Muhammad the Prophet of Peace & Reconciliation: Followed by His Khulifa-E-Rashdun Abubakr - Umar - Uthman - Ali

By Haji Waheed U. Din

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543457957

Haji Waheed U. Din

*NO ATB according to author*

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CHAPTER 1

MY IMPRESSIONS & REFLECTION

In the name of God! Most Gracious! Most Merciful!

Now that I am embarking on my effort of writing the biography of the Prophet of Islam and the history of his four immediate successors, I would like the reader to understand that my approach to the subject is going to be a little unusual based on my commonsense deduction of certain facts. There is no record of history being written during the first hundred years after the death of the Prophet. Islamic history writer, Muhammad ibn Ishaq, who was born some 75 years after the death of the Prophet, related historical events which had reached him from one mouth to the other on the hope that they were safely preserved in the memory of the narrater. The Sahi Bukhari was compiled by the ever so famous scholar Imam Bukhari, who was born in the year 810, some 178 years after the death of the Prophet. Besides his other books on the religion of Islam, Sahi Bukhari has given us a wealth of knowledge on the Hadith literature which, undoubtedly, is second only to the information in the Quran. This man of wisdom has done a deep research through his reliable sources but has still left a lot of things for the future generations to use their commonsense and come to a decision on their own. I am a Muslim by birth and choice and have a great deal of love and affection for Muhammad, as a Prophet of God. I have an admiration of his human ingenuity which he so liberally used during his entire life. I have fully understood that Muhammad was not only a Prophet of God he was also a human being, a quality which was also so dear to him. He never hesitated to accept his human weakness, though it was on a rare occasions. He readily consulted his dear associates whenever he was in a fix to understand and decide. It has to be due to my love and devotion for him that sometimes I have addressed him in my book by his given name Muhammad and simply Muhammad only to display my close relationship with him. He never claimed to be divine and always stressed on his human qualities and limitations which I hope to highlight on occasions as I go along.

Quran, The Holy Book of Islam, is an integral part of the life of the Prophet on who it was revealed during the last twenty three year of his life. As we see the Book today, it was not revealed in the order it has been compiled. The arrangement of revelations was completed by the Prophet himself with the guidance of Arch Angel Gabriel who brought all the revelations to him. We do, however, have the chronological order of the chapters also which we can always refer to for explanations to historical events. For the benefit of the reader, in most of the printed copies of the Quran, both numbers appear at the beginning and on top of each Sura or chapter of the Book. The wisdom of its revelations in stages is described in the Quran in the following verses.

25/32-33 THOSE WHO REJECT FAITH SAY, WHY IS NOT THE QURAN REVEALED TO HIM ALL ATONCE? THUS IS IT REVEALED, THAT WE MAY STRENGTHEN THY HEART THEREBY, AND WE HAVE REHEARSED IT TO THEE IN SLOW, WELL ARRANGED STAGES, GRADUALLY. AND NO QUESTION THEY BRING TO THEE BUT WE REVEAL TO THEE THE TRUTH AND THE BEST EXPLANATION THEREOF.

Three reasons are given for the gradual revelation of the Quran. 1) To strengthen thy heart, 2) slow well arranged stages, as the occasion demanded from time to time and 3) If they ask questions, the proper answers are then furnished through revelation on the spot. The revelations began in the year 610 and then ended after 22 years at just before the time of the Prophet’s death in 632 (By Islamic calendar the duration works more like 23 years as the lunar year is shorter by a little more than 10 days in a year). It is interesting to note, how the first and the last chapters are so true to their implications, especially the last one which declares that the religion has been completed thus implying that there was no need for any further revelations and the work of the Prophet on this Earth was completed and that he should prepare to return to his Maker soon. The first Ayat revealed,

96/1-8 PROCLAIM! IN THE NAME OF THY LORD AND CHARISHER, WHO CREATED, CREATED MAN OUT OF MERE CLOT OF CONGEALED BLOOD. PROCLAIM! AND THY LORD IS MOST BOUNTIFUL, HE WHO TAUGHT THE USE OF PEN, TAUGHT MAN THAT HE KNEW NOT. NAY BUT MAN DOTH TRANSGRESS ALL BOUNDS, IN THAT HE LOOKETH UPON HIMSELF AS SELF-SUFFICIENT. VERILY, TO THY LORD IS THE RETURN OF ALL.

