₦airaland Forum

Islamism Ideals:

Islamism has been defined as:

"the belief that Islam should guide social and political as well as personal life",[9]
"the [Islamic] ideology that guides society as a whole and that [teaches] law must be in conformity with the Islamic sharia",[10]
an Islamic "movement that seeks cultural differentiation from the West and reconnection with the pre-colonial symbolic universe",[11]
"the organised political trend, owing its modern origin to the founding of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928, that seeks to solve modern political problems by reference to Muslim texts",[12]
"the whole body of thought which seeks to invest society with Islam which may be integrationist, but may also be traditionalist, reform-minded or even revolutionary",[12]
"the active assertion and promotion of beliefs, prescriptions, laws or policies that are held to be Islamic in character,"[4]
a movement of "Muslims who draw upon the belief, symbols, and language of Islam to inspire, shape, and animate political activity;" which may contain moderate, tolerant, peaceful activists, and/or those who "preach intolerance and espouse violence."[13]
a term "used by outsiders to denote a strand of activity which they think justifies their misconception of Islam as something rigid and immobile, a mere tribal affiliation."[8][14]

Islamism:
If you hold any of these ideals then you are indeed an Islamist! Just like Muslims and Islam labels the world Infidels, Kaffirs and other perjorative terms we too label muslims with certain ideologies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamism

Islamism (Islam+-ism; Arabic: الاسلامية ‎ al-'islāmiyya) also Arabic: إسلام سياسي‎ al-Islām al-Siyāsiyy, lit., "Political Islam" is a set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system; that modern Muslims must return to the roots of their religion, and unite politically. Islamism is a controversial term and definitions of it sometimes vary. Leading Islamist thinkers emphasized the enforcement of sharia (Islamic law) on Muslims; of pan-Islamic political unity; and of the elimination of non-Muslim, particularly western military, economic, political, social, or cultural influences in the Muslim world, which they believe to be incompatible with Islam.[1

^^^@1stknight  so why is the Taliban, Osama's 12 year old daughter and the Al Qaida network substantiating the US governments assertion that they killed him on Sunday?

The author of this email is said to be Dr. Emanuel Tanay, a well-known and well-respected psychiatrist.

A German’s View on Islam

A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates.   When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

‘Very few people were true Nazis,’ he said, ‘but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care.

I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools.   So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen.   Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come.   My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.’

We are told again and again by ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.   Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant.   It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.   It is the fanatics who march.   It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide.   It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave.   It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill.   It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque.   It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of violation victims and homosexuals.   It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.

The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the ‘silent majority,’ is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 40 million people.   The peaceful majority were irrelevant.   China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist.   Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an sin assembly of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery.   Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were ‘peace loving’?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:
 
Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.                                                 
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.                         
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts–the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand.   So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on!   Let us hope that thousands, world-wide, read this and think about it, and send it on – before it’s too late.

"Well the world population has grown exponentially with the application of science and reason. I'm sorry but I simply have to let you know
that they cannot be victorious if they refuse to apply science and reason in their governments. "


Well said homer, can't seem to get this throught these people greasy thought process. The reason why people do not understand history and that the wests advancement over other nations in the past 500 years is because of science and reason. The methodology of reason not religion, race or culture. Reason is core to Western culture. A society based on religion will always fail regardless of the faith. Cultures and societies must evolve as everything else in the universe lest they die.

Where una day now Islamists?? Your ideology is a DEAD ideology, your Oga don mod, enter Jenna!!

zstranger abeg go and sit down! Enlightenment will always defeat madness,

I laff tire, OBL is in "Jenna" with his useless ideology.  Bleep with America you get seen!!! Where are the Islamists, Sweetnecta, vedaxcool and the likes? Hope you are enjoying this moment!!! Better get with reason and a 21st century ideology, your allah could no stop 21st century stealth bombers and weapons , YOU AND YOUR IDEOLOGY WILL ALWAYS BE DEFEATED!!!
Thank you Obama and the US intelligence, military and intelligence community!

The more these religious fanatics try to explain their warped points of view the more they sound ridiculous and crazy. The God of the Jews and the Allah of the Arabs are sociopaths, immoral, genocidal megalomaniacs, reflecting the era of the people of that time, the people who created these ideas of god. Gods around the world reflect the ethos of the people/culture that create them. Yahweh/Jehovah and Allah are as real as Ogun, Amadioha, Thor, Sango, etc, They are the figments of imagination of the people in that region. It is amazing that in the 21st century people are still thinking and relying on medieval moral frameworks. Rationalizing away the evils of some of these religious ideologies.

So happy that some of us are thinking through these religious fairytales, ditch the middle eastern religious ideology and life goes on, we may not know exactly what life is all about but your 2000 year old story sure doesnt explain it,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usman_dan_Fodio

Usman dan FodioFrom

Sultan of Sokoto, Amir al-Muminin
Reign 1804-1815
Born 1754
Birthplace Gobir
Died 1817
Place of death Sokoto
Buried Hubare, Sokoto.[1]
Successor Eastern areas (Sokoto):
Muhammed Bello, son.
Western areas (Gwandu):
Abdullahi dan Fodio, brother.
Wives Maimuna
Aisha
Hauwa
Hadiza
Offspring 23 children, including:
Muhammed Bello
Nana Asmau
Abu Bakr Atiku
Dynasty Sokoto Caliphate
Father Muhammadu Fodio (Legal and Religious teacher)
Shaihu Usman dan Fodio (Arabic: عثمان بن فودي ، عثمان دان فوديو‎), born Usuman ɓii Foduye, (also referred to as Shaikh Usman Ibn Fodio, Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye, or Shehu Usman dan Fodio, 1754–1817) was the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate in 1809, a religious teacher, writer and Islamic promoter. Dan Fodio was one of a class of urbanized ethnic Fulani living in the Hausa States in what is today northern Nigeria. A teacher of the Maliki school of law and the Qadiriyyah order of Sufism, he lived in the city-state of Gobir until 1802 when, motivated by his reformist ideas and under increased repression by local authorities, he led his followers into exile. This exile began a political and social revolution which spread from Gobir throughout modern Nigeria and Cameroon, and was echoed in an ethnicly Fula-led Jihad movement across West Africa. Dan Fodio declined much of the pomp of rulership, and while developing contacts with religious reformists and Jihad leaders across Africa, he soon passed actual leadership of the Sokoto state to his son, Muhammed Bello.

Dan Fodio wrote more than a hundred books concerning religion, government, culture and society. He developed a critique of existing African Muslim elites for what he saw as their greed, paganism, or violation of the standards of Sharia law, and heavy taxation. He encouraged literacy and scholarship, including for women, and several of his daughters emerged as scholars and writers. His writings and sayings continue to be much quoted today, and is often affectionately referred to as Shehu in Nigeria. Some followers consider dan Fodio to have been a Mujaddid, a divinely inspired "reformer of Islam".[2]

Dan Fodio's uprising is a major episode of a movement described as the Fulani (Peul) hegemonies in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It followed the jihads successfully waged in Fuuta-Ɓundu, Fuuta-Jalon and Fuuta-Tooro between 1650 and 1750, which led to the creation of those three islamic states. In his turn, Shehu inspired a number of later West African jihads, including those of Masina Empire founder Seku Amadu, Toucouleur Empire founder El Hadj Umar Tall (who married one of dan Fodio's granddaughters), and Adamawa Emirate founder Modibo Adama.

Contents [hide]
1 Training
2 The Fulani War
3 Religious and political impact
4 Writing
5 See also
6 References
6.1 Web sites
6.2 Other primary sources
6.3 Other secondary sources
7 See also

[edit] TrainingDan Fodio was well-educated in classical Islamic science, philosophy and theology and became a revered religious thinker. His teacher, Jibril ibn 'Umar, argued that it was the duty and within the power of religious movements to establish the ideal society free from oppression and vice. His teacher was a North African Muslim alim who gave his apprentice a broader perspective of the Muslim reformist ideas in other parts of the Muslim world. Dan Fodio used his influence to secure approval to create a religious community in his hometown of Degel that would, dan Fodio hoped, be a model town. He stayed there for 20 years, writing, teaching and preaching.

In 1802, the ruler of Gobir and one of dan Fodio's students, Yunfa turned against him, revoking Degel's autonomy and attempting to assassinate dan Fodio. Dan Fodio and his followers fled into the western grasslands of Gudu where they turned for help to the local Fulani nomads. In his book Tanbih al-ikhwan ’ala ahwal al-Sudan (“Concerning the Government of Our Country and Neighboring Countries in the Sudan”) Usman wrote: “The government of a country is the government of its king without question. If the king is a Muslim, his land is Muslim; if he is an Unbeliever, his land is a land of Unbelievers. In these circumstances it is obligatory for anyone to leave it for another country”.[3] Usman did exactly this when he left Gobir in 1802. After that, Yunfa turned for aid to the other leaders of the Hausa states, warning them that dan Fodio could trigger a widespread jihad.[4]

[edit] The Fulani WarUsman dan Fodio was proclaimed Amir al-Muminin or Commander of the Faithful in Gudu. This made him political as well as religious leader, giving him the authority to declare and pursue a jihad, raise an army and become its commander. A widespread uprising began in Hausaland. This uprising was largely composed of the Fulani, who held a powerful military advantage with their cavalry. It was also widely supported by the Hausa peasantry who felt over-taxed and oppressed by their rulers. Usuman started the jihad against Gobir in 1804.

The Fulani communication during the war was carried along trade routes and rivers draining to the Niger-Benue valley, as well as the delta and the lagoons. The call for jihad did not only reach other Hausa states such as Kano, Katsina and Zaria but also Borno, Gombe, Adamawa, Nupe and Ilorin. These were all places with major or minor groups of Fulani alims.

After only a few short years of the Fulani War, dan Fodio found himself in command of the largest state in Africa, the Fulani Empire. His son Muhammed Bello and his brother Abdullahi carried out the jihad and took care of the administration. Dan Fodio worked to establish an efficient government grounded in Islamic law. After 1811, Usman retired and continued writing about the righteous conduct of the Muslim belief. After his death in 1817, his son, Muhammed Bello, succeeded his as amir al-mu’minin and became the ruler of the Sokoto Caliphate, which was the biggest state south of the Sahara at that time. Usman’s brother Abdullahi was given the title emir of Gwandu, and he was placed in charge of the Western Emirates, Nupe and Ilorin. Thus, all Hausa states, parts of Nupe, Ilorin and Fulani outposts in Bauchi and Adamawa were all ruled by a single politico-religious system. From the time of Usman dan Fodio there were twelve caliphs, until the British conquest at the beginning of the twentieth century.

[edit] Religious and political impactMany of the Fulani led by Usman dan Fodio were unhappy that the rulers of the Hausa states were mingling Islam with aspects of the traditional regional religion. Usuman created a theocratic state with a stricter interpretation of Islam. In Tanbih al-ikhwan ’ala ahwal al-Sudan, he wrote: “As for the sultans, they are undoubtedly unbelievers, even though they may profess the religion of Islam, because they practice polytheistic rituals and turn people away from the path of God and raise the flag of worldly kingdom above the banner of Islam. All this is unbelief according to the consensus of opinions.”[5]

In Islam outside the Arab World, David Westerlund wrote: “The jihad resulted in a federal theocratic state, with extensive autonomy for emirates, recognizing the spiritual authority of the caliph or the sultan of Sokoto.”[6]

Usman addressed in his books what he saw as the flaws and demerits of the African non-Muslim or nominally Muslim rulers. Some of the accusations made by him were corruption on various levels of the administration along with injustice regarding ordinary people's rights. Usman also criticized the heavy taxation and obstruction created in the business and trade of the Hausa states by the legal system.

[edit] WritingUsman dan Fodio wrote about 480 poems in Arabic, Fulfulde and Hausa.[7]

Sounds pretty familiar. I wonder whether there aren't southern Nigerian children that are neglected by the government. Some resort to crime and some in the Niger Delta picked up arms to revolt against the government. However, the Almajiri's are a result of Islamism point blank.

http://www.newsi.es/crowds-protest-christian-governor-in-south-egypt/886251/
Crowds Protest Christian Governor in South Egypt
April 23, 2011 By Joey Barclay
Thousands of Egyptians leaded by assertive Islamists raised their protests over the selection of a Coptic Christian governor in southern Egypt, intensifying disbelieve among religious communities in the rutted consequences of Egypt’s revolution.

Protests looking forward to oust the governor of Qena province are experimenting the skills of Egypt’s transitional military leaders and the temporary government to hold an Islamic movement competent of assembling huge figures behind its hard-line plan devoid of risking the future of a democratic Egypt.

As President Hosni Mubarak’s expelled out in February after an 18-day famous revolt, ultraconservative Islamist crowds have been pledging to take a livelier political role as Egypt charts its conversion to democracy.

Friday’s protests were the biggest so far in the movement in opposition to the newly hired Qena governor, Emad Mikhail, and overlapped with Good Friday services for the majority of Egypt’s expected 10 million Christians.

Protesters moved out after Friday weekly Muslim prayer services and assembled in front of the governor’s office and at additional public squares, asking for Mikhail to be substituted by a Muslim governor.

Protesters obstructed main train lines, blocked major roads and took over government constructions.

The mass of the activists were driven by a sectarian reason, saying it is not appropriate for a Christian to govern Muslims, who make up the greater part of the population.

Egypt’s provisional prime minister sent a key government minister in charge of security to convene with the protesters but they sent him unsuccessful in convincing them to unblock the roads and train lines.

You have done welll, thank you!!

Proud of my country and our ppl, keep up the great work. Regardless of who wins lets be accountable to ourselves during this election by conducting a free, fair and credible election.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13051234

12 April 2011 Last updated at 08:39 ET Share this pageEmail Print Share this page

PDP election losses 'have changed Nigeria' Results are being announced at a state level - the official results will be out late this week


Preliminary parliamentary poll results revealing big losses for the ruling party show Nigeria "has changed", an analyst has told the BBC.

"It tells a story to every politician: You can no longer take Nigerians for granted," Victor Burubo said.

High-profile PDP casualties include speaker of the lower house Dimeji Bankole and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo's daughter in the senate.

Despite some violence, observers said Saturday's poll was well-conducted.

The initial vote had to be postponed from 2 April after voting material failed to reach many areas.

Previous elections since the return to civilian rule in 1999 have been marred by widespread fraud and intimidation.

Elections for the presidency and state governorships were also delayed and are now to be held on 16 and 26 April respectively.

Bad luck for president?

With more than 70% of preliminary results announced at a state level, President Goodluck Jonathan's People's Democratic Party (PDP) has suffered significant losses.

The party that has dominated politics since the military returned to barracks has so far taken 59 seats in the 109-member senate and 140 seats in the 360-member House of Representatives.

Continue reading the main story
Vote by Numbers
74 million registered voters
360 House of Representatives
109 senators
54 parties contesting
36 governors
20 presidential candidates
African viewpoint: Bloody politics
Correspondents say it is not clear whether the PDP will lose its absolute majority in both houses as voting in some 13-14% of parliamentary constituencies - where polling had begun on 2 April - has been delayed until 26 April.

The party has lost out to two newly formed parties, the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the south-west and to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in parts of the north.

There was another embarrassing loss for the PDP in the northern state of Katsina where Maryam Yar'Adua, daughter of the late President Umaru Yar'Adua, failed in her bid get into the House of Representatives.

But Mr Burubo, who leads the National Ijaw Council in the southern oil-rich Niger Delta, said the PDP's bad showing on a parliamentary level would not affect the presidential vote.

"I have a feeling that a good number of areas where the PDP has been beaten will still revert to the PDP candidates, Dr Goodluck Jonathan and his running mate Sambo because of who they are are - not just because of the party," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

He said Mr Jonathan, who is from the under-developed Niger Delta where inhabitants have felt ignored by politicians, is popular in the region.

His main opponents on the presidential ticket are former anti-corruption campaigner Nuhu Ribadu for the ACN and former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari from the CPC.

Thanks for bringing this topic up Jen33. You are adepth with knowledge on the Bible and its funny to see christians cringe, wobble and fight back with the same tired rebuttals when you point out the flaws in their imaginary jewish god and fairytales. Its unbelievable that people were posting veiled threats, warning you to watch what you type. Absolutely nothing will happen. Omg (no pun intended), Nigerians can be so SUPERSTITIOUS!!! 

Here is a Thomas Paines Age of Reason: http://www.ushistory.org/paine/reason/singlehtml.htm

People have debated these questions for centuries. Religiousity is a slowly but surely eroding and being replaced with rationalism 200 years after the enlightenment that spurred on modernity. Nigerians world view really needs to step into the 21st century especially as it deals with ethics, religion and morality.




IT has been my intention, for several years past, to publish my thoughts upon religion. I am well aware of the difficulties that attend the subject, and from that consideration, had reserved it to a more advanced period of life. I intended it to be the last offering I should make to my fellow-citizens of all nations, and that at a time when the purity of the motive that induced me to it, could not admit of a question, even by those who might disapprove the work.

The circumstance that has now taken place in France of the total abolition of the whole national order of priesthood, and of everything appertaining to compulsive systems of religion, and compulsive articles of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, but rendered a work of this kind exceedingly necessary, lest in the general wreck of superstition, of false systems of government, and false theology, we lose sight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that is true.

As several of my colleagues and others of my fellow-citizens of France have given me the example of making their voluntary and individual profession of faith, I also will make mine; and I do this with all that sincerity and frankness with which the mind of man communicates with itself.

I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.

I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.

But, lest it should be supposed that I believe in many other things in addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them.

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.

It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. He takes up the trade of a priest for the sake of gain, and in order to qualify himself for that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we conceive any thing more destructive to morality than this?

Soon after I had published the pamphlet Common Sense, in America, I saw the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion. The adulterous connection of church and state, wherever it had taken place, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, had so effectually prohibited by pains and penalties, every discussion upon established creeds, and upon first principles of religion, that until the system of government should be changed, those subjects could not be brought fairly and openly before the world; but that whenever this should be done, a revolution in the system of religion would follow. Human inventions and priestcraft would be detected; and man would return to the pure, unmixed and unadulterated belief of one God, and no more.

Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet, as if the way to God was not open to every man alike.

Each of those churches show certain books, which they call revelation, or the word of God. The Jews say, that their word of God was given by God to Moses, face to face; the Christians say, that their word of God came by divine inspiration: and the Turks say, that their word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from Heaven. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all.

As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before I proceed further into the subject, offer some other observations on the word revelation. Revelation, when applied to religion, means something communicated immediately from God to man.

No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a communication, if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case, that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed to any other person, it is revelation to that person only. When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and consequently they are not obliged to believe it.

It is a contradiction in terms and ideas, to call anything a revelation that comes to us at second-hand, either verbally or in writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication — after this, it is only an account of something which that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the same manner; for it was not a revelation made to me, and I have only his word for it that it was made to him.

When Moses told the children of Israel that he received the two tables of the commandments from the hands of God, they were not obliged to believe him, because they had no other authority for it than his telling them so; and I have no other authority for it than some historian telling me so. The commandments carry no internal evidence of divinity with them; they contain some good moral precepts, such as any man qualified to be a lawgiver, or a legislator, could produce himself, without having recourse to supernatural intervention.[FOOTNOTE 1]

Age of Reason, Part First, Section 2
When I am told that the Koran was written in Heaven and brought to Mahomet by an angel, the account comes too near the same kind of hearsay evidence and second-hand authority as the former. I did not see the angel myself, and, therefore, I have a right not to believe it.

When also I am told that a woman called the Virgin Mary, said, or gave out, that she was with child without any cohabitation with a man, and that her betrothed husband, Joseph, said that an angel told him so, I have a right to believe them or not; such a circumstance required a much stronger evidence than their bare word for it; but we have not even this — for neither Joseph nor Mary wrote any such matter themselves; it is only reported by others that they said so — it is hearsay upon hearsay, and I do not choose to rest my belief upon such evidence.

It is, however, not difficult to account for the credit that was given to the story of Jesus Christ being the son of God. He was born when the heathen mythology had still some fashion and repute in the world, and that mythology had prepared the people for the belief of such a story. Almost all the extraordinary men that lived under the heathen mythology were reputed to be the sons of some of their gods. It was not a new thing, at that time, to believe a man to have been celestially begotten; the intercourse of gods with women was then a matter of familiar opinion. Their Jupiter, according to their accounts, had cohabited with hundreds: the story, therefore, had nothing in it either new, wonderful, or obscene; it was conformable to the opinions that then prevailed among the people called Gentiles, or Mythologists, and it was those people only that believed it. The Jews who had kept strictly to the belief of one God, and no more, and who had always rejected the heathen mythology, never credited the story.

