41- I am a Muslim who, after reading your articles, am having some doubts.  The only thing that is hindering me from apostasizing is the fear of hell.

Everything that Muhammad said is proven to be a mistake. Read about the errors of Quran in my site. This proves that Muhammad was not a messenger of God. He was a narcissist and a psychopath who manipulated ignorant people of Arabia with his lies so they could kill others loot and make him powerful. How can the creator of this universe be so petty and ruthless to put people in hell and torture them for eternity for not believing in him? Why he should even care that a bunch of naked apes in the planet Earth believe in him or not? Just envision the size of this universe and ask yourself could possibly the creator of this magnificent universe be so sadistic? 

No my friend, Muhammad lied in everything he said. This is obvious when you see how many mistakes he made in Quran. So you can be more than sure that he lied also about Hell. But it worked. Many people throughout the centuries believed in his lies and feared to question his authority. Therefore this sick man maintained his dominance on the mind of the gullible for 1400 years. 

Do not allow a fear mongering psychopath dictate your life. Read the Quran and see for yourself that Islam is not a religion of God.     

42

Could you explain what is evolution and why everything happens at its pace as we so rightly see in our everyday lives?  To elaborate further - the birth process, the death process, why do we eat & drink, why do we fall ill and equally, why and how are we cured and where does the cure come from???

Your questions are philosophical and I am not a philosopher so my answer is “I don’t know!” 

However, I am quite intrigued by the questions and would like to expend some thought on them and share those thoughts with you. Of course I could be wrong. 

Evolution is a fact not a theory. Strangely, even in this day of science and knowledge there is no want of people who believe in fables such as creation. In an article “Chance or Intelligence” I explained how evolution takes place. The nature makes simple building blocks and those blocks form more complex blocks that in their turn jointly form yet even more complex and structured organisms. So the evolution takes place in steps, through trial and error and no maker or creator is needed. Zillions of chemical reactions take place each second, only one or a few of them succeed. But the sheer mind-boggling number of these reactions makes the successes innumerable. Please take spare a few minutes of time and read that article.

The question is: what is success and what is failure? Why things happen this way? Why when hydrogen and oxygen combine they produce water?  Why the water should always go downhill? Why the Earth rotates around the Sun? How organisms are born, grow and die? The answer to these profound questions amazingly is very simple. There is a natural law in place and all things in this universe abide by it. I call this the Single Principle. The Single Principle is the principle of evolution. It is HOW things become, how they work, how they interact, how they come to be and how they cease to be. The Single Principle is HOW and everything else is WHAT. You, I, this planet, and the entire universe are WHAT. We are things, we are beings and all beings are subject to change. We are becoming, evolving, are born, grow and die. We are all subject to a law. That law is the Single Principle underlying the creation. I have explained this subject a little bit more in detail in an article that called "Life Beyond and The Single Principle".

43

As a Muslim woman I cannot pretend to agree with your assertion that Islam is full of lies and against women.  Let it be known, that in the Bible Eve was blamed for Adams downfall.  Let it be known, that I Corinthians asserts that the man is the head of the woman and that a woman who walks within the church with her head uncovered is to be full of shame.  Let it be known that in ICorinthians as well a man is the reflection of God while the women is merely the reflection of man.  

As for your views about the rights of women in other religions, I agree with you but that does not lessen or justify the inhumane treatment of women in Islam. Who is saying women should be treated the way Bible says? Though women in Christianity and Judaism are treated much more humanely than in Islam these religions denigrate women. As a woman you may have accepted that you are "deficient in intelligence" as Muhammad said, be happy to have half of the rights of a man, obey your husband and be beaten by him, but as a father I do not wish my daughter to be treated in this way.

44

Before westerners assault Islam, lets look at their statistics.  The number of women raped, abused and discarded.  

Yes women are raped and abused also in the West, but this number is at least 100 times more in Islamic countries. When a woman is raped in the West the rapist will be prosecuted severely. In Islamic countries women who are raped become a shame to their families and often are murdered by their own relatives to restore the honor of the family. In Islamic countries women are also raped by their own close relatives like their brothers and fathers. But they are afraid to speak about it because they know this would mean death for them. 

