The Historical Record Proves It

Muhammad Mocked Idols, the Qur’an Insults Jews and Christians, Islamic Empires Enforced Dhimmi Humiliation, and Modern States Persecute Blasphemy While Engaging in It Against Others

Introduction: The Consistency of Contempt

Religions rise and fall on their texts, their founders, and their historical actions. Islam is no exception. Unlike religions that evolved over centuries, Islam’s foundational character is traceable from Muhammad’s words and deeds in 7th-century Arabia, through the Qur’an’s prescriptions, into the policies of Islamic empires, and down to modern state laws.

Four through-lines emerge:

  1. Muhammad openly mocked the gods of his opponents.

  2. The Qur’an itself insults Jews and Christians in uncompromising terms.

  3. Islamic empires institutionalized degradation of Jews and Christians under the dhimmi system.

  4. Modern Muslim-majority states persecute “blasphemy” ruthlessly, while their foundational texts themselves blaspheme against all non-Muslims.

This is not conjecture or polemic. It is written into the Qur’an, Hadith, legal codes, and historical records. To see Islam clearly, one must trace this trajectory without flinching.

1. Muhammad Mocked the Idols of Mecca

Qur’anic Polemic

The Qur’an contains dozens of passages deriding pre-Islamic Arabian gods. These were not respectful disagreements but outright ridicule.

Qur’an 21:66–67:
Arabic:
﴿قَالَ أَفَتَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا يَنفَعُكُمْ شَيْـًۭٔا وَلَا يَضُرُّكُمْ * أُفٍّۢ لَّكُمْ وَلِمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ﴾

English:
He said, “Do you worship besides Allah that which can neither benefit you nor harm you? Fie upon you and upon what you worship besides Allah! Do you not reason?”

This is not dialogue; it is mockery.

Qur’an 37:95–96:
Arabic:
﴿قَالَ أَتَعْبُدُونَ مَا تَنْحِتُونَ * وَٱللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ﴾

English:
He said, “Do you worship what you carve, while Allah created you and what you make?”

Here the Qur’an ridicules idol-making as self-defeating craftsmanship.

Hadith Record of Muhammad’s Mockery

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2476:
Arabic:
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَالَ: «قَدْ خَابَ مَنْ عَبَدَ الْوَثَنَ»

English:
Abū Hurayrah reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Failed indeed is the one who worships idols.”

Another report shows Muhammad calling the Ka‘bah idols “stones that can neither benefit nor harm.”

The point is clear: Muhammad did not respect others’ religious symbols. He scorned them.

Historical Case: The “Satanic Verses” and Retraction

Islamic tradition itself preserves the incident where Muhammad briefly acknowledged the Meccan goddesses al-Lāt, al-‘Uzzā, and Manāt as “exalted cranes” (gharānīq), before retracting and calling them “nothing but names.”

Qur’an 53:19–23:
Arabic:
﴿أَفَرَءَيْتُمُ ٱللَّـتَ وَٱلْعُزَّى * وَمَنَوٰةَ ٱلثَّالِثَةَ ٱلْأُخْرَى * أَلَكُمُ ٱلذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ ٱلْأُنثَى * تِلْكَ إِذًۭا قِسْمَةٌۭ ضِيزَى * إِنْ هِىَ إِلَّآ أَسْمَآءٌۭ سَمَّيْتُمُوهَآ أَنتُمْ وَءَابَآؤُكُم﴾

English:
Have you considered al-Lāt and al-‘Uzzā, and Manāt, the third, the other? For you the male, and for Him the female? That then is an unjust division. They are nothing but names you and your fathers invented.

Far from tolerance, this is ridicule packaged as revelation.

2. The Qur’an’s Insults Against Jews and Christians

Jews as “Apes and Pigs”

Qur’an 2:65:
Arabic:
﴿وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱعْتَدَوْا۟ مِنكُمْ فِى ٱلسَّبْتِ فَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا۟ قِرَدَةً خَـٰسِـِٔينَ﴾

English:
You surely know those of you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath, so We said to them: “Be apes, despised.”

Qur’an 5:60 repeats this with “apes and pigs.”

This is theological insult, not mere disagreement.

Christians Condemned as Blasphemers

Qur’an 5:72:
Arabic:
﴿لَّقَدْ كَفَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلْمَسِيحُ ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ﴾

English:
They have certainly disbelieved who say, “Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary.”

Qur’an 9:30 goes further:
Arabic:
﴿وَقَالَتِ ٱلْيَهُودُ عُزَيْرٌ ٱبْنُ ٱللَّهِ وَقَالَتِ ٱلنَّصَـٰرَى ٱلْمَسِيحُ ٱبْنُ ٱللَّهِ ذَٰلِكَ قَوْلُهُم بِأَفْوَٟهِهِمْ يُضَـٰهِـُٔونَ قَوْلَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِن قَبْلُ قَـٰتَلَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ أَنَّىٰ يُؤْفَكُونَ﴾

English:
The Jews say, “Ezra is the son of Allah,” and the Christians say, “The Messiah is the son of Allah.” That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before. May Allah fight them! How deluded they are.

