"The Black Dog is the Devil" - Divine Guidance from Allah?

 

When I eventually got myself my dog, I wanted to make a point, so I got a black dog.

I was still Muslim at this time but I had rejected the orthodox Sunni position on dogs in Islam. I felt confident enough in my knowledge to argue against it.

Why a black dog? Well simply because of the hadith that says...

"The Black Dog is the Devil"

A few days ago it was #NationalBlackDog day and I discovered that black dogs are the least adopted dogs from shelters and they are also the most likely to be put down. It's actually got its own name - Black Dog Syndrome.

What is it with black dogs?

Which got me thinking - why did Muhammad also have a thing about black dogs? It seems to be something deeply ingrained in our shared human experience.

So, me being me, I needed to find out more.  

I can't accept the idea that any black dog is the devil. Come on, let's be a bit sensible about this - you're telling me I have been walking, feeding and picking up the devil's poop for the last 2 years?

So where does that leave Muslims in terms of the meaning of the hadith? 

Well you could dream up all sorts of reasons behind it - there are many. One of the funniest I read was that someone said Muhammad meant dogs with "black hearts", i.e. naughty dogs but this is simply silly as dogs don't have a moral compass and I'm sure Islam doesn't teach anything about animals being accountable for their actions.

Or you could maybe accept that Muhammad wasn't actually giving any sort of divinely inspired understanding of the inner dimensions of black dogs and was simply relaying superstition and folklore around black dogs that was common at the time or he picked up on his travels to Sham (Syria) for trade.

Black dogs in other religions

As I explained in my blog about Judaism's influence on Islam in respect to dogs, Islam did not happen in a vacuum. 

If anything, once you spend some time reading and learning, you realise that Islam was to a large degree shaped by the religions before it and around it at the time.

And this becomes even more apparent when you look at black dogs. 

Here's a few examples:

Ancient Egypt: Anubis was an ancient Egyptian god of the underworld who guided and protected the spirits of the dead. He was generally depicted as a black jackal-headed man, or as a black jackal. It's thought the connection was originally made as jackals, or wild dogs, used to roam graveyards in search of food - this is how the link between the animal and the dead was formed in their minds. 

Ancient Greece: In Greek mythology, Cerberus, the "hound of Hades", is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. In some accounts, he is black. Sounds familiar right?

Zoroastrianism: The black dog was heavily associated with magic and witchcraft - in fact, they thought witches would ride dogs rather than broomsticks. Zoroastrians actually feared dogs  as they believed spirits would move through them and that they also had the evil eye. This is why they were so well looked after - to keep evil away. In Khorosan around the time of Islam it was common to believe that killing a dog would bring 7 years bad luck. Interestingly, it was also common belief that carrying the tongue of a black dog would ward off attacks by rabid animals.

Hinduism: According to some Hindu beliefs, black dogs are said to be the reincarnation of the fearsome god, Bhairava, who is associated with annihilation. Even today Hindus still carry beliefs around black dogs, for example, astrologists might advise people suffering from the negative effects of certain planets might find some respite when they feed black dogs.

Basically, it seems, throughout history man has had an issue with black dogs. Across all cultures and religions the black dog has been demonised. 

The examples above are just a few to give you a taste - you can find similar sorts of ideas specifically around black dogs in China, The UK, Nordic culture, Catalan culture and many more. 

The interesting thing they all have in common is that the black dog is consistently associated with death, the devil, spirits, shape-shifters and all things bad.

So did Muhammad come to teach us all about the evils of black dogs or did he simply repeat what everyone else thought at the time and still, it sadly appears, believes today?

Islam and Dogs - The Influence of Judaism

Since I started to doubt Islam, and listen to the voice in my head a few years back, I have come across numerous examples of Judaism's influence on the religion.

It is surprising how many stories, events cited in the Quran and even common words Muslims use such as "jahannam" [Arabic for hell] all have roots in Judaism.

It dawned on me that this might also be the case with dogs! 

So naturally I did some digging.

And it's very interesting reading indeed.

For anyone who follows the theory that Muhammad essentially stole a whole load of stories from his trips abroad and passed them off as divine knowledge - you might find this interesting too.

Islam Did Not Exist in a Vacuum 

When looking at the birth of Islam Muslims tend to view it in isolation. As if the only thing going on at that time was some people worshiping date statues and rocks. 

Not true - Muhammad was living with Jews and Christians and if he was a merchant going to Sham, then he would have met Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and other religions or beliefs along the way. For sure.

Muslims need to start rationally looking at what Muhammad supposedly taught, i.e what "brand Islam" tells us he taught, and start questioning why very similar teachings were around at the same time. Why are so many of his "wisdoms" things you can trace to other religions and cultures?

Dogs are just one of hundreds of things you can use to dissect Islam.

Muhammad did not get some amazing revelation about dogs he left for mankind in Sahih Muslim and Bukhari.

He was basically explaining what was common practice or knowledge at that time about dogs. Or if you, like me, question many of the hadith, then someone else attributed a hadith to Muhammad, based on the perceived custom or wisdom of the time.

The history of filthy dogs goes waaaaay back. The prevalent attitudes in general in the ancient Near East often stressed the impurity of the dog and its contemptible status. This also followed into Judaism and Christianity before the advent of Islam.

Here are a few quotes which stand out for me from some of the online reading I did.

[If you really want to geek out like I did then check out
Dogs in Jewish Society in the Second Temple Period and in the Time of the Mishnah and Talmud which goes into lots of detail about dogs in that part of the world.]

