Religion is a Mental Illness

“You defend and revere a book that says I am the vilest of all creatures (8:55), that I should be beheaded and my fingertips cut off (8:12), that I deserve eternal torture and damnation (2:257), that if I dare believe differently or speak against your beliefs, you should slay me wherever you find me (4:89, 2:191-193), and even crucify me (5:33).

And me? I type words on a laptop.

Who should really be "offended" here?”

-- @aliamjadrizvi

Indeed, the worst of living creatures in the sight of Allah are those who have disbelieved, and they will not [ever] believe

[Remember] when your Lord inspired to the angels, "I am with you, so strengthen those who have believed. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved, so strike [them] upon the necks and strike from them every fingertip."

Allah is the ally of those who believe. He brings them out from darknesses into the light. And those who disbelieve - their allies are Taghut. They take them out of the light into darknesses. Those are the companions of the Fire; they will abide eternally therein.

They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah. But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper.

And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.

And if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

Fight them until there is no [more] fitnah and [until] worship is [acknowledged to be] for Allah. But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors.

Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment,

Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah 's Apostle said, " I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' and whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' his life and property will be saved by me except for Islamic law, and his accounts will be with Allah, (either to punish him or to forgive him.)"

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah said:

I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah.

On 15 September 2012, a protest against the anti-Islamic film Innocence of Muslims was held in Sydney, New South Wales.

[..]

Protesters chanted "Down, down USA" and carried Sunni Islamist flags and signs saying, "Behead all those who insult the prophet", "Our dead are in paradise, your dead are in hell", "Shariah will dominate the world", and "Obama Obama, we love Osama" and threw bottles and objects retrieved from construction sites at police officers.

“Abu Afak and Asma bint Marwan were both Jewish proselytes from the Arab tribe of Umayya b. Zayd[1] in Medina. Afak wrote a poem against Muhammad to show his disapproval of Muhammad’s murder of al-Harith b. Suwayd b. Samit. Muhammad responded to this poem by asking, “Who will deal with this rascal for me?” Salim b. Umayr, a follower of Muhammad from Afak’s same tribe, volunteered and killed Abu Afak who apparently was a very old man.[2] Similarly, Marwan displayed her displeasure with Muhammad and his followers for the murder of Afak by writing a poem criticizing them. Muhammad responded in a similar way as he did with Afak by again asking, “Who will rid me of Marwan’s daughter?” Umayr b. Adiy al-Khatmi, a Muslim from the same tribe of Marwan, volunteered his services and went that very night and killed her while she was sleeping. Muhammad’s response to this assassination was, “You have helped God and His apostle, O Umayr!”[3]”

1: Michael Lecker, Muslims, Jews and Pagans, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995, pp. 38, 52 2: Ibn Ishaq, p. 675 3: Ibn Ishaq, p. 675-6

-- “Muhammad and the People of the Book”, Sahaja Carimokam

“Then (occurred) the sariyyah [raid] of Umayr ibn adi Ibn Kharashah al-Khatmi against Asma Bint Marwan, of Banu Umayyah Ibn Zayd, when five nights had remained from the month of Ramadan, in the beginning of the nineteenth month from the hijrah of the apostle of Allah. Asma was the wife of Yazid Ibn Zayd Ibn Hisn al-Khatmi. She used to revile Islam, offend the prophet and instigate the (people) against him. She composed verses. Umayr Ibn Adi came to her in the night and entered her house. Her children were sleeping around her. There was one whom she was suckling. He searched her with his hand because he was blind, and separated the child from her. He thrust his sword in her chest till it pierced up to her back. Then he offered the morning prayers with the prophet at al-Medina. The apostle of Allah said to him: "Have you slain the daughter of Marwan?" He said: "Yes. Is there something more for me to do?" He [Muhammad] said: "No. Two goats will butt together about her. This was the word that was first heard from the apostle of Allah. The apostle of Allah called him Umayr, "basir" (the seeing).”

Sources: Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabagat al Kabir, trans. S. M. Haq (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 1972), vol. 2, p. 31; see also al-Waqidi, Muhammed in Medina, trans. J. Wellhausen (Berlin, 1882), pp. 90 f.

“When the apostle arrived (at Medina) after his departure from aI-Ta'if Bujayr b. Zuhayr b. Abu Sulma wrote to his brother Ka'b telling him 'that the apostle had killed some of the men in Mecca who had satirized and insulted him and that the Quraysh poets who were left-Ibn aI-Ziba'ra and Hubayra b. Abu Wahb--had fled in all directions. 'If you have any use for your life then come quickly to the apostle, for he does not kill anyone who comes to him in repentance. If you do not do that, then get to some safe place.'”

-- ”The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Sirat Rasul Allah by Ibn Ishaq”, A. Guillaume

When thy Lord inspired the angels, (saying): I am with you. So make those who believe stand firm. I will throw fear into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then smite the necks and smite of them each finger.

The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom;

And for such of your women as despair of menstruation, if ye doubt, their period (of waiting) shall be three months, along with those who have it not. And for those with child, their period shall be till they bring forth their burden. And whosoever keepeth his duty to Allah, He maketh his course easy for him.

"Because this happened to the Prophet, we cannot tell people that it is prohibited to marry at an early age," he argues. Moreover, he claims it would harm society by spreading vice.

Here, one should bear in mind the fact that according to the explanations given in the Quran the question of the waiting period arises in respect of the women with whom marriage may have been consummated, for there is no waiting-period in case divorce is pronounced before the consummation of marriage. (Surah Al-Ahzab, Ayat 49). Therefore, making mention of the waiting-period for the girls who have not yet menstruated, clearly proves that it is not only permissible to give away the girl in marriage at this age but it is also permissible for the husband to consummate marriage with her. Now, obviously no Muslim has the right to forbid a thing which the Quran has held as permissible.

He hath forbidden you only carrion, and blood, and swineflesh, and that which hath been immolated to (the name of) any other than Allah. But he who is driven by necessity, neither craving nor transgressing, it is no sin for him. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swineflesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke), and that which hath been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment,

[Remember] when your Lord inspired to the angels, "I am with you, so strengthen those who have believed. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved, so strike [them] upon the necks and strike from them every fingertip."

So when you meet those who disbelieve [in battle], strike [their] necks until, when you have inflicted slaughter upon them, then secure their bonds, and either [confer] favor afterwards or ransom [them] until the war lays down its burdens. That [is the command]. And if Allah had willed, He could have taken vengeance upon them [Himself], but [He ordered armed struggle] to test some of you by means of others. And those who are killed in the cause of Allah - never will He waste their deeds.

“One of the things that is a classic trope of the religious bigot, is while they’re denying people their rights, they claim that their rights are being denied. While they are persecuting people, they claim to be persecuted. While they are behaving colossally offensively, they claim to be the offended party. It’s upside down world.“

-- Salman Rushdie