HolyConservancy.org "Islam Hijacked"

ISLAM HIJACKED, by Aidid Safar (pseudonym), April 10, 2005

The original manuscript this was taken from four years ago was lost before I could finish coding it in html. So, here is the Author's latest version, but in a .pdf format, if you would like to read the rest of it. This is only the first 80 out of 390 pages. Okay? It makes the valid point, every ideology can be taken to an extreme in order to create conflicts, if that's the intention: to create conflicts. ~*~ Emily Cragg

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PREFACE

According to the Quran, Chapter 3 Verse 20 it says:- "The Way of life (deen) according to God is Islam."

Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad were God’s prophets. The three of them brought the same deen or Islam to mankind.

The Children of Israel first conspired against Islam when they abandoned the Torah and called themselves Jews. Later they rejected Jesus the son of Mary who came to reconfirm the scripture. They remained Jews.

Jesus the son of Mary came to abolish the Jewish religion but some Jews conspired against him:-

When Jesus sensed disbelief from them, he said, ‘Who will support me towards God’? The disciples said, ‘We are the supporters of God. We believe in God and bear witness that we are Muslims. Our Lord we have believed in Your revelations and we have followed the messenger, so count us among the witnesses. The others conspired and schemed, but God is the best schemer. (Chapter 3 Verse 52-54)

The true followers of Jesus said they were ‘Muslims’. The Children of Israel ‘misled’ the people by saying he was crucified on the cross. They anointed ‘Christianity’ and make more than one and a half billion people think they are following Jesus.

Arabs became the next conspirators when God revealed His scripture in Arabic. They invented the Arabic Religion and they fooled more than one billion people around the world to bow and prostrate seventeen times per day to the stone idol erected in the middle of the mosque in Mecca.

They knew God did not tell His servants to worship but to SERVE Him instead the Arabs twisted the word ya’budu which means SERVE to create worship. Then they corrupted the word Bayta which means system to say it is God’s house.

In truth NO ONE is bowing or prostrating to God today. They were led to believe they are bowing and prostrating to God. In reality they are worshiping the stone idol in Mecca. That is the true foundation of the Arabic Religion. Whoever and wherever the followers of the Arabic Religion are, they FOCUS themselves on that stone idol.

The Children of Israel did NOT crucify Jesus the son of Mary but they made the Christian believe they did. And that is the foundation of the Christian’s religion. Whoever and wherever the Christians are their FOCUS is the cross with a crucified figure whom they have erroneously called Christ. They forget the Jews wrote above the man’s head, ‘This is Jesus, The King of the Jews’. Jesus however, did not call himself a Jew or a Christian.

Similarly, Moses and Aaron did not call their followers the Jews, and they did not go to Jerusalem to build a temple, but the Children of Israel are now using the Wailing Wall as a place of worship. Whoever and wherever the Jews are, their FOCUS is the half-broken wall in Jerusalem.

All these are the conspiracies against the deen prescribed by God revealed to Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. It is the same deen of the way of life. God reminds His servants to stay away from these people who segregate the deen into religion. ‘Judaism, Christianity, and the Arabic religion are the religions of men.

You shall devote yourself completely to the deen of uprightness. This is the natural instinct implanted into mankind. Nothing can change such creation of God. This is the perfect deen, but most people do not know. You shall all return to Him and observe Him and fulfill your commitments. Do not be with the idol worshipers who segregate the deen into RELIGION. Each party satisfied with what they have. (Chapter 30 Verse 30-32)

Jews are happy with what they have, Christians are happy with what they have and the Arabs are happy what they have. The conspirators who created all these religions were the people who received God’s scripture through their own prophets. God has decreed that for every prophet there will be enemies from human devils who will invent fancy words to deceive people:-

We have set for every prophet enemies from among the human devils and the jinn devils who invent and narrate to each other fancy words in order to deceive. Had you Lord willed, they would not have done it. You shall disregard them and their inventions. (Chapter 6 Verse 112)

Jesus will witness against the Children of Israel and Muhammad will witness against his own race in the hereafter.

Muhammad will declare to God:- "The messenger will say, ‘My Lord my people have isolated this Quran." (Chapter 25 Verse 30)

Similarly Jesus the son of Mary will say:-

"And God will say, ‘O Jesus the son of Mary, did you tell the people to consider you and your mother as idols besides God’? He will say, ‘Glory be to you, it is not right for me to say what is not true. Had I said it You would have known about it. You know my innermost thoughts and I do not know Your innermost thoughts. I did not tell them except what You commanded me to say, that ‘You shall not SERVE except God, my Lord and your Lord. I was a witness among them as long as I lived with them. Burt when You terminated my life You became the watcher over them. You are the witness of all things. (Chapter 5 Verse 116-117)

The Children of Israel and the Arabs are the true conspirators against Islam who divide the deen into RELIGION. The revelations were revealed in their own respective languages and no other race can corrupt or distort God’s words except the race who received the scripture.

There are some messages to the people who have received the scripture who wish to take heed from the Quran: -

  • O people of the scripture, ‘Why do you dispute about Abraham, when the Torah and the Gospel were not revealed until after him. Why can’t you understand? (Chapter 3 Verse 65).
  • O people of the scripture, Why do you reject these revelations of God, even you bear witness that they are the truth?. (Chapter 3 Verse 70).
  • O people of the scripture, ‘Why do you confound the truth with falsehood and conceal the truth knowingly? (Chapter 3 Verse 71).
  • O people of the scripture, ‘Why do you reject God’s revelations, knowing well that God witnesses everything you do? (Chapter 3 verse 98).
  • O people of the scripture, ‘you have no basis until you uphold the Torah, the Gospel and what is revealed herein from your Lord. (Chapter 5 Verse 68).
  • O people of the scripture, do not transgress the limit of your way of life (deen), and do not say about God except the truth. The Messiah Jesus the son Mary is no more than a messenger of God, and His word He threw unto Mary, and the sacred soul from Him. Therefore you shall believe in God and His messenger and do not say ‘Trinity’. You shall refrain for your own good. God is one God, much too glorious to have a son. To Him belongs everything in the heavens and earth, and God suffices as your guardian. (Chapter 4 Verse 171)

I hope the readers will enjoy reading this book. This book does not only expose the Arab conspiracies against Islam but it also exposed the grand conspiracy of the enemies of God and His messengers from the time of Noah. There is nothing controversial about this book because I have quoted all the evidence from the Quran, a scripture that confirms all the previous scriptures.

Nobody can deny what they see around them today. People are divided because of religion. People fight and kill each other because of religion. People are shackled with restrictions and prohibitions to obstruct them from progressing forward because of religion. Women are exploited and their intelligence and usefulness in society are reduced only to fulfill the sexual needs of the men because of religion.

The people should not blame God for their suffering and hardship in life. They have chosen to submit themselves to manmade religion. God will not change His blessing upon the people unless they change themselves.

People have preferred man made religion under different brand names instead of God’s prescribed way of life. They want to worship something tangible. They want to perform ritual prayers and religious rites as way of life. All these are idol worship. It is too difficult for them to accept the ONE way of life or ‘deen’ that was enjoined to Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. According to the Quran the majority of the people hate the truth.

INTRODUCTION

The confrontation between logic and ‘faith’ has always provided man with food for thought. "The Hijacking Islam"1 is the result of years of deep reflection, written with the primary objective of understanding the reason for the failure of Muslims and widespread hostility among non-Muslims – including secular Westerners, Hindus and Jews – against Islam.

I have come to realise – and will prove by reference to the Qur’an itself – that such prejudice is not misplaced. It might surprise the reader that those who claim to be the ‘Muslims’ are professing what is, in fact, an invented Arab religion.2 Perhaps they deserve the incessant suffering and humiliation they are subjected to, until and unless they return to the one true God. By presenting a more accurate picture of real Islam, this book exposes a great falsehood and reveals a greater truth - both of which may otherwise have remained hidden.

Islam, as we know and see it today, is not at all what is envisioned in the Qur’an. Whatever the reader’s personal beliefs, he will find cited in this work many interesting facts that are commonly and flagrantly overlooked with regard to the topic of Islam. It is hoped that this book will better equip the reader to weigh the evidence of what is and is not Islam on the basis of the text of the Qur’an itself, free from any superstitious or religious bias.

What we find when we undertake such a task is that the Arabs are shown on the basis of the Qur’an itself to be guilty of conspiring against God and His messenger and of corrupting the deen (or the orderly way of life), and of reducing it to a ritualised pagan ‘religion’. The result has been presented as ‘the religion of Islam’ and is, unfortunately, perceived as such throughout the world at present.

In a nutshell, the Qur’an is not about religion. Islam is not a religion in the ordinary sense of that word. Islam means ‘peacefulness or blissful’ as a way of life (deen) sanctioned by the one God. The thesis that is established by this study is so detailed and far-reaching that its publication is for the benefit of those seeking to discover true Islam.

As a Muslim from birth, I was told from childhood that the Qur’an is the supreme source and guidance for my religious belief. In spite of that conviction, I was only taught to recite the Qur’an in Arabic without any instruction on the significance and meaning of the Book. At the age of ten I was the pride of my family since I could recite the Qur’an in Arabic fluently. There was a slight hitch however. I did not understand what I was reciting. It seemed to me then that reading the Qur’an was simply another religious ritual, akin to the singing of hymns without understanding.

I first examined the Qur’an seriously upon my return from a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1980. I supposed that I had fulfilled my obligation as a Muslim.3 However, upon study and reflection of the Qur’an, it dawned on me that I had not fulfilled anything ordained by God by my presence in Mecca. Moreover, neither has anyone else, as will become clear as we proceed.

Before I began this study, I asked myself some fundamental questions:

  1. Is it true that God has chosen to reside in a house built by humans on the Arab soil?
  2. Does He need a house to live in? And, if not, why do they call it God’s house? Or is that expression merely a figure of speech?
  3. Why do I have to bow and prostrate to an empty square structure built from mountain rock, then circumambulate it and kiss a black stone embedded therein?
  4. Why do I have to pray ritually five times a day facing a rock structure even if I live thousands of miles away?

Questions like these perplexed me and prompted a study of the circumstances surrounding their origin and I looked for the answer within the Qur’anic texts in the hope of finding an explanation for what I had done in Mecca, and also as to why I had visited a grave in Medina.4

At the time, I knew from translations of the Qur’an that the Book contained passages about the lives of Noah, Abraham and his children Isaac and Ishmael, and Jacob and his children Joseph and his brothers. I knew, too, that it gave details about David and his son Solomon, Zechariah and his son John, Moses and his brother Aaron, and Jesus and his mother Mary. However, very little information is to be found about Muhammad, the only gentile5 prophet to received revelation. I looked earnestly inside the Qur’an for a detailed life-history of the man idolised by millions, but there was nothing to be found but verses depicting his frustrations and disappointments during his tenure as a prophet of God. The picture which emerges is that of a prophet – like the prophets before him – who failed in his mission to convince the people about God’s Scripture. This being the case, it comes as no surprise to find that in the Hereafter:

The Messenger will say, my Lord, my people have deserted this Qur’an. (25:30)

Before I studied the passages of the Qur’an in the original Arabic text I placed much reliance upon translations all of which echoed the interpretations of the old scholars. I soon realised to my dismay that there were numerous discrepancies and contradictory statements in many of the interpretations and translations. The one that disturbed me most is the following illogical rendition of 2:125. A typical rendering of this passage reads:

We then designated the house as a focal point for the people and a sacred sanctuary. You shall use the station of Abraham as a place of prayer. We directed Abraham and Ishmael to sanctify My house for those who encircle it, retreat in it, and bow and prostrate to it. (2:125)

All the ‘traditional’ scholars consistently maintain that God owns a house and that people must worship Him through this particular house. It struck me that something was amiss, but it was not until I had learnt to understand the Arabic and read the original text that I realised the precise meaning of certain verses in the Book and my suspicions were confirmed.

My basis for understanding and approaching the Qur’an is simple. The Qur’an place emphasises on words (kalimaat); the Qur’an is a reliable text and we are to approach it in seriousness for answers: "God taught Adam His words" (see 2:37) "Abraham was tested with His words" (see 2:124) "God revealed the message to Moses with His words" (see 7:144) "The Jews perverted the meaning of God’s words" (see 5:13). "John the son of Zechariah confirms God’s scripture by words" (see 3:39). "Mary upheld God’s words and His scripture" (see 66:12). "Jesus the son of Mary was confirmed a messenger and he was God’s words" (see 4:171). "Muhammad believed in God and His words" (see 7:158). "No man can change God’s words" (see 6:34). "God wanted to establish the truth with His words" (see 8:7 and 10:82). "God is able to erase any falsehood and re-establish the truth with His words" (see 42:24). "The Qur’an was written by the hands of those who were assigned. They were honourable and righteous" (see 80:15-16). "God says He preserves His book" (see 15:9). "The Qur’an is a sign from God" (see 29:51).

If we want to study the Book we have to focus on the words the way they are spelt and pronounced. In 7:204 it says, when the Qur’an is recited we are to listen to it carefully.

We are called upon to regard the Qur’an with care and to make sense of it. I have discovered that certain key words have had their meanings twisted. This perversion has the following catastrophic consequences:

Non-Muslims judge the Qur’an by the benchmark of the (unacceptable) behaviour resulting from the so-called Muslim world’s misunderstanding of these terms.

This work seeks to reclaim the territory lost on the basis of the Book and its elucidation of its own terms, free from those ascribed to it by a ruling class of religion-mongers. There is nothing wrong with God’s words. Rather, there has been a deliberate manipulation of the meaning of His words by men, and this has given rise to wildly inaccurate notions about God. Moreover, the same discrepancies, contradictory statements and illogical interpretations of passages of the Qur’an have found their way into ALL translations of the Qur’an. I could not find even a hint of the important matters I had uncovered in any one of the many translations available.

For instance, the subject of wildlife conservation – which is discussed in a later chapter – was distorted in all cases to become pagan rituals. I was momentarily beset with doubt. Might I not be mistaken in my understanding? Had I not perhaps merely contrived a fanciful interpretation rather than uncovering, as I thought, a clear founding principle, provable on the basis of the meaning of the Arabic text? How could it be that I was right and the ‘authorities’ in the venerable seats of learning were wrong?

Nevertheless, I ploughed on. But it was only after in-depth study involving extensive cross-reference of the many verses on each subject spread throughout the Qur’an that I became convinced of the correctness of my suspicions. I observed the incompatibility of statements in the Qur’an and the myths and mysteries prevailing in the Arab religion – a cultic entity which systematically negates the whole idea of a transcendent God. I assembled a list of these erroneous ideas and the contrary proofs from the Qur’an. In the end, I had to acknowledge the force of the evidence before me. Surprising as it will doubtless be to many, the Qur’an completely denounces religion, rituals, worship, animal sacrifices, rites, pilgrimages and the like, categorising such practices as idol-worship. This I was able to establish beyond any doubt.

Translators are basically men of letters. More often than not, they mistranslate or ignore the elementary purpose of the message when translating the Qur’an. Perhaps due to their personal religious convictions (prescribed for them by the aforementioned religious elite) the message is lost, resulting in a misconstrued, illogical and often contradictory text. The truth is, in order to translate the Qur’an correctly one must first comprehend what one is reading. In fact, in order to approach it at all profitably, one must be clear of preconceived notions. We should come as critical explorers to discover its meaning, not as religious zealots to shore up our tribal and historical inclinations.