Dogs are for the most part portrayed negatively in the Bible. Deuteronomy appears to equate dogs and prostitution, ruling in Deuteronomy 23:19 that if one of these is used to pay for an animal — say, if one offered a dog or sex in exchange for a goat — that purchased animal cannot be brought to the temple as a sacrifice. 

The Book of Kings includes several references to dogs feeding on corpses. And in the Psalms, dogs are described as beasts that maul at human beings.

The negative attitude toward dogs persists in the Talmud , which frequently regards dogs as dangerous animals. Though the Talmud in Baba Kama states that it is permissible to keep certain kinds of dogs that are useful for preventing infestations of vermin, it also states that dogs must be kept chained and that those who “raise” (the Hebrew word used here is the same as the one used for rearing children) dogs are cursed.

In the Jewish mystical tradition, dogs are symbols of the demonic. The Zohar, the core text of Jewish mysticism, says that evil in the world is like a vicious dog on a long leash.

Source

For the most part, and in spite of some recent scholarly attempts at rehabilitation, dogs were held in contempt in Israelite society due to their penchant for dining on blood and carcasses.

They were regarded as urban predators roaming about at night, barking and howling, in search for food (Psalms 59:7, 15), and such dogs could easily attack anybody who got too close (Psalms 22:17, 21) or bite those who foolishly tried to show them affection (Proverbs 26:17). Outside of the city there were wild dogs, busy devouring carrion and licking blood (II Kings 9:35-36; Exodus 22:30). Very few people would have wanted anything to do with them.

Jewish tradition in Second Temple and Mishnah and Talmud period times was well aware of the important functions of the dog as herding and a guard animal, and these were generally described in a positive manner, even though guard dogs by nature were supposed to be aggressive, and herders could be rather “pushy.”

Some rabbinic sages therefore preferred to limit the use of guard dogs to cases of real potential danger such as border towns (Tosefta Bava Kama 8:17). Some sages could not rid themselves of an animus toward canines and could not be convinced that the functions dogs might fulfill were important; they even compared the raising of dogs “to one who raises pigs” (ibid.), anathema in ancient Jewish society.

Source

Now it's clear that a dislike for dogs was pretty common place. Muhammad wasn't saying anything new. He possibly wrapped it up in fancy pants language or added some spice, but his message, or what the hadith say, were nothing divine.

Jewish Inspiration for Hadith about Dogs

See the highlighted words above? Check it.

1/ From Bukhari: "Allah's Apostle regarded illegal the price of a dog, the earnings of a prostitute, and the charges taken by a soothsayer," and then from Muslim: Abu Masud reported that Allah's messenger forbade the charging of price of the dog and earning of a prostitute and sweets offered to a kahin.
  
2/ "Were dogs not a species of creature I should command that they all be killed; but kill every pure black one. The black dog is a devil."

3/  "Whoever keeps a dog, one Qirat of the reward of his good deeds is deducted daily, unless the dog is used for guarding a farm or cattle." Abu Huraira (in another narration) said "Unless it is used for guarding sheep or farms, or for hunting." 

See any similarities between these hadith and the highlighted words? Or a coincidence? Or?

I may be wrong, I may be right - I have no idea, but what I have done is looked beyond what a Sheikh or an Imam has told me and found that actually there is much more to dogs and Islam than meets the eye.

The same with all the other areas of Islam - it's borrowed a lot from the people and religions around it.

Why are Dogs Haram in Islam?

If you are wondering why dogs are haram in Islam, then I have news for you. They aren't.

The Quran says nothing about dogs and the hadith give conflicting messages on dogs.

The only ones saying anything about dogs are the scholars. The fuqaha.

It is the scholars who have created these rules on dogs and it is these rules that have now warped into an illogical disliking for dogs by Muslims from Morocco to Malaysia.

If you have read my blog before you'll know it was the whole issue of dogs that exposed me to some of the hidden truths about Islam such as the hadith and the chains of narration.

Although my interests lie in other areas of critique such as history, the sharia rulings over dogs still fascinate me.

The more I read and delve into it, the more I realise how much of Islam was essentially made up by men hundreds of years after Muhammad. Most of what Muslims believe, think and do comes from these people. People - not God or the Prophet, just people. 

Ibn Rushd (Averoes) and Dogs in Islam

So it was with really interesting to stumble across a small passage in the work on Ibn Rushd on the disagreements between the Sunni schools of law over the cleanliness of left over water in a vessel which has been drunk by animals.

"The Distinguished Jurist's Primer" is essentially a book which discusses how opinions were formed by the different schools of thought (madhabs); in particular explaining how each madhab essentially had its own approach to the sharia (and its sources) and how these had to be adhered to, even in the face of logic. He nicely goes through how the differing opinions were formed and what the points of contention were between jurists.

As a side note, the book is also useful in highlighting the very fractured nature of the sharia - it is amazing how much disagreement there was over the most mundane things.

Is the leftover water of dogs clean? Here are some of the more salient points which touch upon the cleanliness of dogs.

1) Jurists all agreed over the cleanliness of water left over by Muslims and cattle "but disagreed EXTENSIVELY about other categories." Basically this illustrates how early scholars were all grabbing at straws in trying to adhere to their school's legal system and trying to make sense out of the religion presented to them.

 2) Some jurists upheld that that the leftover water of every animal was pure, while others made an exception for pigs. (Note: no exception for dogs, meaning the water would not be considered unclean! Not what you'd expect right?)

