Allah's Hell - according to iERA's Abdurraheem Green

There has been a lot of discussion in this blog recently about whether Hell as described in the Qur'an should be taken as simply a metaphor or understood literally.
My contention has been that for the vast majority of Muslims and Islamic teachers and scholars, Hell is a very real place whose inhabitants can expect the most appalling torture imaginable (Allah being all-powerful and all-knowing can, after all, create the ultimate in pain)
I visited iERA (Islamic Education and Research Association) to see if they could help clarify matters. The founding member and chairman of iERA, Abdurraheem Green, is apparently in no doubt.
Here are some highlights of a lecture he has given on more than one occasion...(Please don't read if you have a weak stomach)

"Hell is a place where Allah will burn the skins of the people and then will recreate their skins and burn the skins again so that the people will taste the punishment. It is a place of heat, a place of pain, a place of suffering. The people will cry in agony [...] for a drink and they will be given a drink. It will be a boiling water that will scald their faces and burn their insides. And they will drink from a river that is made of the puss that flows out from the wounds of the people in the hell-fire. [...] The smallest punishment will be their brain will boil."

And so it goes on and on, the speaker seemingly taking great delight in the details.
This is not a metaphor for the iERA.
Nor, as far as I can tell, is it anything other than a terrifyingly real threat  for most scholars, imams or Muslims the world over.

Islam spread by the sword?

In a previous post I posed 10 questions to Allah. The second of these questions was this:  If Islam truly is the one true glorious faith, why did your Prophet and his followers need to spread it by the sword?  

A Muslim reader, Kat, said in response to the post that my question was based upon misinformation. Here I try to explain why I posed the question and why I believe it is a fair point to raise with Muslims.

I know that many Muslims share the opinion expressed, for example, by The way To Truth website (http://www.thewaytotruth.org/islam-humanity/rapidspreadofislam.html): “Islam’s rapid expansion, unequaled (sic) by any other religion, was due to its religious content and values… Many have sought to answer the questions of why the triumph of Islam was so speedy and complete? Why have so many millions embraced the religion of Islam and scarcely a hundred ever recanted?...Islam […] spread rapidly because of its tolerance.”

Now I don’t dispute that many of those who were conquered by the Muslims may have found Islam to be an inspiring faith and thought its followers cultured, spiritual and hence to be a good advert for this new faith. They may have thus converted willingly, I don’t know. But to suggest that Islam spread because it was a tolerant faith and that its amazingly speedy conquest was due purely to its religious content is surely nonsense. Are not these apologists forgetting the word "conquered"?  Do such apologists claim that the following eighty or so battles and wars were fought for nothing then, or that they were all purely defensive in nature?

