Your Lord has not forsaken you, nor does He hate you. The future will be better for you than the past. And soon your Lord will give you so that you wilt be content. Did He not find you an orphan and give you shelter? Did He not find you wandering and guide you? Did He not find you in need and enrich you? (Q. 93:3-8)
[Qur’an Sura 93: Verses 3-8 (Translations of the Qur’an in this book are either by Yusuf Ali or by Shakir.) My work is not about the sacred scriptures of Islam, but it is based directly on them. The passages I cite are taken from the Qur’an and the Hadith. The Qur’an purports to be not the work of any human, but the very words of Allâh himself, from beginning to end.
The Ahadith (plural for Hadith) are short, collected anecdotes and sayings about Muhammad regarded by Muslims as essential to the understanding and practice of their religion. It is not necessary for me, in this book, to discuss the innumerable questions raised by the Qur’an and the Hadith, their translation into other languages, or the disputes over subtle nuances in those texts. For purposes of this book, the passages I cite will mostly speak for themselves. I have taken them from widely accepted sources.]
Let us begin with Muhammad’s story. Let us examine his life. Who was he and what was his thinking? In this chapter we will briefly go through the salient points in the life of a man, whom over a billion people literally worship. Muslims claim that they worship no one but Allâh. Since Allâh was only Muhammad’s alter ego, his other alias and invisible sock-puppet, in practice, it’s Muhammad whom they worship. Islam is the personality cult of Muhammad. We will read his words as they were dictated in the Quran, claimed by him to be the words of God, and see him through the eyes of his companions and wives. We will take a look at how he rose from a derelict preacher to become a defacto ruler of all of Arabia in just a decade, how he divided people in order to control them, how he instilled sedition and hate and roused some to wage war against others and how he used raids, rape, torture, and assassination to cast terror in the hearts of his victims and subdue them. We will learn about his genocides and his penchant for deception as a strategy, the very strategy used by Muslim terrorists today. After understanding Muhammad you will come to see that the terrorists are doing exactly what their prophet did.
The Birth and Childhood of Muhammad
In the year 570 A.D., in Mecca, Arabia, a widowed young woman, Amina, gave birth to a boy whom she called Muhammad.7 Though Muhammad was her only child, Amina gave him to a Bedouin woman, to be raised in the desert when he was only six months old.
Some wealthy Arab women sometimes hired wet nurses for their infants. This freed them from nursing and allowed them to have another child right away. More children meant higher social status. But that was not the case with Amina who was a widow with only one child to care for and not wealthy. Abdullah, Muhammad’s father, died six months before his birth. Also, this practice was not really that common. In fact Khadijah, the first wife of Muhammad, who was the wealthiest woman of Mecca, had three children from her previous two marriages and bore six more to Muhammad. She raised them all on her own.8
Why would Amina give away her only child to be raised by someone else? There is too little information on Muhammad’s mother for us to understand her and the decision she made.
An interesting piece of information that sheds some light on her psychological makeup and her relationship with her new born child is that Amina did not breastfeed Muhammad. After his birth, the infant was given to Thueiba, a maid of his uncle Abu Lahab, (the very man whom Muhammad cursed in Sura 111, along with his wife) to be nursed. Why Amina did not nurse her child is not mentioned. All we can do is to speculate. Was she depressed by the fact that she had become a widow at such a young age? Did she think the child was an impediment to the possibility of remarriage?
A death in the family can cause chemical changes in the brain that can lead to depression. Other factors that may increase a woman’s chances of depression are: living alone, anxiety about the fetus, marital or financial problems and the young age of the mother. Amina had just lost her husband, she was alone, poor, and young. Based on what we know about her, she was a good candidate to suffer from depression. Depression may interfere with the mother’s ability to bond with her growing baby. Also, depression during pregnancy can place the mother at risk for having an episode of depression after delivery (postpartum depression).9
Some research suggests that depression in pregnant women can have direct effects on the fetus. Their babies are often irritable and lethargic. These newborns may grow into infants who become slow learners, and emotionally unresponsive, with behavior problems, such as aggression. 10
Muhammad grew up among strangers. As he grew, he became aware that he did not belong to the family with whom he was living. He must have wondered why his own mother, whom he visited twice a year, did not want him.