As has been indicated, popular translators are greatly influenced by the notes provided by earlier clerics and commentators whose personal views are often never verified or researched against the measure of the Qur’anic text. With the passage of time, such commentators have come to be regarded as authorities while – it must be stressed – they never committed themselves to a stringent study of their subject on Qur’anic terms and were thus unable, for example, to recognise the passages pointing to the seriousness of idolatry written in the Qur’an. They were more concerned with reading the text in terms which supported their own preference for an idolatrous Arab religion – a religion which, in fact, though not in name – they professed, and they misconstrued the Qur’an accordingly. The translators, then, approach any attempt to render the contents of the Qur’an via the legacy of such commentators and ‘authorities’.

Muslims/Moslems who rely on these ‘translations’ of the Qur’an (simply because they are incapable of understanding the Arabic language) fail to realise the essence of the Book’s substance: that the Qur’an upholds individual rights and liberties, tolerance and freedom. It includes information about human relations, warnings against racial polarisation, the promise of happiness in this life and the Hereafter, how to achieve global peace, the need for compassion towards each other, and regulations for Man’s social. Its plan is applicable in any cultural setting and has nothing to do with ‘religion’ whatsoever.

Translators, as a rule, do not attend to specific subjects or compare verses with other related verses in the Qur’an – a process that would have provided the key to understanding the words and expressions in the Qur’an. As a result, they mistranslate both whole passages and the key concepts behind individual words. This result in translations riddled with ambiguity, inaccuracy and inconsistency, which are spoiled, on occasion, with completely nonsensical statements.

Starting this research some sixteen years ago, I was unable to draw on previous works about the true deen – or way of life – for there were none. All I could refer to was the few translations dealing with themes in the Qur’an of interest to ‘men of religion’. There was no overall study of the Qur’an on the basis of the Qur’an alone.

Research of the type presented in this book requires free and critical thinking. It is not easy for those who are so-called scholars of ‘religion’ to appreciate such knowledge because they are rigidly biased toward their religious convictions. Indeed, the points raised in this study present a direct threat to the two largest sects of the ‘Arab religion’ – the Sunnis and the Shiite – fettered as they are by the Arabian culture and tribal laws, which essentially make up their religions. Only those with critical and open minds who are acquainted with (and able to engage with) the Arabic text in its literal form will truly appreciate this study. However, this book is written in an easy style, and it is hoped that the absence of specialised knowledge pertaining to the Qur’an or Arabic among some readers will not hinder from following the arguments outlined here.

My method has been to read critically each and every passage in the Scripture containing keywords on any one subject. In the majority of cases such verses are scattered throughout the Book. The Qur’an is indeed a concurrence of reflections on a wide variety of subjects referred to one after the other and taken up again in other places, often repeatedly. The entries on a precise theme like idol-worship or way of life must, therefore, be discerned and collated from throughout the Book and brought together under a single heading. As may be appreciated, many hours are spent tracking down verses. Thematic indexes already provided by translators, Arabic lexicons, and even the Concordia are incomplete or inaccurate in many instances after generations of ‘religious’ influence by corrupt scholarship as shall be demonstrated.

After a critical study of the Arabic text, I was struck by the disparity between my religious practices and what I had been told as a child: that is, that the Qur’an was the supreme source of my guidance and belief. I was also struck by how so many words were translated incorrectly and often ludicrously from the Arabic text, and in the most inconsistent manner. According to the translators, a word would mean one thing in one place and yet mean something entirely different elsewhere in the Book. And all this despite tireless scrutiny of generations of ‘scholars’. It is undeniable : contradictions, improbabilities and incompatibilities in the translated versions abound. When taken as a whole, one is at a loss as to why or how the scholars, commentators and translators pretend to be unaware of – or else try to camouflage – these fallacies.

The majority of non-Arabs are unaware of the distortion in the translations of the Qur’an. This ignorance exerts an extremely damaging effect on their belief in God. Even if there are a few who are able to discern such discrepancies, the vast majority of non-Arabs never take an intellectual stand against illogical translations and commentaries. [They have no basis for doing so.--Ed]

I was motivated to undertake this critical study in the light of the following verse:

O mankind, you shall serve your Lord who created you and those people before you that you might be observant. He is the one who made the earth habitable for you. He is the one who constructed the sky. He sends down water from the sky to produce fruits for your sustenance. Therefore, you are not to set up any idol next to God when you understand. (2:21-22)

I realised the message in the Book was addressed to all mankind irrespective of racial origin or sectarian faith. It emphasises that man should be subservient to the one Master who created him. He should not set up any kind of idol next to the One God. But men of all religions are teaching precisely the opposite. They either teach people to idolise God’s servants or to devote themselves to something tangible. It came as a profound shock to me when, having read a few more chapters of the Qur’an, I discovered clear-cut statements like such as:

"If you follow the majority of the people on earth, they will divert you from the path of God. They only follow conjecture, and they only guess" (6:116). "He has prescribed for you the same way of life enjoined upon Noah, and what is revealed herein, and what was decreed for Abraham, Moses and Jesus. You shall uphold the one way of life and not be divided. It is simply too difficult for the idol-worshippers to accept what you advocate. God is the one who brings towards Him whomever He wills. He guides towards Himself those who return" (42:13).

In the first, simple statement, God warns us not to follow the majority. Period. The second verse says there is one God and He is common to all mankind and that all people need to be united in serving the one unseen God Who revealed the Scripture to the prophets and messengers.

He is the only one who can bring us and guide us towards Himself. The bearers of the message can not do so. Simply put, the message is more important than the messengers. There is no need for any prophets or messengers once they have delivered the message. Their duty is not to guide but to call the people to God. 42:13 also tells us in no uncertain terms that those who idolise humans or icons are considered idol-worshippers and that they will not respond to such a call.

How is it then that there are so many religions each claiming to profess and practice the right way to God? The Qur’an gives the answer to this predicament: "You shall all submit to God, observe Him, and uphold your commitments6 and never fall into idol-worship; and do not be among those who change the way of life into religion, each party satisfied with what they profess" (30:31-32). "Follow those who do not ask from you any wage; they are guided" (36:21).

Religion is a false creation of men. Religion’s devotees are happy with what they practice. There are so many religions today but only one Creator. The fact is these religious institutions survive through various forms of income. The Qur’an is against such a system.

Now to some examples:

  1. Those who specialise in the Arab religion will tell you that one of the ‘pillars’7 of their faith is to visit and to worship a rock structure in Mecca, walk around it a number of times and then kiss a black stone embedded at one corner of this rock structure. Then they are to go to another location and throw some stones (and sometimes slippers) at some stone pillars whilst imagining these stones represent the Devil. At the same time, one must also believe the ‘reverse osmosis’8 water supplied in Mecca to be very holy.
  2. Specialists in another religion who technically subscribe to the Gospel as found in the Bible will tell you that the pillar of their faith is to believe that the Supreme God has begotten a son who ate food with the people; they also believe that a high priest from the synagogue had the power to issue a decree ordering the crucifixion of God’s son.
  3. The same religious specialists (who supposedly subscribed to the Torah) accused God’s prophet of blasphemy and ordered his crucifixion. Their counterparts today will tell you that a righteous man wears a skullcap and does not cut the hair at the sides of the head or trim the edges of his beard.

These ‘specialists’ all get paid handsomely for promoting such ridiculous ideologies – and more than half of the world’s population is paying money to these jesters in the form of ‘Zakaat’9 and various other systems of tithes. The Qur’an says, ‘Follow those who do not ask from you any wage’.

The Qur’an constantly reminds people to use their common sense. People know it is wrong to defy reason, but they still do not make the effort needed to understand: "We have assigned to Hell multitudes of jinn and humans, those who have hearts that do not understand, eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear. They are like animals, no they are worse than animals, but they are not aware" (7:179).

In my study, I have based my observation on facts from the Qur’an alone and have presented the logical deductions necessary to be drawn from them. If I had not carried out this research, sooner or later, others would have performed it in my place.

The study represents an innovation in the method of examination of revelation, especially as far as non-Muslim readers are concerned. In the eyes of many ‘Muslims’, a critical study of the Text does not immediately suggest the need to draw lessons from it for a meaningful way of life meant for all human races. As far as they are concerned, the Qur’an deals purely with ‘religion’. This approach is totally contrary to the facts for the Qur’an opposes ‘religion’; and until the Muslims grasp this essential point, they will continue to be ignorant of the Book they claim to follow.

Some readers of this study may be accustomed to a less direct style. They may even find the language in some parts overly blunt. This book is meant to be read by everyone irrespective of their religious background. Undoubtedly there are sincere and intelligent Muslims all over the world – or perhaps even among the Arabs themselves - who are searching for the truth and the right deen. I wish to appeal to them not to read to contradict and refute, nor to believe and take it for granted, but to weigh and consider.

Most importantly I do not wish to cause offence to any reader and I would be grateful if this aspect of my delivery were regarded as deriving purely from the strength of my conviction.

Aidid Safar
April 11, 2005

FOREWORD

Peace be upon the reader.

"Islam" is one of the most abused and misunderstood words today. "Islam" effectively means "peacefulness of an orderly way of life," which is the deen: to do good works in this world. This, however, is not the image called to mind when one hears the word Islam. True Islam is intended to be a life of peacefulness without religions, myths, superstitions, or ‘holiness’. Religionists, however, have systematically destroyed this ideal, not by demolishing it, but by altering its form so that it is no longer manifested as its Designer intended. The introduction of the Arab religion misleads people, stunts their potential growth, and results in disadvantaged and dysfunctional societies. It propagates a way of life or a deen featuring violence, terrorism, extremism, idolatry, worship, rituals, animal sacrifice, pilgrimage rites, oppressive tribal laws, a caste system, exploitation, chauvinism, decadence, poverty and hermitism. This, they claim, is what God had decreed. But this is provably contrary to the institution of peacefulness described in the Qur’an.

This book discusses the idol-worshipping Arab religion. I will demonstrate that the current state of affairs is not at all what is envisioned in the Islam revealed to the Last Prophet. According to the Qur’an, a person can attain peacefulness without having to profess a religion. The evidence from the Book states that the enemies of every prophet will invent religions to divert mankind from the path of God. As shocking as it may be, the religionists have proven to the world they are truly the enemies of the Last Prophet by virtue of the fact that they have replaced peacefulness with an idol-worshipping religion.

Before going on to support this claim, it is as well to define the terms within which this study operates. They are:

Before we proceed let me explain briefly why I have chosen to address the subject of idol-worship. According to the Qur’an, God forgives all sins to whomever He will except that of idol-worship. A person’s good deeds can be nullified if he falls into idol-worship knowingly or unknowingly :

"It has been revealed to you and those before you, that if you fall into idol-worship, all your deeds will be nullified and you will be a loser. Therefore, you shall serve God alone and be thankful" (39:65-66). "God never forgives the idolisation of anything besides Him, and He forgives all lesser offences for whomever He wills. Anyone, who sets up any idol besides God, has forged a gross blasphemy" (4:48).

Moses for example killed a man during his younger days. God, however, chose him to become a prophet and forgave him the crime he committed as soon as he turned to serve the supreme God alone. The Qur’an gives full details about the history of Moses:

“O Moses, I am your Lord, so take off your shoes. You are in the sacred valley of Tuwa, and I have chosen you, so listen to what is revealed. I am the One God, there is no god except Me. You shall serve Me and observe your commitments in remembrance of Me” (20:11-14)

“O Moses, this is I, God, the Almighty, the Judge. Throw down your staff.” When he saw it move like a demon, he turned around and ran. “O Moses, do not be afraid, My messengers have nothing to fear” (27:9-10).

“Now, put your hand in your pocket, it will come out white, without blemish. Gather your confidence, for these are only two of the proofs you will take from your Lord to Pharaoh and his elders. They are wicked people” (28:32).

"Moses said, 'Lord, I killed one of them, and I fear lest they kill me' (28:33).

"God said, 'Even to those who commit evil, but later substitute righteousness in place of evil, I am forgiving' (27:11).

Human nature is weak. We make many mistakes and transgress the limits of a righteous life and thereby wrong our souls. The Qur’an on the other hand, gives an assurance that whatever wrongdoings a person commits can be converted into credit once he decides to lead a righteous life. Such a decision does not require a man to profess a religion.

As for those who repent, believe, and work righteousness, God will change their sins into credits, God is forgiving and merciful. Whoever repents and works righteousness, God redeems him by a complete redemption. (25:70-71)

That is the assurance from God Himself in the Qur’an. We don’t have to be religious to repent or to believe in the One God. Similarly, we don’t have to profess a religion to do good deeds.

The Qur’an (or "the Reading")

The first distortion is that the religionists contend that it is not possible to translate the Qur’an into any other language because the attempt will change the essence of its meaning.

This is patently untrue, and is the first conspiracy hatched by the religionists to prevent the people of the world from understanding the word of God in their own languages. It also has the effect of making the Arab religionists the de facto keepers of the faith since all matters related to the Arabic language have to be referred to them. The inevitable result of this is that whatever they claim to be the correct translation has to be accepted as God’s truth. The net effect of this is the gradual and insidious replacement of God’s deen with practices of the invented Arab religion.

It is common knowledge that non-Arab Muslims around the globe daily recites five ritual prayers in Arabic. It is one of the idiosyncratic requirements of their Arab religion – a requirement that is not to be found in the Qur’an. The English, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, African and other non-Arab speaking communities are told that they must ritually pray to an Arab god specifically in the Arabic language. This practice presupposes that God cannot understand any other language, which by itself defies logic.

The religionists deliberately erect a language barrier to exert their influence over their religion and, by extension, over the people who practice the Arab religion. As a result, they created the Arab and Muslim culture, as we know it today. They prevent the faithful from serving the Lord of the Universe by systematically isolating them from the Qur’an. Eventually, all translations of the Qur’an have to undergo their censorship before they can be circulated as legitimate translations.

This book hopes to systematically explore and destroy all these illogical Arabic illusions. We will refer to the Qur’an, armed with a healthy dose of common sense and logic. This means that anyone and everyone – Arab and non-Arab alike – can check and verify the arguments presented. The Qur’an can withstand any scrutiny or criticism. It is truly God’s revealed word.

The religionists' conspiracy is exposed. The followers of the invented Arab religion who do not use their common sense to discover the truth, or to question their priests, and who unashamedly call themselves ‘Muslims’ are the worst creatures on the face of the earth today. God has condemned them for their blind subservience to these religionists. Their conspiracy is against the objective of the Lord of the Universe, the Creator of the seven heavens and the earth. It was through His mercy that He revealed His will to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Jesus and the other prophets. Each of them, obviously, received the revelations in his own language and, to date, mankind has never been instructed to serve God in only one particular language. The true objective of revelation has always been to make life simple for everyone so that they could all serve Him.

Serve God alone

The message from God to all His prophets is consistent. It is simple and straightforward. It is simply a sanction of universal values listing righteous deeds to be upheld by all. In simple terms, it is a master plan for a productive life.

Let us not forget that it is the Devil’s purpose and nature to interfere. God has, time and again, reminded His servants not to serve him who imposes false restrictions beyond God’s own sanctions. God’s revelation is all about this concept – nothing more and nothing less. There are no religious institutions, no religious obligations nor ritual prayers. God did not make provision for religious pilgrimages nor for the systematic collection of money in His name. He did not command His prophets or messengers to worship Him in the ordinary sense of that word. There is no reference to religious institutions or religious obligations in His Scripture. None whatsoever. What better way for the Devil to subvert God’s system than by contaminating it!

