Judaism

 

 

JUDAISM 

 

Even the name is indicative of decay and distortion. It purports to explain that the religion which has been made peculiar to a small nation is so named because the nation in question traces their origin in a particular son of Jacob, namely Judas, a brother of great Joseph and disappointingly enough, one of the criminal gang of the ten elder brothers who had conspired for Joseph’s destruction. That a religion purporting to be the true religion of the only God accepts itself as limited to a single tribe out of twelve tribes descending from the twelve sons of a single man, namely Jacob son of Isaac, is beyond comprehension. The only God of the entire creation is alleged to forget all other human creatures of His and favour one tribe whatever their conduct must be absurdity itself. It is in this extremely nonsensical notion that much of the self- and other-inflicted troubles of the Jew (yehudi) lies. It is racism on a cosmic and most uncompromising scale and as such made the Jews to pay a very heavy price throughout their history. Not that their enemies were not responsible for the terrible persecutions they inflicted on their Jewish neighbours; they were. But the fact remains that by their arrogant and triumphant elitism and their ebbing and flowing belief that they could do anything to the gentiles (goyim, non-jews) and get away with it out of God’s penchant for them put them in a class of their own among the most persecuted nations. Overall, with some exceptions Jew-gentile struggles have been based on mutually fanned and inflamed resentments and jealousies and perhaps have been the worst examples of how Satan could wreck interpersonal and inter-ethnic relations.

 

Presently our friends are bogged down in another unnecessary controversy by supposedly cleverly implanting themselves into the middle of enemies which became enemies because they were robbed of their homes and lands by trickery and terror. This culture of trickery and terror is so badly embedded in the dubious Jewish  scriptures that all their most glorious ancestors are boastfully depicted as arch-cheats and sometimes as arch-thugs as well. For example, Isaac cheats his elder brother Ishmael and Isaac’s son Jacob cheats his elder brother Esau of his rights of the first-born. Cheatings do not stop there: Jacob himself is tricked by his uncle Laban to whom he serves on the understanding that he will be given his uncle’s younger daughter Rachel but lands with the older Leah etc. This cheating culture as well as merciless and total butchery of gentile rivals whenever possible runs throughout the book ascribed to the only god of all creation. All in all, Jewish history and culture, despite its many undoubted glorious sides- like monotheism, piety and morality within the nation and sometimes graciously extended to those outside- is  a story of group pride and group selfishness best described by the term narcissism.

 

If there was not peace outside, i.e, with the gentiles, there wasn’t either inside the Jewry. Political disputes aside, the priesthood were a hotbed of constant strifes and the prophets could not vituperate enough against the hypocrites among the religious. If we find a lot of this in, among others, Isaiah we find its most vehement form in Jesus. Interestingly, after Jesus both Jews and Christians are agreed that no new prophet came from Israel despite hopes. Instead to the shock and consternation of both Muhammad sws made a most credible claim and succeeded as no other prophet succeeded before him.  What is more a final prophet like him termed ‘the Prophet of the Later Times’ was expected by the orthodox in both camps. By all reasonable and conscientious standards Muhammad had to be accepted by both parties with gratitude and jubilation but the Satan would not allow it. Again the culprits were the hypocritical men of religion of the two earlier religions which competed in excelling each other in trying to frustrate the Creator of all existence in His election of the Prophet of the Later Times. They ended up just frustrating themselves.

 

As for elitism, it can be said that Christians even improved on Jewish elitism and arrogance. Of course this has had nothing to do with spirit of Jesus like the attitude and conduct of the majority of Jewish priesthood had nothing to do with the example of beautiful Abraham and then of noble Moses the Law-giver. In both cases the mainly hypocritical priesthoods blocked their flocks from the continuing and renewing Light from the Divine and penned them into their tax farms to bleed and fleece- with the rare exceptions of some truly saintly rabbis and monks.

