Monday, September 29, 2014

End of Islam part 1: Umayyad legacy of Islam

Present condition in middle east makes one worry over what is the future of Islam. I am giving here some facts from history of Islam as recorded by the most authentic historians and through this would like to show how this 1400 year old religion of Arabs will do in coming times. This reading is in two parts, this is first part.
According to tradition, the Umayyad family (also known as the Banu Abd-Shams) and Muhammad both descended from a common ancestor, Abd Manaf ibn Qusai and they are originally from the city of Mecca. Muhammad descended from Abd Manāf via his son Hashim, while the Umayyads descended from Abd Manaf via a different son, Abd-Shams, whose son was Umayya. The two families are therefore, considered to be different clans (those of Mohammad as Hashimid and of Umayya as Umayyad, respectively) of the same tribe (that of the Quraish). However, Shia historians point out that Umayya was an adopted son of Abd Shams probably an Araemean, so he was not a blood relative of Abd Manaf ibn Qusai. Umayya was later discarded from the noble family.
While the Umayyads and the Hashimids may have had bitterness between the two clans before Muhammad; the rivalry turned into a severe case of tribal animosity after the Battle of Badr. The battle saw three top leaders of the Ummayyad clan (Utba ibn Rabi'ah, Walid ibn Utba and Shaybah) killed by Hashmids (Ali, Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib and Ubaydah) in a three-on-three fight. This fueled the opposition of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, the grandson of Umayya, to Muhammad and to Islam. Abu Sufyan sought to exterminate the adherents of the new religion by waging another battle with Muslims based in Medina only a year after the Battle of Badr. He did this to avenge the defeat at Badr. The Battle of Uhud is generally believed by scholars to be the first defeat for the Muslims, as they had incurred greater losses than the Meccans. After the battle, Abu Sufyan's wife Hind, who was also the daughter of Utba ibn Rabi'ah, is reported to have cut open the corpse of Hamza (companion of Mohammad), taking out his liver (in other document, is written heart) which she then attempted to eat raw. Within five years after his defeat in the Battle of Uhud however, Muhammad took control of Mecca and announced a general amnesty for all. Scared for their lives and the hatred from Muslims owing to their aggressive and oppressive nature, Abu Sufyan and his wife Hind embraced Islam on the eve of the conquest of Mecca, as did their son (the future caliph Muawiyah I). The Conquest of Mecca while overwhelming for the Umayyads for the time being, further fueled their hatred towards the Hashmids; this would later result in battles between Muawiyah I and Ali and then killing of Husayn ibn Ali along with his family and a few friends on the orders of Yazid ibn Muawiyah at the Battle of Karbala.
Most historians consider Caliph Muawiyah (661–80) to have been the second ruler of the Umayyad dynasty, even though he was the first to assert the Umayyads' right to rule on a dynastic principle. It was really the caliphate of Uthman Ibn Affan (644–656), a member of Umayyad clan himself, that witnessed the revival and then the ascendancy of the Umayyad clan to the corridors of power. Uthman, during his reign, placed some of the trusted members of his clan at prominent and strong positions throughout the state. Most notable was the appointment of Marwan ibn al-Hakam, Uthman's first cousin, as his top advisor, which created a stir amongst the Hashmid companions (family) of Muhammad, as Marwan along with his father Al-Hakam ibn Abi al-'As had been permanently exiled from Medina by Muhammad during his life time. Uthman also appointed Walid ibn Uqba, Uthman's half-brother, as the governor of Kufah, who was accused, by Hashmids, of leading prayer while under the influence of alcohol. Uthman also consolidated Muawiyah's Governorship of Syria by granting him control over a larger area and appointed his foster brother Abdullah ibn Saad as the Governor of Egypt. However, since Uthman never named an heir, he cannot be considered the founder of a dynasty. Uthman appointed the same people to rewrite and compile Quran which is known as Rasm al Uthman or Uthmanic Quran. Uthman ordered to destroy all existing copies of Quran (Rasm al Mohammad) and prepared many copies of his Quran in that place. This is one incidence when Quran was burnt to ashes by no lesser person than Rashidun. Today we see many advocates of Islam telling that burning or destroying copies of Quran is sacrilege but that was done by one of the first Rashiduns!