In the West some men abuse their wives. But the law is on the side of the battered women and there are shelters and protections for them as well as restrictions and punishment for the abusive husband. In Islamic countries women have no right whatsoever. They can be beaten by their husbands and they cannot even seek divorce. The Husband can re-marry to a younger woman and abandon his older wife abusing her emotionally, sexually (by avoiding to sleep with her as he has now a younger woman), verbally and even physically. These are all Allah given rights of men ( Q.4:34) 

45

The way that women's bodies are viewed as commodities changing as the current fashion trend dictates.  The number of eating disorders, the huge diet industry and even larger beauty industry as women fight to be something that they can never achieve.  Why are most corporate CEO's men, most managers--why are women still not given equal pay in the land of the free and the home of the brave?  I am not saying that some Islamic countries are not full of problems but let's not close our eyes to the problems of the western world.

The fact that women are used in advertising is not a denigration of women. Women are beautiful and they attract the attention. So their image is used to attract the attention. This in no ways denigrates women. It just proves that they are more attractive than men and that is something to be proud of. Flowers are used for decoration and to beautify the ambiance. Does that mean that flowers are of no value on their own?  Jewels and Beautiful  precious stones are used for adornment and attract the attention, does this indicate that Jewels are cheap? It is a pity that in Islam the beauty is considered to be a shame that must be concealed. 

Also men try to dress up, shave and be seen nicely. Does this lower their status? Are sloppy ugly men more respected than well trimmed clean-shaven handsome men? Why then you believe beautiful attractive women are not respected? This is an absurdity. There are many women who are extremely attractive and well dressed who are in key positions in politics, in business and in professional life as doctors, engineers, lawyers, scientists, news anchors and producers, etc. that demand respect by their personality. Who said a woman should hide her beauty in a baggy cloth to be respected? This is nonsense and the opposite is true. Women who dress up in Islamic hijab are often seen as ignorant fanatics and potential terrorists. Who would respect a woman who has no respect for herself? A woman who believes in Muhammad must agree that she is deficient in intelligence as the Prophet reiterated. She must agree that she is inferior to men as Quran says and that she deserves to be punished and beaten by her husband. How can anyone respect a woman who has such low self esteem?  

I recall in old books usually the publisher used to insert a page of typos that the reader had to correct before reading the book. Once I questioned a Muslim who was defending circumcision to explain whether in his view God has make a mistake in the design of human genitals that he is asking people to correct it. Despite my repeated insistence this gentleman did not answer my question. I ask you a similar question, “Do you believe beauty is something shameful that need to be covered? If so why God created it?

Islam’s values are very twisted. Muslims despise beauty but they praise violence against women In fact Muhammad prescribes domestic violence as a legitimate form of conflict resolution. (See Q.4:34). In this verse Muhammad says men are superior to women and they have the right to scourge their wives. In Islam it is a shame for a woman to speak with a man alone but according to Quran it is okay to attack a non-Muslim nation capture the married women and rape them. (Q.4:3)  Islam prescribes hijab for Muslim woman and rape of non-Muslim women. Does any sane person accept this kind of morality? 

Do you know wherefrom the injunction of veiling in Islam come from? It comes from the fact that Muhammad in his old age accumulated a harem of a score of teenagers who where the most beautiful women around. He knew that if young men lay eyes on his numerous wives they would desire them. That is why he ordered them to cover themselves. Muhammad was a narcissist jealous man. He was sick. Is it fair that millions of women suffer under the veil because they follow a mentally sick man? Muhammad's jealousy is clear from his possessiveness. He prohibited his teenager wives to remarry even after he dies. This is the sign of his psychological disturbance. Muhammad was a narcissist.  

As for the problem of eating disorder, please know that the solution to this problem is not hijab. 

You complained “Why are most corporate CEOs are men”. Know that in the secular societies of the West, there is nothing that stop a woman to become a CEO. As a matter of fact the number of women in top positions is on the rise. But look at Islamic countries where Sharia is practiced. Tell me how many women are in top positions there? It seems that you deliberately have closed your eyes least you see the truth and wake up from your slumber.

If all this humiliation that Muhammad has bestowed upon women is to your liking, you have found the right religion. There is no other religion, Philosophy or ideology today that disgraces women more than Islam. As for me I want to create a world where men and women are equal and that is possible only in a secular and democratic society not in a religious society.

Why hide this much beauty? What is so shameful about God's handiwork that has to be covered? 

An Afghan widow smiles after lifting her burqa in the United Nations World Food Program bakery in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2001. About 350 widows, identified as the most vulnerable group in the city, received two cans of oil and two sacks of wheat from the United States Agency for International Development. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)