It is curious to observe how the theory of what is called the Christian church sprung out of the tail of the heathen mythology. A direct incorporation took place in the first instance, by making the reputed founder to be celestially begotten. The trinity of gods that then followed was no other than a reduction of the former plurality, which was about twenty or thirty thousand: the statue of Mary succeeded the statue of Diana of Ephesus; the deification of heroes changed into the canonization of saints; the Mythologists had gods for everything; the Christian Mythologists had saints for everything; the church became as crowded with one, as the Pantheon had been with the other, and Rome was the place of both. The Christian theory is little else than the idolatry of the ancient Mythologists, accommodated to the purposes of power and revenue; and it yet remains to reason and philosophy to abolish the amphibious fraud.

Nothing that is here said can apply, even with the most distant disrespect, to the real character of Jesus Christ. He was a virtuous and an amiable man. The morality that he preached and practised was of the most benevolent kind; and though similar systems of morality had been preached by Confucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers, many years before; by the Quakers since; and by many good men in all ages, it has not been exceeded by any.

Jesus Christ wrote no account of himself, of his birth, parentage, or any thing else; not a line of what is called the New Testament is of his own writing. The history of him is altogether the work of other people; and as to the account given of his resurrection and ascension, it was the necessary counterpart to the story of his birth. His historians having brought him into the world in a supernatural manner, were obliged to take him out again in the same manner, or the first part of the story must have fallen to the ground.

The wretched contrivance with which this latter part is told exceeds every thing that went before it. The first part, that of the miraculous conception, was not a thing that admitted of publicity; and therefore the tellers of this part of the story had this advantage, that though they might not be credited, they could not be detected. They could not be expected to prove it, because it was not one of those things that admitted of proof, and it was impossible that the person of whom it was told could prove it himself.

But the resurrection of a dead person from the grave, and his ascension through the air, is a thing very different as to the evidence it admits of, to the invisible conception of a child in the womb. The resurrection and ascension, supposing them to have taken place, admitted of public and ocular demonstration, like that of the ascension of a balloon, or the sun at noon-day, to all Jerusalem at least. A thing which everybody is required to believe, requires that the proof and evidence of it should be equal to all, and universal; and as the public visibility of this last related act was the only evidence that could give sanction to the former part, the whole of it falls to the ground, because that evidence never was given. Instead of this, a small number of persons, not more than eight or nine, are introduced as proxies for the whole world, to say they saw it, and all the rest of the world are called upon to believe it. But it appears that Thomas did not believe the resurrection, and, as they say, would not believe without having ocular and manual demonstration himself. So neither will I, and the reason is equally as good for me, and for every other person, as for Thomas.

It is in vain to attempt to palliate or disguise this matter. The story, so far as relates to the supernatural part, has every mark of fraud and imposition stamped upon the face of it. Who were the authors of it is as impossible for us now to know, as it is for us to be assured that the books in which the account is related were written by the persons whose names they bear; the best surviving evidence we now have respecting that affair is the Jews. They are regularly descended from the people who lived in the times this resurrection and ascension is said to have happened, and they say, it is not true. It has long appeared to me a strange inconsistency to cite the Jews as a proof of the truth of the story. It is just the same as if a man were to say, I will prove the truth of what I have told you by producing the people who say it is false.

That such a person as Jesus Christ existed, and that he was crucified, which was the mode of execution at that day, are historical relations strictly within the limits of probability. He preached most excellent morality and the equality of man; but he preached also against the corruptions and avarice of the Jewish priests, and this brought upon him the hatred and vengeance of the whole order of priesthood. The accusation which those priests brought against him was that of sedition and conspiracy against the Roman government, to which the Jews were then subject and tributary; and it is not improbable that the Roman government might have some secret apprehensions of the effects of his doctrine, as well as the Jewish priests; neither is it improbable that Jesus Christ had in contemplation the delivery of the Jewish nation from the bondage of the Romans. Between the two, however, this virtuous reformer and revolutionist lost his life.

It is upon this plain narrative of facts, together with another case I am going to mention, that the Christian Mythologists, calling themselves the Christian Church, have erected their fable, which, for absurdity and extravagance, is not exceeded by anything that is to be found in the mythology of the ancients.

Age of Reason, Part First, Section 3

It behooves me that in the year 2011 grown adults are still leveraging Arabian night tales and silly Jewish/early Christian mythology to explain the origins of man, our existence and seriously debating non entities such as angels, jinns, devils, satan and the likes. Till date, there is absolutely no proof of these claims that these religions have put forth. It's been 2,000 years Christians and Jesus hasn't and isn't coming back. Muslims, sorry Mohammed or the great Mahdi won't be returning any day neither nor is ther a dajjal or any such rubbish.

How about this: There is no such thing as Satan/Shaytan, there may or may not be creator of the universe but I am 99.99% sure its not the god of the torah, bible or koran. When I reference god/goddess its more in a deist or pantheist manner. These stories are akin to mermaids, unicorns, the greek pantheon, African Traditional myths etc, etc.

Take accountability for your actions, most of us do good deeds and sometimes we do bad deeds. Human morality is innate in most human beings and cultures and does not come from those religions that is why we peruse these so called holy books and cherry pick verses that are in line with modern day morality and shun those that are inhumane.  When last did you hear your clergy/imam condoning slavery? Neither the Bible, Torah or Koran explicity condemned slavery thats a modern idea.

I mean the god of the middle eastern abrahamic faiths condoned slavery, genocide, restricts religious freedom, was patriarchal and even ordered a man to kill his own son. I'm not sure how people of this day and age can adhere to these religions. Nigerians, it's 2011 my people, you dont use the technology, healthcare, morality of the bronze age primitive barbarians of the middle east so please why do you still think you need his religion and myths!!! No wonder the rest of the world continues to leave us behind when we are preoccupy our enitire lives with nonsense, refuse to hold our leaders and each other accountable and waiting for the 2nd coming of who knows what. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!

Ron, don't pay attention to these silly ppl with negative comments many do not know their history (African/African American/American/World History) and what ties us together eternally as descendants of Africa. I would admit there is a lot of ignorance on both sides but we should be trying to learn from one another not tear each other down - Crabs in a barrel syndrome. Most of the time people negative opinions about certain groups of people reflects the type of people they've been exposed to or lack there of and of course the media bias.

Civil rights alone drove home with the first crop of African leaders that where being educated here in the US who went back home to fight for independence in Africa. For example Nnamdi Azikwe and Kwame Nkurumah were all being educated in the US and went back home to fight colonialism.

Both sides love to look down at each other but heres what I ask both sides when I hear such ignorance.
Ask the African: since AA are so bad, at least there is racism in America how come your country is so backward? Why haven't you guys developed it?

Ask the African America: Why don't you take advantage of the opportunities in America?

These are complex questions requiring solutions and should not be looked at through a myopic lens. So "black people" on either side of the atlantic should not be throwing stones especially when they live in a glass house. To say that the black condition across the globe is challenged is an understatement, its time to build bridges people!

I guess this brave man Usama Hasan is another "Enemy of Islam"

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/21/cleric-evolution-compatible-with-islam/?hpt=T2

UK cleric leaves mosque over evolution
By Andrew Carey, CNN

LONDON – Usama Hasan has led Friday prayers at Leyton mosque in East London for 20 years.

Back in the early 1990s, his sympathies lay with what became known as the global jihad and he was an active supporter of extremist causes.

Over time, however, he warmed to Britain and started questioning the idea that the West was always acting against Muslim interests.

Now, his message is different. In recent years he has used his position as an imam to tackle issues like terrorism head-on.

But it’s his views on Darwinian evolution that have landed him in trouble with some fellow Muslims. It’s been two months now since he says criticism over his support for the theory of evolution provoked him to stop leading Friday prayers at his congregation.

Besides being a religious scholar, Hasan is a scientist who has studied theoretical physics at Cambridge and who is a senior lecturer in engineering at Middlesex University.

Two and a half years ago he wrote an online article decrying what he called the "appalling state of science in the Muslim consciousness."

He described the belief that Adam was made from clay, as the Quran suggests, and then made a living human after God breathed life into him, as a "children's madrassa-level understanding" of the origins of man.

The remarks prompted some in the community to turn against him.

“People weren't reasoning with me,” he says, “rather, they would say, ‘you're no longer a Muslim, you're an apostate, you're an infidel.’”

According to Hasan, his opponents started seeking fatwas, or religious rulings, from clerics overseas to denounce his support for evolution and, he says, to declare a death sentence.

Hasan says that clerics in Pakistan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia issued such decrees.

Leaflets started appearing at the mosque calling for Hasan’s removal and making thinly veiled suggestions that his "apostasy" might ultimately sanction his execution.

A public meeting aimed at calming the situation only increased tensions. Recently, Hasan says he started fearing for his life.

“Given the fact we have many young Muslims in this country who have taken law into their own hands, with terrorist plots, with a plot to murder an MP last year, I do feel that somebody young and impressionable may feel it their religious duty to kill me,” he told CNN.

Last November, London student Roshanara Choudry was found guilty of trying to kill Stephen Timms, a member of parliament, by stabbing him with a knife. It emerged during her trial that she had been influenced by extremist Muslim clerics online, including the U.S.-born preacher Anwar al-Awlaki.

Police confirmed to CNN they are investigating alleged threats against Hasan.

But recent weeks have seen campaigns launched by fellow Muslims to support Hasan.

Tehmina Kazi of the group British Muslims for Secular Democracy started a Facebook group that garnered eight hundred members in its first 24 hours.

And a senior group of Muslim clerics and activists signed a letter to the Guardian newspaper decrying Hasan’s treatment.

One of the signatories, Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra, told CNN he was very worried at how the practice of "takfir" - declaring individual Muslims to be apostates - had taken hold in some elements of the British Muslim community.

“There have been volumes and volumes written to regulate this kind of behaviour,” Mogra said. “It's not for any Muslim to go about and declare (an apostate), judgment is for God.”

Earlier this month, Hasan issued a statement on his website dialing back some of his statements on evolution.

"I regret and retract some of my statements in the past about the theory of evolution, especially the inflammatory ones … I do not believe that Adam, peace be upon him, had parents," he wrote.

"Some of the things I said in public went too far, and without meaning to, had been quite inflammatory,” he told CNN.

“What I would like to point out now is that religious scholars, in the main, are opposed to evolution, they believe it is blasphemy, it is against the Quran," he said. "Whereas scientists say that evolution is a scientific fact, or a scientific theory with overwhelming evidence."

"There exists this gulf, this impasse," Hasan continued. "And at some point people may have to address that issue, but only when the community and the religious scholars are ready.”

Mogra, who does not share Hasan’s previous position on evolution but supports his right to discuss it, is worried about the debate.

“This is a critical issue for us - if we fall at this hurdle then who's next tomorrow?" Mogra said. "If we are going to allow ourselves to be intimidated like this and publicly retract and say things we don't actually believe in, then that would be a great disaster for Muslim scholarship and for the freedom that we enjoy in this country.”

Hasan says that he hopes the current tensions dissipate and that he can return to what he calls his favourite mosque in London to join in prayers.

Harun Yahya/Adnan Oktar is a non sequitor, a charlatan and not a credible source as it pertains to  the topic of evolution. He is a crockpot and once again I will repost what erudite biology and evolution scholars have said about Yahya's books on evolution/creationism. The scientific community has disregarded his writings.

In September 2008 Oktar issued a challenge offering "10 trillion Turkish lira to anyone who produces a single intermediate-form fossil demonstrating evolution". He has claimed, "Not one [fossil] belongs to strange-looking creatures in the course of development of the kind supposed by evolutionists." Dr Kevin Padian at the University of California has criticized the notion that such fossils do not exist, stating that Oktar "does not have any sense of what we know about how things change through time. If he sees a fossil crab, he says, 'It looks just like a regular crab, there's no evolution.'"[35]

However, the reaction of scientific community is negative and dismissive.


Taner Edis has said "there is nothing new in the Yahya material: scientifically negligible arguments and outright distortions often copied from Christian anti-evolution literature, presented with a conservative Muslim emphasis" concluding it "has no scholarly standing whatsoever".[36] According to Richard Dawkins, Oktar "doesn't know anything about zoology, doesn't know anything about biology. He knows nothing about what he is attempting to refute".[10]

In France, scientists spoke out against the book, and American scientists are unimpressed.

How does he reach these conclusions, I wonder, imagining him to have laboratories and researchers at his disposal. Oktar himself, by his own admission, has no scientific experience or background. He is not an academic. He studied interior design.

Prof. Dawkins says he has no intention of accepting, as that would only "give legitimacy" to "this weird phenomenon." Mr. Oktar, he says, "doesn't know anything about zoology, doesn't know anything about biology. He knows nothing about what he is attempting to refute."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harun_Yahya
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2008/dec/22/atlas-creationism-adnan-oktar-harun-yahya



I rest my case.

VEDAXCOOL/ISLAMIC SCIENCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Oktar
This is the profile of the "SCIENCE" that Vedaxcool is sourcing!!!! Thank you wikipedia

Adnan OktarFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Adnan Oktar

Adnan Oktar
Born Adnan Oktar
February 1956 (age 55)
Ankara, Turkey
Residence Turkey
Other names Harun Yahya, Adnan Hoca
Occupation Author
Known for Islamic creationism, Anti-Zionism, Anti-Masonry
Religion Sunni Muslim
Website
www.harunyahya.com
Adnan Oktar (born Ankara, February 2, 1956), also known as Harun Yahya, is an Islamic creationist.[1] In 2007, he came to international attention when he sent out thousands of unsolicited copies of the Atlas of Creation[2] advocating Islamic creationism to schools, colleges and science museums in several European countries and the USA.[3] Oktar runs two organizations of which he is also the Honorary President: Bilim Araştırma Vakfı ("Science Research Foundation", BAV, established 1990), which promotes creationism and Milli Değerleri Koruma Vakfı ("Foundation to Protect National Values", established 1995) which promotes Turkish nationalism.[4] In the last two decades, Oktar has been involved in a number of legal cases, both as defendant and plaintiff.

Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Writings
2.1 Creationism
2.1.1 The Atlas of Creation
2.2 Conspiracy theories
2.3 Holocaust
3 Legal issues, arrest, trial, and sentencing
4 Blocking of Internet sites
5 Bibliography
6 References
7 External links

[edit] BiographyAdnan Oktar was born in Ankara on February 2, 1956. He grew up in Ankara, and lived there through his high school years where he studied the works of Islamic scholars like Said Nursi,[5][6] a Muslim Kurdish scholar who wrote Risale-i Nur, an extensive Qur'anic commentary which includes a comprehensive political and religious ideology.[7]

In 1979, Adnan Oktar came to Istanbul and entered Mimar Sinan University.[8] These years were marked with violence and repression which led to the installation of a military junta following the coup of September 1980. The environment in Turkey was one of political and cultural instability, threatened by Cold War politics, and a clash between Kemalist secular modernisers and a rising tide of Islamic militancy.[6] In this environment he regularly went to the Molla Mosque in Fındıklı locality, close to the academy of fine arts where he studied interior architecture,[9][10] to pray regardless of threats.[8] Edip Yuksel, who knew him during those years, described him as a "Sunni zealot."[5]

In the early 1980s, he gathered young students around him to share his views of Islam. These students belonged to socially-active and prosperous families of Istanbul.[5] From 1982 to 1984, a group of 20 to 30 was formed. They were joined by private high schools students who were from socially active and well-known families with had a high economic status who had become newly religious.[8] Edip Yüksel said he presented his teachings "gently and in a modern fashion to the children of the privileged class, without intimidating them,  a refined and urbanized version of Said Nursi."[5]

In his religious teachings, he argued against Marxism, communism and materialistic philosophy. He attached special importance to refuting the Theory of Evolution and Darwinism[11] because he felt that it had been turned into an ideology used to promote materialism and atheism, and numerous derivative ideologies. He personally funded a pamphlet entitled the Theory of Evolution[8] which combined "mysticism with scientific rhetoric."[5][6]

In 1986 he enrolled in the Philosophy Department of Istanbul University. Adnan Oktar appeared as the cover story of Nokta (The Point) magazine, reporting how he gathered with his friends and held lectures in a mosque. Many university students, mostly from Bosphorus University, one of the most prestigious universities of Turkey, started to participate. Adnan Oktar's name began to appear regularly in the press, sometimes in the headlines. Later that year he published a book titled Judaism and Freemasonry based on conspiracy theories that state offices, universities, political groups and media were influenced by a "hidden group".[8] Adnan Oktar later qualified those remarks. (see "Conspiracy Theories" below)

Oktar was arrested, charged with promoting a theocratic revolution for which he served 19 months, though he was never formally charged.[5][6] He was confined to a prison clinic, and then Bakirkoy Mental Hospital, where he was diagnosed with an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and schizophrenia.[6] Although doubts exist as to the accuracy of the diagnosis, and whether it was personally or politically motivated .[5][6] Military doctors later declared him mentally sound, he says, but he complains that Turkish media propagated the idea that he was a lunatic.[10] Oktar also claims he was thrown in a mental institution as punishment after the publication of his first book.[12]

Throughout the 1980s and early ’90s, Oktar built up his community. His followers were especially active recruiting in the summer resorts along the shore of the Sea of Marmara. The social organization within the group become more hierarchical and took on a Messianic nature.[6] Oktar says that due to the anarchy and terror in those years, he was unable to continue his studies. He had already begun working on his books, so when he left school he devoted his energy to his books.[13]

In 1990, he founded the Science Research Foundation (SRF, or, in Turkish, Bilim Araştırma Vakfı, or BAV). Oktar founded the Science Research Foundation to hold conferences and seminars for scientific activities "that target mass awareness concerning what the real underlying causes of social and political conflicts are",[14] which he describes to be materialism and Darwinism, though some media describe the BAV as "a secretive Islamic sect"[15] and "cult-like organization, that jealously guards the secrets of its considerable wealth".[16] Members of the BAV are sometimes referred to as Adnan Hocacılar ("Adherents of Adnan the Hodja" by the public[17]

In 1994 the Islamist Welfare Party (Refah Partisi), the predecessor of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), won control of the municipalities of Istanbul and Ankara. The new mayors (in Istanbul this was Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, now Turkey’s Prime Minister) sought broader support. The journalist and editor Fatih Altayli claimed that Oktar made business agreements with municipalities under the control of the Welfare party. This claim was denied by Oktar, and resulted in libel suits against Fatih Altayli with various results.[6]

In 1995, Adnan Oktar founded Foundation for Protection of National Values (FPNV or in Turkish Millî Değerleri Koruma Vakfı), through which he networks with other conservative Turkish nationalist organizations and individuals based on the ideology of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey.[6]

In 1997, after another military intervention, the “bloodless coup” of 1997, the government of Erbakan stepped down and the Welfare Party disbanded. According to the New Humanist, the current AKP government avoids political connections with Oktar and his organization.[6]

In September 1999 Adnan Oktar was arrested and charged with using threats for personal benefit and creating an organization with the intent to commit a crime (see "Legal issues" below).[18] After a court case lasting two years the charges were dismissed.

After September 11, 2001 and the WTC attacks, Oktar published a book called Islam Denounces Terrorism. Oktar spoke more of interfaith dialogue, attempting to unify believers of all stripes. Muslims, Christians and Jews should unite against the corrupting influence of Darwinism, which he held responsible for fascism, anti-Semitism and the holocaust.[6]

Between that time and present, BAV has organized hundreds of conferences on creationism in Turkey[19][20] and worldwide.[21][22] He built a large publishing enterprise[23] with publications sold though Islamic bookstore worldwide.[24] He is considered "one of the most widely distributed authors in the Muslim world".[24] His television show is viewed by many in the Arab world.[25] Adnan Oktar has been preaching about the “Turkish-Islamic Union”, which would bring peace to the entire Muslim world under the leadership of Turkey.[6]

In 2007 he sent out thousands of unsolicited copies of his Atlas of Creation advocating Islam and creationism to schools and colleges in several European countries and the USA.[3]

The next year the 1999 case was reopened by another court (see "Legal issues" below). Adnan Oktar was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison.[18] But the verdict was appealed and in May 2010 it was overturned. During these years he engaged in numerous libel suits with various results (See "Legal Issues" below). In some cases he was successful in blocking high-profile websites in Turkey for slander (See "Blocking Internet Sites" below), including that of Richard Dawkins, as well as the complete Wordpress-site.

