Why I Am Not A Muslim – 1st Impression

First off I am not a Muslim because I was not brought with that particular brand of delusion. No, what this post is on are my thoughts and impressions upon reading Ibn Warraq’s book Why I Am Not a Muslim. I purchased this book a long time ago, began reading it, then for reasons I can no longer recall I never finished it. I decided to pick it up again and see what I had missed.

I find this book to be absolutely fascinating, providing enlightening insights into the history and development of Islam, the origins of the Qur’an and the life of Muhammad. I am thoroughly baffled as to why anyone with a modicum of grey matter would believe in this rubbish. The entire Islamic enterprise is little more than an unoriginal, disjointed, inhumane morass of whale shit, with a petulant, petty, uncompromising and manifestly unmerciful God (Allah), and a common thief with an active libido and an overactive imagination as its chief architect. It must take spectacular mental contortions and suppression of  reason and logic to embrace this crap. I’m just fucking amazed. Where to begin …

The book, published in 1995, was a response to the weak and pathetic defense of Salman Rushdie following Khomeini’s famous death fatwa for his novel The Satanic Verses. The opening chapter is dedicated to a review on how critics of Islam had been treated historically (not well), prior to the 1989 Rushdie fatwa. Islam has always been rather unsure of itself and feels the need to bring hellfire and damnation to anyone that dare think differently. All in the name of the Merciful and Compassionate God, of course. [Insert finger in throat here.] Anyway, what was more disturbing was the broad failure of writers, historians and other so-called intellectuals to come to Rushdie’s defense. Instead, what came forth were statements about the hurt feelings felt by Muslims because of those nasty old words. Aww … poor Allah must’a been a cwying his widdo merciful heart out over the slander. It is astounding to see how otherwise intelligent people were (and still are) willing to subordinate fundamental freedoms of thought and expression to political, or in this case, religious connectedness so as to not offend some religious constituency or another. Why does religion deserve such an exemption from public criticism? It doesn’t, and we should not grant it one.

Events surrounding the Satanic Verses novel took place in 1989, but the ensuing years seem to have not improved things. When I think of all the leaders of the western nations and their weak responses to the violence and uproar following publication of those infamous Danish cartoons, it appears we are still retreating in fear of retribution. To be sure, there was more of an outrage now than back in 1989, but still far too many apologists trumpeting the worn out fallacy that Islam is a peaceful religion being hijacked by fundamentalists. Bullshit. Triple bullshit. The concept of an Islamic moderate has always been an illusion. The very tenants of the faith scream fundamentalism. Even most Christians in this country, save a rather annoying core of fundies, don’t interpret every letter of the Bible as literally true. Not so for the Islamic world – the Qur’an is unassailable, and what was good thirteen centuries ago is equally valid today. Bronze-age thinking, with nuclear capability. One can see that Islam hasn’t evolved one wit since 1989, since Muslims were again frothing at the mouth in 2007 when Rushdie was chosen to be knighted by the Queen of England. I guess we must resign ourselves that Islam has a fucking world right to declare a death sentence to anyone that twirls their pig tail the wrong way, regardless of where or under what rules they live.

On the Origins of Islam

It is fascinating to see the degree to which Islam has incorporated so many traditions and practices of Jewish, Christian and pagan Arab tribes. Rituals such as the hajj (pagan Arabs), kissing the black stone (pagan idolatry), praying five times daily (Persian/Zoroastrian origins), and numerous other practices are totally borrowed ideas. Islam retains belief in such silly superstitions such as demons, jinns and, of course, the evil eye – all which have roots in pagan Arab folk tales. As the author points out, Muhammad simply took from older traditions.

Muhammad was not an original thinker; he did not formulate any new ethical principles, but merely borrowed from the prevailing mileau.

It’s humorous in a sad kind of way to think how much of Islam can be traced back directly to rabbinic Judaism, yet there is such hatred between Muslims and Jews. Muhammad himself apparently acknowledged affinity with the religions of the Jews, Christians and others. How is it that present day Muslims can deny this heritage? Oh right, I forgot, the Qur’an was handled down directly to Mo through Gods stooge Gabriel, so it was born pure and unadulterated. In Arabic. Not of human origin. Right … hey look, it’s the Flying Spaghetti Monster!

What about all those superstitious beliefs in demons, jinns and such? According to one source I consulted, approximately 22% of the worlds population are adherents to the Muslim faith. That translates into roughly 1.2 billion raging idiots that believe in weird invisible spooks created from smokeless fire that haunt their lives? Is this normal?? Are there enough shrink beds or straightjackets to control these fools? I’m serious here. There is seriously something in the water (or sand) that afflicting the minds of people to believe this stuff. And how about all the idiotic ritual of the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca? An innocent tradition? Perhaps, but what’s the fucking point? Oh yeah, it’s mandated in the Qur’an – I forgot. Can’t question The Book, so any stupid ritual must be adhered to, no matter the nuttiness of the whole thing. Too bad Muhammad didn’t mandate standing on your head whistling dixie for 7 days with a pickle up your ass. It would be lots funnier, and just as meaningless – though manifestly disrespectful to pickles. All the rituals of the hajj have traditions taken from other pagan Arab tribes, so what is so brilliant about Mo’s amalgam of these practices? I’ll grant you that Jews babbling themselves silly at the Western Wall in Jerusalem is just as fucking stupid, so don’t feel like I’m singling out Islam for inanity. Geeze people, get a life and do something productive to move your nations into the industrial age.

It is one thing for uneducated, largely illiterate people living 1300 years ago to believe in gods, jinns, magic stones and other forms of idolatry as controlling their lives. But come on, this is the 21st century. The Age of Enlightenment started 300 years ago, and the Muslims have not even taken the first steps to shake off these antiquated and smothering beliefs. It is sad to see all these Muslim countries dragging, figuratively and literally, their people and cultures back to the dark ages. This doesn’t have to be, but first you have to learn a healthy dose of skepticism. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like this will blossom any time soon within the Islamic world. Meanwhile, we have God sitting in heaven with his original copy of the Qur’an, sitting on the Preserved Table, right next His recliner where He relaxes while watching his version of As the World Burns.

There is lots more I could write about, but I’m tired need get off this damn computer. I’m sure I’ll have other impressions on the remainder of Ibn’s book to comment upon later. Until then, I Am Most Definitely Not A Muslim.

This shit makes me ill.