The last Ayat revealed, 110/1-3 WHEN COMES THE HELP OF ALLAH, AND VICTORY, AND THOU DOST SEE THE PEOPLE ENTER ALLAH’S RELIGION IN CROWDS, CELEBRATE THE PRAISES OF THY LORD, AND PRAY FOR HIS FORGIVENESS: FOR HE IS OFT-RETURNING IN GRACE AND MERCY. 5/3, –— THIS DAY HAVE THOSE WHO REJECT FAITH GIVEN UP ALL HOPE OF YOUR RELIGION; YET FEAR THEM NOT BUT FEAR ME. THIS DAY HAVE I PERFECTED YOUR RELIGION FOR YOU, COMPLETED MY FAVORS UPON YOU, AND HAVE CHOSEN FOR YOU ISLAM AS YOUR RELIGION.

This was one of the last revelations of Quran on Prophet Muhammad. The religion had a profound impact on the history of the world and the prevailing civilizations of Rome and Persia, in North and Western Africa and Asia. These areas were totally annihilated and absorbed into Islam within half a century of Islam’s founding in the city of Mecca in 610.

The author of the Quran has also challenged mankind to produce anything close to the Divine Book, which He has asserted that they wouldn’t be able to do despite their combined resources. Here is how it related,

11/13-14 OR THEY MAY SAY, HE FORGED IT SAY, BRING YE THEN TEN SURAS FORGED, LIKE UNTO IT, AND CALL TO YOUR AID WHOMSOEVER YE CAN, OTHER THAN ALLAH, IF YE SPEAK THE TRUTH. IF THEN THEIR FALSE GODS ANSWER NOT YOUR CALL, KNOW YE THAT THIS REVELATION IS SENT DOWN WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF ALLAH, AND THAT THERE IS NO GOD BUT HE! WILL YE EVEN THEN SUBMIT TO ISLAM?

Islam is the only religion in the world where God Almighty concluded His revelations on His Prophet by telling him that his mission in this world was successfully completed and that he had faithfully carried out all His instruction. His Religion Islam (Submission) had been completed and the faithful had entered into the religion by leaps and bounds. So get ready to meet your maker. In the last year of Prophet’s life on this earth, he is said to have told his daughter Fatima that he thought his time on this earth was near to its end. During the course of the last 23 years of revelations, he stated, Angel Gabriel had visited him regularly once every year in the month of Ramadan, over and above other occasions when he brought the revelations of God, to rehearse and recite the revelations with him to confirm their authenticity in his memory. But during the Ramadan of that year, he visited him twice and rehearsed the Quran twice with him. He said, he couldn’t help but think that, because of the unusual visit of Gabriel, that month of Ramadan was his last Ramadan on earth. By that time the city of Mecca had been peacefully subdued and peace delegations from all around were coming into Medina to offer their loyalty to Islam.

It would be interesting to note that the Quran has also touched on the subject of space and the powers of the human brain. The Book says that the Man has been endowed with the capacity of unlimited intellectual powers to explore the universe. It has not only confirmed the existence of other planets but has also confirmed life on them as it exists on our own planet. It has not spelled out the shape and the form of life except the mention of living creatures.

42/29 AND AMONG HIS SIGNS IS THE CREATION OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH, AND THE LIVING CREATURES THAT HE HAS SCATTERED THROUGH THEM, AND HE HAS POWER TO GATHER THEM TOGETHER WHEN HE WILLS.

Life is not confined to our own Little Planet. It is an old theory that some life existed on the planet Mars. Though no scientific discovery is available, it should be reasonable to suppose that there is life in the millions of heavenly bodies scattered through space. What a wonderful sign of God. The Almighty who created heaven and earth has surely the power to bring them together.

