Date: 20 Mar 2010
80 Understanding Muhammad time, and asked Joyce if she thought his three wives could live in the same house.”103 Fortunately Joyce was not co-dependent enough to agree to this much humiliation, and left her degenerate narcissist husband. A true codependent would do anything to appease his or her narcissist. The relationship of a co-dependent and her narcissist is that of sadomasochism. Unfortunately for mankind, Khadijah was a real co-dependent, who was willing to sacrifice everything for her adored narcissist. It was she who encouraged Muhammad to pursue his prophetic ambitions and spurred him in that direction. When Muhammad no longer had epileptic seizures and saw any angels, Khadijah was disappointed. Ibn Ishaq writes: “After this, Gabriel did not come to him for a while and Khadijah said, ‘I think that your Lord must hate you.’”104 This demonstrates how eager she was for her narcissist to become a prophet. Why did Muhammad not take other wives when Khadijah was still alive? Because, he was living off her money and in her house. Furthermore, the majority of the people of Mecca derided him. He was called a lunatic. No one would have married him even if he had money of his own and Khadijah was not an issue. In Mecca, his followers were only a handful of slaves with only a few women among them – none was eligible for him to marry. Had Khadijah survived to see Muhammad's rise to power, most likely she would have had to put up with her husband’s vagaries and the humiliation of sharing him with younger and prettier women. After the death of Khadijah, Muhammad never found another codependent to take care of his emotional needs like she did. Instead, he sought fulfilment by becoming a sexual butterfly. Only a month after his wife’s death, Muhammad convinced his loyal friend and follower, Abu Bakr, to betroth to him his 6-year old daughter, Aisha. Abu Bakr was shocked. He tried to dissuade him, saying “but we are brothers.” Muhammad reassured him they were only brothers in faith and that his marriage to that little child is not haram.105 103 www.rickross.com/reference/ruiter/ruiter3.html 104 Sira Ibn Ishaq, p. 108 105 Sahih Bukhari 7.62.18 Narrated 'Ursa: The Prophet asked Abu Bakr for 'Aisha's hand in marriage. Abu Bakr said "But I am your brother." The Prophet said, "You are my brother in Allâh's religion and His Book, but she (Aisha) is lawful for me to marry." Muhammad’s Personality Profile 81 He further told him that she was shown to him twice in dream; in which he saw an angel carrying the little Aisha in a silken piece of cloth. “I said (to myself), ‘If this is from Allâh, then it must happen.’”106 Now Abu Bakr was left with the option of leaving Muhammad, for whom he had made so many sacrifices, denounce him, call him a liar and go back to his people, acknowledging he had been a fool, or do whatever Muhammad asked him. This is often the difficult choice the cultists must make. They are trapped and have given up so much to follow their guru; going back is more painful than submitting to the whims and caprices of their leader. Abu Baker pleaded with Muhammad to wait three more years before consummating the marriage. Muhammad agreed, but meanwhile, he married Sauda a few days later. Muhammad created a harem with more than a score of women. He tried to compensate the loss of his sugar mommy with an abundance of younger women. He kept adding to the collection of his wives and concubines but none could meet his childish needs the way Khadijah did. He needed a mother to take care of his inner child, something his teenage wives could hardly do for a man who could be their grandfather. Muhammad’s Belief in His Own Cause From his early youth, Muhammad attended the annual fair in Okaz, where people, from everywhere met for commerce and fun. There, Christian preachers read stories of Biblical prophets to their captivated audience. Muhammad was fascinated by those stories. Being loved and respected were the only thoughts that occupied his mind. “How great it would be to be a prophet, to be loved and feared by everyone,” he must have thought while listening to those stories. Now, his wife was reassuring him he had become a prophet and that his fantasy had become a reality. It seemed that God had finally looked upon him mercifully, had chosen him from amongst all the people and had raised him to herald his cause and invite people to submit. Muhammad’s thoughts were grand. In fact it was these grandiose ideas and his unwavering faith in unlimited success that kindled his followers to rise and to champion his cause, to assassinate, loot and kill, 106 Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 87, Number 140 82 Understanding Muhammad even their own fathers, for his cause. Thanks to these grandiose ideas of superiority, he always felt, entitled to having special privileges. Muhammad was extremely manipulative and exploitative. He built his empire without ever having to fight a single battle personally. By promising otherworldly rewards and a paradise of infinite orgies to those who believed in him, he managed to make them wage wars on his behalf, spend their wealth for his cause, sacrifice their lives, loot to make him rich and catapult him to the acme of power. Narcissists are masters of deception. They themselves are, inevitably, their own first victim of deception. They unconsciously deny their intolerably poor self-image by inflating their ego with grandiosity. They turn themselves into a glittering image of immense grandeur surrounded by walls of denial. The goal of this self-deception is to be impervious to external criticism and to their roiling sea of doubts. Narcissists are pathological liars, while they genuinely believe in their own lies and are extremely offended, if contradicted. Vaknin says, “The narcissist is ever in the pursuit of excitement and drama intended to alleviate his all-pervasive boredom and melancholy. Needless to