To: ChinuSFO who wrote (306 ) 6/17/2002 5:01:21 PM From: lorne Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 770 Chinu. The following is from the web site you recommended. In the words of Anwar Shaikh: "1. The Prophet declared that he was the best individual of all humans; the Koresh, his tribe were the best of all Arabian tribes and Arabs were the best of all nations. 2. For this purpose, he used the oldest Semitic device of revelation to declare himself a prophet, who is supposed to have no axe of his own to grind but does what he is told by God. 3. As the Jews had a national God called "Yahwe," the Prophet chose Allah, the Lord of Kaaba, an idol of his own tribe, and raised it to the dignity of the one supreme God. 4. The Prophet made Kaaba, the sacred shrine of the Arabs as the holiest place of Islam so that whoever believes in Islam must also acknowledge the greatness of Arabia and its people. 5. The Prophet Mohammed made Haj, i.e. pilgrimage to the Kaaba, an old pre-lslamic Arab rite, a basic tenet of his religion to impress upon foreign (non-Arab) Muslims the sanctity of Arabia, and create an everlasting source of income for the Arabs. 6. He insisted that God's covenant was not with Abraham and Isaac but with Abraham and Ishmael. It is universally known that Ishmael was the direct ancestor of the Arabs. Thus, one can clearly see that the purpose of Islam is glorification of the Arab nationalism. 7. The Kaaba serves a much greater national purpose of the Arabs than that which Jerusalem renders to the Jews or Rome to the Christians (Catholics). It is guardian of the Arab nationalism at the expense of the national conscience of the non-Arab Muslims who believe that they have no individual nationality of their own, and prefer to be called Muslims. Thus the Arabs have achieved the status of a nucleus whereas the non-Arab Muslims have gladly become their satellites in the hope of gaining paradise. It ought to be remembered that the Prophet shall not open the gates of paradise to those Moslems who are not friendly with the Arabs.