After the assassination of Uthman in 656, Ali, a member of the Hashimid clan and a cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, was elected as the caliph. He soon met with resistance from several factions, owing to his relative political softness. Fearing a danger to his life, Ali moved his capital from Medina to Kufah. The resulting conflict, which lasted from 656 until 661, is known as the First Fitna ("civil war").
This rivalry in the two factions of Quaresh tribe was working from the beginning of Mohammad’s life time. However, they had realized the usefulness of Mohammad’s strategy of propounding a separate religion of Arabs to get discrete recognition (identity) away from the Jews and the Christians. During those times Arabs were more tortured by the Sassanid Empire of Persia than of Byzantine Empire of Eastern Orthodox Christians. Sassanid Persians always told Arabs that the deities they worship are of Persian origin and so by that excuse kept them in control. That made, Mohammad recline towards the semantic religions than the Persian religion. This also made Mohammad destroy all those deities in Kaab. He did not destroy Hubal because it was the only god from Arab origin. And subsequently Quran was designed on the line of Syrian Christianity with some Jewish touch. As Islam became popular Jews began to demand their position in that religion and wanted to declare Islam as subordinate to Judaism (a sub sect of Judaism). It means that this new religion proposed by Mohammad is a branch of Judaism! That added to their line of argument and they pointed to the fact that Mohammad directs his prayers towards Jerusalem. To counter this propaganda of Jews Mohammad changed the direction (Qibla) and made it towards Mecca. There the animosity began between Muslims and Jews that is as yet continuing. Umayyad’s acceptance of this strategy was for the benefit of gaining power and they did not have any interest in the genuine Islam which Mohammad had proposed and propagated. All those from the Umayyad who accepted Islam were only pretending to be loyal to the prophet during his life but as he died; they have troubled them (Hashmids), as per recorded Islamic history. Corrupting Quran to introduce Arabic savagery was done due to hatred Umayyads had for the Hashmids in general and Mohammad in particular.
No institutions were devised to channel political activity, and, in the absence of such institutions, on death of Mohammad the pre-Islamic tribal jealousies and rivalries, which had been suppressed under earlier caliphs, erupted once again.
According to some viewpoints, under such circumstances, leaders like Abdullah Ibn Saba, felt that it was a good opportunity to accomplish their aims of rebellion by starting arguments over religion. However, the figure Abdullah Ibn Saba is believed by many Shia Muslims to be an imaginary one created by certain Sunni historians to stir up anti-Shia sentiment.
This contributed to unrest in the empire and finally Uthman had to investigate the matter in an attempt to ascertain the authenticity of the rumors. The movement however exploited differences between the Hashemite (Ali's clan) and Umayyad (Uthman's clan) clans of Quraysh.
Uthman had the active support of the Umayyads, and a few other people in Medina, but the rest of the people of Medina chose to be neutral and help neither side. They wanted to fight Hashemite (Ali's clan) to establish their superiority.
At this the supporters of Uthman took up cudgels on his behalf. Tempers flared up on both sides, hot words were exchanged between the parties, and that led to the pelting of stones at one another. One of the stones hit Uthman; he fell unconscious and he was carried to his house, while he was still unconscious. They, Hashemite (Ali's clan), changed their strategy, and tightened the siege of the house of Uthman, thus confining Uthman to his home. Uthman was denied the freedom to move about and was not allowed to go to the mosque.
As the days passed, the Hashemite (Ali's clan) intensified their pressure against Uthman. Uthman's people proved less powerful in the conflict. They forbade the entry of any food or provisions, and later water as well, into his house, even turning down a few widows of Muhammad. Ramlah bint Abi-Sufyan, a widow of Muhammad, came to see Uthman and brought some water and provisions for him but she was not allowed to enter. Another widow of Muhammad, and the daughter of the late Caliph Abu Bakr, Aisha, made a similar attempt, and she was also prevailed upon by the Hashemite (Ali's clan) to go back.