In 2010, Adnan Oktar was selected as one of the top fifty of The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan for his dissemination of creationism in an Islamic context, and other extensively distributed publications on Islamic topics.[[/b]26]

[edit][b] WritingsOktar has written numerous books under the pen name Harun Yahya. Harun referring to the biblical Aaron and Yahya referring to the New Testament John the Baptist.

Oktar's books on faith-related topics attempt to communicate the existence and oneness of God (Allah in the Qur'an ) according to the Islamic faith, and are written with the main purpose of introducing Islam to those who are strangers to religion. Each of his books on science-related topics stresses his views on the might, sublimity, and majesty of God. These books attempt to display for non-Muslims what Oktar claims to be signs of the existence of God, and the excellence of his creation. A sub-group within this series are the series of "Books Demolishing the Lie of Evolution", a critique of the ideas of materialism, evolution, Darwinism, and atheism.

These publications argue against evolution. They assert that evolution denies the existence of God, abolishes moral values, and promotes materialism and communism.[27] Oktar argues that Darwinism, by stressing the "survival of the fittest", has inspired racism, Nazism, communism and terrorism. A claim not unexpected in Turkey when during the political turmoil before a 1980 military coup, communist bookshops touted Darwin's works as a complement to Karl Marx.[28]

Truman State University physicist Taner Edis, who was born in Turkey, says the secret to BAV's success is the huge popularity of the Harun Yahya books. "They're fairly lavishly produced, on good-quality paper with full-color illustrations all over the place," he says. "They're trying to compete with any sort of science publication you can find in the Western world. And in a place like Turkey, Yahya books look considerably better-published than most scientific publications.".[29] Many of Oktar's books have been made into high-resolution videos which are freely downloadable on the Internet.[30]

[edit] Creationism
Exhibition of Oktar's publisher, Global Publishing, at an unidentified book-fair.The spread of organized Christian creationism to Islam began in the 1980s, when the Muslim minister of education in Turkey turned to the Institute of Creation Research (ICR), a Christian institution in Dallas Texas, for help in developing twofold curriculum that would teach evolution and creation side by side.

In 1990, the Science Research Foundation (BAV in Turkish) was formed in Istanbul, headed by Oktar.[31]

Oktar for many years drew on the writings of young earth Christian creationists to develop his case against evolution. However, Islam does not require belief in Young Earth creationism, and making use of the fact that earth may have existed for billions of years, Oktar later produced material which was more similar to Intelligent Design. So similar in fact, that Harun Yahya's website was listed as an 'Islamic intelligent design' website by the Discovery Institute.[31] However Oktar does not embrace use of the term 'Intelligent Design' due to its lack of specific mention of God, calling it 'another of Satan's snares'.[31] [32]

In early 1998, the BAV launched its first campaign against evolution/Darwinism.[6] Thousands of free copies of Adnan Oktar's book, The Evolution Deceit, and the booklets based on this book were distributed throughout Turkey.[33] They regularly ran full-page ads against evolution in daily Turkish newspapers and even ran an ad in the U.S. magazine TIME.[4] The funding of the campaigns is unknown.[10] BAV spearheaded an effort to confront Turkish academics who taught evolutionary biology[34] A number of faculty members were harassed, threatened and slandered in fliers, leading to legal action against BAV (see "Legal Issues" below).

In 2005, Professor Ümit Sayın summed up the effect of the BAV's campaign when he said to The Pitch:[29]

In 1998, I was able to motivate six members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences to speak out against the creationist movement. Today, it's impossible to motivate anyone. They're afraid they'll be attacked by the radical Islamists and the BAV.

[size=20pt]In September 2008 Oktar issued a challenge offering "10 trillion Turkish lira to anyone who produces a single intermediate-form fossil demonstrating evolution". He has claimed, "Not one [fossil] belongs to strange-looking creatures in the course of development of the kind supposed by evolutionists." Dr Kevin Padian at the University of California has criticized the notion that such fossils do not exist, stating that Oktar "does not have any sense of what we know about how things change through time. If he sees a fossil crab, he says, 'It looks just like a regular crab, there's no evolution.'"[35][/size] However, the reaction of scientific community is negative and dismissive.


[size=20pt]Taner Edis has said "there is nothing new in the Yahya material: scientifically negligible arguments and outright distortions often copied from Christian anti-evolution literature, presented with a conservative Muslim emphasis" concluding it "has no scholarly standing whatsoever".[36] According to Richard Dawkins, Oktar "doesn't know anything about zoology, doesn't know anything about biology. He knows nothing about what he is attempting to refute".[10][/size]In France, scientists spoke out against the book, and American scientists are unimpressed.[37]

[edit] The Atlas of CreationMain article: The Atlas of Creation

Cover of the English edition of volume 1 of The Atlas of Creation (Global Publishing, Istanbul, 2006)Oktar published volume 1 of his Yaratılış Atlası (The Atlas of Creation), with Global Publishing, Istanbul, Turkey in October 2006.[38] Volumes 2 and 3 followed in 2007. A dedicated website (yaratilisatlasi.com, English atlasofcreation.com) registered to Global Yayıncılık (Global Publishing), Istanbul, went online also in 2007.

Tens of thousands of copies of the book have been delivered, on an unsolicited basis, to schools, prominent researchers and research institutes throughout Europe and the United States.[3][39]

[size=20pt]However, the book has been widely criticized and dismissed by scientists.

Gerdien de Jong, one of five biologists at Utrecht University who received a copy of the book, has described its reasoning as "absurdly ridiculous".[40], while Kevin Padian from University of California, Berkeley, said that "[Oktar] does not really have any sense of what we know about how things change through time.” [3]

Biologist PZ Myers wrote: "The general pattern of the book is repetitious and predictable: the book shows a picture of a fossil and a photo of a living animal, and declares that they haven't changed a bit, therefore evolution is false. Over and over. It gets old fast, and it's usually wrong (they have changed!) and the photography, while lovely, is entirely stolen." [41]

The Council of Europe's Committee on Culture, Science and Education wrote in its report on this book that "None of the arguments in this work are based on any scientific evidence, and the book appears more like a primitive theological treatise than the scientific refutation of the theory of evolution." [42][/size]

[edit] Conspiracy theoriesOktar propagates a number of conspiracy theories, beginning with his 1986 Yahudilik ve Masonluk (Judaism and Freemasonry). The book suggests that the principal mission of Jews and Freemasons in Turkey was to erode the spiritual, religious, and moral values of the Turkish people and, thus, make them like animals, as stated in what Oktar refers to as their use of "Distorted Torah."[8][43] Oktar asserts that "the materialist standpoint, evolution theory, anti-religious and immoral lifestyles were indoctrinated to the society as a whole" by Jews and Freemasons.[8]

Oktar's theory of a global conspiracy of Freemasonry is expounded in his book Global Masonluk (English Global Freemasonry) and on his websites Masonluk[44] and Global Freemasonry.[45] According to Oktar, Freemasonry is "the main architect of the world system based on materialist philosophy, but which keeps that true identity concealed." [45] Oktar claims that the theory of evolution is a Masonic conspiracy initiated by the Rosicrucians.

Oktar's recent publications declare Darwinism and Materialism to be conspiracies responsible for anti-semitism and terrorism.[6][46] In recent publications and interviews (since 2004[47]), Oktar qualifies his condemnations of Zionism and Freemasonry by adding the word atheist before them, as in atheist Zionists[48] and atheist Freemasons.[49]

According to an recent interview Oktar's position is essentially merely against atheism as he has met Christians and Jews worldwide. He stated his objectives of a religious alliance "include waging a joint intellectual and spiritual battle against the worldwide growing tide of irreligiousness, unbelief and immorality." The interviewer noted "But even more unusual is their agreement with regard to the need to rebuild the Jewish Temple, a structure that Mr. Oktar refers to as the 'Masjid (Mosque)' or the 'Palace of Solomon.'"[50]

[edit] HolocaustIn 1996, BAV distributed its first book, originally published the previous year, entitled Soykırım Yalanı (The Holocaust Lie).[51][52] The publication of Soykırım Yalanı sparked much public debate.[53] This book claims that "what is presented as Holocaust is the death of some Jews due to the typhus plague during the war and the famine towards the end of the war caused by the defeat of the Germans."[54]

In 1996, during a slander suit brought against Turkish painter and intellectual, Bedri Baykam, Baykam exposed Adnan Oktar as responsible for the publication of The Holocaust Lie.[53]

In 2001, the Stephen Roth Institute, of Tel-Aviv University, listed Oktar as a holocaust denier due to the publication of The Holocaust Lie.[55]

Three years later the Stephen Roth Institute expressed the opinion that Adnan Oktar had increased his tolerance toward others, asserting that "he now works towards promoting inter-religious dialogue".[47] calling upon all Muslims to have "a tolerant and friendly attitude toward other religions".[56]

In 2006, BAV published a book affirming the Holocaust, called The Holocaust Violence. The Holocaust Violence states "The Nazis subjected European Jews to indisputable and unforgivable cruelty during World War II. They humiliated, insulted and degraded millions of Jewish civilians, forcing them from their homes and enslaving them in concentration camps under inhuman conditions,  Certainly the Jewish people, of whom 5.5 million died in concentration camps, were the worst victims of the Nazi barbarity."[57]

In a 2007 interview with The Guardian, Oktar denied writing The Holocaust Lie, a claim that The Guardian stated was "hard to believe.".[58] The next year in an interview with Der Spiegel, Adnan Oktar stated that "The Holocaust Lie," had been written by a member of his organization who had published his own essays using Oktar's pen-name "Harun Yahya", upon his own initiative. Oktar disclaimed the first book, and said the second book reflected his own opinions.[52]

In 2009, Oktar expressed his views for Jews in his own words, "hatred or anger toward the line of the Prophet Abraham is completely unacceptable. The Prophet Abraham is our ancestor, and the Jews are our brothers. We want the descendants of the Prophet Abraham to live in the easiest, pleasantest and most peaceful manner. We want them to be free to perform their religious obligations, to live as they wish in the lands of their forebears and to frequently remember Allah in comfort and security."[59] In 2009 and 2010, Oktar published several websites of Jewish interest.[60][61][62]

[edit] [b]Legal issues, arrest, trial, and sentencingIn the last two decades, Oktar has been involved in a number of legal cases, both as defendant and plaintiff. Oktar is seen as controversial in the Turkish media. Although most of the legal cases are unrelated to creationism or religion, a BAV spokesperson says Oktar is being persecuted “because of his ideas.” Physicist Taner Edis of Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, who has followed the case closely says given the political pressures on Turkey’s justice system, that’s “not entirely implausible.”[63]

In the summer of 1986, Adnan Oktar was arrested for his statement "I am from the nation of Abraham and Turkish ethnicity" in a newspaper interview.[64] According to the New Humanist, Oktar was arrested for promoting a theocratic revolution for which he served 19 months, though he was never formally charged.[6]

In 1991, Oktar was arrested for possession of cocaine[65] which he claimed had been planted in one of the books in his library by the security forces, who, he said, also spiked his food with cocaine.[66] He was later acquitted.[65]

In 1996, a Turkish painter and intellectual, Bedri Baykam, published a strongly-worded critique of the book in the Ankara daily newspaper Siyah-Beyaz ("Black and White". A legal suit for slander was brought against him. During the trial in September, Baykam exposed Adnan Oktar as responsible for the publication of The Holocaust Lie.[53] The suit was withdrawn in March 1997.[67][68]

A number of faculty members who taught Evolution were harassed, threatened and slandered in fliers that labeled them "Maoists". In 1999, six of the professors won a civil court case against the BAV for defamation and were each awarded $4,000.[29]

In 1999 Adnan Oktar was arrested and charged with using threats for personal benefit and creating an organization with the intent to commit a crime.[18] BAV's lawyers claimed there were several human rights violations during this police operation, as well as the use of violence during the arrest and afterwards.[69] The judicial process lasted over two years, during which most of the complainants retracted their claims. As a result, cases against Oktar and other BAV members were dismissed.[34]

The 1999 case was reopened by another court in 2008. The indictment from the prosecutor’s office, made public by the widely read daily Cumhuriyet, claimed blackmail and extortion. Among other things, it claimed that BAV used its female members to attract young scholars from rich families with the promise of sexual favors in exchange for attending events. It was claimed that the sexual activities of thousands of people were videotaped with hidden cameras for the purpose of blackmail. Members who wanted to leave the group, would be threatened that the tapes will be made public.[6][70] Consequently, in the face of all these allegations against BAV, the Chairman of the Court announced in the hearing dated 29.02.2008 that testimonies obtained through unlawful means may not be considered as evidence based on article 148 of the criminal code.[71][/b]Oktar was convicted of creating an illegal organization for personal gain. He and 17 other members of his organisation were sentenced to three years in prison.[18][72][73][74] Oktar denied the charges and appealed the verdict.[75][76] In May 2010, the Court of Appeals overturned the conviction and dismissed the charges.[77]

[edit] Blocking of Internet sitesSince 2007 Oktar has successfully had the Turkish government block public access to several websites. In April 2007, Oktar filed a libel lawsuit against the owners of Ekşi Sözlük, a virtual community similar to everything2. The court reviewed the complaint and ordered the service provider to close the site to public access. The site was temporarily suspended so the entry on Oktar could be expunged and locked. Then access to Süper Poligon, a news website, was also restricted following Oktar's complaint.[78] In August 2007, Oktar got a Turkish court to block in all of Turkey. His lawyers argued that blogs on contained libelous material on Oktar and his colleague, which staff was unwilling to remove.[79]

In addition, Edip Yuksel, a Turkish writer who knew Oktar in the 1980s and is now critical of him, had his website banned in Turkey from Oktar's complaints.[65] In addition, Yuksel wrote a Turkish-language book about Oktar called The Cult of the Antichrist, but he has yet to find "a publisher willing to brave Mr. Oktar's lawyers."[65]

On September 19, 2008, a Turkish court banned Internet users in Turkey from viewing the official Richard Dawkins Web site after Oktar claimed its contents were defamatory, blasphemous and insulting religion, arguing that his personality was violated by this site.[73][80][81][82][83] One week later a complaint by Oktar led to the banning of the internet site of the Union of Education and Scientific Workers (Türk Eğitim Sen).[84][85] This was followed by a block of the country's third-biggest newspaper site, Vatan, in October.[86][87][88][89][90]

[edit] Bibliography
A Call For Unity [of Muslims, Christians and Jews] 
The Signs of Jesus' Second Coming

Islam Denounces Terrorism 
Wisdom and Sound Advice from the Torah

Only Love can Defeat Terrorism 
Islam Denounces Antisemitism
Oktar's books and brochures appear in Turkish with "Vural Yayıncılık" ("Global Publishing", Istanbul. English translations of Oktar's books appear with "Ta-Ha Publishers", London, UK; "Global Publishing", Istanbul, Turkey; "Al-Attique Publishers", Ontario, Canada and "Goodword Books", New Delhi, India.

Publication media includes: Books, Booklets (Pamphlets), Children's Books, Journals, Documentaries, Audio Books, CD's, Posters and over a hundred websites. The total number of books and brochures published by Oktar number in the hundreds.[91] The works are lavishly produced, on good-quality paper with full-color illustrations[29] and sold in Islamic bookstores worldwide.[24]

You are absolutley deranged and lost. Your fundamentalism has completely erroded your faculties. Arabicized ABDI, Slave of the Arabs. 
Where is the proof of your assertion that "fossil record demonstrates that living things did not develop through a process of small cumulative changes, but appeared abruptly with their distinct characteristics, and this fact has been accepted by evolutionist paleontologists themselves since the 1970's. "??
Instead of using a scientific approach to refute Evolution he pulls up a FELLOW RADICAL ISLAMIST to support his assertions on Evolution.

This VEDAXCOOL is quoting a Turkish  ISLAMIST  CREATIONIST, Adnan Oktar also known as Harun Yahaya!!!! Here is the article he quoted from http://www.mediamonitors.net/harunyahya47.html with its obvious Islamic bias, and here is the guys profile on wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Oktar
Your fellow Islamist doesn't only conjure up and write conspiracy theories about Humanism but also Judaism - Later that year he published a book titled Judaism and Freemasonry based on conspiracy theories that state offices, universities, political groups and media were influenced by a "hidden group".[8] Adnan Oktar later qualified those remarks. (see "Conspiracy Theories" below). The Oktar guy is also a holocaust denier: This book claims that "what is presented as Holocaust is the death of some Jews due to the typhus plague during the war and the famine towards the end of the war caused by the defeat of the Germans."[. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[size=14pt]Even worse, VEDAXCOOL's "scientific" role model was diagnosed as a SCHIZOPHRENIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![[/b]b]Oktar was arrested, charged with promoting a theocratic revolution for which he served 19 months, though he was never formally charged.[5][6] He was confined to a prison clinic, and then Bakirkoy Mental Hospital, where he was diagnosed with an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and schizophrenia.[6] [/size] Haba !! Vedaxcool you have reached a new LOW!!! Haba na schizophrenic and cocaine user wey you dey quote this days No surprise, your prophet sef was probably on the other side of the sanity considering he heard voices in his head, saw Angels and had mysterious siezures. I have no problems with the mentally unstable but damn dude!!! VEDAXCOOOL  THIS IS A BIG FAT FAIL!!!

The lengths this ignoramus will go to make the savage writings of a barabric bedouin people and their ideology valid is beyond me. He would like to discredit modern science and evolution with his Islamofacist views of the world and conspiracy theories. If its not the Great Satan America, its the Jews, or Europe or the Pagan, Darwin,  Hindus, Masons, Humanists, The Infidels, Marxists, Commies etc etc etc.  Yeah I agree with you, Masons are taking over the world, Jews are pigs and conspiring against Islam, The Holocaust did not happen, Evolution has been refuted, Humanist are interlocked with masons and communists for world domination, yeah, yeah, I get your drift. Please do remember to take your Zanax and Lithium  to stabilize your delusional faculties. Seek some help bro, seek some help you are really on the deep end!!!

^^^^This character is truly delusional: Evolution has been disproven? By who? Because Vedaxcool says so and its in your quran? So he goes to get some quotes from "scientists" on the fringes. Sorry my guy, Evolution is the standard in biological and medical sciences.  How do you think malaria and Tb parasites become resistant to drugs. What about the numerous types of dogs, cattle, cats,  etc. Anyway I don't have to go far to discredit your rantings and ravings. I understand your worldview has been challenged and is collapsing. Unlike you, I am not trying to convert anybody and I am not advocating Humanism, Atheism, Freethinking for anyone, just asking the audience to do some critical thinking, think for your self!!! Let the evidence guide you and try as much as possible to remove the bias from your thought process. Unlike you that make blanket statements that "Islam is the religion for all mankind"!!! Fanaticism and religious bigotry at its finest.  It's the information age and this information is at our fingertips we don't have to go far:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_evolution




Evolution is currently applied and studied in various areas within biology such as conservation biology, developmental biology, ecology, physiology, paleontology and medicine. Moreover, it has also made an impact on traditionally non-biological disciplines such as agriculture, anthropology, philosophy and psychology.


Social and cultural responsesFurther information: Social effect of evolutionary theory and Objections to evolution

As evolution became widely accepted in the 1870s, caricatures of Charles Darwin with an ape or monkey body symbolised evolution.[277]In the 19th century, particularly after the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859, the idea that life had evolved was an active source of academic debate centred on the philosophical, social and religious implications of evolution. Nowadays, the modern evolutionary synthesis is widely accepted by scientists.[14] However, evolution remains a contentious concept for some theists.[278]

While various religions and denominations have reconciled their beliefs with evolution through concepts such as theistic evolution, there are creationists who believe that evolution is contradicted by the creation myths found in their respective religions and who raise various objections to evolution.[143][279][280] As had been demonstrated by responses to the publication of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation in 1844, the most controversial aspect of evolutionary biology is the implication of human evolution that humans share common ancestry with apes, and that the mental and moral faculties of humanity have the same types of natural causes as other inherited traits in animals.[13] In some countries, notably the United States, these tensions between science and religion have fuelled the current creation-evolution controversy, a religious conflict focusing on politics and public education.[281] While other scientific fields such as cosmology[282] and Earth science[283] also conflict with literal interpretations of many religious texts, evolutionary biology experiences significantly more opposition from religious literalists.

