Recently, Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam of the
al-Farah Mosque in the New York City, has become a personality of front page
news due to his efforts and initiatives, and that of his organization Cordoba
Initiative, for erecting a 13 storey tall massive mosque, in the guise of a
community center named Cordoba House, at a place very near to the site of the
terrorist attack that took place on September 11, 2001. That was the greatest
Islamic terrorist attack ever occurred and causing the death of over 3000
innocent people and destroyed twin towers of World Trade Center.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is a devout Muslim. He was born in Kuwait in 1948
into an Egyptian family steeped in religious scholarship. He was educated in
England and Malaysia and, most importantly, he has a degree in physics from
Columbia University in New York, USA and that has brought me, mentally and
psychologically, very close to him, as myself also have a degree in physics
from the University of Calcutta. Among all other branches of science, physics
only helps one understand the ultimate reality of this phenomenal world. Furthermore, physics
is the only subject that enables one to develop a rational mind. We, therefore, can assume that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, by studying
physics, have also mastered himself as man of reason and logic. On the other hand, almost all the greatest minds of this world have
designated Islam as the most irrational creed in this world and most of the
conclusions of the holy scriptures of Islam, namely the Koran and Hadiths, are
horribly irrational and unscientific. So, according to my
observation, physics and Islam are mutually exclusive. Hence, it is really
astonishing, how Feisal Abdul Rauf is being able to accommodate both physics
and Islam into his brain. This inquisitiveness has inspired me to ask him a few
questions.
Meanwhile, we must also keep it in mind that, as a creed, Islam is a
package. To be a Muslim, every follower of the creed has to believe in each and
every aspect of it. He has to believe in every verse, word by word,
of the Koran. It is not possible for a Muslim to say, “I believe in these Suras
of the Koran and I have some confusion over such and such Suras of it.” In such
a case, he would instantly be declared an apostate and his life will be at
stake. We, therefore, can be sure that, the imam, being a devout Muslim, also
believes each and every aspect of the creed called Islam
My
First Questions to Feisal Abdul Rauf:
I shall try to confine my questions within the purview of the Koran,
because every Muslim has to keep blind faith on what is written in that holy
book. In that holy book, Allah says that he has created this heaven and earth
within 6 days from nothingness. According to the Islamic faith, Allah creates everything from
nothingness. If Allah desires something to create, He utters
the Arabic word “kun” (or let it be) and then and then the desired thing gets
shape.
On the other hand, Imam Rauf must be aware that in physics, there is an
established law called Conservation of Mass and Energy, that says the total
mass and energy of this universe is conserved. Matter can be changed to
energy and vice versa, but it is not possible to create extra matter or energy.
I, therefore, ask Imam Rauf, which he thinks to be the rational picture of this
world – the physical
law of conservation of mass and energy or creation from nothingness by Allah?
My Second Question:
According to the Koran, Allah created water first and placed solid earth
on water and to keep the unstable earth firm, he created mountains as nails
(21:26). The Allah
created the sky as a solid roof to cover the earth, which he has been able to
fix in position without pillars by his extraordinary miraculous power or qudrah
(31:10). And over this
solid sky, he created seven heavens (38:27). Obviously, the sun, the moon and
the stars are lying below the solid roof. Scriptures also say
that, on the Day of Last Judgment,
Allah will destroy this solid sky and the debris will fall upon the earth.
My humble question is, what is the height of the solid roof, which Allah
has created to cover the earth? Presently NASA could have been able to take
photographs of distant stars and galaxies, with the help of Hubble Space
Telescope. Some of these stars and galaxies are hundreds of millions or
billions of light-years away from the earth. So, the logical conclusion is
that, the sky or the roof created by Allah is also billions of light-years away
from the earth. So, the heaven that Allah created over the roof, is also so
many light-years away from the earth.
My humble question to Imam Abdul Rauf is – How Prophet Muhammad, during his
journey to heaven or meraj, could cover such an infinitely long distance and
return within 6 to 7 worldly hours, aboard an animal called boraq? In addition to that, he travelled 5 times
between the lower and upper heaven to negotiate with Allah to reduce the number
of times the Muslims should pray from 50 to 5. He also travelled different
heavens to meet earlier prophets and visited hell within that small interval of
time. One should also notice that, Allah has endorsed the Prophet’s journey to
heaven by reveling the verse (17:1) of the holy Koran. So, I ask the imam – Does he believe that Prophet Muhammad
really travelled to heaven, or it is a myth? Does he, as a man of physics,
believe that a man with his physical body, can go and return millions or
billions of light-years within a few worldly hours?
Question No. 3:
It has been pointed above that, according to the holy Koran, sky is a
solid roof created by Allah and He has succeeded to fix it in position, without
any pillar, with the help of His miraculous power or qudrah. My humble question
to Imam Rauf is – Do you believe that the sky is a solid roof? If it so, then
how the angel Zibrail managed to travel between heaven and earth and succeeded to create a passage through
that solid roof (called
the sky), to meet the Prophet and enlighten him with the verses of the Holy
Koran? Has Allah made a secret hole in the solid sky for his convenience? Anddid the
Prophet, during his journey to heaven (meraj) utilize the same hole? I request
Imam Abdul Rauf to enlighten me in this matter.
Question No. 4:
It has been mentioned above that, according to the Koran, Allah creates everything from
nothingness. But it is really difficult to comprehend why Allah created Adam with clay. I therefore request Imam Abdul Rauf to
explain, why Allah
did not create Adam from nothingness?
