On reading the Quran, one cannot miss the large number of verses dedicated to the stories of previous prophets, which is rather surprising for a book that only touched briefly on far more important issues. It is obvious that Mohammed was trying to make a point to his followers; he wanted them to believe in those prophets as men with superior human qualities, specially created and selected by Allah to be His spokesmen on earth. According to Mohammed, prophets maintained some form of direct contact with Allah, who provided them with support and guidance. Therefore they were almost immune to mistakes, ‘ma’soumoon’, in Islamic terminology.  

The logical question that springs to mind is: if Allah likes the prophets that much, then why He did didn’t create all people to be like them? A fair question to which Muslims have a ready-made answer: ‘Allah is not asked about his actions’. I am afraid that, at least from the human point of view, selecting a few people to become prophets is most unjust, and certainly does not fit into the Islamic image of a just Allah. Once I had the courage to put the question to an Islamic scholar, who of course quoted the above ready-made answer, but when I pressed him he added ‘we should not expect to have it so easy’. When I asked why the prophets had it so easy? His answer was something like ‘Allah can offer this privilege to selected people, but not everyone!’  It would appear that creating prophets is more costly than creating standard humans, besides it would put too much pressure on the resources of the paradise!  

The exact number of prophets is not known, some Islamic scholars say hundreds while others put it in thousands. The Quran itself only mentions the names of twenty-six of them, nearly all come from one dynasty (Q. 3:33 God did choose Adam and Noah, the family of Abraham, and the family of Imran above all people). We may only conclude from this verse that Allah never intended people to be equal; some families are better than others and some races are better than others are.  

But this is outside the subject of this article, which focuses on some of the best-known prophets in Islam. To keep the article in reasonable size, the stories of only three prophets are discussed, which is enough to disprove Mohammed’s claim about the virtues of the prophets and their talents. Contrary to Mohammed’s claims, there is evidence, from the Quran itself, that those prophets were corrupt men with low integrity and inferior moralities. 

Prophet Adam, the ultimate sinner.

Adam was the first human to be created; his creation was carefully planned by Allah, and took place in heavens. Adam had a face-to-face contact with Allah and all the angels including Ibliss, later known as the Satan. Adam was the only human to witness the universe’s major crisis that caused the division between Allah and his highest-ranking angel, Ibliss, which was a consequence to Adam’s creation. 

Adam had the privilege of being the only man to be taught directly by Allah Himself, (Q. 2: 31 And He taught Adam the nature of all things...). In the standard of education, knowledge and wisdom no other human can ever come close to Adam, the student of Allah. Accompanied by his newly created wife, Hawa (Eve) Adam resided happily in paradise. Adam had nobody to preach and virtually no sins to commit. He only had to enjoy the luxurious life style typical of paradise.  

Adam and his wife were only given one simple order, which is to avoid eating from a particular tree (Q.2: 35,, and eat of the bountiful things therein as ye will; but approach not this tree, or ye run into harm and transgression."…) Which is not too much to ask, considering the couple already live lavishly in the abundance of paradise, with all sorts of food and drinks available to them. Adam knew the order came directly from Allah Himself, and he knew how Allah punishes those who disobey Him, the memory of Ibliss was still fresh in his mind.  

Under the given the circumstances, it is inconceivable that any member of the human race, up to our time, would ever consider disobeying Allah. But Adam did (Q.20: 121…thus did Adam disobey his Lord…). He behaved like a hungry man who never seen food in his life. Where did all that the education, wisdom and knowledge taught by Allah go? What was in his mind? Was he drunk? Or was he just testing Allah’s reaction?  

We will never know the correct answers to these puzzling questions. If Adam was testing Allah’s reaction then he was not very disappointed. As a punishment, Adam had to spend the rest of his life in exile in a distant planet called Earth. His wealth was remarkably reduced, as he now only owns the Earth!  Adam doesn’t have to worry about the afterlife either as there will be no more punishments at all. Adam will be re admitted to paradise and live in its elite quarter with all the other prophets. 

Based on the Quranic story, one would think that Allah who punished Adam is a different Allah from the one who punished Ibliss. A simple comparison between this sin of Adam and the old sin of Ibliss, this one seems far too worse. After all, Ibliss didn’t mean to disobey, he only misunderstood, while Adam deliberately disobeyed, but blamed Ibliss for his insolence! 

This is how Mohammed wants us to understand Allah’s system of justice. Adam commits the sin and ends up in paradise, while the rest of us have nothing to do with it but end up in hell! What a spectacular justice!

Prophet Ibrahim, the unconvinced believer

Ibrahim(Abraham) is a very special prophet because he is considered to be the father of all prophets, except Adam and Noah. Ibrahim is buried in the West Bank town of Alkhalil (Hebron). The name Alkhalil means the friend, which is the Islamic title for this great prophet. Please make no mistake about whose friend he was; Ibrahim was the friend of Allah. (Q.4:125 …For God did take Abraham for a friend). Ibrahim’s nickname in Arabic is Allah’s friend (khalilul rahman). 

The Quran refers to Ibrahim very nicely and always with respect, which is hardly surprising considering his friendship with Allah. (Q.11:75 For Abraham was, without doubt, forbearing, compassionate, and given to look to God).   

