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"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one."…George Bernard Shaw  

 

Are Muslim Intellectuals Dumbs? 

By Sher Khan  

I am not an Intellectual or a professional. I am not a doctor, engineer or an academic. Honestly, I am not a writer either. As you will go through this article, you may find several grammatical errors and lack of a scholar’s comments. However, there should not be any spelling mistake except for non-English words. Kafir (Unbeliever), Bill Gates invented Microsoft Office Words and added only English words in spelling check. Unlike Quranic miracles this wonder of science helps me a lot. As long as you understand what I meant, please don’t complain. I am a simple man. I believe, right is right and wrong is wrong. I believe truth is one and only, whereas untrue have numerous colors and faces. I do not believe what I read. I use my own judgment and think pragmatically. I use the golden rules of logic and reason to convince myself. Aristotle once said, "Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth."  

O ye who read, behold! I am here not to write my biography. I am not a famous or a pious person that my biography will be an impressive one.  

Lately, I am trying to understand our Muslim Intellectual’s mind. They attain highest degrees from Universities and they are the experts in their areas. People like me should be admiring their intelligence and knowledge. With due respect, I don’t understand how they comprise religion with their philosophy, work ethics, subject matters and their belief. Precisely, I am talking about our great (!) religion Islam.   

I will be quoting a few ahadith. Please note these are from Sahih Bukhari, which is authentic, and a main resource to follow sunnah .  

Volume 7, Book 71, Number 588: Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:

            A man came to the Prophet and said, "My brother has some abdominal trouble." The Prophet said to him "Let him drink honey."…… then said, "Allah has said the truth, but your brother's abdomen has told a lie." So he made him drink honey and he was cured.

I have not seen any doctor prescribing honey for abdominal pains. Why not the Muslim doctors follow these easy solutions! 

Volume 7, Book 71, Number 582:  Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, "There is no disease that Allah has created, except that He also has created its treatment."

Volume 7, Book 71, Number 591: Narrated Khalid bin Sad:

"……….Prophet saying, 'This black cumin is healing for all diseases except As-Sam.' Aisha said, 'What is As-Sam?' He said, 'Death."

Can you imagine! How these doctors and pharmaceuticals companies have ripped us off? All these pharmaceuticals companies from the west made big money just selling black cumin in their drugs!  

Volume 7, Book 71, Number 596: Narrated Um Qais bint Mihsan:

I heard the Prophet saying, "Treat with the Indian incense, for it has healing for seven diseases; it is to be sniffed by one having throat trouble, and to be put into one side of the mouth of one suffering from pleurisy." …….

Volume 7, Book 71, Number 629: Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, "He (a Muslim) who dies of an abdominal disease is  a martyr, and he who dies of plague is a martyr."

Volume 7, Book 71, Number 631: Narrated 'Aisha:

During the Prophet's fatal illness, he used to recite the Mu'auwidhat (Surat An-Nas and Surat Al-Falaq) and then blow his breath over his body. When his illness was aggravated, I used to recite those two Suras and blow my breath over him and make him rub his body with his own hand for its blessings." …..

Volume 7, Book 71, Number 632:Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:

Some of the companions of the Prophet came across a tribe amongst the tribes of the Arabs……the chief of that tribe was bitten by a snake (or stung by a scorpion). They said, .."Have you got any medicine with you or anybody who can treat with Ruqya…... One of them (the Prophet's companions) started reciting Surat-al-Fatiha and gathering his saliva and spitting it (at the snake-bite). The patient got cured and his people presented the sheep to them, but they said, "We will not take it unless we ask the Prophet (whether it is lawful)." When they asked him, he smiled and said, "How do you know that Surat-al-Fatiha is a Ruqya? Take it (flock of sheep) and assign a share for me."  

I am sure no Muslim doctor practices this way. It’s a wonder, how they deal with their faith in their professional life?   

It’s well known that Darwin 's theory of evolution has a big time enmity with Quranic explanation. As a matter of fact, Saudi Universities don't teach these theories. They even banned Pokemon cards due to the same reason. Everyone knows about this contention so I am not going to quote anything on this issue but I like to remind our Muslim intellectuals that clash between science & religion is inevitable. It's a deadly conflict. These two cannot prosper together.

"Where knowledge ends, religion begins."

       [Benjamin Disraeli]  

We would never get Archimedas’s principle of buoyancy or basic laws of hydrostatics, if he was not born before Islamic age. Imagine him running in the street of an Islamic country naked and shouting “eureka” “eureka”. He sure would have been beheaded before he could convey his discovery.

"Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: and Allah is well acquainted with all that they do."
[Al-Qur’an 24:30]   

Most of the real scientists and philosophers do not believe any religion. They cannot afford to limit their thinking with religious guidelines. Here is an interesting report.