3) Imam Shafi'i however did make an exception for both dogs and pigs.

4) A main point of argument for most scholars at that time was that the permissibly of drinking the leftover water of an animal depended on whether you could eat its flesh, or not. So as you can eat acow, horse, etc. their leftover water  would be pure. Pig on the other hand can not be eaten, so their leftover water would be impure.

5) Many scholars also believed idolaters' leftover water was also impure.

6) Ibn Rushd highlights three key areas where the scholars disagreed:

a) Conflicts between analogies made by jurists and the Quran
b) Conflicts in the literal meanings of hadith
c) Conflicts between the hadith themselves

Here are some examples....

7) Scholars agreed that purity comes from life; therefore they had to also agree and believe that every living thing is pure. As a result, logically, the leftover water of anything pure is pure. But this contradicts the Quran doesn't it? "Swine flesh - for that verily is foul." So how can this be? Well, the jurists had to agree that this is a special case and that pigs therefore are the exception to the rule. Not all jurists agreed though as many saw the implications of this to logical path - they disagreed and explained the Quran was only being derogatory when talking of its flesh, not literally. Another example of this disagreement is in how jurists interpreted the Quran when it talks of, "the idolaters are unclean." Some took it literally, others just as a verbal slight on polytheists.

8) However, the problems don't end with the Quran as jurists then had the hadith body to deal with. They had Abu Hurayra's hadith about a dog licking a vessel and washing it seven times to interpret. On top of that they also had another equally sound hadith through Abu Hurayra (from Qurra through Ibn Sirin) that said, "The purification of a utensil when a cat has licked it is to wash it once or twice." (Why is it we NEVER hear this hadith?) So now on top of the pig, the scholars are being told by hadith that both dogs and cats may also be issues. But this totally contradicts the principle that all the scholars had agreed on that living things are pure doesn't it?

So now we start to see the mental gymnastics from the scholars on this whole question.

9) Imam Malik held the opinion that the leftover water of a dog was to be spilled and the vessel washed "as it is a ritual act of non-rational worship." Do you see what he has done? He can't explain it so it becomes non-rational act of worship! Basically, just do it because.

10) As Imam Malik had to follow this bizarre logic he laid down he also had to rule that one only had to spill water that was leftover in a vessel - not food! So basically if a dog licks water it's bad but if they lick food its ok. This makes no sense people. He admitted himself that he had to take this position as otherwise it would contradict the Quran in several ways including the verse, "So eat of what they catch for you." Basically these scholars were forcing themselves into positions - it's utter madness.


11) Imam Shafi'i went with the opinion that the dog was an exception and took the literal understanding that the leftovers were impure. He stated the uncleanliness lies in the saliva (but again this contradicts reason, logic and hadith) not the dog.

12)  There were jurists who also ruled that the leftover water of  cats is impure. Others though took a hadith about cats being clean because they 'moved among people' as proof that there was no problem with cats. Rightfully so, many scholars claimed this was nonsense because dogs also 'moved among people'. In the end jurists came to settle this point by deciding to give more precedence to one narrator of hadith over another! It was that simple - if the hadith contradicted each other, just choose the one that suits your stance!

13) At the end of this section Ibn Rushd perhaps unwittingly gives us a glimpse into the origins of the hadith over dogs and licking where he explains that his Grandfather, also a jurist, ruled that the hadith must have a logical reason and that reason is most probably related to preventing the spread of a disease, i.e. rabies, not to the impurity of the water or the animal. "If we say that this water is not unclean, it is better to provide a rational underlying reason rather than saying that it is non-rational when water in itself is clean."

Why I left Islam.

You see, I did not leave Islam because of dogs. I left Islam because I realised Islam is a con. It's been made up as it went along and a lot of what we are taught to be "Islam" is really what scholars and those in power decided it was.

This is just one point - dogs. You can take my approach to literally anything in Islam and you'll pretty much always end up in the same place - scholars coming to an agreement over something using Quran and hadith and whatever else they needed at the time to suit their cause. I did the same with the rules on apostasy and found the same - it was all made up later!

Sorry, but no creator of this planet, the moon and the stars would send us a religion that ties intelligent people up in knots over whether the leftover water of dogs is clean or not. This is a crazy waste of time not a path to God.

Islam Taught Us Dog Saliva is Unclean 1,400 Years Ago

Some pretty awful news today got Muslims talking about the amazing wisdom of Islam in informing mankind of the dangers of dog saliva.

According to a Miami News Channel, 48-year-old Greg Manteufel ended up in hospital with an infection from the bacteria capnocytophaga.

He caught it from his dawg. 

Before we move on, let's send Greg some positive vibrations and hope he gets all the love and support he needs. It's a very sad story.

Anyway, back to the Muslims and doggies.

Lo! and Behold! This story is definitive proof that Islam is the truth. That Allah has given Muslims, the chosen people, these secrets of how to stay healthy and clean and avoid disease.  

Some examples of such thinking include....

Bias and Self-Confirmation

I myself, 2 years ago would have been in agreement with the brothers above.

Until I really questioned it all.

What these tweets demonstrate is what is called Confirmation Bias. 

Watch this video if you want to learn more but basically it is a very simple bias all of us are prone to - we look for things that confirm our world view - we ignore those things that don't.

So if you believe all black men are fast runners and you see a black man running fast, you think "see, it's right". If you see another black man running behind him very slowly, you think "he's an exception" and is discounted.

