Religion or Cult ? 

Islam is known as the second largest religion. The very fact that 1.2 billion people call themselves Muslims vests Islam with the mantel of legitimacy and confirms the claim that it is a religion. But is it?  In the previous chapters we saw the similarity of Islam with other cults. In this chapter we study this subject more in dept.

Can one billion people be wrong? Well, "argumentum ad numerum" is a logical fallacy and yes millions and even billions of people can be wrong. Truth cannot be established by the consensus of the majority. In fact many arguments have been debunked, even though everyone in the world once accepted them as true. For example, not until a few centuries ago everyone believed that the Earth was flat and was at the centre of the universe. Despite that common belief both geocentricity and the idea of the flat Earth were false. A false belief does not become true even if everyone thinks they are true. 

Therefore, not only one billion people, but the entire mankind can be wrong. As Bertrand Russell said: “The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.”   [http://www.geocities.com/gabrudos/quotesrussell.htm’]

After shattering the myth of argumentum ad numerum, let us put Islam under scrutiny and see whether it is a religion or a cult. The word cult has been much used and abused to the extent that people of one religion call other religions that they don’t like, cult. But cults have very definite characteristics.  

In his best-selling book Combating Cult Mind Control, Steven Hasson, a former Moonie himself, describes the characteristics of cults and how they control minds. Once we analyze his description of Moonie cult and compare it with Islam we see a great deal of similarity, a similarity that is shared by virtually all cults. Let us compare point by point Hasson's description of cult with what we know of Islam:    

Steven Hasson describes some basic principles of Social Psychology and Group Dynamics that are employed by cults. These could perfectly describe Islam too.

