Читать книгу The Tragedy of Islam - Imam Mohammad Tawhidi - Страница 24

I wasn’t born a reformist, and the thought of liberating Muslim communities from the corruption that has been introduced by Islamist clerics didn’t strike me until 2014. Before then, I was a typical Islamist cleric who preached violent Sharia Law, even though I never implemented it. My sermons were infested by corrupt ideas and teachings such as wife beating, as it was part of my educational programming which had prepared me to pursue a career as an apologist missionary for the governing Islamic body in Iran.

The Iranian regime had sent me on trips to western countries to preach the ideology of its Islamic revolution as well as to invite Muslim youth to study within their seminaries. In 2017, I submitted a full report to the governments and intelligence agencies of these countries, exposing Iranian regime affiliates and informing them of everything they needed to know.

Within the Islamic seminaries of Iran, students and aspiring scholars are taught concepts which influence their identities and characters. Being a victim of these corrupt teachings, I found myself living a backward life, drowning in a morally bankrupt ideology. Most Islamic students’ lines of thinking are extremely narrow, as there is very little room for dialogue regarding the essential matters of faith. I knew that I had to be careful about what questions I asked, to avoid giving my extremist teachers the impression that my faith and level of belief were inferior to theirs, or that I might be doubting some of the Islamic rulings. We were taught useless knowledge as though it was beneficial science – and we had to accept it because “it came from God.”

An important question people ask me regularly is: If you speak about the corruption and extremism that has infested the Islamic religion, why can’t every other imam and Islamic scholar do the same? In reality, during previous years, I was concealing the truth; and the majority of Muslim scholars today are also concealing the truth about certain aspects of Islam. This has been taking place since the early centuries of Islam, and it is passed on to generations of Islamic scholars through their educational programming.

As imams, we were commanded to stay silent, to manipulate the truth and even trained to escape questions which corner us, through deception and convenient answers. These subjects are known as “Lessons in Eloquence,” which revolve around literature but also taught us terminologies and phrases that would help us escape or divert certain questions that could expose the reality of Islamic extremism.

Another agenda alongside this reality is that the books which contain dark truths are never translated into English, and usually only a limited number of copies are published. They are written and published for grand muftis and imams alone, not for the average Muslim. These books are referred to as “special copies”. We need brave and honest imams to act to spread these teachings by scans or electronic copies.

Grand Islamic authorities have defended the terrorist companions and fathers-in-law of Prophet Mohammad. They constantly defend those who invaded continents while raping, massacring, and butchering their people.

Ibn Qudamah* said:

The companions of Prophet Mohammad have done a great favor for the Muslim nation, as they brought victory to Allah, his Messenger Mohammad and conducted jihad in the path of Allah, utilising both their money and their lives. They protected the religion of Allah and his book. Mohammad’s companions have rights upon us, and we must love them with all our hearts and praise them with our tongues. We must not mention their wrongdoings, because the many virtues they have will exceed and hide their mistakes and atone them.¹

Ibn Fawzan**said: “We must respect the companions of Prophet Mohammad, and not speak against them. It is not permissible to search for their mistakes and show them to the people.”²

Al-Dhahabi*** said:

If it was proven that the words of the companions were based on hate and anger, then it is not to be taken into consideration. In fact, it should be folded and not narrated, the same way it has been decided to refrain from mentioning the clashes and killings between the companions [of Mohammad]; may Allah be pleased with all of them. However, we still find similar writings in the collections and books and volumes, … Therefore, they must be folded and hidden. They must be eradicated, so that the hearts will be clean and gathered over the love of the companions and be pleased with them. Hide these writings, mainly from the general public and particular scholars. However, it may be permitted for some scholars to read such reports in private.³

After having gone through such a journey and witnessed the corruption and immorality that took place in the name of God and religion, I chose to violate the commands of our Islamic authorities and demand change by speaking out, on behalf of myself and the many moderate Muslims who feel the same way as I do; and who are also victims of Islamic extremism or attempts at radicalization.

The religion of Islam revolves around one God known as “Allah” and the message of Mohammad found in the Quran and books of hadith. The hadith are compiled prophetic teachings and traditions. The family and wives of Prophet Mohammad played a vital role in the growth of Islam, by narrating detailed reports of Mohammad’s teachings and practices, both during his life and after his death. However, not all of what was written or orally transmitted is true. Some of the teachings contradict logic, common sense, and basic human ethics.

It can be safely said that most Muslims are extremely sensitive about this subject, and extremists are known to react violently whenever the corruptions in Muslim ideology and customs are exposed. Hence, we were trained within the Islamic seminaries and educational institutions to hide the truth and to always be prepared with answers to evade intelligent debate regarding shameful facts within Islam’s history.

If the Muslim world is happy with the current state of their religion and ideology, then there should be absolutely no problem with revealing what lies within the Islamic books of theology and history to the rest of humanity.