UI – Part 182 – Are Muslims Caged (2 of 2)

Continued from last week…………….

The Conquerors and the Vanquished

The successors to Muhammad made conquests, fought battles outside the Arabian Peninsula and among the tribes and clans within, with abandon.  Allah was at their side.  A Roman (Byzantine) and Persian Empire weakened by on-going strife between them and the aftermath of a decimated population resulting from the epidemic called the Plague could do little to resist an emboldened Saracen emigrant invasion. Allah, they were convinced, led them to succeed and by god the people would be obedient to the new leaders occupying their lands.  Still there was no Scripture provided by the conquerors to guide the overtaken.  It was their word and sword.  For those overwhelmed it was easier to be quiet, abide and survive.  They would pray and revere Allah as instructed.  The vanquished did not even have a name for this newly required obedient faith.   The net or the cage was thrown over the masses and they were told to remain under cover.  This became the cover of the Quran.

When they did pray 5 times a day to whom did they pray, their God or the God of the conquerors?  They knew little of the conqueror’s Allah, but were repressed to act according to the wishes of the rulers.  Those holding the sword.

The Scripture of the Conquerors

Meanwhile the Quran was being developed.  Scribes gathered verses from those that remembered them and were still alive.  Various compilations of Muhammad ascribed verses from Allah via the angel Gabriel were presented the successors.  They provided their own input. There were disagreements.  Prior to his assassination the 3^rd successor to Muhammad assembled a copy and had it transcribed in a dialect few could read or understand.  Later other successors made changes and provided their own prescription for the faith of the caged masses. Jews and Christians had to make this new book their Scripture, as lesser humans, or be dhimmied. (My term taken from the Arabic word – dhimmi).  However copies were not readily available.

It took almost two hundred years before a history of Muhammad was written.  It may have taken that long before a unified stance as to the Quran was taken.  Meanwhile the cage remained.  The middle-east became enclosed in a protective barrier that would only allow for the ideology of the Sahaba and Successors of Muhammad to be spoken.  No more gospel of Jesus Christ.  Jews were to beware as the cloud of the extirpation of the  Banu Qurayza hung over them if any should criticize the successors, their Prophet or Allah.

Legal System – Law of Islam

In addition rules, the laws, the rule of law, were being written by the successors and succeeding successors over time.  Islamic Law, Sharia, was evolving to suit the likes of those in charge, with ulema, Islamic scholars at their side.

1400 Years Since AH

How much has changed since day one of AH (the start of the Islamic Calendar)?  In 1400 or so years the cage remains, benefitting from families, heads of household that have survived, acquiesced, adapted and succumbed, as well as peers, the militant and scholars that have been the creators of the religion of Islam born from the ideology of the successors.  The Quran presents the case for no doubt, no friends of other religions, the superiority of Muslims, the absolute acceptance of the Revelations presented credited Muhammad, warnings to the disobedient, strict punishment to those who defect, and ears and minds to be closed to the Truth of the People of the Book.

Absolute Acceptance

Muslims must accept the contorted modifications to the Bible as to Ishmael, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, replaced by Muhammad himself.  It cannot be questioned.  The idea even that the Bible was the source for who the Arabs were well before Muhammad ever appeared is accepted except as to the needed ‘corrections’ to the ‘corruption’ of the Bible made by man.

Muslims must ask who corrupted the Bible?  What makes the most sense?  There were many Arabs already believing in but one god when Muhammad came on the scene.  Muhammad admits his mortality, denying Jesus divinity, making man the sinner, not Jesus, and thus the one prone to corruption.  Even the Quran has the decency to call Jesus ‘perfect.’  Muhammad was not perfect and his desire for self-aggrandizement, labeling himself a Prophet, self-appointed at that, should also be open to discussion, even concern and criticism.

