My answers to Prof J Peterson’s questions on Islam
My answers to Prof Jordan Peterson’s questions about Islam cited in his video:
https://youtu.be/WJ7wEO8m-uY
Issues:
1-Mixing of clergy with politics
2-Prophet as war lord
Answers :
1-This mixing was not there at the outset but happened due to corruption of Islam when dictatorship & kingship took hold after the first 4 Caliphs (rulers). There was a great internal war over ruling in which about 70,000 muslims were killed. The wrong side won and opened the door for power to corrupt religion by use of clergy for controlling the masses. Killing blasphemers was also introduced I think as a way to get rid of political opponents. Prior to that rulers were selected in a sort of democratic way and was called the khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate). After that it became family ran dynastic rule. People got turned into sheep to serve the rulers. This continued for most of the time and even till now. A new rebirth in Islam is needed and is currently going on, called Tajdeed ( renewal/ rebirth). The Saudi Wahabi school is the most ruler friendly school and completely corrupts any aspect of Islam for the benefit of the ruler. In Iran it’s a similar story. And people are still fooled by someone who wears a turban and a long beard that somehow they think becomes saintly. Those that expose this get branded apostates and are ready for prison/ killing. So we are still in our dark ages and are in the process of coming out. With social media this is growing fast but there has to be a major rebuild in the brains of the muslims so that we reconstruct our minds and see things differently ( the concept of born again ). I think Sufi thought is playing a powerful role in this because of its deep nature that penetrates into the soul.
2- War lord view of Prophet
The prophet Mohammed peace be upon him (pbuh) took part in many battles eg against the Meccans who were trying to quash his new religion and way of life and also against the two empires that were also unhappy that a new political authority was being established in an area close to their borders.
So it’s not that the prophet was out to start battles but the fact that he was viewed as a threat to the political authority of established orders, the first being his home town of Mecca. Once he established a political power base in Medina ( a city next to Mecca) the wars against him started. So it was about defending the new order that had been created rather than interfering in other counties. However when dynastic rule set in place the expansion also got corrupted and some rulers just wanted to invade to simply expand their empire and busy the masses with wars so they don’t remove the ruling elite from power. And I think this then led to painting the prophet (pbuh) as a man of war so that they can justify their illegitimate expansions. And as a result people today can be forgiven to think that Islam is about invading the world by force. And that its prophet is a war lord. But the reality in my view is that Islam was hijacked from early on and still is today. But that at the same time the movement to free it has started and we believe will be successful as it has been foretold by the prophet himself. The prophet (pbuh) said there would be these phases in the future of Islam.
So to summarise , how is it that prophets Jesus or Abraham or Moses (pbut) did not engage in battles whilst Muhamed did, its because prophet Mohammed was setting up a new type of political authority which then attracted attacks by those threatened by this ie neighbouring powers. But then one can ask why was the prophet out to create a new political power base? This I think is because his message is the final message to mankind from the creator and included a global world view of humanity and hence included the concept of an international state that is able to interact with the world to help protect justice and freedom for mankind. However it got hijacked early on and its good teachings corrupted. Prophet Jesus on the other hand was just sent to reform the Jews and wasn’t a global prophet like Mohammed pbuh. The Romans however took some of his teachings and merged it into their own. They also learnt that using religion one can easily control the masses and hence the church and clergy were used for those purposes and became agents of oppression. Same with the Pharisees at the time of Jesus (pbuh). They key concept is that it’s easy to trick the masses using religion. So Marx was indeed correct about it being a kind of opium. This is because the concepts in religion are powerful.
Regarding prophet Moses who was given permission to set up a state of Israel , fighting was involved with the inhabitants , and you have the story of David and Goliath which is a scene in a battle. But prophet Moses is not branded a war lord. But because prophet Mohammed is a threat to Christianity then he is painted differently and hence such brandings are common. But even the muslims corrupted his image unfortunately.
If you are reading these answers professor Jordan I hope they answer your questions satisfactorily. If not feel free to ask again.
