Do All Religions Meet At The Top?
I’ve sometimes heard it said that “all religions meet at the top.” I’ve interpreted that to say that, although the particular details of the world’s religions are many and varied, they all espouse a moral and compassionate view of the world that leads to lives lived righteously. This view was especially prominent in the 60s and 70s. It was held by many luminaries of the era, and, in fact, was taught by teachers and mentors of the time. Many of my generation may believe it still. No less an authority than Pope Francis once held up both a Bible and a Koran and said, amazingly, “They’re the same.” This astonishing statement forces me to question wether Francis has even read the Koran. (I presume he’s read the bible). But, having read both the Christian Bible and substantial portions of the Koran, I am completely confident, Pope Francis not withstanding, that the two are NOT the same. Now, I could endeavor to support that judgement by quoting many points of opposing doctrin side by side, but I think I’d like to take a more dramatic approach.
Some readers may be surprised to learn that understanding scriptural Islam involves more than understanding the Koran. In addition to the Koran, one must also read and understand the Al-Hadith (the sayings of Mohammed) and the Sirat Rassul Allah (The Story of the Prophet of Allah). These two books together make up the what is called the Sunnah, or the “well worn path.” In addition it’s necessary to be fully acquainted with The Reliance of the Traveller, which is the first codification of Sharia, or Islamic Law.
In this discussion, we’ll take a look at four excerpts from Islamic scripture that will demonstrate that Islam and Christianity, DO NOT, CAN NOT and NEVER WILL, “meet at the top.”
The first excerpt is from the Al-Hadith, and refers to Mohammed’s marriage to Aisha, his NINTH wife. When considering this Hadith, it’s important to keep in mind that Mohammed is considered by Muslims to be the “perfect man,” and his actions are understood to be the ultimate guide for living a moral life. The text that follows is from the Al-Bukhari edition:
Referring to Aisha, Sahih al-Bukhari’s hadith says that “the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old.” (Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, 7:62:64.) Although doctrinaire Muslims find this shocking story acceptable, many non Muslims that feel that, marriage or not, intercourse with a 9 year old child is rape. And, in case the reader thinks that this story is an aberration without a following in modern Islam, I’ll quote Sheikh Abdulmalik Ibn Muhammad (Drama 35, June 1, 2020): “So tell me, if the Holy Prophet could marry young girls, what then is wrong with his followers who do the same? There is nothing wrong whatsoever.” Well, OKAY then! NO PROBLEM!
And in case someone claims that the practice of child marriage is ancient history, the advocacy group, Girls Not Brides, has presented evidence on just how widespread the practice CONTINUES to be in the world of TODAY: “The Philippines has the world’s 10th highest number of child brides, at 808,000 – India at 26.6 million is the highest. An estimated 15 percent of Philippine girls are married by the age of 18, compared to 3 percent of boys.”
The second excerpt I’ll mention is taken directly from the Koran. It involves a mysterious person named Al-Kihdir who is said to have gone on a walk with Moses and upon entering a town, they encounter a boy who Kihdir then murders, apparently gratuitously. Moses’ reaction, understandably, is: “Have you killed a pure soul?… You have certainly done a deplorable thing!” (Sura 18, Verse 74). Kidihr then chides Moses for his “lack of patience,” and then explains: “As for the lad, his parents were people of faith, and we feared lest he should plague them with transgression and disbelief. So we intended that their Lord should substitute for them one better than him in purity and nearer to mercy.” (Sura 18, Verse 80). Many Islamic apologists have, unsurprisingly, had great trouble with this story. Some have suggested, therefore, that Kidihr is actually an angel, and, therefore, is not bound by norms of human morality…. Well, OKAY, then! Angels apparently are above the law! NO PROBLEM!
The next excerpt comes from The Hadith collection of the Indian Muslim scholar al-Muttaqi al Hindi, and describes Mohammed having sex with a corpse.