 

Anything I said above concerning Jews and Christians is not meant as insults at all; I shall be saying perhaps worse things about Muslims soon. Islam as seen from the Qur’an and the more reliable and reputable traditions of the Prophet is a universal religion entirely and categorically against all prejudices, be they racial, regional or about social class. Instead it teaches the brotherhood of all men and asks them to compete in piety and kindliness and declares the winners of this competition the only  nobles of mankind. Read if you wish:

 

“O mankind! We have created you from a single male and single female (you share a single genetic pool giving you equal if differentiated and specialised talents) and divided you into branches and tribes (races and nations) in order that you recognise and appreciate one another. Otherwise the noblest among you is the most God-respectful (truth- and justice- conscious and desirous) of you. (Do not think you can cheat the Truth), indeed Allah knows and is aware (of everything)” (49: 13)

 

I challenge anyone who can come up with a more Unitarian, universalist and egalitarian as well as nobler concept of and mission for mankind or show me a book including a holy scripture that can both summarise it so perfectly and excel it in nobility!

 

We Muslims or rather those among us who are learned and conscientious enough are expected to equally love all men in principle no matter their racial, cultural and economic differences from us simply because we are the members of a single family, all being grandsons and granddaughters of a single couple, namely our common father Adam and our common mother Eve. I am only too anxious to make peace and create love between me and my estranged brother the Jew, my other estranged brother the Christian and still others of various faiths, traditions, ideologies and in general beliefs. Allah is painting a panoramic view of the history of religion and then showing us the way forward, the way of tolerance and accommodation:

 

“(We as Allah) instituted for you of religion what We advised and instructed Noah and that which We revealed to thee (lastly o Muhammad) and what We had advised and instructed Abraham and Moses and Jesus to the effect that ‘hold up the religion of Allah (the Unitarian, universalist and egalitarian religion) and do not break up into sects in it’. However it is heavy on the polytheists (those with divided loyalties in the face of Allah’s Truth and Justice) what you invite them to. Overall Allah chooses for Himself whom He will and guides to Himself who is inclined to Him. The reason why they (religious communities like Jews and Christians) fell into disputes after the knowledge (from Allah) came to them is because of the hostilities among them. Were it not for the fact that a word (of tolerance and forbearance) had proceeded from thy Lord judgment between them would have been long executed. Those who inherited the scriptures after them are similarly in nagging chronic doubts in it. Therefore (O Muhammad) invite (to now clarified and purified Truth) and be upright yourself as you are instructed and do not follow their fancies (false theologies, flawed values and misguided rituals untraceable to true messengers of God). Instead say ‘I believed in what Allah sent down of the Scripture and am instructed with working justice among you. After all, Allah is our and your Lord, our works is ours and your works are yours- no argument between us, may Allah bring unity between us; to Him is the return” (42: 13- 15).

 

Now, are the above an observation and offer worthy of heartiest acceptance or worthy of rejection? Rejection can only be the most despicable response to such a fair proposition and proposal. Why Christians and Jews want to tear Muhammad apart and reject him and the Book Allah gave him and the correct, just and universal religion He instructed him with if not for those despicable reasons of hostility and jealousy as Allah already exposed above so succinctly and accurately? What on earth is keeping Jews and Christians from admitting the God-truths which could unite them with each other and them two with us to form a single community of God-serving people. Please do not think that I am a starry-eyed idealist and expecting to be taken seriously. I am just doing my conscientious best to just show the Light and the rest I can only leave to Allah. But that true Islam as I am so intent to discover and elucidate from the Qur’an itself, from the horse’s mouth so-to-speak, is for me too clearly universalist, egalitarian, entirely truth- and justice-oriented is beyond doubt. Being also uncorrupted, most reliably traceable to a historically fully established prophet Islam is the only religion, hand on heart, to be worthy of universal acceptance by those who have a mind to religious faith and observance.

 

DEVILS IN THE HOUSE OF ISLAM

 

As the above and many other verses of the Islamic Bible the Qur’an demonstrate Muhammad came with a unifying message true to all the best elements in older bibles while also pointing out and correcting many mistakes they accumulated over centuries. As such we can say that Muslims have had the best start among all religious communities prior to them. But did this mean that they escaped all the spiritual plagues those older communities could not? The answer to this question is ‘only partly’. We have no scope to go into the details of this situation. But we can say in the context we are conducting this analysis is this: the main failure many Muslim shared with their previous analogues has been their significant enough indulgence of their egos in which process they similarly remained blind to the directorial role of the same enemy, namely the Satan. When I say ‘Satan’ I do not mean a corporeal, physical being but a spiritual principle of evil motivation resident in all souls and best metaphorised as a demonic person. As such he is no less real in its existence and effective in its mission; in fact and sadly he is more so.