say, both the pursuit itself and its goals must conform to the grandiose vision that the narcissist has of his (False) Self. They must be commensurate with his vision of his uniqueness and entitlement.”107 This explains Muhammad’s constant warfare. The drama, the rush of adrenaline and excitement were his narcissistic supplies. However, the narcissist is the first to believe in his own malarkey. Dr. Vaknin explains: “Granted, the narcissist's hold on reality is tenuous (narcissists sometimes fail the reality test). Admittedly, narcissists often seem to believe in their own confabulations. They are unaware of the pathological nature and origin of their self-delusions and are, thus, technically delusional (though they rarely suffer from hallucinations, disorganised speech, or disorganised or catatonic behaviour). In the strictest sense of the word, narcissists appear to be psychotic.”108 Vaknin, however, says that narcissists, although masters of selfdeception or even malignant con-artistry, they “are usually fully aware of the difference between true and false, real and make-believe, the invented and the extant, right and wrong. The narcissist consciously chooses to 107 Dr. Sam Vaknin Narcissism FAQ #57 108 http://samvak.tripod.com/journal91.html Muhammad’s Personality Profile 83 adopt one version of the events, an aggrandising narrative, a fairy-tale existence, a ‘what-if’ counterfactual life. He is emotionally invested in his personal myth. The narcissist feels better as fiction than as fact – but he never loses sight of the fact that it is all just fiction. The narcissist is in full control of his faculties, cognisant of his choices, and goal-orientated. His behaviour is intentional and directional. He is a manipulator and his delusions are in the service of his stratagems. Hence his chameleon-like ability to change guises, his conduct, and his convictions on a dime…The narcissist “attempts to condition his nearest and dearest to positively reinforce his delusional False Self.”109 In the case of Muhammad, that role was played by Khadijah. This is somewhat difficult to understand. On the one hand, Vaknin says the narcissist never loses sight of the fact that it is all his fiction, and on the other hand he says that the narcissist’s hold on reality is tenuous and often they believe in their confabulations. Although this presents a logical dilemma for normal people, it does not for the narcissist who lies and then goes on to convince himself of those lies as if they were absolute truth and will change his story whenever it suits him. We tend to believe that either a person is insane or he is a liar and that the two are mutually exclusive. This is not true. Often criminals plead insanity to escape punishment and society, including mental health professionals, believes this nonsense. This stupidity has reached the absurd. James Pacenza, a 58 year old man who was fired for spending his time visiting adult internet chatrooms at work, sued his employer IBM, for wrongful dismissal claiming that he was addicted to online chat rooms and IBM should have offered him sympathy and treatment instead of firing him. He was awarded $5 million dollars compensation. 110 The truth is that narcissists are fully aware of their actions. New York serial killer David Berkowitz, who called himself “Son of Sam,” escaped capital punishment because his crimes were so senseless that everyone thought he was not responsible for his actions by reason of insanity. Actually he knew that what he was doing was wrong. That is why he tried so hard to elude the police and even taunted them. However, he was a narcissist and craved attention. So he left clues to be found. The exhilaration of reclaiming all that celebrity that surrounded the case was more impelling to him than his freedom. He simply could not pass on 109 ibid. 110 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6682827.stm 84 Understanding Muhammad basking in the glory of fame. What Berkowitz did was consistent with narcissistic personality disorder. When he was caught and locked in prison, he decided to become a born-again Christian. Why did he not do this before? Did he undergo a mental surgery in prison? No! He simply decided to change tactic to gain the attention that he so intensely craved. In prison, the only way to do that was feigning to have become a holy man. The narcissist is a chameleon. He carefully monitors others to see what elicits more attention and then acts accordingly. People with a mental disorder are aware of their actions. They know the difference between right and wrong. What psychopath narcissists want is attention. How they get it is not important. If they can get it by becoming serial killers, they become serial killers and if they can get it by becoming religious, that is what they become. To a great extent, we can compare a serial killer to a smoker. Both of them know that what they do is wrong. Yet, their urges are stronger than their will power and they give in to their cravings. A smoker kills himself slowly, one cigarette at a time, and the serial killer kills others. Why a smoker does not stop when he knows that tobacco kills him? It is because he is addicted to nicotine. Likewise, narcissist psychopaths can’t stop because they are addicted to the adrenaline rush and the excitement of playing God. They know what they do is wrong because they hide and play games with the police. They leave clues about themselves until they are caught because the urge to receive attention is so strong they willingly risk their freedom and lives for it. Another proof that psychopaths know what they do is wrong is that they do not like to be on the receiving end of it. Muhammad raided villages and after massacring unarmed civilians, he looted their belongings. Yet, he tortured to death those who killed one of his shepherds and stole his stolen camels. He raped women captured in his raids, even if they were married, yet