Is love jihad even a thing?

The Kerala Story (Hindi, 2023)

Written & Directed by Sudipto Sen

 This movie is kicking a storm in India right now. It is outrightly banned in West Bengal by the ruling party. In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the courts have allowed screening for the time being, but the case is due to be reviewed in the Supreme Court soon. 

Some cinema hall operators have voluntarily decided not to screen the film for fear of reprisal from angry mobs. They cite not wanting to offend Muslim sentiments and the possibility of property damage. This only shows the schizophrenic nature of society. On the one hand, people talk about freedom of expression; simultaneously, there is a need to control the narrative.

The controversy stems from the story's theme - love jihad and forced conversion. A Malayalee Hindu nursing student tells her life story. A bubbly student dabbles with Islam and is lured into marrying a Muslim man after inadvertently getting pregnant. She is brainwashed to hate her roots and family, is forcibly converted, given a new identity and packed off to ISIS-controlled areas to be a sex slave. The film suggests a concerted plan by Muslim groups to identify pretty Christian and Hindu girls and lure them into Islam. The protagonist lives to tell her ordeal after she escapes one of these ISIS hell holes. 

So what is the controversy all about?

Muslims have repeatedly asserted that jihad in Islam refers to the internal striving to improve oneself and fight inner demons, not a crusade to convert the world or assert dominance over others. They insist that ISIS' brand of Islam does not follow the teachings of the mainstream Islamic schools of thought. It represents a warped understanding of the religion. Unfortunately, practising Muslims are wary of outrightly condemning their antics to protect the sanctity of Islam. They feel it is not their position to judge and condemn for fear of being labelled a heretic. The punishment for apostasy is quite unnerving. This gives the religion a bad reputation among non-believers and widens the fissure between the ummah and kaffirs. 

Does love jihad exist? Is there a concerted effort to proselytise non-Muslims? In certain tribal societies in Central Asia, a man proves his virility by kidnapping his bride. This practice was prevalent with Turks about the time of the inception of the Ottoman Empire. The Turks found the blonde, blue-eyed Caucasian girls easy targets. Within a few generations, the Turks, once with Mongoloid features, became indistinguishable from Europeans. This practice worked perfectly well for the Empire to spread its influence and faith, as the conversion was assumed to be a one-way ticket. One can check out anytime but can never leave. 

Reports of girls leaving the comfort of their cushy lives to don purdahs and carry rifles heading for ISIS suicide missions in the name of love of religion (and beau) are not unheard of. The story of Shamima Begum and her application to reinstate her British citizenship comes to mind. 

This love jihad business is often portrayed as an RSS and BJP's political propaganda and an Islamophobic Trobe to polarise society for political gains. Interestingly, this phenomenon was first highlighted by a Bishop in Kerala way back in 2009. The presiding High Court judge in a forced conversion case that ensued later agreed that there was a well-known movement known as Love Jihad or Romeo Jihad. The official figures for this are elusive, but one finding put 1,400 from diverse ethnic backgrounds in India as victims.

In many so-called 'right-wing' YouTube channels, there is much coverage of Hindu groups supposedly rescuing Hindu and Christian girls from such ordeals. 

Even though accusations of sexual grooming of societies have been making their rounds for some time now, it is only of late that people in power have woken up to the idea that many communities in the U.K. and Sweden, particularly of Pakistani descent, have been slowly building a web of emotional and hierarchical connections with their young to intentionally manipulate, exploit and abuse them. Investigations into this gained momentum after the 2010 Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal in the U.K. The Prime Minister of the U.K. even admitted threats imposed by such groups and is under their scrutiny.

Finally, all the parties that hurl accusations and counter-accusations at each other have only one agenda. It is a numbers game. The endpoint is usurping power and control. Using victim card to garner sympathy and invoking God's name in their actions, the ultimate aim is to win elections. It is not about doing the right thing or being fair. The end justifies the means.

Meanwhile, the film's financiers are laughing all the way to the bank as the film smashes the box office and grosses unprecedented returns on investment. So far, in such a short duration since its release, it is said to be the fifth highest-grossing Hindi film of 2023.  

