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Ignorance and Violence: Quest For The Truth

by Anor Azhak

550 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #01-0412; ISBN 1-55369-010-9; US$40.50, C$46.00, EUR33.50, £23.50

Critical analysis of the three major religions - Islam, Judaism and Christianity. "This book will change forever the way you look at religion. It will show you the path to the truth which will set you free."

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About the book      About the author      Sample excerpt      Catalogue info

About the Book This book is an attempt to raise questions and to give answers with reference to God's own discourse, contrasting that with the commentaries of interpreters, demonstrating how there are light years between the former and the latter.

About the Author Born in the village of Kunetra in the Golan Heights in 1947, the author's early years were spent in his grandmother's village nearby where religion played an important part in everyday life. His family moved to Damascus when he was a young boy. There his performance in school was erratic, somtimes top and sometimes at the bottom of the class. Even then, religion held his interest and attention, as he would spend days and days in places of worship. Anor was full of questions but did not find many answers that made sense to him. In retrospect, the author feels that his deep desire to find these answers has been the main force shaping his life. Anor Azhak emigrated to the US at the age of 18 to avoid being drafted into the army, which was in conflict with one of the many beliefs he still holds. Unfortunately, moving away put great strains on his potential for obtaining an education that he felt very capable of accomplishing. However, while he does not have a degree from a recognized institution, that never hindered his quest for answers. Here in the land of opportunity, like many, he had to work hard to earn a living. Fortunately, after 20 years of hard work in the construction business, he was able to retire at the age of 40 and devote all his time to the writing of this book. The author's journey to find the truth began nearly 25 years ago. It began merely by gathering thoughts and putting them on paper. Added to endless nights of reading, research and investigation, he began to see a purpose and felt the obligation to continue what he had begun. Azhak has visited and discussed his ideas with scholars all over the world, only to find that most were opposed to his non-mainstream ideas. Yet, he has not met with any scholar who has been able to prove his research wrong. Fortunately, some scholars responded well to his research and are anxiously waiting to see what his research and studies show. Gradually he began to find answers to those questions that had always puzzled him. Christ said, "The truth will set you free,". Azhak wishes to share those truths he has found with everyone so that they may be set free. This is why he decided to write this book.

Chapter One

AN EXHORTATION

I call you all, people of the world ... You live in two stagnant quagmires, in steep abysses of darkness; and it is from these two quagmires that man's misery emerges. The two quagmires are:

1- A gross ignorance that spreads among all mankind, from east to west, from north to south.

2- Tyranny that weighs humanity down, forcing it to grope in black darkness.

We learn the above from what the Almighty says about man, "We offered the trust unto the heavens and the earth and the hills, but they shrank from bearing it and were afraid of it. And man assumed it. Lo! He has proved a tyrant and a fool" (XXXIII, 72).

Between these two poles man lives a wretched life of alienation from the kingdom of God. He oscillates between these two poles, inquiring dazedly about the source of his wretchedness, unable to find the gates to salvation and the courage to get out of his hell.

But is there a path out of the wilderness of ignorance and tyranny so that man may savour the bliss of free breathing? Is there a glowing light to which man may direct his steps in the same way as a moth is attracted to a burning light to plunge into it. True, the price of emerging from the quagmires is high and the burning it demands is scorching. Man will not emerge until he has sacrificed much that is dear to him, in order to merit the acceptance of God's doctrine: he will not emerge until he has risen above the considerations of property, family, ego and homeland.

And man will not emerge until he has abolished the law of the sword and money, and suppressed racial prejudices ...until he has renounced the law of the religious leader and whimsical legislation.

He will not emerge until he submits to the orders of God, eschewing the taghoot, not confronting him, not associating with him, nor accepting his course. The death of the taghoot, like his life, are a divine concern, while eschewing him is a human concern. Hence, man will not emerge from the quagmires until he distances himself from the taghoot's group, from those who hold the sword (i.e. adopt violent means), and from its supporters, even if they happen to be his kin, neighbours, elders or people. Not even a greeting should he exchange with them. It must be an utter and absolute avoidance, in both the positive sense and the negative sense. It is high price that you pay, but the craved objective is also valuable; only those who have tasted the burning and purging of the soul will appreciate its value.