 "Mr. Speaker, a new report says only 7% of scientists believe in God. That is right. And the reason they gave was that the scientists are super smart. Unbelievable. Most of these absent-minded professors cannot find the toilet."

   [Congressman James Traficant, August 3, 1998. House record page H6885]  

Both scientists and prophets live in a state of meditation. The difference is, one meditates to find the truth and the other pretends to find God. According to famous psychiatrist Thomas Szasz.

 "If you talk to God, you're praying; if God talks to you, you have schizophrenia."

   [Thomas Szasz (b. 1920), U.S. psychiatrist.The Second Sin,"Schizophrenia" (1973)]  

To believe, or not to believe, that’s the question? If you believe, your mind will work like a puritan. Religious teachings will encircle all your knowledge. No matter how many books you read, your knowledge is limited. It will not go beyond the textbook. Your thinking process is a puddle of water. If you do not believe, limit of your thinking is unbounded. Whatever you read, you challenge, you think and you look for something new. Your thinking process will roar like waves of ocean and thoughts will erupt like volcanic expulsion. Only then, another Einstein may emerge from our Muslim (I mean, ex-Muslim) community.  

Last few decades, a new trend of Islam is going on. Some scholars are trying to prove that Quran is scientific. Sad part is, most of our Muslim intellectuals have joined these flock. All these claims are so childish that only a 2nd grader can be fooled or a Muslim who deliberately desires to be fooled. So far, no one has invented anything out of Quran. Emphatically, there is no Allah or God monitoring our actions. If there were one, he would be laughing so loud that whole earth would start shaking and may have caused a major disaster.

"All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry."[Edgar Allan Poe]

 I hear, Islamic scholars are scratching their heads to understand the meaning of a Quranic verse "Alif Lam Mim". I will not be surprised if one of them come up with a solution that Einstein salvaged E=MC˛ out of "Alif Lam Mim". However, these scholars are working hard to relate scientific inventions to Quran but they can not invent anything out of Quran.  

Truth is universal. Good deeds are indisputable. Only bad things need to be defended. If a student excels in all areas, he is courteous and never smokes or takes drugs. His parents have nothing to defend. They will be proud to tell everyone about his achievement. Now if he is taking drugs and doing not so good in school, then his parents have two choices. (1) They can be truthful and discuss with others to cure the problem. (2) They can deny, they can lie and they can defend him with all kind of lame excuses, ignoring the fact that something should be done to solve the problem.  Unfortunately, our modern Islamic scholars have taken the later approach instead of trying to cure Islamic disease. They are dedicated to establish Islam as a religion of peace! Their tenacity can only be compared with Don Quixote's determination who was adamant to fight with the windmill. Quiet a few Muslim intellectuals are dancing like puppets along with those quack Islamic scholars.  

Is there a Muslim scientist or an Islamic country that has invented something significant in the last century? Is there any prominent Muslim Scholar who did something meaningful for mankind? All Islamic countries are sedated with Islamic opium.  Most of them are fighting with unbearable poverty and misery.

Marx saw religion as "the sigh of the oppressed creature . . . the opium of the people, which made this suffering bearable." [Quoted in A History of God, Karl Marx, German political philosopher and economist (1818-1883).]

Those who have petro-dollars, they are living in a luxurious life better than paradise. They are spending tons of money to promote Islam but nothing for scientific invention. Is there an environment for research or scientific studies in Islamic countries? Is there any churches, Sanagogues or temple in Saudi Arabia ? Can people from different faith and community live freely? Even a moderate Muslim would not feel comfortable in the strict religious guidelines! Now, look at western countries. There are hundreds of mosques and several Muslims are preaching Islam profusely. Only USA alone has over 1000 mosques. Although it’s an unfair situation, I am not concerned with the number of mosques or churches. They are equally dangerous for mankind. Question is who is loosing in this game? All Islamic countries are too busy to protect the chastity of Islam. Whereas, western countries are encouraging people from all faith or no faith to live and think freely. This approach results in a dynamic economy with the help of diversified community. Undoubtedly, this strategy also helped to flourish science, technology and civilization. Funny thing is, most of the Muslim intellectuals who live in western countries are still in the nutshell of their Islamic creed.  

Science, technology and philosophical thoughts have changed so rapidly without Muslim's contribution that we are far behind from the main stream. We need to change our beliefs. In old paradigm, the “others” were our enemy. In new paradigm the “others” should be our benchmark.  

Applaud to all the intellectuals and scholars who did not have any religious affiliation. Voltaire, Shelley, Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, Bernard Shaw, Darwin, Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway and so many others rejected religion to find the truth and think rationally. They are the lighthouses for the mankind. I hope our Muslim Intellectuals and scholars will follow their path and enlighten their intelligence with the light of the truth.

 

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