 

The bait the Satan used to similarly capture Muslims was the same- the benefits of this lower world. The one among these benefits which did most damage was power- that irresistible prize all too ambitious people are obsessed with. What is power? It is the ability to control and dictate to others, and frequently control also their wealth if not grab it altogether. It is so attractive that that one of the most pious and ascetic of Prophet’s companions, namely Umar was shaken in its presence. When he was appointed the caliph after that most saintly Abu Bakr he was heard from over a wall marching his house grounds and uttering to himself “Ya ameer al mu’mineen” (o the commander of the faithful) time after time and then adding “How sweet and enticing! By Allah I must fight against its temptations”. And he did until he bled from the effort. His second successor the equally great Ali was seen and heard doing and saying as follows. He was praying night-vigil (tahajjud) prayers in his mihrab (prayer niche) wriggling painfully like a man bitten by a snake and groaning “O world, are you trying to tempt me? Look for another victim, I am not going to be taken in by you”. Whenever wealth from the tax paying provinces came into the treasury Ali would distribute it to those entitled to parts of it and then sweep clean the treasury chamber and pray two rek’ats (kneeling cycles) of salat and give thanks to Allah for once more resisting the charms of wealth and not touching anything of it except his paltry caliph’s salary.

 

Many Muslims in their times and far more in later times took anything from these very pious early caliphs but their aversion to this world’s goods. With the exception of an ever-diminishing pious minority most Muslims dived into this world to the best of their skills and opportunities and rulers and their entourage, predictably enough, were the worst offenders. The greed was not only for wealth and the pomp and luxuries it bought; it needed a parallel greed to ensure its continuance: power- political, bureaucratic and more interestingly, spiritual!

 

Those who could not hope to attain political or bureaucratic power, being intensely power hungry like all servants of the Satan, saw that in spiritual matters positions could be invented and filled. After all this had been the basis of that power structure institution called priesthood; despite Islam banning priesthood these power-hungry ambitious Muslims felt they had to re-introduce it by the backdoor and only decline naming it as such. With this new gate to power the three legs of a classical power structure were put into place as they were always put before Islam; now muftis, sheikhs, apparently ascetic monks (darwishes) emerged and made the Islamic scene similar to the pre-Islamic. Not that we did not need muftis to rule on legal matters even for a salary and sheikhs to preach and guide even with informal financial incentives from their not too poor disciples and from other occasional beneficiaries; we needed them and shall always need. The problem is not this but the environment of often extremely jealous and ambitious competition which materialised almost like magic as a result, It suddenly became a déjà vu, almost paganism re-visited, re-visited behind the veneer of purest monotheism and anti-clericalism. If we were to listen to the Prophet we should not have worldly ambitions behind our religious aspirations but many of us did.

 

Having observed this undeniable fact we must now see how and why it works.

At the basis of this phenomenon of ‘dirty-tricksful’ competitive environment lies that uncontrollable lust for power in ambitious but untalented men whose terror is talented men. Before I say what I mean let us lay the Islamic foundation of filling vacancies in an Islamic society. Allah says “Allah commands you to deliver all trusts to those who are worthy of them and when you judge among people you judge with fairness. How well is Allah advising you! (4: 58). In a hadith we read “When trusts are delivered to the custody of those unworthy of it you may await the Hour”, that is to say, social or national disaster to strike not long after.

 

Now, in the matter of filling a vacancy in the ranks and departments of a society two basic types compete: those who have more talent than ambition and and those who have more ambition than talent. What Allah is saying above is that talented people should be preferred to less talented people despite any great ambition in the latter. Of course talent is not a simple jewel, it has many facets and subtleties and it is the overall picture given by a candidate that we must take notice of when delivering a trust to a candidate. Briefly stated, one with higher and more prolific talent should be chosen. The Prophet chose his staff exactly this way; a new convert, by simply being the most suitable for a job could immediately put in charge of a force while Abu bakrs and Umars could be given to serve under him. Khalid b. Walid for example became right from his belated conversion the Prophet’s favourite general because his talent outshone all others. Today we have many Islamic organisations of various descriptions; has anybody seen any of them promoting a newcomer any time soon to any significant position? Unlike their Prophet, Muslims go for their old comrades because like other deluded groups they see positions of power more as rewards than responsibilities.  So much for our understanding of Allah and His Messenger!