At an old age, this great prophet married his slave, Hajer, who gave birth to a long awaited boy Ismail. At one stage, Ibrahim was about to slaughter his beloved son because he dreamt of doing so. The tragedy was averted by the interference of his best friend, Allah, who donated a lamb to be slaughtered instead. Since then, Muslims have slaughtered millions of lambs to mark the occasion. 

As a young man, Ibrahim witnessed an even more remarkable miracle, which took place when his people decided to burn him alive because he destroyed their idols. Allah rescued Ibrahim by ordering the flames to become cool on Ibrahim and cause him no harm. (Q.21: 69 we said, "O Fire! be thou cool, and a means of safety for Abraham!") 

As an established prophet and friend of Allah, Ibrahim once asked a question that deserves the title of the rudest question in the history of humanity. Ibrahim who is the best to know Allah and His capabilities asked the following question: Allah! Show me how do you create the living from the dead and the dead from the living. Allah asked him: Why Ibrahim? Don’t you believe? To which Ibrahim answered yes I do, but I want to make sure (Q.2: 260).  

This is the friend of Allah, who is actually speaking to Allah Himself, but still not sure of Him! How can Muslims blame the infidels when they ask for a proof about Allah?  

Was Ibrahim punished? Not at all. In fact Allah obliged and performed a quick demonstration to satisfy the great man’s curiosity (Q.2: 260). Of course, Ibrahim has a guaranteed place in the best quarter of paradise, next to Mohammed and Adam.

Prophet Moses, the racist murderer

Moses is well known to be one of the greatest prophets of Allah. His name is the most frequently mentioned name in the Quran and his story is the most frequently repeated story in the Quran. Moses is known in Islam as ‘Kaleem ul Allah’, meaning the person with whom Allah speaks (Q.4:164 …and to Moses God spoke direct..). 

Moses was born in Egypt and was brought up by the royal family.  He met Allah during his trip between Palestine and Egypt in a mountainous place called Altour in Sinai. Allah wanted to speak to Moses in private, so He made Moses leave his family behind and come to the mountain in search for fire. On arrival to the valley near Altour Mountain, Allah spoke to Moses by first introducing Himself (Q.20: 14) ‘I am Allah, no god but I’. Then they both had the historical conversation recorded in the Quran. Allah noticed that Moses had something in his right hand (which apparently He did not know what it was) and asked Moses ‘what is that thing in your right hand, Moses?’ Moses explained to Allah about the stick and the functions of the stick.  

During that meeting, Allah told Moses that He had armed him with some great miracles (Q.20: 19-22) and selected to become a prophet with a special mission to the Pharaoh, and. Moses seized the opportunity to ask Allah to see him personally (Q.7: 143). Allah’s response to Moses was that He would reveal Himself ‘and if that mountain stays where it is then you will be able to see me’. When Allah revealed himself, the mountain crumpled and Moses fell unconscious. The Quran doesn’t explain why Allah said ‘if the mountain stays…’ was that Allah never tried this before with a human? The Quran doesn’t tell us what happened to the privacy of the meeting and whether the family noticed the immense light and the crumpling mountain! 

After arriving to Egypt, this great prophet was involved in a quarrel when a Jew asked him for help against an Egyptian. The great prophet’s response was to jump on the Egyptian and kill him, without bothering to know what was the disagreement about. (Q.28:15 …Now the man of his own religion appealed to him against his foe, and Moses struck him with his fist and made an end of him...)  

There is only one way to describe that crime; which is a murder purely on racial grounds. The Quran states clearly that murder is punished by the death penalty (Q.5: 45) that was the rule Allah for the Jews.   

Was the great prophet punished? Not at all, on the contrary, he will be rewarded a place in the elite quarter in paradise next to Ibrahim, Adam and Mohammed.   

We may go on and on exposing other nonsense and absurdities in the Quran, which only confirms the obvious truth that the Quran can never be the work of God, or even an intelligent writer. Muslims are conditioned to see the nonsense as divine supernatural events, and the mistakes as miracles, and the contradictions as secrets known only to Allah. If only Muslims give it a try, it will only take them a few minutes to be free of such mumbo-jumbo. When they perform an objective reading of the Quran, they will be surprised to discover this obvious, although painful truth about the Quran,  

rawandi@googlemail.com       

Quranic References (Translations: Ysuf Ali)

Q.5: 45. We ordained therein for them: "Life for life, eye for eye, nose or nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal." But if any one remits the retaliation by way of charity, it is an act of atonement for himself. And if any fail to judge by (the light of) what God hath revealed, they are (No better than) wrongdoers. 

Q.7: 143 When Moses came to the place appointed by Us, and his Lord addressed him, He said: "O my Lord! show (Thyself) to me, that I may look upon thee." God said: "By no means canst thou see Me (direct); But look upon the mount; if it abide in its place, then shalt thou see Me." When his Lord manifested His glory on the Mount, He made it as dust. And Moses fell down in a swoon. When he recovered his senses he said: "Glory be to Thee! to Thee I turn in repentance, and I am the first to believe." 

Q.2; 260 Behold! Abraham said: "My Lord! Show me how Thou givest life to the dead." He said: "Dost thou not then believe?" He said: "Yea! but to satisfy My own undertaking." He said: "Take four birds; Tame them to turn to thee; put a portion of them on every hill and call to them: They will come to thee (Flying) with speed. Then know that God is Exalted in Power, Wise."