There are approximately six and half billion people in the world today. About ninety percent of them believe in, and practice, one religion or another. The Deities they worship differ, depending on the religions they are believed to represent. Hindus revere and worship a host of Deities, as they believe, each one of them have specific responsibility to make their devotees’ lives safe and comfortable. Zoroastrians worship the Sun because it gives them light. Some humans worship animals, as animals have the power and strength to kill them.

Humans took to worshipping animals when they did not have, at their disposal, powerful weapons to tackle them. This situation has changed; now, humans have guns and other means of annihilation. Those animals at the sight of which, our distant forefathers wetted themselves, now fear us, as we are capable of taking away their lives from them just by using a finger of our hand.

The modes adopted by the followers of Monotheism for revering and honoring their respective Gods differ from each other. Jews are the early believers in the unitary form of their God. They hold Him in such an awe as to make them not to write all the alphabets that are needed to write His name. They write G_d, in place of God. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is also a God, as he was fathered by the God who lives somewhere in the sky. His presence in most Christian homes makes it clear that he is more important, and powerful, than his father.

Muslims inherited the belief in a unitary Allah from the Jews and the Christians. They believe He is all-powerful and that nothing happens in this world, and in their lives, without His nod. To remind themselves that He possesses exceptional and often unfathomable characteristics, they have picked up ninety-nine names for Him. These names are known as Asma-e Husna (beautiful names).

Many Muslims not only chant those names whenever they have the occasion to do so, they also take great pleasure in naming their male children after their Allah, without, of course, adding the prefix [al] to their names. Muslim females do not get the opportunity to carry His names, as He does not belong to their gender.

One of the names Muslims have given to their Allah is al-Qahar. The rosary they use for private prayers has ninety-nine beads. Each bead represents one name, including al-Qahar. It denotes a being that has anger, rage, wrath and fury. It also denotes a being that causes calamity, subjects innocent beings to injustice, and practices cruelty.

Muslims’ Allah is also known by the name of al-Rahman, al-Rahim and al-Razzak; all the names meaning [Most Gracious, Most Merciful and the Giver of Sustenance], respectively. By simultaneously naming Him as al-Qahar and al-Rahman, Muslims have succeeded in planting in their minds the picture of a Deity who is gracious and merciful to some, but merciless and unforgiving to those whom He can easily victimize.

The dead and the destitute of the Asian Tsunamis of 2004 were His victims. The victims of the earthquakes that razed a part of Pakistan and India to ground belong to this category. They became His victims not because they had done something awfully bad; His decision to give them a taste of horrific death and destruction came to His mind when He was in a playful mood. But by the time He realized that His playful decision was going to kill numerous infants, infirm and pregnant women, it was too late for Him to turn away the waves of the Tsunamis and shocks of the earthquakes from their path; for once He sets a calamity on its course, it goes out of His control.[1]

It is not only the Muslims who believe that their Allah possesses all the magnificent attributes they attach to Him; people, including highly educated ones, belonging to other religions, also believe their Gods and Deities are invested with those qualities.

Let us consider just one example: A man is diagnosed by his doctor that he is likely to suffer a heart attack, and die, because some of his coronary arteries have become clogged. The man agrees to the suggestion, and he is taken to an operating table.

During the surgery, the man develops complications, but the surgeon overcomes them by making use of his knowledge and expertise, and successfully repairs, or opens up his arteries. The man survives and goes on to living for many, many years.

But strangely enough, the man and his near and dear ones do not credit the surgeon for his extra-ordinary feat; instead, they attribute his survival to the bountiful kindness of God. Terming what the surgeon was able to do as a miracle that only He can perform, they not only prostrate before Him, they also make extensive arrangements so that others can also join them in eulogizing Him for the mercy He has shown to the man!

Reverse the scenario and think for a while that the man has died while being operated upon. Do we know who his near and dear ones are likely to hold responsible for his death?

The surgeon. They would curse him for his negligence and incompetence. He is even likely to face legal action for causing death to their beloved one!

Have we ever considered why many religious people conduct themselves in the manner I have described above? Why don’t they hold their God responsible for the death of their beloved ones, when they believe it is He, and not any human, who saves their lives?

Above questions bring me to a news item from which we have learned that at least 345 Muslim pilgrims have fallen victim to a stampede that took place at the eastern entrance of Mina’s Jamarat Bridge, as they were throwing stones at three pillars in a symbolic casting out of the devil from their bodies.

All of them died an ignominious death. All of them were crushed by the feet of other pilgrims, whereas all the deceased were Allah’s guests and they were performing a pious act at a place that He keeps clean by using the services of the angels.[2]

But where is Jamarat located, and why Muslims caste stones at pillars humans have made with cement and concrete?

It is a bridge-like wide platform that the Saudis have built above the desert, which is close to Mecca, where the [pillars] or al-Jamarat - three short stone walls - are located. Muslim hajjis or pilgrims caste twenty-one pebbles at these pillars every year they come to Mecca to perform their hajj.

Casting of stones at the pillars, which represent three Satans, are symbolic. By stoning the Satans’ statues, Muslims tell Allah [they want to defeat temptation and kill the evil inside them].[3]

Have we got the message? Yes, Muslims want to defeat temptation and kill the evil inside them by stoning the pillars of the Satans!

Is it a logical and sensible thing for any human to do?

Should not Muslims stone themselves, if they want to defeat temptation and evil that live WITHIN themselves?

Never mind the Islamic inanity, as I have serious issues to discuss here in the light of what has happened a day ago to a large number of the Muslim pilgrims.

They come to Mecca at the invitation of Allah. They stay here and at the valley of Mina as His guests. Both the places are sacred and, therefore, safe for all of them. No harm is supposed to befall them at either of the two places.

Yet, a good number of His guests died a few days ago under the crushing weight of the debris of a building that collapsed in Mecca. Allah failed to save the lives of His guests.

Again, 345 of His guests perished under the feet of other guests, while 289 of them are fighting for their lives in the hospital. Allah has failed again to save the dignity, and the lives of His guests, despite possessing awesome power, and unaccountable resources in the shape of angels.

Why is it that Allah’s guests die almost every year under despicable circumstances, when they come to Mecca to pay their tributes to His good and merciful characteristics? Why His guests die at the time of stoning the Satans?

I have been trying to find answers to these questions for over fifteen years, but have not succeeded so far. My failure led me to hypothesize:

-No honorable and caring host would ever like to see his or her guests harmed in any way in his or presence. He or she is expected to protect his or her guests at any cost; for taking care of the guests by their hosts is what makes them [real] humans.

-But Allah does not appear to be able to follow a simple principle of the humans. Why is it so? Is He insensitive or incapable of protecting His guests?

My suspicion is that He is not insensitive, but He lacks the ability, and the strength, to stand up before the might and the abilities of the Satans. Muslims presence in Mecca, the valley of Mina and on Mount Arafat, latter being the holiest place of Islam,[4] irks them. Stoning of them by the Muslim pilgrims makes them very angry. Failing to control themselves, they turn to those pilgrims they know they can easily make their victims. In this way, Satans avenge the pain Muslims inflict on them through stoning.

Where it is convenient for them to kill Allah’s guests by having buildings fall on them or to burn them by setting fire to their tents, Satans never hesitated in using these means against Allah’s guests in the past, they are going to use them in future as well. Allah has never succeeded in restraining them from carrying out their nefarious designs against Him and His guests.

This is a fact that should convince all of us that the Satans are invincible and, therefore, worthy of adoration and worship in place of those worthless Deities the believers in Monotheism have been revering and worshipping for ages, without ever receiving any benefit for their devotions to them.