BOOK PUBLISHED: THE ALLAH DELUSION
7/21/2013
“Follow the evidence, wherever it leads.”
Socrates
Product Details
Paperback: 308 pages
Author: Sujit Das, with a preface by Ali Sina
Publisher: Felibri.com (June 10, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN 13: 978-1-926800-09-7
Cost: 14.40 US$
Available at: Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and various other bookstores. If the book is not readily available you may place an order to any reputed bookstore with the ISBN, title and name of the author to track the book. The kindle edition is also available through Amazon kindle.
Finally, my second project The Allah Delusion is published. In my first book Islam Dismantled: The Mental Illness of Prophet Muhammad (published by Felibri), I had critically examined the claims of Muhammad’s prophethood and found them inadequate. In the present book, I have gone much further and argue that by this moment in time science has advanced sufficiently to be able to make a definitive statement on the existence or nonexistence of Allah. In this book, I condemn not just belief in Allah but respect for the belief in Allah.
Muslims believe that Allah guided mankind through the revelations, but there is a problem at the sources. Allah’s guidance to mankind is only a “belief”, not a concrete proof. Even before this argument arises, according to me, there is a need for deeper understanding that must be settled first – Does Allah exist? Throughout most of the book this is the only important question. I want to reach the truth through science and logic. I will not accept anything on faith. An all-knowing Allah knows the evidence I need to be convinced of his existence, and the all-powerful Allah is able to provide that evidence. Reason is my only guide to knowledge. Muhammad’s truth-claim must pass the test for logical consistency, as a minimum. Otherwise, the belief in Allah is reduced to personal preference.
Prophet Muhammad claimed to have communicated with Allah in a prophetic trance. We can find detailed records of Muhammad’s mystical experiences in the traditional Islamic sources.
“At the moment of inspiration, anxiety pressed upon the Prophet, and his countenance was troubled. … for some hours he used to become drowsy like a sleepy person.” (Ibn Sa’d Tabaqat: Volume 1)
“A’isha reported ‘The Messenger of Allah did not see any vision but it came like the bright gleam of dawn’.”(Muslim: 1.301)
“The Prophet said, ‘I had been standing, but fell to my knees; and crawled away, my shoulders trembling.’” (Tabari: VI.67)
“Then Allah’s Apostle returned with the inspiration, his neck muscles twitching with terror till he entered upon Khadijah and said, ‘Cover me! Cover me!’” (Bukhari: 9.87.111)
“Revelation came to the Apostle of Allah and he was covered with a cloth, Omar lifted a corner of the cloth and I looked at him and he was emitting a sound of snorting. He (the narrator) said: I thought it was the sound of a camel.” (Muslim: 7.2654)
In the cold-eyed view of a trained psychiatrist all these are symptoms of temporal lobe dysfunction. Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) is the form of a chronic neurological condition characterized by recurrent seizures. The features of the seizures can be extremely varied, but certain patterns are common. There is a mixture of different feelings, emotions, thoughts, and experiences, which may be familiar or completely foreign. Often, a series of old memories resurfaces. In others, the person may feel as if everything – including home and family – appears strange. Experiences during seizures vary; sometimes the seizures are so mild that the person barely notices. Otherwise, the person may be consumed with fright, intellectual fascination, or even extreme pleasure. Muhammad had epileptic seizures from his childhood. Halima, his wet nurse, reported to have said,
“His [Halima’s own son] father said to me, ‘I am afraid that this child [Muhammad] has had a stroke, so take him back to his family [to his mother, Amina] before the result appears.’… She [Amina] asked me what happened and gave me no peace until I told her. When she asked if I feared a demon had possessed him, I replied that I did.” (Ishaq: 72)
In Arab traditions, epileptic fits has consistently been seen as an infliction or possession by a supernatural demonic power. Interesting descriptions of epileptic seizures can be found in the texts of Rhazes, and those of Abulcasis (Spanish Muslim Philosopher, 936 – 1013 AD) who also refers to cases of epilepsy due to demonic possession. Those ignorant Arab doctors did not have the wit to understand the theories of Hippocrates. Constantinus the African (1020–1087 AD), a translator of Islamic texts, advised the parents of epileptics to take the patient to church to expel the demons. There is no wonder Halima mistook Muhammad’s epileptic seizures as demon possession.
