Islam the Religion of Mankind

The Originality of the Messages and Later Distortions

The course of the divine messages from the very beginning had to encounter arrogant attempts by ignorant elements, bent upon effacing them or at least distorting their true message and principles. No efforts were spared by the infidels in creating obstacles to hinder the progress of religion, stop its spread and empty it of its reformative contents. The prophets were persecuted by these tyrants and even martyred. The tyrants vainly thought that they would be able to blot the call of delivery and redemption and keep humanity in bonds.

But the most serious danger faced by the divine calls, was from the hypocrites and counterfeits. These pretended to accept the divine messages, but no sooner had a prophet died, they distorted and fabricated his teachings and scripture, in order to exploit the masses for their own selfish interests.

An outstanding example of this forgery are the Jewish rabbis and Christian priests, who so frequently changed, altered, added and deleted to the divine messages revealed through the Prophets Moses (a.s.) and Jesus (a.s.), that these were turned into semi-pagan religions having obscure rituals, with virtually nothing divine remaining therein.

The pure monotheistic religion - Islam - preached by Moses (a.s.) and Jesus (a.s.) was polluted in the course of time by the sediments of the rabbis' and priests' devious thoughts, and assumed deformed and legendary mythical shapes, far removed from intellect and reason and mocked at by correct learning.

Falsification and deviation of messages gradually made the one single faith, into different distorted religions. The religion so defined by the imaginations of the priests, had nothing but legends and fables, stagnancy and petrification, and made mankind prostrate before tyrants and despots - a state which caused people to dislike belief, and encouraged the waging of a war of hostility against the very idea of religion.

Mankind was absolutely justified in taking such a hostile attitude towards these forged and distorted illusions, and in recoiling from such fossil understandings which were neo-paganism in disguise. In stark contrast to the monotheistic creed, prophets were worshipped as sons of God - a clear influence of pagan Roman beliefs on Christianity.

The Qur'an highlights these forgeries and falsifications in several verses concerning the Jews and the Christians:

"Certainly they have disbelieved who say: The Messiah, son of Mary is Allah; and the Messiah (himself) said: O Children of Israel, serve Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Surely whoever associates (partners) with Allah, then Allah has forbidden to him the Paradise and his abode is the Fire; and there shall be no helpers for the unjust. Certainly they have disbelieved who say: Allah is the third (person) of three (trinity); when there is no god but the One God and if they (the Christians) desist not from what they say, a painful doom shall befall those among them who disbelieve." Sura Mai'da (5:72,73)

"And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: De Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how perverse are they! They have taken their rabbis and priests as Lords besides Allah and (also) the Messiah son of Mary and they were enjoined that they should serve one God only, there is no god but He; Exalted is He above all what they ascribe as partners (to Him)?" Sura Tawba (9:30,31)

"Woe to those who write the book with their hands and then say: This is from Allah, so that they may make a small gain; therefore woe to them for what their hands have written (fabricated) and woe to them for what they earn thereby." Sura Baqara (2:79)

The glorious Qur'an draws a clear picture of the perversion done by the Jewish rabbis and the Christian priests to the original creed, laws and concepts of the divinely revealed scriptures; the Torah and the Gospel. By enacting laws and propagating teachings violating the divine message of the original scriptures the Jews and the Christians not only served their own vested interests but in the process gave birth to superficial religions, bearing the clear stamps of their superstitious conscience and poor imagination.

Distorting the very contents of these two divine messages, they led astray the greater part of several generations, until that deviation gradually took the form of a special creed and replaced whatever belief was there in the hearts of the few remaining followers of the true path preached by Jesus (a.s.); most of whom due to persecution by Roman Christianity took to the deserts and remote mountains to finally await the coming of the promised Reformer.

The majority, either dictated by personal desires or fear of Imperial Rome - which had cleverly put on the mask of Christianity, preserving intact most of its pagan beliefs - drove the last nail into the coffin of the divine message, preached by the uncrucified prophet; Jesus (a.s.), by blindly and without reasoning accepting the creed which we know as Christianity today.

By analysing the so-called Torah and the Gospel now in the hands of their followers, we discover a disfigured and legendary picture, without the least resemblance to the spirit of both the divine scriptures revealed to Moses (a.s.), and Jesus (a.s.). Following are some evidences proving the point, that these books are in fact mere fabrications:

1. Several Gospels are now in circulation among the Christians, each one different from the other to a great extent, and even obviously self-contradicting.

When Allah had revealed only a single Book to Jesus (a.s.), not many; from where did the so many Gospels come from, and how do the learned priests explain the phenomena of these conflicting versions?

