The blue moon is shining over the scattered ranges of barren hills and desert sands are glittering, as if a giant silver plate. Mohammad waives his magic wand and breaks the silence of the desert – “Abraca – Dabraca –dee!!! Yooou! Moon! Split in half!” [1]

The story of splitting the moon has been recorded in several places of Ahadith and Allah confirmed this miracle in verse 54.01. The joke may entertain a sane person but the followers of Mohammad not only believe the unbelievable, they also brag about the story and take great pride describing the farce.

In the intervening time, Potters of Sui Dynasty of China (600-650 AD) became skilled at sculpture. They made statues of Buddha and camels of Arabia but no broken Moon. The Anglo-Saxon kings of 7^th century were busy killing each other but no one noticed any change of the moon. The Mayans of Middle America reached at the highest peak of civilization during the 7^th century. A handful of cactus fiber parchment and numerous stone carvings revealed that they had a profound knowledge of the sky. Their astronomical observations included an accurate solar calendar, prediction of eclipses and the concept of earth, moon and other planets being bound to the sun. However, there is no indication of wrecked moon. Briefly, the whole world was unaware of the special phenomenon of Mohammad and Allah cutting the moon.

The intention of this short story is not to refute the miracles of Mohammad rather to establish the fact that Muslims, regardless their stance on understanding of Islam, do believe in miracles that were performed by Mohammad. There are many Ahadith that claim Mohammad’s capability of performing magic - his fingers were spraying water like a water fountain, stones greeted the ‘profit’ of Islam, walking trees and many more. Those who believe in Ahadith have no problem in believing these magic, however, Quran-only Muslims are allergic to Ahadith because of it’s silliness, even these group of people cannot deny the miracles mentioned in the Quran.

Mohammad was seating on a rock, exhausted and one of his legs is shackled to a tree. He already has been whipped twice today. It’s been a week since he was defeated in a battle. Mohammad and all of his companions were taken as slaves and forced to work all day, moving rocks for their master to build a new house.

In the afternoon, all in a sudden, the clear blue-sky turns into black, gusty wind and thunder shake the area. The people of Arabia are horrified, fearing a backlash from Mohammad’s God. Indeed, Allah was furious. Within no time, a shimmering blue light besieges Mohammad and his followers. Their shackles melt, making them free but causes no harm to the slaves. Another thunder, and a tall, sky-high angel yells – “Verily, slavery is sin. I am with you. So make those who believe stands firm. I will be branding the hearts of slave owners with tattoo, break each and every bone and put nail polish on their fingertips.” (verse,19:1919)

Evidently, this melodrama did not happen. In contrary, Islam promotes slavery and Quran spontaneously endorses the same. Verse 33.50 made wives and slaves lawful to believers, it also blows its own horn – Allah takes credit for giving slave girls to the believers as booty. Verse 23.5-6 allows Muslims to show their private parts to their wives and slave girls. Additionally, there are hundreds of Ahadith that give consent to slavery.

Descent Muslims, who are ashamed of the fact, argue that Islam had a plan to gradually abolish slavery because some of the verses and Ahadith do talk about freeing slaves. However, the conditions of freeing slaves are very interesting. In verse 4.92, Quran asks Muslims to free a Muslim slave if they kill another Muslim by mistake, of course killing a non-Muslim does not count. It’s clearly not an act of benevolence but a type of punishment to stop committing the mistake of killing Muslims. In a car accident case, if the judge orders a person to abandon the car because he was at fault; the owner of the car is not making a donation rather he is suffering a monetary loss.

In Ahadith, Mohammad urged Muslims to free slaves occasionally but he definitely mentioned about Muslim slaves [2]. Freed Muslim slaves joined his army, a unique recruiting strategy indeed. Mohammad freed Zaid, his slave and adopted son only to make him a loyal follower, he continued the same trend, beneficial to his interest.

On one occasion, [3]a follower of Mohammad freed a slave and informed him of the generous deed. Mohammad frowned and suggested she could have gained more heavenly rewards if she had given her to one of her maternal uncles. Another incident [4] – an Ansar declared his slave be freed after his death. Mohammad overruled his wish and captured those slaves only to sell them for eight hundred dirhams. They were Coptic slaves; obviously he did not care to honor the wish of a deceased person. So, Mohammad, who suffered from ‘Michael Jackson syndrome’, was also a slave trader.