(P.S. The events portrayed in the film were reportedly inspired by the accounts of four women from Kerala who converted to Islam and travelled with their husbands to Afghanistan to join ISIS between 2016 and 2018. They were interviewed by a news website in 2019. They were part of a 21-member group from Kerala to join ISIS in 2016 and have remained incarcerated in Afghanistan since surrendering in 2019. The figure of 32,000 victims of love jihad mentioned in their trailer (later withdrawn) may have been exaggerated.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Needs image enhancement

Infidel (2020)
Written, Directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh. 

They say this film reinforces the stereotype of people who profess the Islamic faith. It paints all people from Iran and the Middle East with the same brush that they are all terrorists. It compartmentalises all of them as closet sympathisers of sleeping cells. It assumes that they are all wolves in sheep's clothing. It is accused of propagating Islamophobia and accentuates the divide that the world plunging further into.  

Even though their new hosts have offered a hand of friendship and accepted them to share their prosperity, the newcomers still hold their allegiance to the former countries, the countries that they destroyed and the nation that become too toxic for them to inhabit. The problem is that the newcomers all have a common bond that unites them to ruin their newfound land, religion's brotherhood. 

The problem is that there is an image problem. A peaceful religion must be seen to be as one. More public relation works are wanting in making this a reality.

This problem of allegiance has been recurring all through the 20th century. There is discordance on whether to bow to the umbrella of nationhood or kneel to the universal camaraderie of religion. It happened during the khilafat movement and is happening now. There is a propensity to play victimhood and collude with the aggressor against the majority, citing the majority's conspiracy. 

This film tells the story (based on a true story, it seems) of a Christian preacher-blogger with a CIA wife who is a guest of Egypt. He is to attend faith dialogues to bridge the divide between Christians and Muslims in that conservative country. In a TV interview, he goes overboard with his discussion. His speech was construed as proselytising the Muslims and kidnapped by Hizbullah terrorists backed by the Iranian Government. The main reason for his abduction was that back home in the USA, the preacher is accused by his American-Iranian business-partner to have squealed to the CIA about subversive anti-national pursuits.

An average movie that can be given a miss. 3/5.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

It is bullying!

The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009, Iranian)

Everyone is innocent until they are proven guilty. Not so, according to this controversial film which is an adaptation from a book (La Femme Lapidée) of a French journalist's experience as he, Freiduone Sahebjam, was travelling through Iran. He stopped in a small village at the edge of the country to be narrated of a recent stoning of an alleged adulterous villager, Soraya Monitchehri. The authenticity of the story was always disputed by the Iranian authorities. Still, by a twist of fate, the book's release coincided with the trial of another accused awaiting sentencing by stoning for adultery. About 190 persons were stoned to death in Iran in 2010.

The world kind of accepted the fact that the one who had sinned should cast the first stone, but apparently, the memo did not reach everyone in the world. Stone-throwing is still practised as a form of punishment in many traditional Muslim societies. 

Do not, for a moment, imagine that our modern society is immune to this type of harsh punishments to something which happens in the confines of the four walls within the ambit of personal choice. Snoop squats are freely available at the drop of a hat. Remember the number of volunteer orthopaedic surgeons who were willing to perform amputations if Kelantan expressed its wish to carry hudud law? All they need is a dog whistle.

Soraya, a mother of four, two boys and two girls, was trapped in an abusive marriage. Her husband, Ali, a jailer, had intentions of marrying a 14-year-old girl. He did not, however, wanted to pay child support or return the dowry money. He did not even provide for the day to day running of the household and did not want to utter talaq to free her misery. He concocted a tale of a clandestine affair with an old widower of a home where she worked as a helper to supplement her income. 

An ulama with a shady past, whose secret is known to Ali, influenced the local chieftain to begin sharia proceedings. Even though the husband was accusing his wife, the wife needed to prove her innocence rather than the accuser providing proof of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. The accused is no longer innocent before proven guilty. Why? Because she is a female, and the fairer sex is easily confused, their evidence is suspect. In this patriarchal society, women have no rights.

Ali managed to arm-twist the widower and his son to admit to inappropriate conduct with Soraya. On top of that, the women in the village have no voice. They cannot stand as witnesses. It is herd mentality at its heights. He says, she says, hearsay and then everybody agrees. Even Soraya's father curses his daughter as a whore to cast the first stone.

The most excruciating part of the movie is the graphic 7-minute graphic depiction of the brutal stoning as the family members, one by one, even her sons, take turns to do their bit to ensure God Law on Earth. (I fast-forwarded the scene.)