• The net result of these studies has been the consistent demonstration of the remarkable power of behavior modification techniques, group conformity, and obedience to authority. These three factors are known in psychological terms as the "influence process." [p.58]
• In totalistic cults, the ideology is internalized as "the truth," the only "map" or reality. The doctrine not only serves to filter incoming information but also regulates how the information can be thought about. . . The doctrine claims to answer all questions to all problems and situations. [p.61]
• Another key aspect of thought control involves training members to block out any information which is critical of the group. [p.62]
• If information transmitted to a cult member is perceived as an attack on either the leader, the doctrine, or the group, a hostile wall goes up. Members are trained to disbelieve any criticism. Critical words have been explained away in advance as "the lies about us that Satan puts in peoples' minds" . . . Paradoxically, criticism of the group confirms that the cult's view of the world is correct. The information presented does not register properly. [p.62]
• Emotional control . . . terror of discovery and punishment by the leaders. [p.63
  [p.63]
• Anyone who finds himself in a cult confession session should remember this warning: Anything you say can and will be used against you. This device can even extend to blackmail if you leave the cult. [p.63]
• The most powerful technique for emotional control is phobia indoctrination . . . People are made to have a panic reaction at the thought of leaving, . . . [p.64]
• When cult leaders tell the public "Members are free to leave any time they want; the door is open, they give the impression that members have free will and are simply choosing to stay. Actually, members may not have a real choice, because they have been indoctrinated to have a phobia of the outside world. Induced phobias eliminate the psychological possibility of a person choosing to leave the group merely because he is unhappy or wants to do something else. [p.65]
• Information control also extends across all relationships. People are not allowed to talk to each other about anything critical of the leader, doctrine, or organization. Members must spy on each other and report improper activities or comments to leaders. [p.65]
• Most importantly, people are told to avoid contact with ex-members or critics. Those who could provide the most information are the ones to be especially shunned. [p.65]
• Cult members naturally feel they know more about what's going on in their group than outsiders do, but in counseling ex-members I find that they often know the least. [p.65]
• Destructive organizations also control information by having many levels of "truth." Cult ideologies have "outsider" doctrines and "insider" doctrines. The outsider material is relatively bland stuff for the general public or fresh converts. The inner doctrines are unveiled only gradually as a person gets in deeper. [p.66]
• The Doctrine Is Reality - There is no room in a mind control environment for regarding the group's beliefs as mere theory, or as a way to interpret reality or to seek reality. The doctrine is reality. [p.78]
• Since mind control depends on creating a new identity within the individual, cult doctrine always requires that a person distrust his own self. The doctrine becomes the "master program" for all thoughts, feelings, and actions. Since it is the TRUTH, perfect and absolute, any flaw in it is viewed as only a reflection of the believer's own imperfection. He is taught that he must follow the prescribed formula even if he doesn't really understand it. At the same time he is told that he should try to work harder and have more faith so he will come to understand the truth more clearly. [p.79]
• The doctrine allows no outside group to be recognized as valid (good, godly, real) because that would threaten the cult's monopoly on truth. There is also no room for interpretation or deviation. If the doctrine doesn't provide an answer directly, then the member must ask a leader. If the leader doesn't have an answer, he can always brush off the question as unimportant or irrelevant. [p.79]  [To establish his monopoly Muhammad denounced all religions, including those whom he first described as the people of the book, by stating that they has corrupted their religion]
• Some groups cultivate a psychic paranoia, telling members that spirit beings are constantly observing them, even taking possession of them whenever they feel or think in non-cult ways. [p.79] [This is particularly true in Islam. Muslims are led to believe that someone is writing down everything they do and thinks and if they allow doubt in their minds, on the day of resurrection they will be chastised.]
• Elitist Mentality - Members are made to feel part of an elite corps of mankind. This feeling of being special, of participating in the most important acts in human history with a vanguard of committed believers, is strong emotional glue to keep people sacrificing and working hard. [p.80]
• Ironically, members of cults look down on anyone involved in any other cult groups. They are very quick to acknowledge that "Those people are in a cult" or "They are the ones who are brainwashed." They are unable to step out of their own situations and look at themselves objectively. [p.80]
• This feeling of elitism and destiny, however, carries a heavy burden of responsibility. Members are told that if they do not fully perform their duties they are failing all of mankind. [p.80]
• Group Will over Individual Will - In all destructive cults the self must submit to the group. . . . In any group that qualifies as a destructive cult, think of oneself or for oneself is wrong. The group comes first. Absolute obedience to superiors is one of the most universal themes in cults. Individuality is bad. Conformity is good. [p.80]     
• Happiness through Good Performance - One of the most attractive qualities of cult life is the sense of community that it fosters. The love seems to be unconditional and unlimited at first, and new members are swept away by a honeymoon of praise and attention. But after a few months, as the person becomes more enmeshed, the flattery and attention are turned away toward newer recruits. The cult member learns that love is not unconditional but depends on good performance. [p.80]
• Problems are always the fault of the member, and are due to his weak faith, his lack of understanding, and so forth. He perpetually feels guilty for not meeting standards. . . . In every destructive cult I have encountered, fear is a major motivator. [p.82]
• Many groups teach that the apocalypse is just around the corner. Some say they are preventing the apocalypse; others merely believe that they will survive it. . . . To a cult member, the future is a time when you will be rewarded because the great change has finally come. [p.83]  [Islam is a dooms Day cult. The Qiyamah or the Day of Judgment is the recurring theme of the Quran. The Muslim’s entire objective in life is to appease Allah and his messenger and prepare himself for that Day.]    
• In a destructive cult, there is never a legitimate reason for leaving. . . . Members are thoroughly indoctrinated with the belief that if they ever do leave, terrible consequences will befall them, their family, and/or mankind. [p.84]
• Although cult members will often say "Show me a way that is better than mine and I will quit," they are not allowed the time or mental tools to prove that statement to themselves. They are locked in a psychological prison. [p.84]
• Leaders were not "in it for the money" but . . . were, in my opinion, addicted to personal power. Many destructive Bible cults have leaders who are not conspicuous consumers and who appear to hold God and the Bible above them in authority; yet, interpretation of the Bible and God's will is used to manipulate and control people. [p.99] [This is also true in the case of Muhammad who ostensibly lived modestly, despised silken cloths and prohibited silver utensils. This feign of piety was however nothing but a show. In reality Muhammad amassed thousands of slaves and the wealth of entire populations that he banished of massacred. But more importantly he has utmost control over his brainwashed followers who were ready even to kill their own fathers if he so desired. The cult leaders are not after money, although they often keep controlling the wealth of their followers and becoming exceedingly rich. But what motivates them most is power.]       
• Does the group's doctrine claim publicly to be one thing when it is in fact otherwise? [p.99]   [Islam does! Islam has one face for the outsiders and quite a different one for its members. The outsiders are led to believe that Islam is a religion of tolerance and peace. But what is never taught in the mosques are tolerance and peace. In the mosques Muslims learn how to hate the non-Muslims, how to distrust them and how be harsh with them.]
• Deception includes outright lying, leaving out important information, or distorting information . . . Most recruiters from destructive cults will deny that they are trying to recruit anyone at all. [p.100]
• One of the most obvious signs of a person in a mind control group is a lack of independent decision making abilities. Even though cult members try to convince outsiders that they are autonomous, once you probe beyond the surface it becomes obvious that they cannot make important decisions without first asking permission from superiors. [p.102-103]
• The final criterion for judging a group is the members' freedom to leave. To put it simply, members of destructive cults are psychological prisoners. As I have explained, destructive cults plant phobias into members' minds so that they fear ever leaving the group. [p.104]
• Rational discussions are simply not effective with someone who has been indoctrinated with mind control [p.140]
• Every person in a cult has been programmed to stop all "negative" thoughts about the leader, the doctrine, or the organization, and has also been indoctrinated to believe that this group is superior to all other groups and different from all other groups. [p.165]
• Mystical manipulation can take on a special quality . . . because the leaders become mediators for God. The God-centered principles can be imposed forcibly and claimed exclusively, so that the cult and its beliefs become the only true path to salvation. [p.202]

