A Few Questions About Islam
My lived experience of the second dimension comes mostly from the book “Flatland”, which is a classic in the math and physics universe. What I like about it is that the author put in the work to drill down into what a two dimensional world would look like, without dumbing it down or taking lazy shortcuts.
There are some other books with illustrations which helped me understand how we in the 3rd dimension could interact with the 2nd dimension. I am comfortable with the limitations I and every other human have with trying to go “Up” to the 4th Dimension or “Down” below the 2nd dimension where everything is a point.
As difficult as it is to understand the 1st and 4th dimensions in any meaningful experiential manner I find it exponentially more difficult to believe that Allah, as described in the Quaran, could in any way have anything meaningful to tell us, or that he has any real existence outside of the imagination of Islam’s billions of adherents.
As described in the Quaran, Allah has never experienced a relationship outside of his own existence. Further, there is no indication that Allah will ever have any kind of relationship with another creature/being except to mete out rewards and punishments to humans.
If I understand it correctly Allah created humans with very deep desires for meaningful relationships. In fact if humans are forced to live in total isolation for prolonged periods, mental illness will make an appearance in the drama of our life starting out as an “extra” working its way up through “guest appearance” to “regular”, “director” then finally “producer” until the Hollywood Reporter runs an obituary in the “Those We Lost” section just before New Year’s Eve.
“Alone” is not a condition for which we were created.
This is troubling and should trouble those who claim Muhamed as their prophet, Allah as their God and the Quran as their written revelation of them both. From birth we humans are hard wired to connect with “other humans”. The universal and culturally transcendent relationship between a mother and her children is absent from the prophet’s revelations. Falling in love and seeking out the interdependent marriage relationship is also absent from the prophet’s revelations, except for the self-serving and arbitrary “limitation” of having four wives at a time. Muhammed’s anthropology is undeveloped and ignores the rich history of wisdom found in Judaism and Christianity. The aspects of humanity that he gets right are exactly the wrong ones which allow the possibility of human flourishing. Violence and hatred of others outside the tribe of Islam is one and the elevation of male domination of women, sexually and otherwise, if the other.
Why is the greatest reward Allah gives those who die for him in Jihad 70 virgins for men to use as perpetual sex slaves. If Allah gives that as his greatest reward then how does Allah spend his time? I shudder to think. Men who truly want endless sexual release and domination over women end up as rapists and serial killers. The Quran, Muhammed and Allah all cooperate in reducing men to slaves of their worst impulses and fallen desires. Any desire for transcendence is replaced by the rote rituals of the Islamic calendar or the fervent pursuit of military Jihad which are all reinforced by weekly sermons at the mosque.
If Allah is such a wonderful God, why didn’t the prophet indicate a desire for Allah to be with the people he created? If the prophet had such a good experience with Allah, why didn’t he ever express the desire of all the psalmists who cry out for YWYH’s presence to be among them, to intervene on the behalf of the broken, lonely etc…Do most Muslims hope, pray and long for union with Allah, do they have a sense that are noticed by him, that their lives matter to him?
Muhamed’s god seems to be a projection of the carnal desires of an 8th century tribal warlord, than anything resembling Jesus of Nazareth.
This conversation will continue.