satan was as yet a non-exposed misfit- to bow to Adam. All do so except the Satan. God asks him why he did not bow whereupon the very first sin, i.e. the real original sin is committed- the Satan answers “I am superior to him; Thou hast created him from clay while Thou hast created me from fire” (7: 12).
In here we have the whole key to the wrongs committed between man and man; the wrongdoer justifies his wrongdoing by believing and claiming that he is superior to his victim on fundamental (e.g. racial or class) grounds and therefore can deal with him in a way to affirm and confirm his superiority. ‘Nobleman’ employs and may rob or brutalise the commoner, freeman can abuse the slave, white man can despise the black man, man can humiliate woman (or as recently, the other way round), literate can look down on the illiterate etc. Equals are no safer from each other’s oppression- each may think that he is the more equal partner and can take action to get the bigger share in a division of benefits. Incidentally these two examples, namely the story of Joseph and that of Adam (peace be upon them) and Satan in the Qur’an put to rest the contemptuous claims that the Qur’an plagiarises from the Bible. Both the cosmic myths and the prophetic stories of the Qur’an show very significant and at times drastic divergences from their Biblical equivalents which shows that the Qur’an has its own origin and agenda.
That is not all: all stories in the Qur’an whether mythical or historical have much higher spiritual truth and guidance value in them than the Biblical as exemplified by the above much more apt and enlightening concept of an original (read ‘fundamental’) sin- that of selfish vain pride, especially on race or class grounds! Nowhere else such an insight to human problem is offered. Is not almost all the bloodshed in history based on “I am the decisive guy- you are the guy to give way, to hand over benefits”. On the smallest scale all motor vehicle drivers observe many examples of this re-enactment of the real original sin several times a day with perhaps themselves also in the wrong as much as others. In the most recent major example of selfish pride in action, i.e. the Nazi atrocities of the Second World War, the re-enactment of this real original sin was Teuton brutalising the Jew and to a lesser extent the Slav, both on an epic scale not seen since Assyrian or Roman times. This horrible phenomenon shows how little humans matured psychologically since the recorded millenia of history! It is obvious that neither scientific and technological advancements nor cultural so-called refinements can help truly civilise man; the same Teutons who were burning the Jews by the million and savaging the slavs by the million could then sit down and discuss the most arcane issues of philosophy or gather to appreciate finest products of art and applaud the greatest operas like by Wagner and Mozart, all the while congratulating themselves for being so civilised and refined among themselves and advanced in tastes and manners.
Admittedly Christians did a bit better than Jews by universalising the Biblical faith, if at the cost of some paganisation of it. But they stopped short of regarding anybody outside papal Christianity worthy of respect and of rights anywhere near those of a Christian. In many cases ‘saints’ led those unprovoked brutal Crusades against any divergent Christians as well as Muslims and Jews. They led those witch-hunts and persecutions of scientists and philosophers whose ideas they saw as daring to differ from those of the Church’s.
Muslims did better compared to their Jewish and Christian predecessors in the treatment of non-Muslims and deviants but a lot of the time their conduct also fell far short of what the Qur’an and the Prophet’s practice (Sunna) indicated. The cause was the same: untamed egos. Why do you think Muhammad said “The most terrible enemy is thy ego between thy two sides”? So long we are too selfish it makes little difference what faith and values we profess and preach. Rituals empty of deeply felt noble values are hardly more than acts of magic directed to fool and charm God and this misunderstanding of ritual is a direct descendant of paganism in which gods are praised and offered sacrifices intended as bribes enabling the worshipper not only to get away with his offences but keep offending with impunity.
That is why so many ritually busy religionists have such bad taste and odour and can at times commit offences a non-religious person cannot imagine himself committing.
It was this sad failure of shallow religiosity which was the reason why Sufism was born. Those rare Muslims with a mind for spiritual maturity saw the sad impasse and attempted to do something about it. That ages-old favourite practice of withdrawing from the world (ascetism or monasticism) was not allowed in Islam, therefore the Sufis had to devise something else. The solution best Sufis reached was this: “Seclusion in socialisation” which is the famous Naqshibandi Sufi formula. The would-be mature person should mix normally with all the rest just like another participating and responsible citizen but deep down he should always be aware of God watching him and pray that He guided him in all his feelings, thoughts, words and actions. To put it another way, the Sufi was the person who listened to God inside him while a non-Sufi was that spiritually less ambitious and less careful person who could not uncouple himself from his ego and therefore gave more ear to its demands. Mind you, in psychological terms God means objectivity, fairness and kindness which should lead to righteous action.