Needless to say, my religion is Islam and I am proud to say that my Faith does not restrict me to think about the age of mankind to any particular period like the chronology of prophets from Adam to Moses in the old Bible or the Book of Torah. I am, however, inclined to believe that man was the first human creation of God after He had created Heavens and Earth. I also believe that man has been a better creation of God than all His other creations including the angels. I read in the Quran that after man was created from dirty mud and brought to life, God ordered His earlier creations like the angels and jinns to bow before him as He had created man in His own image and as His own vicegerent on Earth. Concerning this order from God, there was some hesitation and murmur in the court and to put all His other creations at their place, God asked them if they knew when The Day of Judgment was going to be. They told Him that He had not given them the knowledge and they only knew what they had been told about. Proverbially the roar came back, Then shut-up and bow before MAN. His knowledge is not going to be on NEED TO KNOW BASIS like yours is, and he has been endowed with the capacity of unlimited intellect which could even take him to explore the outer heavens.

Today I am aware of the fact that man has discovered ancient human bone fossils in the South African Rising Star Cave System which could date back to more than a million years. Tomorrow if more than hundred million year old human remains are discovered by science, I would be the first to accept it. There is no contradiction between science and my religion on that score. I have pondered on the ancient civilizations of the Nile Valley in North Africa and the Incas in the South American continent. How the pyramids with more than 100 ton stone blocks were transported, lifted and arranged in such a uniform construction is pure mind boggling. While we have discovered the contents of the pyramids, yet we have not known the method of this engineering marvel. No ancient building tools have been discovered. A natural corollary thus comes to mind that man had mastered and controlled the laws of physics or perhaps controlled other living beings from outer space to work for him to build the pyramids. The poet philosopher of Pakistan, Allama Doctor Muhammad Iqbal, wrote in one of his Urdu poems in the early 1900s, The achievements of Man have created havoc among the residents of the heavens and they are beginning to believe that this contemptuous little exile from heavens is on his way to conquer them.

I am inclined to believe that the sub-title of my book might be controversial in some Western circles where the knowledge of Islam is only rudimentary and their stories about the founder of Islam are based on age old myths and fantasies. They are either ignorant of the facts of history or it is their pure bigotry against the religion of Islam that compels them to malign the founder and dismiss him as a cruel, barbaric and blood thirsty man. Right from his age 40 when he was bestowed with the task of a Prophet and called to spread the message of God, Muhammad faced and lived a life of uncertainty every day. He had a continuous struggle for survival and almost after ten years of his ministry and with only a handful of followers, he had to flee to save his skin and Emmigrate to a far off land from his home, called Yathrib. This town was later given the name of The City of the Prophet or just AL-MEDINA, THE CITY OR MEDINA. Even in Medina Muhammad faced formidable odds and had to fight his battles every day to survive and be able to deliver his message. It was only towards the last two years of his life, that he was rewarded with continuous success and miraculously introduced his credentials to even the greatest powers of the time, the Romans and the Persian Empires. His immediate successors, Abubakr, Umar and Uthman eventually toppled the two powers of the day in the Middle East and made them Islamic territories for all times to come.

If I expressed my thoughts similar to the ones I am quoting below, I would be accused as a biased Muslim who couldn’t have dared write anything but the words of admiration for the Prophet of Islam. I would like to declare that I fully endorse the sentiments expressed in the following brief passage by a Non-Muslim and world renowned historian Karen Armstrong. She writes in her book on the biography of the Prophet, FAR FROM BEING THE FATHER OF JIHAD, MUHAMMAD WAS A PEACEMAKER, WHO RISKED HIS LIFE AND NEARLY LOST THE LOYALTY OF HIS CLOSEST COMPANIONS, BECAUSE HE WAS SO DETERMINED TO EFFECT A RECONCILIATION WITH MECCA. INSTEAD OF FIGHTING AN INTRANSIGENT WAR TO THE DEATH, MUHAMMAD WAS PREPARED TO NEGOTIATE AND TO COMPROMISE. AND THIS APPARENT HUMILIATION AND CAPITUATION PROVED, IN THE WORDS OF THE KORAN, TO BE A GREAT VICTORY. The above statement not only spells out the character of the Prophet but also reinforces his trust in his God who justified his actions. I am not surprised to read these remarks by Armstrong which have also given rise to my own sub-title of the book. I am pleased to see that Ms. Armstrong must have gone into a great deal of studies into the religion and history of Islam. No doubt, I will discuss the matter in some detail as we go along. I hope my book will provide some food for thought to the Ignorant and some re-evaluation of thought to the Open minded.