he was intolerant of anyone looking at his own wives and ordered them to cover themselves. Can we say he was unaware that what he was doing was wrong? Of course not! He prohibited killing and stealing, but he justified his own killing and robbing. As a narcissist, he believed himself to be a superior being, entitled to special rights and at liberty to do anything his whims dictated. Muhammad was both insane and a liar. This is possible only if you are a psychopathic narcissist. Muhammad’s Personality Profile 85 If Muhammad Was a Liar, Why He Was Known as Amin (trusted) Amin was the title of those who sold and bought merchandize on behalf of others. One is called school trustee, or city trustee because of his profession and not because he is honest. The title "Amin" is a label for every sort of profession. Here are some examples: Amin El-Makataba (Trustee of the library), Amin El- Shortaa (Police Trustee) Majlass El-Omnaa(plural of Amin) (counsel of trustees.) In fact, Abul Aas, husband of Zeinab and son-in-law of Muhammad was also known as Amin because of his business. He did not accept Islam until he was forced to, because Muhammad ordered Zeinab to leave him unless he converted. Muhammad acted as the trustee of Khadijah once, when he took her merchandize to Damascus and sold it on her behalf. The claim that the Meccans called Muhammad Amin because they had found him truthful is false. Had this claim been true, they would not have rejected and derided him when he told them that he had received a message from God. Those who knew Muhammad best called him a liar and a madman. More on the Policy of Divide and Rule As stated in the previous chapter, Muhammad severed his followers’ ties to their families in order to secure his absolute dominance over them. He ordered his Meccan followers, who had immigrated to Medina, not to contact their relatives back home. Despite his warnings, some of them did, probably because they needed money for their sustenance. To stop this, he dictated the following verse from his Allâh.111 O you who believe! Take not my enemies and yours as friends (or protectors), - offering them (your) love, even though they have rejected the Truth that has come to you, and have (on the contrary) driven out the Prophet and yourselves (from your homes), (simply) because you believe in Allâh your Lord! If you have come out to strive in My Way and to seek My 111 The Qur’an can be tedious, and that is mainly why few Muslims have read it. However, at the risk of boring my readers, in this chapter I will have to quote several Qur’anic verses as evidence to support my portrait of Muhammad. 86 Understanding Muhammad Good Pleasure, (take them not as friends), holding secret converse of love (and friendship) with them: for I know full well all that you conceal and all that you reveal. And any of you that do this has strayed from the Straight Path.112 We see this urge to alienate in a later verse too: O you who believe! Take not for protectors your fathers and your brothers if they love infidelity above Faith: if any of you do so, they do wrong. (Q. 9:23) Why was Muhammad so keen to isolate his followers? Vaknin explains: “The narcissist is the guru at the centre of a cult. Like other gurus, he demands complete obedience from his flock: his spouse, his offspring, other family members, friends, and colleagues. He feels entitled to adulation and special treatment by his followers. He punishes the wayward and the straying lambs. He enforces discipline, adherence to his teachings, and common goals. The less accomplished he is in reality – the more stringent his mastery and the more pervasive the brainwashing.”113 This, Muhammad could not accomplish while his followers still lived in Mecca and who could, if things got tough, return to their families. Due to the need to isolate their followers, the cult leader often encloses them in compounds where it is easy to brainwash them and to exert total control over them. At first Muhammad sent the early believers to Abyssinia, but later, when he made a pact with the Arabs of Yathrib, he chose that town as his compound. He even changed the name of Yathrib and called it Medina (which is short for Medinatul Nabi, the Prophet’s Town). Vaknin says: “The – often involuntary – members of the narcissist's mini-cult inhabit a twilight zone of his own construction. He imposes on them a shared psychosis, replete with persecutory delusions, “enemies,” mythical narratives, and apocalyptic scenarios if he is flouted.”114 Note how accurate is this description about Muhammad and Muslims who up to this day have persecutory delusions and see enemies everywhere. They believe in mythical narratives such as Angel Gabriel 112 Qur’an, sura 60, Verse 1 113 http://samvak.tripod.com/journal79.html 114 ibid. Muhammad’s Personality Profile 87 bringing a revelation to Muhammad and other fairy tales like Jinns, Mi’raj (ascension of Muhammad to heaven), Doomsday, etc. According to Vaknin, “the narcissist's deep-rooted conviction that he is being persecuted by his inferiors, detractors, or powerful ill-wishers, serves two psychodynamic purposes. It upholds the narcissist's grandiosity and it fends off intimacy.”115 Vaknin writes: “The narcissist claims to be infallible, superior, talented, skilful, omnipotent, and omniscient. He often lies and confabulates to support these unfounded claims. Within his cult, he expects awe, admiration, adulation, and constant attention commensurate with his outlandish stories and assertions. He reinterprets reality to fit his fantasies. His thinking is dogmatic, rigid, and doctrinaire. He does not welcome free thought, pluralism, or free speech and doesn't brook criticism and disagreement. He demands – and often gets – complete trust and the relegation to his capable hands of all decision-making. He forces the participants in his cult to be hostile to critics, the authorities, institutions, his personal enemies, or