For the sake of argument, I define “orthodox” in Islam as including the beliefs common to both the Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, though the Sunnis themselves say only they are orthodox (much like orthodox Christians may be defined as including much more than the denominations called “Orthodox”, including Catholics and most Protestants).
There are several issues in Islam I find contradictory and thus I would never become a Muslim, even if I were to ever believe in a god again.
- Islam is said to be a world religion, appropriate for all peoples of the world to follow. This is absurd because Islam also makes Mecca the city that all Muslims must pray to five times a day and to make a pilgrimage to at least once in their lives. Islam also makes Arabic the default language for the Quran and for Muslim prayers and calls to prayer. Even Roman Catholicism no longer makes Latin the default language for Mass around the world. A truly worldly religion would have NO default language, no one city as the center of prayer and pilgrimage, and would see holiness in all places. We Unitarian Universalists might regard Boston as a place of historical significance to us, but we don’t pray to it!
- Islam is said to be the final religion, the Quran is Allah’s final revelation and Muhammad the last of the Prophets. This contradicts the idea of Allah as an all-knowing, all-powerful, and thus totally sovereign deity. If Allah wills another revelation by a new Prophet, as Baha’is have claimed, it is not for anyone to deny this. The argument that past revelations have been corrupted is pointless, since Islam is still divided into various sects. A truly pure and uncorrupted revelation from Allah would never have allowed this.
- Islam condemns idolatry. Really? Then Muslims should stop regarding the Quran as the Word of Allah. Even official histories of Islam admit that it wasn’t put together until some years after Muhammad’s death. Why didn’t Muhammad himself do this? Also, walking seven times around the Kaaba in Mecca during pilgrimage looks too much like idolatry to me! It’s just a building! Also, see point 1 above.
- Islam teaches that men can have no more than four wives at a time. Then why did Muhammad have nine or ten wives at the time of his death? Muslims should make up their minds; you cannot hold Muhammad as a supreme example of Muslims to follow and then ignore that he himself broke a basic rule of marriage!
Dale Husband's Intellectual Rants 
All the claims put forward by you to prove Islam as a defected religions are void ab-initio. They are totally based on sheer lack of knowledge and ignorance about the essence of Islam.
1. Islam is a universal religion, appropriate for all people to follow and practice. Mecca is the holy city for muslims because of holy kaaba and religion started from here. Its not mandatory for every muslim to go there to perform pilgrimage. It’s just obligation for only those who can afford to go there. Many muslims pass their whole life and die without being there. Secondly Arabic is a sacred language for muslims because Quran was revealed in this language. Muslims learn this language to better understand quran and islamic literature. Translations are available in many other languages. Islamic teachings are taught in many languages.
2. Muhammad(PBUH) is the last prophet and Islam is the final religion. Quran is uncorrupted revelation from Allah. And it is said by Allah in Quran that Islam is the final religion and Muhammad(PBUH) is His last Prophet. So no question about it because Allah has told his will in the most authentic book of the world. Who ever would claim to be a Prophet after Muhammad(PBUH) would be a biggest liar. Power of Quran by Allah is that it can be remembered word by word even by a 10 years old without any difficulty. So it will remain uncorrupted in the hearts of muslims till the day of judgement even if all the paper vanishes from earth. Do any other religion religion have such a revelation?
3. Idolatory means worship of idols. Muslims don’t worship Kaaba they just considers it the holy place by the will of Allah. Allah said muslims to say prayer facing Kaaba so all muslims do it to fulfill the order by Allah. Also to walk around Kaaba in Pilgrimmage is the Order of Allah so muslim do it to obey Allah. Quran is word of Allah and He revealed it to Muhammad(PBUH). Muhammad(PBUH) himself learnt it by heart and got it written by his companions who also learnt it by heart. Muhammad(PBUH) also told them the sequence to put it together in a book form. Still muslims have this word of Allah uncorrupted both in their hearts and in book form.
4. Polygamy in Islam is not recommended; it is only permitted under certain guidelines. Permission to practice polygamy is not associated with mere satisfaction of passion. It is, rather, associated with compassion toward widows and orphans.
