ISLAM: THE TRUE HISTORY AND FALSE BELIEFS SHABBIR AHMED, M. D. BY: SHABBIR AHMED, M.D., FLORIDA APRIL 2006 THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY BOOK EVER WRITTEN ON ISLAM NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE FEEBLE-MINDED OR WEAK-HEARTED This book is dedicated to those who open-mindedly seek knowledge wherever it is. ISBN 0-9758851-0-5 NO COPYRIGHTS CHAPTER SCHEDULE 1 Sr. NAME OF CHAPTER PAGE No. NO. ( ) 01. THE EXALTED PROPHET MUHAMMAD……………………………………… 02. THE ARABIAN PENINSULA……………………………………………………..... 03. EARLY LIFE…………………………………………………………………………. 04. THE CALL TO PROPHETHOOD………………………………………………… 05. HIJRAH (MIGRATION TO MADINAH – JUL 16, 622 CE)……………………… 06. THE PROPHET'S (S) BATTLES………………………………………………… 07. THE ULTIMATE VICTORY………………………………………………………… 08. THE FAREWELL ADDRESS (THE LAST SERMON)…………………………… 09. THE GREATEST MAN DEPARTS, JUNE 8, 632 CE, - RA 12, HIJRAH 11……. 10. THE STATE OF MADINAH - THE CONSTITUTION - THE GOVERNMENT… 11. THE CALIPHATE……………………………………………………………………. 12. KARBALA: FACT OR FICTION……………………………………………………. 13. THE NUMBER TWO ISLAM, BY SHABBIR AHMED, M.D. (AUGUST, 2003). 14. MANY EXAMPLES OF THE MAN-MADE NUMBER TWO ISLAM……. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 29. 30. 2 BISMILLAH-IR-RAHMAN-IR-RAHEEM With the Glorious Name of Allah, the Ultimate Source of Instant Beneficence and Eternal Mercy - Who encompasses the entire Universe, nourishing and taking care of all things for what they are meant to be, just as a mother's womb nourishes the embryo to completion without any returns. ['Rahm' in 'Rahman' and 'Raheem' includes all the meanings rendered.] ISLAM: THE TRUE HISTORY AND FALSE BELIEFS By Shabbir Ahmed, M.D. Florida The author is deepy indebted to Arif Shamim of Karachi and Farooq Siddiqui of Texas for their intellectual contribution to this work in addition to "Thus Speaks the Bible" and "Hindu Fundamentalism". CAUTION: All criticism of the author in this book is directed to the historians, and not at all to the honorable personalities of Islam - The exalted Prophet, Sahaba Kiraam, Hazraat Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husain, all of whom inspire our reverence and respect. INTRODUCTION: Numerous books have been written in the name of History of Islam during the last one thousand years. But to be accurate, they have b , .l. 3 been the Histories of Muslims. The difference between the two seems nothing or insignificant, but it is of paramount importance. Like almost all books on histories of nations, the Muslim Histories have revolved around the rulers and their ways. The first ever such "History of Islam" was written by "Imam" Tabari on hearsay alone about 280 years after the exalted Prophet. Historians after him have been blindly following him and repeating him with impunity. "The True History of Early Islam" is probably the first ever work that will attempt to trace the History of Islam. Based on research on numerous well-known to nearly extinct works, it promises to bring to the reader the spellbinding truths for the first time ever. We will attempt to track the journey of Islam and try to see why, how, when, and by whom was the Pristine Al-Islam as revealed to the exalted Prophet Muhammad, converted into the Man-made, Counterfeit, Ritualistic, Alien or Ajami Islam of today. Various great minds have named this degenerate Islam variously. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan of India (d.1898) called it Invented Islam in 1885. Syed Jamaluddin Afghani (d.1897) dubbed it as The Fatalistic Religion. The celebrated Egyptian scholar Mufti Muhammad Abde Rabbuhu (d.1905) gave it the name Deen-il-Ghareeb (The Strange Religion) around 1900. Allama Sir Muhammad Iqbal (d.1938) termed it Ajami (Alien) Islam around 1918. Allama Inayatullah Khan Al-Mashriqi (d.1956) called it Maulvi Ka Ghalat Mazhab (The Mullah's Wrong Religion) in the 1940s. Going by the modern trends, I have chosen to call it The Number Two Islam in keeping with the name given to the counterfeit medicines. The respected reader should get prepared for a bumpy ride discovering shocking truths in a very unusual format especially as the book progresses. This book will be written with special attention to brevity and clarity. Much of