Abdullah Sameer

أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ Does He who created not know, while He is the Subtle, the Acquainted? (67:14)

Agnostic Muslims

Abdullah Sameer

Check out the new Agnostic Muslims page!  I support this movement very much so please check it out.

“How can a person be both Agnostic… AND Muslim?” To many people, it makes no sense. A Muslim is one who believes in Allah, first and foremost. He believes the Quran is the literal word of Allah, and that Muhammad is His Messenger. But an agnostic is someone who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the nature or existence of God, let alone the divine origins of the Quran, or the divine purpose of Muhammad- peace and blessings be upon him and on us all. But here’s what makes no sense to us.

Today, just like yesterday, and countless days before that, thousands of Muslim children were born. Those of us who maintain this website were among those children. Perhaps you are one of them as well.

And the thing that makes no sense is that none of us were born believing in God, or believing that God communicated his most important message to mankind through an angel to an unsuspecting Arab merchant, for it to be transmitted over the centuries for our implementation today. Those are things that we had to be taught. And while all of us were taught those things in one way or another, we also learned other things, and we may have come to different conclusions than the ones we were “supposed” to. Many of us simply don’t believe the supernatural premises of Islam in the literal sense.

We may believe in God; or we may not be sure. We may think there is something after this life, or we may feel uncomfortable speculating that there is.

We may think the Qur’an is a great work of literature, full of ancient wisdom for today; or we may think it’s kind of outdated and even a little violent and divisive.

We may think that Muhammad was a wise leader who spoke his inspired reflections on mankind’s relationship with one another and with God; or we may think he was simply a man of his time who possibly did some things we would not consider particularly ethical or redeeming.

And what makes the least sense of all to us is the notion that it is some kind of act of faith or piety to keep these thoughts private, to never speak of them. That it is somehow blasphemous or insulting to be honest about our ideas concerning our own religious heritage. The truth is that millions of Muslims around the world feel as we do. They have doubts about what they are told by the conservative “guardians of Islam” must be accepted on faith. They are perhaps even cynical toward these spokespeople for our shared faith, who warn so ominously of what should happen to people who share their doubts publicly. But what does that kind of an environment do to a people?

It promotes hypocrisy. It suppresses honesty. It destroys critical thought. It denies people the basic right of sharing their opinions. It prevents them from freely exchanging ideas and learning from one another. We are Agnostic because of our doubts and questions. But we are Muslims because of our faith…

That if we are born into Islam, nobody has the right to take it away from us or tell us what it should mean to us.

That Islam is at its core a tradition of wonder and appreciation for the mystery and majesty of Allah’s creation.

That no merciful God would ever punish or persecute his creations for using their brains, for asking questions, and for not knowing. We reject the rightness of anyone who would deny us the right to ask these questions openly. And we welcome anyone to ask and explore them with us.

Wasalaam. And in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious and Most Merciful, we begin.

Greeting the kuffar (disbelievers)

Abdullah Sameer

Islamic law is based on very specific incidents that occured in Muhammad’s life.  Instead of teaching universal goodwill and fair manners and treatment of all, it specifies different standards for Muslims and Non-Muslims.  Not initiating greetings and not responding to greetings are two examples of how Islam doesn’t teach good manners towards non-Muslims.

Why is it in Islam that non-Muslims are given unfair treatment in greetings?  Doesn’t Islam come with a superior moral system for all of humanity?

It’s because Islam is not from God, it is the invention of Muhammad who made up laws to deal with situations as they arose in his life.

The Islamic greeting is “As-salamu alaikum” (Peace be upon you).

The response is “Wa alaikum assalam” (And to you peace)

One of the rulings is Sunni Islamic Fiqh teaches Muslims to not respond this way to non-Muslims.  It also teaches not to initiate greetings.