The price charged for the emergence from injustice and ignorance is higher than any other price; it can only be realized by the man when he has modeled his life after the prophets', and only when he has deposited for its attaitnment self, property, family, race and fortune. Only God should be put up as your destination, O son of man, wherever you happen to be.

I address you all, human beings, each one of you ..

Your kings and rulers have enthroned themselves as gods on this earth... they have established themselves as your dominators as a wolf establishes its dominance over the sheep.. they have led you to slavery... It is time now that we throw off slavery, renouncing the tyrant who admits of no other god for people but himself... I have thrown off that slavery, and I urge every one to break free. Reflect on the lessons of history, delve into history, and see what it has to teach you..

People of the world, I accept God's word to be the criterion and measure to settle any dispute between you and me. I say this so that you do not say on the Day of Reckoning, "if we had only heard, or had understood, we would not have been the inhabitants of the Blaze."

O son of man!

Against whom do you propose to rebel..? Is it against the wolf..? Whom do you propose to kill..? Do you suppose that by killing the wolf you eliminate tyranny from the face of the earth..? Has God sanctioned for you the slaying of the wolf...? Is not the wolf there by the will of God? Can he perish but by the will of God? If we survey the lives of prophets one by one we shall not find that even one prophet killed one taghoot. And if we survey history from beginning to end we shall not find that the killing of the wolf helped in improving the condition of the sheep: Killing a wolf did not eradicate the institution of the wolf... History has not even for once tried the divine formula, the formula which all the prophets taught, in which the existence of the wolf is the natural consequence of the two quagmires of tyranny and ignorance, and in which the emergence of truth will set free every son of man, and will let the wolf live side by side with the sheep in peace in God's kingdom on earth... It is in this spirit that Christ has said: "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John, VIII, 31-32).

The truth he said, and not the sword. But what is truth...? And what is the way to truth?

When God created the sheep, he revealed the truth to him and concealed that from the eyes of the wolf, so that the sheep may be prepared to take his reward, the truth...

Truth is what all the prophets and messengers taught, not the stuff taught by preachers in mosques, synagogues and churches on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The clergymen of different religions are deluded and lead others to delusion; they do not see the way out of the hell humankind live in, and so they are divided into many conflicting sects. At a more basic level, however, they may be classified into only two groups, one group collaborating with the wolf, and employed by him, and the other group endeavouring to slay the wolf in order to replace him as the obeyed wolf in the earth.

We read in the Qur'an what the Almighty says: "Verily the messengers of our Lord did bring the truth" (VII, 43). But how can we get to that truth?

It is contained in sources borne on the backs of three donkeys, hidden by the Lord ... It is only he who attains maturity first that can be a leader in God's kingdom on the earth .. and he will gain his freedom...

In the present book I refer to God's Scriptures; I reread them to share with the reader the truth taught by our Lord's messengers, lest we be among the tyrant and ignorant, and lest we be supporters of the guilty.

By learning the truth we win our freedom and escape from slavery ... therefore I declare to you:

Injustice is to believe in the law of the wolf, or to take the wolf for a god to be worshipped.. Those who obeyed Saddam Hussein, as he drove his herds on Kuwait, wronged themselves, because they took Saddam for a god.. while he is not a god. They forgot the commands of God, the True God .. that a human spirit may not be killed without justification, that the Almighty ordains that we do not start hostilities, as God loves not the aggressors. We are not deceived by the slogan raised by Saddam 'God is the Greatest', for we know that he deals with others with the law of Pharaoh, who used to say, I know of no other god for you but myself...

Injust ice is failing to submit to the Almighty.. That is why Adam and his wife said, on failing to submit to the command of God: "Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If you forgive us not and have not mercy on us, surely we are of the lost" (VII, 23). When man is liberated of slavery to man he will have ridden himself of injustice, refusing to be a god, and refusing to take for god other than the Creator.

If we recall the law laid down by God, we find that the elimination of tyranny is a requisite for the establishment of God's kingdom of the earth. It is on this account that the Lord commands man to call other men to an agreement. The word 'agreement' as used in the following verse: "Come to an agreement between us and you: that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for Lords beside God" (III, 64), means that there will be no tyranny, no parties and no wolves. To put the stipulations of the verse succinctly, we find that the Almighty ordains:

1. That we worship none other than God, i.e. to obey none other than Him;

2. That we ascribe no partner unto Him, i.e. that the spiritual leaders are not partners of God;

3. That none of us shall take others for Lords beside God, i.e. that we do not form political parties that quarrel over controlling the sheep.