it will particularly focus on the widely accepted 'wrongs' in random paragraphs. I think the best way to achieve the objective of sorting out myth from reality, and fiction from fact will be to build the book around the most famous story of "Islamic History", i.e. the Story of Karbala. The reader will probably agree with this approach in the end. AH in this book will indicate Al-Hijrah, the Calendar that begins with the Migration of Muhammad (S) from Makkah to Madinah on July 16, 622 CE. CE will mean The Common Era. Sall-Allahu alayihi Wasallam will be represented by (S), the special salutations for the exalted Messenger. Sahaba means the companions of the Prophet (S). Sahabi is singular. Hadith indicates a reported saying of the Prophet. Sunnah pertains to his personal life-style. Hadith and Sunnah are almost invariably found mixed 4 together in the books without a clear dividing line. The token of respect for any Prophet or Sahabi will be Hazrat (Plural, Hazraat, meaning 'honorables'). 'Salutations upon him' will be denoted by a. s. ('Alayihissalam) and 'Allah is pleased with him or her, by r. a. (Radhi- Allahu-'anh or 'anha). STARTLING CONFESSIONS Let us examine the personal confessions of some of the most ancient and foremost "Imams" ('Canonical' authorities) who narrated History, Hadith, laid down Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) and did Tafseer (explanation) of the Quran. IMAM RAZI'S HORRIBLE CONFESSION: Most Muslims have heard of one of the most ancient and famous Tafseer-e- Kabeer (The Great Exposition of the Quran) by Imam Fakhruddin Razi. This tafseer is one of the tops being followed by our Mullahs till this day. After writing his 300 volumes, the great and authoritative Imam confesses: "All my intellectual and supposedly logical statements in the explanation of the Quran turned out to be lame. All the explanations of the Quran done by the so-called Imams (Tabari, Zamakhshari, Ibne Kathir, Bukhari, Muslim etc) are misguided and misleading. All of us were the tools of Satan. Our souls were polluted by our physical desires. Our efforts of this world promise to bring us nothing but torture and doom." • (Hadith-Ul-Quran by Allama Inayatullah Khan Al-Mashriqi, 1954 edition p190) IMAM TABARI'S STRANGE CONFESSION: I am writing this book as I hear from the narrators. If anything sounds absurd, I should not be blamed or held accountable. The responsibility of all errors or blunders rests squarely on the shoulders of those who have narrated these stories to me. Tabari's Tareekhil Umam Wal Mulook (The History of Nations and Kings) popularly called "Mother of All Histories" is the first ever "History of Islam" written by 'Imam' Tabari (839-923 CE) at the junction of the third and fourth century AH. He died in 310 AH, 3 centuries after the Prophet (S). What were his sources? Not a scrap of paper! "He told me this who heard it from him who heard it from so and so," and so on. By compiling his 13 volume History and his 30 volume Exposition of the Quran under royal patronage, he became the Super Imam. The later historians until this day have persisted in following the trails of the Super Imam. 5 IBN KATHIR'S CONFESSION: Had Ibn Jareer Tabari not recorded the strange reports, I would never have done so. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, Khilaafat-e-Mu'awiya-o-Yazeed, Mahmood Ahmed Abbasi) IMAM AHMAD BIN HANBAL'S CHASTISEMENT: Allama Shibli Nomani, on page 27 of his Seeratun Nabi has given a startling quote of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (d. 241 AH), "Three kinds of books are absolutely unfounded, Maghazi, Malahem and Tafseer” (The exalted Prophet's Battles, Dreams and Prophecies, and Expositions of the Quran). IBN KHALDOON'S THRASHING: The Muslim historians have made a mockery of history by filling it with fabrications and senseless lies. (Muqaddama) SHAH ABDUL AZIZ'S CRITIQUE: Six pages of Ibn Khaldoon's History have been deliberately removed since the earliest times. These pages had questioned the most critical juncture of Islamic history i.e. the Emirate of Yazeed and the fiction of Karbala. [Even the modern editions admit in the side-notes that those pages have been mysteriously missing from the ancient original