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Posted on 03/17/2005 1:15:23 PM PST by robowombat
William Muir's theory of Muhammad
I've just read the fascinating third chapter of William Muir's 1878 The Life of Mahomet, "The Belief of Mahomet in His Own Inspiration." In the great tradition of 19th century scholarship, Muir is an author who sees both the trees and the forest. He works closely from the original sources, presenting the facts about Mahomet (I'll use Muir's old-fashioned spelling here) as we have them from the Moslem tradition, while also offering his own critical assessment of those facts. He has a highly articulated point of view about Mahomet that seems to me exceptionally insightful. Muir shows how Mahomet became convinced, or claimed, that his own thoughts were God speaking to him, so that every sentence in the Koran, every single word, is believed to come directly from God. While Muir doesn't deny Mahomet's spiritual experiences that led to the writing of the Koran, he calls Mahomet's claim of divine authorship a forgery, since he was falsely claiming that God was the author of the Koran rather than himself. By placing this divine imprimatur on his own thoughts, he made them impervious to analysis. To this day, it is virtually impossible for Moslems to think critically about the contents of the Koran.
After pointing out that Mahomet himself occasionally worried that it was genii who were speaking to him rather than God, Muir does something rather brilliant. He demonstrates, step by step, that Jesus' responses to the three temptations of Satan were the exact opposite of Mahomet's behavior. Whereas Jesus refused to use his divine powers for his personal advantage or for power, Mahomet often used his (false) claim of direct divine authorship of the Koran for purely personal ends (such as his various murders and marriages), and, of course, to make his religious teaching into an earthly, conquering, political force. In other words, Mahomet yielded to the temptations that Jesus rejected. Therefore, Muir concludes (and he calls this a suggestion rather than a dogma), if Mahomet was indeed inspired by a supernatural being, it was not God but someone else.
In this connection, Andrew Bostom in his research for his book on Islam has discovered and shared with me a remarkable Persian illustration of Muhammad at the massacre of the Koreizites, a Jewish tribe of Medina. It's a famous episode in Muslim history. Muhammad, whose face is veiled, is seen sitting with his lieutenants in a kind of plaza while the killings, which he has ordered, proceed in front of him. The illustration is highly significant because it shows Muhammad "at work," as it were. This is what he did as Prophet and founder of a religion. Nothing could bring out more clearly the world of difference between Muhammad and Jesus. While Jesus, innocent of sin, allowed himself to be executed for the sins of mankind, Muhammad ordered the mass executions of innocent men.
Getting back to William Muir's remarkable biography, he quotes and comments on many passages from the Koran, making that book somewhat accessible to me for the first time, since whenever I have tried to read it on my own, I've been quickly overcome by a combination of boredom and revulsion. It occurs to me that the primitiveness of the Koran, the endless reiteration of the theme, "Either you follow God, or you are a piece of garbage and you are going to burn in hell," is like taking the judgmental aspect of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures at its most judgmental, reworking it into the crudest possible form, and making that into the basis of an entire religion. And perhaps that is the reason Islam, unlike Judaism and Christianity, was so successful in winning over the Arabs: it appealed to their simple, fierce, tribal mentality in a way that Judaism and Christianity could not.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 16, 2005 02:19 PM |
You mean being squashed and forced to recite verses is not the regulation angelic M.O.? Hard to believe, the results are so sublime.
An apt definition of ISLAM is what the author has offered:
..."...a combination of boredom and revulsion..."...
After learning enough about Mohammed's divine revelations, it becomes fairly simple to predict the behavioral commands that Mohammed gives.
..."...Kill for ISLAM, and if you cannot kill, then contribute to killing by any means at your disposal..."...
This is how a Muslim gets to Heaven....by contributing to murder. Unlike other religions, Mohammed's may stand alone in this regard.
From this "divine revelation" from Allah flows all the rest of what the Islamic Clerics preach. If any behavior is in doubt---Mohammed and Allah's way is to use your power to intimidate and make them submit to your will.
SUBMIT = ISLAM.
I have patient's who have voices that make more sense than the Koran. Some of them are convinced it is God talking through them too.
The worst belief system ever.
Mohammed (piss be upon him)
(maybe I can claim it is the arabic spelling?)
This is one great article.
Too bad for humanity that Mohammed's temporal lobe epilepsy didn't manifest itself in less malignant ways...
If "Mahomet" were alive today, he would be one of your patients. I believe that many of the so called, holly men of all religions, were nothing more than raving maniacs, with either the ability to write, or somebody willing to write their craziness down to torment mankind.
Islam. It's not a religion. It's an induced mental disorder!
bump
Excellent. Much thanks.
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The Religion of Murder.
BUMP!
Thank you for this post and phenomenal thread!
Link to the illustration please, with name of illustrator and date of creation.
Because of this many many murders are performed evey year.
Any muslim that cares for his life would know this..
Could be that many/most muslims are not muslims at all..
Because the least penalty would be ostracism for family and friends.. and in some places murdered by those very same people.. Even in western countrys.. Islam has gotten away with this for 1625 years.. and it won't stop soon in the mid-east or even in western countrys..
Its no mystery why people(muslims) go along to get along.. No matter where they live.. If this Surah is brought out noised around and laugh at and ridiculed as it should be.. Maybe muslims in western countrys just might shake Islam off, some of them.. Especially, if laws are passed to make specifically this "tradition" among muslims absolutely NOT allowed.. And if This Surah is barbaric primitive and lame, the rest of the Koran is suspect too, from a muslim point of view.. But all that is mute as long as this lame example is hidden and unknown.. This passage in the Qu'ran should be engaged and questioned face to face to any muslim.. And having too answer this Surah time after time.. from Infidels(you and I). Eventially the truth of it will/should worm into their brains. Its such an awfully lame example of Islamic sillyness.. There are many many others especially in the Hadiths (source of the Qu'ran)...
The late Ayatollah Komeini used to teach classes on the proper way to perform beastiality.. You must sell the meat after killing the animal to another village.. its a sin to sell it in your own village.. and THAT is the tip of the slimeberg..
The Hidden Hand:
Middle East Fears of Conspiracy
by Daniel PipesGod Has Ninety-Nine Names:
Reporting from a Militant Middle East
by Judith Miller
hardcoverPalestinian Religious Terrorism:
Hamas and Islamic Jihad
by Yonah AlexanderThe Rage and The Pride
by Oriana Fallaci
Sword of Islam
by John F Murphy JrThe Quest for the Red Prince
by Michael Bar-Zohar
and Eitan Haber
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