34
Rene (Spain)
I think any Westerner who comes across the authentic sources of Islam will be greatly surprised. There exists a great contrast between what we know about Islam and what it really is. Our sources are mostly biased and poor. Even if we talk with Muslim inmigrants, it is surprising how little they know about their own religion.
At the end, I joined Islam because I thought it was true; I thought Muhammad was a sincere man sent by Allah to become a guide for all of us. Maybe I was a bit immature back then, but after spending a lot of time on this and seeing so many good things on Muhammad and his teachings, I was convinced that everything was true.
While being a Muslim, I remember the generous hospitality of my Muslim friends I also remember one day that I was wearing some traditional Islamic clothing and, as I was walking down the street, a Spanish man shouted at me: "iMoro!" [i.e., "Arab!"] That gave me a feeling of satisfaction. This is the kind of ignorance we must fight against, and we do not need any bombs, but dialogue and maturity.
Once within Islam, I tried to improve as a Muslim. One of my aims was to enrich my knowledge of Islam and spread it as much as I could. I used to translate Internet materials for my own Web page, Textos sobre el Islam (Texts about Islam). It is not suprising, not even now, that I found everything to be true. What I regret now is not having done things properly. I should have searched for information against Islam and considered it before taking further steps. Maybe I devoted just 2 percent of my effort to search for information that would question Islam, and that is where I was wrong.
This chapter originally appeared, in Spanish, on the Web site Mi paso por Islam, mallorcaweb.net/ rene/islam.htm. Thanks to D. Gonzalez Garcia for his work on this translation.
I suppose it is a human condition to search for evidence for that in which you believe and to leave aside those facts that could question your beliefs. Now I have learned to value the scientific method of examining issues objectively. Now more than ever!
I began thinking about the theory of evolution, and when enough evidence had accumulated I was forced to stop and reconsider. In a supermarket, I came across a book titled El Catecismo de nuestros padres (The catechism of our parents) by Enrique Miret Magdalena y Javier Sadaba. I was surprised and shocked at the same time. I thought that the book was serious, authoritative, and interesting. All of a sudden I read:
First of all, let us consider and accept that Darwinism or neo-darwinist theories are as widely accepted in the scientific world as Einstein's physics or DNA structure. This hypothesis has been so thoroughly proven to be true that to doubt its aunthenticity is like having doubts about light. And not only in those aspects dealing with the evolution of the species and, more specifically, the human being, but in those aspects which could be considered as more controversial. Let us just think about natural selection and the survival of the fittest and which takes us to genetic principles. Although Darwin did not have access to the later discoveries on genetic developments, in his theory we can find them implicitly.'
That was shocking for me because I liked that book, but Islam does not accept evolution. Added to that, I found more proofs. I watched an excellent documentary by some Spanish scientists about thirty ancestors of Homo sapiens found in Atapuerca. I did not want to delay my search any more. It was clear to me that the method was correct and scientifically rigorous. I knew well the C-14 method and other techniques; I knew what they were talking about.
The more information I gathered, the more my eyes opened. The same happened to me when I once again asked my "Muslim brothers." This time I asked the wisest one I could find. His sectarian answer was, "The Jewish and demons confuse Muslims to take them away from Allah."
Let us make clear that Islam is not a sect, at least nowadays. And even though each major religion has its own sects, I was sure I was not in one of them. I knew well how dangerous sectarian behavior can be. One of the main characteristics of a sect is when its leaders reject anything that comes from outside the sect as something wrong or evil. I truly felt that his answer was a sectarian one, useful only when trying not to face the truth.
On the contrary, science has rational criticism as its leading principle, the principle that everything must be examined at any moment, taking into consideration all possibilities and not being attached to any of them.
From my point of view, Islam is much more rigorous than Christianity when dealing with legal, family, and administrative issues. Islam gives very specific and clear rules for almost everything in life; on the other hand, Christianity is much more ambiguous. And by same token, which was a great virtue at the beginning, it is now a flaw. Islam cannot change; it is the same as it was fourteen centuries ago. That is why it cannot adjust itself to new scientific discoveries.
There is within Islam no such a figure as the pope who could say that from now on Islam does recognize the theory of evolution as something true and well documented. I value this as a kind of sincerity. However, I must say that I do not support those who teach a "truth," later attack scientists who try to prove the opposite, and end up recognizing the discoveries made by those scientists already dead.
The Bible explains the myth of creation in a way similar to the Koran, but the situation differs greatly. Most Christians accept the myth of Adam as a way to explain their religion, not as a historical event. Islam was built on the idea that it is God the one who speaks, word by word and very clearly.