Hallucinations are prominent component of TLE seizures. It consists of a buzzing sound, voice(s), or muffling of ambient sounds. Hallucinations of music, people, smells, or tastes may occur which is called “auras” or “warnings”. These may last for just a few seconds, or may continue as long as a minute or two. Distortions of shape, size, and distance of objects are often reported. There may be intense emotions and sensory experience including vibrancy of colors. Things may appear shrunken or larger than usual and visual images of a face, ghosts, UFO or even God are seen. TLE often occurs unexpectedly and without any prior notice to the patient. If the seizures have occurred for more than five years, the patient may suffer from memory loss. Many Qur’anic verses were lost because Muhammad forgot them.
“Revelations… We abrogate or cause to be forgotten”. (Q: 2.106)
“The Prophet said, ‘It is a bad thing that some of you say, ‘I have forgotten such-and-such verse of the Qur’an’. For truly, I have been caused by Allah to forget it. So you must keep on reciting the Qur’an because it escapes faster than a runaway camel’.” (Bukhari: 6.61.550).
If Qur’an is the eternal word of God, why “it escapes faster than a runaway camel”? What should we think about a God who causes his word to be forgotten? In the context of a true God, this is utterly senseless. One of the reasons many verses were abrogated simply because the epileptic Prophet forgot what he revealed before. Memory establishes continuity in a steadily changing world but since his memory was characteristically impaired, many revelations were “readjusted” (abrogated) causing a severe discontinuation in the process of revelation.
About forty percent TLE patients show symptoms of religiosity, associated with egotism, stubbornness, fearful utterance, strong determination, impaired memory, impaired thought, lack of spontaneity and retardation. The patients have reported communing with spirits or receiving profound knowledge from the extraterrestrials or Gods. Some have reported hearing even the singing of angels and the voice of “God”. The delusional Prophet of the Muslims was not an exception.
Schizophrenia hallucinations (both auditory and visual) are very common amongst epileptics, because the activity of the temporal lobes is increased in schizophrenia. There are multiple periods in TLE in which symptoms of schizophrenia may occur – during a seizure (ictal), after a seizure (postital) and in between two seizures (interictal). Paranoid schizophrenia bears the closest relationship to TLE, occurring in up to ten percent of postical or interictal periods, with the seizures and psychotic symptoms frequently alternating. One researcher reviewed seventy case-studies that connect religion to schizophrenia and found forty-three percent of the patients had religious delusions and hallucinations. Living in a world distorted by hallucinations and delusions, individuals with schizophrenia may feel frightened, anxious and confused. Although hallucinations can occur in any sensory form – auditory (sound), visual (sight), somatic/tactile (perception of a physical experience), gustatory (taste), and olfactory (smell) – hearing voices that other people do not hear is the most common type. A feeling of déjà vu is also very common with these patients along with hallucinations. Voices may describe the patient’s activities, carry on a conversation, warn of impending dangers, or even issue orders to the individual. Muhammad’s hallucinations were visual, somatic and auditory. Ishaq recorded,
“The apostle, at the time when Allah willed to bestow His grace upon him and endow him with prophethood, would go forth for his affair and travel far afield, until he reached the glens of Mecca and the beds of its valleys, where no house was in sight, and not a stone or tree that he passed by, but would say, ‘Peace unto thee, O apostle of Allah.’ And the apostle would turn to his right and left and look behind him, and he would see only trees and stones.” (Ishaq: 105)
Ali Dasti mentioned, while wandering around the lonely spots near Mecca, Muhammad often heard voices.
“In the days before the appointment, whenever Mohammad walked beyond the houses of Mecca to relieve nature’s demands, and as soon as the houses disappeared behind the bends in the path, a voice saying ‘Peace upon you, O Apostle of God!’ rang out from every rock and tree that he passed. But when the Apostle looked to one side or the other, he did not see anybody. There were only rocks and trees around him.”