So, how did all these practices creep into Islam? Where in the Qur’an are these practices dictated? Let us examine the Scripture to see what God has enjoined upon us.

Inherently, all the prophets, messengers, and His servants – be they men or women – are required to serve God through their respective individual deeds both in substance and spirit. Islam is concerned with deliberate and conscious obedience to God by the individuals to attain his or her peace in this world - not mindless automated behaviour. God’s message conveyed to us by all His messengers simply says: ‘You shall not serve other than Him’. Within the framework of those words lies the truth of Islam or the peacefulness : "We did not send any messengers before you but with the message: there is no god except Me, therefore you shall serve Me alone" (21:25). Thus, the key to Islam or peacefulness is by serving God alone.

There is no mention in the Qur’an of worship in the ordinary sense of that word or of ritual prayer be it three, four or five times a day or a week. It was but the religionists' conspiracy against God and the Last Prophet, which saw the introduction of religious institutions, houses of worship, ritual prayers and religious laws. For example, the religionists have manipulated the meaning of the term ‘way of life’ or deen to mean ‘religion’, and ‘I serve’ (ya’budu) to mean ‘I worship’. Whilst at first glance these changes seem minute, they have had a tremendous impact on Islam. Sadly, the keepers of the faith have also perpetuated many other distortions. Among them are the Ka’aba in Mecca and the practice of mandatory pilgrimage.

God has declared the Arabs to be the staunchest disbelievers and the staunchest hypocrites. This will be demonstrated beyond all doubt by this book. The Qur’an confirms : Arabs are staunchest in disbelief and hypocrisy, and most likely not to know the limits of what was revealed by God to His messenger, and God is Knower and Judge (9:97).

Thus, the probability of Arabs being the caretakers of God’s deen is close to zero. The current status quo, however, has the Arabs as the heroes and champions of ‘religion’ with non-Arabs putting their blind trust in the religionists.

God is not an Arab

It is wrong to promote the idea that one can only serve the Lord of the Universe in the Arabic language. Such an opinion (and that is all it really is) ignores the following material considerations :

  • The Lord of the Universe is not an Arab.
  • The Lord of the Universe understands English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Thai, Tamil, Japanese, Chinese or any other language (including those of the ants and the animals).

Why then, the obsession with the ‘political correctness’ and emphasis on the Arabic language and culture in Islam?10 The Qur’an details the lives of great people of the past like Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Moses, Jesus and many others who served God. They did not speak the Arabic language but they were righteous people and the pioneer servants of God. They did not worship God in the ordinary sense of that word. Their relationship with Him revolved around upholding their obligations and keeping their commitments pure and chaste through deeds. All of this was accomplished without the facility of the Arabic tongue. Worship is a pagan ritual. Moses, Abraham, Jesus, David, and Muhammad were sent to teach us to stop worshipping through rituals. It is God’s will that we submit to His deen by serving Him through upholding our obligations and performing righteous deeds.

Every living creature in the seven heavens and the earth are glorifying God in their own way. There is nothing that does not glorify Him. God understands their glorification and their languages. To demonstrate this fact, the Qur’an narrates an incident with regard to Solomon. Solomon was blessed with the understanding of the language of the animals, the birds, and the ants. One day, as he was passing a colony of ants, he smiled in amusement when he heard the ants communicating with each other : "When they approached a valley of the ants, one ant said, 'O you ants! Go inside your homes, otherwise Solomon and his troops may crush you unintentionally'” (27:18).

Obviously the ants were not communicating with each other in Arabic. God translated the language of the ants into Arabic because He understands all languages. If He had chosen a French prophet, He would obviously have translated the ant’s warning to his comrades into French.

God revealed the scripture to Moses in his mother tongue, i.e. Hebrew, but when the Qur'an was revealed in Arabic to an Arab, the Children of Israel were told to believe in it : "O Children of Israel, appreciate the blessing I have bestowed upon you and uphold My covenant, that I uphold your covenant, and reverence Me and believe in what is revealed herein confirming what you have, and do not be the first to reject it. Do not trade My revelations for a cheap price, and observe Me. Do not confound the truth with falsehood, nor shall you conceal the truth knowingly. And uphold your commitment and maintain its purity and humble yourselves with those who are humble"(2:40-41-43).

God’s revelations had to come down in some language and there is no doubt that it is the message and not the messenger nor the language of the messenger, which is of supreme importance. But those who refuse to believe will regard the language as an encumbrance in accepting God's message. The Qur’an teaches that the language of God’s Scripture is immaterial, and that God will put His message into the hearts of sincere believers irrespective of their mother tongue. The Qur’an says those who disbelieve are bickering about the language not the message. The Qur’an gives a good example about the people of the past who had disputed about the language of the Torah. There were instances of those who claimed to be following the teachings of Moses, instead they invented Judaism, a cult entity unknown to Moses. They created various sects because they differed in the interpretations and understanding of the Torah. Similar disputes are, not surprisingly, raging within the Arab religion. The Qur’an predicts that people would have questioned God’s revelation no matter in what language He chose to reveal it :

Had we made it a non-Arabic reading they would have said, “Why are the verses not explained?” Shall we reveal a non-Arabic Qur’an11 to an Arab? Say, “For those who believe it is a beacon and a guide. As for those who do not believe they will be deaf and blind to it, as if they are being called from afar.” We also gave Moses the Scripture and it, too, was disputed. If it were not for a predetermined decision by your Lord, they would have been judged immediately. They are in great doubt thereof (41:44-45).

If presented in Arabic to non-Arabs they could not accept it when recited to them. This is the way we render it to the hearts of the wicked. Consequently, they fail to believe until the painful retributions strike them (26:198-201).

Despite the fact that the Qur’an was revealed in Arabic, God has not preferred the Arabs over other races. He made it clear by resolutely condemning Arabs in the Arabic Scripture in the strong terms where He says, they are the staunchest in disbelief and hypocrisy.

Certain people have accused the author of a hatred for the Arab people for his pointing out the existence of the verses in the Qur’an which do, in fact, describe the Arabs in exactly the terms mentioned above. If we take 9:97-101 for example, critics of the views put forward here will insist that the words a’robu and a’robi refer to Bedouins or ‘desert Arabs’. In addition, we have been furnished with the following interpolated translations which serve to prevent us from taking the words of the Qur’an at the normal value ascribed to them :

The wandering Arabs are more hard in disbelief and hypocrisy, and more likely to be ignorant of the limits, which Allah hath revealed unto the Messenger. Allah is Knower, Wise. (9:97 – Marmaduke Pickthall)

(The hypocrites among) the Bedouins are more hard in disbelief in (their) refusal to acknowledge the truth and in (their) hypocrisy (than the settled people), and more likely to ignore the ordinance which God has bestowed from high upon His Apostle, but God is all-knowing, judge. (9:97 – Muhammad Asad)

The Bedouin Arabs are the worst in unbelief and hypocrisy, and most fitted to be ignorant of the Command which Allah hath sent down to His Messenger; but Allah is All-Knowing, All Wise. (9:97 – Yusuf Ali)

God’s Arabic in the Qur’an is perfect and is used precisely. In the language of the Qur’an, Bedouin Arabs or the ‘desert Arabs’ are referred to as badu-naa fil-a’robi.

When the Qur’an talks about the Bedouin Arabs, it says so:

"Yah-sabu-nal ah-zaba lam-yaz-habu, wa-‘in-yaktil-ah-zabu yu-wudu-lau an-nahum badu-naa fil-a’robi yas-alunaa ‘an-abaa-ikum walauka-nuu fi-kum ma-qor-taluu il-laaqor-li-lan" (33:20).

They thought their allies would not come, but when their allies came they wished they were Bedouins within the Arabs (badu-naa fil-a’robi) who were only watching you from a distance. If they happened to be with you they will not struggle (33:20).

9:97-101 clearly uses the word ‘Arab’. It does not qualify the noun. It does specify that these Arabs are of the city. They are not – and are not meant to be confused with – inhabitants of the desert. This is yet another example of how the Qur’an explaining itself and confounds those who would manipulate it.

It is a fact that the Quran also mentioned about the believing Arabs in Sura 9 Verse 99:- “And from among the Arabs are those who believe with God and the final day and consider their contributions a means of drawing them nearer to God, and the commitments (solaa-waa-ti) of the messenger. Surely, it will bring them nearer to God, and God will admit them into His mercy. God is forgiver and merciful.”

In order to qualify - the believing Arabs must commit themselves to the deen the way it was done by their messenger. They should be actively involved in contributing towards promoting the deen for God. It is a known fact that the messenger fought very hard risking his life against the disbelievers among his own people who refused to accept the Quran as the sole source of guidance. He fought against the hypocrites and the idol worshipers among them. In other words he took the challenge (haj) against his own people to promote (u'mro-ata) God's true deen and guidance to make it prevail over all other deens.

He was a role model (33:21) for all the Arabs who truly seek God and the hereafter. Thus, the present day Arabs who think they belong to the group of people in 9:99 should do exactly the same as their messenger. Obviously they know the true meaning of the verse in 9:19 that encourages them to “Jaa-haduu fi-sabee- lil-lah bi-amwaa-lee-him waa-aan-fuu-see-heem” or they must strive in the path of God with their money and lives. It is their duty to take the same challenge against their own people in promoting what God had sanctioned to make it prevail over the present day idol worship practices on their motherland.

Unfortunately, in spite of their conversant in Arabic, many of them decided to move to the Western world for a better system of governance leaving behind the anarchy system in their own native land. Logically, in order to qualify in the category of people in verse 9:99 they must practice what they believe. They must follow the example of the prophet to establish the truth. They have more reasons to do so because they understood the language of the Quran. They can physically sense the idol worship practices packed with paganism and tribal cult rituals on their own soil. Unless and until they demolish these false inventions - sura 9 verse 99 will remain elusive.

Similarly, it is also the responsibility of the Arabs from other countries to take the challenge to prosper God's deen and His guidance against the disbelieving and hypocritical Arabs. God told them in many places in the Qur'an, "Do not fear the people, but fear Me instead, so that I may complete My blessings upon you, and that you may be guided."

It was God's blessing that He sent a messenger from among the Arabs to recite for them the signs, and to sanctify them, and to teach them the scripture and wisdom, and to teach them what they never knew. It is useless for the believing Arabs to utter what they do not do because the Quran says, "most abominable in the sight of God is uttering what you do not do" (61:3).

Therefore, the language of the Qur’an does not bequeath the Arabs any advantage over God’s Scripture despite their mother tongue, unless they follow the example of the prophet. Sadly, there are many non-Arabs around the world who seek to be more ‘Arabic’ than the Arabs. A non-Arab henceforth cannot claim he believes and submits to God because he knows Arabic. In fact his insistence on Arabic exposes his wickedness. If God understands all languages, language cannot be a barrier to magnify the Creator in any language whatsoever. God says even the heavens; the earth and the mountains are able to understand what humans say. Each time a human says that God has begotten a son, the heavens, the earth and the mountains react to such blasphemous utterances. I don’t suppose this verse indicates that the heavens, earth, and mountains can only understand blasphemous utterances in Arabic.

They said, "God has begotten a son". Indeed you have uttered a gross blasphemy. The heaven is about to shatter, the earth is about to burst and the mountains are about to crumble upon hearing such claims about God most gracious" (19:90-91)

In simple terms, the Arab religion insists erroneously and maliciously that everyone serve God in the Arabic language and in the ‘Arab’ way. This stand is not only devoid of authority from the Qur’an, but makes no logical sense whatsoever.

Ownership claim

The Qur’an remains simple and straightforward. The reigning confusion is entirely man-made. When man takes the revealed words and alters their meaning to suit his situation, it is no longer true. The religionists promoted their invented Arabic religion and not the Islam that was revealed to the Last Prophet. This was done in order to support their claim of ownership over the Qur’an and declare themselves the rightful caretakers of religion. Nowhere else in the world do we see such temerity. One wonders then, by extension, if the Devil converses only in Arabic.

Today, people who wish to serve their Lord by subscribing to God’s way are driven into the complexities of the Arab religion. In other words, the religionists have set themselves up as the conduit pipe – a saviour and messenger no less – by which to reach God.

It is required of any subscriber to God’s prescribed way of life (or the deen-nil-lah) to believe in the One God. The faithful know this and they know that God had revealed the Scriptures through many prophets to guide mankind. Somewhere along the line we have ceased to be vigilant against the enemies of God who are always waiting on the sidelines to derail us from God’s path.

A student of the Arab language has to contend with the mullahs’ interpretation to serve the invented Arab religion which, as has been indicated, is not part of the Qur’an, and examples are provided in this book that show how the interpretation of certain, simple words in the Qur’an have been distorted to meet the requirements of this contrived man-made religion.

Sincere people who seek the grace and pleasure of God have been divided into violent conflict and hateful sects under the mantle of the Arab religion. They fight and disagree over almost everything. As the supposed keepers of the Muslim faith, they bear poor testament to the privilege.

Religionists continue to make fools of everyone by making them expend sizeable amounts of money to journey to Arab soil so that they can walk in circles around a stone box. If it were not so catastrophic it would be laughable.

Create divisions among people

Those who believe the religionists do not realise that it is wrong to force divisions within God’s way. It is not correct to assume that these changes were made to improve Islam. It is wrong to think that concepts need re-interpretation. We are just not supposed to meddle in something that is perfect in design and execution. A casual overview of the Qur’an will reveal a clear commandment warning the servants of God that following a way of life other than God’s does not put them in the company of the Messenger. If anything, this alone should motivate Muslims to confirm that they are in the Messenger’s company. In doing so, the truth shall be revealed.

Indeed those people who change the deen into religion (shi-ya’an), you are not responsible for them in anything (6:159).

Our wish should be to lead a way of life as ordained by our Lord, who will ultimately take back that life and call us to account for it. To participate in this divine plan, He asks that we believe in the unseen God so that we can be certain of eternal life after death. We are told to be righteous in this life for as long as we shall live so that it will please the Lord. As a people, our intentions are noble but we fail to perform the paramount obligation, that is, to read. None states this quite so elegantly as the verse following :

Read in the name of your Lord who created. He created man from that which clings. Read, your Lord is the most honourable. He teaches by means of the pen. He teaches man what he never knew (96:1-5).

Instead of a life of righteous deeds and service, Islam today showcases a way of life that is centred on suppressing thought and talent and features the dogmatic rituals of prayer, idols, customs, traditions and pilgrimages. As regards pilgrimage, the only benefit the author sees arising from this arrangement is to the Arab tourism industry. Effectively, this ritual has doomed every single Muslim to a lifetime of servitude to a ‘god’ in a most ineffective and useless way. In an oblique sense, ‘religion’ is a major export of Saudi Arabia. There are countless faithful who do not have the means to perform the invented pilgrimage but have toiled, incurred debt and sacrificed ceaselessly to fulfil this purported obligation. Strangely, Saudi Arabia (which must have the largest percentage of pilgrims of any country in the world who have completed the pilgrimage) is no shining example of God’s just love.

These practices have divided both Muslims and mankind as a whole, causing dissent and instilling racial and religious prejudice amongst mankind. Perhaps its most damaging effect of all is that they have diverted mankind from the path of God. These ritualistic pre-conditions of the bigoted Arab religion have spread evil around the world by creating various religious sects to promote their Arab-centric, internal religious beliefs and customs. More importantly, the single most insidious aspect of the propagation of the Arab religion is to divide all those who are at peace (Muslims). Today, this enmity has not spared other religions that, to some extent or other, are at odds with Muslims. Why is the term ‘fundamentalist Muslim’ now not regarded as a positive term? Therefore the innocent Muslims or those who are at peace should consider returning to their Lord by submitting to His true deen to fulfil their obligations as the true servants of God. They should not be among the idol- worshipers who changed the orderly way of life (deen) into religion.

