Emre_1974tr
Graduate Poster
From Edip Yüksel's Manifesto:
“O people, a proof has come to you from your Lord, and We have sent down to you a guiding light.” (4:174)
“… and do not make corruption on the Earth after it has been reformed… ” (7:85)
“It is one of the great ones. A warning to humanity. For any among you who wishes to progress or regress” (74:36-37).
The influence of the religion concocted by clerics during the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties is still dominant in Muslim countries. The blasphemous idea that the Quran is incomplete, unintelligible, and insufficient for spiritual guidance created a huge demand for religious books, and clergymen with big turbans and long beards supplied volumes of them. The masses were told that those books were going to complete, explain, and detail the Quranic revelation. These clerics thus implied that God was not a wise and articulate author; He could not make His message sufficiently clear and he failed to provide guidance on many issues, sometimes even issues involving important spiritual principles and practices. Without these supplementary books, the Quran was of limited use to the individual seeking religious guidance. Some even went so far as to declare that reading the Quran alone would mislead the reader. Numerous books of hadith and sectarian jurisprudence (sharia) were labeled “authentic” and for all practical purposes, they replaced the Quran. The Quran was not a book to be understood on its own; people needed to read books written by professional narrators, collectors, editors, and scholars of hearsay and speculation. Many people got lost among the volumes of books written to interpret and explain the Quran and did not find sufficient time to study the Quran itself. The privileged few who did find that time, had little chance of understanding it, since their minds were tainted with man-made religious instructions, and their logic had been corrupted by contradictory teachings or what we call might call “holy viruses.”
Although religious scholars, clerics and their blind followers have always demonstrated the utmost formal respect for the Quran as physical media, (the leather or paper on which the verses of the Quran were written) they lost faith in, and respect for its message. Verses of the Quran are hung in high places on the walls, touched and treated with utmost reverence, yet Muslims rarely refer to them for their guidance. They are too confused by the contradictory and tangled maze of thousands of hadith falsely attributed to Muhammad and lost among the trivial details of sectarian books. When they occasionally refer to the Quran, it is most likely to be in an abusive manner, abusing the verses by taking them out of context and using them as slogans to declare holy wars or justify aggression. The Quran that liberated people from the darkness of ignorance was transformed, soon after Muhammad’s departure, to a book whose verses were recited for the dead, an amulet carried by the mentally and physically sick, and a paper idol to be revered and feared.
Though the Quran is considered one of the most read books, millions of Muslims read the Quran without understanding it. Even if their native language is Arabic, they are taught not to trust their understanding. The Quran might be the most read book, but unfortunately, due to the concerted effort of religious clerics, it has been turned to the least understood and the least followed popular book in history.
When the mass reversion from the progressive and enlightening message of the Quran started, those who rejected the fabricated hadith and Sunna, the Arab version of Jewish Mishna and Gemara, they were labeled as “murtad” (apostates) and they were threatened, tortured and murdered by the followers of hadith and sunna. For instance, a critical study of the Muslim history will reveal that Abu Hanifa was one of those courageous monotheists (hanif) who was persecuted during both the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. During his lifetime, he was accused of not accepting hadith. However, the murderers took advantage of his growing reputation after his death and led the creation of a Sunni sect falsely attributed to him.
The Origins of Hislam
After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, a diabolic event happened. In direct contradiction to the teachings of the Quran, male clerics dedicated the religion not to God alone, but to a “holy” corporation consisting of:
God +
Muhammad +
Muhammad’s companions +
The companions of Muhammad’s companions +
Early sect leaders +
Late sect leaders +
Early scholars of a particular sect +
Late scholars of a particular sect, and so on.
The product of this corporation was the hadith (teachings attributed to Muhammad), the Sunna (actions attributed to Muhammad), the Ijma (consensus of a select group of early scholars), and the Sharia (religious decrees by early scholars). The result was numerous hostile factions that afflicted a great amount of division and atrocities in the land about thirty years after the departure of Muhammad (6:159; 23:52-56). This concoction of medieval Arab/Christian/Jewish cultures was introduced to the masses as God’s infallible religion, as delivered by the last prophet. The only thing actually delivered by God to Muhammad, however, was the text of the Holy Quran, which is set out as the final and authoritative divine message to humankind:
“Once We recite it, you shall follow such a recitation (Quran). Then, it is We who will explain it.” (75:18-19)
Unfortunately, ignorance, intolerance, misogynist teachings, superstitions, and outdated practices have accumulated over the centuries in interpreting and translating the holy book of Islam. It is time to re-introduce the actual message of the Quran. It is time to remove the accumulated layers of man-made dogmas and traditions that have attached themselves to the text. (6:21; 7:29; 9:31; 16:52; 39:2,11,14; 40:14,65; 42:21; 45.17; 74:1-56; 98:5).
