"And as for the Poets - the Deviators Follow them." (Quran 26:224)

Published in December 2, 2017

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

Introduction:

 We have received this message via email, and we quote part of it here followed by our reply: (... Nowadays, we hear much about some clergymen declaring poets as infidels/disbelievers/apostates because they use metaphorical language in poems and songs' lyrics that sometimes contain what appears to be "blasphemies"; e.g., to say they adore and worship the beloved, to say they go to Hell to seek the beloved, to say the poet is like a deity free to say whatever he wants, or to say God is 'dead' as per views of Nietzsche ... What do you think? Are such poets rejecters of Islam?! ...). We say that our detailed reply below revolves around two topics: poets and declaring others as infidels.

Firstly: about those blasphemous poets:

1- They are misguided and misguiding poets; we never judge people's intentions, but we, like other people, judge the statements/utterances. God's right is the most important one of all rights; we will be judged about this on the Last Day: have we supported or disowned those poets who insult God with their falsehoods?    

2- Those who follow those misguided and misguiding poets are turning themselves into misguided and misguiding persons; we personally never agree with any blasphemous words that insult the One Almighty God.

Secondly: between devilish/Satanist revelations to imams of misguidance and the devils' inspiration of poets

1- By the end of the Quranic Chapter 26, titled "The Poets", God says the following: "Shall I inform you upon whom the devils descend? They descend upon every sinful liar. They give ear, and most of them are liars. And as for the poets-the deviators follow them. Do you not see how they ramble in every style? And how they say what they do not do?  Except for those who believe, and do good deeds, and remember God frequently, and defend themselves after they are wronged. As for those who commit injustices, they will know by what overturning they will be overturned." (26:221-227)

2- There is what people call the poets' inspiration or muses, and in the Arab culture, this is called (the devil of poetry); this has nothing to do with devils mentioned in 26:221-227 to inspire  false narratives/hadiths to human inveterate, sinful liars who ascribe such falsehoods to God and Muhammad, while claiming them to be 'divine' revelation. 

3- God says the following about the Quran in Chapter 26 before the verses we have quoted: "It is a revelation from the Lord of the Worlds. The Honest Spirit came down with it. Upon your heart, that you may be one of the warners." (26:192-194). Then God mentioned in 26:221-227 the inveterate, sinful liars while including sinful, lying poets, and excluding believing, truthful poets.

4- Hence, there are poets who never insult God with blasphemies in their poetry, and there are those poets who commit this sin.

5- We pose this question: could any poet insult this fake, imaginary god named by Sunnites as Muhammad, portrayed as a self-deified man in biographies, hadiths, and fiqh? This is the major, supreme deity for them (which has nothing to do with the mortal named Muhammad in the Quran), allegedly above God Himself, as they imagine that he would make God change His mind, through the myth of intercession/mediation, to remove certain persons from Hell to enter into Paradise. The Muhammadans make Allah a lesser God and Muhammad as their mighty god who controls the Last Day; let us remember that Muhammadans never praise and glorify the Lord when His Name is mentioned to them; in contrast, once Muhammad's name is mentioned to them, they praise him in every single time, as if an act of worship by venerating their deity.       

6- Within such a climate of polytheism, the Muhammadans never care about poets who insult God, because they never esteem God as He ought to be esteemed, and on the Last Day, there will appear to them from God what they never anticipated.

7- We pose another question: would any of those poets who insult God dare to compose a satirical poem about the Middle-East tyrannical rulers? Tyrants deserve to be insulted and satirized in all languages, in prose and poetry, but those poets never fear or believe in God, and they fear tyrants and compete with others in flattering tyrants and prostrating before them.  

Thirdly: the misguided poets are NOT the only misguided ones:

1- God rebukes Jews and Christians when they have claimed they were God's children and loved ones: "The Jews and the Christians say, "We are the children of God, and His beloved." Say, "Why then does He punish you for your sins?" In fact, you are humans from among those He created. He forgives whom He wills, and He punishes whom He wills. To God belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and what lies between them, and to Him is the return." (5:18). The same false claims are adopted by the Muhammadan Sufis in their false tenets such as (1) 'union' with God, (2) God manifests Himself inside their bodies, and (3) God is nature or the universe or both are part of Him. Praised be our Lord Allah higher above their false claims, of course.  

2- God says in the Quran hat Jews and Christians deify their clergymen beside God and that those clergymen steal people's money and repel people away from God's Path; this is now the case with the Muhammadans and the clergymen of their earthly religions: "They have taken their rabbis and their priests as deities beside God, as well as the Messiah son of Mary. Although they were commanded to worship none but The One God. There is no God except He. Glory be to Him; High above what they associate with Him. They want to extinguish God's light with their mouths, but God refuses except to complete His light, even though the disbelievers dislike it. It is He who sent His Messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth, in order to make it prevail over all religions, even though the polytheists dislike it. O you who believe! Many of the rabbis and priests consume people's wealth illicitly, and hinder from God's Path. Those who hoard gold and silver, and do not spend them in God's cause, inform them of a painful torment." (9:31-34). 

3- God urges the People of the Book to worship only Him without deifying mortals; the Muhammadans now in their earthly religions deify living and dead mortals (sheikhs, imams, etc.): "Say, "O People of the Book, come to terms common between us and you: that we worship none but God, and that we associate nothing with Him, and that none of us takes others as lords besides God." And if they turn away, say, "Bear witness that we have submitted."" (3:64).

