Note: We are unsure that there is a God at all. This article has been published here because of its perspectives relevant to our site.

This article has been edited.

-- Editor, MA Khan

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Recently, I had the following email conversation with Edip Yuksel, a renowned Turkish reformist of Islam. He wrote:

Dear Larry:

... Did you have a chance to look at the 'Quran: a Reformist Translation?' I know you have a very strong opposition to what you know to be Quranic; but who knows, you might be able to open your mind and heart so that you might make some corrections in your accusations.

Peace, Edip

 

I wrote a response to him analyzing the Koran as presented in this article in a shortened form. Mr Yuksel reacted to my response as follows:

Larry:

You are angry and knowingly or unknowingly trying to justify the extermination of all Muslims. If you have any sense of justice and respect for truth, I invite you to show it in your reaction:

Your so-called "western civilization" just killed more than one million Iraqis, maimed millions, turned millions to orphans, widows and refugees, in war that was initiated based on a series of lies and deception.

If you have any decency, I would like to read an article of you condemning those who supported this war (the coalition of Neocons, evangelical Christians and Zionists) and their warmongering ideologies. Otherwise, I will consider you a stooge of the imperialist monster who is trying to instigate another holocaust, this time against muslims.

I would like to hear you Larry that you are a decent human being and your care about human life goes beyond tribal and religious affiliation. Then, I will respond to your diatribe.

Peace, Edip

 

Following is the summary of my E-mail on Mr. Edip's "Quran: A Reformist Translation".

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Reformist Quran: Putting a Happy Face on Evil

Your book "Quran—A Reformist Translation" is nothing more then an attempt to put a happy face on evil. The problem is not with the English translations of the Koran but with Islam. The reality is that the Koran is not the eternal divine word of god. God never authored the Koran and a copy of the Koran is not in heaven. The Koran is not the uncreated word of god valid for all times and places.

The issues raised by the recent revivalism of Islam are one of life and death to the secular democratic world. Islam is one of the most serious threats freedom-loving people have ever faced. It is the greatest threat that western women have faced to their hard won freedoms and legal protection of their basic rights. Islam is one of the most diabolical ideologies ever created.

 

Islam has the potential to change mankind and a create a new type of human being—a creature totally devoid of humanity, free will and empathy—living in total submission to the brutal, hateful will of Allah. Islam wants to create a new human species: homo-Islamo. It has the potential to lead to extinction of the species, truly human.
Muhammad invented Allah and turned him into a criminal god to give political power to himself and utilize the fictional teachings received from Allah as a religious and legal justification for his criminality. Muhammad never received any revelations from a god. Allah existed only in Muhammad's mind. Muhammad made up all the teachings of the Koran. Muhammad and Allah were two in one.

 

In Islam, deceit, torture, murder, assassination, massacre, genocide, pillage, robbery, enslavement and rape were made halal (legal) acts, deserving of paradise, as long as they were perpetrated on the infidels. These evil, immoral teachings became the eternal laws of Allah.

Islam is not a religion but a dangerous political and military ideology whose sole purpose is to conquer the world for Allah. The Koran is a declaration of war against the infidels. This war is permanent until all infidels have converted to Islam, or reduced to dhimmitude (institutionalized discrimination akin to slavery status) or murdered. Your book masks this cold-hard reality for the 'hear-no-evil, see-no-evil' naive infidels.

Koran is not author by God, but by Allah—the anti-God

In order for the Koran to be the divine word of god, a perfect entity—every word, every teaching must be perfect. If only one word/teaching of the Koran is not perfect or holds moral perfection for all mankind for all time, then the entire Koran is not a work of god. Every word, every teaching must be nonviolent. Your reformist Quran agenda suggests that all teachings in the Koran are not perfect. Therefore, the Koran is not the words/teachings of god, but of Allah.

Examination of your reformist version of the Koran

Following is but a very small sample of the close to 1000 evil teachings of hate, terror, murder and intolerance, that are criminal in any concept of laws, but are valid in the eternal laws of Allah. Regarding Muhammad's attack and slaughter of Banu Quraiza, the Koran says:

33:26 Allah also brought down those who helped them, among the people of the book, from their secure positions, and he threw fear into their hearts. Some of them you killed, and some you took captive.