Initiating greetings (salams) to the non-Muslim

This is not permitted according to the follow narrations:
Do not greet the Jews and the Christians before they greet you and when you meet any one of them on the roads force him to go to the narrowest part of it. (Muslim and Tirmidhi).
Abu Hurairah (RAA) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “Do not initiate the saluting of Jews and Christians (when you meet them), and if you meet any of them on the road, force him to go to the narrowest part of the road (i.e. do not give way for them to pass, but keep going). (Muslim)

Classical scholars said:

Ahmad Bin Hanbal commented on the above Hadith: “Going by this Hadith is better than any other contrary opinion”. Ibn Hajar is of similar opinion, while commenting on the above Hadith, he said: “The most credible of all these (views) is what is evident in the above Hadith, although it is specific to the People of the Book. Ibn Katheer also, while commenting on the verse on greeting (Qur’an 4:86) said: “But as to non-Muslim citizens (Alum Dimmit) one should not initiate to them the greetings of salaam” Abu Haneefah and Malik Bin Anas detested initiating salaam with non-Muslims.[ref]Rules of Greeting non-Muslims in Islam (Saying Salaam/Replying Salaam)[/ref]

THe modern Salafi scholar Ibn Uthaymeen said:

He believed initiating greetings of any sort with non-Muslims is a sort of honor given to them which they don’t deserve. He categorically spelt out that it is prohibited (Haraam) to greet them with salaam. He further said: “Because it is a humiliation for a Muslim when he starts to honor a non-Muslim”[ref]Rules of Greeting non-Muslims in Islam (Saying Salaam/Replying Salaam)[/ref]

Responding to the salams of a Non-Muslim

Even though the Quran demands that a person should respond in equal or greater to a greeting, this was overruled in Islamic fiqh by the statements of Prophet Muhammad in regard to non-Muslims.

The Quran states:

And when you are greeted with a greeting, greet [in return] with one better than it or [at least] return it [in a like manner]. Indeed, Allah is ever, over all things, an Accountant. (4:86)

But Muslims often don’t respond to Non-Muslims greetings in full despite this verse because of several sayings attributed to Muhammad:

Muslim reported in his Saheeh (14/144) from Anas ibn Maalik that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When the People of the Book say salaam to you (greet you by saying al-salaamu alaykum), say ‘Wa ‘alaykum’ (and unto you).’”

According to another report, he was asked, “The People of the Book say salaam to us. How should we respond?” He said, “Say, ‘Wa ‘alaykum.’”

Imam Nawawi said in his commentary:

The scholars agree that the greeting of the People of the Book should be returned, if they greet us with salaam, but we should not say to them, “Wa ‘alaykum al-salaam (and upon you be peace).” We should say only “ ‘alaykum (upon you)” or “wa ‘alaykum (and upon you).”

From among the contemporary scholars, Ibn Uthaimeen said it is okay if you are SURE they said “As-SALAM alaikum” (Peace be upon you):

“If a non-Muslim greets a Muslim by saying “al-saamu ‘alaykum” (Death be upon you), then we should respond by saying ‘wa ‘alaykum (and also upon you). The fact that the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “wa alaykum” (And upon you also) indicates that if they were saying “as-salaamu ‘alaykum” (Peace be upon you), then peace will also be upon them, that is, whatever they say to us, we say to them. Hence some of the scholars said that if a Jew, Christian or other non-Muslim clearly says “al-Salaamu ‘alaykum”, it is permissible for us to say “Alaykum al-Salaam” (upon you peace be)[ref]Rules of Greeting non-Muslims in Islam (Saying Salaam/Replying Salaam)[/ref]

The history behind this is because according to the hadith some Jew said “As-samu Alaikum” (death be upon you) to Prophet Muhammad, and this is what happened:

Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “When the Jews greet anyone of you they say: ‘Sam’Alaika (death be upon you); so you should say; ‘Wa ‘Alaika (and upon you).'” (Bukhari and others)

So forever now Muslims can never say “Wa alaikum assalam” (And to you peace), but can only say “Wa alaikum” to non-Muslims.  Forever, yup.  Because of some Jews back then that thought it would be funny.  Check out what else they tried to do:

The Jews used to sneeze in the presence of the Prophet (ﷺ) hoping that he would say: ‘May Allah have mercy upon you”. So he said: “May Allah guide you and rectify your affairs” (Tirmidhi, Abu Daud and others)

Thats right.  The perfection of character, mercy to the world Prophet Muhammad taught us that we cannot ask for God’s mercy on disbelievers when they sneeze.

Muslim Achoo!
Response: May God have mercy on you

Non-Muslim Achoo!
Response: God guide you!

Now why on earth does Islam require a different response to a sneeze based on what faith you are?  Doesn’t this reflet a too much of us-vs-them thinking?