The only answer, that not even the highest ranking Christian authorities can refute is, these divine scriptures were subjected to so frequent revisions that eventually they lost the greater part of their originality and true contents, and led to so many conflicting versions of the Gospel.

2. True the source of all divine messages is Allah the Almighty and they all stress on the concept of monotheism and consider Him to be above all human attributes; whereas a glance at the present Torah of the Jews reveals that it is far removed from the very principles of monotheism. Actually it so disfigures this fundamental principle of the divine message, that the Prophet Ezra (a.s.) is presented as the son of God, in close resemblance to the forged Gospel's view of the Messiah.

An interesting point indeed, leaving so many questions unanswered; as to whether the Jews tried to outdo the Christians or was it vice versa? Moreover the Gospel itself betrays its pagan Roman influences when it says that Jesus (a.s.) was an incarnation of God and had a dual nature, both human and divine.

It is quite obvious to a sound rational mind that these are all deviated thoughts and heathen beliefs, which proves without doubt that the hypocrites coined absurd ideas in contrast to the basic principles of the religion brought by Moses (a.s.) and Jesus (a.s.).

3. Another glaring example of the distortion, which even a layman can detect, is the self-contradictions in these so-called holy books of the Jews and Christians. On one hand they sanctify the prophets and present them as lofty models of excellent character, but on the other hand these same books degrade them to the ranks of lecherous criminals, capable of committing every known sin.

Chapter XIX of the Book of Genesis, attributes a horrible crime to Prophet Lot (a.s.) and his two daughters, whom all good believers regard as a spotless person. The shameless story is reproduced below from the Old Testament for our readers, to judge themselves:

"And the firstborn said unto the younger, our father is old, ad there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us .fur the manner of all the earth: Come let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father, and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, &hold, I lay yester night with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also, and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also:

and the younger arose, and lay with him, and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus we (…..) the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the first born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day."

Genesis (19:31-38)

This passage props up a number of questions, which the learned rabbis and priests, try to evade and insist on their followers to ignore the facts and accept blind obedience.

This same chapter of the Book of Genesis, starts with the destruction of the licentious cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to which the Prophet Lot (a.s.) had been sent by God as a Reformer. And it says that while escaping to Zoar, Lot's wife disregarding God's command turned back to see the destruction of these cities and was instantly turned into a pillar of salt.

In other words it means that Lot (a.s.) was a pious, God-fearing man and the cities were destroyed for the sole reason that they did not heed his guidance and continued their lecherous deeds. And moreover even his wife could not escape God's wrath due to her disobedience.

Now taking another look at verses 31-38, quoted above, we find that Lot - God forbid - was a weak character and his daughters wicked persons. The question arises if the prophets were fools, lechers or simpletons, what missionary roles were they capable of performing? And did the Creator who easily created the whole universe erred in selecting prophets? And lastly, if His messengers themselves were lecherous why did He destroy the promiscuous cities which were only emulating their Prophet?

The only answer is that this very passage like so many other ones in these books betrays its origin. It is a clear case of distortion and later addition by some prejudiced racist Jew, whose only intention was to slander other races, because of some deep personal bias. His distorted mind found the Torah to be the best medium to express his hatred, regardless of the sacrilege he was committing towards God, a Prophet and his family.

Another example of a distortion is Chapter XI of book II of Samuel, which blasphemes the Prophet David (a.s.) and accuses him of committing adultery with the wife of Uriah the Hittite, his faithful companion and a true believer. It alleges that having made Uriah's wife Bathsheba pregnant; David to achieve his sinister designs sent Uriah to the war fronts where he was killed and thus got rid of him.

Now coming to the New Testament, we find in Chapter XI of the Gospel, according to St. John, that Jesus (a.s.) attended a wedding, where they were short of wine and he performed a miracle by converting six stoups of water into the forbidden drink. The Gospel, also says that Jesus Christ used to drink wine, and he was a heavy drinker.

Thus it is quite clear to every believer in God that such allegations are but crafty inventions and cleverly disguised lies against the prophets by those hypocrites, who wanted to distort religion from within, in order to disrepute these pure personalities and at the same time promote a Christ-worshipping cult, appealing to the minds of the pagan Greeks and Romans. Even a casual look at these books reveals their forgery and the real aim of their authors, who by mischievously innovating prophet-worship belittled the doctrine of monotheism and the spotless characters of such great prophets as Moses (a.s.) and Jesus (a.s.).

4. Another evidence proving the forgery of these Books is that they are diffused with polytheism and pagan thoughts, such as the idea of incarnation; the concept of trinity and the belief that the Messiah is god in the shape of man.