The left column is a list of cult characteristics. The right column contains the traits of Islam     

Based on the above, Islam is a cult. It is the biggest and the most successful cult. It practically reunites every feature of cult. Other cults may not be cultic in some of the above points. But Islam is cultic in every way and it would be a mistake to number it among religions just because over a billion people call themselves Muslims

A Comparison:

Let us choose another cult, and compare it to Islam. Let us see if there are similarities between the two. For the purpose of this comparison I chose Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth), the cult of the Japanese blind Messiah whose followers were involved in killing innocent people as a religious ritual.  

AUM  SUPREME TRUTH

Shoko Asahara, Japanese man founded a cult called the Aum Supreme truth “This apocalyptic sect and its charismatic, blind leader are suspected of releasing Sarin gas in five Tokyo subway stations the morning of March 20, 1995, killing 12 people (one dying a year after the attack) and sickening more than 5,500 others. The religious cult is also suspected of a similar gas attack in June, 1994 in Matsumoto, a town north of Tokyo , that killed seven people and wounded 144. Furthermore they are suspected of a series of slayings and kidnappings of anti-cult activists and of preparing to overthrow the Japanese government -- all in the name of "good karma." 

ISLAM (SUBMISSION)

1400 years ago, Muhammad an illiterate charismatic Arab, founded a monotheistic cult called Islam. To promote his religion he prescribed holy wars (jihad). He taught that next to prayers and fasting, waging war against the disbelievers is the most praiseworthy and meritorious act. He was a single-minded man who stopped at nothing to achieve his goal. He raided villages and looted merchant caravans and killed anyone who stood in his way with no mercy. He won his wars mostly through deceit and by taking his victims by surprise. This prophet of dooms laid siege on Jewish quarters and cut the water to them until they surrendered, and then he either massacred the males including the boys who had reached puberty, taking their women and children as slaves or banished them after taking all their belongings. He ordered the boys be inspected and if they had grown pubic hair he joined them with men and slew them. Muhammad assassinated his opponents and critics. During the last ten years of his life, he waged over 76 wars and slew tens of thousands of people.

AUM SUPREME TRUTH

Asahara justified indiscriminate mass murder through the religious belief of "poa" -- a Tibetan Buddhist term for reincarnation to a higher existence. According to Shoko's twisted doomsday teachings, one can only save their soul through killing. Through the years Asahara developed a mumbo-jumbo collaged religious doctrine that resembled some sort of New Age-Hippie-Bhuddist-Mysticism. He even went on a pilgrimage to see Nostradamus expert Michel Chomarat at Lyon 's municipal library to gain new insights into divination.  ” 

 ISLAM

Muhammad justified indiscriminate mass murder through the religious belief of monotheism; a Middle Eastern dogma that claims this universe has a creator called Allah whose purpose of creation is to be known and be worshiped. But this can’t be done except through his intermediaries of which Muhammad was the best and the last. According to Muhammad's twisted doomsday teachings, one can only serve Allah by forcing others into submission to his cult, even if that means killing those who differ. Through the years of withdrawal, and spending days at a time in a secluded cave, Muhammad developed a mumbo-jumbo collaged of religious doctrine that was a concoction of Judaism and Christianity and a hefty dose of rituals borrowed from Arabian paganism. He got some rudimentary insights in other monotheistic religions of the Middle East from Warraqa, the cousin of his first wife who was a Christian monk and some of his own followers who were Christian slaves. 