Before the Qur’an was revealed, there was no upper limit for polygamy, and many men had more than four wives. Islam put an upper limit of four wives, permitting a man to marry more than once, only on the condition that he deal justly with all of them. Yet the same verse points out:
*{Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women}* (Al-Nisaa’ 3:129)
Therefore polygamy is not a rule but an exception.
Stages of the Prophet’s Married Life
First, let’s remember that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) led a life supported only by the bare minimum of necessities. His wives were not idly wasting away the hours in a luxurious harem but led a life of labor and sacrifice, while he was mostly busy away from home overseeing his numerous duties as a Prophet. So, obviously, lust was not a factor, as he wasn’t even at home most of the time. Further, most of his marriages occurred at an age when lust is not a major factor in any man’s life:
1. He remained single until age 25.
2. From age 25 to 50 he was faithful to only one wife, Khadijah, who bore all his children except one. She was 15 years older than him, with children from two previous marriages. She was his greatest ally when he received the Call at age 40 until she died when he was 50 years old. He remained in love with her until he died and often talked of his life with her with great nostalgia.
3. Between ages 50 and 52 he remained unmarried and mourning his late beloved wife. He lived alone with his daughters.
4. Between ages 53 and 60 he married all his other wives for many noble reasons detailed below. It’s unimaginable for a man to suddenly turn lustful at this age, especially as he was constantly traveling, with bloodthirsty enemies on his heels.
5. At age 60, Allah revealed to him verse preventing him from marrying any more until he died, which was at age 63. The Qur’an says what means:
*{It is not lawful for you (to marry other) women after this, nor to change them for other wives.}* (Al-Ahzab 33:52)
So Muhammad(PBUH) didnot break the rule, when the verse to limit the polygamy was revealed he already had wives and he did not married anymore women after this. He is the Prophet and cannot go against Allah’s will in any case.
Islam is the religion without any contradictions. Non believers and people who are ignorant of it try to find the contradictions. Problem of sects is also based on lack of knowledge and aversion from thorough study of Islam. Islam is the only complete religion which has answers to all the problems of humanity. It is the religion which makes a human being contented.
All atheists and non believers are invited that if they read Quran and islamic literature they would find the real religion and all answers to the questions of their inner self.
That is a nice set of rationalizations, but those do not equal unquestionable truth, any more than the claims of Christian apologists who defend their faith and attack other faiths are absolutely valid. The fact remains that if the flaws of Islam I noted were of any other religion, you would probably attack it just as I have done. Note, however, that I did not recommend that Muslims join MY religion or become atheists. That’s wasn’t the point. The point is that Islam is not perfect!
Mecca is the holy city for muslims because of holy kaaba and religion started from here.
I’m not saying Mecca should not have historical significance, but a truly universal God would have his followers seek and make holiness in every city. Your Allah does not!
Its not mandatory for every muslim to go there to perform pilgrimage. It’s just obligation for only those who can afford to go there. Many muslims pass their whole life and die without being there.
This is a rhetorical technique called backpedaling, when an absolute position is shown to be unworkable, so you modify it. But this STILL damages your credibility! If pilgrimage to Mecca is not obligatory, why is it one of the Five Pillars of Islam? Why do millions of Muslims do the pilgrimage every year and cause all sorts of problems for the people in Mecca? Why not just drop the pilgrimage requirement completely? The truth is that when Muhammad made the pilgrimage a requirement, neither he nor anyone else could have foreseen Islam someday having over a billion followers. There were not even a billion people in the whole world 1400 years ago!
Quran is uncorrupted revelation from Allah. You cannot objectively decide that something is uncorrupted! Instead, you should subject it to testing by looking at reality itself and comparing it to what the Quran says. Anyone can make up scripture; only Allah can truly make the real universe we all must live in. Find your truth THERE!
Who ever would claim to be a Prophet after Muhammad(PBUH) would be a biggest liar.
Then why should any Christian accept Muhammad, the Prophet who came after Jesus? Same difference! Christians by definition see Jesus as the greatest of the Prophets and no one, not even Muhammad, can EVER take the place of Jesus!
Power of Quran by Allah is that it can be remembered word by word even by a 10 years old without any difficulty. So it will remain uncorrupted in the hearts of muslims till the day of judgement even if all the paper vanishes from earth. Do any other religion religion have such a revelation?
