Until the advent of materialism and 19th c. dogma, Western Civilisation was superior to anything Islam had developed. Islam has not aided in the development of the modern world; in fact civilisation has only been created in spite of Islam. Proof of this resides in the 'modern' world and the unending political-economic and spiritual poverty of Muslim states and regions. Squatting on richer civilisations is not 'progress'. Islam is pagan, totalitarian, and irrational.
Running totals from Sura 2 to 22:
Total number of verses from Sura 2 to 22: 2666
Total number of verses in 2-22, which preach violence against non-Moslems: 556
Violent verses as a % of total from Sura 2 to 22: 21%
Sura 2 to 22 as a % of the Koran in pages: 52%
Sura 2 to 22 as a % of the 6346 verses in the Koran: 41%
[meaning still lots more violence to go....]
22:39: Permission to fight is given to those (i.e. believers against disbelievers), who are fighting them, (and) because they (believers) have been wronged, and surely, Allah is Able to give them (believers) victory
In this chapter the central them is; violence, violence and more violence. In the PC-cultural Marxist universe violence is peace, supremacism is inter-faith harmony, racism is tolerance. This Sura has not one single verse of an ethical program, not a one. This makes it standard for the Koran earning this poorly written diatribe the appellation of religious. This chapter is supposedly centred on Muhammad's return to Mecca at the head of his 10.000 man army which desecrated the Kabaa shrine and set up a dictatorial governance. Just 10 years previously Meccan leaders had been on the point of extinguishing the life and small group of Muhammad and Muhammadans. Social and economic dislocation was the primary result of Muhammad's unconvincing teachings, which included mistranslating well known poems from the Kabaa shrine, much to the derisory amusement of his enemies. Meccan clemency would be repaid in 630 AD when Muhammad entered the city at the head of an army and became an Arab dictator.
The Hajj is really a pilgrimage to Muhammad and his 'greatness' of course. The founder of Submission simply appropriated what pagan Arabs had been doing on their journey to Mecca for millennia and connected it to his own cult. The Hajj is a profitable venture for the Arabs and of course full of pagan Arab rituals and mindless conformity:
And proclaim to mankind the Hajj (pilgrimage). They will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, they will come from every deep and distant (wide) mountain highway (to perform Hajj). |
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Then let them complete the prescribed duties (Manasik of Hajj) for them, and perform their vows, and circumambulate the Ancient House (the Ka'bah at Makkah). |
This is repeated in verses 32-37, and in 67-68. One must conform to Muhammad's totalitarianism including the penance of the Hajj, or be assaulted by his protector the Allah thing, and dialectical force.
The irrationality of a cult is what we read and can view in this Sura. What most disconcerts is of course the level of violence. Satan is openly allied with anyone who rejects the Allah-Muhammad cult. Satan is the great enabler of the Jews and Christians who must thus be killed and tormented:
The Day you shall see it, every nursing mother will forget her nursling, and every pregnant one will drop her load, and you shall see mankind as in a drunken state, yet they will not be drunken, but severe will be the Torment of Allah. |
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And among mankind is he who disputes concerning Allah, without knowledge, and follows every rebellious (disobedient to Allah) Shaitan (devil) (devoid of each and every kind of good). |
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For him (the devil) it is decreed that whosoever follows him, he will mislead him, and will drive him to the torment of the Fire. [Tafsir At-Tabari] |
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Thus have We sent it (this Qur'an) down (to Muhammad SAW) as clear signs, evidences and proofs, and surely, Allah guides whom He wills. |
and
Verily, those who believe (in Allah and in His Messenger Muhammad SAW), and those who are Jews, and the Sabians, and the Christians, and the Magians, and those who worship others besides Allah, truly, Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection. Verily! Allah is Witness over all things. |
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These two opponents (believers and disbelievers) dispute with each other about their Lord; then as for those who disbelieve, garments of fire will be cut out for them, boiling water will be poured down over their heads. |
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With it will melt or vanish away what is within their bellies, as well as (their) skins. |
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Every time they seek to get away therefrom, from anguish, they will be driven back therein, and (it will be) said to them: "Taste the torment of burning!" |
[See also verse 52.] Garments of fire and boiling water. All for not following Muhammad. Those led 'astray' by Satan or their own ignorance face violence from Allah and his cult; in this life and the next. Illiterate Bedouin, and presumably terrified Unbelievers are surely doomed.