This is a first-rank symptom of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia affects a person’s ability to “think straight”. The schizophrenic universe is like a vast jigsaw puzzle, where none of the pieces fit together. Thoughts come and go rapidly; he is not able to concentrate on one thought for very long and easily distracted, unable to focus attention. He cannot sort out what is relevant and what is not relevant to a situation, because he is simply unable to connect thoughts into logical sequences. Hence, the thoughts become disorganized and fragmented. This lack of logical continuity of thought, termed “thought disorder,” can make the conversation very difficult. Muhammad suffered from thought disorder.
“Allah has said: Take not (for worship) two gods: for He is just One Allah: then fear Me (and Me alone)”. (Q: 16.51)
Who is the speaker of the words “Allah has said”? No way could Allah have expressed himself in those words, and even if he did so, it proves that he was crazy. The later part of the sentence “then fear Me” indicates whom? It is definitely not Allah, because he already said before “He is just One Allah”. Therefore, this “Me” should be someone else and he is also the speaker of the same verse.
“And We have not taught him (Muhammad) poetry, nor is it meet for him.”. (Q: 36.69).
“Lo! We inspire thee as We inspired Noah and the prophets after him, …” (Q: 4.163)
The doubt is who used to teach and inspire Muhammad besides Allah? In the following verse, the use of the words like “He said”, “your Lord says”, “easy to me” in one sentence are not only confusing but also self-contradictory. The author of this verse is utterly confused.
“He said: So shall it be, your Lord says: It is easy to Me, and indeed I created you before, when you were nothing”. (Q: 19.9).
In the following verse, both Allah and Muhammad speak together.
“Glorified be He Who carried His servant by night from the Inviolable Place of Worship to the Far distant place of worship the neighborhood whereof We have blessed, that We might show him of Our tokens! Lo! He, only He, is the Hearer, the Seer.” (Q: 17.1)
A merciful, compassionate and all-wise God cannot praise Himself. The first sentence of the above verse is Muhammad’s thanksgiving to Allah for his favor. In the second sentence Allah is speaking. The third sentence is clearly Muhammad’s word. We find these errors in the entire Qur’an that lead to one conclusion – Muhammad was the actual author of this book. Allah was just saying Muhammad’s “own thoughts out aloud”. This is a sure sign of schizophrenia.
A large section of the Qur’an seems to be twisted rant. Reading the Qur’an is often like walking in on a conversation between two people with whom one is only slightly acquainted. Frequently they make reference to people and events without bothering to explain what is going on. Many Surahs of the Qur’an start off with specific Arabic letters which it nowhere explains, as example, Alif Lam Ra (Surah: 10, 11, 12, 14, 15), Alif Lam Mim (Surah: 2, 3, 29, 30, 31, 32), Alif Lam Mim Ra (Surah: 13), Alif Lam Mim Sad (Surah: 7), Ha Mim (Surah: 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46), Ha Mim ‘Ain Sin Qaf (Surah: 42), Sad (Surah: 38), Ta Sin (Surah: 27),Ta Sin Mim (Surah: 26, 28), Ta Ha (Surah: 20), Qaf (Surah: 50), Ka Ha Ya ‘Ain Sad (Surah: 19), Nun (Surah: 68), and Ya Sin (Surah: 36).
Do these Arabic letters mean anything at all? Muslim scholars admit that there are no reports from either Muhammad himself or his companions where Muhammad commented or explained the meaning and purpose of these mysterious letters. The use of unclear and ambiguous verbal references is a stable trait of schizophrenia. In addition; schizophrenic utterance is rich in metaphor. Although metaphor is an indispensable tool of thought and expression – a characteristic of all human communication, even of that of the scientist, we use only the labeled metaphors. The peculiarity of the schizophrenic is not that he uses metaphors, but that he uses unlabeled metaphors. Hence, though he hears fragmented sentences and disorganized words he immediately knows the meaning.
Chronic schizophrenia patients suffer from a variety of movement disorders. They make mistakes about the agency of various bodily movements. They may make peculiar involuntary movements, grimaces, with lips and mouth. Often a significant increase in oral muscle activity just before a patient indicated hearing a voice. As example one hallucinating patient making frequent sounds from her nose and mouth, interpreted as originating from alien sources. Many researchers had also observed the same in other patients. These patients are suffering from delusion of control and feel that movements are made or caused by someone or something else. This is such a pathetic situation in which no matter what the patient does, he “cannot win”. The following narration of Bukhari (6.60.451) needs to be understood carefully.