Halima, Muhammad’s wet nurse, several decades later recounted that at first she did not want to take Muhammad for he was an orphan of a poor widow with little means. Eventually she accepted him because she did not find a child from a wealthy family. Her family desperately needed the extra income even though it was not much. Did this reflect in the way she cared for the child? Did Muhammad feel unloved in his foster family’s home during those crucial formative years when a person’s character is shaped?
Halima reported that Muhammad was a solitary child. He would withdraw to an imaginary world and converse with friends that no one could see. Was this the reaction of a child who did not feel loved in the real world and made up one in his mind in which he could find refuge and be loved?
Muhammad’s mental health became a matter of concern to his wet nurse who, when he reached the age of five, took him back to Amina. Not having found a new husband yet, Amina was reluctant to take the child back, until Halima told her about Muhammad’s strange behavior and his fantasies. Ibn Ishaq has recorded Halima’s words:
His [Halima’s own son] father said to me, ‘I am afraid that this child has had a stroke, so take him back to his family before the result appears.’… She [Muhammad’s mother] asked me what happened and gave me no peace until I told her. When she asked if I feared a demon had possessed him, I replied that I did.11
It is normal for children to see monsters under their beds and talk to imaginary friends. But Muhammad’s case must have been exceptionally alarming. Halima’s husband said, “I am afraid that this child has had a stroke.” This information is significant. Years later, Muhammad spoke of his strange childhood experiences:
Two men in white clothes came to me with a golden basin full of snow. They took me and split open my body, then they took my heart and split it open and took out from it a black clot which they flung away. Then they washed my heart and my body with that snow until they made them pure.12
What is certain is that impurities of the mind don’t appear as a clot in the heart. Apart from the fact that children are sin-free, sins cannot be removed with surgery and snow is not a good cleanser. This whole story is a fantasy or a hallucination.
Muhammad was now reunited with his mother, but this union did not last long. A year later Amina died. He did not speak of her much. When Muhammad conquered Mecca, fifty five years after her death, he visited his mother’s tomb at Abwa, a place between Mecca and Medina where she was buried and wept. He told his companions:
This is the grave of my mother; the Lord has permitted me to visit it. And I sought leave to pray for her, but it was not granted. So I called my mother to remembrance, and the tender memory of her overcame me, and I wept. 13
Why would God not allow Muhammad to pray for his mother? What had she done that she did not deserve to be forgiven? Unless we believe that God is unjust, this does not make sense. Obviously God had nothing to do with it. It was Muhammad who could not forgive his mother, even half a century after her death. He probably remembered her as an unloving cold woman, was resentful of her and had deep emotional wounds that were never healed.
Muhammad then spent two years in the house of his grandfather, who, mindful of him being an orphan, lavished his grandson, the only remnant of his deceased son Abdullah, with excessive love. Ibn Sa’d writes that Abdul Muttalib gave the child so much attention that he had not given any of his sons.14 Muir writes in his biography of Muhammad: “The child was treated by him with singular fondness. A rug used to be spread under the shadow of the Ka’ba, and on it, the aged chief reclined in shelter from the heat of the sun. Around the carpet, but at a respectful distance, sat his sons. The little Muhammad was wont to run close up to the patriarch, and unceremoniously take possession of his rug. His sons would seek to drive him off, but Abdul Muttalib would interpose saying: ‘Let my little son alone.’ He would then stroke him on the back, as he delighted in watching his childish prattle. The boy was still under the care of his nurse, Baraka, but he would ever and anon quit her, and run into the apartment of his grandfather, even when he was alone or asleep.” 15
Muhammad remembered the preferential treatment he received from Abdul Muttalib. Peppering it with his imagination, he later said that his grandfather used to say, “Let him alone for he has a great destiny, and will be the inheritor of a kingdom;” and would tell Baraka, “Beware lest you let him fall into the hands of the Jews and Christians, for they are looking out for him, and would injure him!”16 However, no one remembered those comments, for none of his uncles readily accepted him when he made his claim, except Hamza, who was of his own age. Abbas also joined his cause, but only after Muhammad’s star had risen and he was at the gate of Mecca ready to invade it.