Every law is manipulated to suit the convenience of the affluent, the rulers, the influenced, the elite and those at rubbing shoulders distance with the above. For the rest, the whole wheel of justice will roll not to mete justice but to guarantee that the law is upheld. That is it. 

With the adultress buried in the sand to her waist and her hands tied to her back, she is target 

practice for village folks. It becomes their battleground to showcase their piety to Almighty. 

It is an arena to display their assertation that God's Law is carried out on Earth. 

''She is drenched in blood and crumpled on the ground, mutilated face partially obscured by a mass of dark hair. Over an excruciating seven-and-a-half minute, she has been disowned by her family, buried to her waist in a hole at the centre of the village square and finally reduced to tattered rags of flesh by a baying mob hurling stones. Now, tentative, her husband bends to examine her face. The filmy eye blinks. He recoils. 'The bitch is still alive,' he shouts. There is a roar of fury and the crowd close in.''

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1320989/The-Stoning-Soraya-M-The-horrific-execution-scene-got-film-banned.html

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

It is the message

Silence (Nishabdham, Tamil; 2020)

This film was initially meant to be a silent movie, one without dialogues. It would have probably done better. The dialogue was a killjoy and laughable. A significant proportion of conversation of the film was in English, and that is the one that looks so fake, especially the lines written for Hollywood actor Michael Madson. 

It starts off as a paranormal tale but later goes on to give a serial killer angle to the final story. It is predictable with many glaring loopholes in the narration. The cast comprises an ensemble of a few Indian actors (R Madhavan, Anushka Shetty and a few young actresses) and many amateurs. 

Forget the story. What fascinated me about this film is how Indians in this story blended into American society. Filmed amidst the lush landscape around the outskirts of Seattle, Washington, we see how the characters mingled seamlessly partaking in what is considered the culture of the local populace. They indulge in classical music (the main character is a cellist), art, (the other character is a mute painter) and appreciate all the things people in their newfound land hold in high esteems. 

This does hold true to many economic immigrants of the late 20th and 21st century who screwed their own form of governance set up in their respective countries. Their way of life failed them, but they still proclaim to know better. They run down their host, denigrate their behaviour, criticise their way of life but still want to reap maximum benefit from the social safety net that the new country had to offer. They bite the hands that feed them and behead the people who think differently from them.

It appears that these people are doomed for failure wherever they go.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Affairs of heart are irrational

Sufiyum Sujathayum (Sufi and Sujatha, Malayalam; 2020)

It started with a slow but discernable sporadic increase in reported cases of Hindu girls eloping with Muslim boys. Then came in the honour killings. The media picked it up. Everyone else then came out with their experiences of so-and-so female members of their families ex-communicating from the rest in pursuit of true love. To these girls, it finally meant embracing a new religion, new name, erasing themselves of their past lives and age-old traditions.

People started calling this phenomenon as 'love jihad' - a supposed form of religious warfare by Muslim boys to entice Hindu girls into conversion through marriage. It was a numbers game. They allege that that was another modality to increase their representation in the community. In 2009, it garnered national attention with claims of widespread conversions in Kerala and Karnataka. There were also similar accusations by British Sikhs and minorities in Pakistan. Even though the National Investigative Agency (NIA) in India found common instigators in 'love jihad' cases, the police and the court dismissed them as pure fabrications with no substance. As there was a hypothesis that these brides were prepared to be made ISIS bride, it became a terror issue, hence, NIA came to the picture. 

Another point not mentioned in any of these arguments is the lack of young boys in many of the places where 'love jihad' takes place. There were no economic opportunities in these states and the young men had to go off to work in the Gulf States or Singapore. Young girls with raging hormones and Muslim boys, in the spring of youth, left behind to mind religious and theological duties were the best ingredients for a perfect storm. And suave hunks with Bollywood movie-star look as many of these Sufi practitioners have, as some are from the Middle East, sparks are bound to fly.

As these girls who are alleged victims of forced conversion were major in the legal sense and were intelligent and educated, the courts could not nullify such unions. Anyway, affairs of the heart are never logical and cannot be argued in a sensible manner. Blinded by romance, the world is a wonderful place and pigs can fly.