Regards
Ali Twaij
Sufi Muslim thinker
https://youtu.be/WJ7wEO8m-uY
Issues:
1-Mixing of clergy with politics
2-Prophet as war lord
Answers :
1-This mixing was not there at the outset but happened due to corruption of Islam when dictatorship & kingship took hold after the first 4 Caliphs (rulers). There was a great internal war over ruling in which about 70,000 muslims were killed. The wrong side won and opened the door for power to corrupt religion by use of clergy for controlling the masses. Killing blasphemers was also introduced I think as a way to get rid of political opponents. Prior to that rulers were selected in a sort of democratic way and was called the khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate). After that it became family ran dynastic rule. People got turned into sheep to serve the rulers. This continued for most of the time and even till now. A new rebirth in Islam is needed and is currently going on, called Tajdeed ( renewal/ rebirth). The Saudi Wahabi school is the most ruler friendly school and completely corrupts any aspect of Islam for the benefit of the ruler. In Iran it’s a similar story. And people are still fooled by someone who wears a turban and a long beard that somehow they think becomes saintly. Those that expose this get branded apostates and are ready for prison/ killing. So we are still in our dark ages and are in the process of coming out. With social media this is growing fast but there has to be a major rebuild in the brains of the muslims so that we reconstruct our minds and see things differently ( the concept of born again ). I think Sufi thought is playing a powerful role in this because of its deep nature that penetrates into the soul.
2- War lord view of Prophet
The prophet Mohammed peace be upon him (pbuh) took part in many battles eg against the Meccans who were trying to quash his new religion and way of life and also against the two empires that were also unhappy that a new political authority was being established in an area close to their borders.
So it’s not that the prophet was out to start battles but the fact that he was viewed as a threat to the political authority of established orders, the first being his home town of Mecca. Once he established a political power base in Medina ( a city next to Mecca) the wars against him started. So it was about defending the new order that had been created rather than interfering in other counties. However when dynastic rule set in place the expansion also got corrupted and some rulers just wanted to invade to simply expand their empire and busy the masses with wars so they don’t remove the ruling elite from power. And I think this then led to painting the prophet (pbuh) as a man of war so that they can justify their illegitimate expansions. And as a result people today can be forgiven to think that Islam is about invading the world by force. And that its prophet is a war lord. But the reality in my view is that Islam was hijacked from early on and still is today. But that at the same time the movement to free it has started and we believe will be successful as it has been foretold by the prophet himself. The prophet (pbuh) said there would be these phases in the future of Islam.
So to summarise , how is it that prophets Jesus or Abraham or Moses (pbut) did not engage in battles whilst Muhamed did, its because prophet Mohammed was setting up a new type of political authority which then attracted attacks by those threatened by this ie neighbouring powers. But then one can ask why was the prophet out to create a new political power base? This I think is because his message is the final message to mankind from the creator and included a global world view of humanity and hence included the concept of an international state that is able to interact with the world to help protect justice and freedom for mankind. However it got hijacked early on and its good teachings corrupted. Prophet Jesus on the other hand was just sent to reform the Jews and wasn’t a global prophet like Mohammed pbuh. The Romans however took some of his teachings and merged it into their own. They also learnt that using religion one can easily control the masses and hence the church and clergy were used for those purposes and became agents of oppression. Same with the Pharisees at the time of Jesus (pbuh). They key concept is that it’s easy to trick the masses using religion. So Marx was indeed correct about it being a kind of opium. This is because the concepts in religion are powerful.
Regarding prophet Moses who was given permission to set up a state of Israel , fighting was involved with the inhabitants , and you have the story of David and Goliath which is a scene in a battle. But prophet Moses is not branded a war lord. But because prophet Mohammed is a threat to Christianity then he is painted differently and hence such brandings are common. But even the muslims corrupted his image unfortunately.
If you are reading these answers professor Jordan I hope they answer your questions satisfactorily. If not feel free to ask again.
Regards
Ali Twaij
Sufi Muslim thinker
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