Ali Sina - Understanding Muhammad

Understanding Muhammad
As stated in the previous chapter, Muhammad severed his followers’
ties to their families in order to secure his absolute dominance over them.
He ordered his Meccan followers, who had immigrated to Medina, not to
contact their relatives back home. Despite his warnings, some of them did,
probably because they needed money for their sustenance. To stop this, he
dictated the following verse from his Allâh. 131
O you who believe! Take not my enemies and yours as friends (or protectors), -
offering them (your) love, even though they have rejected the Truth that has come to
you, and have (on the contrary) driven out the Prophet and yourselves (from your
homes), (simply) because you believe in Allâh your Lord! If you have come out to
strive in My Way and to seek My Good Pleasure, (take them not as friends), holding
secret converse of love (and friendship) with them: for I know full well all that you
conceal and all that you reveal. And any of you that do this has strayed from the
Straight Path. 132
We see this urge to alienate in a later verse too:
O you who believe! Take not for protectors your fathers and your brothers if they
love infidelity above Faith: if any of you do so, they do wrong. (Q. 9:23)
Why was Muhammad so keen to isolate his followers Vaknin
explains: “The narcissist is the guru at the centre of a cult. Like other
gurus, he demands complete obedience from his flock: his spouse, his
offspring, other family members, friends, and colleagues. He feels entitled
to adulation and special treatment by his followers. He punishes the
wayward and the straying lambs. He enforces discipline, adherence to his
teachings, and common goals. The less accomplished he is in reality – the
more stringent his mastery and the more pervasive the brainwashing.” 133
This was something Muhammad could not accomplish while his
followers still lived in Mecca, where they could, if things got tough, return
to their families. To isolate his followers, the cult leader often encloses
them in compounds where he can brainwash them and exert total control
131
The Qur’an can be tedious, and that is mainly why few Muslims have read it. However, at
the risk of boring my readers, in this chapter I will have to quote several Qur’anic verses as
evidence to support my portrait of Muhammad.
132
Qur’an, sura 60, Verse 1
133
http://samvak.tripod.com/journal79.html
86