Even though movie pundits on the social media hailed it as another must-see movie of 2020, I seriously think one can give this one a miss. It tells the story of a vocally-challenged Hindu Karthak dancer whose only job seems to be to cycle around the village and play with children in the madrassah. In the small town where the only member of the male gender is an uncle or from the geriatric population, a tall bearded young man is a sight for sore eyes. She is fascinated with him and his way of life - his mystical dances and songs. She falls flat for him despite the arrangements made by her parents for her to be married to a groom working in Dubai.

Long story short, she is emotionally blackmailed by the parents to get married.

Ten years on, she returns to India with her husband, after the Sufi lover dies. The rest of the story is about her letting go of her boyfriend and coming in terms with her status as a wife and mother, leaving her juvenile puppy love behind.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Weapons gone astray!

Sensitive topic - Readers' discretion advised

A Mosque in Munich (2010)

Author: Ian Johnson

When 9-11 attacks came about, investigations traced the perpetrators of sleeper cells spending a time of their lifetimes in Germany. These terrorist group did not spring up just before attacks on the American soil. They, in fact, have a very long past, going as far back as the Bolshevik revolution.

When Communist Soviet took over the predominantly Muslim lands in the Caucasus, collectively known as Western Turkestan, the area was filled with adrenaline-filled Muslim fighters who wanted to liberate their lands from their godless rulers. They were collectively known as the Prometheans, the mythical Greek hero who defied Zeus to save humanity.

This golden opportunity was grasped by Wehrmacht, the unified WW2 German Army to aid in their attack of Russia. As is common knowledge, many Muslim scholars, including the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, soar at the thought of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after WW1, decided to pour their support on the side of the AxisPower. 

Betting on the wrong horse, they lost more than just their homeland. Many of the Muslim freedom fighters ended up as refugees in Germany. By 1950s, West Germany, especially places like Munich, had undergone an economic transformation. The miracle of German tenacity and engineering marvel saw industrial giants like Siemen and financial titans like Allianz proving their strength. Many Turkish immigrants soon start coming into West Germany.
After WW2, communism became the bogeyman, and there was an urgent need to keep activities behind the Iron Curtain under check. Many of these ex-Soviet Muslims became the eyes and the ears of the CIA and West Germany. They were rolled in the CIA-sponsored propaganda Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe as well as many of its espionage work. Along the way, the CIA decided to use Islam as their weapon to go after the non-believer Communists. They are said to create ruckus in Mekkah during a Haj season to highlight injustices against Muslims in the Soviet Union. At the 1955 Bandung Conference,  their members also created an embarrassing moment for the Soviets.

Schematic representation of the Mosque

The idea of having a mosque was drummed in by the Muslim community of Germany to garner more support to this end. Somehow, there soon came to be a tussle for leadership as members of the Muslim Brotherhood gained a stronghold in the Munich Mosque donation collection and construction. 

The Muslim Brotherhood movement, known for its doublespeak, saying one thing to one party and denying it to another, managed to hoodwink the Americans into believing that they could speak for the general world Muslim population. In reality, they advocated a rather conservative and domineering form of Islam; a kind which tends to control all aspects of day-to-day living and has no reservations against terrorism or killing of its enemies. 

Munich Mosque

The Munich Mosque was finally opened in 1973.

The Muslim Brotherhood, with the cooperation of the US intelligence agencies, managed to outmanoeuvre the ex-Nazi soldiers to control the mosque. As time went, The Muslim Brotherhood gained more traction in the world politics. The conservative, arch-Catholic city in Bavaria soon became a centre of radical Islam.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Give peace a chance

Mulk (Hindi, Country; 2018)

Human beings are social animals. Maybe it is because of our cavemen living situations, we feel comfortable in being amongst the same minded. We believe that numbers make strength. We also try to blame our mishaps to the other. It is never our mistake. With our thinking capability and our skill in the association of ideas, we can quickly put two and two together and blame our malady on the other who look, speak or dress differently. Subtly, it creates a 'us' versus 'them' divide. There is an innate desire to dominate the other, either through power, numbers or economy. When the going is okay, and when the cake is enough to go around, everything is hunky-dory. The society is civil.

When the homeostasis is rocked, or when uncertainties befall the society, pleasantries disappear. Man goes into survival mode. Birds of the same feather flock together for comfort and security. That is when all hell breaks loose.

The Jews went through the same predicament before, all through time, immemorial. They flocked together in their ancient old garb, practising unusual dietary and spiritual practices, walking around contented with a chip on their shoulder, thinking that they were God's chosen ones. Despite their seemingly austere lifestyles, they seemed to weather all difficulties and were industriously dedicated to their worldly and spiritual duties. These naturally brought resentment to the rest of the gentile community. They were quick to salvo their conspiracy theories and talks of clandestine ambitions to control the world. We know what happened afterwards.