Unless you have an honest and good study of the Hadith (sayings and deeds of the Prophet) and the revelations of the Quran in their proper perspective, you cannot venture into commenting, and never mind passing a judgment on any aspect of the religion or its followers. Like any other big Faith, Islam is a universal religion and has its complexities which may provide some fodder to a crooked mind who wished to take it out of context and bend it to his own narrow way of thinking. Undoubtedly the Prophet of Islam was continuously involved in warfare after his Emigration to Madina where the risk of his annihilation at the hands of his enemies was ever so present. The Quresh of Mecca and the powerful Jewish tribes of Medina and the suburbs had a determination of their own, not to spare his life just because his message was different from what they were traditionally used to believe, coming down from their forefathers.

I have been a student of Islamic history for the last 70 years of my life but am still not very sure if my comments on a certain aspect of Islam would be true to its spirit of occurrence. I hope to avoid giving unnecessary details of all the people, the Prophet came in contact with or had relationship with, which did not really have a bearing on the history of the time. I will focus only on those who were his close companions and were later destined to leave an everlasting effect on the history of Islam.

It was nothing less than a miracle, that only 25 years after the death of the Prophet, his Caliphs (Successors) were able to turn upside down the two greatest empires of the day and founded a civilization on the teachings and principles of Islam which lasted for more than a thousand years. It was not based on the principles of our modern day democracy but it was, indeed, a democratic process of selection by consensus of the leaders of the Ummah. It was as close as you could get to a popular democracy some 1400 years ago. The governing principles of the state can be summed up by the inaugural address of the first Caliph of Islam. Immediately after his election and the oath of loyalty he had received from his followers, Abubakr delivered the following message to the citizens of Medina, in a gathering in the main mosque of Madina, I HAVE BEEN GIVEN AUTHORITY OVER YOU BUT I AM NOT THE BEST OF YOU. IF I DO WELL, HELP ME, AND IF I DO ILL, THEN PUT ME RIGHT. TRUTH CONSISTS IN LOYALTY AND FALSEHOOD IN TREACHERY. THE WEAK AMONG YOU SHALL BE STRONG IN MY EYES UNTIL I SECURE HIS RIGHT, IF GOD WILL, AND THE STRONG AMONG YOU SHALL BE WEAK IN MY EYES UNTIL I WREST THE RIGHT FROM HIM. IF A PEOPLE REFRAIN FROM FIGHTING IN THE WAY OF GOD, GOD WILL SMITE THEM WITH DISGRACE. WICKEDNESS IS NEVER WIDESPREAD IN A PEOPLE BUT GOD BRINGS CALAMITY UPON THEM ALL. OBEY ME AS LONG AS I OBEY GOD AND HIS OPOSTLE, AND IF I DISOBEY THEM YOU OWE ME NO OBEDIENCE. ARISE TO PRAYER. MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOU.

This was the spirit with which the first successor of Prophet Muhammad began his reign in the year 632 AD. Enforcement of human rights and government of the rule of law was paramount on his mind. It had no parallel in the realms of the Persians and the Byzantium, the two super powers of the day. As a part of HUMAN RIGHTS, It would be of a special interest to note that contrary to modern beliefs, just how the religion of Islam elevated the status of women by promulgating the revolutionary reforms by Sharia Law in the 7th. Century AD 1) Women were required to give their approval before their marriage. 2) Women were given the right to do business and to own property in their own name. 3) Women could give unilateral divorce if the husband was abusive. 4) Women would be accepted as witnesses to any contract if they were two of them together along with a male witness, to ensure that at least one was available in time of need along with the male. The women did not fight for their rights but as an essential part of society, the rights were bestowed on them by the Sharia. It took the all dominating male society of the West more than 1400 years to start recognizing human rights of women and give them some semblance of equality in the society.