Do you not hear the screaming and wailing of the women and children of the defenders as god brought their husbands, fathers and brothers (the defenders) down from their secured positions and threw fear into their hearts? Do you not feel the anguished torment of these women and their children? Do you not understand the terror instilled by god into the hearts of the old and the crippled, themselves the defenders against Muhammad's aggression?

Words of hate and terror stream out from the teaching 33:26: "he threw fear into their hearts" & "some you killed." Can you imagine the power of god, the creator of the universe—the full force of the sheer hatred of god striking fear and terror into the hearts and souls of innocent men, women and children, the old and the infirm? Like a sadist, God enjoys torturing these people. Like a master terrorist, he reviles in the moment. God drove the innocent Jews out of their secure forts in fear and terror, so that Muhammad and his co-jihadists could murder them and enslave the women and children.

Think about that for a moment. Can anybody in their right mind believe that god would commit such a brutal, immoral and hideous act? Allah clearly appear to be a criminal, mass murderer, sadist, psychopath—a deranged maniac. If at all, a perfect god will manifest himself only to show love and affection to his creatures—not to incite hate, violence and terror against any of them.

God never brought down the people of the book (Banu Quraiza Jews) from their secure positions for killing and enslaving them. God never threw fear into their hearts. It was Muhammad and his Jihadi murderers. Indisputably, sura 33:26 is a criminal and barbaric teaching. The Koran, therefore, is not a book of perfection, not authored by God, but by Allah.

Again, says Allah:

it was not you who killed them, but it was god who killed them. It was not you who launched when you did, but it was god who launched. So that those who acknowledge would be tested well by him. God is hearer, knowledgeable. [8:17]

How evil is the Koranic teaching that shifts the blame of Muhammad and his murderous followers' indiscriminate killing of infidels on to god's shoulder. It is unacceptable even to invoke god in acts of evil. Verse 8:17 is one of the most despicable, immoral teachings of the Koran. In order to justify mass murder, in order to allay the pangs of conscience of his Muslim murderers, Muhammad fabricates that "it was not you who killed them but it was god who killed them." In this verse, Allah advises Muhammad's followers: 'Don't worry about those mindless murders; do not have any nightmares; do not have any feelings of remorse and regret—instead, steel your hearts against the enemies of god.' God did a good thing through your hands.

 

True God can never justify the killing and murdering of his own creation. It was Muhammad and his Muslim warriors who killed them, not god. It was Muhammad who ordered the killings, not god. This teaching of the Koran is truly evil, not authored by god but Allah.

Allah says:

33:27 he inherited you their land, their homes, their money, and lands you had never stepped on. God is able to do all things.

After killing, Allah now declares that Muhammad can take the defender's land, their homes, their money, and lands he never had stepped upon. God is able to do all things. It's now your land, your homes, your money. Take it all. Allah is not only a mass-murderer of innocents, but also a looter, a robber. Allah’s prototypic teaching is: ‘Attack and kill the infidels, enslave the women and children and take possession of their property.’
How can acquiring earthly wealth and money through such immoral, barbaric and cruel means come into the equation of God's teaching?

The Koran says:

Allah has purchased from those who acknowledge their very lives and their wealth; that they will have paradise. They fight in the cause of god so they kill and are killed. A promise that is true upon him in the torah, the injeel and the quran. Whoever fulfills his pledge to god, then have good news of the deal which you concluded with. Such is the supreme success [9:111].

Verse 9:111 is the most evil, depraved, immoral teaching in all of Islam. Allah takes away from Muslims all rights and ownership of their life. Muslims will engage Allah's stratagems of wars without any questions asked, and kill and get killed. This is the only mode of actions that will earn them Paradise. Allah is the peerless master of incitement of violence and bloodbath.

Verse 9:5, the notorious evil verse of the sword:

so when the restricted months have passed, then you may kill those who have set up partners wherever you find them, take them, surround them, and stand against them at every point. If they repent, hold the contact prayer, and contribute towards betterment, then you shall leave them alone. God is forgiving, compassionate [9:5]

God is the creator of the universe—the creator of all living beings. How can God give such opened-ended and unconditional order to Muslims to kill a section of people, whom he has created and nurtured? An all-perfect, all-knowing God will not create them in the first place, if he has to kill them in such barbaric manner. In 9:5, Allah orders violence and then micro-manage this violence telling Muhammad how to kill his prey. These instructions cannot be from true God, but Allah.