book. Khilaafat-e-Mu'awiya- o-Yazeed, Mahmood Ahmed Abbasi] SHAH WALIULLAH'S CHASTISEMENT: Imam Jalaluddin Sayyuti's Tarikh-ul-Khulafa is the prime example of how our Historians, Muhaddithin and Mufassirin, each has played like Haatib-il- Lail (The man who collects firewood at night not knowing which piece is good and which one is bad). IMAM RAGHIB'S PROTEST: Tabari, Waqidi, Mas'oodi, Sayyuti pasted any reports they got hands on. Moreover, Abu Mukhnif, Lut bin Yahya and Muhammad bin Saaeb Kalbi (in whose names the civil wars within Islam during the times of Hazraat Ali, Mu'awiya and Yazeed are reported) never existed. Their names have been concocted and narratives in their names have all been invented by one man, the Zoroastrian "Imam" Tabari bin Rustam. "The True History of Early Islam" by Shabbir Ahmed has been compiled by carefully sifting through scores of ancient books. The author's Criterion of the Right and Wrong has been what it must be and that is the Authentic 6 Quran. Hence, I have accepted only those accounts of History and Hadith that are in harmony with this Noble and Unassailable Criterion, the Book of Allah. Thanks to my respected readers around the world, I have had the advantage of having access to numerous hard to find or concealed books. MY CONFESSION: Like all other humble works of mine, this book is based on research by a life-long, fallible student, Shabbir Ahmed. It has taken much time and labor as the discerning readers and writers can tell. While the author assures the readers of his intellectual honesty, he is always liable to make mistakes and projects no claims whatsoever. The reader may not agree with any part(s) of this book or even in its entirety. The strength of this work may indeed dwell in the fact that it leaves plenty of room for the reader's own rationale and judgment to accept or dismiss any statements made by this author or the ancient "authorities". Criticism from any quarters will always be welcome and appreciated and any errors will be corrected in the second edition with sincere gratitude. SOME REVOULUTONARY VOICES Imam Nafees Sheristani of Arabia (395-461) – crucified. Imam Ash-Shaikh Muhammad Tahir Al-Makki (417-460) – burned alive. Imam Ahmad Amin Tahir Al-Masri (1883-1953) - tortured to death in prison. Imam Moinuddin Al-Ash'Ari of Iraq (313-363) - crucified. Imam Shariq Alawi Mu'tazali of Palestine (407-457) - hanged. Imam Raghib Al-Isphahani of Persia (1327-1409) - beheaded. Imam Abdullah Zanjani of Arabia (459-610) – crucified. Jamaluddin Afghani of Iran/Afhanistan (1830 to 1899) Mufti Muhammad Abduh of Egypt (1849 to 1906) Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817 to 1898) Allama Iqbal (1877 to 1938) Allama Muhammad Asad of Austria/Gibraltar (1907-1997) Dr. Maurice Buccaille (Abus Salam) of France (1911-1989) Allama Inayatullah Mashriqi of indo-Pak (1888-1964) Imam Mufti Vehbi Ismael of Albania (1917-2002) Mujtahid Imam Al-Husseini of Iran (1919-living) Allama Ubaidullah Sindhi of India (1865-1935) Allama Tamanna Imadi of Indo-Pak (1895-1961) Allama Habib-ur-Rahman Kandhalwi of Indo-Pak (1887-1957) Allama Aslam Jairajpuri of Indo-Pak (1890-1959) Fazil Uloom Dinyah Masooduddin Usmani of Indo-Pak (19013-1985) Fazil Diniyaat Ghulam Jeelani Barq of Indo-Pak (1901-1983) Allama G.A. Parwaiz of Indo-Pak (1903-1985) Allama Rasheed Ridha of Iran (1887-1941) [Note: The dates given are likely to be inaccurate in some cases] 7 CHAPTER 01 THE EXALTED PROPHET MUHAMMAD SEQUENCE OF EVENTS: 570 CE : Muhammad, the exalted, born in Makkah. His father, Abdullah dies before the Prophet is born. 576 : Mother Amena dies. Grandfather Abdul Muttalib becomes the guardian. 578 : Grandfather dies. Abu Talib, a paternal uncle, assumes guardianship. 582 : First trading journey to Syria with Abu Talib. 595 : Marriage to Khadijah r.a. 605 : Muhammad (S) helps rebuild Ka'bah after a flood. 610 : Angel Gabriel visits Muhammad (S) - The First Revelation 613 : The Message of Islam begins reaching the community. Persecution of Muslims begins. 615 : The Prophet orders some Muslims to migrate to Ethiopia-Abyssinia. 