Is Islam Headed For Extinction?

By Nastik Durrani, New Age Islam

25 May 2013

Human history has witnessed the emergence of many religions like The Pharaonic, Greek, Mesopotamians and the pagan religion of the Arab peninsula which have now become extinct. This extinction generally occurs due to the emergence of new religions from the ashes of the old ones which in order to survive include some elements of the old religions. For example, Judaism borrowed the concept of Tawheed (unity of God) from the thought of Egypt’s Pharaoh Akhenaten who rejected idol worship and closed down the places of worship of the former gods whereas Judaism took inspiration from the Code of Hamurabi to form its Shariah.

When Christianity came, it borrowed the concept of Wahi (revelation) and prophets and owning its divine book, shaped it as Gospel and declared it as its final shape. Ancient Egyptian goddess Isis was replaced by Virgin Mary and the Egyptian key of life called Ankh was replaced by the Cross. The symbol of Ankh is in use even today among the Copts of Egypt. The ancient Egyptians considered it the symbol of life after death which has now been replaced by the Cross in Christianity.

Later when Islam originated, it borrowed the concept of unity of God (Tawhid) and breaking of the idol but also accepted the system of punishment and women-bashing in toto. Islam accepted the former prophets of the Jews and even added to them such as Zakariah, Jesus, Saleh, and Yahya. Though Islam rejected the concept of Trinity and Crucifixion, declaring it against the spirit of Tawhid, it owned up the customs and rites like hajj (pilgrimage) and circumambulation round Kaaba declaring it in consonance with Tawhid. Now Muslims kiss the stone of Aswad and call themselves followers of one God as the Christians kiss the Cross. Muslims see folly in the stones of the Hindus but kissing the Aswad seems to be rational.

Islam accepted the non-Muslims in the situation that they pay Jizyah after being humiliated:

“Fight those who believe not in God and the Last Day and do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden -- such men as practise not the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the Book -- until they pay the tribute out of hand and have been humbled.“ (Al Taubah: 29)

or by allowing Muslims to marry non-Muslims. But on the other hand, the non-Muslims are not allowed to marry Muslim women. This unjust and irrational law exists even today. Though slavery has been abolished in many countries of the world, many Islamic religious scholars desire that this custom is revived so that they can follow the advice of the prophet (pbuh):

“Take part in jihad so that you can get blondes and the Roman women”

Islamic Shariah seems to oppose the Charter of Human Rights that the global fraternity recognises, particularly in the matters of punishments, women and the rights of non-Muslims. Islam’s end will occur within it. The Islamic societies will themselves shed light on the harmful effects of the deen because it will only cause problems for them in the modern world. As the attitude of the Muslims has left other societies flabbergasted, the Muslims have also been compelled to think that there must be something wrong within it. The best explanation of this situation is that of a woman who said, “If this is Islam, I am leaving it.”

Human Rights activist Ahmad Al Manayi says, “If Renaissance is implemented for ten years, half of the Ummah will migrate and more people will leave the Ummah of Muhammad. Algerian newspaper the Al Nihar Al Jadeed carried a news report that said that in the Muslim-dominated country of Algiers; more than fifty people are leaving Islam and converting to Christianity every day. The reason behind this is definitely the massacre that the Islamists started in 1992 and did not distinguish between men, women, children and the old. The motivating force behind it was Takfeer. In the eyes of the Islamists, everyone who did not fight against the government was a kafir. This is what the Muslim Brotherhood is saying and declared everyone who does not accept their government. Sheikh Mahmud Shaban went ahead and issued the fatwa, “The murder and shedding of the blood of the person who wants to topple Morsi is lawful.”

Of course, the Algerian newspaper talks of only those Algerians who are leaving Islam and accepting Christianity. Statistics of people adopting irreligiosity is not available. I believe that their number must be greater than those accepting Christianity. According to a survey carried out by Pew Forum, atheists are the third largest group after Christianity and Islam. Obviously, these people are not coming from the Mars but are those who are leaving Christianity and Islam. According to the Wikipedia, the world population of the Christians is 2.1 billion, Muslims 1.5 billion whereas the population of the atheists is 1.1 billion. With the rate irreligiosity is growing it would not be difficult to say that in the next decade the population of atheists will surpass the population of the Muslims, if not Christians.

Generally, Muslims reject the idea of the extinction of Islam because “The true religion with God is Islam. Those who were given the Book were not at variance except after the knowledge came to them, being insolent one to another. And whoso disbelieves in God's signs. God is swift at the reckoning (Al-i-Imran: 19) and present the explanation that if there is something wrong in Islamic societies, it should not be attributed to Islam but the Muslims should be held responsible, not Islam. This belief also has a Qur’anic context because Islam is the only religion that enjoys God’s approval and so it is a complete religion. “Today I have perfected your religion for you, and I have completed My blessing upon you, and I have approved Islam for your religion. But whosoever is constrained in emptiness and not inclining purposely to sin -- God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.” (Al Maidah: 3)

However, these arguments are more mischievous than realistic because like other religions Islam has nothing to do with God. Every religion is a collection of dogmas whose purpose is to gain control over the society. That’s why those who have created those dogmas attribute them to God so that their words assume more credibility in the same way as Hamurabi attributed his Shariah to God so that the society dominated by a religious thinking could easily accept it. Saying that the trials and tribulations of Islamic societies and the world at large are not the result of the individual wrongs of the Muslims will be like saying that all the hardships inflicted by Nazism and Communism were not the result of Nazism and Communism but of the individual acts of the Nazis and the Communists.