9:29, the infamous people-of-the-book verse:

fight those who do not acknowledge god nor the last day among the people who received the book; they do not forbid what god and his messenger have forbidden, and they do not uphold the system of truth; until they pay the reparation (Jiziyah), in humility [9:29].*

Allah's orders Muslims to attack and kill the so-called 'people of the book’ (i.e. Jews and Christians)', until they are defeated and submitted to the supremacy of Islam and in willing humiliation, pay Jiziyah tax to Muslims. Such is the punishment Allah renders to people for following, in His own admission, scriptures, which He Himself had sent to them a few hundred years earlier. Extraction of Jiziyah from subjugated and humiliated dhimmi Jews and Christians is obviously designed for Muslims to enjoy a good life on the labour and sweat of the dhimmis. Such immoral and shameless is Allah.

Since the teaching of verse 9:29 is unethical, the Koran cannot be the word/teaching of god.

God’s incitement of war

God, the supreme creator will not like to see his won creation to engage in violence, war and bloodbath. A true God will never intervene or will not take any side in any battle, never lead an army into battle, or any other form of divine intervention etc. War extinguishes life that god creates with love. God can never murder his creatures nor can order anyone to kill any human being. A true god will be against sending calamity to destroy any human being. But the teachings of the Koran are ridden with instructions for killing, destruction and war. For example, the Quran says:

2:190 fight in the cause of god against those who fight you, but do not transgress, god does not like the aggressors.*

2:191 kill them wherever you find them, and expel them from where they expelled you, and know that persecution is worse than being killed. Do not fight them at the restricted temple unless they fight you in it; if they fight you then kill them. Thus is the reward of those who do not appreciate.

2:192 if they cease, then god is forgiving, compassionate.

2:193 fight them so there is no more persecution, and so that the system is god’s. If they cease, then there will be no aggression except against the wicked.*

2:194 the restricted month is for the restricted month. The restrictions are mutual. Whoever attacks you, then you shall attack him the same as he attacked you; and be conscientious of god, and know that god is with the righteous.

The almighty God can bring any disobedient human being to his path just by a simple wish. He need not instruct Muslims to unleash violence, bloodbath and war against non-Muslims. These verses of the Koran, urging Muslims to engage in killing, bloodbath and war, cannot come from a true god. The content of the Koran, therefore, cannot be the teachings of Allah.

God, the greatest military commander.

The Koran says:

47:4 so, if you encounter those who have rejected, then strike the control center until you overcome them. Then bind them securely. You may either set them free or ransom them, until the war ends. That, and had god willed, he alone could have beaten them, but he thus tests you by one another. As for those who get killed in the cause of god, he will never let their deeds be put to waste.*

Here, the creator of the universe is instructing Muhammad and his Muslim army in the field of battle to ‘strike the control center (instead of neck) of the enemy until the latter are overcome’ and then to ‘bind them securely.’ The Koranic God, therefore, is acting as the commander-in-chief in the battlefield, for defeating the enemy and taking the latter captive, for ransoming them in order to generate revenue. What a fantastic plan from the creator of the universe. Napoleon is nothing compared to the military genius of the Koranic god as displayed in verse 47.4. Of course, if Muslims can become victorious or martyr by following those military commands of Allah, he will reward those Jihadists with hoards of celestial virgin in paradise as per Koran-9:111.

For the true god, the epitome of sanity and justice, to engage in such actions is nothing but madness.

Killing ordered by Allah

4:89 they hope that you would reject as they rejected, then you would be the same. Do not take any of them as allies until they emigrate in the cause of god. If they turn away, then take them and kill them where you find them; and do not take from them any ally or supporter;*

5:32 it is because of this that we have decreed for the children of Israel, anyone who kills a person who has not committed murder, or who has not Committed mischief in the land; then it is as if he has killed all the people! Whoever spares a life, then it is as if he has given life to all the people."