Question No. 5:
Islamic scriptures say that Allah has created this heaven and earth,
from nothingness, within six days and on the seventh day he created Adam, the
first human being; with clay and Prophet
Muhammad was the 90th descendant of Adam. According to my
calculation, considering 30 years to be the age difference between two
successive generations, Allah
created this heaven and earth only 4,140 years ago. On the contrary, geological experts say that the
earth is more than 3 billion years old. So, I request the wisdom of Imam Abdul Rauf to enlighten me in this
matter.
Question No. 6:
I have many video CDs on Islam and most of these CDs begin with the
pictures of distant galaxies taken by
NASA with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope. This is to
impress the viewers that Allah, the creator of heaven and earth, has created
those galaxies within 6 days of his creation. At the same time, most of the
Islamic scholars tell lie and say that Allah has created this universe. But the
wisdom of Allah, as reflected in the Koran, reveals that Allah was ignorant of
even the existence of the solar system, existence of other planets and the real
nature of the stars and planets, not to speak of the vast universe, of which
the earth is a very insignificant part. The Koran
only says that Allah has created the heaven and earth and nowhere in that book
there is the mentioning of the universe. Moreover, the Koranic earth is flat like a carpet
covered by (21: 33).
The verse (67: 3) of the Koran
asserts that, Allah has created the roof and the seven heavens with such
perfection that no one is able to find a crack in Allah’s creation.
All such revelations obviously reflect very limited
knowledge of Allah regarding real nature of this vast universe.
My humble question to Feisal Abdul Rauf is – Does he
contribute to the Koranic belief that this earth is flat and Mecca is at the
center of this flat earth and the sun and the moon, according to the will of
Allah, are moving round the stationary earth?
Even if, for the sake of argument, one admits that Allah has created
this universe with all its distant stars, galaxies and nebulae, one has to
admit, according the Koranic descriptions, all these
heavenly bodies lie below the solid sky, above which Allah has created his
seven heavens. Furthermore, as mentioned above, these distant stars and galaxies are hundreds
of thousand or millions of light-years away from the earth. It
necessarily implies that the solid sky, as well as, the seven heavens of Allah,
is also millions or billions of light-years away from the earth. So it becomes
really difficult to comprehend or, to speak frankly, horribly unbelievable that
the Prophet, during his journey to
heaven (meraj) covered such a vast distance within a few worldly hours.
Question No. 7:
In the present context, it is necessary to mention a few other extremely
ridiculous astronomical knowledge of Allah, as reflected in the Koran and other
Islamic scriptures. It has been pointed out earlier that Allah is ignorant of the fact that the
earth is spherical in shape. The verse (17: 12) of the holy Koran says, “We made the
night and the day twin marvels. We enshrouded the night with darkness and gave
light to the day, so that you may seek the bounty of your Lord and learn to
count the seasons and the years. We have made all
things manifestly plain to you”. The text of the verse is sufficient to prove that Allah is quite
ignorant of the diurnal motion of the earth. One can easily understand that it
is not possible for Allah to comprehend the rotation of the earth, which
according to him is flat like a carpet. The verse (18: 83-86)
of the Koran says that the sun sets
in a marshy land and the Macedonian Prince Alexander went to the spot where the
sun sets. He also observed that the sun was setting in a pond. My humble question to Feisal Abdul Rauf is
–Does
he, having a degree in physics, contribute to these Koranic beliefs?
Question No. 8:
The texts of some ahadith also imply that Allah is ignorant of the
annual movement of the sun and, hence, the real cause of changes of seasons.
For example, Tabari ( I:232) says “Gabriel
brings to the sun a garment of luminosity from the light of Allah’s Throne
according to the measure of the hours of the day. The garment is longer in the
summer and shorter in the winter, and of intermediate length in autumn and
spring. The sun puts on that
garment as one of you here puts on his clothes.” A Bokhari hadith, in this context, says,“Allah’s Apostle said, ‘The
Hell Fire complained to its Lord saying, “O my Lord! My different parts are eating each other up.” So, He allowed it to take
two breaths, one in winter and the other in summer. This is the reason for the
severe heat and bitter cold you find in weather” (V4B54N482, as mentioned in the Prophet of Doom by Craig Win). Another
hadith mentions an extremely ridiculous thing and says, “The sun and the moon were in eclipse
for seven days and nights.” (Tabari I:332). My
humble question to F A Rauf is – Does he
believe in the above Islamic explanation of change of seasons?
This time, I have restrained myself within the above eight questions
related to science. I am confident that, Imam Abdul Rauf would not come forward
to give replies to my queries, because Imam Rauf and his lot and, in fact, all
the members of the entire Muslim community are slaves of Arab religious
imperialism. They don’t have the freedom of thought and freedom of speech. They
are shackled people and have no right to question the doctrine, which have
turned them into slaves. Personally, F A Rauf, being a man of science, may not
contribute most of the unscientific Islamic beliefs, but he don’t have the
right to say it publicly. In such a case, he would
immediately be declared an apostate and some clerics would issue fatwas to kill
him. From this viewpoint, Muslims are the people who are most oppressed by
Islam.
Therefore, to conclude, I should say that, I feel pity for the people
like Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who, being men of science are forced to believe
the most unscientific mediaeval diktats of Islam. These people are
confined to live in the gutter of Arabia and forced to sell the decomposing carcass of Arabia,
called Islam. The stink odor of which is
making people to vomit, but these people are saying, “It is the best thing in
the world and everyone should adore it and accept it”
Source: Faithfreedom.org
IHS