The teaching of evolution in American secondary school biology classes was uncommon in most of the first half of the 20th century. The Scopes Trial decision of 1925 caused the subject to become very rare in American secondary biology textbooks for a generation, but it was gradually re-introduced about a generation later and legally protected with the 1968 Epperson v. Arkansas decision. Since then, the competing religious belief of creationism was legally disallowed in secondary school curricula in various decisions in the 1970s and 1980s, but it returned in the form of intelligent design, to be excluded once again in the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case.[284]

Social Darwinism is ideas about "survival of the fittest" taken out of their biological context and applied to commerce and human societies as a whole, and misused to justify social inequality, sexism, racism and imperialism.[285] The 19th century Malthusian theory developed by Whig philosopher Herbert Spencer is also seen as belonging to the social Darwinism movement

From wikipedia.org

Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political system where the state, usually under the power of a single political person, faction, or class, recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.[2] Totalitarianism is usually characterized by the coincidence of authoritarianism (where ordinary citizens have less significant share in state decision-making) and ideology (a pervasive scheme of values promulgated by institutional means to direct most if not all aspects of public and private life).[3]
Totalitarian regimes or movements stay in political power through an all-encompassing propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, a single party that is often marked by personality cultism, control over the economy, regulation and restriction of speech, mass surveillance, and widespread use of state terrorism.

Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or by extension by some other group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioner or believers. The term derives from Greek δόγμα "that which seems to one, opinion or belief"[1] and that from δοκέω (dokeo), "to think, to suppose, to imagine".[2] The plural is either dogmas or dogmata , from Greek δόγματα.

Dogma in religionDogmata are found in religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, where they are considered core principles that must be upheld by all followers of that religion. As a fundamental element of religion, the term "dogma" is assigned to those theological tenets which are considered to be well demonstrated, such that their proposed disputation or revision effectively means that a person no longer accepts the given religion as his or her own, or has entered into a period of personal doubt. Dogma is distinguished from theological opinion regarding those things considered less well-known. Dogmata may be clarified and elaborated but not contradicted in novel teachings (e.g., Galatians 1:8-9). Rejection of dogma may lead to expulsion from a religious group.

For Catholicism and Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christianity, the dogmata are contained in the Nicene Creed and the canon laws of two, three, seven, or twenty-one ecumenical councils (depending on whether one is Nestorian, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, or Roman Catholic). These tenets are summarized by St. John of Damascus in his Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, which is the third book of his main work, titled The Fount of Knowledge. In this book he takes a dual approach in explaining each article of the faith: one, for Christians, where he uses quotes from the Bible and, occasionally, from works of other Fathers of the Church, and the second, directed both at non-Christians (but who, nevertheless, hold some sort of religious belief) and at atheists, for whom he employs Aristotelian logic and dialectics, especially reductio ad absurdum.

The decisions of fourteen later councils that Catholics hold as dogmatic and two decrees promulgated by Popes' exercising papal infallibility (see Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary) are considered as being a part of the Church's sacred body of doctrine.

Catholic dogmata are a distinct form of doctrine taught by the Church, considered as infallible and divine revelation.

Protestants to differing degrees affirm portions of these dogmata, and often rely on denomination-specific 'Statements of Faith' which summarize their chosen dogmata (see, e.g., Eucharist).

In Islam, the dogmatic principles are contained in the aqidah. Within many Christian denominations, dogma is referred to as "doctrine".


Islam (Arabic: الإسلام‎ al-’islām, pronounced [ʔɪsˈlæːm]  ( listen)[note 1]) is the monotheistic religion articulated by the Qur’an, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Arabic: الله‎, Allah), and the teachings and normative example (called the Sunnah and Hadith) of Muhammad, often considered as the last Prophet of Islam. In addition to referring to the religion itself, the word Islam means 'submission to God'[1], 'peace', and 'way to peace'.[2] An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim.

Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable.[3] Muslims also believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed at many times and places before, including through the prophets Abraham, Moses and Jesus.[4] Muslims maintain that previous messages and revelations have been partially changed or corrupted over time,[5] but consider the Qur'an to be both unaltered and the final revelation from God. Religious concepts and practices include the five pillars of Islam, which are basic concepts and obligatory acts of worship, and following Islamic law, which touches on virtually every aspect of life and society, encompassing everything from banking and welfare, to warfare and the environment.[6][7]  Note from Divinereal: Sounds very Totalitarian to me

Most Muslims belong to one of two denominations; with 80-90% being Sunni and 10-20% being Shia.[8][9][10] About 13% of Muslims live in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country,[11] 25% in South Asia,[11] 20% in the Middle East,[12] 2% in Central Asia, 4% in the remaining South East Asian countries, and 15% in Sub-saharan Africa.[13] Sizable communities are also found in China and Russia, and parts of the Caribbean. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world. With about 1.41-1.57 billion Muslims, comprising about 21-23% of the world's population (see Islam by country),[13][14] Islam is the second-largest religion and one of the fastest-growing religions in the world.[15][16][17][18][19]

Islamism (Islam+-ism; Arabic: الاسلامية ‎ al-'islāmiyya) also Arabic: إسلام سياسي‎ al-Islām al-Siyāsiyy, lit., "Political Islam" is a set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system; that modern Muslims must return to the roots of their religion, and unite politically.
Another definition for إسلام سياسي which is translated as Islamism suggests a different concept. As accepted by a large group of Shia muslims (for example in Iran), إسلام سياسي is 'to know Islam as the right ethical system which must be the core of ethics in politics'. Therefore, if we assume Islamism is إسلام سياسي, then the suggested definition is not accepted by a large group of Muslims and if we want to give the Shia version another name (such as Political Islam), then the general term إسلام سياسي should not be used as the equivalent to Islamism.

Islamism is a controversial term and definitions of it sometimes vary. Leading Islamist thinkers emphasized the enforcement of sharia (Islamic law) on Muslims; of pan-Islamic political unity; and of the elimination of non-Muslim, particularly western military, economic, political, social, or cultural influences in the Muslim world, which they believe to be incompatible with Islam.[1]

Some observers suggest Islamism's tenets are less strict and can be defined as a form of identity politics or "support for [Muslim] identity, authenticity, broader regionalism, revivalism, [and] revitalization of the community".[2] Still others define it as "an Islamic militant, anti-democratic movement, bearing a holistic vision of Islam whose final aim is the restoration of the caliphate".[3]

Many of those described as "Islamists" oppose the use of the term, and claim that their political beliefs and goals are simply an expression of Islamic religious belief. Similarly, some experts favour the term activist Islam [4][5] or political Islam instead.[6]

Central figures of modern Islamism include Abul Ala Maududi,[7] Sayyid Qutb, Hasan al-Banna and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.[8]



Secular Humanism, alternatively known as Humanism (with an emphasis on the capital H to distinguish it from other forms of humanism), is a secular philosophy that espouses human reason, ethics, and justice, and the search for human fulfillment. It specifically rejects religious dogma, supernaturalism, pseudoscience or superstition as the basis of morality and decision-making.
Secular Humanism is a comprehensive life stance that focuses on the way human beings can lead happy and functional lives. Though it posits that human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion or God, it neither assumes humans to be inherently or innately good, nor presents humans as "above nature" or superior to it. Rather, the Humanist life stance emphasises the unique responsibility facing humanity and the ethical consequences of human decisions. Fundamental to the concept of Secular Humanism is the strongly held belief that ideology — be it religious or political — must be thoroughly examined by each individual and not simply accepted or rejected on faith.[1] Along with this belief, an essential part of Secular Humanism is a continually adapting search for truth, primarily through science and philosophy.

Capitalization of "Humanist" is the recommended and normal usage within the International Humanist and Ethical Union, though some member organizations, such as the Council for Secular Humanism in the United States, continue to use the adjective "secular".


Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or dogma.[1] The cognitive application of freethought is known as 'freethinking', and practitioners of freethought are known as 'freethinkers'.[2]

Freethought holds that individuals should not accept ideas proposed as truth without recourse to knowledge and reason. Thus, freethinkers strive to build their opinions on the basis of facts, scientific inquiry, and logical principles, independent of any logical fallacies or intellectually limiting effects of authority, confirmation bias, cognitive bias, conventional wisdom, popular culture, prejudice, sectarianism, tradition, urban legend, and all other dogmas. Regarding religion, freethinkers hold that there is insufficient evidence to support the existence of supernatural phenomena.

A line from "Clifford's Credo" by the 19th Century British mathematician and philosopher William Kingdon Clifford perhaps best describes the premise of freethought: "It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."

Islam(ists) and religious world domination
By James Arlandson

Islamic terrorism may eventually be defeated in its large manifestations, like the one we saw on 9/11, but built into earliest Islam is an ultimate goal of religious world domoination, whether carried out by violent or peaceful means, as seen in the Quran, the Hadith (the record of the deeds and sayings of Muhammad), and the sunna (the example or path of Muhammad).

Osama bin Laden and Abu—Musab al—Zarqawi, the Jordanian who beheads innocent workers in Iraq, are open about this goal, as we see in these fatwas, statements, and interviews before and after 9/11.

In Osama's August 1996 fatwa declaring war against the US, he claims that Islamic revival is occurring around world, and especially around the Muslim world:

Under the present circumstances [of Zionist—Crusader aggressions], and under the banner of the blessed awakening which is sweeping the world in general and the Islamic world in particular, I meet with you today.

In March 1997 Peter Arnett interviews Osama, who says the goal of jihad is to exalt God's word [the Quran] to the heights, in other words, until the message of his Holy Book goes around the world.

For [subordination to the Jews and occupation of Arabia] and other acts of aggression and injustice, we have declared jihad against the US, because in our religion it is our duty to make jihad so that God's word is the one exalted to the heights and so that we drive the Americans away from all Muslim countries.

His absurd goal of driving out Americans from all Islamic lands has been answered here.

In May 1998 Jonathan Miller, then a reporter with ABC News, now a consultant on terrorism for Los Angeles, interviews Osama, who believes that he is a servant of Allah and that his primary mission is to spread by fighting the religion of light.

I am one of the servants of Allah. We do our duty of fighting for the sake of the religion of Allah. It is also our duty to send a call to all the people of the world to enjoy this great light and to embrace Islam and experience the happiness in Islam. Our primary mission is nothing but the furthering of this religion. ,

In November 2001, after 9/11, Osama allows an interview with Hamid Mir, the editor of an Arabic—language journal. The terrorist pulls back a little from his wish to slaughter innocent people, though he has said in numerous other statements and interviews that he is justified in doing so. His mission is to spread the Quran:

Hamid Mir: Can it be said that you are against the American government, not the American people?

Osama: Yes! We are carrying on the mission of our Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him). The mission is to spread the word of God, not to indulge [in] massacring people.

In December 2001 Osama records a video in which he and a sheikh extol the 9/11 attacks. He states his goal clearly:

I was ordered to fight the people until they say there is no god but Allah, and his prophet Muhammad.

In that same video Osama reports that after the attacks many converted to Islam, and many others were at least curious about true Islam, in the sense of possibly converting to it.

Some of them said that in Holland, at one of the centers, the number of people who accepted Islam during the days that followed the operations were more than the people who accepted Islam in the last eleven years. I heard someone on Islamic radio who owns a school in America say: 'We don't have time to keep up with the demands of those who are asking
about Islamic books to learn about Islam.' This event made people think (about true Islam) which benefited Islam greatly.

On September 11, 2004, the three—year anniversary of 9/11, al—Zarqawi assumes that spreading Islam around the world is difficult, but that the holy warriors should not give up:

As for you, fighters who came from afar, by Allah, missions of da'wa [the propagation of Islam] have never been a road lined with roses and sweet basil; the price of da'wa missions is heavy, and the price of bringing principles to the land of reality is a lot of torn limbs and blood. The light of dawn shall not be lit in this darkness save by Jihad fighters and shahids.

Thus, in the words of these two visible terrorists—and even non—violent radicals and zealots agree, as we will see, below—the ultimate goal of Islam is to spread the message and ways of Allah around the world because Islam is the gift of God, the greatest seal and capstone of inferior Judaism and Christianity. How is this goal best manifested and carried out? In following the Quran and sharia (Islamic law), which expresses God's will and ways in a pristine form. Ultimately, violent and non—violent radicals want religious world domination.

Where do Osama and al—Zarqawi get this goal of spreading Islam around the world? Out of thin air? Why do not Evangelical Christians use violence and other extreme means to spread their message? After all, Christ said to go into all the world and preach the gospel. What is the difference between the two religions in their outlook and methods of promulgation?

[b]As for Islam, the Quran states unequivocally the superiority and triumph of Islam over all religions in three different verses: 61:9, 48:28, and 9:33. We analyze these three verses methodically. First, it is better to use the translations of Muslim scholars, not those of Western scholars, in order to forestall the criticism of Western bias. Next, it is also crucial that we analyze the historical context and the literary context of each verse. [/b]The historical context reveals the occasion in which Muhammad received his revelations—traditionally thought to be transmitted to him from God through Gabriel. Sometimes this is difficult to discover, but not with these three verses, fortunately. The literary or textual context is important because other verses surrounding these three illuminate their meaning more clearly than the three verses standing in isolation. Then, we interpret the import of the verses, and finally we draw some inferences.

Quran 61:9 is analyzed first:

Maulana Muhammad Ali is an apologist (defender) for Islam, more than an objective scholar, and he translates as follows:

61:9 He it is Who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the Religion of Truth that He may make it prevail over all religions, though the polytheists are averse. (Maulana)

The following translation is approved and funded by the Saudi Royal family; the parenthetical explanations are original:

61:9 He it is Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islamic monotheism) to make it victorious over all (other) religions even though the Mushrik�n (polytheists, pagans, idolaters, and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah and His Messenger Muhammad) hate (it). (Hilali and Khan)

The word 'religion' is really singular. And this translation by Majid Fakhry, emeritus (retired) professor at the American University in Lebanon, living now in the US, is approved by al—Azhar University, Egypt, the most prestigious university in the Islamic world, and catches the meaning of the singular:

61:9 It is He Who has sent His Messenger forth with the guidance and the religion of truth, to make it triumph over every religion, even though the idolaters may be averse. (Fakhry)

In many cases, it is a guessing game as to when in history a given sura (chapter) or a passage within a sura was received from Gabriel, but 61:9 was probably received one to three years after the Hijrah (Emigration from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD).

The title of the sura is 'the Ranks,' which comes from 61:4:

61:4 Surely Allah loves those who fight in His ways in ranks, as if they were a solid wall. (Maulana)

The historical context of 61:9, then, is battle and warfare. The verse may refer to the Battle of Badr in 624 AD, in which the Muslims won a stunning victory over a much—larger Meccan army, or it may refer to the Battle of Uhud (625), in which the Muslims did not fare so well, but the loss did not hurt them substantially, for they carried on and grew in power. It is likely that 61:9 was received after the Battle of Badr, for the verse sounds a note of triumph, not defeat. Muhammad was flushed with victory, and in his exuberance he foresees Islam overtaking Christianity, the largest competitor religion in the Greater Middle East.

In fact, the verses just before 61:9—the literary context—show Jesus prophesying the coming of a certain Ahmad, who is Muhammad (v. 6). Disbelievers then accuse Muhammad of sorcery, impute falsehood to Allah, and try to extinguish Allah's Lights (vv. 7—. Maulana Muhammad Ali in his commentary sees these enemies as either polytheists or Christians whose Trinitarianism is a version of polytheism. Thus, Muhammad the prophet is breaking free from the inferior religion, Christianity (as well as Judaism). And Jesus himself directly approves of Muhammad and the Quran as if to say that Muhammad supercedes him. However, Muhammad provides no evidence that Jesus says this; rather, Muhammad is just making it up, though claiming it comes down from Gabriel.

The two conservative scholars working in Arabia, Drs. Muhammad Taqi—ud—Din Al—Hilali and Muhammad Muhsin Khan, interpret 61:9 in a traditional way, citing Imam Bukhari (810—870 AD), a scholar who collected the sayings and deeds of Muhammad in the Hadith. His collection is considered completely reliable and comes second in sacredness behind the Quran. Hilali and Khan connect this hadith to 61:9:

Allah's Messenger said: 'By Him (Allah) in Whose Hand my soul is, surely the son of Mary [Isa (Jesus)] will shortly descend amongst you people (Muslims), and will judge mankind justly by the Law of the Quran (as a just ruler) and will break the Cross and kill pigs and abolish the Jizyah [a tax] . . . .'

Thus, Muslims believe that Christ will return as a Muslim, break the cross in a symbolic display to show Christians how wrong they are, and kill pigs, which are unclean animals to Muslims, but which Christians may eat. Indeed, Muslims believe that Christ did not actually die on the cross, but another man took his place. The odd belief of the non—crucifixion has been refuted here.

Undeterred by the questionable, unresearched historicizing that denies the crucifixion, Hilali and Khan themselves offer this warning to Christians, based on Bukhari's hadith:

[I]t is a severe warning to the Christians who claim to be the followers of Isa (Jesus) and he will break the Cross and kill the pigs, and he will abolish the Jizya (tax); and all mankind will be required to embrace Islam with no alternative.

We can draw these inferences from the verse, its historical and literary contexts, and its interpretation: (1) The triumph of Islam in 61:9 comes in the context of warfare. Allah loves soldiers who win in ranks, and Islam will triumph over all religions, but especially over heretical Christianity. (2) Jesus himself prophesies and approves of Muhammad. The later Prophet supercedes Jesus of Nazareth, whom Muslims regard as merely a prophet. (3) Jesus is coming again, as Christians believe, but Jesus will be a leader of the Muslims and will break the cross, which is based on the false doctrine of the atoning work of Christ. (4) Terrorists use the idea of triumph over other religions for their own diabolical purposes. This is especially dangerous since this triumph is found in the context of warfare and violence, according to Muhammad's sunna or example in history.

The second passage is 48:28, and reads nearly identically to 61:9:

The two conservative scholars receiving Saudi support translate as follows:

48:28 He it is Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), that He may make it (Islam) superior to all religions. And All—Sufficient is Allah as a Witness. (Hilali and Khan, parenthetical notes are theirs)

Majid Fakhry, instead of 'superior,' uses 'exalt it above':

48:28 It is He Who sent His Messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth, that He may exalt it above every other religion. Allah suffices as Witness. (Fakhry)

Abdullah Yusuf Ali, a moderate scholar, has:

48:28 It is He Who has sent his Apostle with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over All Religion; and enough is God for a Witness. (Yusuf Ali)

The historical context of Sura 48 takes place during the Treaty of Hudaybiyah in 628. Muhammad had a dream, literally (see 48:27), to take a pilgrimage to Mecca, but the Meccans blocked his way. After a standoff, both sides agreed to a treaty by which Muhammad negotiated, among other terms, the right to a pilgrimage to Mecca a year later in 629, which took place. This truce won many new converts to Islam through peaceful means, not warfare, and 48:28 indicates that Muhammad was so confident, he predicted that his religion would spread out beyond Arabia and be exalted above other religions.

However, warfare is near at hand in Sura 48, as usual in Muhammad's career and in Quranic verses, and this may have contributed to his confidence. In 628, after the Treaty, Muhammad advanced northwards and attacked the city of Kaybar, where a rich tribe of Jews were settled. He was anxious to defeat them because they were inciting enemies against him. But the Jews were inciting enemies against him because he had exiled the Jewish tribe of an—Nadir in 625. This is one more piece of evidence demonstrating how the cycle of violence and revenge could go on and on in Arab culture; Muhammad the God—inspired prophet did not rise above this violent cycle, but skillfully used it to his advantage.

Be that as it may, Muhammad conquered the city and allowed the Jews to cultivate their land, but they had to turn over half the produce to the 1600 Muslims who fought and took part in the attempted pilgrimage in 628 that resulted in the Treaty. Indeed, the last line of 48:27 reads: 'and He also granted you a speedy triumph' (Haleem's translation), and scholars agree that this triumph or victory likely refers to Kaybar.

The literary context is revealing, as well. Allah promises Muhammad and his fledgling religion more victories in Sura 48. For example, verse 22 says that if anyone fights with Muhammad, the enemy will turn his back and run, finding no protector or helper. Most importantly verses 24—26 predict that the sacred Mosque (the Kabah shrine housing the sacred black stone in Mecca) has been granted to Muhammad even before he actually takes possession of it. Later, this will give Muhammad and his followers permission to claim ownership over Jerusalem before they take possession of it, which will generate many problems, even today.

The interpretation of 48:28 should be anchored in the key words 'superior,' 'above,' and 'over,' depending on the translation. Allah's true religion and his guidance (the Quran) will be exalted over all other religions, which echoes Osama's belief that he must fight until God's word is exalted to the heights (see his interview in March 1997, above).