·     623 - Battle of Waddan.623 - Battle of Safwan.623 - Battle of Dul-'Ashir.624 - Muhammad and converts begin raids on caravans to fund the movement.(624 - Zakat becomes mandatory).624 - Battle of Badr.624 - Battle of Bani Salim.624 - Battle of Eid-ul-Fitr and Zakat-ul-Fitr.624 - Battle of Bani Qainuqa'.624 - Battle of Sawiq.624 - Battle of Ghatfan.624 - Battle of Bahran.625 - Battle of Uhud; .625 - Battle of Humra-ul-Asad.625 - Battle of Banu Nudair.625 - Battle of Dhatur-Riqa.626 - Battle of Badru-Ukhra.626 - Battle of Dumatul-Jandal.626 - Battle of Banu Mustalaq Nikah.627 - Battle of the Trench.627 - Battle of Ahzab.627 - Battle of Bani uraiza.627 - Battle of Bani Lahyan.627 - Battle of Ghaiba.627 - Battle of Khaibar..630 - Muhammad conquers Mecca.630 - Battle of Hunsin.630 - Battle of Tabuk.(632 - Muhammad dies).632 - Abu-Bakr, Muhammad's father-in-law, along with Umar, begin a military move to enforce Islam in Arabia.633 - Battle at Oman.633 - Battle at Hadramaut.633 - Battle of Kazima.633 - Battle of Walaja.633 - Battle of Ulleis.633 - Battle of Anbar.634 - Battle of Basra.634 - Battle of Damascus.634 - Battle of Ajnadin.(634 - Death of Hadrat Abu Bakr. Hadrat Umar Farooq becomes the Caliph).634 - Battle of Namaraq.634 - Battle of Saqatia.635 - Battle of Bridge.635 - Battle of Buwaib.635 - Conquest of Damascus.635 - Battle of Fahl.636 - Battle of Yermuk.636 - Battle of Qadsiyia.636 - Conquest of Madain.637 - Battle of Jalula.638 - Battle of Yarmouk.638 - The Muslims defeat the Romans and enter Jerusalem.638 - Conquest of Jazirah.639 - Conquest of Khuizistan and movement into Egypt.641 - Battle of Nihawand.642 - Battle of Rayy in Persia.643 - Conquest of Azarbaijan.644 - Conquest of Fars.644 - Conquest of Kharan.(644 - Umar is murdered.  Othman becomes the Caliph).647 - Conquest of the island of Cypress.(644 - Uman dies and is succeeded by Caliph Uthman).648 - Campaign against the Byzantines.651 - Naval battle against the Byzantines.654 - Islam spreads into North Africa.(656 - Uthman is murdered.  Ali become Caliph).658 - Battle of Nahrawan.659 - Conquest of Egypt.661 –( Ali is murdered).662 - Egypt falls to Islam rule.666 - Sicily is attacked by Muslims.677 - Siege of Constantinople.687 - Battle of Kufa.691 - Battle of Deir ul Jaliq..700 - Military campaigns in North Africa.702 - Battle of Deir ul Jamira.711 - Muslims invade Gibraltar.711 - Conquest of Spain.713 - Conquest of Multan.716 - Invasion of Constantinople.732 - Battle of Tours in France.740 - Battle of the Nobles.741 - Battle of Bagdoura in North Africa.744 - Battle of Ain al Jurr.746 - Battle of Rupar Thutha.748 - Battle of Rayy.749 - Battle of lsfahan.749 - Battle of Nihawand.750 - Battle of Zab.772 - Battle of Janbi in North Africa. 777 - Battle of Saragossa in Spain. 

So my question remains. If Islam is so self-evidently the way of God, why should it have required so much bloodshed to spread? Is this the way for a religion of peace to establish itself? 
I'm not a Christian, but the very early spread of Christianity is surely an interesting comparator.

Iran, the Gospel of Barnabus and the collapse of Christianity

"News" of the infamous Gospel of Barnabus has has surfaced again and is being reported in such esteemed organs as The Daily Mail . I posted some time ago about the background to this fake Gospel and how Islamic sites get over-excited whenever it's mentioned.
The latest re-hash seems to be exactly that - a recycling of a story that was first published in the Mail in February.
Even by the standards of lazy DM journalism, this really does beggar belief! Do they think the attention span of their readers is so short that they won't cotton on to the fact that they're reading a 5 month old story? Actually, don't answer that.

10 Questions for Allah

1.       How do you explain the contradiction of claiming to be “the most merciful of all who are merciful” whilst at the same time promising an eternity of excruciating agony for those who refuse to believe in you?

2.        If Islam truly is the one true glorious faith, why did your Prophet and his followers need to spread it by the sword?  

3.       Why is Paradise seemingly designed for those who have lived in the heat of the desert (shade and cool streams)? Shouldn’t Paradise appeal to all your creation, even those who have lived their lives in colder climes?

4.      And talking of Paradise, why do you promise us sex with big-breasted virgins and endless wine?  Shouldn’t Paradise be more spiritual? (and appeal to the girls as well?!)

5.      Why do you insist on talking to solitary men in the desert?

6.      Why did you make one city Holy for three religions? Didn’t you foresee the trouble it would cause…of course you did, being omnipotent. ..

7.     Why did you allow the Pentateuch and the Christian Bible to be “corrupted”? If you managed to keep the Qur’an as it was intended, surely you could have looked after your previous two messages to mankind.

8.     Why choose a people (the Jews) above all the other peoples of the world when such favouritism was bound to cause problems, and you knew they were going to mess it up (being omnipotent an’ all)?

9.     If you wanted to put signs in the Qur’an so we could be sure it was from you, why choose science that was already known at the time of the revelation?

10  Why did you perfect evolution but not use it for humans (even though you cleverly left signs in our bodies to strongly suggest we evolved, thus encouraging us to doubt your word about Adam and Eve and thus consign us to Hell?

