CHAPTER I: Arab Conquests Were the Basis and Launch of Violation
Firstly: Arab Conquests Were a Violation of both Self-Defense Fighting Legislation in the Quran and the Sacred Months.
1- Arab conquests led to two types of terrible violations and transgressions under the leadership of the first three caliphs Abou Bakr, Omar, and Othman; the first type is the violation of Islamic sharia when Arabs committed aggressions against peaceful nations that never fought Arabs inside or outside Arabia. Fighting in the Quran is urged ONLY in cases of self-defense. The other type of violation is fighting during the sacred months that God has ordered in the Quran not to fight in their duration. Arab conquests breached the peace of both the sacred months and the other months of the lunar calendar, for years and generations, until the notion of the sacred months was overlooked and forgotten totally. When Abbasid scholars and theologians remembered this notion, they mistook in the names of such months. These months are described in the Quran as the ones known for the duration of pilgrimage season. Abbasids thought the four sacred moths were Rajab that stands alone in the calendar and then the three consecutive ones: Zu Al-Qeida, Zu Al-Hijja, and Muharram. We, Quranists, maintain that the four sacred months are consecutive and one can perform pilgrimage during anytime in them: Zu Al-Qeida, Zu Al-Hijja, Muharram, and Saffer. Even Arabs forgot at all about the order of not to fight during these sacred months, once Muhammad died. This breach and violation go on until modern times now. Civil wars among Arabs in the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. overlooked the notion of the sacred months when God prohibits fighting. In modern times now, wars waged in the Arab and 'Muslim' world, wars going on or stopping for a short while, never heed the sacred months, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Algeria, Tunis, and Chechnya. Even the terrorist MB group members in Egypt began their one-year rule of Egypt by killing peaceful protesters in the sacred month of Muharram. Violation of the sacred months will go on because it is supported by the earthly, man-made, fabricated creeds of the Sunnites, Wahabis, Shiites, Salafists that wage wars against God and the Quran.
2- Let us remind readers of the Quranic verses that assert that fighting is reserved ONLY for cases of self-defense and that aggression against peaceful non-violent people is a crime and a grave sin in Islam. "And fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not commit aggression; God does not love the aggressors." (2:190). Hence, peaceful non-believers in the Quran who hold different faith from us, or even who have no faith or religion at all, should be treated peacefully and justly and charitably, NOT by occupying and conquering their countries and lands, killing them, looting their money and possession, and enslaving their women and children. "As for those who have not fought against you for your religion, nor expelled you from your homes, God does not prohibit you from dealing with them kindly and equitably. God loves the equitable.But God prohibits you from befriending those who fought against you over your religion, and expelled you from your homes, and aided in your expulsion. Whoever takes them for friends-these are the wrongdoers." (60:8-9). This means that fighting is exclusively resorted to in cases of defending oneself against unjust aggressors, and allying with such enemies is forbidden and prohibited.
3- God in the Quran allows self-defense fighting even during the sacred months, as Qorayish used to follow early Muslims in Yathreb to kill, fight, and attack them even during the sacred months. Hence, God allows believers to defend themselves anytime if they were attacked during the sacred months: "They ask you about fighting during the Holy Month. Say, "Fighting during it is deplorable; but to bar others from God's path, and to disbelieve in Him, and to prevent access to the Holy Mosque, and to expel its people from it, are more deplorable with God. And persecution is more serious than killing. They will not cease to fight you until they turn you back from your religion, if they can…" (2:217), "The sacred month for the sacred month; and sacrilege calls for retaliation. Whoever commits aggression against you, retaliate against him in the same measure as he has committed against you. And be conscious of God, and know that God is with the righteous." (2:194).
Secondly: Arab Conquests Companions Were More Infidel than Men of Pre-Islamic Era and their Postponement of Months
1- God says the following about the sacred months and how injustices are absolutely prohibited in their duration: "The number of months, according to God, is twelve months-in the decree of God-since the Day He created the heavens and the earth, of which four are sacred. This is the correct religion. So do not wrong yourselves during them…" (9:36). This means that military aggression is prohibited; yet, Arab conquests that began once Muhammad died were atrocities that included invading lands, occupying cities and villages, vandalism, looting, massacres, enslavement, mass killings, etc. such horrendous crimes were perpetrated by the so-called companions who were contemporary with Muhammad's lifetime and during the sacred months as well.
2- It is strange that pre-Islamic era Arabs used to honor the four sacred months of pilgrimage and never fought one another during them; their sin as far as the sacred months are concerned was postponement of them for days as per their whims to allow fighting at will. God considers this act as blasphemous and a sign of disbelief and lack of faith. Hence, such bad habit was urged by Satan and his devils, and it barred the way to guidance: "Postponement is an increase in disbelief-by which those who disbelieve are led astray. They allow it one year, and forbid it another year, in order to conform to the number made sacred by God, thus permitting what God has forbidden. The evil of their deeds seems good to them. God does not guide the disbelieving people." (9:37).
