[Rhodes22-list] OK, A little more on Islam

[M. Abdullah]

Howdy Folks,

Sorry for being so late in answereing some questions. I had a busy spell 
for a few weeks.  Below is a little more on my views on Islam. Am I a 
heretic? Yes, aren't all sailors? This is taken from 
/http://www.islamicreform.org/?manifesto/ if you are interested in 
seeing the entire thing. I hope many of you do. I think its quite good 
and there is lots more thatwhat I pasted below. I had input but its the 
work of many troubled muslim souls. That said, I agree with 99% of it. 
Read, enjoy, ponder, critizise, etc. or just go sailing. :-)

Happy sails,
Mike Abdullah


After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, a diabolic event happened. In 
direct contradiction to the teachings of the Quran, male clerics 
dedicated the religion not to God alone, but to a "holy" corporation 
consisting of:

    * God +
    * Muhammad +
    * Muhammad's companions +
    * The companions of Muhammad's companions +
    * Early sect leaders +
    * Late sect leaders +
    * Early scholars of a particular sect +
    * Late scholars of a particular sect, and so on.

The product of this corporation was the /hadith/ (teachings attributed 
to Muhammad), the /Sunna/ (actions attributed to Muhammad), the Ijma 
(consensus of a select group of early scholars), and the Sharia 
(religious decrees by early scholars). The result was numerous hostile 
factions that afflicted a great amount of division and atrocities in the 
land about thirty years after departure of Muhammad (6:159; 23:52-56). 
This concoction of medieval Arab/Christian/Jewish cultures was 
introduced to the masses as God's infallible religion, as delivered by 
the last prophet. The only thing actually delivered by God to Muhammad, 
however, was the text of the Holy Quran....

.... Under a very cruel theocratic state terror, many men mobilized to 
participate in the creation what we rightly call Hislam. They did not 
have much chance to add or subtract to what was considered The Quran, 
but there was a lot of room for innovations, superstitions, additions 
and distortions through fabricating /hadith/.