"Put the LGBT people in concentration camps to die" says representative of loving, merciful God.

A North Carolina pastor has shown that whatever Islam can do, Christians can do even better! (They have, after all, had an extra 600 years to perfect their brainless, knee-jerk homophobia). From Rawstory.com 

Pastor Charles Worley of the Providence Road Baptist Church in North Carolina recently told his congregation that LGBT individuals should be rounded up and detained in camps until they’re all dead.
During a sermon on May 13, Worley berated President Barack Obama for claiming that same sex couples should be allowed to marry.
“The Bible is against it, God is against it, I’m against it and if you’ve got any sense you’re against it,” he said. “I figured a way out to get rid of all the lesbians and queers. But it isn’t going to pass in Congress. Build a great, big, large fence — 150 or 100 mile long — put all the lesbians in there. Fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals, and have that fence electrified so they can’t get out, feed em, and you know what, in a few years, they’ll die out. You know why? They can’t reproduce!”

Don't it make your heart soar at the majesty of God's work on earth?

Liam Neeson - Islam's latest "shleb" target.

Brothers and sisters, listen carefully. I shall say this only 763 times on numerous sites dotted around the web. We have a new target in our sites. And this one is a biggie. If we can hook this fella, we can forget Tony Blair's  sister-in-law, Jack Straw's son,  Yvonne Ridley and even Cat Stevens. This will be global! - it's Qui-Gon Jinn! (come on, you know...Star Wars?!), ok...Oskar Schindler! er..(ironically) Aslan! Yes, that's right - the "smouldering" Irish born Catholic mega star, 69th in Empire magazine's list (1997) of the greatest movie stars of all time  - none other than Liam Neeson! Yes, brother Liam has been touched by the call to prayer and has even been reported as reading the Qur'an! As reverts go, this is Premiership, no... this is Champions League! 
Please message brother Liam and tell him why Islam is the one true faith and how he'll have a great time with the brothers an' sisters. (I don't need to remind you all, of course, to keep certain things to yourselves, do I?...Namely: there's no need to tell him about what the Prophet ordered we should do to him should he change his mind after joining our happy throng. I also think we won't mention what we think about gays - Hollywood being Hollywood and all that. Oh, and perhaps keep quiet about that business of turning Jews into pigs and apes - Hollywood being Hollywood and all that.


Oh soo very satirical, Spinoza. You don't really think Islam is so desperate for celebrity converts they'd do something as crass as that, do you? 

He heard the adhan in Turkey - He is reading Quran - He has been listening to the dawah.

Now it is time to really take it up to another level.

Let's get serious Liam Neeson. You are considering swapping his Catholic faith for Islam, OK?

Please read what we are all saying to you (bottom of page) and then tell us what you think (inshallah - God Willing)...

I'm afraid so...Do please pop along to Islamnewsroom.com to see the latest twitter campaign.

iERA Seeds of change - irony-free zone

iERA (Islamic Education and Research Association) is hosting an international women's conference this Sunday. Entitled Seeds of Change, the conference calls for the Muslim sisters to be the best of womankind. I'm not sure, however, that their choice of key note lecturers is  a particularly  wise one.
Among the inspiring speakers will be the (morally? but certainly financially) bankrupt sister-in-law of the blessed Tony, Lauren Booth. She is represented by this liberating picture...

This is presumably to stop the male visitors to iERA getting over-excited by a photo of A REAL WOMAN,  since the male speakers are all represented by old-fashioned fleshy photos.
The webpage also includes a video opened by our old friend, Hamza Tzortzis. In the video he tells the ladies not to be to be "shackled to a social construct or social consensus" but rather to enslave themselves to Allah.  All good stuff. "Free yourselves from the slavery of trying to be like men", continues Hamza. (Well they've certainly managed it with the photos...)
This is then followed by another six videos, all telling the ladies they must attend to become free.
And do you know something?
Not one, not a single one of those videos produced by the good MEN of iERA is presented by a WOMAN.
iERA are so far removed from reality that they apparently genuinely believe that a supposedly feminist conference ought to be introduced and explained to the sisters by MEN.

Well done iERA. You've shot yourselves in the foot ... again.