Praying for non-Muslims after they die

This is also forbidden:

As for after their death, it is impermissible (haram) to make dua for forgiveness and the like for a non-Muslim, for Allah Most High said, “It is not for the Prophet and those who believe to pray for the forgiveness of unbelievers even though they may be near of kin after it has become clear that they are people of hell-fire.” (9:113)[ref]Can We Pray for Non-Muslims Who Passed Away?[/ref]

In conclusion

In conclusion, Islamic law is based on very specific incidents that occured in Muhammad’s life.  Instead of teaching universal goodwill and fair manners and treatment of all, it specifies different standards for Muslims and Non-Muslims.  Not initiating greetings and not responding to greetings are two examples of how Islam doesn’t teach good manners towards non-Muslims.  Islam is not from God, it is the invention of Muhammad who made up laws to deal with situations as they arose in his life.

 

External links:

Abdullah ibn abi Sarh

Abdullah Sameer

Abdullah ibn abi Sarh, the foster brother of Uthman Affan, was a writer of the Quran.  According to some sources, he left Islam because he was able to influence the revelation with his own words and he doubted Muhammad was receiving revelation from God.  The first source which is the seerah of Ibn Hisham says that he was a companion who apostated and Prophet Muhammad wanted him executed.  However Uthman interceded for him and requested immunity, which was granted.  However according to our sources, Prophet Muhammad still wished that he would have been killed and questioned his companion as to why he didn’t kill him. This was also mentioned in Tabaqat al Kabir by Ibn Saad

The story of Abi Sarh being able to predict the next phrase of the Quran is in Tafisr al-Baidawi.  I don’t know how authentic these stories are.  However this is very similar to the just in time revelations issue and I would not be surprised if it was true.  At the very least we know that Muhammad wanted him killed because he used to receive revelation and he was a major threat to Islam.

Baidawi (died 1286) writes:

“‘To me it has been revealed’, when naught has been revealed to him” refers to `Abdallah Ibn Sa`d Ibn Abi Sarh, who used to write for God’s messenger. The verse (23:12) that says, “We created man of an extraction of clay” was revealed, and when Muhammad reached the part that says, “… thereafter We produced him as another creature (23:14), `Abdallah said, “So blessed be God the fairest of creators!” in amazement at the details of man’s creation. The prophet said, “Write it down; for thus it has been revealed.” `Abdallah doubted and said, “If Muhammad is truthful then I receive the revelation as much as he does, and if he is a liar, what I said is a good as what he said.” (Tafsir Anwar al-Tanzil wa Asrar al-Ta’wil [by Abdallah ibn Umar Al-Baidawi])

Ibn Al Athir (1160-1233 AD) writes:

He converted to Islam before the conquest of Mecca and immigrated to the Prophet(P) [i.e. in Medina]. He used to record the revelation for the Prophet(P) before he apostatized and went back to Mecca. Then he told Quraysh: ‘I used to orient Muhammad wherever I willed, he dictated to me “All-Powerful All-Wise” and I suggest “All Knowing All-Wise” so he would say: “Yes, it is all the same.” (Ibn al-Athîr, Usûd Ulghâbah fî Ma’rifat Is-Sahâbah, 1995, Dâr al-Fikr, Beruit (Lebanon), Volume 3, p. 154)[ref]Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh: Where is the truth?[/ref]

In the hadith we hear about how Muhammad wanted him killed:

It was narrated from Mus’ab bin Sa’d that his father said:

“On the day of the Conquest of Makkah, the Messenger of Allah [SAW] granted amnesty to the people, except four men and two women. He said: ‘Kill them, even if you find them clinging to the covers of Ka’bah.’ (They were) ‘Ikrimah bin Abi Jahl, ‘Abdullah bin Khatal, Miqyas bin Subabah and ‘Abdullah bin Sa’d bin Abi As-Sarh. ‘Abdullah bin Khatl was caught while he was clinging to the covers of Ka’bah. Sa’eed bin Huraith and ‘Ammar bin Yasir both rushed toward him, but Sa’eed, who was the younger of the two, got there before ‘Ammar, and he killed him. Miqyas bin Subabah was caught by the people in the marketplace, and they killed him. ‘Ikrimah traveled by sea, and he was caught in a storm. The crew of the ship said: ‘Turn sincerely toward Allah, for your (false) gods cannot help you at all in this situation.’ ‘Ikrimah said: ‘By Allah, if nothing came to save me at sea except sincerity toward Allah then nothing else will save me on land. O Allah, I promise You that if You save me from this predicament I will go to Muhammad [SAW] and put my hand in his, and I am sure that I will find him generous and forgiving.’ So he came, and accepted Islam. ‘Abdullah (bin Sa’d) bin Abi Sarh hid in the house of ‘Uthman bin ‘Affan, and when the Messenger of Allah [SAW] called the people to give their Oath of Allegiance, he brought him, and made him stand before the Prophet [SAW]. He (‘Uthman) said: ‘O Messenger of Allah! Accept the allegiance of ‘Abdullah.’ He raised his head and looked at him three times, refusing his allegiance each time, then he accepted his allegiance after three times.