Things have not changed much since. The world is still divided along the lines of 'us versus them'.

With the advent of advanced telecommunication techniques and the disposal of information at everybody's fingertips, one would expect the world to be wiser. On the contrary, the world is as confused as ever. The spread of fake news and the exaggeration of negativities just make the planet a more hostile place to live in.

A sterling performance by Rishi Kapoor.

The movie 'Mulk' is an emotionally high-charged presentation that seems to hit many parts of the world. For generations, many Muslim families have lived in harmony with their neighbours; living and others to live, sharing the living space and their thrills and joys. Of late, the rise of national and ethnoreligious sentiments has divided society. Like a pressure cooker, the tension is building up. One side blames the violence that happens around squarely on the other's religion. The other defends saying that violence is not part of their faith and they spread peace.

Ali's family is ostracised by his neighbours in Benares after a youngster from their household is implicated in a suicide bombing. All hell breaks loose. The harmony that the family shared with their neighbours for generations suddenly crumbles. Their loyalty to the country is questioned. Circumstantial evidence which goes back as far as the Partition rekindles old wounds.

We are ambassadors of our own beliefs. Whether we like it or not, when we insist that ours is a religion of peace, but its believers do not seem to portray such behaviour, people would not trust us. When we brag of our faith as the truth and are brazen enough to telecast it on a daily basis, non-believers would be turned off.

Peace is a very fragile entity. Like a crystal, it takes a long time to build. It can shutter to smithereens with a single misstep. Social order takes a tumble when the mob rules. Primal, animalistic behaviours and instincts take charge.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

As Christchurch cries...

Man is a social animal. He finds comfort in numbers. Generations of living in fear of the elements of Nature and wild creatures have made him develop survival instincts. He had become very comfortable in his 'comfort zone'. His senses heightened when the status quo is disturbed. He becomes agitated when there is cognitive dissonance. Any ideas that questioned his accepted hierarchy and structural make-up of his world are met with violence, the most archaic of his primal defences. 

Scrolling through the 73-page manifesto issued by the Christchurch shooter, Brenton H Tarrant, a 28-year old man full of hate, one can appreciate the loss of space that everybody feels when one has to share his living area. Most sane people would also empathise the plight of legal immigrants (whom he refers to as invaders) and not shoot at them in cold blood. 

Tarrant who labels himself as an eco-fascist believes that all the present world ideologies seem to lead to destruction. The environment is degraded, and consumerism is glorified. The world order is only to fatten the rich. He praises China as the only country that seems to be doing things right. China managed to maintain their lifestyle and not to succumb to the growing pressure of the Muslim population in their backyard. He denigrates Muslim migrants as polluting the Western way of life in Europe, Australia, and the USA. With the persistent decline in the Caucasian birth rate compared to the ever-increasing rates amongst the Muslims, he fears that the 'invaders' would take over the civilisation established by the Europeans. It does not matter if they had systematically eradicated the populace of the Americas, Australasia, and Africa centuries ago.


It is natural to want to protect people who share a similar ideology and history. It is also normal to conform to the majority's decisions when they had decided that visitors were needed in the country. When a person is engaged in a quiet moment with his Maker, it is also the human thing to respect his belief, even if you do not.

To think that a 28-year old man can singlehandedly walk-in cooly to shoot down 50 over people in broad daylight is unbelievable. On top of that, all the stringent measures deployed to keep violence and hate away from social media failed miserably. The perpetrator with ease showcased his dastardly act live on Facebook from his bodycam. He must surely be just a pawn in a chess game of global proportion. Tarrant did all that he did in a clear state of mind without an iota of guilt or hesitations when he shot down women and children. In his mind, a Muslim child dead is many more less in the future when he procreates.

Have we not heard of similar conspiracies before - that group of ultras 'psy-op'ed to carry out the dirty job of the puppetmasters? Is it the work of a lone wolf? Is his manifesto a reflection of people of the time? Diversity and multi-culturalism, do they show weakness or strength? 

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rewriting history?

Dedicated to Nadia Murad, a survivor of sexual violence by the Islamic State. 2018 Nobel Prize for Peace.

