[KENNETH MATIBA]

When a woman is accused by her husband - rightly or wrongly - of infidelity, she is no longer considered human. This is the true story of an innocent woman stoned to death in modern Iran. Soraya M.'s husband Ghorban-Ali, was a shiftless, ambitious man, prone to rages and dreams of wealth. He wanted to get out of his marriage. When Soraya began cooking for the widowed husband of a friend, he found his excuse. Abetted by village authorities and aided by Islamic law, he accused his wife of adultery. Soraya M. - rendered mute by the injustice of the accusations, exhausted by her husband's constant abuse and her grinding daily routine - said nothing in her defense, and her silence was taken as guilt. Perhaps, too, she knew that her protests would not be heard. She was taken away, buried up to her shoulders and neck in the ground, and then stoned to death. Day by day, hour by hour, the author re-creates Soraya's unbearable ordeal, providing the reader with an eyewitness account of a terrible miscarriage of justice, so typical within Islam.






This shows how Muhammad made it up as he went along:

"The canonical traditionists report that Surah 4:95 was dictated by Muhammad to his amanuensis Zayd (Zaid) thus: 'Those believers who sit at home are not equal to those who fight in the way of God with their goods and their persons.' A blind man was present and heard the words. He immediately interjected that were he as other men he would certainly fight; whereupon Muhammad interposed the words 'except those who suffer from a grave impediment' which stand in the text today." ("Islam" by A. Guillaume, p.191).

Before an authorized version of the Qur'an (Koran) was established under the Caliph Uthman there were four rival editions in use. These have long since disappeared, but we are told that they differed from the authorized version, some containing more and some less than the latter.

When men who had learned one version came into conflict with those who possessed a rival version it was feared that scriptural exegesis (i.e. critical explanation or analysis) would pursue the course it had taken among Jews and Christians who at that time accused one another of corrupting and falsifying the sacred text. Uthman then entrusted a commission, in which Zayd took a prominent place, with the task of preparing a text which everyone must accept. Only the men of Kufa refused the new edition, and their version was certainly extant as late as A.D. 1000. Uthman's edition to this day remains the authoritative word of their God to Muslims. The Uthman collection tradition poses a difficult question: which Qur'an tradition is the more authentic, 1. the Hijazi tradition represented in the universally acknowledged text; 2. the Kufan tradition claiming descent from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud; 3. the Basran stemming from Abu Musa; or 4. the Syrian from Ubayy ibn Ka'b one of the scribes of Muhammad (or from Miqdad/? Mu'ad)?

Differing readings of the Qur'an were known to Muhammad and he lacked the pedantry to object. More fickleness -- more making it up as he went along.

"Ubayy entered the mosque and, hearing a man recite, asked him who had instructed him. The man replied that he had been taught by the Prophet. Ubayy went in search of the Prophet. When the man recited. Muhammad said, 'That is correct.' Ubayy protested, 'But you taught me to recite so-and-so,' The Prophet said that Ubayy was right too. 'Right? right?' burst out Ubayy in perplexity. The Prophet struck him on the chest and prayed, 'O God! cause doubt to depart.' Ubayy broke into a sweat as his heart filled with terror. Muhammad disclosed that two angels had come to him. One said, 'Recite the Qur'an in one form.' The other advised Muhammad to ask for more than this. That was repeated several times until finally the first angel said. 'Very well. Recite it in seven forms.' The Prophet said, 'Each of the forms is grace-giving, protecting, so long as you don't terminate a punishment verse with an expression of mercy, or vice-versa - as you might for example say, Let's go; or, let's be off.' " (Tafsir of Tabari.).

"A man complained to the Prophet, Abdullah taught me to recite a Surah of the Qur'an. Zaid taught me the same Surah and so too did Ubayy. The readings of all three differ. Whose reading ought I to adopt?' Muhammad remained silent. Ali who was at his side replied, 'Every man should recite as he was taught. Each of the readings is acceptable, valid.' " (Tafsir of Tabari).

"Umar said, I heard Hisam b. Hukaim reciting Surat al Furqan and listened to his recital. On observing that he was reading many forms which the Prophet had not taught me, I all but rushed upon him as he prayed. But I waited patiently as he continued, and, collaring him when he had finished, I asked him, 'Who taught you to recite this Sura?' He claimed that the Prophet had taught him. I said, 'By God! you're lying!' I dragged him to the Prophet telling him that I had heard Hisam recite many forms he had not taught me. The Prophet said, 'Let him go. Recite, Hisam.' He recited the reading I had already heard from him. The Prophet said, 'That is how it was revealed.' He then said, 'Recite, Umar', and I recited what he had taught me. He said, 'That's right. That is how it was revealed. This Qur'an was revealed in seven forms, so recite what is easiest.' "(Tafsir of Tabari). (See also Mishkat vol.III pp. 702-705). Also, Al Baizawi (in his commentary on Suras 3:100, 6:91, 19:35, 28:48, 33:6, 34:18, 38:22, etc.) suggests variations extant in his time. (Mizanu'l Haqq, page 261).

Scientific blunders in the Qur'an (Koran):

The Qur'an claims to be free from internal discrepancies. "Will they not then ponder on the Qur'an? If it had been from other than Allah they would have found therein much incongruity." (Noble Qur'an Surah 4:82) Surely, nothing less than perfect is expected from God. But, let's go on a journey through the Qur'an and peek at the evidence against this claim.

Islamic scholars in Egypt and Saudi Arabia agree with Muhammad, that lightning and thunder are two angels. Muhammad, the prophet of Muslims, claims that the thunder and the lightning are two of God’s angels—exactly like Gabriel! Baydawi comments on verse 13 of the chapter of the Thunder in the Qur'an:

"Ibn Abbas asked the apostle of God about the thunder. He told him, ‘It is an angel who is in charge of the cloud, who (carries) with him swindles of fire by which he drives the clouds."’

The Qur'an teaches that the world is flat. This doctrine is believed by a great many Islamic scholars even today. The Jewish/Christian Bible revealed that the earth is round in Isaiah 40:22 and via Job (26:7). Speaking of God in Isaiah 40:22, the Jewish/Christian Bible says; "It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Funny isn't it, that the Bible said the earth was a "circle", even when everyone believed the earth was flat". Job 26:7 says, "He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing".

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