The authors of the Gospels had long been under the influence of pagan thoughts and beliefs, then prevailing in Roman society. In order to conform to the pagan Roman mind they disfigured the pure monotheistic spirit of the original Gospel, revealed to Prophet Jesus (a.s.). It is an irrefutable fact of history, confessed even by the Christian priests, that the versions of Gospel now common among the Christians were composed by different authors over a two hundred year period after Jesus (a.s.).

In other words they were forged by the priests according to their own thinking and greedy desires, conforming on one hand with the pagan Roman culture, and on the other, the already polluted Jewish thought, which alienated from the creed of Moses (a.s.) and other prophets had not only rejected Jesus (a.s.), but was also involved in the far-reaching conspiracy of distorting the divinely revealed word of Jesus (a.s.).

The Christian Church, in line with the era of moral and spiritual decadence and ignorance continued to falsify, deface and deform the true spirit of Jesus' (a.s ) message, so that in course of time such weird and absurd beliefs were added; as the forgiving of sins by the priests; promise of Paradise to the wrong-doer despite evil deeds, and the sale of 'Indulgence Papers' from the Church, in which the Pope guarantees forgiveness, for the money the customer pays.

On studying the Church's way of life, and scrutinizing the Christian clerical hierarchy, one is apt to uncover the major motives behind these disastrous interferences with the divine values preached by the Messiah (a.s.).

The major motive of the Christian Church was to fill its coffers and accumulate wealth. By pretending to posses the authority to forgive sins, it not only blasphemed God; but also deliberately misled simple people by sanctioning the enjoyment of the forbidden things, in the very name of religion and under the pretext of a deferred purification'.

It even issued those so-called 'Indulgence Papers' in which it is written; "May our Lord Jesus bless you, and deliver you by the rewards of his all-sacred pains ... . I, according to my Apostolic power bestowed upon me, relieve you from all your punishments, sentences and clerical consequences that you had deserved; and from all extravagances, evils and sins which you committed however grave and horrible and whatever their causes might have been, though they are kept for our father, His Holiness the Pope and the Apostolic Seat.

I shall erase all the filths of sin and all the signs of blame, which you might have brought upon yourself in this life, and I shall lift the punishments from which you should have suffered in the purgatory. I shall turn you anew to participate in the secrets of the Church, and in the company of the saints.

I shall turn you again to chastity and goodness which you got when baptized, so that will be closed before you, at death time, the door through which the wrongdoers enter to the place of torture and punishment, while will be opened to you the door leading to the paradise of joy, even if you lived for long years." 2

In other words by issuing such absurd papers, the Church has given its followers the free rein to commit whatever crimes they like however capital they may be. Thus the present moral and spiritual decadence of the Christian world like atheism, usurping others' properties, violence, transgression, fraud, adultery, sodomy and other sorts of crimes, including the oppression on Third World countries and political and moral bankruptcy, directly rest on these Papal Papers.

It actually inspires them to commit every known sin, crime and aggression, because after all the 'Pope is there to forgive these offences and throw open the doors of paradise to his flock'. No wonder Christian missionaries are spreading across oppressed Africa and other Third World countries, to seek new converts; which in reality means lulling the unsuspecting people to loose their rationality by accepting this dangerous slow poison called Christianity, and ultimately paving the way for the Imperialist countries to plunder the rich natural resources of Africa and the Third World.

This proves that the Pope substitutes himself for God, Who is the only One to forgive sins and the only One to admit into paradise. The Pope very well knows that he has neither the right nor the power to forgive, since he is but a mere mortal like other human beings, and himself cannot avail any benefit nor ward off any harm. In fact all he and his group of atheists want is to accumulate wealth to satisfy their secret desires and pleasures, and run the fabulous theatrical show under his control called the Church , by making fools of millions around the world.

The Qur'an attacks this greed and avarice of the priests and the pontiffs who exploit religious responsibility by taking advantage of peoples' simplicity and suck their blood and lead them astray. It exposes the true nature of this so-called religious establishment, and uncovers its selfish aims which contradict reason and the very essence of religion and its universal reformative call to enlighten mankind and deliver them from darkness. The Qur'an says:

"O you who believe! Indeed many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) priests falsely consume the wealth of the people (their followers) and prevent (them) from the way of Allah; and (as for) those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah, announce to them (O Muhammad) a painful doom." Sura Tawba (9:34)

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2. Even Christian authorities have questioned the very conception of the Church. Says the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, "Some of the futurist sayings, if taken by themselves, raise the question whether Jesus intended to found a Church."(Vol. 4, p.535).