You shall all return to Him and be observant to uphold your commitments. And do not be among the idol-worshippers, they who change the deen into religion (shi-ya’an). And each party is happy with what they have (30:31-32).

Students of the Arabic language are conditioned from an early age to unwittingly accept the teachings of their u’lema (priests) of the Arab religion, regardless of their pertinence or correctness. They are unaware of their wrongdoings and propagate the teachings of the Arab religion to each new generation of Muslims. When alerted to their folly, they respond by saying those who follow God alone are apostates. It is absolutely horrendous that according to their Arab religion such ‘apostates’ are stoned to death. This anomaly alone is evidence of paganism. The true God does not impose double standards.

Stone-worshippers

The religion of pagan Arabs centres largely on traditions relating to the square stone house in Mecca mistakenly called the Ka’aba and its environs. The religionists make it mandatory for the faithful to worship it, and this is why, to this day, Muslims around the world bow and prostrate in the direction of this particular rock structure wherever they may be.

The religionists say that the stone house in Mecca is God’s house. They call the rock structure in Mecca the baytul-lah or God’s house. The term God’s house or baytul-lah is not found in the Qur’an. If this concept is so central to Muslim belief, how is it that it escapes mention in the Qur’an? It must be another Arab fabrication.

From another perspective, were this supposition true, it would stand to reason that God, the Lord of the Universe lives in this tiny 627-square foot hollow rock cube in Mecca. Simply because baytul-lah is presented as an endemic Arabic term nobody has bothered to check the true meaning of the word. Muslims the world over do not question what they are saying when they utter the word baytul-lah because the word has been proclaimed ‘divine’ and thus its significance cannot be questioned. To question this would invoke accusations of heresy.

Credit has to be given to the ‘Arabs’12 for perpetuating myths of this magnitude. For non-Arab Muslims terms like this will always be ‘divine’ since they are uttered in combination with words like Allah. They will worship anything appended with that name. They will bow and prostrate to a stone house for the sake of the word Allah.

I visited the rock structure many years ago and felt so ashamed to God after bowing and prostrating to it. Upon returning to my country, I asked for forgiveness from the Lord of the Universe and pledged to Him that I would never step foot on that soil again. It is inconceivable how millions of intelligent people including professinals consistently defy their common sense and serve a rock structure built by the Arabs. Although this point will be decried as heretical, it is nevertheless true: Mecca and Medina are the two largest idol-worshipping cities in the world.

There are Muslims who say: since God owns the heavens and the earth, there is nothing wrong with saying there is a house of God. However, it is a patent madness (invested with simple human pride) to assume that the Creator of the Universe owns a special house on the desert sand representing His glory. Yet the same foolish Muslims accuse others of being pagans by virtue of their idolatry. Do they not do the same when they worship a rock cube?

All this smacks of the Devil’s touch. Consider the statement in the Qur’an portraying the Devil as the foremost expert in mind control. The Qur’an says that --

God will assign the devil as companion to those who neglect His message and then the devil deludes them into thinking that they are guided;

Those who neglect the message of God most gracious, we appoint the devil to be their constant companion. Then the Devil will keep them away from the path and make them think that they are guided (43:36-37).

All these linguistic and contextual ambiguities have successfully concealed the true message of the Qur’an. The Holy Book has been reduced to a choir book used solely for chanting and singing. To this day, many blindly follow the ‘recipes’ set out in these Muslim ‘precepts’ contained in a language foreign to them and perpetuate the same myths themselves. There are similar instances in many religions, but none quite so insidious and widespread. Many of these misconceptions are easily discovered with a little care and logic. But then, common sense is hardly a common commodity.

Worship of mountain rocks

The rituals that have been instituted around the man-made Ka’aba have developed in a peculiar way. The faithful bow and prostrate to the stone house; they circumambulate it seven times, proclaiming to the Almighty, ‘Oh God, I am here!’ increasing their volume as they near the ‘sacred’ stone cube. They kiss the idol, cry and wail to it. They do not deny they are worshipping their God through a stone house. But to make it palatable they say it is ‘God’s house’.

The square rock structure in Mecca is constantly surrounded by thousands of people from all over the world twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. During the annual pilgrimage approximately two million people from all over the world worship it. This makes the Ka’aba the most successful idol on earth. In the following pages, we will demonstrate how the religionists conspired to change Islam – the deen – into a religion of idol-worship. In doing so, they have intentionally manipulated God’s word in the Qur’an and sold it cheap.

The conspiracies

The list below shows twenty-seven crucial words in the Qur’an (although there are others) which have had their meanings twisted by the religionists to create the ‘Arab’ religion. The words are shown with their attendant translations:

Arabic word Arab corruption Fundamental meaning
Islam Submission peacefulness
Muslim one who submits one who is at peace
Asra journey captivated
Solaa FIVE daily ritual prayers commitment/obligation/covenant
deen religion a way (or an orderly way) of life
bayta God’s house a system
bayti-ya My house (God’s) my system
baytal Harama God’s sacred house the sanctions in the system
baytika-muHarami God’s Sacred house your sanctions in the system
maqam footprint status, position or rank
musol-lan a place of prayers a committed man
musol-leen people who pray ritually people who are committed
Thor-iffin encircle the house throngs of people
a’kiffin retreat to the stone house Devote
wa-roka’is-sujud bow and prostrate submit in humility
masajid mosque submissions
masajidal-lah God’s mosque God’s prescribed submissions
masajidil-Harami sacred mosque the sanctioned submission
masjidil-aqsa faraway mosque proximity of submission
masajidi-lil-lah mosque belonging to God submissions for God
Hurumun the pilgrim garb/pilgrim restricted
ka’aba God’s house ankles or lower foot
hadya animal offerings guidance
qola-ida animal’s garland wildlife indicator
u’mro-ata a visit to God’s house to prosper or to give life
Haj the annual pilgrimage to challenge or discourse
zakaa paying of religious tithe to purify, or keep pure

A quick perusal of this list leaves one incredulous. How on earth can the sense of these words have been corrupted to such an extent without people noticing? However, even basic research based on the Qur’an alone proves that the meanings of the words listed above have been deliberately distorted, misconstrued and falsified by the religionists with the intention of subjugating the deen to their lust for personal benefit and power, quite against the specific wishes of God and His messenger. A simple examination of associated meanings which appear repeatedly in the Qur’an should provide enough incentive for the true believer or scholar to undertake an examination of the Qur’an on the basis of personal and unbiased study, regardless of prevailing consensus. After all, the Qur’an is (to borrow the computer terminology of our day) the default document of the Muslim faith.

That a thinking person is equal to such a task is addressed in the Qur’an in no uncertain terms. This particular promise appears four times in a single surah alone :

Indeed, We have made the Qur’an easy to remember. Is there anyone who wishes to learn? (54:17,22,32,40)

The fact is that the religionists have abused four key verses from the Qur’an to establish their claims. Having made these changes, the knock-on effect requires them to re-interpret other verses and words to retain the appearance of consistency. The end product is a reading of the Reading of God, which has become man-made corruption riddled with inconsistencies and fallacies. Clearly, the end result of such an onslaught has proven disastrous. Evidence of this is painfully apparent in verses : (2:124-129; 5:1-5; 3:95-97; 9:17-20).

We invite the reader to accompany us on a journey of discovery to expose the conspiracy, using the Qur’an alone as a base of reference. As we go we should remember that the Qur’an is the only sure-fire revealed testament of God’s will on earth accepted by all Muslims.

The fundamental Qur’an principles from which we will proceed are:

  1. The Qur’an is consistent and there is no contradiction in the book. Why do they not study the Qur’an carefully? "If it were from other than God, they would have found many contradictions therein" (4:82).

  2. The Qur’an is the best message (Hadith) and it is consistent. God sent down the best message (Hadith) a Scripture that is consistent (39:23). "Which message (Hadith) beside this would you then believe in ?" (77:50).

  3. There is no priesthood or religious clergy in Islam. "They have taken their priests and the scholars as Lords besides God" (9:31).

  4. No human can claim to be the sole authority of the Qur’an. "God Most Gracious, the One who teaches the Qur’an. The One who created the human being (55:2-3).

  5. Only God can explain the Qur’an since He wrote it. "Do not move your tongue to hasten this revelation. We are in charge of putting them together into the Qur’an. Once We recite it, you shall follow this Qur’an. Then it is We who will explain it" (75:16-18).

  6. The Qur’an explains itself and provides the best interpretation, beyond that of any human. "They never come to you with any example, except We provide you the truth and the best interpretation" (25:33).

  7. There is no ambiguity to be found in the Qur’an. "A Qur’an (reading) in Arabic, without ambiguity so that they may attain success" (39:28).

To conclude this foreword, I must state that Aidid Safar is a pseudonym or nom de plume. The Arab religion today is insanity itself riddled with an absence of logic, tolerance or even basic knowledge of the Book everyone claims to believe. From Morocco to the Philippines, over one billion people have allowed themselves to be fooled to participate in this insanity.

People have had death sentences pronounced against them for saying much less than what I am saying in this book. In many so-called Muslim countries, the authorship of such a book would mean persecution, prosecution, imprisonment and maybe even death at the hands of enthusiastically insane followers of the Arab religion. Clearly, a sensible person must take precautions.

What is important here is the message, not who is saying it. Killing the message-bearer is a trait to which the history books attest. On the other hand, the bearers of messages have also been turned into something they were not on occasion by misguided followers – even idolised. I wish to preclude the possibility of either of these fates. Thus, I shall remain – with the reader’s kind indulgence – simply Aidid Safar.

It is my sincere wish that interested persons read this book in the spirit in which it is written. In addition, I would also like to express my sincere thanks to those who have given me the moral support to undertake this work. I owe a debt of gratitude to my friends, associates and family who gave me the encouragement to undertake the writing of such a book. Please accept my greetings of peace. Thank you.

A message to the religionists and the ‘u’lema’

This is a special message to the priests of the Arab religion who claim they are following the Qur’an. The primary challenge I wish to put to you revolves around five basic questions:

  1. Does Allah, the Lord of the Universe, reside in a house in Mecca?
  2. Are you sure the empty square rock structure in Mecca was fashioned on direct orders from God?
  3. Why do you bow and prostrate to the rock idol every day?
  4. Will you continue to fight God and destroy His measurable way of life or do you wish to preserve the deen-nil-lah as revealed to the Messenger?
  5. How can you ‘serve’ a rock structure carved by the Arabs? Was it not God who created the Arabs and the rocks? Why do you lead the people to worship it?

The crux and basis of the Arab religion resides in the rock hunk mistakenly called the Ka’aba. Without the existence of this stone house the ‘religion’ cannot exist. Think about it. Surely the eternal sufferings of your soul in the Hell fire will depend on your sense of reasoning. I would like to quote the words of the messenger Sallih13 who said to his people: ‘You shall ask for His forgiveness, and then repent to Him’ (11: 61).

My challenge to the clergy, then, is to live in Harmony with Allah :

  • Pick up a trade or profession for the benefit of society and uphold your commitments to obey God and His messengers and keep them pure.
  • Serve God and submit to His prescribed Way – or the deen-nil-lah – on the basis of the Qur’an alone.
  • However, those of you with a point of view which differs from what is outlined here and who have pledged to lead the flocks on the true path and have any basis from the Qur’an to substantiate such ‘vernacular’ Islam, please bring evidence from the Qur’an to support your practice. The Qur’an maintains that we should ‘produce your evidence if you are truthful’ and it also says ‘opinion is not the substitute for the truth’.

Those of you leading your flocks to the mountain rocks should perhaps ponder another reference to rocks in the Hereafter : "Beware of the hell-fire whose fuel is people and rocks. It is waiting for those who have rejected" (2:24).

For the faithful and the discerning, the days of rhetorical acrobatics and tongue twisting are over. If ‘the prophet cannot guide anyone including those whom he loves’ (28:56) how are you going to guide the people when you yourselves need God to guide you?

There is no such thing as theology in God’s Scriptures. In 6:59 it says ‘At Him are the keys to all secrets; nobody will know about Him except He’, and in 6:103 it says ‘No vision can encompass Him, while He encompasses all vision.’

The Qur’an says God is the only one Who guides14 – He is the one who created us15 - He teaches men by means of the pen – He teaches them what they never knew16 – He is the only one who gives them the clear knowledge about His signs17.

Muslims could be leaders in science, physic or biology if they have studied God’s signs in the heavens and the earth - instead of religion. In 2:164 it says ‘there are signs in the heavens and the earth for intelligent people’ [ ] ... Scientists study the sun and moon, the space within the universe, water cycle, the manipulation of the wind, electro magnetic force, radio waves, sailing, the clouds and the fruits including the grains. These are among the topics mentioned in 2:164 and in many other verses of the Qur’an, and Westerners are innovators in these fields today. They are the true servants of God who study God’s signs in the heavens and the earth for the benefit of mankind.

For example, at the time when the West was striving hard to fly - they studied God’s sign about the manipulation of the wind – but the u’lemas were still busy finding ways how to master the medieval Arabian culture. And when the West advanced from solo gliding to supersonic speed breaking the sound barrier, the u’lemas continued to ignore God’s signs in the heavens and the earth instead they were engrossed with a pagan religion. Despite the comfort of travelling from one country to another in business class of Jumbos and Airbuses, u’lemas say Western ideas and technologies are secular-based and they are infidels. Surely this is vicious and unjust.

There is also no such thing as the ‘knowledgeable’ or ‘u’lema’ in God’s prescribed way of life or the deen-nil-lah. But the fake u’lemas twisted the meaning in 35:28. If we read the verse properly it says:

Do you not see that God sends down the water from the sky to produce fruits of various colours? The mountains show white and red streaks of different shades and shining black, also the people, the animal and the livestock are of different colours? That is why the servants of God who truly reverence Him are the knowledgeable (u’lama). God is almighty and forgiving. (35:27-28)

The Arabic word u’lama is defined by the Qur’an as those who are knowledgeable about God’s sign in the heavens and on earth - not about religion. This is the only verse where the word u’lama is found in the Qur’an besides 26:197 (referring to the knowledgeable among the Children of Israel). Can the u’lema in the Arab religion declare they are the experts in the fields mentioned in 35:27-28? No they cannot. Instead, they call scientists in all fields as seculars and un-Islamic.

The pseudo-scholars have deviated despite having prime access to God’s revelations, and continue to mislead the people from the path of God and defame the Qur’an by their actions while publicly bearing witness that it is the truth. This is no way to fulfill their covenants with God according to the Qur’an.

For those choosing to ignore the warnings so clearly stated in the Qur’an, it is appropriate to remember: "Indeed, these revelations are clear in the chest of those who possess knowledge. Only the wicked disregard our revelations" (29:49). "Some people argue about God without knowledge, without guidance and without an enlightening Scripture" (22:8). "You cannot guide those you love. God is the one who guides whomever He wills. He is fully aware of those who deserve the guidance" (28:56). "To Him belong the past and the future, and no one attains His knowledge except in accordance with His will" (2:255). "Have you noticed those who claim for themselves to be pure? God is the only one who purifies whomever He wills without injustice. Look how they invent lies to attribute to God" (4:49-50).