Some Muslims believe that the cause of all the problems of the Islamic world is the Jewish-American conspiracies. This nation is in love with conspiracy theories so that they do not need to bear the responsibility for their acts and they do not have to admit the fact that the real problem is within Islam which will destroy it someday. This religion was formed for the illiterate Bedouin society of the Arabs of seventh century and now it has turned into an antique which poses a threat to the Muslims more than to other communities. If you don’t believe, then look at the pathetic state of affairs of the Islamic countries. No one is scheming to get Muslims to leave Islam. Islam does not need an enemy from outside as groups like Ikhwan and Taliban can sufficiently do the job. Muslims themselves will bid Islam good bye to escape its damage as one runs away from plague. If religious freedom is guaranteed in Islamic countries, only sentimental people will remain in Islam and it will be on the verge of extinction within half a century. The Arab Council of Ministers knows this fact well. That’s why they have proposed death for apostates.

As has been mentioned in preceding lines, old religions have become extinct and new religions have come into existence. Nature abhors vacuum.  So where will the deserters of Islam go? Who will fill this space? We have seen that Algerian Muslims are falling in the lap of Christianity. The reason behind this may be the association of Bishop Augustine (b 354 A.D.) with Algiers. The second and more important reason may be the feeling among the Berbers that Islam was forced on them by the illiterate Bedouins; their culture was destroyed; their women raped; their women and children taken as slaves and sold in markets like animals. It is their long time demand that their history should be re-written. Their reversion to Christianity should be seen as their return to the roots and as a reaction to the historical tyranny.

However, Christianity is a difficult religion in terms of dogma and is directly associated with the imperial countries who dominated Arab countries and did not deliver justice. So, the greater possibility is with irreligiosity which is spreading fast globally.

Someone may ask why it is being supposed that Islam will become extinct due to its shortcomings. After all, it can be reformed. There is no doubt that some liberal Muslims have presented some good solutions for the problems of Islam or arising out of Islam. But the fact is that no one cares two hoots for these poor liberals. Secondly, Islam cannot be reformed until its basic constituents are not taken out. This cannot be done without removing the label of sacredness from the Quran and Sunnah. This in turn will shake the roots of Islam. Though an old car can be repaired or an old worn out clothe can be grafted but the process of repair and grafting cannot go on forever. Finally you have to throw away the old car and the worn out clothe and replace them with a new car and a new clothe.

The reason for the survival of Islam is the punishment for apostasy. Some people repeat the verse “There is no compulsion in religion” (Al Baqura: 256) and try to absolve Islam from the punishment of apostasy as Sheikh Jamal al Banna or more recently Adnan Ibrahim are doing. But in truth this verse has been abrogated by the ‘verse of sword’ which is:

“Then, when the sacred months are drawn away, slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms, then let them go their way; God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.” (Al Taubah: 5)

These sheikhs of Islam do not tell people about this truth. They are actually pumping air into the leaking balloon of Islam which is a useless act. The Arab Council of Ministers had given their approval to the tyrannical law of the punishment for apostasy which is a part of the Arab law and can be seen on the website of the Arab League.

What the law says:

“Article 162: Apostate is one who leaves Islam, whether he is a man or woman, by his explicit words or deeds or by abusing God, his prophet or Islam or by deliberately making changes in the Quran.

Article 163: The punishment for apostasy is death if it is proved that he has consciously renounced Islam and insists on leaving Islam even after being given three days’ time.

Article 164: The penitence of the apostate will be accepted only if it is less then thrice. If he shows penitence after committing apostasy thrice, his penitence will not be accepted.

Article 165: After the apostasy, all the decisions of the apostate will be deemed invalid and all his earnings will go to the government treasury.

The punishment for apostasy is also incorporated in 1982 plan for the laws of Islamic punishments in Egypt and has the approval of Jamia Al-Azhar. In Arab countries, the laws say that the apostate will be forced to divorce his wife and he will lose the custody of his children and property.

This is the reason, the Islamic countries had protested against the Article 18 of the Charter of Universal Human Rights of the UN which says:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

God is free from the responsibilities of all the religions and their divine books in the same way as the wolf is from the killing of Joseph. All the religions are the creation of human brains and by virtue of their being human creation, they are filled with shortcomings. Because of these shortcomings, every religion is divided into several groups. There is not a single example of a religion which has not broken up in sects. Obviously, it is not possible with a true religion of a true God. Otherwise, the wisdom of such a God should be closely scrutinized.

In a TV programme, Sheikh Yousuf Al Qaradawi who is the head of the council of the Ulema of Islam admitted that the punishment for apostasy in Islam is the guarantee of the survival of Islam because if Muslims had abolished it Islam would have been finished shortly after the death of the prophet (pbuh). It is because of the punishment for apostasy that Islam has been able to survive.

Sheikh Qaradhawi has rightly said this. If all the Islamic countries abolish the punishment for apostasy, nothing will be left in the basket of Islam.

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