Moreover, Yusuf Ali's translation says that Islam should spread through 'proclamation,' a word choice that does not appear in other translations. This is a peaceful (if inaccurate) rendering of the verse that Muslims should consider as they spread their religion around the world, by proclamation only. Yet, despite this soft translation, the historical context and the overriding content of 48:28 spark a note of triumph in the moderate scholar's commentary on the verse. Says Yusuf Ali:

The divine disposition of events in the coming of Islam and its promulgation by the holy Prophet are themselves evidence of the truth of Islam and its all—reaching character; for there is nothing that it has not influenced.

This reasonable scholar, then, believes that the spread of Islam proves its truth. Though this is a dubious inference, if a moderate holds to this, then so will the terrorists. When they see Islam in recession compared with the West and Christianity, they take action to stop the American 'Crusaders.' This belief drawn from early Islam has triggered the terrorist attacks for the last twenty years, culminating in 9/11.

These inferences can be drawn:

(1) 48:28 itself says that Islam would triumph over all other religions. Osama understands the import of this verse, and desperately wants this to occur, so he takes matters into his own hands and confronts the West, especially the US, which, in his mental world, is a new Crusader.

(2) Muhammad's religion grew through peaceful means, the Treaty of Hudaybiyah, but he could not leave well enough alone, and attacked a Jewish settlement in Kaybar.

(3) Therefore, warfare is close at hand in Muhammad's prediction that Islam would be exalted above and over all other religions. Facts like these inspire terrorists and radicals to ensure the spread of Islam by whatever means possible.

Quran 9:33 is the last verse:

Since this verse repeats the other two, we need use only one translation:

9:33 It is He Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad) with guidance and the religion of truth, to make it superior over all religions, though the Mushrik�n (polytheists, pagans, idolaters, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) hate (it). (Hilali and Khan, parenthetical notes are theirs)

The historical context of Sura 9 occurs late in Muhammad's career, and most scholars believe that this section where verse 33 is found reflects Muhammad's northward expansion without material and real provocation, as reputable scholars agree, so Islam was acting aggressively. Specifically, in October to December 630, after the conquest of Mecca in January 630, Muhammad launched a Crusade to Tabuk, a city some 350 miles north of Medina and 250 miles south of Jerusalem. 'Crusade' is the right word, for early Muslim sources say the army had 30,000 men and 10,000 horses, though modern estimates agree that the numbers are exaggerated. Still, whatever the specific number, the army was large.

On his way north, Muhammad extracted (or extorted, really) agreements—without provocation—from smaller Christian Arab tribes to pay the jizyah tax, instead of being attacked and killed. They also had the option to convert, but most did not and agreed, rather, to pay the tax (see Quran 9:29, below). Once the Muslims reached Tabuk, the results were indecisive. The Byzantine army failed to materialize, Muhammad and his large army returned to their homes after ten days.

The verses around 9:33—the literary context—reveal an absolutist outlook, which terrorists and non—violent extremists are quick to pick up on. Because of Muhammad's northward gaze, the polemics against Christianity becomes harsher, as seen here:

9:29 Fight against those who (1) believe not in Allah, (2) nor in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad), (4) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Hilali and Khan, parenthetical notes are theirs)

This verse, now famous or infamous, outlines four conditions for fighting, notably the fourth one. Muslims are commanded to fight against the Jews and Christians who do not acknowledge the religion of truth, Islam. The Christians and Jews must submit after battle or avoid battle by paying a special 'protection' tax for the privilege of living under Islam, which was moving northward without provocation. Incidentally, Muslim scholars, and some Western ones, assert that, technically, this policy does not force conversion. To a certain extent that is true, even though the technicality has been called into question here.

Next, the following verse curses Christians who say the Messiah (no better than a prophet in Islam) is the Son of God:

9:30 . . . [A]nd the Christians say: Messiah is the son of Allah. . . . Allah's Curse be on them, how they are deluded away from the truth! (Hilali and Khan)

Moreover, verses 31—32 and 34 claim that Jews and Christians take false leaders to be their lords; that the Christians associate another god, Jesus, with Allah; and that Jews and Christians want to extinguish the light of Allah. Thus, Muhammad's tone and language against Christianity (and Judaism) become shrill.

The interpretation of 9:33 can be short, since it is nearly identical to 61:9 and 48:28. We need only add that Muhammad's vision for a triumphant Islam is repeated three times in the three verses, and his conquests in real life and his vision work hand in glove. As his confidence grows, so does his far—reaching vision of the superiority of his religion.

We can conclude from 9:33 and its historical and literary contexts, as follows:

(1) The largest, most powerful competitor religion was Christianity, and as Muhammad confronts it, his rhetoric against it heats up. Islam is superior to Christianity and will prevail over it. He is leading his Muslim soldiers northward to expand the reach of Islam. Plainly said, this is a Muslim Crusade long before the European Crusades.

(2) Warfare and violence form the context of 9:33, especially 9:29, which contains the word 'fight,' which is directed against those who do not believe in Allah, the End of Day, and Muhammad's declarations on clean and unclean things. But especially Muslims must fight against Jews and Christians who do not submit or pay a tax. Why would not terrorists be inspired by this command to fight and the ensuing violence?

(3) In this northward march, Muhammad is outlining policies that his armies of warriors must adopt and implement after he is gone (he dies in 632). From Quran 9:29, later conquering Muslims adopt this policy: People of the Book can fight and die or pay a 'protection' tax or convert. In fact, the Muslims are so successful militarily that they conquer Jerusalem in 638, dragging this policy behind them.

Contrasting Quran 61:9, 48:28, and 9:33 with Matthew 28:18—20:

We are now in a position to contrast Islam with another expansionist or missionary religion, Christianity. Jesus in the last verses of the Gospel of Matthew speaks what is known as the Great Commission, in which he commissions his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel and make disciples. Evangelicals take these verses seriously.

28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'

This passage can be contrasted with Quran 61:9, 48:28, and 9:33 in three ways.

First, Jesus does not announce the superiority of his new religion as exalted over and above all other religions, even though he knows that the greater Mediterranean world is filled with various religions—Greek and Roman culture penetrated into Israel. It is true that he wants his message to go out into all the world, and in this, Christianity is in conflict with Islam. However, the tone and attitude in the Great Commission differs from Muhammad's tone and attitude in the three Quranic verses. No talk of winning or superiority or prevailing can be found in Matthew 28:18—20.

Second, the historical and literary contexts in Matthew differ from that of the Quranic passages. Jesus' commissioning takes place after his resurrection. In no way does warfare or conquest guide the Great Commission. Jesus never raised an army to conquer Jerusalem or anything else. He did not institute a policy that requires battle or 'protection' tax or conversion. And for the first three centuries his disciples followed this guidance (Constantine comes in the fourth century). Christianity spread only by peaceful proclamation. In contrast, Muhammad guides his followers in warfare and conquest, and they follow him faithfully in this, for centuries.

Third and finally, Jesus' commissioning contains the bare minimum of instructions. His missionaries are to preach, baptize, and make disciples so that new converts obey all that he commands. But what are the greatest commandments that take care of all the rest?

After Jesus makes his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Matt 21:1—11) in order to die there, not to conquer it, the Pharisees and Sadducees, two major religious and political groups in first—century Israel, put him to the test (21:23—27). He is questioned about political and religious matters, and he answers them successfully (22:15—33). Then, one of them, an expert in the law, tests him further.

22:35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: ''Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.'

Thus, Jesus does not reinstitute a new sacred law—sharia—that forbids or allows this or that food or prayer method or forced fasts or animal sacrifice or pilgrimage to a city or shrine. Those two commandments summarize all of the Law and Prophets, and indeed are found in Leviticus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 6:5, and are repeated by the Apostle Paul in Romans 13:8—10. '. . . Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law' (v. 10).

Muhammad, on the other hand, in 61:9, 48:28, and 9:33, proclaims that he has received from on High 'true guidance' which is another way of saying the Quran, and it is filled with a new law of eating, forced praying, visiting shrines, forced alms and fasts, conquering, and so on. For example, as we have already seen in 9:29, Allah tells his prophet that he should fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day or in what has been forbidden, like eating pork, to cite one example. Also, Jews or Christians who refuse to acknowledge the religion of truth, Islam, should be battled and fought until they pay the 'protection' tax with willing submission (the word 'islam' means 'submission') and feel themselves utterly subdued (beyond submission), eventually having sharia imposed on them.

Christians, however, have been set free from onerous rules and regulations in their eternal trip to heaven, thanks to Christ's sacrifice on the cross. (Yes, he physically, actually and historically died on the cross.) Why, then, would Christians wish to submit—again, the key word in Islam—to a new law that Muhammad adapted from the Old Law, 600 hundred years after Christ lived and spoke those words of love and instituted a New Covenant of the Spirit? Christians are commanded to go out into the world and preach the love of God to all nations, not to fight and conquer unbelievers in all nations, imposing a sharia or new law on them.

We began this article with the very words of Osama bin Laden and Abu—Musab al—Zarqawi who represent many other lesser—known terrorists. However, we should not deceive ourselves that only terrorists believe their religion is superior and will prevail over all other religions. Non—violent fanatics have chimed in with shrill claims and predictions.

Sayyid Qutb, Egyptian novelist, poet and 'activist,' executed in 1966 for advocating the overthrow of the Egyptian government, claims that Islam now must be chosen over Christianity:

America and Russia are the same; they both base themselves on materialistic thinking. The real struggle is between Islam on the one hand and Russia and America on the other. Christianity is incapable of meeting the challenge. That is why Islam must be chosen now.

In other words, the US and Russia are sinking into materialism, and Islam, not Christianity, must fight the two countries because Christianity is too weak spiritually. Thus, the 'clash of civilizations,' though decried by Westernized Muslim moderates seeking to put the best face on Islam, is still a valid concept for more radical Muslims. Islam must dominate the world, even if by 'clashing.'

Next, a preacher at the Kaba Mosque in Medina, Sheikh Abd al—Aziz Qari, delivers a sermon predicting the annihilation of Christianity and Judaism, the religions of unbelief—or of not believing in Allah:

Two groups — the Jews and the Christians — are the main elements constituting the Camp of Kufr [unbelief] and will continue to be its two foundations until Allah allows their downfall and annihilation at the end of days,

Continuing his sermon, al—Aziz Qari repeats the hadith that says Jesus will return and break the cross:

When the Prophet Muhammad was sent out, the Camp of Kufr declared war on his message. At the center of this war were these groups, particularly the Jews. These two groups will continue to serve as the grindstones of the conflict and the war between belief and Kufr until eternity comes, The conflict will end when Jesus the son of Mary, peace be upon him, arrives to break the cross, and wipes it off the face of the earth, and kills the blind [false] Messiah, the leader of the Jews and the tyrant whom they await. Until that day, the conflict between us, the Muslims, and the Jews and Christians will continue, and it will ebb and flow, one day ours, another day theirs,

Contrary to the sheikh's revisionist assertion that the Camp of Kufr (disbelief = Jews and Christians) declared war on Islam, it is more accurate historically to say that when 'Muhammad was sent out' (by Allah) on his conquests in and around Medina and Mecca and even northward, he declared war on surrounding tribes of polytheists and all the way to the Byzantine Empire, which for the Prophet represented Christianity. Marching northward with armies (not a band of preachers only), Muhammad launched his own Crusades hundreds of years before Europeans launched theirs.

Further, al—Aziz Qari distorts Christian eschatology (study of the end times). Jesus will return, but in favor of the Muslims, arriving to symbolically break the cross, in order to show how wrong Christians are. As we noted earlier, though, Muhammad merely changes, without evidence, Christian teaching to suit his own religion. But it is the Christians who get to read the source documents—the New Testament—and interpret them; Muhammad did not know them, but picked up what little he knew from fragments of tales and apocrypha that circulated around the trade routes of Arabia. Therefore, later Muslims do not have carte blanche to distort Christian teaching, either.

Be that as it may, al—Aziz Qari says that Islam will dominate the world, if only when Jesus returns. Until then, conflict and war between the Camp of Belief (Islam) and the Camp of Unbelief (Christianity and Judaism) will never cease. Clearly, this sheikh's rant and distortions are inspired by early Islam.

Finally, in a sermon at the Old Mosque in al—Jumaa, Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abd al—Majid ibn al—Aziz al—Deheishi predicts victory for Islam as surely as the sun rises:

He who doubts the victory of the [Islamic] religion is like he who despairs that the sun will not rise after darkness falls,

Taking his inspiration from early Islam, al—Aziz al—Deheishi cites as proof for his prediction a hadith that says the rocks and trees will cry out that there are Jews hiding behind them, and then will all the Jews be killed, and finally Islam will be victorious (in bold print, below):

For the contemptible Jews , is foreseen an encounter with the nation of Muhammad, as it is said: 'The Day of Judgment will come, when the Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them until the Jew hides behind the stone and the tree. The stone and the tree will say: O Muslim, O worshipper of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him' — except for the gharqad (thorny bush) tree, which is the tree of the Jews. These texts are certain proof of the victory of the religion of Islam.

From all of these quotations and from the commentary on the three Quranic verses, it is evident that terrorists, extremists and even moderates believe that Islam should be spreading not only in the Greater Middle East, but all over the world. This has been seen in the comment of moderate Yusuf Ali that the expansion of Islam amounts to God's endorsement (see 48:28, above), and in the claim of intellectual 'activist' Qutb that the world must abandon western Christianity (embodied in the US) and eastern Christianity (embodied in the Russia). Islam must tackle materialistic America and Russia because Christianity is too weak to do so.

Therefore, all these quotations and summaries of terrorists and non—violent fanatics and even some moderates can be boiled down to this logic, which has been explained in another analysis from another angle.

(1) If A, then B. If Islam is the superior religion (61:9, 48:28, 9:33), then it must prevail and triumph over all other religions.
(2) Not—B. But Islam is not prevailing or triumphing over all other religions.
(3) Therefore, not—A. Islam is not the superior religion.

This logic is the terrible grievance that chafes at the heart of terrorists and non—violent fanatics.

All cultures and societies have some religion—ranging from simple animism and ancestor veneration to Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism—but it is only Western civilization and Christianity, though not identical, that create the negation in premise (2), the not—B, with some negation from Hindus in northern India, bordering on Pakistan, and from animists and Christians in Africa, who are being attacked and killed. Also, early Islam speaks almost exclusively of Christianity as the major roadblock to world submission and domination, and it is this major religion that Muhammad confronts in his later unprovoked military campaigns.

Therefore, the West and Christianity, though not identical, must be brought down together, and earliest Islam inspires terrorists and extremists to absorb this idea of triumph over the 'Great Satan' and the 'Camp of Unbelievers' in their false religion, and to bring about the ultimate victory for Islam the true religion by a variety of means, including holy war in the example of their prophet.

Beyond the West, though, since all corners of the globe have some religion, Islam must now religiously dominate the world, which entails complete control over all aspects of society through sharia, with no distinction between mosque and state, between religion and civil liberties, and between imposing holiness from an antiquated and harsh law and choosing holiness from a relationship with a loving Father God.

Jim Arlandson (PhD) teaches introductory philosophy and world religions at a college in southern California. He has written a book Women, Class and Society in Early Christianity: Models from Luke—Acts (Hendrickson, 1997).

on "Islam(ists) and religious world domination"

So I should take your explanation that Aiesha was older than 6 and penetrated by your "prophet" by 9 when it clearly states this in your supplemental holy book. See moving the post again, it is written in clear english but no the Islamists are now trying to explain it away and discredit their own literature, great objective analysis Islamists!

Moving on,


Sexual Perversity of the Muslim Mind
By M. A. Khan

Muslim men’s sexual attitude is so perverse that they think they can even eye-rape women. While we can’t probably ever comprehend how that is possible, but we can discern why they may entertain such perverse thinking…

On many occasions, I have received emails from Muslims—apparently well-educated ones, who write good English and live in Western countries—justifying the Islamic tradition of wearing veils on the ground that it helps women avoid “eye-rape” by strangers. Following is such a letter written by one Farrukh Abidi, apparently incensed by the outcome of a recent Angus Reid poll, which found most Quebecers and Canadians agree that women wearing the niqab or burqa should not receive government services, hospital care or university instruction. Abidi wrote:

Assalamu alaikum

There is no surprise if non Muslim countries ban hijab or niqab since they are non-Muslim, they don’t care what Islamic values are, real surprise is that majority of Muslims women don’t practice niqab or even hijab, and majority of Muslim men don’t care if their wives practice this important order of Allah or not. There are hundreds of Muslim families where we won’t find any single home or person, who cares about niqab or hijab.

Not only that but Muslim women now have taken a further step, which is unclothedness, women wearing half sleeves which is very common, many women wear semi-naked saarhi (especially in India/Pakistan), many women now don’t put the cloth sheet on their body so part of their chest stays naked.

Surprise is, Muslim men even don’t realize or don’t care that when their wives go out in this condition then unlimited men get aroused by watching their naked body parts, especially in non-Muslim countries, there are Christian, Jews, Hindus, Sikh, rapists, alcoholic, gangsters, street bums, homo sexual and all kind of people see them and get aroused and enjoy the view then day dream while thinking about these Muslim women and girls.

Can you imagine what is the level of ghaira of these Muslim men? Majority of Muslims men unknowingly are making it easy for unlimited and all kind of men to enjoy and get aroused and pleasure with their wives by allowing them to live without hijab or with unclothedness cloths.

Women don’t really understand the nature of men so they wear naked kind of cloths without knowing that unlimited and all kind of men are enjoying with them.

I know some of them purposely not practicing hijab to attract men, but the fact is, women listen to their husbands, if husbands help and encourage their wives then I believe 90% of married women will start practicing hijab.

Those Muslim women who are not practicing proper hijab, they are not living respectful life, they choose disrespectful life just to please their husbands, why won’t they choose respectful life if their husbands pleased with that?

The thing that really surprises me is that how Muslim men tolerate such a disturbing condition of their wives?

With this all around the Muslim world, Muslim’s act surprised and complain “Why non-Muslim countries are not treating us nicely and fairly.”

Why would they? Do we give any importance to Islamic values?

Jazakallah

Farrukh Abidi

I will discuss only the Muslim idea of how a woman, not covered head-to-toe with black robes, can be eye-raped—i.e. sexually enjoyed simply by looking at them—by strangers.

Although Muslims accuse (as Abidi has done) non-Muslims of having such a perverse sexual attitude, it actually exposes the underlying thinking of their own that one can rape a woman just by looking at her exposed face, legs, hands or a bit of her breast. Having been a Muslim for 35 years, I would not be surprised.

Mumin Salih, a Syrian-born Arab and ex-Muslim, has quite correctly outlined the Muslim sexual attitude as thus:

The culture of strict sexual segregation practiced in the Gulf States, and some other Muslim countries, make some Muslims behave like wild sexual beasts. In Saudi Arabia, for example, the mere sight of a woman’s leg can be sexually-arousing experience to men. Women without total coverings were described by Australian Imam, Taj al-Hilaly, as uncovered meat; in other words, mouth-watering meals to would-be predators.

I have known how young Muslims in Islamic countries experience a rush of adrenaline and blood down their body to their male instrument, when they, by chance, happen to see the shoulder-ribbon of a girl’s bra, accidentally exposed. This would tell well what kind of experience Muslim men may have when they see women with exposed thighs or part of the teat. Let me tell from my experience that, despite Muslims’ saintly façade, they are most crazy about watching porn.

Men from conservative social backgrounds, where mixing of men and women are relatively restricted as Muslim societies are and takes pride in, are likely to feel sexual excitement more easily when they spot a girl’s body-parts a little exposed.

But this maniac sexual attitude is also shaped by how a society or its religious faith looks at sex and women. We humans are capable of being charitable like the legendary philanthropist Hatim Ta’i, but can also be robbers, plunderers and looters like his contemporary Prophet Muhammad (Muhammad had attacked the Ta’i community, plundered it and forced Hatim’s children to embrace Islam). Our attitude toward various aspect and issues of life is shaped by how we groom it, based on our social and ethical outlook.

Muslims can surely be as best as their Prophet was, given that Muhammad is seen as an ideal human example for Muslims to follow in all aspects of life at all times. Let me cite this Sunnah of the Prophet, which would explain why Muslims in particular entertain such perverse attitude toward women and sex.

The Prophet was once visiting his adopted son Zayd, when he was away. When he called Zayd, his newly-married wife Zainab answered from inside their ramshackle house that Zayd was away. But Muhammad could not hold his curiosity. Instead of walking straight back home, he peeped into the house. And there he saw Zainab, his daughter-in-law, in flimsy dress on a hot summer day of Arabia. Muhammad was awe-struck by the attractive near-naked body of beautiful Zaynab, and went away saying: “Praise be to Allah, who can change how the heart feels”.