You can memorize lots of scripture without understanding most of it. If you think that is a virtue, we can have no further dialogue. I don’t respect such stupidity!
Muslims don’t worship Kaaba they just considers it the holy place by the will of Allah. Allah said muslims to say prayer facing Kaaba so all muslims do it to fulfill the order by Allah. Also to walk around Kaaba in Pilgrimmage is the Order of Allah so muslim do it to obey Allah.
So Allah condemns idolatry but otherwise orders you to treat the Kaaba like an idol. Sorry, not buying that! Go to a Catholic church where they pray before statues of Jesus, Mary, and other saints; they will claim to not practice idolatry either, but I know you would accuse them of such. SAME DIFFERENCE!!!
Polygamy in Islam is not recommended; it is only permitted under certain guidelines……Therefore polygamy is not a rule but an exception.
Did you overlook where I did not attack polygamy itself, but the fact that Muhammad married far more wives than he permitted to other men? That’s not hypocritical? And then there was his marrying a nine year old girl, Aisha! To this day, Muslim men think it’s perfectly all right for them to take child brides just because their Prophet did! Do I have to spell out how disgusting that really is?! YOU SHOULDN’T MARRY A GIRL YOUNG ENOUGH TO BE YOUR DAUGHTER!!! To me that’s virtual incest. So your whole case about Muhammad not marrying because of lust is broken by that issue!
“a truly universal God would have his followers seek and make holiness in every city. Your Allah does not!”
A mosque is a holy place, it is present in every muslim city and muslims pray their five times a day so followers of Islam make holiness in every city. If you are a muslim you can seek Allah anywhere in this world by saying prayer even if you are in a jungle. Such is the universality of Allah, how can you deny it!
“If pilgrimage to Mecca is not obligatory, why is it one of the Five Pillars of Islam? Why do millions of Muslims do the pilgrimage every year and cause all sorts of problems for the people in Mecca? Why not just drop the pilgrimage requirement completely?”
I said its not obligatory to EVERY muslim, those who can afford it perform pilgrimmage as obligation. It is great that muslims perform it to obey Allah’s orders, also it shows their unity by gathering in mecca every year in such a large numbers regardless of their country, race, color etc. People of Mecca are honored by this. It will be performed by muslims till the day of judgement, why to drop it!
“Anyone can make up scripture; only Allah can truly make the real universe we all must live in. Find your truth THERE!”
Of course Allah has created the universe n It is said in Quran. Scriptures can be made but only Allah can send such a great book of Quran. A human being cannot make quran, you would only understand it if you read the Quran.
“why should any Christian accept Muhammad, the Prophet who came after Jesus?”
Jesus foretold that a Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) would come after him if you read the bible.
“You can memorize lots of scripture without understanding most of it”
Have you ever seen anybody memorizing a scripture word by word without any error as a muslim can memorize the quran?
“So Allah condemns idolatry but otherwise orders you to treat the Kaaba like an idol.”
You are making totally wrong conclusions. Idols are treated as Gods in idolatory. Allah forbids idolatry and Kaaba is not an idol for muslims. Allah is one and the only God. He is the only one to be worshiped according to Islam.
Ayesha(R.A) was made Prophet’s(PBUH) wife by his father abu bakar (R.A). She was very intelligent and had very good memory. As those were initial days of Islam so she was selected to be Prophet’s(PBUH) wife to learn things from him about Islam to spread them afterwards which she did with great success. As far as child brides are concerned they are more common in non-muslims.
I still say there is no reason to make Mecca (or Jerusalem, or any other city) more holy than any other city, if you believe in a truly universal God. As for mosques, they still are oriented toward Mecca, thus negating your point.
No, Muhammad is NOT mentioned in the Bible, though I’m sure Muslim apologists have twisted the meaning of some Bible verse to make it appear so centuries after the fact. Christians themselves did that to the Jewish Scriptures to support the claim that Jesus was the Messiah.
Idolatry is not about making gods of material objects; it’s about making images to represent gods. Even the Saudi Arabian flag, which has the Islamic creed on it, can be an idol, which is why Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to salute flags or pledge allegiance to them.
My point about Ayesha was that she got married too young. If she was so intelligent, she and other girls like her should have been in school. But most girls who marry so young are also taken out of school. And the claim that non-Muslims have more child brides is irrelevant. There should be NONE in ANY society!