Because not everybody could be a true Sufi (i.e., constantly God-observant fellow as distinct from a false Sufi who is still ego-driven under his Sufi cloak) Muslims also have had and are still having their own share of wrongs and atrocities. But they at least have the boon of having the best Holy Scripture with the best Law encoded in it as well as the most well preserved memory of a founder, namely Muhammad (sws), whose very many genuine traditions have been at their disposal at all times. More than any other religious group they have the best and most comprehensive intellectual and spiritual base to fall back on and draw ideas and inspirations from. Let me give some examples.
A Muslim, unlike a Jew (in a basic sense, because Jews sometimes condescended to admit ‘gentiles’ into Judaism) and like a Christian is only too prepared to admit anybody into his religion and the new convert becomes a full equal of his. Again a Muslim, this time unlike both a Jew and a Christian, does not automatically see somebody outside his faith as bound for hell. In this respect he has two authorised hopes in favour of the non-Muslim. It is that Allah promised not to punish anybody for something he did not know about and also that only Allah knows who will die a believer in Him and who will not.
But why Islam is so important for entering the paradise instead of hell? That is because, psychologically speaking, Islam means submission to God and God means reality both physical and spiritual and spiritual means also moral. Anybody who recognises that this system of creation owes its existence to a para-intelligence, a para-will as well as para-wisdom and para-lovingkindness (rahmaniyya) and behaves in a way to win the pleasure of this Creator and Ruler obtains a deserved ease of conscience and happiness derived from kind and righteous acts which amount to a foretaste of heavenly or paradisical existence. A Muslim enters and resides in paradise by virtue of being realistic as well as kind and conscientious. Is it possible for one to regret and not rejoice with an act he did which act was informed by a knowledge of realities that invited the act and equally the act was inspired with best intentions and kindest wishes? Even a good doctor whose patient dies at his hands need not be all sadness and will have a lot of consolation if not pure happiness if he finds that he has done his very best to save the patient. Now never forget that Islam means exactly this attitude towards life; a true Muslim which a Sufi wants to be is that person who tries his best to learn about facts and say and do things with the best and kindest intentions under the sun to make the best use of the facts so that any fellow human beings he is relating to gets the best treatment in his hands.
Realities are of two kinds and both demand equal respect and compliance or else they punish the ignorant or the negligent. The Prophet sws was a supreme realist and seeker of knowledge. For example, those did not understand or did not want to understand him accused him a few assassinations of Islam’s enemies, like some poets who were working at forming a very negative public opinion about him so that Islam could have an early death or some others who were working hard to persuade his enemies to raise armies and attack Medina and finish off Islam. Eliminating such seeds of evil in the bud was the more secure and economic option than waiting until too late and trying to overturn the effects of their terribly corrosive propaganda and fight and defeat the armies raised against Islam at great bloodshed and at the very possible cost of a wipe-out of Islam itself. In sheer self-defence as well as with most pious intentions he had to act with realistic statesmanship as well as heroic prophetic courage. Life and death matters are no joke and any attitude short of full if ruthless realism is both wisdom and justice itself. One’s conscience should hurt not when one acted realistically in the face of mortal danger to one’s both vital and honourable interests but when one acted unrealistically out of a misunderstanding what good and evil is.
Faults and misdemeanours were only ascribed to him by his Jewish and especially Christian adversaries. Jewish taunts of him were almost entirely based on him being not a Jew but an Arab and therefore automatically ineligible for being a prophet of God whatever his merits otherwise. So, in his histories we find no Jew accusing him of any moral shortcomings; we find his Jewish detractors always dwelling on his racial ineligibility for prophetic mission. His Qur’anic statements were traced back to the Bible from which he stood accused of plagiarisation yet the critics did not consider the fact that most of the time the Qur’anic statements on the same subjects did not only significantly differ from the Biblical but also were always superior to them with frequent pointing out of impious or disrespectful remarks in the Bible. For example, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon… (peace be upon them all) come out as much nobler persons in the Qur’an than in the Bible where they are accused with many failings and scandals. For example, Bible’s Solomon becomes a pagan under the influence of the Queen of Sheba while in the Qur’an it is this queen which becomes a monotheist under the influence of Solomon (pbuh). This is so much against the Jewish tradition that the Qur’anic statements on Biblical figures come out as corrections rather than plagiarisations. Arab Jews were simply greatly discomfited by Muhammad (sws) and did not hesitate to cooperate with Arab pagans to wipe him and Islam out. They failed, they lost to him and have been very bitter since then towards Muhammad (sws) and Islam.