When you look closer though, these beliefs about dog saliva and Islam make no sense under the tiniest of scrutiny which in my case eventually led me away from "Islam". 

The thing is, as a Muslim you are not designed to question this, or anything. To be fair I find most people from most persuasions very similar in this regard - everyone is out to prove themselves right not wrong.

As a Muslim, you just accept and carry on. I however could not stop questioning if this was really something "God" would do?

It just seemed so OTT and it totally contradicted my experience of dogs - I am surrounded by dog owners where I live, and none get ill or die from dog saliva or end up in hospital. I see kids kissing dogs and dogs licking kids and nothing happens (not that I would encourage that anyway). People sleep with their dogs and nothing happens. It just doesn't tally with reality. 

One of the reasons I do this blog is to give people who are pro-dog (Muslims and non-Muslims) with some basic arguments when speaking to Muslims about this.

The prejudice against dogs is ridiculous in the extreme and it has caused unnecessary suffering to a special creature and perhaps more importantly robbed from Muslims the love, care, attention, protection, etc. that dogs offer.

So let's look at some really basic arguments against this position against dogs in "Islam": 


1) As the news piece says, this reaction is not the norm.  

"According to the Centers for Disease Control, it’s rare but possible for capnocytophaga to cause severe infections in people with weakened immune systems, and is spread through bites or close contact with infected dogs or cats."

So Allah sent us Muhammad to warn mankind to be careful of dog saliva because it could harm some of us? Why so specific? Why not about other things in life that could harm some of us?

We are literally surrounded by things that could harm some of us, like nuts or gluten. Does Allah not care about nut allergies or those who are gluten intolerant?

2) I can hear you already - you spotted it too! CATS!!! 

Yes, cats - you can also catch this very same disease from cats yet as a Muslim you are always taught that dogs are evil and cats are good because its Sunnah to keep a cat. Only dog saliva is bad.

Does Not Add Up.

Plus cats can also give you Cat's Scratch Disease which can even stop you getting a hard on. Yep - it's true - where's the warning from Allah on this one? I'm sure plenty of men would want to know this before getting a cat!

3) Why only dogs?

If Allah sent us Muhammad, the Mercy for all Mankind, and he sent with him this warning about dogs, I would like to ask Allah why he didn't warn us about all the other potentially dangerous diseases we could get from pets and other animals we may come into contact with?

I don't get it. It may have saved this dude from getting the plague from his pet cat, or this boy getting tularemia from his hamster or this guy from getting Parrot Fever from his, well....parrot. If you are a farmer or shepherd and are allowed according to Sharia to keep dogs for protection, then why have we not been warned of  Q Fever?

You can keep punching holes into the argument all day long.

At the end of the day, Islam has come to this position on dogs due to the hadith. The Quran says diddly squat about dogs other than one that slept in a cave for hundreds of years with 7 Christians who were hiding out from bad guys.

It's the hadith that led early scholars to come to certain conclusions on dogs because their methodologies tied their hands in terms of interpretation. This has led to these interpretations becoming part of the faith - as if that you are not allowed to be a proper Muslim if you disagree because that would be questioning the Prophet, which by default is questioning God. 

Muslims now have to apologise for Islam's bizarre position on dogs for the rest of eternity and especially so for those that live in dog friendly cultures in places such as Europe or N. America.

The intellectual scramble to legitimise the position takes all forms from those who challenge the status quo to those who will defend it to the letter, until death.

For some news stories like the one about Greg, helps legitimise and rationalise what they believe is the God given truth about dogs.

What is the Quran? A Book or a Revelation?

Why does the Quran call itself a "book" when it was not a book but then became a book?

This is nagging me at the moment. 

To be honest I have only come to even ask this question since I left brand 'Islam'. It never occurred to me once as a practicing Muslim.

I wish I had kept my Arabic. I spent 6 years studying it in the Middle East in my 20s but got married in late 20s and once you have to start earning money and raising kids, you stop speaking, reading and learning and before you know it, your language skills have pretty much vanished!

I digress.

If I had kept my Arabic up then maybe I could answer this question in more detail. But I can't. So I'm doing my best with the tools I have. (And surely this is all Allah can expect of us otherwise He sounds like He doesn't know His own creation.)

What I was taught about the Quran.

I was not born a Muslim. I converted in my very early twenties.

Looking back I think I know why, although I can't be sure. This gave me a unique perspective into Islam. I wasn't tied to cultural understandings of Islam. I did however after a few years of getting confused by reading lots of books decide to follow a Sheikh - a teacher or guru that guides you through all aspects of Islam, this worldly and other worldly.

I then spent a good 15 years studying and living Islam intensely according to an orthodox understanding. By this I mean I followed one of the four madhabs, studied aqeeda, the Quran and upheld the principles of the Ahle Sunna - the Sunnis.

I had teachers from the following countries over those years who all came from the traditionalist, orthodox Sunni understanding of Islam: Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. I also studied Shia Islam under some Shia in Medina in Saudi Arabia as well as in Iran (but I never became Shia - only wanted to get their point of view as I was asking questions at one point about Ali and the split).

So I think I have a good understanding of what most mainstream Muslims are taught.

We are taught that Muhammad received revelations from Allah through Gabriel. That this happened for some 20 years or so and during this time these revelations were memorized and recorded by Muslims. It was not until the 2nd Caliph, Umar that the different verses written down were collected and formed into a book. There are mentions of Umar ordering copies of the Quran being burnt under his leadership, but that's a topic you can find answers to yourself, should you wish.