Under a very cruel theocratic state terror, many men mobilized to participate in the creation what we rightly call Hislam. They did not have much chance to add or subtract to what was considered The Quran, but there was a lot of room for innovations, superstitions, additions and distortions through fabricating hadith. When a man from Bukhara started collecting hearsay more than two hundred years after the departure of the prophet Muhammad, the landscape and social demographics were fertile for all kinds of theological concoctions and mutations. Those people and their parents had participated in numerous sectarian wars and atrocities. Many educated Gentiles, Christians and Jews were converted to Islam for dubious reasons. Most of these converts had never experienced a paradigm change; they just found it convenient to integrate their culture and most of their previous religious ideas with the new one. To justify and promote their version of religion, the elite started packaging and introducing their religious, cultural, and political ideas and practices under the brand names of hadith, sunna, commentaries, and fatwas. Besides, they fabricated numerous stories called “asbab ul-nuzul” (the reasons for revelation) about why each verse was revealed, thereby distorting the meaning or limiting the scope of many Quranic verses. There was a great effort and competition to distort the meaning of words, taking them out of context to promote the agenda of a certain religion, culture, tribe, sect, cult, or king. Male chauvinists, hermits, misogynists too took advantage of this deformation movement. Hearsay statements attributing words and deeds to Muhammad and his idolized comrades became the most powerful tool or Trojan horse, for promotion of diverse political propaganda, cultural assimilation, and even commercial advertisement. As a result, the Quran was deserted and its message was heavily distorted. 1
Soon after Muhammad’s death, thousands of hadiths (words attributed to Muhammad) were fabricated and two centuries later collected, and centuries later were compiled and written in the so-called “authentic” hadith books:
to support the teaching of a particular sect against another (for instance, what nullifies ablution; which sea food is prohibited);
to flatter or justify the authority and practice of a particular king against dissidents (such as, Mahdy and Dajjal);
to promote the interest of a particular tribe or family (such as, favoring Quraysh tribe or Muhammad’s family);
to justify sexual abuse and misogyny (such as, Aisha’s age; barring women from leading Salat prayers);
to justify violence, oppression and tyranny (such as, torturing members of Urayna and Uqayla tribes, massacring Jewish population in Medina, assassinating a female poet for her critical poems);
to exhort more rituals and righteousness (such as, nawafil prayers);
to validate superstitions (such as, magic; worshiping the black stone near Kaba);
to prohibit certain things and actions (such as, prohibiting drawing animal and human figures, playing musical instruments, chess);
to import Jewish and Christian beliefs and practices (such as, death by stoning, circumcision, head scarf, hermitism, rosary);
to resurrect pre-islamic beliefs and practices common among Meccans (such as, intercession; slavery; tribalism; mysoginism);
to please crowds with stories (such as the story of Mirage (ascension to heaven) and bargaining for prayers);
to idolize Muhammad and claim his superiority to other messengers (such as, numerous miracles, including splitting the moon);
to defend hadith fabrications against monotheists (such as, condemning those who find the Quran alone sufficient); and even
to advertise products of a particular farm (such as, the benefits of dates grown in a town called Ajwa).
In addition to the above mentioned reasons, many hadith were fabricated to explain the meaning of the “difficult” Quranic words or phrases, or to distort the meaning of verses that contradicted the fabricated hadith, or to provide trivial information not mentioned in the Quran (such as, Saqar, 2:187; 8:35… )
Islam versus Hislam
Let’s first check the Quran and enumerate some of the characteristics of Islam, the system of peace, submission and surrender to God alone.
Islam
is not a proper name, but a descriptive noun coming from the Arabic root of surrendering/submission/peace, used by God to describe the system delivered by all His messengers and prophets (5:111; 10:72; 98:5), which reached another stage with Abraham (4:125; 22:78).
is surrendering to God alone (2:112,131; 4:125; 6:71; 22:34; 40:66).
is a system with universal principles, which are in harmony with nature (3:83; 33:30; 35:43).
requires objective evidence besides personal experience (3:86; 2:111; 21:24; 74:30).
demands conviction not based on wishful thinking or feelings, but based on reason and evidence (17:36; 4:174; 8:42; 10:100; 11:17; 74:30-31).
esteems knowledge, education, and learning (35:28; 4:162; 9:122; 22:54; 27:40; 29:44,49).