In the earlier few hundred years, the empire was dominated by the Arabs but with the expansion, the provinces became independent and the leadership and civilization they had created passed on to other people who retained their Faith and law as an enduring monument to the founders. Islam, at its zenith, was a power to be reckoned with in the Middle East and Europe. The Empire in Spain served as a magnet for Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars alike. The theory and practice of medicine in the high middle ages was at its zenith in the Muslim Empire and was considered to be far above anything known in Europe. Under a brief period of history when some crusaders were indiscriminately killing the Muslim population in the Near East in the name of their religion, others in the Middle East, North Africa and Spain were humbling themselves in the company of great Muslim Philosophers and intellectual luminaries like Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd, known in Europe as Avicenna and Averroes.

The Crusades was probably the only war in history which was waged on religious grounds to annihilate each man woman and child of the other Faith. In spite of the fact that all this carnage was committed in the name of Christianity against the Arab Muslims in the Near East, this black page of history would have been taken as a passing tragedy by the Muslims, in the life of a great civilization. But the fact remains that this incident of history became a rallying cry of the Christian West to humiliate the religion of Islam and its founder for generations to come. Imagine the schizophrenic mentality of those Christians when in 1147 on the eve of King Louis VII of France’s second crusade, Peter the Venerable, The Abbot of Cluny wrote to him that he hoped that the king would kill as many Muslims as Moses and Joshua had killed Amorites and Canaanites.

I am obliged to bring the subject up at this time as it has still been an important catalyst for the radicalization of the thought among the fringe element in Islam. Although this phenomenon continued intermittently for some eight hundred years ago, its spirit has been carried on right into our own time. The Crusaders were ever so proud of their achievements that their memory is still revered in the Christian world. Even though the project passed into history long time ago yet the West has continued to cultivate passionate hatred and remind the Islamic world at every step of the way how deep their contempt was for the Muslim leaders and their religion. In the recent past in 1917 when General Allenby arrived in Jerusalem, he declared, THE CRUSADE HAS NOW BEEN COMPLETED. By the same token, after the end of World War 1, after the Battle of Maysalun, the commanding general of the French army, General Henri Gouraud marched to the tomb of Saladin, one of the most revered personalities of the Islamic world, in Damascus, kicked at the grave and said, AWAKE SALADIN! WE HAVE RETURNED. MY PRESENCE HERE CONSECRATES VICTORY OF THE CROSS OVER THE CRESCENT. The above two generals couldn’t be doing anything but making it a point to express their religious hatred, contempt and arrogance.

The French historian M. Boudricourt also paints a similar picture of brutality in the North African area of Algeria during the French pacification process. He relates that the colonial French soldiers would cut off the limbs of the Muslim women to retrieve their gold and silver ornaments. Since the rings were welded in the ears, around arms and ankles to prevent their loss, this seemed the only way open to them to rob. The women would be left to die in their state of agony after amputation. How much more brutal and inhuman can you get? In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, The Western colonization process of the Muslim lands in North Africa, Middle East and South Asia was thus deeply associated in the minds of the Muslims with the spirit of the crusades. The average Muslim mind seems to be in a grip of hatred for the West that tragically time might prove to be the only remedy. Do we have time for things to sort themselves out? It pains me to see that attitude of some of the Western countries towards Islam has been dismissive and arrogant. They still believe that Islam is inherently evil and does not deserve their serious consideration. Their behavior is so much imbedded in their culture that it tends to dictate their policies towards all Muslim countries. This undoubtedly leads to further alienation of the over 1.6 Billion Muslims of the world who today comprise the Muslim states. The Christian world of today continues to associate the radicalized terrorist actions of some of the fringe element in Islam with the Great Religion of Islam itself. They tend to legitimize their actions as something approved by Islam since they just happened to call themselves as Muslims. The terrorists in the world have killed a lot more Muslim men, women and children than the Non-Muslims, they ever will. The cry of Allahu Akbar, at the time when they are in the process of committing their heinous acts, does not make them Muslims or make their actions legal under Sharia Law. It is purely the radicalization of the illiterate who really has no knowledge of his religion and is influenced by the one track Mullah who is against the Western civilization, period. The Mullah is telling his subject that the only way for his salvation was to kill which may very well be at the cost of his own life. Sometimes the Mullah is not physically present but his sermons on the inter-net or recorded videos play the same role for the deranged mind. The role of the clergy in Islam is a recent phenomenon. Strictly speaking, in the theological sense, there is no priesthood in Islam. There is no ordination, no sacraments and no priestly office to turn to. Anyone with the necessary knowledge can lead in prayer, preach in the mosque or officiate at weddings and funerals. There is no priestly mediation between God and the believer. Over the years the offices of the Mullah, the Qadi and the Mufti etc. have been introduced in the Islamic social structure by necessity and evolution. It is more pronounced in some Muslim countries than others. Iran probably is the only Muslim country in the world where the Mullahs have a good control over the government of the state and this only happened after the exile of the Shah and the change of their constitution in the recent past history. I know that the Shah’s wife and his family are still living in the United States.