Have you taken a promise from God that He never breaks His promise; or do you declare yourself to be pure without basis? Do you still want to guide the people when God categorically says that there is no provision for this? Do you not know that God’s prescribed way of life - the deen-nil-lah - does not depend on the Arabian culture, dress or language? Many study the Arab religion, but ignore the deen. This deen is now full of rituals, incantations, liturgies, physical body movements and ‘religion’ all of which you give testimony to. You insist on ‘worship’. But God does not need worship. He wants every individual to serve Him through their personal commitments, by the doing of good deeds. All the messengers of God were sent to demolish religion, worship, pagan rituals, and rites; namely, to get rid of the self-same type of system you are upholding. In this, and thus in all things, you are fighting God and His messengers in order to promote a pagan way of life. Beware, for you have picked a formidable foe!

Defenders of the faith such as Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron and Jesus pioneered God’s prescribed way of life - the deen-nil-lah. They demolished religion. The Last Prophet’s mission was no different. All of them had one common objective. They sincerely believed that the revelation was the truth from their Lord and they fulfilled their vows by upholding the covenant. They then ‘linked’ (ya-siluu) whatever was commanded by God as the providence to bind (ai-yu-Solaa) the people to an orderly way of life in doing good deeds and good works to serve their Lord who created them.

They never disseminate their own ideas nor abused God’s revelations for personal interest. They never tried to manipulate God’s word they way you do. None of them earned a living through the deen. They never substituted the truth with falsehood or concealed the truth knowingly whilst enjoining righteousness upon the people. Besides, none of them tried to impress the common folks with the religious garb or proclaimed themselves as religionists.

The following verse is repeated four times in the Qur’an. The many examples of the faithful in history who lived according to the prescribed deen should be a lesson to us: "We have cited in this Qur’an every kind of example, that they may take heed" (39:27; 17:89; 18:54; 30:58).

The priests of the Arab religion are the fruit of the efforts of the pagan Arabs who sought to impose their brand of religion on innocent and sincere people. The nature of their ‘programming’ brooks no dissent or non-conformity and has produced recruits the world over with pre-programmed behaviour guaranteed to uphold and advocate their values and their teachings. History tells us that the religionists slandered Abraham, the chosen leader of mankind, who was totally committed to God’s prescribed way of life. Moreover, the irresponsible religionists created the tale that Abraham was the first person to worship their stone idol. Even Muhammad has not been spared their slander.

Therefore, the author maintains it is infinitely unwise for you imams to continue on this path. Such behaviour is self-destructive in this life and the next - not only yours but also the Muslims of the future generations. Please come back to your senses.

ONE--There is no ‘religion’ of God

There is a world of difference between the definition of the word Islam ordained by God and the Arab religion invented by the religionists which goes by the same name. The word Islam may possibly be the most abused word in the world today :--

Indeed, the deen by God is Islam. (3:19)

In one simple and straightforward sentence God states that Islam is a deen. The meaning of verse 3:19 literally says:-

Indeed, the way of life by God is Peacefulness.

The word Islam means peacefulness. This word is derived from the root S L M or Salam that means ‘Peace’. In 6:54 we are told to greet one another by saying:-

“Peace” be upon you or, “Salam”-mun alai-kum.

The word ad-deen means the way or the order. In no place in the Qur’an did God ordain Islam as a religion. This is a crucial point to consider.

What is the difference between religion and deen?

A religion18 consists of a belief in a god or gods, and the activities that are connected with that belief such as prayer or worship or rites in the temple, church, synagogue, or mosque.

A deen refers to a way: or method of doing something; or an orderly method of doing something designed (for an action or series of actions) to achieve an objective. According to the Qur’an:

Religion is called shi’ah. It is a system detached from God’s prescribed way of life - or the deen-nil-lah. Religion was created by humans for people to devote themselves to a common entity like - but not limited to - physical entities made from wood, stone, rock, metal or anything tangible. People serve these idols or icons by worshipping them through prayers and religious rites which eventually evolve to become institutionalised and regulated religious obligations.

The deen is a system conceived by the All-knowing, which allows people to devote themselves to the one, unseen God through His revealed Scriptures. True adherents to this system serve God by committing themselves to do the deeds required by Him in His system so that they can achieve the peacefulness in this world. These obligations require self-sacrifice but are free of the dogmatic practice of ritualised worship or rites. Men and women who believe in God, the final day and observe virtuousness in this life are called Muslims or those who are at peace. Muslim is not a label but it is the state of being of a person who enjoys peacefulness.

In the Qur’an the history of Noah is narrated in a surah by itself also entitled Noah. The history of the great flood is known to all those who received something of God’s Scripture. Noah was commissioned by God to reform a community which indulged in serving false gods. His community belonged to a religion.

It is apparent that two quite different systems existed in Noah’s time. The masses subscribed to the preservation and propagation of a traditional system of praying and worshipping as their way of life. Noah, however, observed his way of life or deen according to God’s system without institutionalised prayer and worship. As soon his home was flooded, he turned to God, saying :

My Lord, forgive me and my parents, and anyone who enters my system (bayti-ya’) as a believer, and all the believing men and women. As for the wicked, do not increase them except in loss. (71:28)

The religionists say the meaning of the word bayti-ya in this verse is house, the sense being, “[...] and anyone who enters my house”. Yet, even the gentlest application of reason brings to mind the fact that Noah made his humble request during the great flood from within the ark, which he himself had built. At that very moment, his house was in all probability under the waters of God’s retribution against those who had refused Noah’s call all this time. It is equally clear that since all mankind had been drowned, there would be no one to enter his house. The word bayti-ya as we know it must mean that to which Noah subscribed. Incidentally, the word for ship in the Qur’an is fulk.

What then makes a house and a system different?

A house is commonly understood as a building in which people live, usually belonging to one family. It is inconceivable that Noah intended that God should forgive people just because they have entered his house, which submerged in the flood. When he implored the Lord of the Universe he was referring to his system which was different from the system of the idol-worshippers.

A system, on the other hand, is a way of working, organising, or doing something in which people follow a plan or set of rules. When a situation or activity has the semblance of a system, it means that it has a sense of orderliness or good orientation. It is also a way in which a whole institution or aspect of society has been organised or arranged.

In Noah’s time people had already lived according to their own invented system of worshipping idols. Noah, however, was serving the Lord of universe alone and had committed himself to God’s prescribed system. When he uttered the word bayti-ya it meant ‘my system’ - that is the system he was committed to. We will shortly see that Abraham was directed to the same system, which God calls bayti-ya. Abraham and his son were instructed to cleanse the system of idol-worship for the benefit of the people who were devoted and those who humbled themselves in submission to the unseen God.

The Qur’an says those who observe the way of life marked by ritual prayer and worship belong to the shi-ya’an, (or religions). Those devoted to religion are termed mushrikeen or ‘idol-worshippers’.

The history of Noah is again mentioned in surah thirty-seven alongside the history of Abraham :

Noah implored Us, and We are the best of responders. We saved him and his family from the great disaster, and We made him and his family the survivors and preserved their history for the later generations. (37:75-78)

The history of the retribution against Noah’s people was preserved as an example to the people of Abraham. In spite of this, the people of Abraham similarly devoted themselves to false gods. They worshiped and prayed to the gods they created just like the people of Noah did.

The people of Noah drowned by the flood belonged to the shi-a’tihi (a religion). Similarly the community of Abraham were worshipping and praying to idols. They too, were shi-a’tihi.

Peace be upon Noah, throughout history. We thus reward the sincere people and he was among the true believers and then We drowned the rest. And there was also from the religion (shi-a’tihi) of the people of Abraham. He said to his father and his people, “What is this you serve? It is a false god besides God that you want? Do you not think of the Lord of the Universe?” (37:79-87)

The concept of religion requiring rituals or rites focused on physical icons enabling people to see what they worshipped. This singular attribute, according to the Qur’an, marks it as a religion. After all, who would choose to show the Glory of God in something tangible and man-made? Common sense tells us that there is no other god besides the One unseen God. He is over and above anything they associate with Him.

deen on the other hand, is a set system sanctioned by the supreme God. These sanctions19 were revealed to the various prophets. Hence, we find many passages in the Qur’an instructing people to obey God and obey the messengers so that they not be diverted from God’s prescribed sanctions under the pretext of a particular religion. God’s deen requires His servants to manifest their faith in practical acts of charity and deeds. His way is a series of decrees that must be followed to achieve a peaceful life. For example, God’s covenant revealed through all the prophets requires His servants to observe the decrees listed below. Anyone can undertake to fulfil their covenant with God by upholding these prescribed decrees without consulting the priests of any religion:

  • Your Lord has decreed that you shall not serve other than Him.
  • You shall honour your parents for as long as they live, one of them or both of them.
  • You shall not speak harshly to them nor mistreat them.
  • You shall speak amicably to people and do not utter any lies.
  • You shall regard the relatives, the orphans, and the poor.
  • You shall not kill your children from fear of poverty.
  • You shall not commit adultery, for it is a vice.
  • You shall not kill anyone, for taking of life is made forbidden.
  • You shall not touch the orphans’ money except for their own good.
  • You shall give full measure when you trade and weigh with an equitable balance.
  • You shall not accept anything that you yourself cannot ascertain.
  • You shall be perfectly honest when you serve as a witness, even if it is against yourself, your parents or your relatives whether the defendant is rich or poor.
  • You shall give to charity from God’s provisions, which He has entrusted to you.
  • You shall strive in the path of God (fi-sabi-lil-lah) against those who strive against you, but not aggress.
  • You shall fulfil your commitments and humble yourself with those who are humble.
  • You are not to be arrogant, nor to walk in pride. God does not love the boastful, the arrogant. Be humble as you walk and lower your voice.
  • Eat from everything that is lawful and good, and do not follow the step of the Devil, he is your ardent enemy. He directs you towards vice and evil and to invent lies and attribute them to God.

This is part of the prescribed way ordained by God in the Qur’an. Men, from the times of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad have been committed to these values. They observe these values in an orderly manner (as a deen). Common sense tells us that in order to achieve results these values must be translated into deeds. Worship or ritual prayers are irrelevant.

Therefore, religion and deen are distinctly different.

People are expected to serve the Creator by observing the prescribed way.

He has decreed for you the same deen enjoined upon Noah and what is revealed herein, and what was decreed for Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. You shall uphold the one deen and not be segregated. It is simply too difficult for idol-worshippers to accept what you advocate. (42:13)

You shall submit to God, beware of Him, uphold your commitments and do not fall into idol-worship. And do not be with those who change the deen into religion (shi-ya-’an) each party (hizbul) satisfied with what they have. (30:31-32)

Traditionally, the word shi’ah is translated as sect. Sects have long been associated with principal differences in a religious context. God however, has no interest in sectarianism. All the religions in this world are the same. The faithful congregate. They form groups to a common cause in public. They worship and pray ritually to different shapes of idols be it a wall, cross, star, crescent or a square house or other images made from the materials which themselves owe their existence to the true God. That is the extent of difference between religion and the deen as far as the Qur’an is concerned.

For example, while prescribing good and lawful foods God proclaimed that He has perfected the deen. He says: ‘Today I have perfected the deen for you and completed My favour upon you, and decreed Islam (peacefulness) as the deen’. This is in the middle of the subject about food.

Taken literally and substituting the concept of deen with religion, this decree becomes absurd. In 26:195-196 the Qur’an says: ‘It came in the clear Arabic tongue and it contains the same message of the previous Scriptures’. This means that the message in the Qur’an is consistent with all other previous Scriptures. God perfected a deen for His servants after detailing His covenant on food. God has not forbidden any food in this world except for the rotten meat, blood, carrion, any animal that dies through violent death and food consecrated to idols. This is the deen (or the orderly way) sanctioned by God in His system. There is nothing religious about it. It is merely a dietary restriction based on good hygiene.

Restricted to you are the meat from the animals that die of themselves, blood, the rotten meat, and food dedicated to other than God. Also, the animal that has been strangled to death, the animal struck by an object, the animal that dies from falling from a height, the animal that is gored to death, the animal that is partially eaten by a predator unless you have rescued it alive, the food dedicated to idols and meat divided by means of casting lots. These are abominations. Today, the disbelievers are in despair about your deen. Do not fear them and fear Me instead. Today, I have perfected the deen for you and completed My favour upon you, and I decree Islam as the deen for you. (5:3)

The word deen is mentioned three times in the verse above, instructing believers in simple and clear terms to observe the deen. There is nothing religious about not eating carrion or animals gored to death. Similarly, there is nothing religious about not eating rotten meat. It is simply an order prescribed from the One who has created you, and intended for your good. This directive supersedes all other dietary restrictions before it. That is the essence of the perfect order of life, the true peacefulness or Islam.

We have revealed to you this Scripture truthfully, therefore serve God. Be sincere to Him in the way of life (deen). (39:2)

Sincerely submitting to the prescribed limits sanctioned by Him in the deen is to serve Him. That is all it says. Simple. In this simple decree, God has reinforced the concept of His words to His servants around the world irrespective of colour or language. Islam is simple, the Qur’an is simple. However, bear in mind that simple here does not mean easy. In order to overcome the predicament we are told:

Seek help through perseverance and be committed. This is difficult indeed, but not for those who are sincere who realise that they will meet their Lord that they will ultimately return to Him. (2:45-46)

I reiterate my stand that there is no such thing as the Islamic religion. There is, undoubtedly, the peacefulness of an orderly way of life prescribed by God. It is our responsibility as His servants to submit to His will by observing His prescribed way. Let us now explore the logic behind this requirement of Islam.

  • It is God who grants life and death.
  • It is God who keeps the creation in perfect balance.
  • It is God who makes us happy or miserable.
  • It is God who creates the human, male and female, from a drop of liquid and then from ‘something which clings’, then He gives it life as an infant. Then some reach full strength and get to become old, and others die earlier. It is God who determines our time of life and death, nobody else.
  • It is God who makes us rich or poor.
  • It is God who provides everything in exact measure.
  • To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth.
  • There is no god but Him.

Out of mercy He revealed His guidance to mankind so that they enjoy a peaceful life in this world and a peaceful life the hereafter. Those who are vigilant and submit to His will and believe in Him alone have grasped the strongest bond that never breaks. His message to all mankind:

"O mankind, you shall serve your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you might become observant"(2:21). "I have not created the jinn and the humans except to serve me alone" (51:56).

Nobody should take the Lord of the Universe for granted. No matter how hard we try to deny the existence of God who grants us the life and death, our natural instincts as humans tell us that there is an unseen super power somewhere out there who has created everything in existence and maintains it in perfect balance. The Qur’an tells us that there is only one God and that God is common to all people. He is the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful and knows all our secrets. His names include: the King, the Sacred, the Peace, the Faithful, the Supreme, the Almighty, the Most Compassionate, the Dignified, the Creator, the Initiator and the Designer. To Him belongs all the beautiful attributes. He is glorified every passing second by everything that exists in the heavens and earth, and whatever is in between them and whatever is beneath the soil. He gives us a very simple illustration of His power in the Qur’an by saying that He is the one that brings the sun from the east and that, if there is anyone who wishes to deny Him or challenge His authority, then we should ask such a man to bring the sun from the west if he can.

It has been decreed that those who add even one extra ruling or regulation beyond that which was prescribed by God are His manifest enemies. They have rejected what God had sanctioned. And those who obey these additional restrictions are not submitting to God’s decrees, rather, they have been misled by the Devil. The Qur’an is very clear on this matter when God says, ‘Do not testify as they do, and do not follow their opinions’.20

Summon your witnesses who can testify that God has prohibited this or that. Even if they testify, do not testify as they do, and do not follow the passions of those who reject Our revelations, those who disbelieve in the Hereafter, and set up idols alongside God (6:150).