 

In more general terms, what do we often see among Muslims in this matter? The low-talented and highly ambitious almost always win against the high-talented but humble-minded. How does the low-talented, highly ambitious get their undeserved prizes? Mainly by two alternative and also often complementary routes. One is the candidate’s preparedness to resort to every available or imaginable dirty trick he can find, like tarnishing the image of his worthier rival, petitioning and flattering those in a position to help the matter (pulling strings- nepotism) or plain bribery. Bribery is not only aspirant paying the decision-maker; the decision-maker may take the initiative and ask for the bribes to be paid to him for him to confer the benefits coveted on the applicant. In the declining decades of both the Abbasid and the Ottoman empires many offices went to secret highest bidders, because the caliphs or sultans were bankrupt and could only remain solvent by selling the offices. Those who bought the offices then made haste to reimburse themselves by all available corrupt means including the extortion of heavier taxes from the populace in their power. They made haste because their tenure was expected to be short since someone else could outbid them later. But bribes in appointments and in promotions, more generally speaking and especially to lower positions in general came (and still come) in the form of a barter: you appoint my nephew, I appoint yours formula. Another only too obvious ‘ambition beats talent’ game is intrinsic to totalitarian or near totalitarian environments: monarchs institutionally leave their thrones to their eldest or favourite sons almost irrespective of talent while family businesses are often inherited root, trunk and branch by the dead tycoon’s children irrespective of their suitability, I mean in an administrative sense because a financial inheriting is justified. Some inheritors are wise enough to hire a talented general manager or keep any good one their parent had. These are not our concerns here.

 

Our concern is that unhealthy, un-Islamic or impious activity among Muslims which makes us to end up with rulers, bureaucrats, managers, commanders, professors, muftis, imams and sheikhs etc. who are more ambitious and therefore dangerous than talented while a lot of golden talent are rejected and put on a scrap heap. Its little wonder then wars are lost, economies decline, education falls to pieces, government made inefficient and corrupt, taxation unjust and bankrupt, mosques are lectured by meagre preachers repeating a mediocre, almost cliché sermon and muftis are ruling more with an eye on the rulers who appointed them and are his paymasters than on the needs of the public. Even judges can be corrupt when appointed nepotically. This is the main tragedy of contemporary Muslim societies. Those with far more ambition than scruples are invading and grabbing every opening for influence and reward at the expense of those already rare jewels of both talent and piety. Even Sufi orders can at times be victims of such rapacious usurpers of powers and means who, by conspiratorial and sometimes even brutal means win against their far worthier rivals.

 

In the light of Allah’s verses above there is little doubt that Muslims cannot look to a brighter future so long this state of affairs prevails, for “Allah will not change what a people are in until and unless they change what is inside themselves” (13: 11).

 

And you know what? This theme of ambition forever trying to beat talent in the competition for higher honours and benefits is almost the single most social theme in the Book of Allah. It is picked up at the very beginning of the Qur’an and the Qur’an ends with it.  In the beginning we have the story of our father Adam and his deadly envier Iblis. Iblis was that too ambitious soul who both expected and demanded to be Allah’s chief elect but he had no talent for it. That is because for a servant to be dear to Allah humility before Allah is the first condition. Iblis was anything but humble. In fact he could not be prouder and more arrogant because he was being consumed by a desire for a position of top power under Allah. No other angel was ever like that. Against him Adam was humility itself: he just thanked Allah for everything and never thought of becoming somebody in his own right. It was this almost naïve purity which made him a very easy prey to his evil envier Iblis.

 

Another great story in Allah’s Book about the talented candidate and the untalented but ambitious is the story of Joseph and his brothers except one. They initially eliminate him from the competition by treacherous trickery but in the longer run all find themselves prostrating to Joseph as was prophesied. Allah explains this victory of Joseph by his being a good servant, a servant reflecting Allah’s Grace despite everything that was happening to him. As Gracious Lord always won so should His gracious servants, one way or another but win all the same.