To deny the Koran in any of its parts or the words of Muhammad is simply to deny Islam. There is no room for other interpretations; the correct ones are those given by Muhammad, that is all. Since there is no doubt that evolution is a fact and that the natural-selection mechanism is what brought us to this planet, the Koran is not telling the truth; Muhammad is not telling the truth. Maybe he was a great person, but he did not tell the truth about our origins. Maybe his mysticism made him see something that he later interpreted or maybe he lied in order to reach a higher goal, such as creating a much better society. Probably a mixture of both; I do not know. What I do know is that:
(1) Not everything he said is true. Basically, he took the myth from the Bible and from it built his own doctrine. Maybe more than one of the hadith in which Islam is grounded was added freely after Muhammad's death. I find very surprising how many sentences are attributed to Muhammad or his followers. A lot of them are considered to be wrongly attributed, even by Muslim scholars.
(2) Allah is not the origin of Islamic teaching. OK, but that does not mean that there are no useful teachings for life in Islam.
In the hadith in Bukhari concerning the sex of the embryo we read:
Narrated Anas bin Malik: The Prophet said, "At every womb Allah appoints an angel who says, `0 Lord! A drop of semen, 0 Lord! A clot. 0 Lord! A little lump of flesh.' Then if Allah wishes (to complete) its creation, the angel asks, `(O Lord!) Will it be a male or female, a wretched or a blessed, and how much will his provision be? And what will his age be?' So all that is written while the child is still in the mother's .112
Narrated Anas bin Malik: The Prophet said, "Allah has appointed an angel in the womb, and the angel says, `O Lord! A drop of discharge (i.e., of semen), 0 Lord! a clot, 0 Lord! a piece of flesh.' And then, if Allah wishes to complete the child's creation, the angel will say. `O Lord! A male or a female? 0 Lord! wretched or blessed (in religion)? What will his livelihood be? What will his age be?' The angel writes all this while the child is in the womb of its mother."3
Narrated Anas bin Malik: The Prophet said, "Allah puts an angel in charge of the uterus and the angel says, `O Lord, (it is) semen! 0 Lord, (it is now) a clot! 0 Lord, (it is now) a piece of flesh.' And then, if Allah wishes to complete its creation, the angel asks, `O Lord, (will it be) a male or a female? A wretched (an evil doer) or a blessed (doer of good)? How much will his provisions be? What will his age be?' So all that is written while the creature is still in the mother's womb."4
From these hadith, considered to be the most authoritative, it can be clearly seen that it is Allah who decides the sex of the babies after fecundation. That is what it seems to those who were "lucky" enough to see a fetus back in those days.
But today, facts are clear, the sex of the fetus is defined exactly when the fecundation takes place, when the spermatozoon gives the chromosome Y or X to the fetus. It's not talking about when the part of DNA of sex becomes active. The mistake is to pretend that Allah makes the decision to complete his creation with the sex of the embryo weeks after the fecundation. The sex is detailed in all the somatic cells at that moment.
I would like to add that it is normal among Muslims to defend themselves from the mistakes found in the hadith by stating that, in fact, the Koran is the only book to be "protected" from mistakes. But the Koran is full of mistakes. There are even textual variants; Korans in North Africa are not the same as those of Saudi Arabia. For example sura 43 verses 18 and 19: In one version we find "angels from the Merciful" and in the other about "angels servers of the Merciful." What suprises me the most now is that, when they told me that the difference was not important, I just simply accepted it. Of course, the meaning remains the same, but that is not the question. The Koran was supposed to be protected from all mistakes and variants.
Lately, I have received several e-mails which reflect a deep anger toward my Web page and specially for what they consider a manipulation of the Koran. In their own words:
You say that the Koran is not protected, and to prove that you give the evidence of how a word changes its meaning in two different versions depending on the position of two points. I accept: if there were really two versions approved by all muslims then, there would something to think about.
There has never been any alteration in the Koran and there can never be any in the future. It is God's promise.
Words that could be taken as some kind of curse found in one e-mail:
God damn you. You will understand why some people like you deserve capital punishment. Although you will also have seen how this punishment is only materialized in very few and rare occasions. Because the greatness of the Islamic law is beyond the narrow minds of people like you, Westerners who are not able to understand and see it.
And from another e-mail:
You are an enemy of the Koran, enemy of the truth, enemy of God and enemy of the Islam, and I am your confessed enemy.
I told the latter writer that if he had patience with me and addressed me in a civilized manner, I could discuss the issues with him. In The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan, we find a similar example of medieval thinking: "In 1993, the highest and supreme religious authority from Saudi Arabia, the sheik Abdel-Aziz Ibn Baaz, issued a fatwa stating that the world was flat."5
And so, my answer is the following saying, attributed to Galileo: "And nevertheless, it moves." It seems like it is my turn to defend the right of free speech. I prefer the evidence from those words instead of writing some kind of argument for which I am not prepared. At the end, truth stays despite our lack of critical sense or our lack of tolerance.
I want to add that I have received other e-mails from Muslims pleased at reading my Web page: "I like to research too and I thank you for your article because it gave me more fair information and increased my love for the people." Fortunately, not all Muslims are intolerant. In fact, Muslims used to be more tolerant.
