July , 2002 Vol. 18 , No.7
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful Submitters Perspective
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What have the Muslims done
to Islam?
While the great religion of Islam calls for peace, tolerance, freedom of belief and mutual understanding, almost the exact opposite has been happening in the so-called Islamic world. It is no wonder therefore that many "Muslim" nations of the world are in constant misery and turmoil through fighting and hostilities with their neighbors or each other. They are generally the least democratic and the most tyrannized people plagued with political and civil cor-ruption. Also, they have relatively no religious tolerance and have little consideration towards the faith of their own people or the people of other nations.
With the events of September 11, 2001 and those which followed it, there is more awareness today than ever about the religion of Islam and the state of Islamic countries. Many recognized the fact that the terrorists who killed inno-cent people in the name of Islam were indeed radical groups that have nothing to do with the main stream Islam. But more importantly, some people started realizing and questioning the wisdom and current state of so-called Is-lamic practices, and the need for returning to the real roots of Islam, Submission to the will of God, as practiced by Muhammad and those who truly followed him.
In an article called "What Went Wrong?" the January 2002 issue of Atlantic Monthly, the author Bernard Lewis has written the following:
By all standards of the modern world-economic development, literacy, scientific achievement-Muslim civiliza-tion, once a mighty enterprise, has fallen low. Many in the Middle East blame a variety of outside forces. But un-derlying much of the Muslim world's travail may be a simple lack of freedom.
…In the course of the twentieth century it became abundantly clear that things had gone badly wrong in the Mid-dle East- and, indeed, in all the lands of Islam.
Compared with Christendom, its rival for more than a millennium, the world of Islam had become poor, weak, and ignorant…
The author continued with a question "Who did this to Muslims?" This is a frequently raised question in the discus-sion of the sad situation facing the people in the Islamic world, and people come up with several different answers. Some Muslims blame others for their misfortunes, which is usually the easiest way out. Some others blame the re-ligion of Islam itself. But the author makes the following valid points:
If Islam is an obstacle to freedom, to science, to economic development, how is it that Muslim society in the past was a pioneer in all three-and this when Muslims were much closer in time to the sources and inspiration of their faith than they are now? Some have posed the question in a different form-not "What has Islam done to the Muslims?" but "What have the Muslims done to Islam?"-and have answered by laying the blame on specific teachers and doctrines and groups.
For those known nowadays as Islamists or fundamentalists, the failures and shortcomings of modern Islamic lands afflict those lands because they adopted alien notions and practices. They fell away from authentic Islam and thus lost their former greatness. Those known as modernists or reformers take the opposite view, seeing the cause of this loss not in the abandonment but in the retention of old ways, and especially in the inflexibility and ubiquity of the Islamic clergy, who, they say, are responsible for the persistence of beliefs and practices that might have been creative and progressive a thousand years ago but are neither today. The modernists' usual tactic is not to denounce religion as such, still less Islam in particular, but to level their criticism against fanati-cism. It is to fanaticism-and more particularly to fanatical religious authorities-that they attribute the stifling of the once great Islamic scientific movement and, more generally, of the freedom of thought and expression.
It's the corrupt Muslim religious leaders who have turned the true religion of Islam into something virtually against what Prophet Mohammad preached 1400 years ago.
To better understand what the Muslims have done to Islam, let us list some of the things that "Muslims" practice against the teachings of God and His messenger, prescribed in the Quran (Please see the table on page 3).
Therefore, the author's following assessment of the situation in the "Muslim" world is indeed valid. Unfortunately, it is the Muslims themselves who should realize what's happening to their great religion and should wake up from their illusions and false pretense.
During the past few weeks the worldwide exposure given to the views and actions of Osama bin Laden and his hosts, the Taliban, has provided a new and vivid insight into the eclipse of what was once the greatest, most ad-vanced, and most open civilization in human history.