What came next would dismay any decent mind, although Muslims hold it as sacred tradition of the Prophet worth emulating forever. While a decent father-in-law would walk away feeling ashamed of making the mistake of peeping in, Muhammad probably experienced the greatest rush of adrenaline in his body ever by the alluring sight of young and beautiful Zainab’s sexy body. And how did he control his once-in-a-life-time arousal? Here’s probably the story:
Sahih Muslim Book 8, Number 3240:

Jabir reported that Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) saw a woman, and so he came to his wife, Zainab, as she was tanning a leather and had sexual intercourse with her. He then went to his Companions and told them: The woman advances and retires in the shape of a devil, so when one of you sees a woman, he should come to his wife, for that will repel what he feels in his heart.

While a connection of this story to Zainab hasn’t probably been made in Islamic literature, it is more than certain that this was the aftermath of the prophet’s memorable encounter with Zainab, unless the Prophet was in the habit of going around and peeping into the privacy of women in Medina (That would make him an even worse pervert, wouldn’t it?). Interestingly, he took his wife of the same name to bed to cool his arousal by semi-naked Zainab. Was he fantasizing, while cooling his hard-on, as if he was doing it with his daughter-in-law Zainab?

Apart from this, we know the prophet’s extremely perverse sexual infatuation: His engagement in unrestricted polygamy, his infatuation for little Aisha and thighing upon her until she turned nine and ready for vaginal penetration, his capturing of infidel women in war and taking the prettiest in the lot to bed on the same night, and his sending of his wife Asma to her father Omar’s house lying that Omar had called her to discuss something so that he could sleep with slave-girl Maria in Asma’s bed.

And in the present case, Muhammad’s encounter with Zainab did not end there. He played all kinds of tricks, even called down help from Allah to discredit the rather noble Arab tradition of adoption in Islam, so that he could make Zainab, his adopted son’s wife, his own wife, which was deemed immoral in the then Arab society.

When this prophet hold the image of perfection in sexual activity and attitude for all times in the Muslim mind, it is easy to understand why Muslim men feel that it is possible—or they are capable to be accurate—to eye-rape a liberally-dressed woman, as if they experience orgasm as they see a women pass by with her leg, hand, face or a bit of cleavage exposed.

While above-mentioned hadith explain the prophet’s sexual perversity, it also clearly shows what a wife is for to her husband in Islam. He came back home with an intense sexual arousal after seeing semi-naked woman in the neighbourhood, and his wife at home must help cool down his sexual urge for the neighbourhood woman immediately and with no question asked. And here we are infidels, we have to be mindful of the wish of the wife if she is in a mood to do it; and quite often she is tired, not in a mood, etc. etc. And under the same situation, if we would demand sex, we will surely be thrown out forever.

When this sexual perversity and that the thinking that women are nothing but a tool for men’s sexual enjoyment form the foundation of sexual ethics of a society or people, it is not difficult to grasp why Muslims can think that they can rape a woman just by looking at exposed parts of her body. This perverse sexual ethics also explain as to why Muslims in the West, despite being exposed to liberal culture like other immigrants such as Hindus from India (who gradually turn liberal), fail to change their attitude and behavior toward sex and women.

It is a fact that Muslims’ perverse sexual attitude makes women—howsoever decently dressed—victim of sexual assault in bazaars, streets, shopping malls and any crowded place in Muslim countries. And they fail to change this attitude, groomed by sacred tradition, toward women even after coming the West; they engage in the same kind of sexual behaviors—violent molestation and rapes of women—at every opportunity. One may recall high rates of rapes of white women in Muslin neighborhoods in Sydney, Malmo (Sweden) and other Muslim-dominated areas in Western countries. Some Muslim clerics have even proudly supported those rapes, calling the liberally-dressed women “uncovered meats” on offer, and therefore the true offenders. And if you are Muslim insider and have met Muslim men gossiping, you will find that such a line of thinking is widespread among them: Those flimsily-dressed kuffar women are nothing better than whores and quite deserve to be raped.

Now, readers should have no difficulty in understanding why Muslim men think that they can rape a woman by just looking at the exposed parts of her body.

—

M. A. Khan is the author of “Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialiam, and Slavery”

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/the_islam_i_left_behind.html


The Islam I Left Behind
By Amil Imani


Looking back, I see no particular time or event that, in one stroke, severed my link with Islam. There was nothing nearly as dramatic as what reportedly happened to Paul on the road to Damascus transforming him from a rabid Christian persecutor to a devoted follower of Jesus.


My alienation from Islam started as far back as I could discern things. More to the point, I never embraced Islam in the first place, although I was born and raised in a Muslim family.


I believe in a modified version of Occam's Razor, popularly known as the law of parsimony. To me, an explanation with the fewest assumptions is either the correct one or the preferable one. The best answers, more often than not, are the simple answers.


My search for answers has taken me on a journey of discovery in the competing, crowded, and confusing marketplace of ideas. I noticed a universal human need to believe in some power or forces beyond ourselves and beyond the finite and the corporeal. If there were no God, we humans would make one up, it is said. In order to satisfy this seemingly innate need, three major contentions have emerged: rejection-ism, characterized by dismissing any and all gods; deism, positing a god who created the universe, set it in motion, and let it play out without interfering in it; and God-ism, with many gods, that demanded a super-god to sort them out.


Of the three camps, God-ism seemed to me the most attractive and troubling at the same time. And Islam's God-ism -- Allah-ism steeped in superstition, replete with nonsensical explanations and discriminatory Sharia law -- repulsed me. All I needed to guide my life was contained in the ancient Zoroastrian triad of good thoughts, good speech, and good deeds. The Ten Commandments are a sensible extension of the above triad, and the Universal Charter of Human Rights is its further elaboration.


Things Islamic not only did not resonate with me, but they also often clashed head-on with what I valued and loved. What appealed to me and even enchanted me were more often than not taboo in Islam or anathema to the creed. I loved life, beauty in all its forms, poetry, the ancient Iranian culture and traditions. I loved laughter, celebrations of joy such as birthdays, our yearly festivities of Nowruz, my favorite that lasts for thirteen days. Nowruz, this ancient festival, has been celebrated for thousands of years by my people; it ushers in the spring, welcomes renewal of life, and expresses optimism for the year ahead to bless us with good health, abundant food, family, and friends in the land of a civilized, free people.


I owe my parents a great debt of gratitude for not pounding into me a blind belief. They allowed and even encouraged me to think for myself, to chart my path in life. Father was my model. He treated Mother and the girls as unquestioned equals. Mother, by her deeds, taught me that my friends, who happened to be Muslims, Jews, Christians, Baha'is and Zoroastrians, were every bit as worthy and Iranian as we were. She welcomed them all to our home and often at our table.


From very early on, I was troubled by Islam. It labeled people who were all alike differently and built walls separating them instead of bringing them together. Islam, the dominant religion of my native country, stigmatized non-Muslims and even persecuted them. I began questioning the value of religion. I couldn't see much in Islam that attracted me, and I knew just about nothing regarding the religion of my friends and neighbors. I sought answers, but not from the mullah at the mosque because I had a feeling I wouldn't like his answer anyway. I had heard their line more than I cared to. I began reading as widely as I could, and it helped.


I discovered, that historically, as far as it can be determined, all human groups lived by codes of beliefs. The codes were far from universally uniform, either in context or formality. Yet they all served the critical function of prescribing behaviors that enhance the welfare of the group while proscribing those that undermine it. In tandem with the emergence of the code of conduct was the practice of rituals. While the code of conduct secured order within the group, rituals gave it a sense of identity, essential for solidarity of the "in-group" against the ever-present threats of the "out-group."


Over time, the code of conduct and rituals merged, to various degrees, to serve the group. Some examples are religious ceremonies, secular observances, and the mixtures of the two.


Codes of conduct require enforcement. The physically strong, and perhaps the more cunning, emerged as group leaders and enforcers -- chiefs, sheiks, earls, lords, and kings are continuations of this line of authority. Yet all along, there was a realization that an authority or authorities with much greater powers transcended that of the human. The ancient Greeks' various gods, and the pre-Islamic idolaters of the Arabian Peninsula represent this line of thinking.


Among some human groupings, the utilitarian value of prescriptions and proscriptions for the group evolved into the belief in opposing superhuman powers. Good things, such as bountiful rain, great harvest, and plentiful game, for instance, were seen as the offerings of the benevolent superhuman, while famine, earthquakes, plagues, and so forth were attributed to the actions of the malevolent superhuman. The Zoroastrian concept of Ahuramazda -- the god of good -- and Ahriman -- the lord of evil represents this line of belief.


At some point, monotheism appeared on the scene. The Abrahamic religions represent this line of development. One Supreme Being was posited as the all-powerful, all-everything author of the universe. It simplified things greatly. No need to supplicate many gods, or please one and antagonize another. This Supreme Being communicated with humans through intermediaries of his choosing, some so claimed. And through these intermediaries, He prescribed laws and ordinances. Obedience to His laws attracted His blessings, and disobedience incurred His wrath, often administered by human agencies in this world with more to come in the purported next world.


The God of the monotheist is a hands-on God. And Islam's Allah is extremely hands-on. He leaves virtually no room for anything or anyone to do anything without his full knowledge and authorization. In the Quran, it is explicitly stated that not even a leaf falls from a tree without the decree and knowledge of Allah -- just one of innumerable assertions that define the all-everything Islamic superhuman.


In more recent times, another form of evolution appeared on the scene. The work of Sigmund Freud represents this line of development. God was marginalized. God was reduced to a hypothetical father figure who would reward or punish the children, depending on their actions. Yet, a form of duality was posited within the individual: the Id representing the impulsive, the ungoverned by the code of conduct; the amoral, devoted exclusively to self-gratification; and the Superego, standing for the law-abiding, the moral, and the caring for others.


My love of reading the inexhaustible treasure of exquisite Iranian poetry helped nurture me. Along the way, I learned about and revered Cyrus the Great and a host of other Iranians who personified all that is good and in line with the great benevolent God, Ahuramazda. The more I learned and witnessed about Islam, the more it repelled me, for it is much more in accord with that of the agent of evil, Ahriman.


Islam glorifies death by calling many of its martyrs the solders of Allah. Islam preaches superiority of the "we" and inferiority of the "other." It is a creed steeped in superstition, demands blind obedience to authority, and sanctions just about every form of freedom -- the very precious gift of the Creator Ahuramazda that makes us humans. Everything in Islam is in black and white. One is either Muslim -- good -- or non-Muslim -- bad. Men are superior; women are subservient. This life is worthless and should be offered for the pleasure of Allah as defined by the clergy.

Islam is a creed of a primitive age. It is fixated in time and place; it harbors the ambition of taking the 21st-century world back fourteen centuries and ruling it by its dogma of intolerance, injustice, and death. Yet Islam is not only an obsolete vestige of a defunct era, but itself is an infinitely fractured belief that can hardly put its own home in order. The numerous Islamic sects are at each other's throats; sub-sects and schools despise one another as much as they hate the non-Muslims. Hatred, not love, drives Islam.

I came to the realization that the root cause of my people's degradation and suffering is Islam. It is a creed that was imposed on an enlightened, tolerant, and free people at the point of the sword by savages hailing from the Arabian Peninsula during the seventh century with promises of booty and women in this world and glorious eternal sensual rewards in the promised paradise of Allah in the next. With each passing day, I rejoice more and more in my good fortune, in my ability to avoid the yoke of Islamic slavery and its blinders that imprison a billion and half people by walls of superstition, hatred of others, and celebration of death.


It is distressing to witness Islam making headway in the traditionally non-Islamic lands. Masses of brainwashed faithful, semi-literate Muslims, badly underserved in their own native lands, are moving to countries where the "infidels" welcome them with material wealth denied to them in their own homeland, as well as the liberty to subvert the very societies that give them refuge.


Even more distressing are those goodhearted simpleton non-Muslims up in arms defending the rights of Muslims to practice their religion in free societies such as the United States of America. These well-meaning, badly misguided folks don't realize that practicing Islam requires subverting and destroying any and all non-Islamic beliefs and practices. All one needs to see this deadly aspect of Islam is to examine how Islam is practiced in places such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, and even the so-called more moderate Islamic states such as Egypt.


The overflowing treasuries of the oil-enriched Islamic rulers finance legions of pampered clergy with a highly vested interest in maintaining and promoting the creed. Islamist apologists and mercenaries are collaborating shamelessly with the clergy in portraying a greatly deceptive picture of what Islam is in order to win a highly coveted prize -- the West.


Truth can be distorted and even hidden for a time. Yet it invariably emerges. Thus is the case with Islam. Although it is, by its deceptive means, attracting some adherents in foreign lands, it is losing them by the tens of thousands in its own region as more and more people see for themselves the evil belief and deeds of this creed. It is from the ranks of the newly emancipated that voices of alarm are raised to warn mankind about the true nature of Islam. Even a cursory examination of the teachings of Islam, the life of Muhammad himself, and the conduct of Muslims in the world provide irrefutable evidence for the fact that this creed, called religion, is anathema to all that is cherished by civilized and fair-minded human beings.


I am not against Muslims. I condemn Islam and those who support and promote it. In the same sense, I am not against slaves, but I am against slavery and those who advocate and advance it. The very practice of Islam is tantamount to perpetuating and practicing slavery. Slavery enslaves the body, while Islam entraps the mind. Both ideals and practices are abhorrent and detrimental to the realization of our highest hopes as human beings.


I left Islam behind because that's where it belongs -- behind in history. I summon Muslims to cast off this belief. I urge all people to resist Islam's encroachment, not to be deceived by its sanitized version presented in the non-Islamic lands, and to encourage Muslims to free themselves from its shackles.

One of the most widely used tools to propagate Islam in the West is the alleged harmony between its scriptures and modern science. This page contains easy-to-read summaries of articles discussing Islam, in relation to science.

This is a core topic which contains summaries
of WikiIslam articles related to it

Contents [hide]
1 Introduction
1.1 The Four Part Test
2 Medicine, Healthcare and Biology in Islam
2.1 Medicine and Healthcare
2.2 The Medicinal Value of Camel Urine
2.3 Adverse Effects of Islamic Fasting
2.4 Moderate Alcohol Consumption and its Health Benefits
2.5 Milk is Agreeable/Good for Humans to Drink?
2.6 Embryology in Islamic Scripture
3 The Universe According to Islam
3.1 A Qur’anic Understanding of the Universe
3.2 The Flat Earth
3.3 The Motionless Centre - Planet Earth
3.4 Sun Sets in a Muddy Spring
3.5 Ramadan and the North and South Poles
3.6 Islamic Writing and the Universe
4 Islamic Science and the Golden Age
4.1 The Miracle of Islamic Science
4.2 Muslims 'Saved' the Work of Greek Philosophers from Destruction
4.3 Islamic Inventions that Changed the World
4.4 Islamic Science in Wikipedia Articles
5 Science in the Qur'an
5.1 Scientific errors in the Qur'an and Hadith
5.2 Westerners finding Science in the Qur'an
5.3 Scientific Miracles in, the Georgics
5.4 Qur'an and the Big Bang
5.5 Qur'an Predicted Black Holes And Pulsars
5.6 Speed of Light in the Qur'an
5.7 Earth Made of Seven Layers
5.8 Qur'an and the Descent of Iron Miracle
5.9 The Qur'an and Mountains
5.10 Qur'an Predicted Land Decreasing
5.11 Creation of Humans from Clay
5.12 Qur'an and Semen Production
5.13 Qur'an Describes Gender Determination By Sperm
5.14 Qur'an and Embryology
5.15 Qur'anic Claim of Everything Created in Pairs
5.16 Qur'an and the Lying Prefrontal Cerebrum
6 See also
6.1 Videos
6.2 Articles
6.3 Other Core Articles
7 External links
8 References


Introduction
When evaluating claims of miraculous scientific information in “revealed” scriptures such as the Qur’an, it is critical to remember the dictum, “Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof.” For certainly, miracles are not to be taken lightly. If miracles really are the results of direct intervention by God, and if they truly are meant as signs to prove both his existence and his power, then we should expect them to serve those purposes in a clear and unambiguous manner. If God is going through all that trouble to provide us with signs, it would defeat his purpose to make the signs difficult to recognize.

If we assume that Allah exists, it is safe to say that he is not a Las Vegas magician, and his miracles should reasonably be several cuts above the prestidigitation of Penn and Teller. An all-powerful universal God would doubtlessly be capable of providing miracles that were unchallengeable, unambiguous and dramatic. And it is fully conceivable that God would embed such clear signs of his power and omniscience within his revelation.

The claim of “scientific miracles” in the Qur’an rests upon the contention that the book contains specific and detailed scientific knowledge that can only have been revealed to Muhammad miraculously, i.e. that there was no possible non-miraculous way for such information to have been known to a 7th Century Arab.

So it stands to reason that if there actually were non-miraculous ways for such information to be available, no miracle can be demonstrated. And it is important to test such claims, for we are not involved in a casual conversation about fashion or dietary preferences. We are talking about alleged proofs for the divine origin of the Qur’an.

The Four Part Test
For a “scientific statement” in the Qur’an to be considered miraculous, it must be capable of passing a four-part test that removes the possibility of a non-miraculous origin of the information:

1. It must be an unambiguous statement of scientific fact requiring no elaborate interpretation to discern its factual meaning.

This point cannot be stressed too intensely. For the scientific information in question must actually be in the Qur’an itself, and not something added later as part of a commentary. If the critical information that distinguishes a “scientific miracle” from a casual statement of obvious fact is not explicitly in the clear words and meaning of the Qur’an, we cannot trust it as even being there.

If the verse has to be “interpreted” to extract hidden meaning that is not obviously there, the claim of a miracle has been “corrupted” by the commentary, and cannot be considered valid.

2. The fact must have been previously unknown to every other non-Islamic civilization that had contact with the Arabian Peninsula.

Key to the claim of “scientific miracles” in the Qur’an is the contention that the information included was unknown until recently, or at least until many years after the death of Muhammad. So, of course, if it can be shown that the information was already available to other peoples or cultures with whom the Arabs were in contact, this claim is shown to be simply false.

It does not matter the source of that other culture’s information. It may have been a lucky guess, it may have been the result of precocious scientific achievement… in fact it may even potentially have been a miracle the other culture had experienced years before.

But if that information was available before the Qur’an was written down, there can be no credit to the claim of a “Qur’anic miracle.”

3. It must not be obvious to any casual observer.

This may sound like an obvious point, but given the nature of many of the stock “miracles” claimed by Muslim apologists, it still must be discussed explicitly. For often, what is claimed to be a miracle of the Qur’an is something of which any individual with his or her eyes open would have been aware.

If the information in question is available to anyone who simply looks at the phenomenon, requiring no sophisticated instruments, tools or interpretation, then it cannot be considered miraculous.

4. It must be true.

As with the previous point, this one sounds intuitively obvious. But it too requires explicit mention as occasionally the claims of Qur’anic “miracles” depend on misunderstandings or misstatements about reality and science. If the information in question is not actually true, then certainly it cannot be a miraculous revelation from God, as God should be expected to know what is or is not true.

Medicine, Healthcare and Biology in Islam
Medicine and Healthcare
Main Articles: Medicine and healthcare in Islam and Medicine and biology
Islamic medicine, healthcare and Biology relies on superstitions, general beliefs among the people during the prophet's time and borrowings from the practices and beliefs of other civilizations. For example; today you will find Muslims who champion the self-alleged health benefits of drinking camel urine (as instructed by Muhammad in Sahih Bukhari 7:71:590), but those who are actually willing to practice such idiocy are far less forthcoming. The allowance and even encouragement of marriages between relatives such as cousins (Qur'an 4:23), is another issue that deserves to be sent back to the 7th century. Medically, this common Muslim practice is harmful because it raises the probability for genetic disorders to occur in offspring. And the much lauded embryology found within the Qur'an is in reality plagiarized from Greek medicine. Therefore embryology, as described in the Qur'an, is neither original nor correct. These are but a few of the example which are covered in our articles.

The Medicinal Value of Camel Urine
Main Article: Camel Urine and Islam
This article is about the use of camel urine as medicine in the Hadiths and how such usage is viewed in the Muslim world. Muhammad prescribed camel urine as medicine to the followers from uraynah. Because Muhammed is a prophet, Muslims believe he received a divine revelation from God. As a result they continue to study and prescribe camel urine as medicine despite the lack of evidence proving there is any medicinal value in camel urine and that there is some evidence that drinking urine is actually harmful.