I wish there was at-least an effort on the part of the Western populace to better understand and acknowledge their part, how much ever small it may be, in the promotion of misunderstanding by the radical element in the religion of Islam. Here in my book I am going to make an effort to dispel the popular notion in the Ignorant West that the Muslims are required by Sharia to attack and kill all non-believing men women and children and by doing so earn the crown of martyrdom and the company of 40 virgins in the hereafter. This idea has probably gained ground in view of the present day terrorism on the part of some radicalized and SO CALLED FOLLOWERS OF ISLAM. Here is what the Quran says about it,

5/32 ON THAT ACCOUNT, WE ORDAINED FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THAT IF ANY ONE SLEW A PERSON, UNLESS IT BE FOR MURDER OR FOR SPREADING MISCHIEF IN THE LAND, IT WOULD BE AS IF HE SLEW THE WHOLE PEOPLE: AND IF ANY ONE SAVED A LIFE IT WOULD BE AS HE SAVED THE LIFE OF THE WHOLE PEOPLE. And for those who gave their life in the cause of God, 44/54-57 WE SHALL JOIN THEM TO COMPANIONS WITH BEAUTIFUL, BIG AND LUSTROUS EYES. THERE THEY CALL FOR EVERY KIND OF FRUIT IN PEACE AND SECURITY; NOR WILL THEY THERE TASTE DEATH, EXCEPT THE FIRST DEATH AND HE WILL PRESERVE THEM FROM THE PENALTY OF THE BLAZING FIRE. AS A BOUNTY FROM THY LORD THAT WILL BE THE SUPREME ACHIEVEMENT.

There is absolutely no mention of the 40 virgins as it is wildly believed. As also mentioned earlier, it would be worth its while to consider that the over whelming majority of the victims of this terrorism of the so called followers of Islam, are Muslims in the Muslim majority countries whose interpretation of religious codes does not coincide with the terrorists. I have used the term, THE SO CALLED FOLLOWERS OF Islam, not very lightly as I know that nobody has the authority over any particular interpretation of the Sharia of Islam. But I am talking about the 99.5 % of Muslims who abhor and condemn and are sickened by the violence of the terrorists. ISLAM the name of the religion, by itself means PEACE AND SECURITY. When people meet each other, their words of greetings are always May you have peace and security on you. The answer always comes back, I wish you the same. If the terrorist believed in that, there wouldn’t be any reason to take innocent lives. The question, however, remains that why .5 % of the so called Muslims continue their rampage in the world in the name of Islam? As mentioned above, there is nothing in the Book of Islam which permits to take your own life and then by doing so to earn the crown of Martyrdom. I can only think of this phenomenon coming out of ignorance, indoctrination and radicalization which can only be traced to a spiritual sickness.