“The prophet of Allah took off his gown and put it on Om Ali and slept with her in her grave and they kicked dirt on him, saying: ‘Oh messenger of Allah, we saw you do something no one else has ever done.’ He said: ‘I dressed her in my gown, so she can wear the gowns of paradise and I slept with her in her grave to relieve her of the torments of the grave.’” (Kanz al-‘Ommal in Sunan al Aqwal wa al-Af’al, vol. 16, p. 158.). Well, OKAY then! It was for a good cause! NO PROBLEM! Some scholars believe, by the way, that the deceased in this Hadith was Mohammed’s DAUGHTER.
Now, in case the reader again thinks that this excerpt is some kind of aberration without a following in modern Islam, I’ll include a couple of comments from contemporary Muslim scholars making it clear that necrophilia is indeed permitted in Islam.
“There is no restriction against sex with a dead woman or an animal.” (Mohammad Al-Sherbini Al-Khateeb, Al-Iqna3 fi Hal al-Faz: Abu Shoja’a (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1994, vol. 2, p. 521)
During a videotaped 2017 sermon by Sheikh Sabri Abdel-Raouf, the Imam states that: “Shafi’i, Hanbali, and Hanafi [three of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence] books reveal: Sexual intercourse with a dead wife is ‘not adultery.” (Translated by Youm 7, September 21, 2017).
The last excerpt concerns human slavery. The Qur’an has Allah telling Muhammad that he has given him girls as sex slaves: “O prophet, indeed, we have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have paid their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses of those whom Allah has given you as spoils of war.” (Qur’an 33:50)
And, it is recorded in Islamic scripture that Mohammed took advantage of Allah’s directive. Indeed, Mohammed himself OWNED slaves. As recorded in the Al-Hadith: “Allah’s Apostle was on a journey and he had a black slave called Anjasha, and he was driving the camels.”(Bukhari 8.73.182).
And, the slavery allowed in Islam is not limited to servitude. Sexual slavery is actually more common. As noted by scholar Mike Konrad (American Thinker, May 31, 2014): Much of Islamic slavery was sexual in nature, with a preference for women. Those men who were captured were castrated.
It has also been noted by Konrad that, in medieval times, Arabic sultans, in aggragate, required an estimated ONE THOUSAND sexual slaves per year, nearly all of whom were procured from Africa. And, in case you might think that sexual slavery and abuse in Islam is ancient history, there are countless examples of it occurring in the world of TODAY. So called sexual “grooming” of young girls has become COMMONPLACE in Islamic areas of ENGLAND. And, as noted by by journalist Ruth Alexander, BBC News,
13 September 2012: “The Swedish police recorded the highest number of sexual offences – about 63 per 100,000 inhabitants – of any force in Europe, in 2010. The second-highest in the world.” Other sources document that nearly all rapes in Sweden are by “middle eastern” migrants.”
That Islamic scripture justifies rape is illustrated by the following excerpt. On August 13, 2015, journalist Rukmini Callimachi, who now works for the New York Times, recounts just one of the countless terrible stories of sexual abuse:
QADIYA, Iraq — In the moments before he raped the 12-year-old girl, the Islamic State fighter took the time to explain that what he was about to do was not a sin. Because the preteen girl practiced a religion other than Islam, the Quran not only gave him the right to rape her — it condoned and encouraged it, he insisted.
He bound her hands and gagged her. Then he knelt beside the bed and prostrated himself in prayer before getting on top of her.
When it was over, he knelt to pray again, bookending the rape with acts of religious devotion.
“I kept telling him it hurts — please stop,” said the girl, whose body is so small an adult could circle her waist with two hands. “He told me that according to Islam he is allowed to rape an unbeliever. He said that by raping me, he is drawing closer to God,” she said in an interview alongside her family in a refugee camp.
Well, OKAY THEN! Can’t quibble with drawing closer to God! NO PROBLEM!
So, dear readers, the point with which I’ll conclude is simple: Islam and Christianity DO NOT, CAN NOT and NEVER WILL “meet at the top.” The reader can, according to his or her beliefs, accept one or the other, BUT NEVER BOTH.