But what an irony was awaiting them: Of all places the Jews found their best home among Muslims and their worst home among Christians despite the two sharing a similar grudge and hatred against Muhammad (sws) and Islam. Throughout the Medieval times to the recent past Jews were in general and overall better treated by their Muslim hosts than by Christians. Muslim Spain almost pampered them, Christian Spain simply brutalised and eventually expelled them. From there they found refuge in the Islamic lands which came to be united under the Ottoman Empire.
Similarly, while until recently Muslims living among Christians of Europe was next to impossible thanks to the Christian loathing of Muhammad (sws) and Islam. Until late into the 19th century not a single mosque could be allowed to be built in Europe. Earlier not a single Muslim could set foot on European soil under any capacity and for whatever reason except as diplomats or traders; the first limited to a brief escorted visit and the second limited to the docks, not allowed even into the port towns. Against this Christians lived by their millions throughout the Muslim lands where they enjoyed communal autonomy, freedom from harassment and free to get rich and move about except Mecca and Medina, the two holy cities of Islam. Metropolises like Alexandria, Cairo, Bagdad and Istanbul teemed with them. Only the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and later the creation of Israel caused problems for Jews and Christians which problems never amounted to indiscriminate expulsions. The blame for these may be put squarely at the door of that modern curse nationalism which affected and corrupted all- Christian, Muslim and Jew.
Muslim thesis is that God as the creator and sustainer and the judge of whole existence is One and free from all racist, sexist etc. prejudices. He has been sending messengers to all places and peoples since the advent of mankind and Muhammad (sws) is the last and final one of His messengers not because he is wanted to dominate mankind till the end of time but because the age of prophets is over and age of science and technology took over the welfare of man without though making religious faith and piety unnecessary a bit. Religious faith and piety are there to be picked up by all who want it and what Muhammad (sws) brought and represent are enough for all time to come, for spiritual gnosis and moral elevation is not a progressive item like science and technology but have been as constant and necessary as breathing, eating and drinking all of which are the same as they were a million years ago.
Lastly, nobody is forced to embrace Islam; all are free to follow any path including atheism to their any benefit or loss. To this effect Allah says in His Qur’an “There is no compelling in the matter of religion. The Truth has been made clear from the untruth (in the Qur’an) (Chapter of the Cow, v. 256)
He Almighty also says in all fairness:
“Indeed those who believe (in Islam) and those who profess Judaism and the Sabeans, the Christians and the Magians (Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Hindus etc.) and the polytheists… Allah will separate them on the Day of Resurrection. Allah is a Witness over all things” (Chapter al Hajj, v. 17)
And what He will do with them? Read if you wish:
“Indeed those who believe (in Islam) and those who profess Judaism and the Christians and the Sabeans… whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day (of Judgment) and do good works have their rewards from their Lord. They shall have no fear nor shall they ever grieve” (Chapter of al Baqara, v. 62)
Where is this and where is the Jewish claim that only Jews and the Christian claim that only Christians will be saved?
Who needs a Prophet after Muhammad (sws) who and a Holy Scripture after the Qur’an which so universalise God and unify and equal all men before the only God they have and promise salvation to all who did their humble best as regards faith and piety no matter their label and sect?
How come narrow-minded, exclusivist, elitists and even racist religionists find fault with Muhammad (sws) and Islam seeing that they themselves have no decent feet to stand on and all the prejudices to be ashamed of?
So let us see what this best of mankind had and still has to offer. Let us study him and his unprecedented and unsurpassed claim.
CRIME, POWER AND GOVERNMENT
INTRODUCTION
Allah the Most High says in His Qur’an: “Thus We appointed in every township its greats its criminals so that they plot therein. They do not plot but against themselves but they are not aware” (Surat al An’am, v. 123). The Messenger of Allah (sws) said “This world is like carrion; its claimers are like dogs”. By “this world” he meant the world of senses as savagely lusted after people with darker and coarser souls.