 

The last story with the same theme is touched upon near the very end of the Qur’an: the story of Muhammad the Messenger of Allah and his atrocious uncle Abu Lahab. He and his wife had made a habit of persecuting the Prophet and one of their favourite tortures was hiding branches of thorn-bushes under the sandy path the Prophet had to walk over to and from his home. His feet would be cut and bleed as a result. Of course there were more and far worse tortures Abu Lahabs were applying to their victim. Allah cursed them as a result in a very brief chapter which read:

 

“Let the two hands of Abu Lahab dry up and they in fact did. Neither his wealth not his earnings did or will do any any good to him; he shall be cast in a Fire rich in flames together with his wife the wood carrier with a rope of palm fibres around her neck” (111: 1- 5)

 

Two surahs down we have the full secret of the unjust desire for vengeance behind the competition between the ambitious but untalented and the talented but unambitious: Is any more comment necessary?

 

“Say (o Muhammad/o true Muslim believer): I take refuge in the Lord of the daybreak from what He created and from the dark night when it descends and from the evil of those who blow at the knots (in pursuit of black-magical aims) and FROM THE ENVIER WHEN HE IS ENVIOUS” (113: 1- 5)

 

This issue of envy and the treacheries and conspiracies against Allah’s higher elect among the Muslims resulting from this envy has been the gravest issue damaging this ummah since its inception. Can you imagine, even our incomparable and fully God-protected master Muhammad the Messenger of Allah died while still being persecuted by his enviers who, jealous of him for being Allah’s last and final messenger and envious of his great success tried, nearly like their mentor Iblis, to frustrate Allah by themselves claiming prophethood and building appreciable followerships. The most successful of them, namely Musailima nearly won against the sahaba army sent against him by the first caliph Abu Bakr- so loyal and heroic were his deceived followers- were it not for the success of a master lance-thrower among the caliphal army in bringing him down. Allah decided the issue there and then; his followers rejoined Islam and again a Joseph-figure, this time through Abu Bakr Muhammad won and won for good. But did the theme dry-up there and then? Unfortunately not. Since then Adams and Iblises, Josephs and his brothers, Jesuses and his Pharisee enviers, Muhammads and Abu Lahabs, Abu Jahls or Musailimas appeared and reappeared and re-enacted the same drama of the envied and the envier. Because this is almost the only central parable running throughout the Qur’an and sadly dotting our history we Muslims should be well-informed about and watchful of it lest those too ambitious among us consume and replace in high office or influence our Adams, Josephs and Muhammads. May Allah make Musailimas fail and Muhammads and Abu Bakrs win.

O Allah, please save us from our enemies within and without our ranks by extending thy Hand of Forgiveness and help to us by improving the sorry state we are in by first improving what is inside us. The day we can crown our Adams, Josephs and cause our any too ambitious, envious and treacherous brothers to bow to Allah’s elect among us and be forgiven and reinstated will be the days of glory of Islam re-emergent. By Allah’s infallible evidence that is the only solution- so let it come. Amen.

 

22.  THE SWAMPY GROUNDS OF SEXUAL SINS

 

FUNDAMENTAL REMARKS

 

Allah the Wise and Loving Merciful Creator defines what sex is and what is it for and defines the roles of the two sexes:

 

“O mankind! Fear your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from her He created her partner and from the two He bred and spread many men and women. Fear Allah in Whose Name you mutually ask for things including kinship rights; Allah is ever watchful over you” (Surat al Nisa/Women: 1)

 

This is a new inspiration (ilham) to me and I am afraid made to none before me except Allah’s elect only Allah knows about. I cannot thank Allah enough for it and prostrate myself to Him in overwhelmed gratitude. Let me explain and share it with you.

 

Firstly Allah addresses the whole mankind referring them back to their very origin- a single soul. What is more, the Arabic word for soul is ‘nafs’ which structurally speaking gives no clue about its gender but is still inflected as a feminine noun. The Arabic original of “And from her He created her partner” reads “Wa khalaqa minha zawjaha”  where both ‘minha’/from her and ‘zawjaha’/her partner are in feminine mode. What is more, the word for ‘partner’ is ‘zawj’ which is now masculine; its feminine should be ‘zawjatun’. Therefore Allah is deliberately diffusing the two sexes into each other in order to show how closely they are related and under some exceptional circumstances each may be converted into the other. As a result not only we sometimes if rarely have what is called hermaphroditic babies whose sexual characteristics like breast or genitalia size and shapes are deceptively formed as a result of which they need an operation to shift them in the direction which more agrees with their overall make-up. What often is the case is that there is a hormonal basis to the mix-up and in fact nowadays even a fully formed member of one sex can be nearly converted into the other by hormone therapy. Still, the original femaleness of the human soul (nafs) remains which may indicate the subjection and vulnerability of the human soul to the Creator’s Power which Creator, namely Allah is always mentioned in masculine gender forms like ‘huwa’/He.