The orthodox Muslim view of the Quran is clear - it was an oral transmission - which only became a book later.

In fact, Arabs take great pride in this. They love to wax lyrical about the fact that Islam is really an oral tradition; passed from generation to generation keeping the sacred bond between God and his chosen people. Sounds suspiciously like another religion in the neighbourhood.

So, it is incontestable that the Quran was never ever a book - it was a series of recitations that have become known as "ayat" or verses that have then been brought together and later canonized as an "approved" book to be used by the masses.

In conclusion, "Islam" confirms that the Quran was not a book.

So, why does the Quran call itself a book???

Yes, why? Like what the f@Ck akhi!? 

And I am not just making this up. The Quran doesn't call itself "book" only once. This is just a selection:

“A book revealed unto you, so that your heart be not in any difficulty on that account, (so that) with it you may warn (the sinful) and teach the believers”. (7:2).

“This Qur’an is not such as can be produced by other than Allah, on the contrary it is a confirmation of (revelations) that were sent before it, and a full explanation of the book, wherein there is not doubt from the Lord of the worlds”. (10:37)

“And We sent down the book to you for the express purpose that you should make clear to them those things in which they differ, and so that it should be a guide and mercy to those who believe”. (16:64).

“We have revealed for you (O men) a book in which there is a message for you, will you then not understand”. (21:10).

“These are the verses of the book that make things clear”. (26:2).

“... A book which We have sent down unto you with full of blessings so that they may meditate on its signs and that man of understanding may receive admonition”. (38:29).

“Verily We have revealed the book to you in truth for instructing mankind. He that receives guidance benefits his own soul, but he that strays injures his own soul”. (39:41).

 Are you confused? Yes; this was my life everyday for about 2 years until I decided to entertain other possibilities.

 
So let's just agree on one thing before we continue.

The Quran clearly refers to itself as a book yet we are taught by Islamic history that the Quran was a recitation. 

(For the record another interpretation of the word Quran is something like "collection" which would make sense in the context of collecting together all the written verses. If this were the case, then it should again raise questions as to what the Quran really is for Muslims - something I am coming onto.)

So, we have a contradiction.

Now this is what my Muslim head would have responded with a year or so ago:

"Allah knows all things and is beyond time and space. He works in mysterious ways. He meant these revelations to become a book and knew they would become a book so refers to it as a "book". Simple." It's quite easy to find answers.

This is what my head tells me now:

"Islam, as it was spreading, came up against other forces. For ex.  the Persians, the Jews and Christians. They had to defeat all of them militarily and theologically.

We need to understand Islam in context. It was shaped by certain outside forces very much as Trump's America is today in 2018. It uses "another" or "the other" to give it shape, meaning and purpose. Islam was no different.

'Islam' had a Prophet but it didn't have a book. 

You see where I am going with this don't you?

Look, remember this is just a theory. A stab in the dark. But why else would the Quran call itself a book it it wasn't always meant to be a book?

Does that not seem perfectly reasonable? Seems not outside the realms of possibility to me.

If you believe the Quran is the word of God, accurately recorded as it was relayed to Muhammad, then OK, I respect your right to believe that. I did. But this makes no sense. You have to admit it at least smells a few days past the sell by date, no?

I believe the idea that the Quran is, was or is meant to be a book was added in by the early Muslims after Muhammad. 

It's that simple.

They needed a book to match up to the local rivals, which would better their book, and hey ho presto, the Quran goes from becoming recorded recitations to a book!

This is where possibly the understanding of the Quran fundamentally changes in nature. Is this the point where the message all goes wrong?

If you approach the Quran as the eternal, literal word of Allah, the Almighty Creator, captured in a book to become the reference point for all mankind until the end of time, you have nowhere to go in terms of your understanding of what the Quran is. You are locked.

However, if you approach the Quran as a collection of oral recitations, as written versions of Muhammad telling his followers the words he heard in his head (or from an angel or whatever he likes) and simply as capturing his personal experience of God - we have something completely different in our hands. It no longer is this all-holy rule book that binds all mankind to some sort of eternal covenant with God - again sounds very much like a neighbouring religion.

What use is a religion that teaches you to have a personal experience with God?

None.

Any good religion knows you need a book and some scholars to interpret the book.

It's a theory anyway. Whatever the Quran is, it isn't what most Muslims believe it to be.

Apostasy in Islam - What does the Quran Really Say?

مرتد‎ murtadd - one who turns away.

So, I read a lot of history, especially early Muslim history not only about Arabia but also in neighbouring lands. This helps gives context to what was happening in Islam - it did not appear and grow in a vacuum. Everything early Islam did was in a context, in comparison to something else or against something else.

The punishment for apostasy is not something I ever really looked into. I knew there were opinions that said those who leave Islam should be killed, but to me it always seemed to be the Islam of the jihadis and Salafis. 

So I never took it seriously - you are taught from day one that Islam teaches there is "no compulsion in religion" - so I brushed it aside as militant nonsense that the true teachings of the faith would never allow.

It has only been in the last few weeks that the question of apostasy and its punishment has become a bit of a topic in my mind - mainly due to Twitter as ex-Muslims seem to be obsessed with it and the alt-right love it because it gives them a seemingly easy peasy way to prove that Muslims are mad.