Here again, God orders killing of some of his creation by others. But the creator of the universe can only be merciful, not vengeful, to his own creation. A true god cannot order murder of any human beings for whatsoever reason. He would instead try to salvage every life he has created with love. He will try to guide, not order to kill, any person for whatsoever reason.

Therefore, the Koran cannot be the words of God.

Live by the sword, die by the sword

5:33 the recompense of those who fight god and his messenger and seek to corrupt the land, is that they will be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off on alternate sides or that they be banished from the land. That is a disgrace for them in this world. In the hereafter, they will have a great retribution;*

Verse 5:33 makes a farce of god’s name. Can one imagine a god killing and crucifying "those who fight god and his messenger and seek to corrupt the land?" In the first place, how can one fight the almighty creator, under whose control is everything on earth? If god simply wishes, everything in the universe falls in place. God need not order Muslims to kill another human beings, whom he has created with love.

There is nothing more nonsensical as ideas like this, which Prophet Muhammad, the purported messenger of Allah, used to cause great human tragedies, such as to murder, torture or banish those who oppose his rule.

Eye for eye doctrine of Allah

2:178 o you who acknowledge, equivalent execution has been decreed for you in the cases of killings: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female. Whoever is forgiven anything by his brother, then it is to be followed with good deeds and kindness towards him; that is alleviation from your lord, and a mercy. Whoever transgresses after that, he will have a painful retribution.

This eye-for-eye doctrine of revenge is a primitive, tribal way of dealing with social problems, not befitting even of modern civilized society. How could a true God make such rule which is to be a standard for all humanity for all time? The Koranic god is even worse than modern civilized human beings in his concept of justice.

Look again at the farcical sense of justice of Allah. If someone kills a slave of another man, the killer will not be punished. But instead, a slave belonging to the killer, who is otherwise completely innocent, would be killed. This shows not only the acceptance of the abhorrent institution of slavery by Allah, but also Allah’s cruel injustice to them. This is madness.

Verse 2:178 is not a teaching of a perfect god, and therefore, the Koran is not a book of god’s word/teaching.

 

Punishment for fornication

24:2 (As for) the fornicatress and the fornicator, flog each of them, (giving) a hundred stripes, and let not pity for them detain you in the matter of obedience to Allah, if you believe in Allah and the last day, and let a party of believers witness their chastisement.*

Here Allah prescribes lashing, an uncivilized practice, of consenting fornicators in front of a jeering crowd. The desire for mating of two individuals in love is God’s own creation and he cannot punish any human being for giving in to a desire he has created himself. Furthermore, this ritual of lashing symbolizes barbarism, which can only be sanctioned by Allah, but not by a true God.

The unjust, heartless, uncivilized and barbaric teaching of Koran 24.2 cannot be authored by a true God. The Koran, therefore, is not the word/teaching of god.

The mass exile

59:2 he is the one who drove out those who rejected among the people of the book from their homes at the very first mass exile. You never thought that they would leave, and they thought that their fortresses would protect them from god. But then god came to them from where they did not expect, and he cast fear into their hearts. They destroyed their homes with their own hands and the hands of those who acknowledge. So take a lesson, o you who possess vision.*

59:3 had god not decreed to banish them, he would have punished them in this life. In the hereafter they will face the retribution of the fire.

59:4 this is because they challenged god and his messenger. Whosoever challenges God, then god is severe in punishment….

59:7 whatever god provided to his messenger from the people of the Townships, then it shall be to god and his messenger; for the relatives, the orphans, the poor, and the wayfarer. Thus, it will not remain monopolized by the rich among you. You may take what the messenger gives you, but do not take what he withholds you from taking. Be aware of god, for god is mighty in retribution.*

8:41 you should know: "of anything you gain, that one-fifth shall go to god and the messenger: to the relatives, the orphans, the poor, and the wayfarer." you will do this if you acknowledge and in what we revealed to our servant on the day of distinction, the day the two armies clashed. God is able to do all things.*

59:6 what god provided to his messenger, without you having to battle for it on horses or on foot, was because god sends his messengers against whomever he wills. God is capable of all things.