Parties, whether they call themselves national, Islamic, Zionist, secular, communist, or Christian, or any other designation, all share the same corrupt principles; they all share the rivalry for grabbing authority.

This is then God's law for abolishing injustice and establishing the kingdom of justice ... that there should be on the face of the earth no gods, no parties, no religions; that there should be only agreement among people, One Lord, He Who established the law, and human beings who submit to His government, working upon His law. It is in this spirit that Christ said, "he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him" (John, VIII, 29).

What at present takes place in the world * the veto right, Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic and the Party of the Brothers of Devils, no matter how different colours these take on, they will not change the truth of their being an embodiment of tyranny. The truth is expressed in the following verse, "whomsoever God guides, he is rightly guided, and whomsoever He leads astray, you will not find for him a protector to direct" (XVIII, 17).

The discourse of Pharaoh has been revived in the form of the atomic weaponry.. nations of the world have been divided into advanced nations and third world nations, and thus the word equity is foregotten; the hypocrites join forces in the UN. It is on this account that I denounce the nations of the earth and say: I disbelieve in your doctrines and say, 'My Lord is God'. Consequently, I decline to be in the service of the taghoots; and I wonder how you accept to work for him, after God has said, 'Choose not my enemy and your enemy for friends .." (LX, 1).

The sheep of the third world compare their lives to the lives of sheep in the advanced world and aspire to live under the wolves of the advanced world, while the latter are the more exploitative and the more like pharaoh.

The wolves of the advanced world say the same thing that their predecessor Pharaoh had said before, 'Who beats us for power, discipline, or style of life', and they impose their dominance and sway over the third world, its wolves and sheep ... and they arouse the sheep of the third world under such false slogans as human rights, democracy, and multi-parties; (the same false slogans adopted by the Rafah Party and the Ikhwan, no more truthful than asking an ass who it wants to have on its back.) In their turn the sheep of the third world have submitted to inducements of the advanced world after their eyes were dazzled with the glitter of the crown and sceptre of twentieth-century pharaoh.

The slogans of nationalism, the many hizbullahs, polit ical parties, democracy and human rights all do no more than embroiling nations in injurious situations; they are similar to a huge snare manipulated by a cunning hunter; this has been so in the past history, and it is still so up to the present day. But then, how did prophets face the tyranny of taghoots?

Moses said, "I will never be a partisan to the sinners" (XXVIII, 17).

God says, "I would never take those who lead others astray to be My supporters" (XVIII, 51).

He also addressed Moses and his brother Aaron with these words, "Keep to the straight path, and follow not the road of those who have no knowledge" (X, 89).

In the Bible we read that Christ said, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's" (Matthew, XXII, 21).

And he said, "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil" (Matthew, V, 39).

God also says, "Indeed, We sent forth among every nation a Messenger, saying: 'Serve you God, and eschew the taghoot,' " (XVI, 36).

That much concerning the first quagmire .. tyranny

As for the other quagmire, ignorance, it is when man cannot distinguish between religion and the religious leaders; between the call to revenge and cruelty raised by leaders and God's call to justice and kindness; between the leaders' call to taking ancestry, progeny, home, race, property, and selves for supporters even when they favour disbelief over belief and God's and His messengers' call. When a religious leader is employed by the taghoot, will he ever consider being inimical to him? How can one be hostile to the taghoot when he is an official in the ministry of religious affairs run by the taghoot? Nor can his joining a party intent on eliminating the taghoot be compatible with God's exhortation to avoid the taghoot and whatever contributes to the cause of tyranny and dictatorship. Indeed, God has made it explicit enough that the unbelievers take the taghoot for protector, "And the unbelievers - their protectors are idols" (II, 257).

The human experience has so far been lame, and it has not led man to realizing the difference between God's religion and that of the church, the synagogue and the mosque.

But on the Day of Judgement, man will find out the extent of his ignorance and folly.. He will say then, "Had we been wont to listen or have sense, we had not been among the dwellers in the flame" (LXVII, 10). He will perceive then the words of the scriptures as if he sees them and hears them for the first time. He will find that he has never reflected over those words, and his regret then will indeed be excessive.. He will realize then what made Isaiah say that the ass understands more than the Children of Israel;

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. (Isaiah, I, 3)

It is because man fell pray to ignorance when he failed to distinguish God's words, with their crystal clarity, from the misleading words.