Now, what I'm about to say in this blog could be wrong, it also could be right. I have no idea. What I want to do though is show how when you look at specific topics in Islam, they tend to make no sense or point to serious contradictions and flaws.

Let me also stress that this blog in no way whatsoever wishes to apologise for Islam's stance on apostasy - I totally accept that mainstream Sunni Islam accepts killing apostates is allowed and as an apostate myself, I therefore can be killed. 

What I am trying to do is show Muslims and non-Muslims alike, how when you peel away and look at things in Islam with some common sense, you can find perfectly easy explanations for much of the madness that has come to define shariah and therefore Muslims' beliefs and lives.

So, first - does Islam say you should kill apostates?

Well, obviously we can't ask anyone called 'Islam' but what we can do is look at some texts that the layman and scholars may go to in order to find an answer to this. 

Take note of this point: Muslims do not use heart or head when asking themselves if something is allowed/good/bad/haram/halal - they ask a book, a scholar or a website, a legal precedent. This in itself is perhaps the most serious flaw in Islam and how it is practised - not a shred of common sense.

So, let me show you what I found when I opened up the book I used as my guide for 10+ years as a Shafi'i Muslim - The Reliance of the Traveller.

Apostasy from Islam - Ridda

This is pretty clearly saying as someone who has left Islam, I "deserve" to be killed.

Now interestingly when I read this (o8.3), I went into Muslim apologist mode  - i.e. if a freeman only the Caliph or his representative may kill them. "Ah," I thought, "as there is no Caliph or representative, this is a defunct law forever." Well yes that might be right, but what if a Caliph did come back? Then I am in trouble! Plus when this fatwa was written, all they knew was the Caliph; there was no alternative. Plus why the hell does a freeman only get the privilege of being murdered by the Caliph? Poor slaves.

They were using the political paradigms and language of the time to reflect the social order at that time - not a language that speaks to mankind forever, like the Quran is claimed to be.

So, based on this and numerous fatwa you can find in all schools of Sunni & Shia law, it would be foolish of anyone to argue that Islam does not condone the killing of apostates. 

Some Muslims may abhor the idea, as did/do I and all of my friends and family do, but some would love it, inc. many people I have met over the past 19 years.

I have to say, when I read those pages above the hairs on my body all stood up and a cold shiver went over me. It is honestly a very scary feeling to realise that friends of yours who take these books literally, may think I deserve to be killed. 

I know none of them would ever want it or do it, but if it happened, they would console themselves by saying, "well he kinda deserved it." 

:) motherfuckers.

Having now been able to use my brain for the past 3 years or so, I thought I should approach this whole question of killing apostates in the same way I did with dogs.

The first question I had was - does the Quran say you can kill apostates?

I have done my best here and I have trawled forums, articles and fatwas and I have drawn a blank in terms of a clear Quranic instruction that says apostates must be killed. 

These are the closest I can find:

a) “Say to those who remained behind of the bedouins, “You will be called to [face] a people of great military might; you may fight them, or they will become Muslims. So if you obey, Allah will give you a good reward; but if you turn away as you turned away before, He will punish you with a painful punishment.” (48:16)

b) "As for them, they will go on fighting with you till they succeed in turning you away from your faith, if they can. Whosoever renounces his faith and dies a renegade, all his works shall be fruitless both in this world and in the hereafter. All such people deserve the fire and shall abide in there forever.” (2:217)

c) "They wish that you should disbelieve as they disbelieve, and then you would be equal; therefore take not to yourselves friends of them, until they emigrate in the way of God; then, if they turn their backs, take them, and slay them wherever you find them; take not to yourselves any one of them as friend or helper."[4:89]

There are others ayats people use as "clear evidence" but they are so weak and tenuous in their inference that they can not be taken seriously as evidence, well for a Muslim anyway. An outsider may look at some ayats of the Quran or select English translations of them and feel that it is clear - unfortunately this is not how the Quran is approached by Muslims on the whole so it wont win any arguments with them.

It is this very reason that most Muslims hate jihadi types - because they take ayats of the Quran and apply whatever meaning they want to suit their terms.

These ayats above however, if I were arguing that the Quran calls for killing apostates, I believe could be used to give some sort of credence or backup to the sharia rulings.

Now let's look at these ayats a bit closer.

a) this ayat is talking about the Bedouin Arabs who fought and then ran away - thus the words "as you turned before." So this is not about apostasy - its about leaving the field of battle. OK if you want to say that makes you a non-Muslim or whatever then fine, but all you've done is fit the Quran to your argument. This ayat therefore is discounted.

b) the ayat says anyone who turns away from their faith (see differing translations) deserves hell. There is no command for anyone to send them to hell. It says that's their punishment in the afterlife, not in this world. This ayat therefore is discounted.

c) this ayat perhaps can be the strongest to uphold the position that apostates can be killed according to Quran. So rather than just take it as black and white according to the words, I read into it a bit more. This ayat was revealed as a warning to Muhammad not to let the hypocrites (the deserters from the battle of Uhud) into camp and be trusted. Their desertion caused a rift and these verses were sent to give guidance on how to deal with it. (You need to read 4:88 and 4:89 to give it proper context). It clearly says not to make friends with them until they give up all the bad shit they're doing, like deserting. The above translation is a bit poor, this one is much cleaner -

"But take not friends
From their ranks
Until they flee from what is forbidden
But if they turn renegades
Seize them and slay them...."

So Allah is commanding Muhammad to be careful with them. The ayat is not talking about all Muslims forever but about the hypocrites at this specific time who had done this specific action which had caused a tiff among Muslims.