3- Abou Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali of course had read 9:37, and all of them acted against it all their lives. They are the leaders of Arab conquests, and they lacked guidance as they breached the divine law of the Quran and ignored it on purpose for material and political gains. One cannot compare between 1) the intermittent limited Arab tribes raids in Arabia within the sacred months and 2) the flagrant aggressions and transgressions of Arab conquests in Africa, Asia, and Europe that caused massacres, mass-killings, enslavement of human beings, and looting of immense wealth along with other untold tragedies occurring to millions of innocents in the 1st century A.H., let alone the gravest injustice done to God by the Arab conquests companions: they had done such crimes in the name of Islamic jihad. They applied Quranic terminology to justify their crimes even during major and minor civil wars. Generation, one after another, followed their footsteps in conquering nations and in civil wars and internecine strife. We maintain that Abou Bakr, Omar, Othman, and the rest of warlords at the time will carry the sins of those who imitated them in later eras in such crimes and misguidance until the Last Day. It is an impossibility that Arab conquests companions had repented, and the same applies to their imitators. The reason: such crimes and atrocities were rendered unquestionable within earthly man-made creeds that supported them by calling massacres and looting as 'jihad'.
Thirdly: Arab Conquests Were the Foundations of the Earthly, Man-Made Creeds of the Muhammadans
1- Arab conquests resulted in forming a big Arab empire ruled by Qorayish within 1) the four pre-Umayyad caliphs (the so-called 'righteous' caliphs by the Sunnites), 2) the caliphs of the Umayyad Dynasty, 3) the caliphs of the Abbasid Dynasty, and 4) the caliphs of the Fatimid Dynasty. The foundation of such an empire was a flagrant violation of Islam (i.e., the Quran) and its sharia that is based on peace, justice, charity, and freedom. Such conquests led Bedouins of Arabia to lead the world known at the time and to control many regions among the richest location on earth with countless treasures confiscated by Arabs. It was impossible for Arabs to leave such conquered lands and return to Arabian deserts to repent for their grave sins committed against Islam and God on one hand, and against the conquered nations on the other hand. In 9:37, we see that postponement and change in dates of sacred months is deemed sacrilege and disbelief, what about the crimes and atrocities of Arab conquests? The disbelief of the companions who committed such Arab conquests was so vile and horrible; such aggressions, massacres, looting, and violations of the sacred months as well were crimes ascribed by them to Islam, when they called such crimes as Islamic jihad.
2- Arab conquests companions and those who follow their footsteps in misguidance and misleading ways were occupied by rule and civil wars during and outside the four sacred months, and they consequently had no time to create false religious legislation to justify their crimes. Hence, they were so engaged fully in aggression, violations, injustices, and transgression deemed disbelief in terms of behavior that their grandchildren settled in the Abbasid era to create theological legislations to justice such injustices and violations and writing them down, resulting in the emergence of full-fledged earthly, man-made, fabricated creeds: 1) the Sunnite one that reflects Arabs and their hegemony, 2) the Shiite one that reflects the Persian chauvinism, and 3) the Sufi one that reflects the common peoples of the conquered nations.
3- In Sunnite sharia laws, fabricated hadiths, like the one urging fighting all human beings to convert them by force to Islam, are prevalent to justify crimes and atrocities. Arab conquests led to the formation of certain theological (fiqh or jurisprudence) terminology about the 'right' of Arabs to conquer lands by military force and aggression and to enslave its peoples, loot their possessions, and then rule these lands with oppressive power and might. Theologians, imams, and scholars wrote prolifically about such fabricated formulated legislations for centuries, frankly and with no conscience at all nor awareness. They overlooked the fact that such conquests are aggressive actions prohibited in the Quran. Hence, such legislations to justify crimes are prevalent now in books of history, fiqh, and caliphate ruling systems and decrees, etc. as 'normal' things and items, reflecting an earthly, man-made creed that is based on looting, hegemony, massacres, injustices, tyranny, oppression, and suppression. Such bad values are represented and applied no in modern times by Wahabism agents and its regimes in the KSA and the Gulf monarchies.