Alas, fate was not clement to Muhammad. Only two years after living in the household of his grandfather, the old patriarch died at the age of eighty-two and the boy came under the guardianship of his uncle Abu Talib.
The orphan child felt bitterly the loss of his loving grandfather. As he followed his bier to the cemetery of Hajun, he was seen weeping; and years later, he retained a fond memory of him.
Abu Talib faithfully discharged the trust. “His fondness for the lad equaled that of Abdul Muttalib,” writes Muir. “He made him sleep by his bed, eat by his side, and go with him whenever he walked abroad. And this tender treatment he continued until Muhammad emerged from the helplessness of childhood.” 17 Ibn Sa’d quotes Waqidi who narrated that Abu Talib, although not wealthy, took care of Muhammad and loved him more than his own children.
Because of the devastating psychological blows during his childhood, Muhamamd feared abandonment and must have been emotionally traumatized. This becomes evident from an incident that took place when he was 12 years old. One day, Abu Talib decided to go to Syria for a business trip. He intended to leave the child behind. “But when the caravan was ready to depart, and Abu Talib about to mount his camel, his nephew was overcome by the prospect of so long a separation and clung to his protector. Abu Talib was moved, and carried the boy along with him.”18 This degree of attachment to his uncle is a clue that Muhammad was in constant fear of losing his loved ones.
Despite this great affection, and even though Abu Talib remained a staunch defender of him throughout his life – doting on him even more than he did his own children – Muhammad proved to be an ungrateful nephew in the end. When the aging uncle was in his deathbed, Muhammad visited him at his bedside. All the sons of Abdul Muttalib were also present. Thinking always of the well-being of his nephew, Abu Talib made an earnest plea to his brothers to protect Muhammad, who was now 50 years old. They promised to do so, including Abu Lahab, whom he had cursed. After that Muhammad requested his uncle to convert to Islam.
Muhammad was cognizant that his followers were mostly meek and lowly. To boost his prestige he needed someone of stature to embrace his cause. Ibn Ishaq narrates: “Whenever men came together at the fairs, or the apostle heard of anyone of importance coming to Mecca, he went to them with his message.”19 The chroniclers also tell us that Muhammad rejoiced immensely when Abu Bakr and then Omar enlisted in his cause. The conversion of Abu Talib would have elevated his prestige among his uncles and the Quraish, the tribe that resided within Mecca and were custodians of the Ka’ba, giving him the credibility and status he so desperately craved. Instead, the dying man smiled and said he would rather die in the faith of his forefathers. Thus, with his hopes dashed, Muhammad walked out of the room murmuring: “I wanted to pray for him, but Allâh stopped me from doing so.”20
It is difficult to believe that God would stop his prophet from asking forgiveness for the man who raised him, protected him all his life, and sacrificed so much for him. This would lower God to a level that would render him unworthy of worship. The sacrifices Abu Talib and his family made for the sake of Muhammad were immense. This man, while yet incredulous of his nephew’s claim, stood like a rock against his opponents, shielding him from any possible harm, and for 38 years remained his most stalwart supporter. Despite that when Abu Talib refused to convert to Islam, Muhammad felt so rejected that he could not bring himself even to say a prayer at his death. Bukhari reports:
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri that he heard the Prophet, when somebody mentioned his uncle (Abu Talib), saying, ‘Perhaps my intercession will be helpful to him on the Day of Resurrection so that he may be put in a shallow fire reaching only up to his ankles. His brain will boil from it.21
Muhammad’s youth was relatively eventless and not noteworthy enough for him to talk about and for his biographers to recount. He was shy, quiet and not very sociable. Despite the fact that he was cared for and even spoiled by his uncle, Muhammad remained sensitive to his status as an orphan. The memories of his loveless and lonely childhood haunted him for the rest of his life.
Years passed. Muhammad remained a loner, a recluse in his own world, distant and even aloof from his peers. Bukhari22 says Muhammad was “shyer than a veiled virgin girl.”23 He remained so for all his life, insecure and timid, something he tried to compensate for by puffing himself up, with pomposity and self-aggrandizement.