A very subjective confirmation, but especially relevant for me, was when I was told that I never really had faith. It seems that that is what Muhammad said. Those who leave Islam prove that they never had faith. I am very sure I had faith.
Some people have told me that it seems like I value positively my experience of being a Muslim. Well, it is true; it is something that will be part of my life and, overall, I value it in positive terms. It is a subjective opinion, it is something emotional rather than rational. I would rather keep good memories about it.
But in order for these pages to give a wider picture of Islam, there are some other details I would like to give you. They are facts that are not seen at the beginning and which are given to you gradually (so to be less shocking), as you become a Muslim; typical of sects, although Islam should not be considered as such.
• I devoted, as I once calculated, around three and a half hours a day to Islam. At the beginning, a lot less is always asked for; but, in my case, I was criticized for doing "too little." This was unfair since sometimes I was the only one in the mosque in the strictly mandatory dawn prayer. Islam understands life solely as a worship to God, in a variety of forms such as at work. But it also includes purely religious obligations such as praying five times a day, which becomes ten or more, gathered in five groups, to get closer to God.
• Due to the amount of time it requires and the fact that you value your Muslim friendships over the rest, you end up leaving your "old" friends aside. (This might be different from one group to another, although it is probably common to all of them.)
• I almost ended up thinking that the Jews had to disappear from the Earth. "Certainly you will find the most violent of people in enmity for those who believe (to be) the Jews and those who are polytheists." says the Koran (V.82) There are also prophesies from Muhammad saying that Muslims will kill all Jews. Now, I clearly see how hideous that is and I regret it. It is just another form of senseless racism. Which does not mean that I accept all the pain and racism that the Palestinians are suffering at the hands of the Jews. It is a very difficult and controversial situation in which both sides hate each other and find it hard to live next to each other. This has caused around 2 million Palestinians to become refugees in neighboring countries (such as Jordan).
• War against those non-Muslim countries is clearly defined. It is not the idea that the teaching must be brought to those who do not have it and then discuss it; that happened a long time ago. What needs to be done is to impose and bring every country under the "fair laws of Allah for their own good" by means of military occupation. The first countries that need to be occupied must be those which were Muslim before. Muhammad himself gave an example of this by forcing the people of Taif to become Muslim. At the same time I believe the attacks against the World Trade Center, which took place in September 2001, are against Muhammad's teachings although I am also sure that Muhammad would declare war on any neighboring country in order to convert it to Islam and give them the laws inspired by Allah. It does not matter if this country is one thousand times more powerful. Allah was with them; in fact, an army was sent against some parts of the Byzantine Empire.
• The true science is the knowledge of Islam, Allah's teaching, and the Muhammad's hadith; that is how Islam defines it. Doubt itself, as a method, is rejected and considered to be a sickness. In science, doubt and criticism are needed in order to keep it "healthy" and to ensure that facts or theories are objectively analyzed. In my opinion, that is the greatest problem for Islam: It tries to be scientific in nature but it rejects a very important fact in modern science, to thoroughly question and examine everything, giving as much information as possible of the points for and against it.
• Anybody who tries to leave Islam must be killed. It is a current law since it cannot be changed; it was like that in ancient times, and now nobody can abolish it. Overall, Islam offers little religious freedom.
During the last centuries and in the Western world, we have improved considerably regarding the definition and defense of freedom. The Islamic world must increase its cultural background, adding values such as objectivity, doubt as a scientific method, and individual freedoms. Those who do not want to contrast "their" truth against others in order to test it, are the most likely to be wrong.
My experience within Islam had many positive aspects, besides those derived from meeting and discovering new people and a new culture from within. I keep very good memories and many of them will be part of my life for a long time; even leaving Islam was a positive and enriching experience. I keep in mind the thought of that feeling of fear of God, a feeling that at the same time paralyzes and stimulates you. You continue with your own life, but always try to keep in mind that God is watching you. That is why you always try to do things to please him. That is part of the whole idea of jihad (which could be translated as "effort"), not in the sense of war but in the sense of the jihad akbar (the great jihad, according to Muhammad), the fight in trying to improve oneself. An effort the Muslim can handle no more than he can do, no more than he regrets afterward. Muslims must always try to increase it, never to decrease it. Nowadays, when somebody tells me that this or that thing can be done because "nobody is going to see you" I think to myself "yes, only if it is the truth" and that is important for me.
NOTES
1. Enrique Miret Magdalena y Javier Sadaba, El Catechismo de nuestros padres (Madrid: Plaza Janes Ediciones, 1998), p. 61.
2. al-Bukhari, Book of Menses, vol. 1, book 6 of Sahih (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 1987), Hadith no. 315, p. 189.
3. al-Bukhari, Book of the Prophets, vol. 4, book 55 of Sahth (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 1987), Hadith no. 550, p. 347.
4. al-Bukhari, Book of al-Qadr, vol. 8, book 77 of Sahih (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 1987), Hadith no. 594, p. 388.
5. Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996), p. 325.