There is no preset yardstick to measure the standard of morality. It has varied from era to era, culture to culture and person to person. Nonetheless, as the civilization has advanced and people realized the value of mankind, the definition of morality became more sophisticated - leaning towards the betterment of humanity. The contemporary idea of “Right and Wrong”, “Good and Bad” is solely based on human welfare, upon which the dwelling of morality is built.

Is adoption worst than slavery? Undoubtedly it’s a senseless and ridiculous question. Adoption is a noble venture whereas slavery is bestial. Those who adopt orphans should be respected and commended for their actions. In today’ s world, slavery is a crime; the refined definition of morality that stopped slavery is based on humanitarian position and mostly overruling the religious beliefs. The ugliness of slavery is so severe that people of today are ashamed of their forefathers.

Allah staged a nice theatre where Mohammad played the main role to abolish adoption, showed miracles to convince the audience but they did not want to write another drama and put an end to slavery. Is that how Islamic morale works?

[1] 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud reported that the moon was split up in two parts during the lifetime of Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him). The mountain covered one of its parts and one part of it was above the mountain and Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Bear witness to this. (Sahih Muslim - Kitab Sifat Al-Qiyamah wa'l Janna wa'n-Nar)

[2] Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Whoever frees a Muslim slave, Allah will save all the parts of his body from the (Hell) Fire as he has freed the body-parts of the slave." Said bin Marjana said that he narrated that Hadith to 'Ali bin Al-Husain and he freed his slave for whom 'Abdullah bin Ja'far had offered him ten thousand Dirhams or one-thousand Dinars. (Sahih Bukhari - Manumission of Slaves)

[3] Narrated Kuraib: the freed slave of Ibn 'Abbas, that Maimuna bint Al-Harith told him that she manumitted a slave-girl without taking the permission of the Prophet. On the day when it was her turn to be with the Prophet, she said, "Do you know, O Allah's Apostle, that I have manumitted my slave-girl?" He said, "Have you really?" She replied in the affirmative. He said, "You would have got more reward if you had given her (i.e. the slave-girl) to one of your maternal uncles." (Sahih Bukhari – Book of gifts)

[4] Jabir b. 'Abdullah said that a person among the Ansar declared his slave free after his death, as he had no other property. This news reached the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) and he said: Who will buy him from me? And Nu'aim b. al-Nahham bought him for eight hundred dirhams and he handed them over to him, 'Amr (one of the narrators) said: I heard Jabir b. 'Abdullah as saying: He was a Coptic slave, and he died in the first year (of the Caliphate of 'Abdullah b. Zubair). (Sahih Muslim - Kitab Al-Aiman)

33.036 : It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision: if any one disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path.

33.037 : Behold! Thou didst say to one who had received the grace of Allah and thy favour: "Retain thou (in wedlock) thy wife, and fear Allah." But thou didst hide in thy heart that which Allah was about to make manifest: thou didst fear the people, but it is more fitting that thou shouldst fear Allah. Then when Zaid had dissolved (his marriage) with her, with the necessary (formality), We joined her in marriage to thee: in order that (in future) there may be no difficulty to the Believers in (the matter of) marriage with the wives of their adopted sons, when the latter have dissolved with the necessary (formality) (their marriage) with them. And Allah's command must be fulfilled.

33.040 : Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things.

33:50 – “Prophet, We have made lawful to you the wives to whom you have granted dowries and the slave girls whom God has given you as booty."

54.001 : The hour drew nigh and the moon did rend asunder.

23.5 And who guard their private parts,

23:6 - Except with those joined to them in the marriage bond, or (the captives) whom their right hands possess,- for (in their case) they are free from blame.

4.92: Never should a believer kill a believer; but (If it so happens) by mistake, (Compensation is due): If one (so) kills a believer, it is ordained that he should free a believing slave, and pay compensation to the deceased's family, unless they remit it freely. If the deceased belonged to a people at war with you, and he was a believer, the freeing of a believing slave (Is enough)…..