4- Let us quote an extract from a Sunnite ancient book to prove that the Sunnite legislation sharia contradicts Islam in the Quran. Al-Blathery writes the following in his book titled ''Conquests of Lands'' about legislations of tributes and taxes of lands: "1016- Abou Youssef said that any land confiscated by force in the Levant, Iraq, and other conquered lands should be divided by the caliph/imam between the conquering soldiers, and its people are their slaves, to pay tithes…". This quotation indicates that the nations of the conquered lands were enslaved for one reason: the so-called companions took their lands by sheer military force! As if this reason is enough to confiscate lands of conquered nations and prohibit their owning lands, owned solely by the caliph/tyrant! This tyrant preserved to himself the right to distribute such lands among his soldiers and enslave the native dwellers! Let us copy another quotation from the same source: "If the imam/ruler does not distribute lands among Muslims in general as Omar done with Iraq, all native dwellers are to pay tribute and land taxes, while rendering themselves free men and not slaves…". The author here quotes Abou Youssef, the famous imam of the Hanafi doctrine and the head judge during the early years of the Abbasid caliphate, and this theologian never quoted any Quranic verses at all and never formulated a hadith to support his erroneous views: it seems that personal fatwas at the time were sufficient in creeds of unjust tyrants who owned and controlled creeds, clergymen, theologians, judges, scholars, and imams.
Fourthly: Arab Conquests Companions Were More Infidel than Disciples of Jesus
1- We have explained a lot before that Islam has two meanings 1) in terms of belief/faith and 2) in terms of behavior/demeanor. As for faith, this is how one deals with God with submission to His Maker and to worship Allah with no other gods, partners, or associates: "…My prayer and my worship, and my life and my death, are devoted to God, the Lord of the Worlds." (6:162). This aspect of faith is linked to each believer's relation with God, based on the freedom of choice between belief and disbelief, and no one has the right to interfere in this relation. Each of us is responsible for our choices before the Almighty in the Last Day. The aspect of behavior in Islam is peace; each peaceful person is a Muslim, regardless of this person's formal faith beliefs, doctrine, or denomination or even lack of any faith/creed. People only have the right to judge demeanors of others: are they peaceful persons or aggressive criminals? Human and divine laws preserve human rights against transgressions and violations committed by some persons. Hence, polytheism/disbelief has two aspects of meaning as well: in terms of faith, they mean covering innate, sound nature wired into us that makes us believe in God, by a cover of partners, saints, associates, and deities worshipped by polytheists alongside with God. God is the Sole Judge of such matters among people in the Day of Resurrection; because in matters of faith, adherents of any denomination think they are on the right and others are on the wrong. What we focus on here is the meaning of polytheism/disbelief in terms of behavior: i.e., aggressive behavior and unjust, oppressive demeanor committed by human beings against innocent human beings. Such crimes, violations, and transgressions have to be stopped and judged and punished in this life before the Hereafter, in order to preserve human rights and social ones as well. Qorayish combined both meaning of polytheism/disbelief: in terms of faith and behavior. God says about this attitude the following verse: "Those who disbelieve spend their wealth to repel from God's path. They will spend it, then it will become a source of sorrow for them, and then they will be defeated. Those who disbelieve will be herded into Hell." (8:36). The worst kind of repelling people from the path of God is military aggression against innocent people. This crime was committed by Qorayish in Yathreb with early Muslims, and God has proposed to them to stop aggressive fighting in return for forgiveness: "" (8:38-39). After Muhammad's death, Qorayish returned to its bad habits and ways by committing aggression against peaceful people who never attacked the tribe, as Qorayish was aiming to loot, enslave, rape, occupy, conquer, confiscate, tyrannize, and dominate.
2- Below, we hold a comparison between companions of Muhammad and companions of Jesus, as both mostly believed and then rejected belief and faith once each prophet died. Yet, the type of disbelief differed in each case.
Some of the companions, or rather disciples, of Jesus fell into the trap of disbelief and polytheism in terms of faith; some of them betrayed and forsook Jesus, as Christian history tells us. The Quran tells us about how some disciples disbelieved in terms of faith and heart, and how they turned away from the true faith of ''there is no God but Allah'': "When Jesus sensed disbelief on their part, he said, "Who are my allies towards God?" The disciples said, "We are God's allies; we have believed in God, and bear witness that we submit." "Our Lord, we have believed in what You have revealed, and we have followed the Messenger, so count us among the witnesses." They planned, and God planned; but God is the Best of planners. " (3:52-54). God has ordered companions of Muhammad to be lime the good ones among companions of Jesus: "O you who believe! Be supporters of God, as Jesus son of Mary said to the disciples, "Who are my supporters towards God?" The disciples said, "We are God's supporters." So a group of the Israelites believed, while another group disbelieved. We supported those who believed against their foe, so they became dominant." (61:14). Yet, things changed later on and Jesus was deified. This type of disbelief in terms of faith was NOT accompanied by and aggression or disbelief in terms of behavior, due to the peaceful nature of Christians at the time.