Warning: For mature readers only. 
Discretion advised.

The Impact of Islam (2014)
Author: Emmet Scott

My Muslim friends would not like the contents of this book. In the same vein as Darío Fernández-Morera's  'The Myth of Andalusia', the author tries to rewrite world history as we know it. 

The world talks about the Golden Age of Islam of a time when the areas administered by the Muslims were at the epitome of culture and Arab was the lingua franca whilst Europe was in the Dark Ages. The truth, according is from the truth. In fact, it is just the opposite.

The region of the Golden Era, Spain, has been having its own development towards the tail end of the Roman Empire. The Visigoths showed the building prowess constructing large churches with intricate designs. The art of distillation, advances in Mathematics (algebra, number zero and trigonometry), paper printing, silk and gunpowder which are traditionally credited to the Muslims are not indeed their discoveries. Distillation has its roots in Babylonia. Mathematics developed in India and the Chinese are credited for the rest. The Arab contributed nothing. They were barbaric illiterate brash horsemen who were only keen on plundering and destroying anything in their path. Many of peaceful reign and so-called atmosphere for culture were made by non-Arabic converts from Persia, Turks and Mongols. The Arab language commonly used did not mean that they were Arabs by race.

The invaders perhaps helped in the dissemination of knowledge from one part of the world to another, but it was waiting to happen anyway, with or without their intervention. True, the religion promised justice to many underprivileged members at that time, but three members of the society were still marginalised- women and boys, slaves and non-Muslims (kefir). 

Slave trade was on a downward trend by the 8th century when Christianity in Europe started talking about equality and human rights. But the Muslim conquerors reignited this trade and made slavery a lucrative market. In fact, the demand for white-skinned slaves drew the Vikings to capture North Europeans. Berber pirates were also active in the high seas to capture European merchant ships and to sell off the crew as white slaves.

In Europe, the Renaissance happened way before the often perceived 14th - 16th centuries. The Benedictine monks worked hard at improving agricultural yields, windmill technology, animal domestication, use of collars that aid use of horses for ploughing and more. Scholastic studies continued. Healing of the sick via plant-based medication and the establishment of hospitals were initialised.  

Maybe unfairly, the author accuses the Muslim conquerors, from Abd' er Rahman (756AD) onwards to have set the brutal standards upon which future wars were to be fought. In this way, he justifies the brutality shown by the Spanish Conquistadores on the South Americans and the Crusaders upon their enemies.  

Describing Jews as 'The People of the Book' and enjoyed cordial relations with the invaders is a creative fiction. Animosity between the Muslims and the Jews go back to the time of the prophet. Collection of jiziya from non-believers was big business, and the Almohads and the Almoravids, Muslim armies from North Africa found out the hard way that enormous destruction on the Christian and Jewish stronghold was counter-productive as loss of revenues was quite debilitating. They also realised that mass conversion was self-defeating even though the urge to create Darul Islam was overwhelming. 

The prosecution of Jews is said to have been initiated in Cordoba and Granada under the watchful eyes of their Muslim conquerors. This is supposed to be the blueprint for other similar aggression against the Jews including the ones conducted by Christian mobs in Rhineland and the rest of Europe. The idea of violence in the name of Christ started here. Indirectly, Mahmud of Ghazni's invasion of India is the genesis of militant Hindus in centuries to come!

The most brutal part of the book must surely be the appendix which gives the final blow to Islam. It questions the existence of Prophet Muhammad and accuses Muslim Arabs as merely a Christian sect called Ebionites who revere the teachings of Moses but not accepting Jesus as the son of God. The Ebonites or Arab Christians, with their Proto-Islam, managed to impress the Sassanids who embraced their belief. The original Quran was apparently written in Syriac script, hence the confusion about 72 virgins and 72 grapes in paradise. Muhammad, as mentioned in the holy scriptures, are no other than that of Jesus. The Quran is a Christian text and corruption in the language and confusion between Joshua and Jesus led to this problem. 

Quite a controversial book, this one. Unlike the believers who think that the religion is all-encompassing able to stand the test time, it compares Islam to many of the failed political ideologies that the world has seen. Like communism, despotism and fascism which clamours of a fabled time of past glory and a utopia of rainbows and unicorns, it accuses its followers of imagining a fictitious past that never existed. In the same modus operandi as Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime, they wish to rewrite human history and start with Year Zero. 

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.