Bending his neck in pride [the Jew] (far astray from the Path of Allah), and leading (others) too (far) astray from the Path of Allah. For him there is disgrace in this worldly life, and on the Day of Resurrection We shall make him taste the torment of burning (Fire). |
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And among mankind is he who worships Allah as it were, upon the very edge (i.e. in doubt); if good befalls him, he is content therewith; but if a trial befalls him, he turns back on his face (i.e. reverts back to disbelief after embracing Islam). He loses both this world and the Hereafter. That is the evident loss. |
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He calls besides Allah unto that which hurts him not, nor profits him. That is a straying far away. |
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He calls unto him whose harm is nearer than his profit; certainly, and evil Maula (patron) and certainly an evil friend! |
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Verily! Those who disbelieve and hinder (men) from the Path of Allah, and from Al-Masjid-al-Haram (at Makkah) which We have made (open) to (all) men, the dweller in it and the visitor from the country are equal there [as regards its sanctity and pilgrimage (Hajj and 'Umrah)]. And whoever inclines to evil actions therein or to do wrong (i.e. practise polytheism and leave Islamic Monotheism), him We shall cause to taste a painful torment. |
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Truly, Allah defends those who believe. Verily! Allah likes not any treacherous ingrate to Allah [those who disobey Allah but obey Shaitan (Satan)]. |
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Permission to fight is given to those (i.e. believers against disbelievers), who are fighting them, (and) because they (believers) have been wronged, and surely, Allah is Able to give them (believers) victory |
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And the dwellers of Madyan (Midian); and belied was Musa (Moses), but I granted respite to the disbelievers for a while, then I seized them, and how (terrible) was My Punishment (against their wrong-doing). |
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And many a township have We destroyed while it was given to wrong-doing, so that it lies in ruins (up to this day), and (many) a deserted well and lofty castles! |
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Have they not travelled through the land, and have they hearts wherewith to understand and ears wherewith to hear? Verily, it is not the eyes that grow blind, but it is the hearts which are in the breasts that grow blind. |
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And they ask you to hasten on the torment! And Allah fails not His Promise. And verily, a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you reckon. |
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And many a township did I give respite while it was given to wrong-doing. Then (in the end) I seized it (with punishment). And to Me is the (final) return (of all). |
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But those who strive against Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), to frustrate and obstruct them, they will be dwellers of the Hell-fire. |
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That He (Allah) may make what is thrown in by Shaitan (Satan) a trial for those in whose hearts is a disease (of hypocrisy and disbelief) and whose hearts are hardened. And certainly, the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers, etc.) are in an opposition far-off (from the truth against Allah's Messenger and the believers). |
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And those who disbelieve will not cease to be in doubt about it (this Qur'an) until the Hour comes suddenly upon them, or there comes to them the torment of the Day after which there will be no night (i.e. the Day of Resurrection). |
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And those who disbelieved and belied Our Verses (of this Qur'an), for them will be a humiliating torment (in Hell). |
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Those who emigrated in the Cause of Allah and after that were killed or died, surely, Allah will provide a good provision for them. And verily, it is Allah Who indeed is the Best of those who make provision. |
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And when Our Clear Verses are recited to them, you will notice a denial on the faces of the disbelievers! They are nearly ready to attack with violence those who recite Our Verses to them. Say: "Shall I tell you of something worse than that? The Fire (of Hell) which Allah has promised to those who disbelieve, and worst indeed is that destination!" |
Pretty boring reading. Those who do not follow will be destroyed. The above makes this rather plain. In this vein Allah rules, Allah is the only 'thing' with free-will; and Allah will do as he or it pleases. Your only job is to beg for his mercy and obey his or its cult [or that of Muhammad since it is rather obvious that Allah and Muhammad are one and the same]:
O mankind! If you are in doubt about the Resurrection, then verily! We have created you (i.e. Adam) from dust, then from a Nutfah (mixed drops of male and female sexual discharge i.e. offspring of Adam), then from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood) then from a little lump of flesh, some formed and some unformed (miscarriage), that We may make (it) clear to you (i.e. to show you Our Power and Ability to do what We will). And We cause whom We will to remain in the wombs for an appointed term, then We bring you out as infants, then (give you growth) that you may reach your age of full strength. And among you there is he who dies (young), and among you there is he who is brought back to the miserable old age, so that he knows nothing after having known. And you see the earth barren, but when We send down water (rain) on it, it is stirred (to life), it swells and puts forth every lovely kind (of growth). |
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That is because Allah, He is the Truth, and it is He Who gives life to the dead, and it is He Who is Able to do all things. |
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O you who believe! Bow down, and prostrate yourselves, and worship your Lord and do good that you may be successful. |
If Allah is the only free-will force and the only source of truth, the concepts of rationality, individualism, effort, ethics, law and a division of powers are unnecessary. 'Do good' simply means that a human must endeavour to make Allah happy by following Muhammad and doing what the Koran states. This is hardly a recipe for an enlightened existence.
As reviewed before:
“The writers of the Koran just assume that the audience is Arabic and that the reader an illiterate desert donkey. In the oral tradition of illiterate Arabia the Koran would have been read aloud and repetition in such oral expositions is mandatory. So it reads very badly. Instead of discovering the historicity of the 'journey' the reader is assaulted with the usual injunctions to be quiet, obey, submit, and watch out for the evil infidel. Creative and realistic writers the Koranic chroniclers were not. Accepting even a minimal level of intelligence from their reading audience never crossed their minds.
The first sentence opens and closes the Sura in a figurative sense, “O Mankind! Fear your Lord! For the convulsion of the Hour (of Judgement) will be a thing terrible!” This sums up the Sura or chapter. They could have stopped there. Obey the thing called Allah [a male Meccan moon deity]; and fear it for if he is displeased you will find yourself on the wrong end of his judgement on the fateful day that he gathers up all the bipeds and tells each who was naughty and who was nice. The naughty ones are killed or baked in Hell. The nice ones get the 5 star hotel treatment with wine, women and song.”
This cult belittles, berates and threatens human worth and dignity. It advocates the killing, torment and annihilation of non-Moslems. It adjures the total merger of church and state. And yet we are told that this is a holy book.