 

This of course does not mean that men are not men and women not women and should stay and function that way. It can only mean that the two sexes are not as separate as they think they are but share a large common grey area thanks to which they can understand each other, at least if they make the effort. Additionally there are enough fully and properly functioning males and females among us who otherwise look like, to a certain extent as belonging to the opposite sex. A masculine-like girl is called a tomboy for example; she may be a most beautiful example of a girl bodywise, curvy and femininely fragrant yet she may act more like a boy when it comes to taking initiatives, being aggressive or even masculinely strong. The same for some men. They can do most things well enough like other men including fathering children but have a strange feminine appearance and display of emotions which may puzzle or amuse any observers. These are not crimes though; they reflect the thinness and occasional fragility of the barrier that separate the two sexes which is basically a hormonal one. As already pointed out the limited relativity of the sexual characteristics is a blessing and explains how men and women, if they try, can understand each other and get along better than they could with only sexual attraction between them.

 

With this proviso so granted we may now look at the issue of sexuality from the viewpoint of Truth which is looking at hard realities as they express themselves with few and rare obscuring factors or artificialities.

 

To begin with, being so closely related in origin men and women have a natural, irresistible attraction towards each other: they simply feel deficient without the other and find comfort and feel fulfilled once matched up with a member of the opposite sex they find attractive enough. Such a matching drives them to settle down and reproduce their kind as Allah says:

 

“They (women) are garments for you (men) and you are garments for them… therefore approach them and seek what Allah made you for” (2: 187).

 

What a nice metaphor: a man without a woman is like a naked person exposed to all the dangers going with nakedness, like taking cold or being scorched in the sun and also being found rude or being ridiculed for his defects which a garment could hide. As the only animal in need of artificial body cover man should make and wear garments and one such garment in a social sense is marriage. Allah continues:

 

“It is He (Allah) Who created you from a single soul and from it made its/HER partner in order that it/SHE finds comfort with her/HIM. When he (man) covered her (woman) she picked a light burden and walked away carrying it. When she became heavy the two (the couple) called out to their Lord ‘If You give us a good one we will be among the thankful” (7: 189)

 

Please note the grammatical mix-up of the genders in this verse like it was in the first verse we quoted above. Sexual roles in reproduction are not mixed up, only the relativity and plasticity of the roles and therefore the mutual interdependence and inter-changeability of the sexes under exceptional circumstances may have been implied. Be as it may, the fact remains that men are intended to live, behave and function as and like men and women like women and the two sexes can only merge in marriage with a view to raising a family or at least for most satisfying companionship if they are beyond procreative age.

 

Did people take Allah’s biological dictates and social advice dutifully enough? Hardly!

 

There seems to be a constant thread of homosexuality running through all civilisations but more so in some and hardly so in some others. Among the most notorious nations with homosexual prominence the ancient Persians and then Greeks may be mentioned. It is believed that the Persians were the teachers and the Greeks the pupils since the former became a great power long before the latter could. Persians were a great power at least as from two thousand years BCE while Greeks attained their maturity as from fifth century BCE when they were known as the Hellenes, having evolved into a single nation from the mixture of a number of races like the Cretans, Dorians, Ionians etc. Once so united and amalgamated they proved a veritable rival to the far more numerous and  prouder Persians and eventually replaced them as the masters of Asia Minor and all the rest to the East all the way to West India and today’s Afghanistan. This volume of expansion was achieved under a non-Greek conqueror of Greeks, namely Alexander the Macedonian better known as Alexander the Great (356- 323 BCE) who also overpowered and mastered Egypt. From then on Greek civilisation and its subject nations more or less Hellenised under its influence made homosexuality almost respectable and the only challenge against and curb on it had to await the arrival of Christianity as from the mid-first century CE.

More about this later however.

 

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