promotes scientific inquiry regarding the evolution of human kind on earth (29:20).
rejects clergymen and intermediaries between god and people (2:48; 9:31-34).
condemns profiteering from religion (9:34; 2:41,79,174; 5:44; 9:9).
stands for liberty, accountability, and defiance of false authorities. (6:164).
stands for freedom of expression (2:256; 18:29; 10:99; 88:21-22).
requires consultation and representation in public affairs (42:38; 5:12).
promotes a democratic system where participation of all citizens is encouraged and facilitated (58:11).
prohibits bribery, and requires strict rules against the influence of interest groups and corporations in government (2:188).
requires election of officials based on qualifications and principles of justice (4:58).
promises justice to everyone, regardless of their creed or ethnicity (5:8).
acknowledges the rights of citizens to publicly petition against injustices committed by individuals or government (4:148).
encourages the distribution of wealth, economic freedom and social welfare (2:215, 59:7).
promotes utmost respect to individuals (5:32).
relates the of the quality of a society to the quality of individuals comprising it (13:11).
recognizes and protects individual right’s to privacy (49:12).
recognizes the right to the presumption of innocence and right to confront the accuser (49:12).
provides protection for witnesses (2:282).
does not hold innocent people responsible for the crime of others (53:38).
protects right to personal property (2:85,188; 4:29; exception 24:29; 59:6-7).
discourages non-productive economy (2:275; 5:90; 3:130).
encourages charity and caring for the poor (6:141; 7:156).
unifies humanity by promoting gender and race equality. (49:13).
values women (3:195; 4:124; 16:97).
values intellect (5:90).
offers peace among nations (2:62; 2:135-136, 208).
considers the entire world belonging to all humanity and supports immigration (4:97-98).
promotes peace, while deterring the aggressive parties (60:8,9; 8:60).
pursues the golden-plated brazen rule of equivalence, that is, retaliation with occasional forgiveness (42:20; 17:33).
stands for human rights and the oppressed (4:75).
encourages competition in righteousness and morality. (16:90)
stands for peace, honesty, kindness, and deterring from wrong doing. (3:110)
expects high moral standards (25:63-76; 31:12-20; 23:1-11).
asks us to be in harmony with nature and environment (30:41).
teaches that the only system/law approved by god is Islam (3:19,85).
Best regards and peace.
“O people, a proof has come to you from your Lord, and We have sent down to you a guiding light.” (4:174)
“… and do not make corruption on the Earth after it has been reformed… ” (7:85)
“It is one of the great ones. A warning to humanity. For any among you who wishes to progress or regress” (74:36-37).
The influence of the religion concocted by clerics during the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties is still dominant in Muslim countries. The blasphemous idea that the Quran is incomplete, unintelligible, and insufficient for spiritual guidance created a huge demand for religious books, and clergymen with big turbans and long beards supplied volumes of them. The masses were told that those books were going to complete, explain, and detail the Quranic revelation. These clerics thus implied that God was not a wise and articulate author; He could not make His message sufficiently clear and he failed to provide guidance on many issues, sometimes even issues involving important spiritual principles and practices. Without these supplementary books, the Quran was of limited use to the individual seeking religious guidance. Some even went so far as to declare that reading the Quran alone would mislead the reader. Numerous books of hadith and sectarian jurisprudence (sharia) were labeled “authentic” and for all practical purposes, they replaced the Quran. The Quran was not a book to be understood on its own; people needed to read books written by professional narrators, collectors, editors, and scholars of hearsay and speculation. Many people got lost among the volumes of books written to interpret and explain the Quran and did not find sufficient time to study the Quran itself. The privileged few who did find that time, had little chance of understanding it, since their minds were tainted with man-made religious instructions, and their logic had been corrupted by contradictory teachings or what we call might call “holy viruses.”
Although religious scholars, clerics and their blind followers have always demonstrated the utmost formal respect for the Quran as physical media, (the leather or paper on which the verses of the Quran were written) they lost faith in, and respect for its message. Verses of the Quran are hung in high places on the walls, touched and treated with utmost reverence, yet Muslims rarely refer to them for their guidance. They are too confused by the contradictory and tangled maze of thousands of hadith falsely attributed to Muhammad and lost among the trivial details of sectarian books. When they occasionally refer to the Quran, it is most likely to be in an abusive manner, abusing the verses by taking them out of context and using them as slogans to declare holy wars or justify aggression. The Quran that liberated people from the darkness of ignorance was transformed, soon after Muhammad’s departure, to a book whose verses were recited for the dead, an amulet carried by the mentally and physically sick, and a paper idol to be revered and feared.
