In the Spirit of the Gracious and Compassionate
Creator of the Heavens and the Earth
Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-1989), also known as Ayatollah Khomeini, Iranian politician, revolutionary, and cleric, was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. One of the quotes attributed to him (which may have come originally from Prophet Muhammad) is as follows:
“If one commits the act of sodomy with a cow, an ewe, or a camel, their urine and their excrements become impure, and even their milk may no longer be consumed. The animal must then be killed and as quickly as possible and burned.”
After I started reading the Qur’an (the original, in Arabic, starting in March 1977), I became increasingly aware that Muslims are not following the Qur’an and not following Muhammad. The break came 29 years after the death of Muhammad, when Muslim leadership (the caliph, or more properly “Khalifah”) fell into the hands of people who saw Muhammad’s mission as an opportunity for conquest and wealth. This led to a series of conquering dynasties — nations and empires, from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) in the west to India in the east, central Europe and Asia in the north to Nigeria and Sudan in the south. And, quite often, Muslim empires at war with other Muslim empires. All the while claiming to follow Muhammad, “the Messenger of Allah”. What happened to delivering the message? Oh! — What IS the message? (I only know how to say it in Arabic. Any attempt at translation is misleading.) “Laa ilaaha ill-Allah.”
Muhammad did not establish the practice of men walking around with titles (“imaam”, “sheikh”, “aayatollah”), dressing in some special costume (Muhammad dressed in a way that was indistinguishable from the people of his place and time), or building great temples (“mosques”, a mangled form of “masjid”, which simply means a place of “sajdah”, prostration, not necessarily a building).
Muhammad did not establish Islam. Not according to the Qur’an.
According to the Qur’an, “islaam” (the surrender of everything and everyone to the creator) is the nature of reality. Muhammad did not establish it, and it is not a religion. It is true, or it is not true. If it is not true, then those of us who believe it are simply mistaken.
I, for one, see the absolute consistency of the cosmos — from the vast super-clusters of galaxies to the tiniest neutrinos — as conclusive evidence of a single all-powerful creator (who, as a matter of historical fact, has been called “Allah” for thousands of years).
As for eating an animal that has been sodomized, I dislike eating chickens that have been abused. The chickens you buy from the supermarket have been abused. Creatures that have been abused have chemicals in their flesh — just as depressed people have different chemicals in their brains — and these chemicals are passed on to the people who eat them.
If a cow has been sodomized — and we live in a society with people who sodomize animals (not just in South Carolina) — its milk and its meat become a part of the general food supply. And we have no idea what we are eating and drinking. Would you knowingly drink the milk or eat the meat of a cow that has been sodomized? Is the advice of Khomeini or Muhammad so strange, once you think about it?
What is really strange to me is men walking around looking like a Walt Disney cartoon sorcerer, claiming to be walking in the footsteps of Muhammad, who dressed himself just like the other men of his time and place.
6 Safar 1442 / 14 Dhu-ul-Hijjah 1442
September 24, 2020 / July 14, 2021
Which Way Is Up? 