AUM SUPREME TRUTH

To the New Age cocktail brewing in his head, Asahara added the incentive of world domination through violence that he taught to his followers. According to Shoko, a "poa" killing relieved victims from everyday life and the inevitable accumulation of bad karma. Thus what we call cold-blooded murder was regarded "as a beautiful 'poa,' and wise people would see that both the killer and the person killed would benefit” 

ISLAM

To the monotheistic farce brewing in his head, Muhammad added the incentive of world domination through violence that he taught to his followers. According to Muhammad, killing the disbelievers in the name of Allah was the source of His pleasure. Thus terrorism was regarded as ‘Jihad’ or holy war. To cajole his followers to participate in these wars he promised them an orgiastic paradise filled with voluptuous celestial whores and “pearly boys”, whether they kill or are killed in the battle. 

Now let us suppose that there is a true religion. How we would distinguish it from the false cults? Obviously we cannot accept any charlatan and impostor who lays claim to be the messenger of God. How are we supposed to differentiate between the false prophets and the true ones? Why we should accept Islam and reject all other cults? 

Muslim’s major proof for the truth of Islam is that over one billion people are Muslims. They argue that “not all these people can be wrong”. They believe in Islam because, as they say, it is the second biggest religion and it is the fastest growing one. 

This is untrue because there are more Muslims who are leaving Islam. Today Over half of Iranians outside Iran do not call themselves Muslims and over 40% of them who still claim to be Muslims do not practice any Islamic rituals, like praying and fasting. We cannot have these statistics from inside of Iran but it is likely that once the present repressive regime of Iran is removed, most of the Iranians will denounce Islam and perhaps Muslims will become the minority in Iran .  

Even if we accept revelation as the ultimate source of knowledge and religions as indispensable and the best guidance for human beings, we have to find which religion is true and which one is a cult. What are the parameters that we should use to separate one from the other? 

In the final analysis, it is our own logic that should guide us in this uncharted territory. We have to use reason to test the truth. Having faith is not enough. We must put our faith to test of reason.  The cult leaders, who fear that their false claims would not stand the test of reason, warn their followers not to question God for this is the greatest sin. They say it is not up to humans to test God but it is God who should test his servants. They would rather demand immediate and steadfast devotion without offering any proof. They assert that the blind faith is the sign of the purity of heart and assure that God loves those who believe without questioning and those who believe at once without questioning will be rewarded. Rewarded for what? Rewarded for gullibility... for credulity? 

There are countless number of people who fall prey to the to mentally sick narcissist self-acclaimed messiahs that pup up in ever increasing numbers, every day. They number in thousands. We have to ask ourselves, would a wise and loving god give us a brain and the faculty to reason and then expect us to forgo its use when it comes to the most important decision in our lives, which is finding the right religion, which allegedly is the very purpose of our existence in this world that would determine whether we would have an eternal life in the paradise or would burn forever in the hellfire? 

Islam is not the fastest growing religion. Falun Gong is. This Chinese religion, in just a few years has attracted more that 100 million followers. Islam’s growth is the result of another social problem and that is the population explosion in the poor countries. Muslims, because of their religious fanaticism have been alienated from science. To them the real knowledge is revealed in the Quran and that is all they need to know. Early Muslims burned books and considered all sciences to be demonic. In fact, except for a short period, this mentality dominated the minds of the Muslims everywhere. Even Khomeini was of the opinion that the Quran is the only book that must be taught in the universities. 

Therefore, unless they could find oil underground, Islamic countries remained mostly poor. The population in poor countries grow more rapidly and hence the number of Muslims. The number of westerners converting to Islam compared to the number of born Muslims diverting from it is negligible. Islam mostly appeals to the blacks in USA who are basically reacting against the white dominated Christianity and are in the search for their own identity and to the prison inmates who find Islam more in conformity with their proclivity.