“Narrated Musa bin Abi Aisha; When Gabriel revealed the divine Inspiration in Allah’s Apostle, he moved his tongue and lips, and that state used to be very hard for him, and that movement indicated that revelation was taking place.”
The involuntary tongue and lips movement (i.e., oral muscle activity) of Muhammad – “that state used to be very hard for him” – indicates a minor seizure, and the revelation that followed was an occurrence of a schizophrenic voice hallucination in postical or ictal periods – “that movement indicated that revelation was taking place”. Muhammad genuinely believed that he was receiving messages from his Allah in that involuntary movement of tongue and lips, but he made an error of identification concerning who produced this motion. The sense of agency, rather than the sense of ownership, is disrupted. The schizophrenic knows that it is his lips and that he speaks, but his lips were moved and the words were made by someone else.
Throughout most of the book I have shown that the Qur’anic revelations are meaningless rants of a Schizophrenic. Paranoid Schizophrenia and TLE exhibit a very high co-morbidity. Many researchers have demonstrated that all of the symptoms of classic schizophrenia are seen in patients with psychosis and epilepsy, and subsequently a new term is proposed “schizophrenia-like psychosis of epilepsy”. TLE is the only form of epilepsy in which hyper-religiosity (extreme form of religiosity) has been reported as a fairly common symptom.
Muhammad’s Allah delusion was the result of his disability, social isolation and his enhanced need for the consolation of religion. Allah is not the creator of the universe; he is a paper tiger – a harmless, spineless scarecrow – a figment of Muhammad’s private fantasy. Islam is clearly a losing cause. Fortunately for Islam, a suicide bomber cannot return to demand a refund. The dishonest god of Islam is not worthy of a religion, devotion, sacrifice, or martyrdom. Throughout this book I have just followed the evidence wherever it led me.
First two chapters (chapter 1: The god who failed, and chapter 2: Allah under investigation) are mostly based on two logical principles – Law of Contradiction and Occam’s razor. The Law of Contradiction states, a proposition cannot be true and false at the same time and in the same respect. Occam’s razor states that one should neither multiply explanations nor increase their complexity beyond necessity. An explanation should be as simple and direct as possible, and any excess baggage should be discarded.
The third chapter (Allah: The psychotic delusion of Muhammad) deals with Muhammad’s TLE and schizophrenia at length with several medical case studies. In other three chapters; I went on to explore the ethical and social (chapter 6: The cost of Allah delusion), psychological (chapter 5: Allah: The virus of the mind), and psychiatric (chapter 4: Human evil and dimensions of delusions) implications of a belief in Allah, but these areas are secondary to the basic issue of the truth. Dr. Ali Sina wrote the preface for this book.
After the final conclusion, this document continues with two additional slightly off-topic chapters, as Addendum 1 (The delusion of Dr. Richard Dawkins) and Addendum 2 (Closing thoughts: Militant Islam and Militant Atheism – both failed). These two supplementary chapters criticize the idea of aggressive atheism that Dr. Dawkins promoted in his book The God Delusion, and focus on the demerits of militant atheism and Islam, and condemn both of them.
This book is a non-profit making project. The pre-publication formalities, e.g.; manuscript preparation, tracing, formatting, and proof-reading were done in India. All the expenditures were borne by me. It means the purchase cost of this book is even less than the production cost of each copy. I have taken every step to keep the cost of the book as low as possible. This book is also available as kindle edition. This e-version of the book is even cheaper. Those who live in Islamic countries should purchase the kindle version of the book. It is available at Amazon kindle.
While promoting the book on Facebook, I have received threats from some pro-Islam jihadi group for insulting their Allah. What makes me sad is that some Christians and Hindus are also accusing me of offending Muslim sensibilities. They want me to withdraw the book from the market. I understand that by writing this book I am putting myself in a very dangerous situation, but at any cost I will not fall back, not even at the cost of my life. I will never withdraw the book from the market. Let the fanatics do whatever they can do. It is my birth-right to tell the truth and stand against the evil. How can I forget the sufferings of millions of innocent victims of Islamic jihad worldwide in the name of Allah?