Muhammad did not engage in any important occupation. At times he would attend sheep, a profession mostly reserved for girls and deemed unmanly by the Arabs. The pay was meager and he depended on his impoverished uncle for his sustenance.
References:
7 Acording to one tradition (that I have not been able to verify its authenticity) Muhamamd’s original name was Qutham. He was also known as Halabi. He changed his name to Muhammad (praised one) at the age of fifty-three, when he migrated to Medina.
8 Muhammad had four daughters and two sons. His male children, Qasim and Abd al Menaf (named after deity Menaf) died in infancy. His daughters reached adulthood and married, but they all died young. The youngest daughter, Fatima, was survived by two sons. She outlived Muhammad by only six months.
9 Studies have shown that the newborns of the mothers with prepartum and postpartum depressive symptoms had elevated cortisol and norepinephrine levels, lower dopamine levels, and greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry. The infants in the prepartum group also showed greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry and higher norepinephrine levels. These data suggest that effects on newborn physiology depend more on prepartum than postpartum maternal depression but may also depend on the duration of the depressive symptoms. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
10 http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Depression_during_pregnancy_and_after_0405.htm
11 Sirat Ibn Ishaq, page 72: Ibn Ishaq (pronounced Is-haq, Arabic for Isaac) was a Muslim historian, born in Medina approximately 85 years after Hijra (704. died 768). (Hijra is Muhammad’s immigration to Medina and the beginning of the Islamic calendar), He was the first biographer of Muhammad and his war expeditions. His collection of stories about Muhammad was called “Sirat al-Nabi” (“Life of the Prophet”). That book is lost. However, a systematic presentation of Ibn Ishaq’s material with a commentary by Ibn Hisham (d. 834) in the form of a recension is available and translated into English. Ibn Hisham, admitted that he has deliberately omitted some of the stories that were embarrassing to Muslims. Part of those embarrassing stories were salvaged by Tabari, (838–923) one of the most prominent and famous Persian historians and a commentator of the Qur’an.
12 W. Montgomery Watt: Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s biography of Muhammad (p. 36)
13 Tabaqat Ibn Sa’d p. 21 . Ibn Sa’d (784-845) was a historian, student of al Waqidi. He classified his story in eight categories, hence the name Tabaqat (categories). The first is on the life of Muhammad (Vol. 1), then his wars (Vol. 2), his companions of Mecca (Vol. 3), his companions of Medina (Vol. 4), his grand children, Hassan and Hussein and other prominent Muslims (Vol. 5), the followers and the companions of Muhammad (Vol. 6), his later important followers (Vol. 7) and some early Muslim women (Vol. 8). The quotes from Tabaqat used in this book are taken from the Persian translation by Dr. Mahmood Mahdavi Damghani. Publisher Entesharat-e Farhang va Andisheh. Tehran, 1382 solar hijra (2003 A.D.).
14 Tabaqat Volume 1, page 107
15 The Life of Muhammad by Sir. William Muir [Smith, Elder, & Co., London, 1861] Volume II Ch. 1. P. XXVIII
16 Katib al Waqidi, p. 22
17 Tabaqat Vol I. P 108,
18 The Life of Muhammad by Sir. William Muir Vol. II Ch. 1. P. XXXIII
19 Sirat, Ibn Ishaq page. 195
20 Life of Muhammad, Muir Vol 2 p.195
21 Bukhari Volume 5, Book 58, Number 224:
22 Abu Abdullah Muhammad Bukhari (c. 810-870) was a collector of hadith also known as the sunnah, (collection of sayings and deeds of Muhammad). His book of hadith is considered second to none. He spent sixteen years compiling it, and ended up with 2,602 hadith (9,082 with repetition). His criteria for acceptance into the collection were amongst the most stringent of all the scholars of ahadith and that is why his book is called Sahih (correct, authentic). There are other scholars, such as Abul Husain Muslim and Abu Dawood who worked as Bukhari did and collected other authentic reports. Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim and Sunnan Abu Dawood are recognized by the majority of Muslims, particularly Sunnis, as complementing the Qur’an.
23 Bukhari: Volume 4, Book 56, Number 762:
RATIONALIST DEBASHIS 