the media – if they try to uncover his actions and reveal the truth. He closely monitors and censors information from the outside, exposing his captive audience only to selective data and analyses.”116 By elucidating the characteristics of the narcissist, Vaknin, unintentionally and with astounding accuracy describes Muhammad’s mind and the Muslim mindset. Muslims are narcissists to the extent that they emulate their prophet. A Comparison between Islam and the Cult of the Narcissist The following is a description of the cult of the narcissist. First let us see what Vaknin says about the cult of the narcissist and then I will quote episodes from Muhammad’s life and leave the reader to decide whether they coincide. The narcissist's cult is “missionary” and “imperialistic.” He is always on the lookout for new recruits – his spouse's friends, his daughter's girlfriends, his neighbours, new colleagues at work. He immediately attempts to 115 www.suite101.com/article.cfm/6514/95897 116 http://samvak.tripod.com/journal79.html 88 Understanding Muhammad ‘convert’ them to his ‘creed’ – to convince them how wonderful and admirable he is. In other words, he tries to render them Sources of Narcissistic Supply. Often, his behaviour on these ‘recruiting missions’ is different to his conduct within the ‘cult.’. In the first phases of wooing new admirers and proselytising to potential ‘conscripts’ – the narcissist is attentive, compassionate, empathic, flexible, self-effacing, and helpful. At home, among the “veterans” he is tyrannical, demanding, wilful, opinionated, aggressive, and exploitative. As the leader of his congregation, the narcissist feels entitled to special amenities and benefits not accorded the “rank and file.” He expects to be waited on hand and foot, to make free use of everyone's money and dispose of their assets liberally, and to be cynically exempt from the rules that he himself established (if such violation is pleasurable or gainful). In extreme cases, the narcissist feels above the law – any kind of law. This grandiose and haughty conviction leads to criminal acts, incestuous or polygamous relationships, and recurrent friction with the authorities. Hence the narcissist's panicky and sometimes violent reactions to “dropouts” from his cult. There's a lot going on that the narcissist wants kept under wraps. Moreover, the narcissist stabilizes his fluctuating sense of self-worth by deriving Narcissistic Supply from his victims. Abandonment threatens the narcissist's precariously balanced personality. Add to that the narcissist's paranoid and schizoid tendencies, his lack of introspective self-awareness, and his stunted sense of humor (lack of selfdeprecation) and the risks to the grudging members of his cult are clear. The narcissist sees enemies and conspiracies everywhere. He often casts himself as the heroic victim (martyr) of dark and stupendous forces. In every deviation from his tenets he espies malevolent and ominous subversion. He, therefore, is bent on disempowering his devotees – by any and all means. The narcissist is dangerous.117 117 The Cult of Narcissist http://samvak.tripod.com/journal79.html Muhammad’s Personality Profile 89 Now let us see if there are similarities between this description and what we know about Muhammad and his religion. Islam is both missionary and imperialistic. Muhammad’s main objective was to conquer and dominate. He tried to force everyone to convert to his cult, starting with his family and relatives. He asked Abu Talib, his uncle and guardian to convert to Islam on his deathbed. When the old man declined, Muhammad walked out of the room mumbling, “I wanted to pray for him but Allâh prohibited me from doing so.” However, he managed to convert Abu-Talib’s children, including Ali, his wife and some of his friends. At first, when Muhammad was still weak and had few followers, he was courteous, attentive, compassionate, empathic, flexible, helpful and even self-effacing. There is a sharp contrast between the Qur’anic verses written during this period and those written in Medina when he became powerful and did not need to wear a mask to woo new converts. Once he became powerful, he became demanding, tyrannical, willful, aggressive and exploitative. Then he raided villages and towns and after killing their able-bodied men and looting them, he demanded that the survivors should submit to him or face death. The following are examples of the kind of verses that Muhammad wrote in Mecca. 1. Be patient with what they say, and part from them courteously. (Q.73:10) 2. To you be your religion, and to me my religion. (Q. 109:6) 3. Therefore be patient with what they say, and celebrate (constantly) the praises of your Lord. (Q.20:103) 4. Speak well to men. (Q.2:83) 5. We well know what the infidels say: but you are not to compel them. (Q.50:45) 6. Hold to forgiveness; command what is right; but turn away from the ignorant. (Q.7:119) 7. Pardon thou, with a gracious pardoning. (Q.15:85) 8. Tell those who believe, to forgive those who do not look forward to the Days of Allâh. (Q.45:14) 9. Those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians - any who believe in Allâh and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. (Q.2:62) 90 Understanding Muhammad 10. And do not dispute with the followers of the Book except by what is best. (Q.29:46) Now let us compare them to those written later in Medina when Muhammad became powerful. 