Though the Quran is considered one of the most read books, millions of Muslims read the Quran without understanding it. Even if their native language is Arabic, they are taught not to trust their understanding. The Quran might be the most read book, but unfortunately, due to the concerted effort of religious clerics, it has been turned to the least understood and the least followed popular book in history.
When the mass reversion from the progressive and enlightening message of the Quran started, those who rejected the fabricated hadith and Sunna, the Arab version of Jewish Mishna and Gemara, they were labeled as “murtad” (apostates) and they were threatened, tortured and murdered by the followers of hadith and sunna. For instance, a critical study of the Muslim history will reveal that Abu Hanifa was one of those courageous monotheists (hanif) who was persecuted during both the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. During his lifetime, he was accused of not accepting hadith. However, the murderers took advantage of his growing reputation after his death and led the creation of a Sunni sect falsely attributed to him.
The Origins of Hislam
After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, a diabolic event happened. In direct contradiction to the teachings of the Quran, male clerics dedicated the religion not to God alone, but to a “holy” corporation consisting of:
God +
Muhammad +
Muhammad’s companions +
The companions of Muhammad’s companions +
Early sect leaders +
Late sect leaders +
Early scholars of a particular sect +
Late scholars of a particular sect, and so on.
The product of this corporation was the hadith (teachings attributed to Muhammad), the Sunna (actions attributed to Muhammad), the Ijma (consensus of a select group of early scholars), and the Sharia (religious decrees by early scholars). The result was numerous hostile factions that afflicted a great amount of division and atrocities in the land about thirty years after the departure of Muhammad (6:159; 23:52-56). This concoction of medieval Arab/Christian/Jewish cultures was introduced to the masses as God’s infallible religion, as delivered by the last prophet. The only thing actually delivered by God to Muhammad, however, was the text of the Holy Quran, which is set out as the final and authoritative divine message to humankind:
“Once We recite it, you shall follow such a recitation (Quran). Then, it is We who will explain it.” (75:18-19)
Unfortunately, ignorance, intolerance, misogynist teachings, superstitions, and outdated practices have accumulated over the centuries in interpreting and translating the holy book of Islam. It is time to re-introduce the actual message of the Quran. It is time to remove the accumulated layers of man-made dogmas and traditions that have attached themselves to the text. (6:21; 7:29; 9:31; 16:52; 39:2,11,14; 40:14,65; 42:21; 45.17; 74:1-56; 98:5).
Under a very cruel theocratic state terror, many men mobilized to participate in the creation what we rightly call Hislam. They did not have much chance to add or subtract to what was considered The Quran, but there was a lot of room for innovations, superstitions, additions and distortions through fabricating hadith. When a man from Bukhara started collecting hearsay more than two hundred years after the departure of the prophet Muhammad, the landscape and social demographics were fertile for all kinds of theological concoctions and mutations. Those people and their parents had participated in numerous sectarian wars and atrocities. Many educated Gentiles, Christians and Jews were converted to Islam for dubious reasons. Most of these converts had never experienced a paradigm change; they just found it convenient to integrate their culture and most of their previous religious ideas with the new one. To justify and promote their version of religion, the elite started packaging and introducing their religious, cultural, and political ideas and practices under the brand names of hadith, sunna, commentaries, and fatwas. Besides, they fabricated numerous stories called “asbab ul-nuzul” (the reasons for revelation) about why each verse was revealed, thereby distorting the meaning or limiting the scope of many Quranic verses. There was a great effort and competition to distort the meaning of words, taking them out of context to promote the agenda of a certain religion, culture, tribe, sect, cult, or king. Male chauvinists, hermits, misogynists too took advantage of this deformation movement. Hearsay statements attributing words and deeds to Muhammad and his idolized comrades became the most powerful tool or Trojan horse, for promotion of diverse political propaganda, cultural assimilation, and even commercial advertisement. As a result, the Quran was deserted and its message was heavily distorted. 1
Soon after Muhammad’s death, thousands of hadiths (words attributed to Muhammad) were fabricated and two centuries later collected, and centuries later were compiled and written in the so-called “authentic” hadith books:
to support the teaching of a particular sect against another (for instance, what nullifies ablution; which sea food is prohibited);
to flatter or justify the authority and practice of a particular king against dissidents (such as, Mahdy and Dajjal);
to promote the interest of a particular tribe or family (such as, favoring Quraysh tribe or Muhammad’s family);
to justify sexual abuse and misogyny (such as, Aisha’s age; barring women from leading Salat prayers);
to justify violence, oppression and tyranny (such as, torturing members of Urayna and Uqayla tribes, massacring Jewish population in Medina, assassinating a female poet for her critical poems);
to exhort more rituals and righteousness (such as, nawafil prayers);
to validate superstitions (such as, magic; worshiping the black stone near Kaba);
to prohibit certain things and actions (such as, prohibiting drawing animal and human figures, playing musical instruments, chess);
to import Jewish and Christian beliefs and practices (such as, death by stoning, circumcision, head scarf, hermitism, rosary);
to resurrect pre-islamic beliefs and practices common among Meccans (such as, intercession; slavery; tribalism; mysoginism);
to please crowds with stories (such as the story of Mirage (ascension to heaven) and bargaining for prayers);
to idolize Muhammad and claim his superiority to other messengers (such as, numerous miracles, including splitting the moon);
to defend hadith fabrications against monotheists (such as, condemning those who find the Quran alone sufficient); and even
to advertise products of a particular farm (such as, the benefits of dates grown in a town called Ajwa).