617 : Persecution increases. The Prophet (S) and his followers are boycotted by Makkans. Many people of the far away town (270 miles North) Madinah embrace Islam and invite the Prophet and his followers to live among them. 619 : Khadijah and Abu Talib die. 622 : The Prophet migrates to Madinah. Islamic State established. New Constitution declared. 623 : The Prophet (S) marries Ayesha r.a. 624 : The Battle of Badr - The Turning Point 626 : The Battle of Uhud 627 : The Battle of the Trench or Clans (Khandaq or Ahzab) 628 : The Treaty of Hudaibiyah 628 : Invitation to Emperors 630 : Conquest of Makkah 632 : Last pilgrimage to Makkah and the Farewell Address 632 : The greatest man departs YEAR OF THE ELEPHANT 570 CE: Muhammad (S), the greatest man ever to set foot on earth, was born in Makkah in the year 570 CE commonly referred to as 'Aam-il-Fil (Year of the Elephant). He belonged to Quresh that were the most honored tribe of Arabia for being the custodians of Ka'bah, the holiest shrine in the land. 8 Note: Scholars have agreed that even after the most diligent research, it is almost impossible to determine the exact days and dates of events during Muhammad's (S) lifetime. Muhammad (S), like all Arabs, belonged to the progeny of Ismail a.s. Ibrahim a.s. on Allah's Command, had settled his elder son, teenager Ismail a.s. (Ishmael) to reside permanently in Makkah along with his mother Haajirah. Contrary to the Biblical statement, Hagar was not a bondwoman. She was the daughter of the Egyptian king. Abraham kept traveling between his second wife Haajirah (Hagar) in Makkah and first wife Sarah in Can'aan (Syria-Palestine). Ismail married a woman from the Qahtani Tribe of Jurham and became the ancestor of Musta Ribah (Arabianized Tribes or the Arabs.) So the Arabs are, interestingly, descendants of a Hebrew father, Ishmael and a Qahtani Jurham mother, Wasiqa. They had twelve sons in their long and happy married life. The Qahtanis are still abundantly found in the Arabian Peninsula. They were a wandering tribe in Southern Arabia who had settled around Makkah before Ismail a. s. The “Wilderness of Beer-Sheba” of Genesis 21:14, embraces Southern Palestine and Hijaz (roughly, the land between and around Makkah and Madinah). Therefore, the Bible and the Quran are in agreement concerning where Hazrat Ismail and his mother Haajirah had settled after moving from Can'aan. This history also explains why the Quran repeatedly asserts that the Arabs had not received any Scripture before the Quran. Obviously, the Arabs became a community long after their ancestor, Ishmael had passed on. THE KINGDOM OF SHEBA: In Yemen had collapsed in 115 B.C. They were overtaken by the Himairis who ruled until 300 CE when other tribes overtook the control of Yemen. They were in turn defeated by the Christian Kingdom of Ethipoia-Abyssinia when they invaded Yemen in 525 CE. The kingdom appointed Abrahah as the Viceroy of Yemen. ABRAHAH PLANS TO DEMOLISH KA'BAH: The Roman and the Abyssinian Christians longed for converting the idolaters of Arabia to Christianity. They also sought control of the trade routes between Arabia, Syria, Persia and the Western Roman Empire. They saw Ka’bah in Makkah as a hindrance to their imperialistic and religious 9 designs. Abrahah, the Viceroy of Yemen, made a smart move. Between 550 and 555 CE he built a gorgeous cathedral Ekklesia in San’aa, Yemen and invited his people and neighboring nations to come for pilgrimage there instead of going to Makkah. But Ekklesia remained unpopular and Abrahah decided to invade Makkah to demolish the Ka’bah and its surroundings. Anticipating the presence of hostile tribes en route, he came up with a 60,000 strong army aided by thousands of horses, camels and thirteen elephants. I agree with the research of Hamiduddin Farahi, 'Maulana' Amin Ahsan Islahi and Allama G.A. Parwez on what eventually happened. As Abrahah’s army approached Makkah, the Makkans who had been alerted by some travelers beforehand, saw flocks of birds that normally fly over caravans in search for food. The Makkans mounted the hills around and threw stones on the troops. The elephants, and in turn, other rides panicked and trampled the soldiers. This incident took place in 570 CE, the year when the exalted Messenger was born. The event carried such significance that the Arabs marked “Year of the Elephant” (‘Aam-il-Fil) as a point of reference in history. 10