And all history to the present depict a very sad and sordid picture of the business of government. East or West brother killed brother, son the father and father the son… for the sake of appropriating power or retaining it. What is more, at times even the apparently very religious resorted to cardinal crime to get or hold on to power. So, that the verse Allah swt sent down cannot be faulted. For its part, the hadith quoted in addition to the verse gives the psychology of the lust. Like dogs, the desirers of this world are motivated by canine hunger for it although to any refined person the desired object, namely the world of the senses in itself and for itself feels like nauseating meal, like a rotten and maggoty carcass. This essay shall then study why and how this canine meal or more fully the banquet of the wolves appeal and is fought over by its desirers and why truly pious people should keep his distance with them for his own good.
WHO ARE THE POWER SEEKERS
Some people are especially interested in power over others for its own sake. They want to control others so that things they are afraid or do not happen to them while things they lust after are given them plentifully. One needs not be a psychologist to see that such an attitude is indicative of selfishness which itself is the surest sign of arrested psychological growth or more briefly immaturity of character. Babies are both nicely and forgivably selfish and that is for a very good reason. Because they do not yet know the ways of the world let alone the importance of good social relations their survival instinct programs them to leave nothing to chance. Any attractive or appetising thing they must attack and grab and keep for themselves, full stop. But over time they are expected and helped to learn that human life cannot be lived alone but is a joint enterprise in which all members of the family and larger society must responsibly cooperate. And most children both learn and come to love that.
Yet, some selfishness or to put it otherwise, immaturity remain in all of us. There is a limit how much altruistic we may become and altruistically we may behave. As a result, suspicions, resentments and fights always remain possible even amongst the best educated and mannered people. But perfection is too hard to attain should not mean that we should not keep trying to become more refined and mature people. The more we become so the easier and pleasanter our lives become despite the any material sacrifices we have to make. What is more Islam does not ask us to give up all our rights and likes just to become supposedly perfect. Islam teaches that our basic needs remain righteous as well as virtuous objectives at all times and nobody need starve himself to death or give away all his means of decent or bearable survival to please more selfish companions. Real perfection is not total self denial but a balance between one’s legitimate and decent survival needs on the one hand and altruistic obligations as defined by Islam and reputable social practice (‘urf) on the other. Otherwise the better people must die out and let the coarser alone to survive- a hardly admirable prospect.
Be as it may, the coarser a person is the more power-seeking he or she becomes. It is common knowledge that in a marriage (the smallest social grouping) it is not the man or the woman who dominates the other party- it is the coarser or more immature party that seeks and gets the power over the other spouse as well as the joint children. So we hear the Messenger of Allah (sws) saying “Only men with noble character (kareem) treat their women graciously. I am the one among you who treats his women most graciously”. Similarly maulana Jalauddin Rumi said “Only men with noble and kind disposition are defeated by their women. Coarse men dominate their women”. The principle inherent in these statements have this general application: Coarser people can talk and look down more refined people who have had or lost all the grit selfishness is made of. They simply cannot bring themselves to resonate with and respond to the bestial aggressiveness the coarse are endowed with. For example, if an immature driver gets into a frenzy of selfish anger and begins to abuse you who are a refined person can you really respond him in kind. Won’t you prefer to give ground and go your way less harmed? Coarse people, if responded in kind may even kill for a peanut!