1. Oh you who believe! Murder those of the disbelievers and let them find harshness in you. (Q.9:123) 2. I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers: smite above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off. (Q.8:12) 3. Whoso desires another religion than Islam, it shall not be accepted of him. (Q.3:85) 4. Slay the idolaters wherever you find them. (Q.9:5) 5. Kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from wherever they drove you out. (Q.2:191) 6. Fight them on until there is no more dissention and religion becomes that of Allâh. (Q.9:193) 7. Fight them, and Allâh will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame. (Q.9:14) 8. Make no excuses: you have rejected Faith after you had accepted it. If we pardon some of you, we will punish others amongst you, for that they are in sin. (Q.9:66) 9. You who believe! Verily, the Mushrikűn (unbelievers) are Najasun (impure). So let them not come near Al-Masjid-al-Harâm (the grand mosque at Mecca) after this year. (Q.9:28) 10. Fight those who do not believe in Allâh and the last day... and fight People of the Book, who do not accept the religion of truth (Islam) until they pay tribute by hand, being inferior. (Q.9:29) This much should suffice as evidence that Muhammad changed drastically after he came to power. The gentle, attentive, compassionate and empathic preacher transformed to a demanding, tyrannical, ruthless, and willful despot. It was after the battle of Badr that the cruel and vindictive spirit of Mohammad towards his opponents first began to display itself. Muir narrates: Muhammad’s Personality Profile 91 The prisoners were brought up before him. As he scrutinized each, his eye fell fiercely on Nadhr, the son of Harith (Muhammad’s own cousin who was a poet and critical of him). “There was death in that glance,” whispered Nadhr, trembling, to a bystander. “Not so,” replied the other; “it is but your own imagination.” The unfortunate prisoner thought otherwise, and besought Musab (a friend of him who had converted to Islam) to intercede for him. Musab reminded him that he had denied the faith and persecuted the believers. “Ah!” said Nadhr, “had the Quraish made you a prisoner, they would never have put you to death!” “Even were it so,” Musab scornfully replied, “I am not as you are; Islam has rent all bonds asunder." Musad, the captor, seeing that the captive, and with him the chance of a rich ransom, was about to slip from his hands, cried out, “The prisoner is mine”! At this moment, the command to “strike off his head!” was interposed by Muhammad, who had been watching all that passed. “And, O Lord!” he added, “do thou of thy bounty grant unto Musab better prey than this?' Nadhr was forthwith beheaded by Ali. Two days afterwards, about half-way to Medina, Oqba, another prisoner, was ordered out for execution. He ventured to expostulate, and demand why he should be treated more vigorously than the other captives. “Because of your enmity to God and to his Prophet,” replied Muhammad. "And my little girl!" cried Oqba, in the bitterness of his soul, “Who will take care of her?” – “Hellfire!” exclaimed the heartless conqueror; and on the instant his victim was hewn to the ground. “Wretch that he was!” continued Muhammad, “and persecutor! Unbeliever in God, in his Prophet, and in his Book! I give thanks unto the Lord that has slain you, and comforted mine eyes thereby.”118 There is a tender love story in all this that highlights even more the ruthlessness of Muhammad. After some of the prisoners captured in the battle of Badr were put to death because they had insulted Muhammad years earlier, when he was in Mecca, the rest were kept for ransom. Among them was Abul Aas, the above mentioned husband of Muhammad’s daughter, Zeinab. The families of the prisoners procured what the bandit 118 Sir William Muir: The Life of Mohamet, Vol. 3 Ch. XII Page 115-116 92 Understanding Muhammad demanded to rescue their loved ones from death. Zeinab sent a gold necklace that she had received from her mother Khadijah at her wedding to ransom her husband. Muhammad, upon seeing that necklace and recognizing it as once worn by Khadijah, was moved and agreed to release Abul Aas without ransom provided that Zeinab abandon him (her husband) and join him (Muhammad) in Medina. This man was incapable of any act of kindness or of giving anything up without demanding something in exchange. Even his largesse was designed to impress the recipients and win them over to his side. Abul Aas could not bear the separation from his wife and to be with her he converted to Islam and joined her in Medina, only to lose her to death shortly afterwards. Muslims present Islam as a religion of peacefulness and tolerance toward outsiders and will assume a smiling countenance to proselytise potential recruits. They are extremely helpful, humble, and charming to those whom they want to woo and in front of the media. Among themselves, however, they act very differently. They are tyrannical and demanding. Once you convert to Islam and the honeymoon period is over, Muslims will drop the smiling mask and become high-handed, aggressive and abusive. They expect the convert’s questioning of Islam to end, and after conversion any possibility of going back is also considered terminated. This is consistent with the guidelines Muhammad himself laid down through his own conduct, guidelines that have been encoded in Islamic law. Muhammad felt entitled to special benefits and treatments not accorded to others, including his followers. He did things that not only were against the universally acclaimed ethical principles, even by the society in which he lived, but he also went against his own stated rules. He basically did whatever he pleased and when that shocked his followers, he brought a verse from his imaginary Allâh to justify his actions and silence any critic. With a verse from Allâh under his belt, anyone whispering a word against his indecency was denying God and, of course, the fate of those questioning Allah and his messenger was death. His words were faslul-khitab (the end of discussion). Examples abound. Here are a few: The Qur’an limits four wives for believers. However, Muhammad thought that he should not be restricted by his own rules and therefore made his Allâh reveal verses 33:49-50 telling him he is exempt and can have any number of women, as wives, concubines or slaves as he pleases. Muhammad’s Personality