Since the fall of the British Empire and dismemberment of European hegemony in the middle of last century, the present day terminology of the West is really reduced to the all so powerful United States of America. The 20th Century exploits of the US may have lost its steam today but their memory probably still hasn’t lost its luster from the minds of the American populace. The US was not after conquering territories but did play a vital role in conquering loyalties of the despots and dictators in a wider- power hegemony against the Soviet Union. The USSR was tied down in a war in Afghanistan for more than 8 years to establish their puppets in Kabul and then eventually hoped to go on to Pakistan to gain a warm water outlet on the Arabian Sea. The US military and financial aid was pouring into Afghanistan for the fighting Mujahideen against the USSR through the dictator of the next door friendly government of Pakistan. The rebel movement was at the brink of collapse after an eight year war against the second mightiest military force in the world when President Reagan acceded to the repeated requests of Congressman Charlie Wilson of Texas (Famous of Charlie Wilson’s War) to supply Stingers to the Mujahideen. The introduction of US supplied Stinger anti-air missiles to the Afghan and Pakistani tribal Mujahideen turned the tide of war. The loss of hundreds of helicopter gunships and their personnel was more than the USSR had bargained for. In their utter defeat they ran to the UN for cover and by the end of 1990 they hastily withdrew and left the country of Afghanistan in shambles and without a government.

I believe that the defeat of the USSR in Afghanistan was one of the major factors in the dismemberment of the Soviet Union in 1991. Along with the USSR, the US Government also sneaked out of the area and left the Chaos for the religious zealots to exploit and create a foundation for the organized and disciplined fanatics against the West. Usama Bin Ladan was an Arab foreigner for the Afghans but he won their loyalty for their common cause of waging a Jihad against the West, especially against The United States. Today we are all too familiar with the NINE/ELEVEN tragedy, perpetrated by the Arab guests in Afghanistan after their 10 years of planning, since the US left Afghanistan to its decapitated state. The West always encouraged the despots, the unpopular monarchs and military dictators in the face of popular aspirants. I am personally aware of the exploits of the West, especially The United States, in the affairs of the Shah of Iran. Committing Suicide is most un-Islamic and on top of that taking innocent human lives in the process, is doubly condemnable and an act of a sick mind. The ISIS keeps talking about the Crusade of the West some 800 years ago along with the schizophrenic mentality of the Christians of the time. We have seen a similar process of radicalization of the Christians in the Islamic Empire of Spain, historically known as the phenomenon of the Martyrs of Cordova in the ninth century. And then there was the phenomenon of the Martyrs of Frances of Assisi in the early thirteenth century. In both of the above cases, the monks were presenting themselves to the authorities after deliberately abusing the memory of the Prophet. They used to enter the mosque during Friday prayers and start abusing the Prophet, knowing fully well, that they were doing so in the face of capital punishment, as it was the law in the Islamic State. Their aim was purely to gain the crown of Martyrdom for Christianity as it has been today by the terrorist to become Martyrs for the cause of Islam. The only difference is that it was the age of sword and the radicalized Christians could not inflict any damage to the state or to the citizens in the process of making themselves martyrs of their religion.

Historically the Spaniards of the time, however, were generally proud to belong to their state whose advanced culture and civilization, they thought, was light years ahead of the rest of Europe. King Louis IX of France, a canonized saint of the RC Church condemned the Jewish Book as an attack on his religion and went as far as to say that the only way to debate a Jew was to kill him with a good thrust of sword in his belly. He also led two Crusades against Islam in mid-thirteenth century. Pope Gregory IX in 1227 issued a decree that Muslims and Jews must wear distinctive clothing and must refrain from appearing in public places during Christian festivals. Pope Clement V declared in 1310 that Muslim presence on the Christian land was insult to God. A few years later when the Muslim Empire of Spain suffered its defeat on the battle field, the conquered Muslims were given the choice of either converting to Christianity or be exiled from their homes. A few who chose to convert were never accepted in the Faith and were continuously persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition for another few centuries. The memory of the WWII holocaust of the Jews is still very fresh in our mind. By contrast we know from Islamic history that when Jerusalem was first conquered by the Great Muslim General,