After these psychological preliminaries we can now perhaps see what makes a criminal tick. He ticks by demanding and getting his way in all situations. A criminal’s mind may contain an intelligence of great genius but no wisdom. In other words he may have a phenomenally high IQ but not an ounce of nobility and maturity of character- which noble and mature character means matured wisdom based on accomplished moral values and an iron will at the service of high moral virtue. Such a man cannot normally commit a crime however tempted or if he lapses for once he will immediately see his shameful lapse and go in overdrive to compensate for it. Allah swt says “The God-mindful who spend in the way of Allah both in prosperity and hardship, swallow their anger and forgive people. Allah loves the gracious:
Those who when they commit an indecency or wrong themselves (in any other way) immediately remember Allah and offer repentance for their sins- who forgives sins but Allah- and they do not knowingly insist on what they did” (Surat Ali Imran vv. 134-135)
These are the refined people maturing more and more all the time. As for the coarse people who have not much moral scruples and whose regrets consist of missed opportunities for their selfish desires are like animals, Allah swt describes them thus:
“Shall I tell you who are the greatest losers as regards their actions. These are the ones whose acts have lost their way in this world’s life while they calculate that there are doing well. Those are the ones who disbelieved the verses of their Lord and meeting Him and therefore wasted their works. On the Day of judgment We will not (bother to) erect scales (to weigh) their deeds. Thus is their punishment Hell for blaspheming and taking My verses and My messengers for entertainment” (18: 103- 105)
He Almighty also says “They are like cattle, no, even more lost; they are the utterly unmindful (7: 179)
WHAT IS BEING MINDFUL OF AND SERVING ALLAH (swt)
Being always mindful of Allah and acting accordingly is real Islam. But what is Allah? Who is Allah everybody can tell- the Perfect Supreme Being Who creates and runs all existence. But such technical definition is not enough to make anybody appreciate why we must serve Allah. An additional definition is necessary. This is a psychological one, a definition taking into account man’s depth psychology where unconscious motives dictate both compelling feelings and equally compelling behaviour. The definition is this: As a psychological construct Allah stands for what is morally and spiritually and potentially the very best and noblest and wisest in and the most profitable for man- and his society! With this definition being mindful of and serving Allah becomes our noblest and greatest and most profitable mode of existence and functioning. Shouldn’t we all men and women realise what is the very best for us both individually and collectively and act and live on that basis? What is the profit for selfishness and its unavoidable way the predatory and opportunistic behaviour at a reptilian level. That is basically the level all sadists, rapists, pickpockets and mafia godfathers operate from. All want to rob others even at the cost of committing violent acts and please their most primitive urges no matter at what cost to their victims. They are the very opposite of the Godly people who actually can sacrifice from themselves to make others happier in wise and constructive ways. Because they are mindful of Allah and serve Him in the psychological sense just defined. That that is the worthiest life is incontestable. What is more that is also the most pleasurable life! Because that is the realization of man’s highest potential!
FORMS OF OPPRESSING OTHERS
We are using the term ‘oppression’ to translate the Arabic word ‘zulm’. Zulm means doing a wrong including injustice. As always in the Divinely chosen language Arabic it has rich cross-references and connotations. The least is its identity with ‘zulmah’ which means darkness. Thus said Rasulullah sws “Az-zulmu zulumatun”, i.e., ‘zulm is (and leads to) many darknesses’ which expands into: Oppression is caused by the darkness (lack of light of sympathetic understanding in the heart of the oppressor and creates darkness in the moods of the oppressed- who either suffer or even perish in depression- or hit back with similarly to begin a vicious circle of violence- and eventually no good comes from oppression but darkness in this world and the next, inside men and outside in the society etc.
The oppressor is called (az-) zalim. Allah’s teaching is that ‘the first and worst victim of zulm is the zalim himself. His zulm, to start with, increases his inner darkness which causes him to commit more and worse zulms. Secondly he makes more and more, worse and worse enemies which most probably will one day take a terrible revenge on him. Thirdly he is both setting a bad example and triggering many other zulms on the part of others who, to ease their suffering go out to hurt others to avenge their suffering on others by proxy. So, if the first zalim beats up a man this man, unable to hit back the stronger offender then goes away to beat up a weaker person just to vent his frustration. Thus a single zulm creates an interminable train of zulms like a pebble dropped in a pool creates an interminable train of expending wave circles until the whole pool is in turmoil. That is why Allah says about zalims “Yufsiduna fil ard”, i.e., they spread corruption in the land.
As for some of the major forms of systematic zulm the following may be mentioned
One man gang where a single bully terrorizes all around him. School bullies are always in the memories of all those who have been to school and sometimes even teachers are afraid of them. These may or may not grow into criminals in later life. Surpisingly some grow up to become extremely benign and benevolent adults in later life. The rest can remain bullies all their lives and often criminals as well. A few can remain the same- the singular bully with no criminal record, a bully which keeps a whole neighbourhood in suspended anxiety. He often has a foul mouth and bad temper but beyond that does not pose a great threat and only needs a similar but stronger bully to check him. About such people the Prophet sws said “There is no good in a person who cannot get along with others nor others can get along with him”. That must be enough criticism.