Those submitting to God must uphold their covenants and they may eat any food whatsoever except that prohibited in His Scripture.

deen does not mean religion

The principal idea of corrupting the word deen of Islam into the commonly accepted meaning of religion originated with the religionists. By means of this oblique device, the religionists effectively set themselves up to control the key to Paradise for all those who come to the Qur’an. Parallel situations are seen in the context of both the Jews and Christians in terms of their controlling priesthood. Religion, in the vernacular sense of the word, surely ought to have issued from God to Man and not on any other basis.

Taken from the Arab cult perspective, 5:3 reads: ‘Today I have perfected the religion for you and completed My favour upon you, and I decree Islam as the religion’.

By this simple trick and in the twinkle of an eye, Muslims were enslaved by the concept of the Arab religion. Besides what has been prescribed in 5:3 there are no other decrees that regulate the restrictions in the way of life for man other than these simple injunctions:

You are forbidden to marry your own mother, your daughters, your sisters, your father’s sisters, and your mother’s sisters, your brother’s daughters, your sister’s daughters, your foster mother who nursed you, girls nursed by the same woman as you, your mother-in-laws, your step-daughters, and women who were previously married to your sons. (4:23)

You are forbidden to associate God with anything, you are forbidden to kill your infants from fear of poverty. You are forbidden to commit gross sins, obvious or hidden, you are forbidden to kill another man, you are forbidden to approach the orphan’s money, you are forbidden from profiteering, you are forbidden to be a false witness for the benefit of yourself or your own relatives. (6:151-152)

You are forbidden from doing evil deeds - obvious or hidden sins - or to go against the truth, or to associate God with idols and to attribute lies to Him. (7:33)

Of course, such injunctions require the application of common sense. However, the Arab religion is predicated on the absence of very necessity. The u’lema will threaten their followers with hell-fire if they insist on using their common sense. Unfortunately, those who obey the religionists and the u’lema may understand too late and say: "Had we but listened and used our common sense, we should not be among the companions of the blazing fire"(67:10).

The prohibitions above are the only clearly forbidden things in God’s way. These four verses spell out all the restrictions or matters which are classified as Haram by the Lord of the Universe. The restrictions on food are repeated in two other verses. That makes a total of six verses containing restrictions out of a total of 6348 verses. There are no other restrictions in other verses in the Qur’an. But if you belong to the Arab religion you will find tome upon tome of prohibitions written by men. Different sects in the Arab religion have different prohibitions and in some sects the primary victims are women. They are forbidden to expose their faces, walk on the street alone, talk to men or travel on public transport and in some extreme cases they are forbidden from attending schools.

We are constantly reminded by God not to observe ways from any sources other than His: "To Him belongs everything in the heavens and the earth, and the way of life (deen) shall be for Him alone. Will you observe other than God?" (16:52)

You shall follow what is sent upon you from your Lord, and not follow any idols alongside Him. Only a few of you take heed. (7:3)

Sadly, those who have been misled by the Arab religion observe a whole host of other things that are purportedly forbidden or Haram. These other prohibitions are based on nothing. Viewed logically, the deen is a catalyst that allows man to discern the true Muslim by observation. It is clear that no one who observes these few simple restrictions can possibly participate in idol-worship. God’s values are perfect in form and function and universal in application. There is no need for anyone to add to them. Adding or taking away anything to these prescribed decrees simply adds to idol worship.

The situation that man finds himself in today is obvious. Man must live for his Lord because He advocates only justice. Man is expected to be sincere and focused his submission to God alone. The big shock for the religionists at this point is that humans have been granted total freedom of choice as long as they keep these simple rules and do not defy truth and common sense or invent lies and attribute them to God. What could be simpler than that?

Total freedom

Each individual is given total freedom to choose the path he or she wishes from the day God gives us life until the day He takes it back. It is our right and responsibility to choose wisely. There are two basic options:

  • A way of life for God as ordained by Him (deen-nil-lah), or
  • A way of life which is not for God (Thoghut3)

God does not impose His deen on anyone. He describes the Qur’an as the criterion between right and wrong. He has said that the Qur’an is fully detailed and He has not left anything out from it. Strangely, many think of Islam as a religion bereft of choice and full of compulsion. But they are confusing the Arab cult which masquerades as Islam and the guidance outlined in the Qur’an for a peaceful life. The choice to follow God is completely left to His servants: ‘there is no compulsion’. It is in this spirit that the reader should apply his logic and his wisdom when discerning whether a particular way of life (deen) is true in origin or not. How you choose will determine whether you travel first class or coach in this life and onward to the life hereafter.

There is no compulsion in the way of life (deen). However, now [the difference] is made clear [the difference] between right and wrong. Therefore, anyone who rejects the virtual idols (Thoghut) and believes in God, surely they hold to the strongest bond that will not break. God is Hearer, Omniscient. (2:256)

There is no creature on earth nor birds that fly with wings except they are nations4 just like you. We did not leave anything out of the Scripture. To their Lord they will all return. (6:38)

Those who believe in God and His messenger are called to focus sincerely and submit to God’s prescribed way. The Last Prophet was made to declare:

Say, “My Lord advocates justice. Observe your focus of submissions and invoke Him sincerely as a deen the same way He created you that you may return” (7:29).

Whatever good happens to you is from God. Whatever bad happens to you are the consequences of your own deeds (4:79).

In other words, whilst a person is given the total freedom of choice in charting their way of life, God stresses the distinction between right and wrong, and there the golden rule applies: God advocates only justice.

Virtual idols

Idol-worship can take many forms. For example, if a person chooses to make his ego paramount, his life will be controlled by his ego. He will idolise his own ego. If a person makes the accumulation of wealth paramount, his life will be controlled by greed and he will idolise money. If a person chooses to idolise other humans, his deen will be controlled by that conviction and others will dictate his way of life. Similarly, should a person choose to profess religion he will then idolise his religious leaders, and the rituals dictated by his religious leaders or priests will regulate his invented way of life.

The common factor here is idol-worship. There are clear instances in the Qur’an about people who idolise their prophets, messengers, energies and jinn.

It is not possible for a human whom God has blessed with the Scripture and wisdom and prophethood that he should tell the people to serve him besides God. Nor will He ask you to idolise the energies or the prophets (3:79-80).

Clearly, God’s prophet and messengers are not to be idolised. Yet many prophets and messengers are - in effect - worshipped. And then there are others who idolise saints, gurus, priest and religious scholars.

They have taken their priests and scholars as lords besides God (9:31).

What about the one who idolises his own ego? Can you do anything for him? (25:43).

The egotists have been forewarned. God’s response to the question as to what can be done for them is this :

Do you suppose many of them hear or understand? Indeed, they are just like animals. No, they are worse than animals (25:44).

The Qur’an does not mince words. As regards those who reject it, it is clear and unequivocal:

The Qur’an is full of wisdom .You are one of the messengers, advocating the right path. A revelation from the Almighty, most merciful. To warn people, whose forefathers were never warned, they are unaware. It is predetermined that the majority will not believe. Consequently, We chain their necks to their chins, and thus they are forced [into the directions they choose]. And We place a barrier in front of them and a barrier behind them, so they can never see (36:2-9).

The Qur’an urges men to consider the Creation:

And the sun is moving in a specific orbit. Such is the design of the Almighty, the Omniscient, and We designed the moon to appear in stages until it reverts to a thin curve. The sun never catches up with the moon, nor does the night prematurely overtake the day. Each floats in its own orbit (36:38-39).

In retrospect, if an undoubted source tells me that a set of instructions have arrived for me from the Being who created the sun and the moon and set them on their orbits, I would follow those instructions without question. To question such wisdom and ability would border on insanity. In contrast in 1969, the chief imam5 of the Grand Mosque in Mecca was quoted as saying that the earth was flat and anyone professing the contrary was an infidel. This serves to illustrate the crux of the problem with the Arab religion, which goes by the name of Islam : ignorance. The Qur’an says:

Will they choose other than God’s deen, whilst everything is in peace (aslama) in the skies and the earth either willingly or unwillingly? And to Him they will return (3:83).

The word aslama in this verse is the same (i.e. has the same semantic root and is merely a separate conjugation of the root idea) as the word Islam. Everything in the seven heavens: the billions of stars, all the planets, everything on earth from every kind of creeper, plant and tree, every kind of animal and insect, every kind of bird, and kinds of aquatic life are living peacefully willingly or unwillingly. Thus, God poses the question that begs to be answered: ‘Will they choose other than God’s deen when His other creations are able to exist peacefully?

The deen-nil-lah -- or "God’s way" - has been revealed to all His prophets (including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad). The message is clear, simple and the same in substance in every instance. No prophet was sent to deliver or start a religion. Their job was simply to deliver God’s message, the gist of which is the deen.

Serve God through commitments

Again, this is a frighteningly simple concept. We are encouraged to remind ourselves from the teaching of the Qur’an:

My commitments, my sacrifices, my life and my death are for God, Lord of the Universe. He has no partner. These are the commandments given to me and I am among the first of those at peace (6:162-163)

The Qur’an teaches a way of life that espouses self-sacrifice for the benefit of all those around us. Men are repulsive in committing themselves to the fundamental values prescribed by God in His deen. They are not willing to sacrifice ego, greed and arrogance by observing their obligations to do good deeds to their parents, amongst themselves, their associates, their close or distant neighbours, their relatives, the poor, the needy and the oppressed.

When we are confronted with those who dispute this simple concept, we are encouraged to tell them:

Shall I seek other than God as a Lord when He is the Lord of everything in existence? Whatever anyone earns is for his own account. No burdened soul will bear the burden of another. To your Lord is your ultimate return and then He will tell you of everything you disputed (6:164).

The Lord of the Universe did not reveal His Scriptures in vain. The revelations are His signs, His good news, and His guide to mankind. The Scripture is non-negotiable and cannot be manipulated.

These are the signs of the Reading, a profound Scripture, a guide and good news for those who believe. They uphold the commitments and keep them pure. And they are certain about the Hereafter (27:2-3).

Those who recite God’s Scripture and uphold the commitments and give to charity from our provisions, publicly or secretly, they seek a transaction that never loses (35:29).

Charity, donations, amicable treatment of people, equitable trade, moral discipline and the fulfilment of promises are just some of the guidelines encompassed in God’s way. It is, ultimately, the perfect recipe for mankind. However, we have not embraced these prescribed values. The history from the Qur’an tells us that from the beginning of time, upon receiving God’s Scripture men have insisted on following religion rather than a way of uprightness which promotes good deeds and good works among themselves. They do not promote civility, sincerity, honesty, humbleness, compassion, love or the treatment of each other in the most amicable manner as a way of life. They insist on worship at specific times with the hope that they may be pardoned by their Creator of whatever wrongdoings they have committed. The majority of them prefer to idolise their children, property, imams, priests, religious scholars, prophets and tangible idols. They reject a simple concept of a way of uprightness or deen-al-hunafa . All that is enjoined upon them is to uphold God’s commandments, be sincere in committing themselves to the prescribed deen by doing the good deeds and good works. It is a plain and simple way of life. There is no hardship imposed by God. Of the idol-worshippers the Qur’an says:

Those who disbelieve among the followers of the previous Scriptures and the idol-worshippers will never believe even after proof comes to them (98:1).21

All that is enjoined upon them is to believe in God by devoting themselves to serve God’s in sincerity in the way of life (deen), and to uphold the commitments and keep them pure. That is the way of uprightness (deen-al-hunafa) (98:5).

The way of uprightness is measured by personal commitment to the deeds as detailed in His Scripture. We know this from 98:5. One recommended way of upholding the commitment is to observe the following:

Your Lord has decreed that you shall not serve other than Him, and honour your parents for as long as they live, one of them or both of them. You shall not speak harshly to them, nor mistreat them; you shall speak to them amicably, and lower for them the wings of humility and kindness and say, “My Lord, have mercy on them, for they have brought me up from infancy” (17:23-24).

If we serve God and keep this one simple rule, try to imagine the global impact of such a movement. This is the world that Islam envisions. We are required to submit to what He has prescribed: uphold these commitments and keep them pure. This decree is not a new revelation to the Last Prophet. The same decree was given to Moses for the Children of Israel:

We made a covenant with the Children of Israel, “You shall not serve other than God. You shall regard parents, the relatives, the orphans, and the poor. You shall speak to them amicably. You shall uphold your commitments and keep them pure. But you turned away, except a few of you, and you became averse” (2:83).
2:83 says the majority of the Children of Israel became averse and aborted their covenant with God. They did not fulfil their obligations.

Similarly, we are expected to uphold our commitments by observing the requirements of the following commandment:

O mankind! You shall observe your Lord, who created you from one person, then created from her, her mate, then from the two of them He spread many men and women. You shall observe God whom you swear by, and regard your relatives. God is watching you. You shall give the orphans their due properties and not substitute the bad for the good, nor shall you consume their money by mixing their properties with yours. This would be a gross injustice (4:1-2).

Whatever decree had been revealed by God to the children of Israel was again revealed to the Last Prophet, and those who submit are reminded to uphold their commitments and to keep them pure. He repeats many times throughout the Qur’an that those who believe in Him should serve Him and observe His will through fulfilling their commitments, and that they should keep these commitments pure. God’s covenants are those matters He prescribes in the Scripture. He constantly reminds us about His servants’ obligation to fulfil the covenants:

You shall not touch the orphan’s money, except for their own good until they grow up. You shall fulfil your covenants. You are responsible for your covenants. You shall give full measure when you trade, and weigh with an equitable balance. This is better and more righteous. Surely your hearing, eyesight and your heart will be questioned about them (17:34-36).

In other words, everything that we do in our life like caring the orphans or even our trading activities will be taken into account. In the hereafter we simply cannot deny what we have done to ourselves in this world because our ears, eyes and heart will testify against us. For example, if we accept anything blindly without using common sense our hearings, eyes and hearts will testify against us.

A Muslim’s claim of submission to God can therefore be put to the litmus test by observing his commitment to his covenants. Islam is, by the Creator’s design, a way of life characterised by deeds and merit. And by a man’s deeds shall you know him.

The religionists (who insist that their followers recite God’s Scripture in Arabic) would have people parrot the verses of the Qur’an without ever fulfilling their commitments or gaining any merit. Praying ritually is not part of the deen revealed by God. His prescribed way demands service by deeds. Anyone can perform ritual prayers.

The champions of the Arab religion insist a good Muslim must pray ritually five times a day facing Mecca. This is the most important commitment and the first pillar of their religion. There is no basis for this assertion since the Qur’an does not state a need to fulfil commitments by ritual prayer. Indeed this is a fact and there is no getting away from it.

Thus, they have corrupted one of the most important words in the Qur’an (and subsequently one of the most important concepts in the deen) by twisting the word Solaa (which means commitments) to mean ritual prayer. And they prevent people from upholding their commitments according to the covenants prescribed by God in the Scripture.

Before exploring the misrepresentation of the word Solaa, we would do well to explore the Qur’an and its instruction regarding worship. This is important because the word Solaa was mischievously distorted to become ritual prayer and it is an act of worship.

God is not to be ‘worshipped’

First and foremost: The word ‘worship’ is not found anywhere in the Qur'an, but the religionists twisted the meaning of a simple word in the Book.

The essence of the Book is that all humans need to lead a righteous way of life according to the prescribed covenants by upholding their commitments and keeping them pure. No one can fulfil these commitments through acts of worship or ritual prayer. A person should observe his commitments through the individual act of submission to serve the Lord of the Universe.