4- The beginning of this polytheism is the same: to deify this or that prophet and inventing to him a false portrayal that contradict his real character as a mortal. For instance Christians have defied Jesus, and Jews of Arabia – at the time when the Quran was being revealed - had deified a mortal called Osir (who may be Osiris of the Pharaonic mythology). Likewise, the Muhammadans now in their earthly religions deify Muhammad and made up an imaginary mythical character of him as a god. This has led to the addition of several mortal deities/saints whose 'holy' mausoleums are being worshiped within thousands of festivals.       

5- Hence, the misguided ones among the Muhammadans in their earthly religions imitate the misguided ones among the People of the Book in falling in the same trap of polytheism: both deserve being cursed by God. The Muhammadans lie while reciting the Quranic Chapter One in their everyday prayers; they recite this verse: "It is You we worship, and upon You we call for help." (1:5), and yet, they worship other deities/saints: Muhammad, caliphs, imams, etc. Thus, the Muhammadans are never sincere when they recite this verse: "Guide us to the straight path." (1:6), as they follow indeed the route of the misguided ones who deserve God's wrath and curse. 

6- In sum, not only poets who insult God are misguided and misguiding, but also the vast majority of the People of the Book and the Muhammadans. The only remedy is using the Quranic method of defining what polytheism and disbelief are, so that they – the infidels and polytheists – may be guided and warned.  

Fourthly: about declaring others as infidels:

1- We repeat that declaring others as infidels is an essential and integral feature of calling others to embrace Islam; this is shared by all religions on earth within proselytization; yet, the difference lies in methodology and purpose.  

2- We mean to say that every religion on earth claim to monopolize the Truth and see other religions as false: "The Jews say, "The Christians are not based on anything;" and the Christians say, "The Jews are not based on anything." Yet they both read the Scripture. Similarly, the ignorant said the same thing. God will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection regarding their differences." (2:113). Jews and Christians in Arabia adopted the same stance toward Muhammad and deemed him as an infidel: "The Jews and the Christians will not approve of you, unless you follow their creed. Say, "God's guidance is the guidance." Should you follow their desires, after the knowledge that has come to you, you will have in God neither guardian nor helper." (2:120). At the same time, in the Quran, God declares those who deify Osir and Christ and those who adhere to the so-called 'trinity' as infidels/disbelievers.    

3- The Quran monopolizes the religious Truth: there is no God but Allah and other 'holy' books in religion authored by men are false, and here is no in-between or medial position in this issue, as we infer from this verse: "Such is God, your Lord-the True. What is there, beyond the Truth, except falsehood? How are you turned away?" (10:32). Likewise, Allah is the One True God, and other mortal an inanimate deities are false, as we infer from these verses: "That is because God is the Truth, and what they invoke besides Him is falsehood, and because God is the Sublime, the Grand." (22:62); "That is because God is the Truth, and what they worship besides Him is falsehood, and because God is the Exalted, the Supreme." (31:30); "That is because those who disbelieve follow falsehoods, while those who believe follow the Truth from their Lord. God thus cites for the people their examples." (47:3). The losers on the Last Day are those who followed falsehoods: "Say, "God suffices as witness between you and me. He knows everything in the heavens and the Earth. Those who believe in vanity and reject God-it is they who are the losers."" (29:52); "...Do they believe in falsehood, and reject the Bounty of God?" (29:67). God urges believers never to deify/sanctify things or people and to purify their hearts from polytheism by disbelieving in all deities so that they believe in Allah the Only One an True God: "Worship God, and ascribe no partners to Him..." (4:36); "...Whoever renounces falsehoods and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy handle; which does not break..." (2:256). Monotheistic faith, thus, entails deifying and sanctifying only God and to dedicate all acts of worship to Him 100%, as 99% dedicated to God and 1% to other(s) is sheer polytheism: "We sent down to you the Book with the Truth, so serve God, devoting your religion to Him. Is not to God that sincere faith is due? As for those who take guardians besides Him, "We only worship them that they may bring us nearer to God." God will judge between them regarding their differences. God does not guide the lying disbeliever." (39:2-3); "Say, "I was commanded to serve God, devoting my religion exclusively to Him." (39:11).

4- The Quran monopolizes the religious Truth; yet, no Quranist preachers claim they monopolize the Truth; their only mission is to proselytize Quranism as True Islam and then to announce their respect to choices made by others, while waiting for God's judgment of all human beings on the Last Day: " If you disbelieve, God is Independent of you, yet He does not approve disbelief on the part of His servants. And if you are thankful, He will approve that in you. No bearer of burden can bear the burden of another. Then to your Lord is your return; and He will inform you of what you used to do. He is aware of what the hearts contain." (39:7). God has made Muhammad declare the following to assert absolute religious freedom for all human beings, and the judgment of God regarding disputes and differences in faiths is postponed until the Last Day: "Say, "It is God I worship, devoting my religion to Him." "But you can worship whatever you wish besides Him."..." (39:14-15); "Say: "O my people, work according to your ability; and so will I. Then you will know. Who will receive a humiliating punishment, and on whom will fall a lasting torment." We sent down upon you the Book for the humankind in Truth. He who follows guidance does so for the good of his soul. And he who strays in error does so to its detriment. You are not their overseer." (39:39-41); "Say, "Our God, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of all secrets and declarations. You will judge between your servants regarding what they had differed about."" (39:46). Hence, no one is to impose inquisitions to those who have other religions so as to avoid the grave sin of self-deification.    

5- The Quranic way of declaring those who adopt/embrace certain deeds and notions as infidels is preaching and warning them in order to make them repent and get reformed to enter into Paradise; the Quran defines deeds/notions of disbelief and polytheism to be avoided. As for earthly religions which are based on coveting transient possessions and power, especially the Sunnite Wahabi one, declaring others as infidels leads inevitably either to persecution, incarceration, or getting killed: the aim is to annihilate people and not to reform them.