Tertullian wrote[i], “…my Gospel (the Bible and New Testament) is the true one….  The principle of time, which rules that the authority lies with that which shall be found to be more ancient; and assumes as an elemental truth, that corruption (of doctrine) belongs to the side which shall be convicted of comparative lateness in its origin.”  Interesting in that ‘time’, when the first document was written, is the operative logic to what is most correct.  Coming much, much later, Muhammad is in error as a judge of what transpired centuries prior to his arrival.

Can the Cage Be Opened?

What are the consequences for the Muslim that questions the Truth?  I questioned the Bible.  I sought answers and found through history, architectural evidence, the testimony of witnesses and so much more that the Word of God, is God.  The Word is Jesus.  The Gospel is the Word.  The Word is Truth.  The follower of Christ is to anticipate persecution in His name.  With inquiry and study the distance between God and man does not increase but comes closer, a relationship with the Eternal Being is made possible. Salvation is understood; its assurance guaranteed as the Holy Spirit, the Counselor promised by Christ indwells in those who give thanks for His amazing Grace.  There is no compulsion and no coercion.  It is a heartfelt understanding of who God is.

What I said about the Bible I cannot, at least not at this stage of my research, say the same for the Quran.  It is claimed to be ‘uncreated.’  That is not true.  It is well documented and supported that Isaac was the son of Abraham to be sacrificed. A direct reference to the Trinity is not in the Bible, but is in the Quran and not as Father, Son and Holy Spirit – as Father, Son and Mary.  Mary gives birth as a Virgin to Jesus, but Allah is not the Father, even though implied. “Allah creates what he pleases” (Sura 3:47).  Muslims are not to believe in Original Sin, yet they all sin.  Sin is recognized as man’s inherent desire – “Say if you love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you, and grant you protection from your sins.” (Sura 3:31).  As to ‘love’, from the prior reference, note that Allah loves you if you love Allah.  The biblical God loves you unconditionally.  There is no ‘if’ clause.   I could go on.

There are many questions the Quran raises without answers. Even the scholars of the Quran refuse answers.  Their mantra – do you believe in the Will of Allah?  Has all been revealed by Allah? These are purposeful loaded questions forcing a response that avoids a forthright, forthcoming answer.  The real questions are left unanswered.     There is little architectural evidence, even for the life and locations of Muhammad.  Muhammad was not a godly man characterized by his way of life as a warrior, killer, vindictive, mercurial, lover of children, married to multiple women, even more than he recommended, and a deceiver.  By the Quran’s standards of Works, there is little supporting evidence for his good actions – kindness, caring, giving to the poor, etc. – exceeding his evil actions which would make him eligible for Allah’s domain.

My personal doubts are showing, for which I can only apologize.  But I am trying to be honest.

Man Thing – Sharia

Islamic Law is a man thing.  It takes into account Allah’s standards as well as man’s standards and makes temporal and spiritual laws blend. Men substitute themselves for Allah in making judgments based on Allah’s commands.  That is wrong, even for the men of Allah.   God is to be the judge of God’s laws. That will occur on Judgment Day.

Man should be free, otherwise they are caged, to decide the extent to which they obey God.  It is voluntary.  It is not a group function.  It is individual.

Man is to only rule according to common law where human rights are fully considered, where people are protected from the evil committed by others and where peace and security can be found in one’s home, at least from outside intruders.  Governments are to legislate based on the common good.  Good for all, not a few or not just the religious as sanctioned by the Government.

J and M

Jesus and Muhammad were quite different.  Who would you follow is the question I ask as I study.  The answer remains today – Jesus.

Freedom

May the light of God’s Grace be made to shine on all mankind.  Open your hearts and minds to the Truth that is readily available through the Word of God.  The Word can and will set you free.  It opened the cage of man to freely love God and be saved.  Man can only be the one that cages other humans.  If for acts of violence against others, that is one thing, but if caged only to serve man, with ideological limitations, that is not God’s intent.   Be brave enough to ask, find answers, and proceed according to what you learn, what you gain in knowledge, and the wisdom that comes with such an effort.

The Cage door is ajar, open it and He will enter your heart.

Grace and Peace.