Wama qolaq-tul jin-ni wal-ain-sa il-laa li-ya’budun (51:56).

And I did not create the jinn and the humans except for serving Me (51:56)

In one sentence, the Qur’an has explained our purpose here on earth. We are created to serve, not to worship. We have been created in the grand design to serve by deeds (and not merely by thoughts or words). The misrepresentation of the word serve (ta’budu) to mean worship has had a dire effect on the Islamic landscape.

The words serve22 and worship have different meanings in the context of this discussion. The former signifies serving God by doing good deeds in keeping with what we know to be His laws. The latter is a concentrated feeling of respect or admiration and love for the dead idols or icons and is demonstrated through rituals, pilgrimages, and the singing of hymns, etc. The word ‘serve’ ta’budu or ya’budun is derived from the word ‘abd which means servant (and not worship). All humans are servants of God. Therefore they have to serve and be subservient or submit (sujud) to Him alone.

There are several derivatives from the word ‘abd (servant). For example, the following verse is in reference to Jesus the son of Mary and the assigned energies (mala-ika)23 closest to God.

Laiyas-tabkifu masih’u ai-yakuna a’bdan lil-lah wa-lal-malaikatu muqor-robun. Waman yas-tankifu ‘an-’ibada-tihi was-yastakbir fa-sayah shuru-hum ilai-hi jami’an (4:172).

Never will the Messiah disdain being a servant (a’bdan) of God nor will the assigned energies. Those who disdain serving (ibada-tihi) Him and are arrogant, surely He will gather them to Him, all of them (4:172).

The Messiah was pure but he was not disdainful of being a servant to God. It is the duty of a servant to serve his master. The duty of a believer is to serve God by upholding the commitments and not to ‘worship’ Him in the sense of bowing and scraping. It would seem strange for any household to have a platoon of servants worshipping their employer. Where would be the logic in it?

As servants we are expected to look towards Him and praise Him like the rest of His creations in the heavens and the earth.

O mankind, you are the ones in need towards God, and God, He is the affluent the praised (35:15)

He does not need our petty sacrifices of food or self-imposed pilgrimages. He does not need our presence in Mecca. In fact He does not need our promises. But if we have pledged a promise, it is our duty to fulfil that promise for our own good. He wants us to put His words into action. A servant has to observe his commitments or he become useless.

Of course, one can argue that God does not need our service either. This is true. It is we who benefit from being true in our service to Him. And by these means, we justify the responsibility of free choice granted us and grow to our full potential. We become fully what we were meant to be. We become true to our truest nature. This is God’s will, and it is for our good.

Similarly, there are energies that are specially assigned making them close to God and they also serve their master. The word ‘abdan in this verse means servant. The same verse also uses another derivative, i.e., ibada-tihi, to mean doing service for Him. The Messiah and the assigned energies did not worship God. They were too busy doing His work and serving Him.

We can also find a similar derivative from the root word ‘abd in the Qur’an which means serving and not worship:

Wa-nah-nu lahu a’bidun (2:138)

And Him are we serving (2:138).

Was-alman arsalna min qoblika min-rosulina aj’alna min-dunir-rohman ali-hatan ya’budun (43: 45).

And ask those whom We have sent from before you among the messengers if We have set other than the Merciful as gods for them to be served (43: 45)

Simply put, all service is through deeds. The world is full of good intentions but intentions alone are not enough.

The seven verses in the introductory surah24 of the Qur’an are recited by the followers of the Arab religion during each of their five ‘mandatory’ daily prayers. The religionists deceived them by ascribing the word na’budu (serve) in 1:5 to mean worship. This word is derived from the root ‘abd which means servant. Instead of declaring to God that they will serve Him alone without associating Him with anything, they say they ‘worship’ Him. God has never commanded anyone to worship Him.

The essence of the first part 'Al Fatihah' is that God’s attributes encompass His dominion over the deen of everything in existence in the heavens and the earth. He is the absolute ruler of the orderly system in this world and in the Hereafter.

The first four verses say, ‘With the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Merciful. Praise be to God the Lord of the Universe, the Most Compassionate and the Merciful. The Ruler of the day of the order’. And then, as servants to our Lord we pledge that we will uphold our covenant to serve him from what we are about to read from His guidance - a guidance which says at the outset of the very next chapter, ‘This Book is infallible, a guidance for the observant who believe in the unseen, and they uphold their obligations [...].’
1:5 should properly be read as : Eiya-ka-na’budu wa-eiya kanas-ta’ain(1:5).

You alone we serve and You alone we ask for help. (1:5)

This is followed by : "Guide us in the straight path, a path of those whom you blessed, and not of those who deserve wrath, or those who strayed. (1:6-7)

Here, the request is to seek His help in guiding us on the straight path that He had blessed. Logically, the only way God guides His servants is through His revealed Scriptures; certainly not through the performing of ritual prayer. Instead of translating their services into practical acts according to what He has ordained in His Book, the religionists offer only lip-service by repeating: ‘You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help’ seventeen times per day (the five daily rituals consist of 2, 4, 4, 3, 4 units in each ritual prayer at dawn, midday, afternoon, evening and night).

These verses clearly say we declare that we will serve Him alone, put our trust in Him to seek His mercy and blessings to guide us to the right path in His deen. God is the only one who can guide His servants to the straight path. No one else can do this, not even the prophets :

You cannot guide those you love. God is the one who guides whomever He wills because He is the only one who is fully aware of those who deserve the guidance (28:56).

There is no such thing as a ‘holy man’ who can guide another to the straight path. This so-called holy man will ultimately himself become an idol for his followers.

God is the Lord of those who believe. He leads them out of the darkness into light. While those who disbelieve, their lords are the idols. They lead them out of the light into darkness. They have deserved the Fire as their eternal retribution (2:257).

The Qur’an is telling us that the ‘holy men’ will take people out of the light into darkness and lead their followers into hell-fire. None of us can escape from these ‘holy men’ as long as he belongs to a religion.

Upon a critical reading of the Qur’an it comes clear that we cannot ‘butter up’ our Master - the one who gave us this life - by worshipping Him through rituals. There is no barter system involving the performance of rituals. We receive the guidance from God through His mercy - mercy which we are not entitled to. In order to qualify we are simply required to serve God by fulfilling our covenant with Him. That is the contract with Him, and is binding upon us until we breathe our last. There is not a single verse in the Qur’an commanding humans to worship the Creator.

Moses and Jesus did not worship God

According to the Qur’an, all the revealed Scriptures stress one singular important message : that mankind is to serve no other than Him. The history of Moses is vividly described throughout the Qur’an. Jesus the son of Mary was sent to the same community to confirm what had been revealed to Moses.

And We gave Moses the Scripture, and made it as guidance for the Children of Israel, saying, “You shall not take other than Me as your protector.” (17:2)

The Qur’an tells us in various places that the Children of Israel violated their covenant (having pledged to uphold it) after they had distorted the words of God, and that many of them disregard parts of the Scripture. Moses left his people in anger after they refused to enter the Holy Land designated to them. Finally the land was forbidden to them and they wandered in the wilderness for forty years without Moses (5:25-26).

They created the religion of Judaism and called themselves Jews. Anyone who reads the Bible will know that they established the temple and created the priesthood system. They introduced rituals, worship and offerings as their way of life and falsely claimed that God ordained it. The Qur’an says the Jews say Ezra25 was the son of God. As a mercy, God sent Jesus the son of Mary, supported him with the Holy Spirit and demonstrated signs through him. Jesus declared:

“I come to confirm what is with you from the Torah, and to permit for you what was prohibited you, and I come to you with signs from your Lord. Therefore observe God and obey me. Indeed, God is my Lord and your Lord, therefore serve Him. And this is the right path” (3:50-51)

They were not able to accept any messenger of God who came to them with commandments contrary to beliefs they had concocted for themselves. They were arrogant and rejected - and even killed - some of God’s messengers. This is the picture which emerges from their history in the Qur’an.

In reality, neither Moses nor Jesus required their followers to worship the Lord God. Jesus told the Children of Israel to observe and serve the One God. But today, the people who disagree with the Jews’ rejection of Jesus are virtually worshipping the very man whose message was to observe and serve the One God. Everybody seems to need a religion so that they can worship something, whether it be the Christians deifying Jesus or the Jews deifying themselves and their own ‘chosen’ status. Both of these perversions of truth have their cousins in the religion created by the Arab religionists, the enemies who took and twisted what the Last Prophet was given to deliver to mankind.

According to the Qur’an, the Children of Israel conspired against God, Moses and Jesus. They introduced a system of priesthood and a culture of worshipping the servant of God. Today, the people who subscribe to the religion of Christianity can not say with certainty whether Jesus was the son of Mary or the son of a man or the son of God or even God Himself. However, we know from the Qur’an the facts about this man:

Because they said, “We killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary the messenger of God.” Nay, they never killed him. They never crucified him. But they were led to believe that they had. Those who dispute in this matter are doubtful thereof. They have no real knowledge. They follow only conjecture. In truth, they never killed him (4:157).

The followers of the Christian religion were led to believe that Jesus was crucified, but they are not sure about it. All that the Christian priests can say is: you must have faith. But faith based on rhetorical propaganda promotes a way of life full of superstition, myths and tradition. The true life is the life of commitment to our brethren, our parents, our families, our relatives, the poor, and the orphans. Rhetoric, worship, ritual prayers - that is, religion - is a side-show at best and a pernicious blight on humanity at worst.

It is, therefore, strange - not to mention downright blasphemous - to construe 'abd (na’budu) as worship accompanied by sets of physical movements: facing a certain direction (or a statue or a wall or a stone building or image) and walking around a stone structure, and so on. These are simply pagan worship rituals, created by man to simplify what he cannot comprehend.

The ideal concept of peacefulness or Islam, an ‘abd is a servant who serves (na’budu) his Lord by fulfilling the prescribed covenants through his commitments. He does not fulfil his commitments by worshipping. His deeds (‘amal) are the service, or ibadah. The verb na’budu means ‘we serve,’ and ibadah is noun signifying the service we render when we uphold our commitments by fulfilling the prescribed decrees. Such submission equals service to the Lord.

And strive in the cause of God with true striving. He is the one who selected you without imposing hardship upon you as the deen, the principle of your father Abraham. He is the one who named you Muslims26 (those at peace). Thus, the Messenger will be a witness to you and you will be witness to the people. Therefore, uphold the commitments and keep them pure (Solaa-ta-wa-atu-zakaa) and hold fast to God. He is your protector, the best protector and the best supporter. (22:78)

This is the service that the servants of God must render to serve Him. The act of fulfilling these prescribed covenants and striving to further His cause through their commitments and keeping them pure is Solaa-ta wa-atu-zakaa.27

Therefore ya’budu is not worshipping, but serving.

Religion is man-made

By reading the Qur’an with care it becomes obvious that God did not intend that there be any ‘religion’ at all. The Qur’an promotes a way of life which is acceptable with God and which promotes the well-being of man. There is no need to define it as a religion. It is clearly stated in the Qur’an that no prophets or messengers brought ‘religion’ from God. God revealed a deen to them so that the people around them would serve the unseen God by observing righteous deeds amongst themselves for their own benefit in this world and the Hereafter. And, thus informed, man would also know and avoid the unholy and the hypocritical behaviour of ‘religion’ by the deeds of those who profess and practice it. The surah of the Qur’an attributed to Noah states that he worked day and night calling the people to abandon religion. Noah told them they should not serve anyone or anything except God. They should observe a way of life for God. His neighbours and friends did not heed his call.

Noah said, “O my people, I come to you as a Warner.28 You shall serve God and work righteousness and obey me” (71:2-3).

The response from his community was:

They said. “Do not abandon your idols, do not abandon Wadd, or Suwa, or Yaghoot, or Ya’ooq and Nasr” (71:23).

The people of Noah were probably rich and prosperous and comfortable with their way of life. They did not suffer any poverty in their ‘religion’ of worshipping idols. Noah did not fit into the popular pattern of the day. The Qur’an teaches us that following the masses ends badly:

If you follow the majority of the people on earth they will divert you from the path of God. They follow only conjecture and they only guess (6:116).

Muhammad espoused the same message as Noah. He was simply the messenger of God, he was not the worshipper. He worked to spread the word of God and hope it prevails over other deens. One would logically assume that Muslims the world over would want to emulate the Last Prophet and embody the teaching he brought. It is illuminating in that regard to read what the message he received was:

We have decreed for you the same deen as was enjoined upon Noah and what is revealed to you herein, and also what was enjoined upon Abraham, Moses and Jesus. You shall uphold the one deen and not be divided. It is simply too difficult for the idol-worshippers to accept what you advocate. God is the one who will bring towards Him whomever He wills, and He will guide towards Himself those who would return (42:13).

Read that again: ‘It is simply too difficult for the idol-worshippers to accept what you advocate’.

That statement is self-explanatory: people who profess religion are regarded as idol-worshippers, they will simply not be able to fathom God’s true deen (as advocated in the Qur’an alone and discussed in this work).

In addition, their almost certain adverse reaction to this book will bear testament to veracity of this statement.

End of Part One

TWO--SOL-LAA (COMMITMENTS) IS NOT RITUAL PRAYER

SOL-LAA ACCORDING TO THE QURAN

The word Sol-laa [7] (Commitment/obligation) or any of the derivatives from the same root word is NEVER used to refer to the act of worship or performing of a set of body movements. They are at all times referred to upholding or observing the commitments or obligations.

The root word for Sol-laa is Sod Lam or S L. This root word appears in the Quran twice in Chapter 75 Verse 31 and Chapter 96 Verse 10. They were written in short sentences, "Falla sod-daqo walaa Sol-laa," and "A’bdan izaa Sol-laa, respectively. The translators say the word Sol-laa in both verses refers to Ritual Prayers. They do not. The paragraphs following will attempt to explain this particular quirk.

The Arabic language derives its vocabulary from the root words. Conjugations of a root word can produce new derivatives and generally, these derivatives are constructed in accordance with established vocalic moulds or patterns to which certain prefixes or suffixes are added. The Arabic verbs have two ‘voices’ - active and passive.

A prefix is used in the grammar notes besides an entry, which cannot normally be used by itself. It is common to see in the Quran a prefix like ‘Ma’ or ‘Mu’ is placed before a grammar note to form a new word in the same class. The two parts are joined together written as one word.

A suffix is used in the grammar notes placed after another word so that a new word is formed. The suffix decides which word class the new word belongs to.

These appear only in the perfect and imperfect and they are constructed according to established moulds or patterns. The imperfect is formed by the addition of prefixes and suffixes that indicate the form of the verb as well as by the gender and number of the doer of the action. Specificity, then, is not a weakness of the Arabic language; neither is ambiguity.

The Arabic in the Quran is very precise and concise, but there are those who claim that Arabic in the Quran is inferior as a definitive language. It would be good to remember that at the time of writing, Arabic was among the most developed language of that time. From another perspective, God had used the most current and up-to-date language of that era to explain a simple and perfectly defined message. After all, I doubt anyone on earth speaks God’s language, thus He wisely chose to use the lingua franca at that time. Subsequently, however, the twisting of words and meanings in the Arabic language has marred its use in the Quran. Some examples are:-

  1. This will be said to all mankind in the hereafter:-

    Falaa sod-daqor walaa Sol-laa (Chapter 75 Verse 31)

    The patrons of the Arabic religion say ‘He was not truthful and not praying’. The true meaning is ‘He was not truthful and not committed’.