These verses encapsulate Allah’s order of evicting or exiling the Jewish community of Medina from their homes and properties. Thereafter, he instructs Muhammad to take possession of the assets and belonging of the exiled, thereby enriching the Muslim community; and of which, 20% goes to the coffer of Muhammad. This ideal only holds good for Hitler in relation to his final solution of the Jewish question. There came a Hitler some 14 centuries ago in Muhammad, for applying a similar final solution to the Jews of Medina. Muhammad and his Allah were Hitler’s protagonists.

This teaching can only be fitting of evil incarnates like Hitler, not of a true god. This is crime against humanity. This is completely unfitting of god.
 

Allah says, ‘Don't hate war, it may be good for you’

2:216. warfare has been decreed for you while you hate it; and perhaps you may hate something while it is good for you, and perhaps you may love something while it is bad for you; god knows while you do not know.

What a wonderful moral teaching of a wonderful moral god. These are the eternal words of the Islamic god. What a wisdom: ‘I, god, have decreed warfare for you, involving killing and destruction, pain and suffering, the carnage of battlefields covered in blood and littered with dead bodies…’ The madness of madness!

Muhammad's carnal desire for his adopted son's wife

33:37 you said to the one who was blessed by god, and blessed by you: "keep your wife and reverence god," and you hid inside yourself what god wished to proclaim. You feared the people, while it was god you were supposed to fear. So when zayd ended his relationship with his wife, we had you marry her, to establish that there is no wrongdoing for those who acknowledge marrying the wives of their adopted sons if their relationship is ended. God's command is always done.

Allah is so concerned and serious about having Muhammad and his adopted son’s wife (Zainab) get married, which was considered incestuous and immoral in the social ethics of the-then Arabs. If he had so eagerly planned a union between Muhammad and Zainab, how could he forget that a few weeks earlier, when Zayd was marrying Zainab? Why did not Allah reveal a verse to stop the marriage which was against what Allah has commanded?

It is clear that Muhammad had developed a carnal desire for his adopted son's wife and to fulfill it, he got this verse revealed by his fictional god, so that he can defy the social taboo and add Zainab to his burgeoning harem.

Zayd had called Muhammad ‘father’ for decades after he was adopted in about 695 CE. Three decades later, he renounced the long-established father-son relationship to naught, just for satisfying his carnal hunch for Zainab and Allah becomes an eagerly willing party in that. A noble and highly ethical pre-Islamic Arab tradition is degraded by Allah to satisfy the sexual fantasies of Muhammad. This not fitting of a true god.

A male chauvinist god

Muhammad’s wives: a soap-opera

33:50 "o prophet, we have made lawful for you the wives to whom you have already Given their dowry, and the one who is committed to you by oath, as granted to You by god... Also, the acknowledging woman who had decreed herself to the prophet, the Prophet may marry her if he wishes, as a privilege given only to you and not to Those who acknowledge. We have already decreed their rights in regard to Their spouses and those who are still dependants. This is to spare you any Hardship. God is forgiver, compassionate."

What a teaching of Allah. He first sanctioned up to four wives (4:3) to each Muslim men. Now Muhammad’s harem was full with four wives and he wanted to add more. So Allah quickly rushes to fulfill his endless sexual fantasy and reveal this verse (in bold), giving him alone additional privilege to populate his harem with endless number of wives.

The sex-obsessed Allah was always there to fulfill Muhammad’s fondest fantasies for unlimited sex.

Allah threatens to divorce Muhammad’s wives

When Muhammad once slept with Maria, the Egyptian slave, breaking the rule he had set, two of his wives (Hafsa and Aisha), who caught him, bandied together and refused to offer sex to him. So Allah comes with the following revelations to rescue Muhammad.

66:4 if the two of you repent to god, then your hearts have listened. But if you band together against him, then god is his master. Gabriel, the righteous of those who acknowledge, and the angels are his supporters.*

66:5 it may be that he would divorce you, then his lord will substitute other wives in your place who are better than you; peacefully surrendering, acknowledging, devout, repentant, serving, active in their societies, responsive, and foremost ones.*

This is perversity of Allah to its extreme. The two wives had revolted against a breach by Muhammad. Instead of admonishing Muhammad, Allah admonishes the wives who should deserve praise for taking the brave and moral stand against the immoral behavior of Muhammad. Taking side of Muhammad, Allah threatens those two wives with divorce and seeks to replace them with younger, prettier and more submissive ones (for a near-death Muhammad).

