RUTHFULLY YOURS

Islam operates by two powerful schemes: reward and punishment.  It mesmerizes the believer by its encyclopedic descriptions of Allah’s lush paradise that awaits the worthy faithful.  For the kefir and a not-so-true Muslim, the destination is Allah’s dreadful hell.

Muslim clergy tirelessly preach about these two locations with great success.  Fear of hell, for some, even out-muscles the attractions of paradise and works wonders in keeping the flock servile to the parasitic clergy.

A powerful, well honed scheme involves pol-e As-Sirāt (the footbridge of the path).  The kefirs, after they die, do not even get a chance to see if they can cross this footbridge; they go directly to Allah’s hell.  Yet all Muslims approach the footbridge.  The problem is in crossing it.  The preachers describe at great length how difficult it is to cross this bridge over the gorge of hell to the other side, where paradise is located.

A great majority of blindly faithful Muslims are either illiterate or semi-literate.  These people tend to take everything the charlatan preachers say as literal truth; many panic with fear and beg the preachers to tell them what they need do to cross that dreadful footbridge.  They become ripe for the picking.  The preachers, well trained con artists that they are, burden these simpletons with all kinds of well rehearsed fabricated demands to keep the flock in their pen.  The preachers say, for instance, that they must do this and they must do that to earn the good graces of Allah.  And when they die, Allah will commission two angels to hold them on both sides and safely transport them over the bridge.  Wayward Muslims, on the other hand, are all on their own and most likely will fall into the dreadful hell with their very first steps.

When asked about the mercy of Allah, since he is billed as the most merciful, can they count on his mercy to send them the helpful angel if they somehow, themselves, fail to live completely up to the standards of the faith?  The preachers have a pet response to that, too.  Allah’s mercy has limits.  You had best not to count on it too much.  He has already shown you his abundance of mercy by sending you his beloved messenger Muhammad.  Allah guides, and it is your duty to follow.  And if you are confused or in doubt about things, just go to the preachers.  They will clarify things for you and set you on the straight path.  The crafty preachers claim that they have spent their lives learning the intricacies of the faith, and it is their humble task to serve the believers.

This is one, and a rare one, claim of the Islamic clergy that has an element of truth to it.  In order to become a cleric of any rank, the aspiring candidate must commit himself, heart and soul, to the party dogma.  He should banish any and all independent thinking and pack his brain with what he is taught in the seminaries and spit it out, parrot-like.  This total blind adoption is the requisite for an aspiring preacher to make the grade.  If he is somewhat more literate and more ambitious, the individual will continue his “education” in more and more advanced seminaries via high-ranking clergy.  As he continues his training, he must prove his undying adherence and obedience to what he is taught.

At no time is the preacher-to-be, either during the course of his training or after assuming his congregation, allowed to deviate in the least in his preaching from the party line.  He is, however, given great latitude to embellish things to impress his parishioners and keep them as docile, obedient sheep.

There is no room for a maverick in the clergy system.  If a seminarian fails the rigorous test of blind obedience, he is castigated and expelled.  On occasion, some of these ambitious people strike out on their own and manage to gather small or even large numbers of followers.  It is through this process that Islam has fractioned into numberless sects, sub-sects, and schools.

The rigid indoctrination practiced in Islamic preacher factories is not too dissimilar from those prevalent in even secular learning institutions in the West.  A university’s professed aim is to educate and train – a transfer of knowledge to the young.  This transfer, however, can often take the form of indoctrination, particularly in fields such as social science and humanities.  Liberal-leaning professors dominate the staff at many universities.

These professors, knowingly and unknowingly, slant their lectures in favor of their personal preferences and influence the students along the same line and perception.  Radical departure from the professor’s line can result in serious adverse consequences for the student.  It seems that the loyal party line students are the ones who continue advancing with their education through the doctoral level, and in turn they become professors and indoctrinators of the next generation of students.

Being a good Muslim to attract the blessings of Allah and avoid his fury is a 24-7 business.  It is not good enough to simply comply with the five pillars of Islam.  Every detail of a Muslim’s life is rigidly and elaborately prescribed.  To lead life according to this complex and highly confusing prescription is beyond the capability of the lay believer.  That is why there are millions of professional clerics to walk the believer through the morass of Islam’s bewildering dos and don’ts – and across that much feared footbridge.