Finding the gate of Uthman's house strongly guarded by his supporters, the Hashemite (Ali's clan) climbed the back wall and jumped inside, leaving the guards on the gate unaware of what was going on inside. The Hashemite (Ali's clan) entered his room and struck blows at his head. Naila, the wife of Uthman, threw herself on his body to protect him.
Raising her hand to protect him she had her fingers chopped off and was pushed aside and further, blows were struck until he was dead. The slaves of Uthman then counterattacked the assassins and, in turn, killed them. There was further fighting between the rebels and the slaves of Uthman, with casualties on both sides, after which the Hashemite (Ali's clan) looted the house. They wanted to mutilate his body and were keen that he be denied burial. When some of the Hashemite (Ali's clan) came forward to mutilate the body of Uthman, his two widows, Nailah and Ramlah bint Sheibah, covered him, and raised loud cries which deterred the rioters. The rebels left the house and the supporters of Uthman at gate hearing it, entered, but it was too late. Thereafter, they maintained a presence round the house in order to prevent the dead body from being carried to the graveyard. After the body of Uthman had been in the house for three days, Naila, Uthman's wife, approached some of his supporters to help in his burial, but only about a dozen people responded. These included Marwan, Zayd ibn Thabit, 'Huwatib bin Alfarah, Jabir bin Muta'am, Abu Jahm bin Hudaifa, Hakim bin Hazam and Niyar bin Mukarram. The body was lifted at dusk, when guards were snoozing and because of the blockade, no coffin could be procured. The body was not washed, as Islamic teaching states that martyrs' bodies are not washed before burial. Thus Uthman was carried to the graveyard in the clothes that he was wearing at the time of his assassination.
Naila followed the funeral with a lamp but, in order to maintain secrecy, the lamp had to be extinguished. Naila was accompanied by some women including Ayesha wife of Mohammad and Uthman's daughter.
The body was carried to Jannat al-Baqi, the Muslim graveyard.
It appears that some people gathered there, and they resisted the burial of Uthman in the graveyard of the Muslims. The supporters of Uthman insisted that the body should be buried in Jannat al-Baqi. But it was not permitted. They later buried him in the Jewish graveyard behind Jannat al-Baqi. Some decades later, the Omayyad rulers destroyed the wall of the Jewish cemetery and widened the Muslim graveyard to make his tomb inside. Interesting part is that all this happened while Uthman was still khalifah of all Muslims!
The funeral prayers were led by Jabir bin Muta'am, and the dead body was lowered into the grave without much of a ceremony. After burial, Naila the widow of Uthman and Aisha the daughter of Uthman wanted to speak, but they were advised to remain quiet due to possible danger from the rioters.
Uthman had done a grave crime of displacing Mohammad and his Quran so he deserved the fate he got; some Islamic scholars remark. So was the general opinion in Medina also. He ordered burning of Quran, which is nothing short of blasphemy. In those days many faithful knew of original Quran and so they were agitated to see the concocted version being imposed perforce by Uthman, all these things caused them to declare that Uthman is not Muslim and so he was denied decent burial in to Jannat al-Baqi, the Muslim graveyard, finally burial was done in Jew cemetery.
This was the condition of the Rashidun! After that over the period Umayyad came in power and reestablished Uthman's Quran (Rasm al Uthman) and original Quran was permanently destroyed. Today we really do not know what was real Quran.
This episode I give here for my readers so they can understand what is the legacy of Islam. We see people in Arabia being killed like dogs by ISIS and before that by Salafi and Wahabbi and AlQaeda. Killing people on no reason is the legacy of this Arab religion. From many observations it becomes very clear that Islam has been a tool of power politics of Arabs from the day one and has really no spiritual value at all. We shall in the next part see how Islam will be destroyed by its own people. The Hadith that mentions the end of Islam and other important things.


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