A lone criminal who cannot stop hurting and robbing others of their rights, prowling the streets like a predatory animal and claiming his ill-gains whenever a suitable victim or opportunity turns up under the right circumstances. From habitual shop lifters to electric or gas meter readers who pocket any precious items they stumble upon in the premises they visit petty crime on the part of individuals is a plague right here in the Western world, as media reports often mention. In a recent study by a British university a large survey in the form of questionnaires with no identification space exposed that more than two thirds of the respondents from all classes of people admitted that they would not hesitate to cheat or rob if the circumstances allowed. Their crimes ranged from keeping too much change or too good a product wrongly charged below its indicated price by a shop to cheating on their taxes routinely and regularly. What is more, governments and government agencies will often do the same. Each may opt to stick to the gains made unjustly against third parties and go to litigation if necessary which they often afford to more than their victim.
For example too much tax may be assessed and collected from a taxpayer who then may have a very hard time to recover his losses if he can recover at all. In one case reported to me personally, an innocent tax payer had to wait the replacement of one particular nasty tax inspector by another reasonable one to get the wrong done to him righted. The nasty one was a snarling young lady who looked at everyone with pathological suspicion and craved for catching her victims with anything slightly ambiguous to put on it the worst possible interpretation and then go for the kill. When she achieved that she appeared to go into an orgasm! Which means there a definite class of single sadistic criminals among the agents of political power, like the Revenue and the police and even the hospitals who abuse their power to satisfy their sadistic cravings.
There is also the individual or organized employees who are engaged in systematic corruption in the organisation they work for, which can be a government department or a private company. The corruption ranges from stuffed-up expenses bills to fixing tenders or kickbacks from contracts granted to third parties. Against our instincts, the police, the religious establishments, customs and revenue… all of which cast a very upright image may be up to their necks in it. Please remember the financial (and sexual) scandals across the Catholic Church and even at the centre the papal curia! Even more tellingy, the media which is so good at and desirous for exposing all outside it, from government to business, for misdemeanours and corruption, are themselves up to their necks in it simple because media men are drawn from the same hypocritical society as the others and are themselves businesses which must compete for profits. So, their broadcasting a Christ-like image is largely a sham and we come to know about the skeletons in their cupboards when fighting breaks out within each or between two media organizations.
There are also those extremely secretive and well-connected criminal organisations which come under two headings- mainly violent and mainly non violent.
As for the mainly violent the perennial prototype and the dominant form is those gangs known as mafia in the west and the yakuza in Japan. These are criminal fraternities bringing together all levels of minds and souls who choose crime or are recruited in to crime as their main career. These are the most heartless of criminals not simply because they often commit worst crimes but also and especially because their leaders and higher executives otherwise are so intelligent and often so refined and amicable. They often are gracious and generous friends and hosts and can actually contribute to charitable causes or help a destitute person for apparently nothing in return. That way they openly ingratiate many while in a secret parallel world they buy many others with benefits as well as bend many others with threats and blackmail. Many investigative and bibliographical literary works shedding light on the first and middle parts of the 20th century America tell us the extend to which the American Mafiosi penetrated the system including both the government and big business (even Hollywood) and both ingratiated and blackmailed all concerned to get their way in the country. Even the presidents could not escape their charms and nets of corruption simply because the Mafiosi could manipuate the elective and legislative processes. In other words great criminal gangs have been govenmnents within governments and there could be no escaping from it and still there is no escaping. This is the great dirty semi-secret in all countries across the globe which poisons all of them, muslim or not.
The second, i.e., mainly non-violent criminal organisations are the cults which come in both religious and secular (atheistic) forms. Religious cults apply to all religions including Islam where they are known as tariqats. Not that all tariqats or non-muslim religious orders are criminal organizations- far from it. But some definitely are. Among Islamic criminal cults we find the historical examples of the Assassins, the Carmathians and the Fatimids who temporarily attained statehood and even empire status. Present Islamic criminal cults are mainly political and terrorist in nature although a subtle, mainly non-violent form exists in the examples of tariqats and mazhabs outside mainstream Islam. Their names we may not mention for obvious reasons- they are very dangerous in the first case and contrary to the ethos of tolerance in the civilisation we live in to tamper with.