What a moral bankruptcy is on display. There is no place for the feelings of the women of his harem. Allah has no concern for the sanctity of the concept of love between man and woman. He is only concerned about meeting his apostle’s carnal desires. What a male chauvinist this Allah truly is!

Such teachings of immorality are accepted by Muslims as the teachings of god. Insanity, Period!

Allah sanctioned pedophilia

Islam teaches sex with young female children as an eternal law of god.

Koran 65.4 allows Muslims marry (and divorce) little girls who have not yet reached menstruation age.

Koran 65:4: and those of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the 'iddah (waiting period for divorce), if you have doubts (about their periods), is three months, and for those who have no courses [(i.e. They are still immature) their 'iddah (prescribed period) is three months likewise, except in case of death]. And for those who are pregnant (whether they are divorced or their husbands are dead), their 'iddah (prescribed period) is until they deliver (their burdens) (give birth) and whosoever fears Allah and keeps his duty to him, he will make his matter easy for him.

Koran 65.4 clearly states that Muslim men can divorce pre-pubescent girls—that is, they are allowed to marry pre-pubescent children (girls). To that end, Prophet Muhammad fulfilled this decree of Allah by marrying 6-year-old baby Aisha. A true god cannot promote such outrageous teachings of pedophilia to harm young innocent girls. The Koran, therefore, cannot be the teaching of god.

Conclusion

This is a sample of numerous immoral, evil, depraved teachings of the Koran, which clearly demonstrate that its teachings are far from morally perfect.

The Koran, therefore, is not the word/teaching of god. Period!

Islam is a sham, a fraud.

Islam is a total and complete rejection of the ideal of god. The Koran is an evil book, created in the name of god. Islam is blasphemy and a sacrilege against god himself.

Islam is a fraudulent, diabolical and evil ideology. The acts of those Muslims, whole-heartedly inspired and acted upon by its teachings such as those of radical Islamists around the world, prove it all.

 

Reforming Islam: A Tough Call

There are some moderate Muslims trying to reform Islam, although there are should not be anything reformable in the final and perfected religion of Allah. Many believe that Islam cannot be reformed at all.

The reformists, however, must undertake not a phony but a tough-love approach towards reforming Islam eradicating all the unethical and dangerous teachings that pollute the Koran. There can be no choice here.

The first step in reforming Islam is the declaration that the Koran is not the eternal word/teaching of god and that it is not valid for all times and places. It must be declared that a good part of the Koran is unacceptable to the civilized society, which must be expunged from it. Following are a few issues; the reformists must meticulously work on:

1. Renouncing, denouncing and removing from the Koran the close to 1000 fascist teachings of violence, terror, war, death and destruction.

2. Renouncing, denouncing and removing from the Koran all teachings of the oppression, subjugation and repression of women.

3. The total and complete equality of women in a democratic society without equivocation is absolutely essential to the reform of Islam. Nothing less is acceptable.

4. Renouncing, denouncing and removing from the Koran all teachings of raping infidel slaves.

5. Renouncing, denouncing and removing from the Koran all references to slavery. Slavery is the most vile, evil institutions ever invented by man.

6. Renouncing, denouncing and removing from the Koran all teachings of looting and pillaging and sharing the profit received from selling looted property and slaves with god.

7. Renouncing, denouncing and removing from the Koran all teachings of hate and racism.

8. Renouncing, denouncing and removing from the Koran all teachings of murdering apostates of Islam, allowing complete right for Muslims to leave Islam.

9. Renouncing, denouncing and removing from the Koran all teachings of polygamy.

10. The complete eradication of the sexually depraved Islamic paradise of virgins who are to service the men of Allah for all eternity. This evil paradise for murderers is an outrageous affront and sin against god. It turns god into a pimp, making a mockery of everything god stands for. Over 1400 years, upwards of 270,000,000 people have been murdered by Muslims in their desire to land in obscene orgasmic Islamic paradise (9:111).

11. Total eradication of sharia law and its replacement by separation of religion and state, democracy and freedom and the rule of law.

Without addressing these points rigorously, there cannot be any meaningful reformation of Islam. Anything less will be nothing but putting a happy face on a dangerous evil, essentially changing nothing.