Therefore when it talks of them turning renegade, it makes no sense in terms of being a command to kill any Muslim who decides their not Muslim anymore from that day until the end of time. How it does make sense is in a military/social order sense where if they (the hypocrites)  abandon their treaty or pact, they become renegades and can be killed (read 4:90 again to give you the full meaning).

Which you could argue is just as bad as killing apostates but then we have countries such as the USA, etc who also use the death penalty for treason in 2018.

Yet again, this ayat therefore is discounted.

So in all three ayats we have found no clear, rational or obvious evidence of the Quran stating that apostates should be killed. When looking at each one we can clearly see the reasons those ayats were 'sent down' (the context) and who the audience were.

So why does Islam say apostates should be killed?

Exactly! And this is something Muslims should be asking themselves as opposed to their mullah, Sheikh, Imam or whatever. All they'll do is open a book and follow a law laid down by an Arab or Persian 1,200 years ago!

As with Islam's crazy position on dogs, Islam's crazy position on those that leave the religion are pretty much based on hadith. 

The Quranic evidence is clearly not there other than some weak inferences and creative word play - which scholars have been doing for centuries to justify their salaries and position in Muslim society. You need to remember that scholars were paid by the state much of the time - if they weren't paid then sometimes their lives depended on a certain "interpretation" of an ayat or hadith.

So, as we have seen again and again it all comes back to hadith...and you don't have to look far to find these hadith on apostasy - plenty full, which again should arouse suspicion.

One I think is enough to give us a flavour:

“Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.”

(That's one of the nicer ones by the way.)

Now, this is where Muslims need to make a call.

1) Either you accept these hadith as true and the basis for the laws you live your life/death against, or....

2) You accept that these hadith must be wrong as Muhammad could not possibly say and command such things.

If you chose 1, then OK, I wish you a lot of luck because your religion is a complete mess full of bizarre, immoral, disgusting and perverse laws which can not possibly be any fulfillment of a final moral code for mankind until Judgement Day.

If you chose 2, then you need to start looking at the hadith literature again and start understanding how it all came about, who the actors were, the time, place and how it has essentially been abused by those in power resulting in the contradictory mess called 'Islam' we see before us today.

A theory on Apostasy laws in the Sharia

As with all the hadith on dogs I eventually, over the course of a few years, went with choice number 2. 

As with the hadith on dogs I believe these hadith on apostasy were made up too.  Fabricated.

For example, the hadiths on dogs clearly show that there must have been some reason for wanting to keep dogs at bay - some say it was because of disease, others that it was an anti-Zoroastrian policy created after conquering Persia, some say it could be as simple as Abu Hurarya, the cat loving hadith transmitter, who just wanted dogs kept away from his lovely life in the palaces of Damascus.

Who knows? But they all seem a lot more logical than God sending us a Prophet to warn us that dog saliva is bad for us. Muslims who believe this is some sort of miraculous favour/secret given to us by His final Prophet really need to question what sort of conception of God they have - it sounds too human, too much like Mum & Dad taking care of baby.

Based on my recent reading of history books, I think exactly the same process has happened with apostasy. Muslims in power had to deal with an issue and used Muhammad's words to implement policy. This is simple state management combined with propaganda.

Very soon after Muhammad died, Muslims rebelled against Abu Bakr - many also left Islam. After Abu Bakr, again Muslims rebelled against Umar, after Umar against Uthman, after  Uthman against Ali, .....against Hassan, .....against Muawiya.....and the list goes on and on and one and on. So leaving Islam was something quite common in those first 0.000001-200 years after Muhammad's death.

How do you think those early Caliphs inc. the wicked Umayyads could have kept control of their riches, lands and people if the Quran teaches "no compulsion"?

They had to find some way of threatening people - making them fear the Caliph. Making it God & His Prophet saying that they can't leave their religion or rebel against the state. Go do a bit of reading about the evils of al-Hajjaj and what he did when he was in control of certain regions - shocking. Muslims were rebelling all over the Peninsula; even Companions were murdered for not agreeing with Umayyad (state) policy.

Also very soon after the death of Muhammad, his Caliphs were spreading Islam by the sword. Arabia was taken (full of Christians and Jews) as well as Persia which had Zoroastrians.

What were the local populace asked to do? 1) Either become Muslim or 2) keep their faith and pay taxes or 3) on many occasions, be put to the sword.

Now, Islam is very easy to enter. You say a few words and boom bang bing you're in the club. So it is very easy to imagine hordes of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians all saying upon the arrival of their new conquerors, "Yes, no problem, we convert. Allahu akbar."

They are then safe and pay no tax! But did they really become Muslims?

And this is why I mentioned history right at the start of this blog - go do some research yourself and you'll find many stories of people 'converting' then once things had settled down, gone back their old religions! This must have really pissed off the state and those in control. No state likes to lose taxes, does it?

Again, how do you stop this happening if you are in power? Well, you invent hadith that the Prophet said if you leave Islam, you're dead - and next to that have your Quran experts find new interpretations of ayats or even simpler, change the Quran.

Simple. 

And this ladies and gentlemen is the story of what has become Islam. 

Manipulated from the very start to keep power and now so far removed from what it might have ever been that we have no clue what the Quran is or who Muhammad was.

Well, that's my theory anyway. What's yours? 

Losing My Religion: From Rejecting to Hadith to the Quran

The process of coming to consider myself as no longer part of "Islam" has taken a few years. 