Then he turned to his Companions and said: ‘Was there not any sensible man among you who would get up when he saw me refusing to give him my hand and kill him?’

They said: ‘We did not know, O Messenger of Allah, what was in your heart. Why did you not gesture to us with your eyes?’ He said: ‘It is not befitting for a Prophet that his eyes be deceitful.'”  (Nasai)

In Alfiyat al-Sirat An-Nabawiyyah by Al-Hafiz Zain al-Din ‘Abd al-Rahim al-‘Iraqi (1325-1404 AD) he writes:

“The scribes of Muhammad were 42 in number. `Abdallah Ibn Sarh al-`Amiri was one of them, and he was the first Quraishite among those who wrote in Mecca before he turned away from Islam. He started saying, “I used to direct Muhammad wherever I willed. He would dictate to me ‘Most High, All-Wise’, and I would write down ‘All-Wise’ only. Then he would say, ‘Yes it is all the same’. On a certain occasion he said, ‘Write such and such’, but I wrote ‘Write’ only, and he said, ‘Write whatever you like.'” So when this scribe exposed Muhammad, he wrote in the Qur’an, “And who does greater evil than he who forges against God a lie, or says, ‘To me it has been revealed’, when naught has been revealed to him.” So on the day Muhammad conquered Mecca, he commanded his scribe to be killed. But the scribe fled to `Uthman Ibn `Affan, because `Uthman was his foster brother (his mother suckled `Uthman). `Uthman, therefore, kept him away from Muhammad. After the people calmed down, `Uthman brought the scribe to Muhammad and sought protection for him. Muhammad kept silent for a long time, after which he said yes. When `Uthman had left, Muhammad said “I only kept silent so that you (the people) should kill him.”” (Al-Sirah by al-‘Iraqi)
Reference needs verification

Ibn Ishaq (704-768 AD), the earliest seerah writer states:

“The apostle had instructed his commanders when they entered Mecca only to fight those who resisted them except a small number who were to be killed even if they were found beneath the curtains of the Kaaba. Among them was `Abdullah b. Sa`d, brother of the B. `Amir b. Lu’ayy. The reason he ordered him to be killed was that he had been a Muslim and used to write down revelation; then he apostatized and returned to Qurahysh [Mecca] and fled to `Uthman b. `Affan whose foster brother he was. The latter hid him until he brought him to the apostle after the situation in Mecca was tranquil, and asked that he might be granted immunity. They allege that the apostle remained silent for a long time till finally he said yes. When `Uthman had left he [Muhammad] said to his companions who were sitting around him, “I kept silent so that one of you might get up and strike off his head!” One of the Ansar [Muhammad’s helpers from Medina] said, “Then why didn’t you give me a sign, O apostle of God?” He [Muhammad] answered that a prophet does not kill by pointing.” (Sirat Rasul Allah by Ibn Ishaq, p. 550)

In Kitab Al-Tabaqat Al-Kabir by Ibn Sa’d (784-845 AD):

“A person of al-Ansar had taken a vow to kill Ibn Abi Sarh if he saw him. `Uthman whose foster brother he (Abi Sarh) was, came and interceded for him with the Prophet. The Ansari was waiting for the signal of the Prophet to kill him. `Uthman interceded and he [Muhammad] let him (Abi Sarh) go. Then the apostle of Allah said to the Ansari, “Why did you not fulfill your vow?” He said, “O apostle of Allah! I had my hand on the hilt of the sword waiting for your signal to kill him.” The Prophet said signaling would have been a breach of faith. “It does not behave a prophet to make a signal.” (Tabaqat Al-Kabir, p. 174)