Profile 93 Then he added “This only for you, [O Muhammad] and not for the Believers (at large)…in order that there should be no difficulty for you. And Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” What difficulty? The difficulty of having to control his lustfulness, of being a decent human being, faithful to one woman! Are we to believe in a man who found it difficult to control his basest animal instincts as the "best of creation?" Don’t actions speak louder than words? On one hand, he lived like the vilest beasts, and on the other he spoke of himself so loftily, putting words in the mouth of the Almighty to praise him. Remember that while still in Mecca, living off the wealth of his wife, Muhammad did not dare to bring another woman to her house. All his vagaries started when he came to power. Are we to believe that as a young and virile man he did not have difficulty sleeping with an older woman and his difficulties appeared in the last ten years of his life that he was old and beset by all sorts of ailments? Or shall we interpret this as another sign of an aging man gone wild with his newfound liberties who, like a child, left unchecked in a candy store, was unable to set limits for himself? One day Muhammad visited his wife Hafsa, daughter of Omar and upon meeting her maid Mariyah, he lusted for her. Mariyah was an extremely beautiful young Coptic girl sent as a gift by Maquaqis (Patriarch) of Egypt to Muhammad. He sent Hafsa on an errand, lying that that her father wanted to see her. No sooner had she left, that he took Mariyah to Hafsa’s bed and had sex with her. Upon learning her father had not send for her, Hafsa returned to discover what was going on and why Muhammad wanted to get rid of her. She became upset and started to make a scene. (Ah, women will be always women!) To pacify her, Muhammad promised to prohibit Mariyah to himself. (Hence the name of the sura Tahrim, Prohibition.) However, he still lusted after the pretty young slave girl. How could he now break his oath? Well, that is easy when you have God up your sleeve. The maker of the universe revealed the sura Tahrim and told him it is okay to break his oath and have sex with that slave because he was his “right hand possession.” Actually the almighty God, now acting as a pimp for his favorite prophet, was even angry at Muhammad and rebuked him for denying himself carnal pleasures and for promising to be decent once in his lifetime, just to please his wives. 94 Understanding Muhammad O Prophet! Why do you ban (for yourself) that which Allâh has made lawful to you, seeking to please your wives? And Allâh is Oft- Forgiving, Most Merciful. Allâh has already ordained for you (O men), the dissolution of your oaths. And Allâh is your Maula (Lord, or Master, or Protector, etc.) and He is the All-Knower, the All-Wise. (Q.66:1-5) Ibn Sa’d writes: “Abu Bakr has narrated that the messenger of Allâh (PBUH) had sexual intercourse with Mariyah in the house of Hafsa. When the messenger came out of the house, Hafsa was sitting at the gate (behind the locked door). She told the prophet, O Messenger of Allâh, do you do this in my house and during my turn? The Prophet said, control yourself and let me go for I make her haram to me. Hafsa said, I do not accept, unless you swear for me. That Hazrat (his holiness) said, by Allâh I will not touch her again.”119 As usual, Muslims have justified Muhammad for the breach of his oath. It does not matter what Muhammad does, Muslims will always justify his actions. They have submitted their intelligence to him and have stopped thinking rationally. Ibn Sa’d continues: “Qasim ibn Muhammad has said that this promise of the Prophet that had forbidden Mariyah to himself is invalid – it does not become a violation (hormat).120 The question is that if that oath was invalid, why he made it, and if it was valid, why he broke it? There are countless other examples of Muhammad breaking his own promises. Here, he had sworn to God and not even that was an impediment to him. His god was a figment of his own imagination and he was not that stupid to let his imagination stop him from having sex with the beautiful Mariyah. The whole idea of inventing that god was to approve whatever he desired without restrictions, which would have defeated the whole idea of becoming a prophet. My copy of the Qur’an contains the following tafseer side by side with the Sura Tahrim: Also it is reported that the Prophet had divided his days among his wives. And when it was the turn of Hafsa, he sent her for an errand to the house of her father Omar Khattab. When she took this order and went, the prophet called his slave girl Mariyah the Copt who (later) bore his son Ibrahim, and Muhammad’s Personality Profile 95 who was a gift from Najashi and had sexual intercourse with her. When Hafsa returned, she found the door locked from inside. She sat there behind the locked door until the prophet finished the business and came out of the house while sweat was dripping from his face. When Hafsa found him in that condition she rebuked him saying you did not respect my honor; you sent me out of my house with an excuse so you could sleep with the slave girl. And in the day that was my turn you had intercourse with someone else. Then the Prophet said, be quiet for although she is my slave and halal to me, for your contentment I, at this moment, make her haram to myself. But Hafsa did not do this and when the Prophet went out of her house she knocked at the wall that separated her quarter from that of Aisha and told her everything.121 Narcissists believe they are entitled to anything they desire and that their promises and obligations are not binding on them. One day Muhammad went to see his adopted son Zeid and there he saw his wife Zainab, in her revealing home clothing. He was aroused by her beauty and could not control his desire. When Zeid learned this, he felt obliged to divorce his wife so Muhammad