Adverse Effects of Islamic Fasting
Main Article: Adverse Effects of Islamic Fasting
Medical fasting is different from Islamic fasting (Sawm), and contrary to popular Muslim beliefs, Islamic fasting, unlike Medical fasting, has numerous adverse effects that have been observed using scientific studies and news sources. Intermittent and prolonged fasting is generally not conducive to a healthy lifestyle. Depriving the body of water and essential nutrients by dividing and postponing meals to irregular intervals does nothing to limit consumption. Infact it causes a host of health, performance and mood disorders. Fasting is not normally prescribed for the well being of human beings. Instead, it is commonly understood that eating healthy, smaller-portioned meals, interspersed throughout the day is far better in maintaining a well-balanced diet and far more forgiving on a person's metabolism. Any claims that prolonged and intermittent fasting contributes to the well-being of an individual's health are misleading, based on the scientific studies that prove otherwise. If the Islamic argument in favor of fasting is that “we fast because God commanded us to do so," then it is obvious that God is not a nutritionist or a dietitian because the negatives definitely outweigh the positives. So the question to the Muslim world is: what benefit does the Muslim world get for 1 billion people staying hungry throughout the day for one full month every year? Did Allah actually want Muslims to suffer physically, economically and socially for one month every year? Also, if fasting is beneficial as Muslims claim, why do Muslims not fast the entire year instead of just one month?

Moderate Alcohol Consumption and its Health Benefits
Main Article: Moderate Alcohol Consumption and its Health Benefits
Alcohol and other intoxicants are strictly prohibited (haram) in Islam. At first this aspect of Islam may seem inspired and full of wisdom, considering the abuse of alcohol can lead to a lot of misery and suffering. To be sure, we are in no way endorsing the consumption or abuse of alcohol. However, we are asking the question 'should you throw the baby out with the bath water?' When used in moderation, research suggests that there are numerous benefits in the consumption of alcohol, and an all-knowing deity would have been aware of this. The Jews and Christians are allowed to consume alcohol. The pagan Arabs before and shortly after their conversion to Islam also consumed alcohol. So why did Allah prohibit something that may be beneficial and which was an accepted norm among the religions before Islam? Of course the Muslims will cite Qur'an 2:219 and state "In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit." However, if this was the true reason behind its prohibition then it only exposes Allah's flawed logic. Surely the "all-wise" would have only prohibited its abuse and not given us an outright ban. Furthermore, if the potential health risk of alcohol was the cause of the prohibition, why not also warn Muslims against the dangers of drinking milk?

Milk is Agreeable/Good for Humans to Drink?
Main Article: Quran and Milk
The Qur'an clearly encourages people to drink milk and calls it "pure and agreeable to those who drink it." It's even being served in the Muslim Paradise. In reality, one glass of milk is potentially more harmful than a glass of alcoholic beverage. The Northern Europeans are among the rather small group of the totallity of humankind to whom consumption of milk after the weaning stage is most 'agreeable' due to evolutionary changes. For much of the rest of humanity lactose-intolerance after the weaning stage is default.

So it seems that the Qur'anic statement "And verily in cattle (too) will ye find an instructive sign, We produce, for your drink, milk, pure and agreeable to those who drink it" is more appropriate to the genetic cluster of (kafir) Northern Europeans and their US descendants than to the other genetic clusters among humanity.

Embryology in Islamic Scripture
Main Article: Embryology in Islamic Scripture, See also: History of Embryology
“Islamic embryology” is derived from both the Qur’an and the hadith, and is quite consistent across all the contributing sources. The core of the story can be found in the Qur’an, 22:5. There are a handful of additional ayaat that deal with this subject, and none of them disagree with the basic scenario. There is also more to learn from the hadith, particularly that of Bukhari and Muslim. Again, the accounts are quite consistent, and the additional information they provide is important.

The details of embryology as reflected in the Qur’an and the hadith can be summarised as follows; the embryo spends 40 days as a drop of sperm or seed, the embryo then spends another 40 days as a “clot” or a “leech-like clot” of blood, the embryo then spends another 40 days as a “lump of flesh” during which the gender of the child is assigned by an angel at Allah’s direction.

These then are the details that must be correlated with actual embryonic development to evaluate the accuracy or inaccuracy of the Islamic account. The question is actually a simple one: Does this account describe the first 120 days of embryonic development or doesn’t it?

The Universe According to Islam
A Qur’anic Understanding of the Universe
Main Article: A Qur’anic Understanding of the Universe
This article is designed to uncover and explain the actual state of scientific knowledge that is presented to us in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Specifically, we will explore Islamic Cosmology, in particular the Qur'ans understanding of the nature and structure of the physical universe. To no surprise, the Qur'ans understanding of the universe matches that of the mythical cosmos believed by 7th century Arabians rather than an accurate description of the real universe.

In the Qur'an, the entire universe is very small and contains simply the earth and its surrounding heavens. There are no galaxies, other solar systems, or such a thing as “outer space.” The earth is the top-most of seven, flat discs, surrounded by the seven solid concentric domes of the heavens. The celestial objects that do exist (sun, moon, stars and planets) are quite small, very close, and they follow semi-circular paths within the innermost of the seven heavenly domes. When they are not in the sky above the earth, they are resting somewhere underneath it, except while petitioning Allah’s permission to return the following day (or night). Paradise exists between the seven heavens, and hell exists between the seven earths. All of this is submerged in a cosmic sea, above which is the throne of Allah.

The Flat Earth
Main Article: Flat Earth and the Qur'an
As should be apparent by now, the Islamic faith stifles scientific progress and nothing demonstrates this as well as the modern-day belief that the Earth is flat. As recently as 1993 the supreme religious authority of Saudi Arabia Sheik Abdul-Aziz Ibn Baaz declared "The earth is flat. Whoever claims it is round is an atheist deserving of punishment."[1] and in a televised debate aired on Iraqi Al-Fayhaa TV (October 31, 2007), Muslim Researcher on Astronomy Fadhel Al-Sa'd also declared that the Earth is flat as evidenced by Qur'anic verses and that the sun is much smaller than the Earth and revolves around it. [2] As devout Muslims, they have good reason to conclude the Earth is flat; the Qur'anic verses 15:19, 20:53, 43:10, 50:7, 51:48, 71:19, 78:6, 79:30, 88:20 and 91:6 all clearly state this. While many apologists have attempted to explain away this 'oddity' to fellow Muslims and Westerners, they prey on their listeners ignorance of the Arabic language. As such, their apologetic claims have been easily refuted by native Arabic speakers. There is no escaping the fact that, according to the Qur'an, the earth is flat as a pancake.

The Motionless Centre - Planet Earth
Main Article: The Geocentric Qur'an
This article examines the evidence for Qur'anic geocentric cosmology. Some may confuse geocentricism with the the idea that the Earth is flat. This is not the case. These are two different ideas. Geocentrism simply is the notion that the earth is the (immovable) centre of our universe, thus all celestial bodies mover around it. According to the Qur'an, the Sun (and the moon and the five known planets) follow a curved (rounded) course (a Falak). This falak starts in the east (where the sun goes up), goes high above the earth and ends after sunset with the Sun resting at night at a hidden place. All this took place around an earth that was spread out and had a firmament built on invisible pillars above it. This was a common belief at the time. Sahih (authentic) hadiths affirm this geocentric cosmology (so Muhammad or at least the people around him agree with it), and great ancient, and even modern-day, Muslim astronomists agree that the Qur'an is geocentric. In ancient times, many people - but certainly not all - did not know any better than what they seemed to observe everyday: the sun appeared to be going around the earth through our skies. We cannot blame a 7th century Bedouin for not knowing this, but should not the omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient creator of the universe know better?

Sun Sets in a Muddy Spring
Main Article: Dhul-Qarnayn and the Sun Controversy in the Qur'an
The precise meaning of the opening phrases in verses 86 and 90 in the 18th chapter of the Qur’an, Sura al-Kahf, or “The Cave”, is a matter of considerable controversy. These verses occur within an account concerning a powerful figure called Dhu’l Qarnayn, “the two-horned one”, who Allah guides on a series of three fantastic journeys in Qur’an 18:83-101. They are controversial due to Muslim sensitivity to claims that they have Allah saying that the sun sets and rises in physical locations on or at the edges of Earth.

Our analysis shows that the various interpretations that have been proposed for verses 18:86 and 18:90 in the Qur’an to reconcile them with scientific facts do not stand up to detailed scrutiny. The evidence overwhelmingly supports the clear and obvious interpretation that this is intended to be understood as a historical account in which Dhu’l Qarnayn travelled until he reached the place where the sun sets and actually found that it went down into a muddy spring near to where a people were, and that he then travelled until he reached the place where the sun rises and actually found that it rose up above a people who lived close to the place where the sun rises.

Ramadan and the North and South Poles
Main Article: The Ramadan Pole Paradox
This article consists of a set of questions and answers exploring Ramadan's relation to the North and South Poles. According to Islamic rules, the length of a fast is governed by the rising and the setting of the sun. This can cause a huge problem for those who live close to these poles. The closer we get to the poles, the longer our days or nights become. They can eventually extend for up to several months each, making the fourth Pillar of Islam impossible to practice without starving yourself to death. Obviously Muhammad was unaware of the poles.

Islamic Writing and the Universe
Main Article: Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Cosmology
Islamic scriptures and scholars have much to say in regards to the cosmology of the universe.

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Dharr that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) one day said: Do you know where the sun goes? They replied: Allah and His Apostle know best. He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Verily it (the sun) glides till it reaches its resting place under the Throne. Then it falls prostrate and remains there until it is asked: Rise up and go to the place whence you came, and it goes back and continues emerging out from its rising place and then glides till it reaches its place of rest under the Throne and falls prostrate and remains in that state until it is asked: Rise up and return to the place whence you came, and it returns and emerges out from it rising place and the it glides (in such a normal way) that the people do not discern anything ( unusual in it) till it reaches its resting place under the Throne. Then it would be said to it: Rise up and emerge out from the place of your setting, and it will rise from the place of its setting. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said. Do you know when it would happen? It would happen at the time when faith will not benefit one who has not previously believed or has derived no good from the faith.

Sahih Muslim 1:297
Islamic Science and the Golden Age
The Miracle of Islamic Science
Main Article: Setting the Record Straight: The Non-Miracle of Islamic Science
This is a refutation of Dr K. Ajram's Setting the Record Straight: The Miracle of Islamic Science. The purpose of this analysis is to put the achievements of Golden Age Muslim scientists in the proper perspective; neither denigrating their achievements nor inflating them. All scientific and technological progress is accomplished in progression; Muslim achievements are but links in the chain. Few of the great Muslim scientific achievements stood alone, but were derived by Muslim scientists standing on the shoulders of those who came before them. This analysis also highlights the fatal flaw of the Islamic Golden Age. There were few ‘follow-up’ breakthroughs on the backs of the works of the great Muslim scientists. In effect, the Ummah allowed or encouraged these works to wither on the vine or die stillborn, even before the rise of mysticism at the expense of rational thinking, an event often attributed to al-Ghazzali around the turn of the 12th century. Indeed, it would seem orthodox Islam utterly stifles intellectual reasoning. Therefore, Islam is not the cause of scientific progress during the Golden Age. Many people would say that the Golden Age scientific progress was made in spite of Islam, not because of it. A prime example is the great philosopher-physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna) whose work is constantly referenced by Dr K. Ajram. It is true that Avicenna was one of the most influential medieval philosophers, but he was also one of the most frequently attacked by Muslims. Today, the majority of Muslims would consider Ibn Sina, and many of the other great 'Islamic' scientists, as heretical apostates for their beliefs, and therefore non-Muslim disbelievers.

Muslims 'Saved' the Work of Greek Philosophers from Destruction
Main Article: Arab Transmission of the Classics
The Arab transmission of the classics is a common and persistent myth that Arabic commentators such as Avicenna and Averroes 'saved' the work of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers from destruction. According to the myth, these works would otherwise have perished in the long European dark age between fifth and the tenth centuries. Thus the versions of Aristotle used in the West were translations from the Arabic, which came from the South West of Europe in the reconquest of Spain from the Muslims during the twelve and thirteenth centuries[3]. This is incorrect. It was actually the Byzantines in the East who saved the ancient learning of the Greeks in the original language, and the first Latin texts to be used were translation from the Greek, in the 12th century, rather than, in most cases, the Arabic, which were only used in default of these.

It is nevertheless true, and no myth, that the work of the Arabic commentators, particularly Averroes, had a profound influence on the scholastic philosophers of the Latin West in the thirteenth century. Aristotle's Greek is terse and very difficult to understand. The work of the Arabic commentators helped in explaining and clarifying Aristotle's dense and apparently obscure thought. Thus Western intellectual tradition owes a great debt to the Arabic scholars in terms of understanding Aristotle's thought. In terms of the texts, however, these would have survived had the Arabic commentators never existed.

Islamic Inventions that Changed the World
Main Article: Islamic Inventions? How Islamic Inventors Did Not Change The World
These past few years have seen many inventions falsely claimed and attributed to Islamic inventors, which in fact either existed in pre-Islamic eras, were invented by other cultures, or both. However, this detail has not halted Muslim, and non-Muslim apologists alike, from perpetuating these false claims. Unbelievably, such claims, which are basically altering the worlds history in order to show Islam in a better light, have even been forced upon the unsuspecting public in a nationwide tour which opened with an exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester and the University of Manchester, England. To celebrate this 'momentous' series of events, an article titled “How Islamic inventors changed the world” was written by Paul Vallely and published in The Independent. This shameless piece of propaganda has received much praise from Muslims and has been (and still is) widely circulated on Islamic websites, forums, and blogs. This article lists and examines all twenty of these “Islamic inventors/inventions that changed the world” and in doing so, it exposes the lengths some will sink to in order to appease the Islamists. The Independent article is fundamentally misleading. It omits, distorts, and makes blunders over the most basic of historical facts to give the reader a false impression, and robs other civilizations such as ancient China, ancient Rome and pre-Islamic Egypt of the credit they rightfully deserve. It leaves you wondering what could have possibly motivated Paul Vallely into writing such a deceptive piece of journalism? This exhibition claimed to have shown 1001 Islamic inventions. If the best 20 are debunked, what of the other 981?

Islamic Science in Wikipedia Articles
Main Article: Islam, Science and the Problems at Wikipedia
At Wikipedia, Islam-related articles are severely compromised by Muslim editors. An example of this is a 2010 incident where an editor with over 67,000 edits was caught intentionaly inserting false information into articles.

Jagged 85 is the main contributor to the many inaccurate Islam/Science/Golden Age articles which are still being copied and pasted all over the internet by Muslims, and more than 20% of Wikipedia's "Timeline of historic inventions" was provided by him.

With contributions to over 8,100 separate articles, it is unlikely that all of Jagged 85's edits will ever be fixed. And even if they were, these Wikipedia articles have already been reproduced all over the net by other sites which use Wikipedia as a source.

Science in the Qur'an
Scientific errors in the Qur'an and Hadith
Main Articles: Scientific errors in the Qur'an, See also: Scientific Errors in the Hadith
This page lists various types of scientific errors found in the Qur'an. The subjects of these errors include; Evolution, Astronomy, Biology, Geology, Zoology and many others which are often confirmed by the hadith.

Westerners finding Science in the Qur'an
Main Articles: Westerners find $cience in the Qur'an and Bucailleism
The new Mullahs and other Islamists feel very happy whenever they find an occidental (western white person) who talks in favor of their faith (Islam). This is especially true when these western people try to associate the Qur'an and Hadith with anything resembling an inkling of scientific truth. For the last 25 years or so, Muslims have found several non-Muslim supporters (pseudo) of their faith. One of the results of such liaisons is Bucailleism, the belief that "the Qur'an prophesied the Big Bang theory, space travel and other contemporary scientific breakthroughs," and that "there are more than 1200 verses (Ayat) which can be interpreted in the light of modern science."[4] It has been called "a fast-growing branch of Islamic fundamentalism." Named after none-other than the French (Catholic) surgeon Maurice Bucaille, its proponents believe that "one of the main convincing evidences" that lead many to convert to Islam "is the large number of scientific facts in the Quran."[5] These articles take a critical look at this fairly recent phenomena.

Scientific Miracles in, the Georgics
Main Article: Georgics
To demonstrate how ludicrously easy it is to prove that any ancient poetry can be reinterpreted to reveal scientific miracles, we present to you a satiric article that 'proves' that the Georgica, written by Virgil in Golden Latin in the year 28 BC, contains scientific miracles. In the very first eight words alone of the Georgics we find no less than five (there's probably many more) scientifically accurate statements of which Virgil himself (born in the first century BC) could not have had any knowledge of, due to science only confirming them many centuries later. If we read verses 234 to 237 we find another five miracles. It would seem the Georgics are full of these divine pearls of wisdom, wherever we look we find them. Is there any other text in the world more densely packed with such scientifically accurate knowledge? What divine source could have whispered all this into Virgil's ear? Virgil was a polytheist, who worshipped many different gods. Is this truly a miracle sent down from the ancient Roman gods? Let the honest reader draw his or her own conclusions. All we request is that you look upon this with an open mind.

Qur'an and the Big Bang
Main Article: Quran and the Big Bang
Islamic apologists attempt to claim that the “Big Bang” is actually described by the Qur’an in one of many miraculous displays of scientific precocity in text. However on closer examination, Muslim claims of miraculous scientific information in the Qur’an are shown to be, yet again, in error. In reality, the Qur’an is completely silent on the “big bang” because it clearly has no awareness whatsoever of a universe that preexisted the creation of the planet Earth, or extended outwards into infinite space. It has no understanding of galaxies, or clusters of galaxies, or quasars or pulsars or any of the other things that could have easily been mentioned by an omniscient Allah, and left us no room for quibbling.

Qur'an Predicted Black Holes And Pulsars
Main Article: Quran Predicted Black Holes And Pulsars
Harun Yahya, makes many claims of Qur'anic Science. This article seeks to debunk two such claims, namely that the Qur'an predicted black holes and pulsars. We will show the absurdity of the black hole claim, while showing the pulsar claim to be conjectural and devoid of factual basis. In doing so, we will also show Harun Yahya’s self-contradiction as he used the same Qur'anic verse to ‘prove’ both the black hole and the pulsar. Now, even to the uninitiated, it would seem impossible for something to be both a black hole and a pulsar. However, Islamists do not appear to be inhibited by such constraints of logic.

Speed of Light in the Qur'an
Main Article: Speed of Light in the Qur'an
In an article published in Islami City, Dr. Mansour Hassab-Elnaby claims the verse 32:5 reveals that light in one day travels a distance equal to 12,000 lunar orbits, and upon calculating that distance we find the exact speed of light. This verse clearly has nothing to do with the speed of light. There is no mention of the moon, light or even distance in this verse. If these methods were to be applied to other texts, such as Shakespeare's writings or Virgil's Georgics, they too can be "proven" divine. No matter how we look at Dr. Hassab-Elnaby's calculations, they are mathematically incorrect. Even the notion of measuring the speed of light with the orbit of the Moon or the length of the day is a fallacy. Dr. Hassab-Elnaby also makes many deliberate errors to doctor his scientific miracle, and in his zeal to ascribe miracles to the Qur'an, he throws out of the window the concept of Allah's omnipresence. The maker of the Universe, according to him, depends on the speed of light to manage his affairs. The fact that Islami City, arguably the most prestigious Islamic site has published this erroneous piece by him proves the intellectual bankruptcy of the ummah, and assuming there really is a miracle in this plagiarized allegory, shouldn't the credit go to the Bible from which it originates?

Earth Made of Seven Layers
Main Article: Earth Made of Seven Layers
Islamists have come up with some extraordinary claims, including the claim that modern Science proves the Qur'an correct in asserting the earth is made of 7 "layers". This article seeks to show the error of the Islamist claim that verse 65:12 shows the earth is composed of 7 layers. In truth, the earth is not composed of 7 layers, but 5. Even if the earth was composed of 7 layers, it doesn't alter the fact that if these Islamists cared to delve a little deeper into their own sources they would discover that the 7 earths being referred to in verse 65:12 are in fact flat islands, one under the other.

Qur'an and the Descent of Iron Miracle
Main Article: Quran and the Descent of Iron Miracle
Many Islamists propagate the hilarious ‘iron sent down from heaven miracle’ pseudoscience. This is totally devoid of logic and scientific fact. Such Islamist claims may impress the gullible but elicit nothing but laughter among those with even minimal scientific education. A chief proponent of this Islamist pseudoscience is Harun Yahya. There is nothing miraculous about surah 57:26 describing iron being ‘sent down’ by some deity. The ancient Egyptians already derived that concept three thousand years before Islam. They called iron “ba-en-pet” or ‘metal from heaven’. This concept was also shared by the ancient Mesopotamians. We have also shown many of the other 'miraculous' claims in connection with iron to be patent scientific nonsense.