A special case of non-vioent if very powerful cult are the freemasonry and its many offshoots. Freemasonry is an extremely secretive yet legitimate civil organisation which is home to many distinguished and ambitious individuals drawn from all specialities among the professionals in any country which have Masonic lodges. Friom all reports made thus far it is an association of class-conscious selfish men who gang up to impose their selfish will on the rest of the society. Recruiting as members as many promising individuals as they can find and swearing them to secrecy fed largely by cultishly cultivated neuroses as well as well-prepared blackmail possibilities and displaying some public charity the cult is extremely well represented in government high offices and in big business and the media as well as among the academicians and the artists. It is almost certain that Freemasonry has been exploiting that residual spiritual potential so pervasive among the more intelligent men who somehow cannot bring themselves to adopt a cult from among recognized religious cults which anyhow are no longer popular with the better educated and the more worldly-wise. The exploitation is resulting in securing higher and more influential positions for all members who then use this influnce to look after their own kind.
A lot of religious cults are not far behind Freemasonry in this respect. A large number of modern Christian cults as well as some Islamic ones are conceived and operate like Freemasonry except that the leadership is sometimes dynastic (if not then a lot of infighting precedes the establishment of the new leader). Criminal cults are usually fabulously rich and strongly centralist and politically behind the screens operators. They either bargain for supporting an existing main party or less often form their own party in which case it cannot win an election because of its poor popular base. An example of the latter was a certain Independence Party representing the Transcendental Meditation cult. The candidates distributed leaflets depicting themselves as endowed with supernatural powers like flying in air. Among Christian cults the claim is representing the elect to survive the Armageddon and live happily thereafter under the government of the returned Messiah. The date of the Armageddon is constantly shifted forward as dates prophesied come and pass uneventfully. Yet the believers seem to have developed an addiction for being deceived perhaps enjoying each new stage of hopeful expectation in its own right. It may be that feeling oneself as belonging to a Divinley elected elite is enough hesrt-winning compliment to sacrifice even when deceit becomes proven! As the price for the privilege these cults heavily tax the members who in some cases have to surrender all their wealth to the organization or even personally to the cult leader (and sometimes their wives as well).
Among Muslims even criminal cults come nowhere near their Christian equivalents in exploitation, certainly thanks to Islam’s power as a religion of certain non-negotiable principles like the Unity of God and the sacrosanct nature of the Shariah which no leader can tamper with. So, Islamic crooks have to tread more warily than their Christian colleagues and hiding behind a pious sufi garb make do with gifts and taxes and some political posturings and bargainings with the establishment. Still, the main benefit to the leader is his unadmitted and unvoiced quasi-divine status which may be improved on by making his family members, sometimes however impious, also included in the compliment. This is the case with some Asian cults ultimately descending from the Fatimids who once ruled as a mighty empire from Cairo in Egypt.
BIG BUSINESS AS A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION
Like every organized and therefore immensely empowered enterprise a giant company is in a position to break the law and collect the benefits accruing from the breakage with relative immunity. Immunity because the law-breaking is not done narrowly but spreads out officials who are in a position, directly or indirectly to keep a watch on the company. Government ministers as well as central and local government officials are cultivated with hospitality at the least and bribes at the greatest as assisted by blackmail and the company’s ambitions are helped by such recruited allies. The blackmail is possible by two routes. The first is the fact that the bribes have been accepted. Once so pregnant the impregnated party, like a Medieval maiden ravished by an exploitative lover, must forever bow to the will of its impregnator. The second is some dirty secrets shared by the criminally collaborating parties to which the political wing is understandably more vulnerable.
As a result of the oft- aired but never admitted political influence of big companies their research projects are sometimes able to get help from public funds while their products may sometimes get ill-advised endorsement and pre-mature licence to sell. One possible recent example may be the genetically modified crops (GM food). Despite the general hostility among both the farmers and the public at large GM companies seem able to impose their will on the public. The Euro is another example, although not exactly from the business world. Despite the palpable aversion of most North European nations including the British a sly persistent drive on the part of EU top bureaucrats has been with us since many years to impose it on us. It appears that no national rejection will be taken as final and the same centres will keep trying again and again to persuade us until the fatigue factor breaks our nerve and reslove and just for the sake of sparing ourselves more harassment we unwillingly succumb. There is little doubt that this drive towards a centralisation of European institutions is about increasing the power of conspiratorial elites who always created and governed states throughout history. Which is our next and culminating subject.