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What a guy! Drink, feast and girls playing music present a jolly character of Abu Jahl, who cared less about a complicated life. Abu Jahl is probably the most hated name in Islam. Muslims have pictured him as an evil man in the history. It’s true Abu Jahl humiliated Muhammad in Mecca , but only in response to Muhammad’s deliberate insult to the Gods of Quraish. Abu Jahl was beheaded in this battle and his head was, literally, rolled to Muhammad’s feet. Apart from the character analysis of Abu Jahl, the whole situation points to one obvious proof: Quraish, by no means, were offensive and had no plan to attack or kill Muhammad.  

When Abu Sufyan thought he had successfully evaded the robbers, he send message to the Quraish who had come to protect him and his caravan to return home. They decided to put an end to the marauding attacks of Muhammad and meet him at Badr anyway. Muhammad was still resting in a temporary hut made by his supporters. With his blessing and the green signal, armed robbers of Islam immediately attacked the caravan; two of them were carrying two black flags. Although it’s not mentioned anywhere in Islamic scriptures, I am confident that each of those two black flags was engraved with a skull and two bones. They plundered the caravan, killed mercilessly, looted all precious goods and took prisoners to make more money as ransom. 

Another important aspect of this raid was the ratio of Muslims and Quraish. All historians agree that Quraish outnumbered Muslims at three to one. So, Muslims inadvertently claim it must be a miracle that fewer Muslims defeated a large number of Quraish. Allah was kind enough to support these robbers by sending thousands and thousands of angels, as he claimed in sura ‘Al-Anfal’. This is an interesting sura of the Quran: ‘Al-Anfal’, which means ‘spoils of war’ or ‘booty’, is indeed suggestive and all 75 verses of this sura were made in relating to the Battle of Badr or robbery at Badr, to be exact.  

Imagine cheerleader Allah inspiring the Muslims from the sideline of the battle: ‘Go Muslims, Go, kill and plunder’. Well, the actual verse is worse than what I imitated. Allah applauded in verse 8:12 - “Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): "I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their fingertips off them."     

The reason of victory was not a miracle. Usually, robbers and murderers are more desperate than normal people. They have nothing to lose if they are caught so they take a chance. We often see dozens of police officers chasing a handful of bank robbers; still, they manage to escape after committing the crime. Most importantly, it was a win-win situation for the Muslims who fought at Badr. If they died they were promised to go to heaven, which is full of see-through virgins; if they survived they would receive the spoils of war. Fleeing from the battle was not a good option, either. While explaining the sura An-Anfal, Ibn Kathir confirms in the ‘tafsir’, “Fleeing from Battle is prohibited, and it’s Punishment: Allah said, while warning against fleeing from the battlefield and threatening those who do it with the Fire.”  

In contrast, the people of Quraish were reluctant to fight. They had no intention of shedding blood if their property was safe. When the people of Quraish were asked to fight, they said they wanted to avoid the war. Ishaq describes, “So, all went; not of their nobles remained behind except Abu Lahab. He sent in his place al-As b. Hisham al-Mughira, who owed him four thousand dirhams, which he could not pay. So he hired him with them on the condition that he should be cleared of his debt (Ishaq 432). It clearly shows that the people of Quraish were not bloodthirsty, as Muhammad was; they merely wanted to bring their caravan to safety. They were also worried that another tribe of ‘Abdu Manat b. Kinana’, with whom they had quarreled, may attack them from the rear.    

“Booty” is a contemporary slang that refers to butt. There is a nice song, “Shake, Shake, Shake (Shake your booty)”. In this song, the singer inspires the audience to shake their butts and dance. However, Webster’s dictionary defines booty as, “That which is seized by violence or obtained by robbery, especially collective spoil taken in war; plunder; pillage.” Apparently, Mohammad was also fond of booty most of his life; he shook his booty to earn booty. He profusely claimed, “Booty has been made legal for me. (Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah): (Khumus, Sahi Bukhari). Also in the Quran, 008.069. But (now) enjoy what ye took in war, lawful and good: but fear Allah: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.”  

After the successful robbery, the outlaws of ‘Wild Wild Arabia’ confronted each other over their share of the looted goods. Just like we see in action movies, one criminal tries to cheat the others to have all the wealth. Ishaq describes, “Then the apostle ordered that everything that had been collected in the camp should be brought together, and Muslims quarreled about it. ….” (Ishaq: 456).  

Allah, the shadow of Muhammad, had to make a special verse, Q 8:01. They ask thee (O Muhammad) of the spoils of war. Say: The spoils of war belong to Allah and the messenger, so keep your duty to Allah, and adjust the matter of your difference, and obey Allah and His messenger, if ye are (true) believers.” Allah continues (Q.8:41), “And know that out of all the booty that ye may acquire (in war), a fifth share is assigned to Allah,- and to the Messenger, and to near relatives, orphans, the needy, and the wayfarer,……..” It’s beyond anyone’s imagination that God would be greedy enough to take a share of the booty. What the heck will God do with a piece of jewelry? Well, it unquestionably helped Muhammad to support his dozens of wives and run the administration. What an innovative way of earning revenue for a government!  

Another prominent and contemporary Muslim scholar, Muhammad al-Ghazali (1917-1996, not the theologian of the twelfth century), writes in his book, ‘Journey through the Quran’, It is clear that gaining booty in the struggle to Islam, fighting against the enemies of Allah and his messenger, has always been a major means of livelihood for Muslims in situations when the Muslim community is truly fulfilling its role of ensuring ‘the deen is Allah’s alone….” (p.110).  

Quraish people surely knew Muhammad very well. They used to call him ‘Mudhammam’, which means a troublemaker or a rascal, instead of Muhammad, meaning the laudable (Ishaq: 234).  

It was all about money, power and greed for Muhammad. Religion was simply a tool and an incentive for the mercenaries of Islam, provoking them to sacrifice their lives without hesitation. Muslims of today do not see any problem in Muhammad’s action. Raiding the caravan, killing and kidnapping by the prophet have been justified because it was necessary to establish Islam. Allah, the fantasized figure of Muhammad, validated all unholy scams into holy acts. It’s mind-boggling how a God can approve those crimes and how a prophet can commit such crimes to spread a religion!  

Is it only me who sees 1.2 billion pre-programmed robots, without any gray cells beneath their skull?

 

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