could have her. The interesting thing is that a few years earlier, when Muhammad claimed to have ascended to heaven, he said that there he met a woman. He enquired about her, they said she was Zainab, the wife of Zeid. Later he told this anachronistic story to Zeid who, thinking that his marriage had been arranged in heaven, married her. However, when Muhammad saw Zeinab semi nude, he forgot all about his own heavenly fable. Of course, no one better than he that the whole story of Mi’raj (ascension) was his own fabrication. His marriage to Zainab, his own daughter in law, confounded even his followers. To silence them again, his Allâh came out of his sleeve with a verse saying Muhammad is not the father of anyone but the messenger of Allâh and the Seal of the prophets. (Q.33:40) He claimed that his marriage to Zainab was arranged by God to show people that adoption is a bad thing and it should be annulled. As you can see, just because he could not control his lust, he made his bogus deity tell people that adoption is wrong, depriving countless orphans of a second chance at life. Doesn’t this alone disqualify him as a messenger of God? How can the almighty God be 121 Published by Entesharat-e Elmiyyeh Eslami Tehran 1377 lunar H. Tafseer and translation into Farsi by Mohammad Kazem Mo’refi 96 Understanding Muhammad offended by adoption, which is perhaps one of the most humane and lofty of actions? There is an interesting story in connection with this topic. After Muhammad annulled the institution of adoption, Abu Hudayfa and his wife Sahla, who had an adopted son called Salim, came to Muhammad for advice. “Messenger of Allah, Salim (the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifa) is living with us in our house,” said Sahla. “He has attained (puberty) as men attain it and has acquired knowledge (of the sex problems) as men acquire.” In response to her Muhammad improvised an ingenious solution. “Suckle him,” he told her. “How can I suckle him as he is a grown-up man?” She asked perplexed. Muhammad smiled and said: “I already know that he is a young man.” In fact Salim was old enough to participate in the Battle of Badr. Another tradition says that Muhammad laughed.122 According to Muhammad, breast-feeding establishes a degree of maternal relation, even if a woman nurses a child who is not biologically hers. Dr. Izzat Atiya of Egypt’s al-Azhar University, one of Sunni Islam’s most prestigious institutions, inspired by these traditions offered a way around segregation of the sexes at work. He issued a fatwa (religious ruling) allowing women to feed a male colleague "directly from her breast" at least five times to establish a family bond and thus be allowed to be alone together at work. "Breast feeding an adult puts an end to the problem of the private meeting, and does not ban marriage," he ruled. "A woman at work can take off the veil or reveal her hair in front of someone whom she breastfed." Even though some Muslims had no problem with this fatwa, as they were told that it was based on authentic hadith, the legal ruling sparked outrage throughout Egypt and the Arab world and Dr. Atiya was forced to retract his fatwa.123 There is a glimmer of hope in this. This episode shows that there is a limit to which Muslims are willing to be fooled and beyond which they will not go. There lies my conviction, that once the naked truth about Islam is exposed, a great number of Muslims will see the light and will abandon their faith. Muhammad reintroduced the pagan tradition of fasting during the month of Ramadan. However, he found it difficult to abstain from food 122 Sahih Muslim 8.3424, 3425, 3426, 3427, 3428 123 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6681511.stm Muhammad’s Personality Profile 97 and water, from dawn to dusk, so he ate whenever he pleased. Ibn Sa’d writes: “The Messenger of Allâh used to say ‘We the prophets are required to eat our morning food later than others and hurry in breaking our fast in the evening.'”124 These are just a few examples of how Muhammad did as he pleased and made his Allâh approve whatever he did. The young and perceptive Aisha noticed this and perhaps sarcastically, or innocently, said to him “I feel that your Lord hastens in fulfilling your wishes and desires.”125 In none of the wars that Muhammad waged did he put his own life in danger. He often stood behind his troops wearing two coats of chain-link mail,126 one on top of the other. The double armouring would make him so heavy that his movements became cumbersome and he needed assistance to stand or to walk. In that state he would shout toward the front and loudly encourage his men to be valiant and not fear death, promising them high-bosomed virgins and celestial food in the other world. Sometimes he would grab a handful of sand and throw it in the air in the direction of the enemy while cursing them. To finance his military expeditions, the Prophet of Allâh exhorted his followers to contribute their wealth. He urged them to serve him and wait upon him. He encouraged their adulation of him and strongly frowned on dissent. The tribe of Quraish had a negotiator named Orwa, who visited Muhammad among his men in Hudaibiyyah. He later recounted he had seen the Khusraos, the Caesar and the Najashi, but never having seen, before or since, such attention and homage lavished on any king. He told the Quraish that Muhammad’s followers “rushed to save the water in which he had performed his ablutions, to catch up his spittle, or seize a hair of his if it chanced to fall.”127 This should not be interpreted as exaggeration of later years, as the historian Sir Willam Muir believed. Muhammad, like all other cult leaders, had created a personality cult around himself. We can see this kind of personality worship in modern cults even today. This is how the narcissist wants to be treated. Muhammad thought himself to be above the law. He broke moral and ethical codes whenever it suited him, and then made his Allâh reveal a verse to confirm that what he had done was alright. 