The Children of Israel will know on that day the grossness of their ignorance, what they lost when they denied Christ who had been heralded in the scriptures and bypassed God's words as if they did not exist.. Man will know then why Jesus said that the children of religion would be cast in the outer darkness:

"But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew, VIII, 12). And indeed what darkness could be blacker than ignorance.

It is on this account that I denounce the Children of Israel and not because of their capture of a land or property: all land is God's, and all sovereignty is God's. It is because they denounced Jesus and hated him for no reason. Whoever denounces Jesus I denounce him; Christ's enemies are my enemies. As for churchmen, they have betrayed Christ in the same way that their predecessors betrayed him. All have abandoned him and run away.

O mankind!

Man has fallen between two brutal jaws, and they have resulted in tyranny and ignorance, the jaw of the kings and rulers of the world.. and the jaw of the spiritual leader and cleric... So where is the way out?

O mankind!

I proclaim in this book that I have the key... the key to entering God's kingdom.. the door to a narrow and difficult way and to the widest horizon, God's horizon. But before one can have possession of the key he needs to meet eight conditions, comprising what the prophets practised and what Christ taught.

O mankind!

Come on to me, my yoke is light..

Come on to an agreement between you and us: that we serve God alone, and do not take for partners of God our property, our lives, our children or our states. Come to the straight path by not taking each other for gods. I do not dream of a kingdom that spreads from the ocean to the gulf, because God's kingdom does not admit of borders... I offer instead my life, property, children, family, and nation to God, Lord of the worlds, the Almighty, the Exalted, Lord of the Great Throne...

O mankind!

I am completely free ... I have broken free of the game of the leader, the politician and the sword; I call you to savour the taste of freedom, the taste of life. I groped for my way in the dark, found the gate and opened it; I entered a kingdom that has no limits. I proclaim that so that you realize this and weigh it with the balance of God. If I call to something not advocated by Jesus and the Qur'an, you would be right to refuse to follow me. Those who decide to follow me must hold God to be superior to party, nation, child, wife, father, family, property and life... otherwise he will not have followed me...

If you find that my words are not in your Scripture it follows that I am calling you to hold me as your god. Therefore, if you find here what contradicts your Scripture, you should denounce me; but if it conforms to it, you must follow me.. I am pointing to you the straight path.. God's fast chord. My motto is the motto of Jesus Christ .. to spark a flame in each home until truth is distinguished from falsehood, until the wolf and the lamb live in God's kingdom side by side, not confused and not in hostility..

I cast my look around me and do not find the features of God's secure kingdom... I see the followers of Moses, Christ and Muhammad and the atheist are all either antagonistic to the wolf or employed by him, or else they are hatching secret plots to slay him. In all these cases they are conspiring with the wolf to devour the son of man .. The kingdom of Pharaoh collapsed without Moses' weapon; not even a stone or a stick was raised.

Christ advocated a war without weapons, and he pinpointed man's enemies when he said: "And a man's foes shall be they of his household" (Matthew, X, 36).

Just before this he had said: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law" (Matthew, X, 34-35). And I declare here that I am the first to accept the call to setting at variance man and man, father and son, man and his homeland, man and his family... So who is a follower of Christ?

Inheritance of the earth, the entire earth, will be ours, not just a specific territory...That is because God has promised his righteous believers from all corners of the earth that they will have inheritance of the earth.. It is in this spirit that Christ says, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit" (Matthew, VII, 15-17).

But we must learn about the landmarks of the road and the features of the divine map and the divine key.

O mankind!

I am calling you to denounce all that may turn to a source of tyranny and ignorance, to denounce all that may turn to a taghoot, to denounce the leader, the Pope, the archrabbi and the legislators of human rights.

I call you to God's book..

I call you to denounce our will and the will of those around us, as the prophets did to come under God's will. Let's listen again to Christ when he says, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" (Matthew, IV, 10).

And when he says, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven" (Matthew, VII, 21).

I call you to be masters in the earth, inheritors of the earth, by being God's servants, never contradicting His will.

This is then my proclamation..

He who sacrifices himself will find it as a living soul; such people never taste death apart from the first death.

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