Orienting towards one place(Mecca) unites the followers of Islam. Also it gives spiritual connection to all muslims on earth. Making a place the religious center for His followers on earth does not effect the universality of Allah, The Creator of the universe.
Muslims have not twisted bible, it’s christians who did it due to the translations from the original language.
Moses spoke of a coming Prophet from among the Israelites’ “brethren”, a reference to Ishmaelites, cousins of Israelites
Ismael, or Ishmael, was the elder brother of Isaac (the lineage of Israelites). Moses explicitly promised that they are going to become a “great nation”!
‘I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. (Deuteronomy 18:18)
Kaaba is a sacred site, not a symbol to represent Allah. Allah cannot be represented by anything.
Medically a 9 years old can be a bride. In old days there was no schooling system n a career oriented society therefore girls used to get wed as early as possible by their parents. Now a days it looks inappropriate for a girl to be made a bride before 16 years.
(Dale Husband: Science is far more effective at uniting people than any religion, because it is based on EMPIRICAL FACTS that anyone can investigate and see for themselves, and also based on rules of conduct and investigation that anyone can follow, regardless of culture. And it has NO geographical centers or limitations.
If Allah cannot be represented by anything, does that include the word “Allah” itself? Words by nature are powerful representations of concepts and tangible things, including God and Islam. So your absolute statement is nonsense.
Christians claim that verse in Deuteronomy you cited refers to Jesus, while Jews claim it refers to Elijah or some other mighty prophet that arose among the Jews centuries after Moses. NOT a Prophet among non-Jews! I’d think the descendants of those who actually wrote the scriptures would know best what their ancestors meant, and it is the height of arrogance for either people of Greco-Roman background [who built up the early Christian churches over several centuries] or Arabs [who established Islam] to tell Jews what their own scriptures mean! Indeed, it would have been better for Islam to be completely independent of earlier religions, rather than be dependent on the earlier religions even while attacking them!
If Islam (or Christianity, or even Judaism for that matter) were truly great religions, they would have established the equality of men and women and mandated that all girls get an education and not marry before they become adults thousands of years ago. They didn’t because they were made by MEN for the benefit of MEN and to oppress women!)
Science has a lot of limitations, and it is still not able to answer many phenomenons happening in the universe. Scientists are not even able to create a thing like a bee. Religion is the binding force and tells the human being the purpose of their existence, the boundaries of their acts, life after death and most importantly about their Creator. Human being also have a spiritual side to pacify which only a religion like Islam can do, otherwise they would end up just being skeptical and unsatisfied in their whole life. Limited and empirically based science with still novice ideas cannot be better than a complete religion.
Islam is an independent, complete and a universal religion. It just supersedes all the previous religions. Its teachings fulfill all the bodily and spiritual requirements of human beings and guide them to the way of keeping peace of heart both in this life and life after death.
No religion gives importance to women as Islam does. Both men and women have equally been ordered to get education. Islam orders NIKAH in which a woman is given a free will to reject a marriage or set any other conditions on the man.
Science does have limitations, because it does not cheat to claim as “answers” what are merely unfounded assertions that cannot be distinguished from lies, yet religion often takes these assertions and claims them as absolute truth, which is exactly what you are doing, Mohsin.
NOTHING made by human beings [and Muhammad was still a human being, plus all Qurans are written or printed and distributed by human beings] can ever be “independent, complete and universal”, not even Islam. Remember that Islam is 1400 years old; it knows nothing about modern scientific discoveries, including medicine, that have saved millions of lives and improved the lives of almost everyone over many centuries. All Islam did was unite the Arabs into a conquering force and subdue all its followers to a religion and culture that has Arab roots. Any non-Arab should be insulted by this.
Having read the Quran’s references to women, and read about how Muslim men treat women in mostly Muslim societies, I know your claim about Islam and women is a falsehood. The only reason women are able to advance in Muslim societies is because of Western influences, which Islamists like the Taliban would love to stamp out. And there are just too many examples of young girls being FORCED into marriage to older men by their own families in mostly Muslim countries for me to take seriously that Islam truly respects women.
Go argue with a Mormon! At least the Mormon religion is even dumber than yours.
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