This is contrasted with the case of Arabs, who used to live as warring tribes before Islam, gaining their livelihood from fighting and raids as tribesmen were soldiers as well in cases of military attacks and defense. Hence, we understand how and why companions of Muhammad readily and speedily, once Muhammad died, turned Islam the religion of peace into a religion of military aggression and conquests, as per the Qorayish habits and traditions and its ardent desire to be dominant over all people and lands. Qorayish readily practiced disbelief in terms of behavior by committing aggressions against those who never attacked Qorayish before. Arab conquests were a rejection of Islam and a wave of blasphemous violation against the Quran. Later on, imams and scholars and theologians justified and legalized such aggressions and disbelief in terms of demeanor, resulting in creating disbelief notions in terms of faith that formulated the major three earthly, man-made, and fabricated creeds of the Muhammadans. Hence, disbelief in terms of faith and demeanor were combined. Heavy price was paid in the major Arab civil wars that followed the Arab conquests. Sadly, Arabs and Muhammadans of today follow the footsteps of their forefathers!
Lastly: Cool your Nerves:
1- This sudden reversal and speedy turnabout of the Arab conquests companions once Muhammad died entails a detailed research. Of course, this issue has its grounds and roots inside the hearts of such companions; yet, the divine revelation given to Muhammad prevented such companions from divulging their innermost desires. Once Muhammad died, all hidden secrets were made to be known to all. This gap, unmentioned in history, emerges clear in our mind once we remember that God describes in the Quran the Meccan immigrants to Yathreb once they settled there after being expelled by Qorayish as the 'people of the Holy Mosque': "They ask you about fighting during the Holy Month. Say, "Fighting during it is deplorable; but to bar others from God's path, and to disbelieve in Him, and to prevent access to the Holy Mosque, and to expel its people from it, are more deplorable with God. And persecution is more serious than killing…" (2:217). After about ten years, the companions of the Arab conquests were certainly among those immigrants to Yathreb, and they preached and violated the sacred months and the Islamic legislations in the Quran. This sudden reversal in attitude requires an explanation.
2- There hypocrites in Yathreb at the time among the tribes of Al-Aws and Al-Khazraj, who exposed themselves and their attitudes within their words, deeds, stances, and conspiracies. The Quranic verses have exposed their deeds and warned them; such known hypocrites used to fear the Quranic revelation that divulges their thoughts: "The hypocrites worry lest a Quranic chapter may be revealed about them, informing them of what is in their hearts. Say, "Go on mocking; God will bring out what you fear" (9:64). Such a type of hypocrites was known to Muhammad by their words, stances, and deeds, and that is why we find this verse about their jesting and why God never accepts the repentance of some of them: "If you ask them, they will say, "We were just joking and playing." Say, "Were you making jokes about God, His revelations, and His Messenger?" Do not apologize. You have disbelieved after your belief. If We pardon some of you, We will punish others, because they are guilty." (9:65-66). Such hypocrites in their declared and announced opposition to the Islamic city-state used the absolute freedom provided by the Quran within peaceful oppositional acts by speech, calling, preaching, and urging others, men and women, in Yathreb, with no impunity in this life, as eternal afterlife punishment is enough in the Last Day: "The hypocrite men and hypocrite women are of one another. They advocate evil, and prohibit righteousness, and withhold their hands. They forgot God, so He forgot them. The hypocrites are the sinners. God has promised the hypocrite men and hypocrite women, and the disbelievers, the Fire of Hell, abiding therein forever. It is their due. And God has cursed them. They will have a lasting punishment." (9:67-68).
3- Apart from the spectra of known hypocrites as a category of Yathreb dwellers, there were other types of hypocrites who were not known as they hid their hypocrisy very well lest they might get exposed via Quranic verses: "Among the Desert-Arabs around you there are some hypocrites, and among the inhabitants of Medina too. They have become adamant in hypocrisy. You do not know them, but We know them. We will punish them twice; then they will be returned to a severe torment." (9:101). Once Muhammad died, they were no longer afraid of being exposed via the Quranic revelations, and they made good use of their positions as close associates and companions of Muhammad in his lifetime, with certain stature among ordinary Arabs. Such men were shrewd, sly, and cunning enough to deceive Muhammad and the rest of believers for a long time, and they assumed leadership after Muhammad's death, and that is why history mentions their names, for they were the leaders and companions of the Arab conquests!
4- This means that such companions caused the worst crime against Islam that led to the rejection of the Quran: the conquests that led to Arab occupation of several nations. Such companions died within hypocrisy as well as animosity toward the Quran and Islam and Muslims without repentance at all; see 9:67-68. These verses show they would be tormented twice: in this life and in the Hereafter. Historically, we know that their punishment was the Arab major successive civil wars that caused the death of thousands of them. Another punishment in this life for them was individual torment for each of them, like being seriously ill or something, but we know little of this aspect; God is the Omniscient One.
5- The above points entail a fully detailed explanation, which in turn requires cool nerves, if you read on the next chapters!