124 Tabaqat, Volume 1, page 369 125 Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number 311) 126 Flexible armor of interlinked rings. 127 Sirat Ibn Ishaq, p.823. 98 Understanding Muhammad Arabs were simple people of the desert, but they had dignity and prided themselves on their chivalry. During the year there were a few months when they did not fight. These were known as the sacred months, when people travelled freely on pilgrimage. In one such month, Muhammad sent an expedition to Nakhlah, a place known for its palm trees, to lay siege and ambush a caravan carrying raisins, butter, wine, and other goods from Taif to Mecca. Fighting and killing at such a time of the year was a sacrilege. He sent eight men towards Nakhlah without telling them about their mission. He gave a sealed letter to the leader of the expedition instructing the men to open it only after reaching the destination. When they opened the letter, they realized Muhammad is asking them to raid a caravan during the sacred months. Two of the men, conveniently lost their camels in the desert and went out to find them and did not take part in the raid. The other six, discussed the situation and finally convinced themselves that the orders of the prophet should be obeyed even if they go against their conscience and seem immoral and unethical. To set up the ambush, they shaved their heads and pretended to be preparing themselves for pilgrimage, and when the men of the caravan lowered their guard, they leapt upon them, killing one and taking two as hostages. The fourth person escaped. This was the first bloodshed chargeable to Islam. The first blood spilled in the history of Islam is the blood of a non-Muslim by Muslims. Muslims started the hostilities. They persecuted their detractors, not the other way round. The killing sent a shockwave through the Quraish that realized their opponent, in his quest for power, would not respect any law. There are countless cases in which Muhammad broke the laws of the land and disregarded the codes of ethics, decency, and morality. Laying siege to merchant caravans or raiding villages and seizing their wealth is theft and is against the law in any society. Muhammad ambushed unarmed groups when they were least prepared to fight, killed as many of their unarmed men as he could, enslaved their women and children, and made his Allâh to approve whatever he did. He also okayed having sex with women captured in war, even if the women were still married. (Q.4:24) From incest to polygamy, from rape to pedophilia, from assassination to genocide, the Prophet of Allâh did them all and encouraged his followers to do the same. He was disdainful of authorities, and so are his followers. Muhammad’s Personality Profile 99 The word “Islam” means “submission.” The Qur’an says: “No believing man and no believing woman has a choice in their own affairs when Allâh and His Messenger have decided on an issue.”(Q.33:36) The truth is that even non-believing people have no choice. They must submit or be killed. Muhammad interpreted dissent as betrayal. For narcissists, dissent is intolerable. In response they panic and feel threatened. Painful memories of being abandoned as a child rise up to shake their precariously balanced personality. They feel deeply hurt and seek revenge. Muhammad viewed as enemies any who were not his supporters and followers. He was extremely paranoid and saw conspiracies everywhere. He cast himself as the heroic victim of the malicious forces of his enemies. These “enemies,” of course, existed nowhere except in his fertile imagination. One of the main factors driving Muhammad’s success was that he had spies everywhere who posed as his detractors and who brought news from places he wanted to ambush. So paranoid was he that he even encouraged his believers to spy on each other. Muslims do this to this day. Like their prophet, Muslims think they are the victims and therefore, their acts of terrorism are fully justified. They think dark stupendous forces are at work to destroy Islam and that there is a world conspiracy against Muslims led by the Jews. They are convinced Jews control the world, particularly The United Sates of America, who are doing their bidding and waging proxy wars against the Muslims at the order of this mysterious and omnipotent Jewish organization. Muslims are vigilant toward each other’s words and actions; each Muslim spies on others to see whether the laws of Islam are properly observed. An ambiance of terror is created in all Islamic countries, where hardly anyone dares the slightest question of the tenets of Islam. Your own father, son or brother could report your infidelity, which, of course, would mean certain death to you. Pathological narcissists truly believe they are special and therefore entitled to gratuitous favors from others. Muhammad found a perfect way not to thank those he made do his bidding. Instead of expressing gratitude, he told them they should be grateful for being given the privilege of serving Allâh. 100 Understanding Muhammad O you who believe! Do not make your charity worthless by reproach and injury, like him who spends his property to be seen of men and does not believe in Allâh and the last day. (Q. 2:263) Muhammad tried to compensate his craving for love with power. He yearned for love because he did not receive enough of it from his primary caregivers. A loveless childhood is the root cause of narcissism, despotism and psychopathic behavior. His grandfather and uncle’s permissiveness and their failure to set limits, further aggravated his narcissistic trait. Muhammad cries bitterly at the tomb of his mother. Those tears are not for her, but for himself. Narcissists have no feelings for others. They are only aware, in fact too aware, of their own feelings, their own pain and their own emotions. 000000000