  2. God addressed to the Children of Israel:-

    Wa-aqimus Solaa-ta wa-atuz zakaa [8] (Chapter 2 Verse 43)

    The Arabs say, ‘Observe the ritual prayers and pay the religious tithes’. The true meaning is ‘Uphold the commitments and keep them pure.’

  3. This was uttered by the last prophet:-

    In-naa Solaa-ti wa-nusuki (Chapter 6 Verse 162)

    They twist their tongue and say, ‘My ritual prayers and my sacrifices.’ The true meaning is ‘My commitments and my sacrifices.’

  4. This was uttered by the people of Shuib during his time:-

    Ya-shu-‘aib aa-Solaa-tu-ka. (Chapter 11 Verse 87)

    In the Arabic religion they say, ‘O Shuib, does your ritual prayer’. The true meaning is ‘O Shuib, does your commitment.’

  5. This was uttered by Jesus the son of Mary when he was a baby:-

    Wa-asoy-na bi-Solaa-ti. (Chapter 19 Verse 31)

    The Arabs however say, ‘I was enjoined with my ritual prayers’. The true meaning is ‘I was enjoined with my commitments.’.

    Different words were used in other languages during the times of all other prophets for ‘Commitments’ or ‘Obligations’. In the language of the last prophet it is called Sol-laa or sometimes Solaa or similar derivatives from the same root word. The people of Midyan, the Children of Israel and Jesus the son of Mary were non-Arabs, but God says they uttered in their language the same word Sol-laa.

    None of the prophets before Muhammad were talking about ritual prayers when they uttered the equivalent of Sol-laa in their own language. Therefore, the word Sol-laa or its derivatives cannot be translated to mean ritual prayers. To think otherwise is to err on a very large scale contextually. The word Sol-laa (commitments) and its derivatives appear in many verses in the Qu'ran. ‘Modern’ Arab translations will have us believe that there are many different meanings for the same word in different verses.

    The result of this ambiguity has generated much confusion. Man upheld traditions still uphold that sol-laa as we know it today revolves around the same ritualistic prayer performed a timetable accompanied by ritualistic physical movements. It would be presumptuous to think that God would come up with something quite so mundane and boring.

    One of the major arguments between the Sunnis and Shiite [9] revolve around the ideal of ritualistic prayer in the Qu'ran. The Arabic priests will ask, ‘So how can we pray if we were to depend on the Qu'ran? This is absolutely beside the point. Was there ever any question that we should need more than the Qu'ran?

    Many religions around the world have one thing in common. All their priests have the full right to question their followers, but the followers have no right to question them on religious matters. The fact that this is successful is no indication of its correctness. Many forms of government follow this recipe to great success.

    If we ask the Christian priests why do they say Jesus is God when the Bible says he was serving God who created him? The Christian priests will jump. Similarly, if we ask the priests of the Arabic religion why do they pray ritually five times a day and face the stone idol in Mecca when it is not stated in the Quran? They will again jump like the Christian priests. Indeed, so many jumping people must indicate some major inconsistency. After all, if you cannot explain that which you profess to be true and written, it must either be manufactured or incorrect. The common answer that faith is the missing component necessary in understanding the situation is inappropriate. After all, faith is the conviction of something that is yet to happen, not the answer to questions that cannot be properly answered. These ideas that have been put forth so far are a leap of faith in the face of inconsistency.

    This is indeed an acknowledgement by the priests of the Arabic religion that there is no ritual prayer in the Qu'ran. The truth is their ritual prayer was NOT revealed to the last prophet as God’s prescribed Way of Life. We know because we read the Book.

    Sol-laa as it appears in the Qu'ran simply implies obligations, bindings, and commitments, that is the things that human beings must uphold or things that they must observe among themselves as prescribed in the Qu'ran. Period. A distinction must be made however that nowhere in the Qu'ran does it state that sol-laa is a ritual that is performed by humans FOR God. Thus this truism is a pertinent ideal that Muslims must bear in mind.

    COMMITMENT BETWEEN MEN AND MEN.

    Chapter 5 Verse 106 says:

    O you who believe, you shall have witnesses when death is near to anyone of you; to dictate your will by two equitable persons among you, or strangers in case there is a sudden danger to your life when traveling on the earth. In case you are not certain of them, retain them after they have committed themselves (solaa-ti) to make them both swear by God. ‘We will not take advantage to favor anyone even the closest relatives. We will not conceal any evidence before God. If we do, the sins will be upon us.' [10]

    The verse says, ‘After the two strangers who can be Jews or Christians commit themselves/solaa-ti, make them both swear by God.’ This does not call for the performance of a ritual prayer in the presence of a dying man. Instead they are charged with making a solemn pledge to the man before God. This is an example of solaa-ti (the commitment) between men and men.

    The commitment of men between men is to fulfill the obligations for their promises before the One God. Simple. Chapter 9 Verse 4 to 6 says:-

    Except those among the idol worshipers with whom you have a treaty and then they do not breach anything with you and they do not aid anyone against you, therefore complete your agreement with them until its term. Surely God loves those who fear (Him). (Chapter 9 Verse 4)

    Then when the prohibited months are over, you may overcome the idol worshipers wherever you may find them. You shall capture them, encircle them and watch them carefully at every place and if they repent and uphold their obligations (sol-laa-ta wa-atu-zakaa) and keep them pure then give them (the polytheists) the freedom to move around. Surely God is Forgiver, Merciful (Chapter 9 Verse 5)

    And if one of the idol worshipers seeks help from you, protect him then let him hear God’s words then convey him to a place of safety; this is because they are a people who do not know (Chapter 9 Verse 6).

    In Chapter 9 Verse 4 - 6 the text directs us to treat the idol worshipers well and even convey them to a place of safety. It is with this thought that the author would like to reiterate his stand for his quest for truth. Those that we shelter may remain idol worshipers. We are charged not with discriminating upon that prejudice; rather, we are commanded to be a beacon of light and understanding. Understanding and PERFORMING the commandment in this verse alone would change the entire Islamic landscapes, as we know it. Who but God could have envisioned a world like this as opposed to the one we live in. (Chapter 9 Verse 5).

    The gist of the verse relating the story of the idol worshipers lists the Muslims obligations in this instance. If and when the polytheists repent and agree to peace, it is the Muslim duty to uphold that peace and grant them their freedom. Again, the Quran demonstrates civility and kindness in the face of hostilities. Islam does not condone the mistreatment of those who would seek to harm you nor aggression.(Chapter 9 Verse 5). Ultimately, solaa-ta in this instance refers to the concept of the idol worshipers agreeing to keep to their ends of the bargain.

    The other example revolves around prophet Shuib who committed himself to reform his people. Those who rejected his commitments challenged him. Chapter 11 Verse 85 - 87 elaborates:-

    O my people gives full measure and full weight equitably. Do not cheat the people out of their things, and do not corrupt the earth. A smaller provision from God would be better for you, if you are really believers. I am not a guardian over you. They said, ‘O Shuaib, does your commitment (Solaa-tu-ka) enjoin us from idolising what our parents have idolized, and from doing whatever we want with our money? Surely you are too clement and too wise.

    This is the story of Prophet Shu’ib in the Quran. The commitment that Shuaib was trying to bind upon his people was not to cheat and not to corrupt the earth. It was a simple precept that was not accepted by his peers. Hence they said to Shuaib --

    O Shuaib, does your commitment (Solaa-tu-ka) enjoin us from idolising what our parents have idolized, and from doing whatever we want with our money? [11]

    SOL-LAA here clearly refers to committing to good deeds and morals. The commitment called for his people not to cheat, not to corrupt the earth, and to be fair. It is painfully obvious that the term has been grossly abused. This explains why Arabic priests emphatically declare that the Qu'ran has no information at all about the five daily prayers and thus contradict themselves on what they proclaim to be an absolute pillar of the religion of Islam. They condemn themselves by their own words. There is no such thing as the five daily prayers. How woefully correct and wrong they are at the same time.

    COMMITMENT OF MAN TO HIMSELF:-

    Chapter 2 Verses 276-79 says,

    God diminishes profiteering (riba) but encourages charity and God dislikes the disbelievers who are guilty. Surely those who practice righteousness and uphold their commitments (solaa-ta) and keep them pure (wa-a-tuz-zakaa), for them are rewards from their Lord. And there will be no fear upon them nor will they grieve. O you, who believe, beware of God, refrain taking what remains from the profiteering, if you truly believe in God.

    The subject of riba or profiteering begins from Chapter 2 Verse 275 and ends in Chapter 2 Verse 281. Profiteering is a bad practice and do not get involved with it (Chapter 2 Verse 275). God encourages charity and He dislikes those who practice profiteering (Chapter 2 Verse 276). The righteous people should not get involved with it and they should observe their commitments (Solaa-ta), and keep them pure by abstaining from it (Chapter 2 Verse 277) and they should stop immediately if they are involved, even if there were any balances owing to them (Chapter 2 Verse 278). Otherwise God and His messenger will wage war against them (Chapter 2 Verse 279) If a debtor is in difficulty, give him time, otherwise treat the debt as charity (Chapter 2 Verse 280) Whatever you do, God knows everything and beware of the big day (Chapter 2 Verse 281).

    The solaa-ta[12] mentioned in Chapter 2 Verse 277 is our commitment to stop earning income from profiteering (riba) and maintain our commitments by abstaining ourselves from such practices. We do not perform ritual prayer to abstain from profiteering, instead we commit ourselves (solaa-ta) by sacrificing our greed by practically doing the good deeds prescribed by God. Here we make a solaa-ta to ourselves.

    The sol-laa is no doubt God’s teaching in the Qu'ran , which is obligatory upon all humans. All humans must uphold their sol-laa. Even the disbelievers must uphold their commitment sol-laa. (The verses are provided in the following paragraphs.)

    By upholding the commitment sol-laa among ourselves, we are sacrificing our ego, the enemy within ourselves to observe the prescribed deen. Hence in Chapter 6 Verse 162 we are required to say:

    Say, ‘My commitments (solaa-ti), my sacrifices, my life and death are for the Lord of the Universe.’

    COMMITMENT OF CONVICTIONS

    Everything that humans do must be for God, and they are not asked to perform any rituals to pray to Him or to worship Him. All that is enjoined upon them is to believe in God, be sincere to serve Him and uphold their commitments in the way of a righteous life by doing the deeds and good works. Ritual prayers and worship are pagans’ short-cuts to give idol worshipers satisfaction that they have discharged their obligations to God when they must really discharge their sol-laa among fellow humans.

    God is recording the behavior of His servants through out the day including what they utter. Each minute thought and deed is taken into account and recorded. He is recording the DEEDS and not the regimented mutterings of His servants.

    Since We created the human being, We are fully aware of his innermost thoughts. We are closer to him than his jugular vain. The two angels at right and left are recording all his deeds. Not a single utterance he utters without a vigilant watcher. (Chapter 50 Verse 16-18)

    In the hereafter we are told to read our own record about our deeds:-

    You will see every congregation humbled. Every congregation will be invited to view their own record. Today you will get paid for your deeds. This is the record pronouncing the truth about you. Indeed We have recorded all your deeds. (Chapter 45 Verse 28-29)

    Humans are told to uphold their commitments by deeds the way they were prescribed in the revelations. Ritual prayers cannot fulfill these commitments. It is absurd to conjure a world where group regimented prayers have precedence over doing good deeds.

    You shall uphold according to what was prescribed, and also those who repented with you, and do not transgress. Indeed He knows whatever your deeds are, watching. Do not be inclined to those who are wicked that will make you suffer the Fire, and there is none for you except God as a protector, then you will not be helped. And uphold your commitments (Aqimi-solaa-ta) through the ends of the day and the parts from the night. Indeed the good deeds nullify the bad. That is the remembrance for those who want to remember. You shall be steadfast. God never fails to reward the righteous. (Chapter 11 Verse 112-114)

    The verse clearly says uphold what has been prescribed, do not transgress. God is recording all the deeds. People must fulfill their commitments to the good deeds through both ends of the day and part of the night. The concept is simple. Good deeds will nullify the bad deeds and this is one way to remember God. Deeds can never be fulfilled through ritual prayers. If the concept of deen is correctly understood, it is clear to the devout Muslim that it is incumbent upon him to commit to these instructions, uphold and observe them.

    The problem arises when the mind is set and programmed to the condition that Sol-laa means ritual prayer, and thus by omission, actual commitments are totally ignored. They then teach their values to others that will listen without question, as they had.

    Chapter 107 is a very short chapter with only seven verses. The name of the Chapter is Charity. A person who commits himself to the prescribed deen should not neglect his commitments to do the good deeds.

    Do you know who the rejecters of faith are? They neglect the orphans. They do not advocate the feeding the poor. Therefore curse to those who are committed, while heedless of their commitments. They only show off, and they are averse to Charity. (Chapter 107 Verse 1-7)

    Compare to all the translations that agree with the Arabs’ twisting culture:-

    Do you know who the rejecters of faith are? They neglect the orphans. They do not advocate the feeding of the poor. Therefore curse to those who pray ritually, while heedless of their ritual prayers. They only show off. And they are averse to charity. (Chapter 107 Verse 1-7)

    All these seven verses are inter-related. Taking care of the orphans, feeding the poor and do charity work can only be fulfilled by the deeds of a committed person. But the Arabs encourage their followers to pray ritually in order to solve the problem of the orphans, the poor and charitable work.

    Instead of committing themselves individually and severally to take care of orphans, the poor and do the charity from their own earnings, the Arabs trained their priests in the Arabic religion to become income generators. They take illegal collections from the people by corrupting the word Zakaa in the Qu'ran under religious tithes. (Read the chapter Four of this book)

    The Qu'ran spells out some other examples of good deeds to be observed by those who are committed to the prescribed Way of Life from God:-

    Successful indeed are the believers, who are upright in their commitments, those who avoid vain talk, those who keep it pure, they guard their chastity except with their wives and those rightfully belong to them, do they have sex without being blamed’. (Chapter 23 verse 1-6), and then it continues, ‘They are trustworthy when it comes to deposits entrusted to them, or the promises they make, and they constantly observe their commitments. (Verse 8-9 of the same chapter)

    In this verse those who observe any of the above commitments are the successful believers. Nobody can avoid vain talk, guard their chastity, be trustworthy, and fulfill their promises through ritual prayers. Each time the word Sol-laa or the derivatives from this root word appears in the Qu'ran, it is always quoted within some context of the good deeds the humans must observe.

    But Arabs have deliberately hijacked this word. They trained their blind followers to ignore the context of the subject completely. We see another example from the Quran about upholding the commitments ‘Sol-laa’.

    They fulfill their promises to God, and they do not violate their covenant, and they uphold what God has commanded to be upheld, they reverence their Lord, and they fear the dreadful reckoning. They steadfastly persevere in seeking their Lord’s grace, they uphold the commitments and they give to charity from our provisions to them secretly and publicly. They encounter the evil with good. They have reserved the ultimate abode. (Chapter 13 Verse 21-22)

    In this case no one is able to fulfill all the covenants just by praying ritually. A person has to commit himself to do all the deeds through his conviction according to the prescribed deen.

    There are so many verses from the Qu'ran where the word sol-laa is clear in its intent and meaning. The meanings cover commitments, obligations, covenants, and words of the same essence. God says everyone should uphold their commitment through their deeds and not by buttering up, arising and prostrating daily. Readers of the Qu'ran would be hard pressed to find reference to the rituals associated with organized Muslim prayer.

    ... to be continued, as coded.