To a Western observer, schooled in the theory and practice of Western freedom, it is precisely the lack of free-dom-freedom of the mind from constraint and indoctrination, to question and inquire and speak; freedom of the economy from corrupt and pervasive mismanagement; freedom of women from male oppression; freedom of citizens from tyranny-that underlies so many of the troubles of the Muslim world…
Current "Islamic" Practice |
Instructions in the Quran |
| Persecution or even killing of people who don't believe as they do |
There shall be no compulsion in religion (2:256) |
| Women are looked upon as inferior | Men and women are equal to each other in the sight of God (3:195, 4:25, 33:5, 49:13) |
| Women are not allowed/discouraged to go to the mosque |
All believers are commanded to go to the Friday prayer (62:9) |
| Women are forbidden from worship during menstruation |
There is no such command for women to miss prayers during menstruation (2:222) |
| Women have little or no rights in marriage, divorce, inheritance |
Women have specific rights in marriage, divorce, inheritance (4:19, 4:32, 2:228) |
| Music and arts are considered prohibited (haraam) |
There is no prohibition for music and arts (7:32, 42:21, 34:13) |
| Gold, jewelry and silk are prohibited for men | There is no prohibition for men wearing gold or silk, etc. (5:48-49, 7:31-32) |
| Bizarre dietary system with multitudes of prohibitions |
Prohibited are only four kinds of food (6:145, 16:115) |
| Muhammad was considered illiterate based on incorrect translation of ummy (gentile) |
Muhammad could read and write. He was a gentile prophet (96:1, 68:1, 7:157) |
| Some hadiths (sayings attributed to him) depicted him as a vicious, ruthless person |
Muhammad had good moral character (68:4) |
| Fabricated hadiths (attributed to Muhammad) contradict the Quran |
Muhammad followed God's commandments in the Quran (17:74-75) |
| The use of hadith is rampant. Some even believe that hadith abrogates the Quran |
The Quran is the only source of religious guidance (6:115, 17:46) |
| Many religious practices are innovated and have nothing to do with the religion |
The Quran is fully detailed and infallible (6:114, 7:52; 10:37) |
| Muhammad is believed to have the power to save "Muslims" from Hell as long as they praised him during their life time |
There is no intercession in the Hereafter unless it coincides with God's will (2:48, 2:123, 2:254, 9:80, 20:109, 21:28 …) |
| Muhammad's name is mentioned with God in Shahadah (statement of faith), and Az'an (call to the prayer) |
God alone is sufficient and there should be no name mentioned or put next to God (3:18, 39:36, 39:45) |
| There is no mosque in the Islamic world where only the names of God is displayed |
The places of worship belong to God and God is the only one worthy of praise (72:18) |
| Conclusion: Corruption in religion gradually got worse over the years since hadith came along 200 years after Muhammad's death |
Conclusion: Muhammad will say in the Hereafter that his people have deserted the Quran (25:30) |
Comments on
www.submission.org
Asalaamo Alaikum,
It is my first chance to visit your web site. With out any doubt, it is one of best Islamic web site I ever visited. Though I brought up in a different school of thought, but it is very hard for me to reject your arguments.
With out any doubt, most of the stuff I read on your web site so far, is very logical and enlightening. It shows a beautiful picture of Islam, a peaceful, practical and natural religion. Unfortunately, most of the prominent scholars of Islam are presenting Islam in such a horrible way that not only non-Muslims but even the God fearing Muslims are getting frustrated. These so called custodian of Islam are openly using the name of Islam for their own politi-cally and wordily gains. There is hardly any body who can stop them. May Allah guide us on the right path (Ameen).
Wasalaam,
S. R.
Assalam Walaikum
Thank you for your site! Thanks Allah for leading us in the right path. Your site has taken me out of all my doubts and confusions and have given me back the freedom that Allah intented us to have and that in my heart I always knew that the Islam I was thought had lots of oppression and contradictions to it.
F. S. V.
As Salam Wa Alakioum wa Rahmatulah Wa Barakatu.
Bismillah- My dear brothers and sisters. I feel so overwhelmed and my heart and Spirit have been set free after 16 yrs of in and out of ISLAM practice. I have always understood the submission to GOD. What I could not ac-cept in my life is illogical practice and un-answered question. "Accept here is the sahih hadith follow it!!". I have been struggling in my Islam, not at all because I questioned the base, but every other thing that is crammed in it with out question and thousands of followers not referring to the HOLY QURAN. I knew that ISLAM was the truth PRAISE GOD, but the hijab, the no music; these things were not logical and peaceful. And ALLAH is most peaceful and logical. I thank you so much that you have this web site and now I can practice without question and concern.
Everything we need is in the Quran.
All complete. Praise GOD. I so want to be involved with other submitters and brothers and sisters with the true understanding. I will come with quite a fight here in my community; it is sick and depleting healthy people who are bound by lies and customs. God willing we will realize the true freedom there is in ISLAM. I ask that my email address be given out for communication. I feel really alone here and I need support. No one here in this commu-nity is in truth only Allah knows for sure their hearts. So please email me back and let me get involved. Praise GOD, Praise GOD, Praise GOD.
Peace and Blessing of our Creator be with you.
Sister K.
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