To say it was psychologically traumatic is an understatement. It was agonising. Torturous. It has only been over the last few months that I have felt what can only be described as a sense of freedom.

Not only was I once wed to Islam, I also followed a Sheikh, with a tariqa which made the break even more tough. But that's another topic for another time.

As I've outlined so far, the whole question over dogs in Islam led me to understand the role of hadith in our understanding and approach to Islam. By examining how hadith were used to come up with crazy rulings about dogs and their place (and meaning) in this world, I came to see the weakness in all hadith. In short, it's a mix of Chinese Whispers combined with tall tales combined with lies and fabrications for political use.

By this point I had in my heart come to understand that hadith are a load of nonsense - they simply can not be how Allah would want us to form our approach to life until the end of time. Not only did it result in bizarre rulings against dogs but even stranger rulings such as breaking your wudhu (ablutions) when you touched your wife (I was a strict Shafi'i) and numerous other dumb rulings I followed.

So I rejected hadith. However, I still clung to the Quran. I still told myself, that all was OK as the Quran was still the word of God, preserved and was all that we needed.

Looking back, I simply could not deal with what was happening to me. My world was collapsing. I started to even question if how I was praying was actually how the Prophet & Companions used to pray. If the movements, etc. are all based on hadith and hearsay, then the chances are its not right. 

On a mental level I did not expect this and did not want it. I wanted to just close my eyes and carry on as I was. For fuck's sake I've raised kids as strict Muslims, my wife is Muslim - this is not possible!

Every day was traumatic. Every prayer. Every time I took ghusl. Every time I attended Friday prayers and had to listen to a khutbah in Arabic of which I understood 10%. Every time I went to sleep. It was always there, eating at me - jabbing me in my sides.

After time, the Quran started to worry me. I have always had issues with the Quran. I never converted to Islam because of the Quran - to be honest it bored me. I would read it and the words would go in one ear and out the other. What I connected with was Muhammad, or who I thought he was.

So I revisited loads of old nagging questions I had from the Quran about its preservation, when and how it was compiled, why versions of it were burnt, what the point was in reading it in Arabic, why it spoke about slaves and beating wives and all the descriptions of hell....and how it was so peaceful and amazing on one hand, and on the other so cruel.

I researched a lot, with a new objectivity to try and work out what the Quran exactly was/is.

I initially came to the conclusion that the Quran was never meant to actually be a guiding book for all time - that it was a spoken revelation that was recorded as a recording, not as a holy book. But then the Quran talks of itself of a holy book which contradicts that idea. And even if I was right and the Quran was only meant as a recording then the fact it has become this holy book shows that what is 'Islam' is not what I believe it to be.

Some of the myths of the Quran I came to dispel, which totally contradicted what I was taught from my Sheikh and scholars I studied under in places inc. Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, include:

1/ The Quran is a word for word preserved document. There is now evidence showing this very clearly not the case. The early Qurans used no dots/dashes, etc. which has allowed for discrepancies to enter the Quran meaning we don't know whether the version we have today really is authentic. Abdullah Sameer used to preach the Quran online and has come to the same conclusion.

2/ The Quran is in pure, beautiful Arabic - it's a lot of Arabic but also uses lots of loan words from Aramaic and lots of borrowed words from Judaism and Christianity. Even the word "Jahannam" (hell) is not Arabic - check Hassan Radwan's blog on this. On top of this, in some places the language really is not beautiful....also beauty is completely subjective!!! Just because the Arabs say its the most beautiful Arabic language in the world does not mean it is. In places it's a jumbled mess and even has words with absolutely no meaning.

3/  The Quran should allow for different 'interpretations'. One of the things I used to do to defend the Quran was say that the different meanings and understandings of it is something merciful and beautiful. But when those interpretations lead to legalised rape, slavery, robbery, murder, looting, etc. then surely this makes no sense as a religion? It doesn't work. If the Quran came as a "clear" sign to mankind, then it's really let us all down I think.

4/ The Quran introduces mankind to Allah. Now this was a surprise for me. I was always under the impression that Muhammad brought us "Allah" but in fact Al Lah was a well established Arabic name for God which had been around for donkeys years. It meant The Most High and he was seen the as 'top God', i.e. the highest. Which blew my mind.

5/ The Quran clears up stories of the past. As a Muslim you are taught that Islam was sent to fix the errors of the pesky Christians and naughty Jews. So this explains why there is so much about Jesus, Moses, Abraham, etc. Looking at the stories closer though a lot of them just seem to be rehashed versions of old Jewish tales, Christian stories and local legends around the Kaaba. I never ever quite understood the whole idea that Jesus didn't die on the cross and was taken to heaven by Allah as a bit off-key. When you're in it, you can see this. When you're out it's obvious.

There are numerous issues with the Quran on all sorts of levels. Not only is it a mess as a book but even more messy is what has become the Muslims' understanding of what the Quran is. It's treated like a living holy being by Muslims - they'd kill to protect its honour. They do.

I don't now understand how and why God would expect mankind to be able to find any sort of guidance in what is known as "the Quran". It can lead one person to blissful states of ecstatic oneness with the Divine and another to chop of people's heads shouting "God is Great". That's not clear guidance for mankind - that's chaos.

I don't know what the Quran is anymore. It could be anything. I can't know. But what I do know, through analysis and reason, is that I can't rely on it to explain the universe to me or my relationship with God, if He's there.