And in several hadith in Abu Dawud, Muhammad talks about how he wished they killed him:

Narrated Sa’d: On the day when Mecca was conquered, the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) gave protection to the people except four men and two women and he named them. Ibn AbuSarh was one of them. He then narrated the tradition. He said: Ibn Abi Sarh hid himself with Uthman ibn Affan. When the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) called the people to take the oath of allegiance, he brought him and made him stand before the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him). He said: Apostle of Allah, receive the oath of allegiance from him. He raised his head and looked at him thrice, denying him every time. After the third time he received his oath. He then turned to his companions and said: Is not there any intelligent man among you who would stand to this (man) when he saw me desisting from receiving the oath of allegiance, and kill him? They replied: We do not know, Apostle of Allah, what lies in your heart; did you not give us an hint with your eye? He said: It is not proper for a prophet to have a treacherous eye. (Abu Dawud 14:2677)

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: Abdullah ibn AbuSarh used to write (the revelation) for the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him). Satan made him slip, and he joined the infidels. The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) commanded to kill him on the day of Conquest (of Mecca). Uthman ibn Affan sought protection for him. The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) gave him protection. (Abu Dawud 38:4345)

Narrated Sa’d ibn AbuWaqqas: On the day of the conquest of Mecca, Abdullah ibn Sa’d ibn AbuSarh hid himself with Uthman ibn Affan. He brought him and made him stand before the Prophet (peace be upon him), and said: Accept the allegiance of Abdullah, Apostle of Allah! He raised his head and looked at him three times, refusing him each time, but accepted his allegiance after the third time. Then turning to his companions, he said: Was not there a wise man among you who would stand up to him when he saw that I had withheld my hand from accepting his allegiance, and kill him? They said: We did not know what you had in your heart, Apostle of Allah! Why did you not give us a signal with your eye? He said: It is not advisable for a Prophet to play deceptive tricks with the eyes.” (Abu Dawud 38:4346)

The Iranian rationalist Ali Dashti writes:

‘Abdollah b. Abi Sarh was a foster-brother of ‘Othman. He took refuge with ‘Othman, who kept him hidden for several days until the commotion subsided, and then brought him to the Prophet and requested pardon for him. After a long silence, the Prophet said, “Yes”, meaning that he reluctantly accepted ‘Othman’s intercession. Thereupon ‘Abdollah b. Abi Sarh professed Islam again and ‘Othman and he departed. The Prophet, when asked the reason for the long silence, replied, “His Islam was not voluntary but from fear, so I was reluctant to accept it. I was expecting one of you to stand up and behead him.” (This was because it had been proclaimed that his blood might be lawfully shed in any place where he might be found, “even if clinging to the covering of the K‘aba”). One of the Ansar asked the Prophet why he had not winked, and received the answer that “God’s Apostle cannot have false eyes”, meaning that he could not falsely pretend silence while giving a sign with the eyes to kill… (Dashti, 23 Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad, translated from the Persian by F.R.C. Bagley [Mazda Publishers, Costa Mesa, CA 1994], pp. 98-99)

 

Read more here: Answering Islam – Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh , Pdf: The Qur’an contains words by `Abdullah ibn Sa`d Ibn Abi Sarh

The Atheist Quran (Parody)

Abdullah Sameer

This is great and would be considered the epitome of blasphemy by most Muslims (although the Quran challenges us to come up with something like it)   A lot of it is the exact same structure as the Quran with the words replaced to change the meaning. Its done in a very clever way but I wouldn’t call it linguistically impressive since its a parody. Also the recitation with the tajweed is pretty spot on. 

 

 

Bani Israel is the reason for meat rotting

Abdullah Sameer

Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet (S) said, “If it was not for the Israelites, meat would not decay. And if it was not for Eve, wives would never betray their husbands.” (Bukhari)

Hammam b. Munabbih said:
These are some of the ahadith which Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) narrated to us from Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ), and one of these (this one): Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said: Had it not been for Bani Isra’il (the Israelites), food would not have become stale, and meat would not have gone bad; and had it not been for Eve, a woman would never have acted unfaithfully towards her husband. (Muslim)

And since we know that these Israelites lived less than 4,000 years ago, it means that the meat-spoiling organisms (like E. Coli, Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, Staph. aureus, etc.) could not possibly have existed more than 4,000 years ago either?