The Qur'an and Mountains
Main Article: The Quran and Mountains
This article refutes the Islamist claim that the Qur'an had foreshadowed the scientific knowledge about Mountains as Pegs stabilizing the crust or even the earth. There are two elements to this ‘Qur'anic Science’ claim: A. Mountains are Pegs. This is untrue as not all mountains have peg-like roots. B. Mountains stabilize the crust or the earth. This is unproven. There is no scientific evidence for this assertion, therefore the Qur'an cannot be validated by scientific evidence that does not exist. The mere fact of isostacy is not proof that mountains stabilize the crust or the earth. The mere fact that collision-type mountains are formed at the edges of tectonic plates is not proof that mountains stabilize the plates. The mere fact that mountains have deep roots is not proof that mountains stabilize anything.

Qur'an Predicted Land Decreasing
Main Article: Quran Predicted Land Decreasing
Dr Al Zeiny, PhD, claims a so-called ‘proof’ of Qur'anic Science by positing the proposition that the Qur'an correctly predicted the geological fact that land is decreasing due to the movements of tectonic plates. He cites verses 13:41 and 21:44 as evidence. Alas for Dr Zeiny, the geological facts do not support his case that land is decreasing as the Qur'an supposedly suggests.

In fact, we'd like to thank Dr Zeiny for helping to prove the Qur'an incorrect in asserting that land is decreasing, and thereby also prove that the Qur'an is false and therefore man-made. By extension, Dr Zeiny has also proven that Allah is also false and therefore man-made.

Creation of Humans from Clay
Main Article: Creation of Humans from Clay
Many Muslims use the recent scientific hypothesis of clay particles as catalysts for abiogensis as evidence of the veracity of their scripture. However, the scientific hypothesis postulates that the clay merely 'match-makes' RNA and membrane vesicles - and therefore does not form a building block. This is contrary to the Islamic Faith which postulates that human beings were created from clay, implying clay was a building block. Notwithstanding this key distinction, is Islam the only religion which postulated the creation of human beings from clay? The answer is no. Many religions pre-dating Islam also carry this 'creation of human beings from clay' story. The earliest are the pre-cursors of the Abrahamic Faiths - namely the early Mesopotamian religions. Other faiths that postulate the 'creation of human beings from clay' stories include the ancient Egyptians, some African tribes and the Incas. In fact, the ‘creation of humans from clay’ stories are common throughout the world, including far-flung places like Australia and the Pacific Islands which were not in contact with Islam or any of the other Abrahamic Faiths until recent times.

Qur'an and Semen Production
Main Articles: Quran and Semen Production
This article lists and refutes all the various Islamic attempts to show that the Qur'an correctly describes semen production from between the sulb and the tara’ib in verse 86:7. There are at least seven distinct classes of Islamic explanations, and these propositions are frequently conflicting. For example, Ibn Kathir refers to tara’ib as a female organ, while other tafsirs claim it belongs to the man.[6] Another conflict is the definition of sulb to mean either the backbone or the ‘hardening’ of the loins.

Qur'an Describes Gender Determination By Sperm
Main Article: Quran Describes Gender Determination By Sperm
Various Islamists make the usual Islamic polemic about how the Qur'an can be proved by modern scientific knowledge, using the old canard about how the Qur'an is the only ancient book that states that gender is determined by the sperm. In this, they may point out the ignorance of the Greeks who thought gender was determined by the relative strengths of sperm from the male and female parents as Hippocrates imagined. This article does not seek to prove that the ancient Egyptians shared some aspects of our modern understanding of gender determination and reproduction. It merely aims to show that the Qur'an was not the first religious text to suggest that gender is determined by the semen of the male parent.

Qur'an and Embryology
Main Article: Embryology in the Qur'an
There are propagations of the Qur'anic ‘so-called’ Embryology by such luminaries as Dr. Keith Moore and Dr. Maurice Bucaille. These works are aped by such Islamic scholars as Dr. Al Zeiny, Dr. Zakir Naik, Dr. Ibrahim Syed, Dr. Sharif Kaf Al-Ghazal, and the ubiquitous Harun Yahya aka Adnan Oktar. A good additional material is provided by Dr. Omar Abdul Rehman in which he goes into even greater detail in his attempt to validate the Qur'anic ‘human reproduction’ verses with modern scientific facts. On the net, you will find many excellent debunkings of the Qur'anic Embryology Pseudoscience (“QEP”). Here we attempt to add to this debate, concentrating solely on the Qur'anic verses.

Qur'anic Claim of Everything Created in Pairs
Main Article: Quranic Claim of Everything Created in Pairs
This article refutes the claim that Man did not know anything about the "creation in pairs" at the time of the 'descent' of the Qur'an. Here is one of the Qur'anic verses which speak of this. The case against the Qur'an is really very simple. All one has to do is to show that not all creatures are ‘created’ in pairs. Our opinion is that Muhammad, being who he was, didn’t have access to a microscope or a good Level 1 biology textbook. Therefore, he couldn’t have known about asexual organisms, parthenogenetic organisms, or hermaphrodites.

Qur'an and the Lying Prefrontal Cerebrum
Main Article: Quran and the Lying Prefrontal Cerebrum
Several Islamists promulgate Professor Keith L. Moore's Qur'anic Pseudoscience of the lying sinful prefrontal area of the cerebrum (here referred to as the prefrontal cerebrum). There are many web sites that are copy-pasting this proposition, and a search of the internet reveals that all the Islamist claims that the cerebrum is responsible for lying and sin comes from the same source, i.e. from Keith Moore. However, Modern medical research utilizing fMRI conduct brain scans has revealed that the prefrontal cerebrum is not responsible for lying. Other brain regions are responsible, particularly the anterior cingulate gyrus which lies in the medial part of the brain in the frontal-parietal area and not in the prefrontal cerebrum. Thus, the scientific evidence does not support the Islamist's pseudoscientific claim that the Qur'an correctly asserts that the prefrontal region is responsible for lying as it is not the region responsible for the decision-making process of lying.

Gay Saudi Arabia
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/05/the-kingdom-in-the-closet/5774/1/#

Islam and Slavery
"Slavery is a part of Islam, (those who argue that slavery is abolished are) ignorant, not scholars. They are merely writers. Whoever says such things is an infidel." - Saudi Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan, member of the Senior Council of Clerics, 2003


Saudi Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan, member of the Senior Council of Clerics, 2003

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOPD7_SCFNA&feature=player_embedded#at=97

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rjDTyeqXt8

Slave Transactions Initiated by Muhammad
Narrated Abu Huraira and Zaid bin Khalid Al-Juhani: A bedouin came and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Judge between us according to Allah's Laws." His opponent got up and said, "He is right. Judge between us according to Allah's Laws." The bedouin said, "My son was a laborer working for this man, and he committed illegal sexual intercourse with his wife. The people told me that my son should be stoned to death; so, in lieu of that, I paid a ransom of one hundred sheep and a slave girl to save my son. Then I asked the learned scholars who said, "Your son has to be lashed one-hundred lashes and has to be exiled for one year." The Prophet said, "No doubt I will judge between you according to Allah's Laws. The slave-girl and the sheep are to go back to you, and your son will get a hundred lashes and one year exile." He then addressed somebody, "O Unais! go to the wife of this (man) and stone her to death" So, Unais went and stoned her to death.

Sahih Bukhari 3:49:860

Narrated Abu Huraira: Two women from the tribe of Hudhail (fought with each other) and one of them threw (a stone at) the other, causing her to have a miscarriage and Allah's Apostle gave his verdict that the killer (of the fetus) should give a male or female slave (as a Diya).

Sahih Bukhari 9:83:41

Then the apostle sent for Sa'd bin Zayd al-Ansari brother of bin Abdul-Ashhal with some of the captive women of Banu Qurayza to Najd and he sold them for horses and weapons.

Ibn Ishaq: 693

Narrated Abu Huraira and Zaid bin Khalid Al-Juhani: A bedouin came and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Judge between us according to Allah's Laws." His opponent got up and said, "He is right. Judge between us according to Allah's Laws." The bedouin said, "My son was a laborer working for this man, and he committed illegal sexual intercourse with his wife. The people told me that my son should be stoned to death; so, in lieu of that, I paid a ransom of one hundred sheep and a slave girl to save my son. Then I asked the learned scholars who said, "Your son has to be lashed one-hundred lashes and has to be exiled for one year." The Prophet said, "No doubt I will judge between you according to Allah's Laws. The slave-girl and the sheep are to go back to you, and your son will get a hundred lashes and one year exile." He then addressed somebody, "O Unais! go to the wife of this (man) and stone her to death" So, Unais went and stoned her to death.

Sahih Bukhari 3:49:860





Human Travesty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ana9w3uSNA&NR=1

Oya, make una Islamists begin dey rationalize and explain away this one,

http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/058.sbt.html

Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Book 58:
Volume 5, Book 58, Number 234:


Narrated Aisha:

The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became Allright, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, "Best wishes and Allah's Blessing and a good luck." Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah's Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age.
Volume 5, Book 58, Number 235:
Narrated 'Aisha:

That the Prophet said to her, "You have been shown to me twice in my dream. I saw you pictured on a piece of silk and some-one said (to me). 'This is your wife.' When I uncovered the picture, I saw that it was yours. I said, 'If this is from Allah, it will be done."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 5, Book 58, Number 236:
Narrated Hisham's father:

Khadija died three years before the Prophet departed to Medina. He stayed there for two years or so and then he married 'Aisha when she was a girl of six years of age, and he consumed that marriage when she was nine years old.








http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisha



Age at marriageFurther information: Criticism_of_Muhammad#Aisha
The issue of Aisha's age at the time she was married to Muhammad has been of interest since the earliest days of Islam.[4] Early Muslims regarded Aisha's youth as demonstrating her virginity and therefore her suitability as a bride of the Prophet.[4] During modern times, however, critics of Islam have taken up the issue, regarding it as reflecting poorly on Muhammad's character.

References to Aisha's age by early historians are frequent.[4] According to Spellberg, historians who supported supported Aisha's position in the debate of the succession to Muhammad against Shi'a claims considered her youth, and therefore her purity, to be of paramount importance. They thus specifically emphasized it, implying that as Muhammad's only virgin wife, Aisha was divinely intended for him, and therefore the most credible in the debate.[4]

Child marriages such as this were relatively common in Bedouin societies at the time, and remain common in some modern societies worldwide.[20] American scholar Colin Turner suggests that such marriages were not seen as improper in historical context, and that individuals in such societies matured at an earlier age than in the modern West.[20] In modern times, however, the issue of Muhammad marrying and having sexual relations with a girl so young has been used to criticize him, particularly in societies where child sexual abuse and related issues are considered serious crimes.[20

While the rest of humanity moves forward, sending people to outer space, building sustainable societies and economies, renewable energy, curing age old diseases, lifting Billions out of poverty, improving communication, increasing life expectancy this vedaxcool and his ilk are trying to level set their barbaric ideology with modern thought?
The modern world that we know is based on empirical observation and reason NOT on religion, race, tribe or even ideology. The pioneers of the enlightenment broke away from religious dogma of their time to plant the seeds that blossomed into this modern world. Though not devoid of problems, this era is probably the best time to be a human being in the entire history of our existence on the planet.


I[i]magine somebody is loosing a debate and is calling for my arrest, simply because he cannot defend the lies he is emitting all the hatred stuck in his bowels. I really dey Laugh at you! no be my fault if you no get intellect argue, first he claimed Islam has brought no benefit to mankind after I showed him it rekindled science he started calling the authorities to watch my movement, it makes me laugh how humane you humanist can be. And FYI I am a Muslim nott an Islamist. I am begining to see the futility argueing with a mediocre like divinereal, I am operating on a higher level of information, you are simply an empty barrel making so much noise with no component of sense in it. Yes the authorities should watch me closely because divinereal is a lover of TOTALITARIANISM and prays for the riech to re - establish, but DIDN'T ALLAH SAY ' In their heart is a diesease . . . ' and again ' TRUTH HAS COME FALSHOOD HAS FLED' and ' JUST LIKE ILLUSION FASLEHOOD IS BOUND TO FADE. I AM GLAD I AM A MUSLIM, NOT TAKEN BY POMPOSITY OR ARROGANCE[/i]


Vedaxcool you are an Islamist and yes the authorities (INTERPOL, FBI, CIA, MI5, Nigerian Police, Secret Service) should keep you and your ilk under surveillance and if your views ever turn to advocating overthrowing a secular govt, imposing sharia, violent jihad you should indeed be extradited from whatever cave/sleeper cell you are in, given a speedy trial and locked up under the jail in Guantanamo Bay! You are entitled to your own individual belief, you can believe in stones for all I care, but once it crosses the line and you advocate imposing via making it a state religion, sharia or through violence or overthrowing a secular democratic government then you have another thing coming buddy. You cannot take away an individual's inalienable rights of freedom and impose your brand of religiosity. Along with other problematic issues like corruption, look at the problems Islam and religiosity has caused in our home country Nigeria? Instituting Sharia in the North in a Secular country! Bombings, Jos, Boko Haram, religious riots, politicization of religion etc etc. I will challenge anyone whoever makes such outrageous statements that an ideology as primitive and brutal as Islam is the religion for mankind. As you alluded to before Islam is not only a religion but a way of life. With this religion comes its baggage.

Per your 1000 year old accomplishments, do I dare juxtapose “Islamic” accomplishments to African, Egyptian (Pre Arabicized), Hellenic, Chinese, Aztec, Japanese, European, Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, Jewish accomplishments and contributions to humanity? Do you really want to go there?
All your Abu Hamza’s and Ibn whatever do not even compare to the contributions of Newton, Galileo (who was Catholic) talk less of the great Agnostic Jew Einstein. Since you claim that Islam is the religion for mankind! Stop resting on your 1,000 year old laurels. Islam is a failed religion, ideology and political system. I will go further to say ANY religion that mixes with politics and law is a theocracy and will fail!! Like Christendom failed, Islam has failed put down the Quran and open a science book. How’s that Islamic Republic in Pakistan or Iran working out for you guys?

It is evident the more a society moves away from a religious/traditional system and modernizes the better the quality of life of the citizens. No society in the world is perfect but some societies are better than others. Some have fewer problems than others, some give more opportunity to more of its citizens than others.

You are stuck in the premodern era:

wiki
Pre-Modern
In the Pre-Modern era, many people's sense of self and purpose was often expressed via a faith in some form of deity, be that in a single god or in many gods.[7] Pre-modern cultures have not been thought of creating a sense of distinct individuality,[8][9][10] though. Religious officials, who often held positions of power, were the spiritual intermediaries to the common person. It was only through these intermediaries that the general masses had access to the divine. Tradition was sacred to ancient cultures and was unchanging and the social order of ceremony and morals in a culture could be strictly enforced.[11][12][13][14]
Modern
In contrast to the pre-modern era, Western civilization made a gradual transition from premodernity to modernity when scientific methods were developed which led many to believe that the use of science would lead to all knowledge, thus throwing back the shroud of myth under which pre-modern peoples lived. New information about the world was discovered via empirical observation,[15] versus the historic use of reason and innate knowledge.

Anyway let me leave this slowpoke alone, make sure you attend Jumat service and bow down to Mecca 5 times today and we wonder why your dumb ass can’t think straight or logically, you’ve been brainwashed from childhood, indoctrinated in madrassa’s before you could even read or write. I bet you could recite the Quran and think that its a pious thing! This retard is talking about hate, I’m not the one with the ideology of hate for those that don’t think like me or accept my way of thinking or life, it’s your religion/ideology that advocates oppression of others, suffocates freedom, encourages murder, marriage to little girls, slavery and pillage! I didnt make this stuff up its in your holy books. In my type of society, I can openly discuss my views, I bet if I was in Northern Nigeria, Saudi or any predominantly Muslim society I would be murdered for my views and what I have typed on Nairaland.

Totalitarianism? Its your religion and your allah that cares about who sleeps with who, my internal thoughts, what women wear, how they look at other human beings, how to bank, what to eat, how to kill an animal for meat, when to pray, what direction to face when taking a dump, how to take a dump, what to do with my pubic hair, how to sleep, who to interact with, murdering apostates, what friends to keep, who to marry, who is the last prophet, obsessed with the Jews, Christians and non muslims etc etc with no basis on empiricism or reason just perverted Bedouin desert knowledge from a millennia ago. I feel sorry for you.

From wiki:

Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political system where the state, usually under the power of a single political person, faction, or class, recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.[2] Totalitarianism is usually characterized by the coincidence of authoritarianism (where ordinary citizens have less significant share in state decision-making) and ideology (a pervasive scheme of values promulgated by institutional means to direct most if not all aspects of public and private life).[3], smells like Islam to me!!!

Africa is not cursed we are just bound by foreign ideologies and concepts of religion. Christianity and Islam are not the answer to our problems. We will have to move away from those ideologies and modernize our traditional systems as well. It's all about moving our thought process into a modern age.

Well human development from the 17th century till today has far surpassed contributions of muslims/arabs in the pre middle ages by a million times.

There were probably not even 200 million people when Islam had its golden age. The world population remained at low levels till Science and Reason came along buddy and with that came a burst in human population, longer life expectancies, vaccinations, better standard of living, significant improvement in travel etc, etc. So don't come here listing 1300 year old accomplishments that Arabs stole in their conquests of surrounding people in the region. See the typical Islamic mind worships the arabs, its disgusting!!
Note to Vedaxcool: Arabs are like any other people of the world no worse or better. Neither is Arabic the language of "god" or Islam the answer or religion for mankind, or Mecca/Medina/Jerusalem holier than my village or my toilet for that matter, utter garbage! You are an Islamist and I hope the authorities are watching your movements closely. Sorry to inform you buddy, ISLAM IS A BEDOUIN MYTH!! Sorry buddy bowing down 5 times a day to your Meccan Masters is a bunch of crock and bullshit story no better than the trinity, or our forefathers traditional religions. And if I had to pick one I'll go with my forefathers religion not some primitive bedouin garbage.

On my spiritual journey I read the Quran and its nothing impressive, wasnt moved and actually was disgusted at the violence and aggressiveness in the book. It is a savage book with twisted morals and ass backward ethics that totally fit in an era when ignorance was pervasive.

I would rather live in a secular society than any backward muslim/religious society any day. Your Allah of 1.2Billion followers can't destroy the Jewish State of Israel of 7MM. Neither Have your hateful prayers that emanate from mosques around the world daily destroyed the West. South Sudan got freedom from your Muslim enslavers and Nigerias president is a reasonable christian that abides by secular law something few Muslims know how to do as there religion always demand power in the political space. The Ummah Al Kuffar is way stronger than your Ummah, Getthefuckouttahere with this corny islamic worldview of yours. The rest of the world is moving forward and building modern societies based on the rule of law and secular democracies meanwhile radicals like you keep dragging religious-political worldview into the picture trying to force it down other peoples thoats and abide by your bronze age value system. Islam has failed its adherants as a religion and political system, the sooner you realize this the better. Put it in its proper place like all other religions a personal perspective where it doesn't cloud your judgment and reasoning faculties and let's charter a better future for humanity.

Per some of your claims of Islamic contributions, several of these technological gains from the Islamic Golden Age are actually borrowed from conquered civilizations. For example (pls wiki):

The concept of zero as a number and not merely a symbol for separation is attributed to India where by the 9th century AD practical calculations were carried out using zero, which was treated like any other number, even in case of division.[10][11] The Indian scholar Pingala (circa 5th-2nd century BC) used binary numbers in the form of short and long syllables (the latter equal in length to two short syllables), making it similar to Morse code.[12][13] He and his contemporary Indian scholars used the Sanskrit word śūnya to refer to zero or void.

While the word algebra comes from the Arabic language (al-jabr, الجبر literally, restoration) and much of its methods from Arabic/Islamic mathematics, its roots can be traced to earlier traditions, most notably ancient Indian mathematics, which had a direct influence on Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (c. 780–850). He learned Indian mathematics and introduced it to the Muslim world through his famous arithmetic text, Book on Addition and Subtraction after the Method of the Indians.[3][4] He later wrote The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, which established algebra as a mathematical discipline that is independent of geometry and arithmetic.[5

No wonder these fools want to go back to the era of Mohammed or the Islamic Golden dynasty they are completely brainwashed, drinking their own koolaid. Look, yes muslims made contributions to science and technology in like the Middle Ages. But in modern times reason and science have made the greatest and innumerable contributions while your religion is dead and waiting for Mohammed return to take you to Jena.