In addition to the above mentioned reasons, many hadith were fabricated to explain the meaning of the “difficult” Quranic words or phrases, or to distort the meaning of verses that contradicted the fabricated hadith, or to provide trivial information not mentioned in the Quran (such as, Saqar, 2:187; 8:35… )
Islam versus Hislam
Let’s first check the Quran and enumerate some of the characteristics of Islam, the system of peace, submission and surrender to God alone.
Islam
is not a proper name, but a descriptive noun coming from the Arabic root of surrendering/submission/peace, used by God to describe the system delivered by all His messengers and prophets (5:111; 10:72; 98:5), which reached another stage with Abraham (4:125; 22:78).
is surrendering to God alone (2:112,131; 4:125; 6:71; 22:34; 40:66).
is a system with universal principles, which are in harmony with nature (3:83; 33:30; 35:43).
requires objective evidence besides personal experience (3:86; 2:111; 21:24; 74:30).
demands conviction not based on wishful thinking or feelings, but based on reason and evidence (17:36; 4:174; 8:42; 10:100; 11:17; 74:30-31).
esteems knowledge, education, and learning (35:28; 4:162; 9:122; 22:54; 27:40; 29:44,49).
promotes scientific inquiry regarding the evolution of human kind on earth (29:20).
rejects clergymen and intermediaries between god and people (2:48; 9:31-34).
condemns profiteering from religion (9:34; 2:41,79,174; 5:44; 9:9).
stands for liberty, accountability, and defiance of false authorities. (6:164).
stands for freedom of expression (2:256; 18:29; 10:99; 88:21-22).
requires consultation and representation in public affairs (42:38; 5:12).
promotes a democratic system where participation of all citizens is encouraged and facilitated (58:11).
prohibits bribery, and requires strict rules against the influence of interest groups and corporations in government (2:188).
requires election of officials based on qualifications and principles of justice (4:58).
promises justice to everyone, regardless of their creed or ethnicity (5:8).
acknowledges the rights of citizens to publicly petition against injustices committed by individuals or government (4:148).
encourages the distribution of wealth, economic freedom and social welfare (2:215, 59:7).
promotes utmost respect to individuals (5:32).
relates the of the quality of a society to the quality of individuals comprising it (13:11).
recognizes and protects individual right’s to privacy (49:12).
recognizes the right to the presumption of innocence and right to confront the accuser (49:12).
provides protection for witnesses (2:282).
does not hold innocent people responsible for the crime of others (53:38).
protects right to personal property (2:85,188; 4:29; exception 24:29; 59:6-7).
discourages non-productive economy (2:275; 5:90; 3:130).
encourages charity and caring for the poor (6:141; 7:156).
unifies humanity by promoting gender and race equality. (49:13).
values women (3:195; 4:124; 16:97).
values intellect (5:90).
offers peace among nations (2:62; 2:135-136, 208).
considers the entire world belonging to all humanity and supports immigration (4:97-98).
promotes peace, while deterring the aggressive parties (60:8,9; 8:60).
pursues the golden-plated brazen rule of equivalence, that is, retaliation with occasional forgiveness (42:20; 17:33).
stands for human rights and the oppressed (4:75).
encourages competition in righteousness and morality. (16:90)
stands for peace, honesty, kindness, and deterring from wrong doing. (3:110)
expects high moral standards (25:63-76; 31:12-20; 23:1-11).
asks us to be in harmony with nature and environment (30:41).
teaches that the only system/law approved by god is Islam (3:19,85).
Best regards and peace.