Even if the Muslim clerics issue a fatwa on my head and eventually the fanatics kill me, still they will not be able to stop the truth from spreading. Truth is a fact and not judgment. Muslims can discredit me the way they like, they can kill me but they cannot stop the truth from spreading. The hard fact is that Allah is a fictitious god. If we take away the outward signs of Allah, whatever remains is something like an ancient Arabic video game of a superhero created by Muhammad. This superhero is even more exciting than the Marvel comics’ heroes. The god of the Muslims is so pathetic that his life-support system is blind faith. A real god does not need a life-support system in order to survive. Muslims fall on their knees five times a day to beg an imaginary god for a little mercy on their tormented souls, but all those prayers are in vain. The reflection of a god that Muhammad had placed in front of the Muslims has no life. A Muslim who demands scientific evidence of Allah’s existence is discredited. But there is no Ayatollah or Grand Mufti who can create an Allah with the force of his religious faith, even if when he shares his belief with the entire Muslim Ummah. Nobody can alter the nature of reality with the power of his blind faith. Allah is like a doctor’s placebo, which is, however, effective in spite of being pretended. To state that “Allah exists” is to communicate nothing at all; it is as if nothing has been said. The label of “Allah” serves no function, except, perhaps, to create confusion.
Though as the author I hold the copyright of this book, the fact is that this book is out of my control. I have no regret for this; this book is a gift to you and I don’t want to have a control over this book. In fact I consider myself a very insignificant person. The truth and the new explanations that I put forward through this book are more important. When a researcher gives new explanations or critically analyzes something from a different perspective, the new ideas should not be the personal property of the author. In fact, the author becomes a bond-servant of his creation. If, after reading the book, you have some questions, I am directly responsible to give you reply. Just send me an e-mail. This book is a small gift to humanity from me. That’s why this book is yours, not mine. Please purchase a copy and encourage others to purchase. Please promote this book – not for the author but for the sake of humanity.
Lastly, I wish to have an intimate talk with the Muslims. I have absolutely no hate for you, my dearest Muslim brethren – let me be very clear on this. Many of my close friends are Muslims. How can I hate you, you are the first victims of Islam. The Allah delusion is so much deep-rooted in your mind that you have Allah always uppermost in your mind – so much so that you cannot make any division between secular and sacred. If the evidence seems to contradict Allah, it is the evidence that must be thrown out, not the belief in Allah. And if you talk about the clerics, then remember – no other individuals have ever reached more eminence on the basis of ignorance than those Muslim theologians. These Islamic scholars often give themselves and others the impression of dealing with profound and significant matters when in fact they only plunged themselves into utter darkness from which only a rationalist is able to deliver them at last. Just ask them for a scientific evidence of Allah’s existence, and they will be furious. Our commonsense says if it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and swims like a duck, there is hardly any doubt we are dealing with a duck. When it comes to Allah’s religion, however, we change our perceptions. If it behaves like a hardcore criminal, if it often hallucinates like a schizophrenic and if it has all the symptoms of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, it must be the holy Prophet of Allah! What type of distorted logic is this?
The life of a believing Muslim is frozen in the Allah. Science cannot save him, logic cannot save him, knowledge cannot save him, medicine cannot save him – only his Allah can save him. If Qur’an is full of science why no well-known scientist has ever looked at the Qur’an for scientific enlightenment? Knowledge can only be gained through human investigation and has never been provided by the Allah. This is irrefutable evidence that the Muslim scholars are compelled to change their dogmas when they are challenged by new scientific discoveries.
The great majority of the believing Muslims are unwilling to reexamine their beliefs. They find it difficult to accept the truth because of their fear to lose the false moral support that is founded in the belief of Allah. They are afraid to lose the delusion that an omnipotent Allah protects them at all times and takes care of them. The belief and desire for a constant guardian is a psychological trauma; it is more than a simple philosophical problem. Allah does not create history, because a delusion has no power to change anything. If science is true, Muslims are alone in this world and thereafter. There is no Allah to think for them, to watch out for them, to guarantee their happiness in the paradise. It would be fortunate if the attainment of happiness were that simple, but it is not. These are the sole responsibility of man.
————————————————————————————————-
Author can be contacted at [email protected]
Recent Comments