This is not neutral. It is an explicit curse.

Hadith Confirmation

Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 177:
Arabic:
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَالَ: «لَا تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى تُقَاتِلُوا الْيَهُودَ، فَيَقُولُ الْحَجَرُ: يَا مُسْلِمُ، هَذَا يَهُودِيٌّ وَرَائِي فَاقْتُلْهُ»

English:
Abū Hurayrah reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The Hour will not come until you fight the Jews, until the stone says, ‘O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’”

This is genocidal language embedded in canonical Hadith.

3. Islamic Empires and the Humiliation of Dhimmis

The Pact of ‘Umar

The so-called Pact of ‘Umar (7th–9th c. CE), widely cited in Islamic legal manuals, imposed humiliating restrictions on Jews and Christians:

  • No new churches or synagogues.

  • Distinctive dress.

  • No riding horses, only donkeys.

  • No public display of crosses.

  • Payment of jizya with humiliation.

Qur’an 9:29 gave the foundation:
Arabic:
﴿قَاتِلُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَلَا بِٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ … حَتَّىٰ يُعْطُوا۟ ٱلْجِزْيَةَ عَن يَدٍۢ وَهُمْ صَـٰغِرُونَ﴾

English:
Fight those who do not believe in Allah nor the Last Day … until they pay the jizya with their own hands, while being humbled.

The phrase wa hum ṣāghirūn — “while being humiliated” — was codified into law.

Case Studies

  • 11th c. Cairo: Jews forced to wear bells around their necks under Caliph al-Hakim.

  • Ottoman Empire: Christians forbidden from carrying weapons, riding horses, or building tall houses.

  • Yemen (17th–19th c.): Jews subjected to orphans’ decree — Jewish orphans forcibly converted to Islam.

Hadith Enforcement

Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2167:
Arabic:
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: «لَا تَبْدَءُوا الْيَهُودَ وَلَا النَّصَارَى بِالسَّلَامِ، فَإِذَا لَقِيتُمُوهُمْ فِي طَرِيقٍ فَاضْطَرُّوهُمْ إِلَى أَضْيَقِهِ»

English:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Do not initiate greeting the Jews or Christians. If you meet them on the road, force them to its narrowest part.”

This is not tolerance. It is institutionalized humiliation.

4. Modern Muslim States and Blasphemy Laws

Pakistan: Death for “Insulting Muhammad”

Section 295-C of Pakistan’s Penal Code mandates death for blasphemy against Muhammad. Hundreds have been prosecuted, with mobs often killing suspects before trial.

Saudi Arabia: Systematic Suppression

Saudi Arabia criminalizes “apostasy” and “blasphemy,” with executions documented. Yet Saudi state media routinely ridicules Christianity and Judaism.

Iran: From Fatwas to Imprisonment

The 1989 fatwa against Salman Rushdie for The Satanic Verses was a direct application of Islamic blasphemy doctrine. To this day, Iranian law imposes death for apostasy and blasphemy.

The Hypocrisy Exposed

Muslim states enforce bans on “insults to Islam,” yet their own Qur’an and Hadith are openly blasphemous toward every other religion. By their own standards, the Qur’an itself would be banned.

Evidence vs. Apologetics

The pattern is undeniable:

  1. Muhammad mocked idols.

  2. The Qur’an insults Jews and Christians.

  3. Empires institutionalized humiliation of dhimmis.

  4. Modern states persecute blasphemy while practicing it.

Muslim apologists often argue these insults are “taken out of context.” But the context itself is hostility: revealed in war, codified in law, enforced for centuries, alive today.

Logical syllogism:

  • Premise 1: The Qur’an and Hadith command ridicule, curses, and subjugation of non-Muslims.

  • Premise 2: Islamic empires enforced these commands historically.

  • Premise 3: Modern Muslim states continue to apply them in blasphemy laws.

  • Conclusion: Islam as a system institutionalizes contempt, humiliation, and persecution of non-Muslims.

No rhetorical evasions change the record.

Conclusion: The Record Speaks

Islam’s trajectory is not one of tolerance betrayed by later actors. From Muhammad’s insults against idols, through the Qur’an’s curses against Jews and Christians, into the codified degradation of dhimmis, and now into modern blasphemy laws, the through-line is contempt for others.

The historical record proves it.

Bibliography

  • The Qur’an (Arabic text).

  • Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Sunan Abī Dāwūd.

  • Bat Ye’or, The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam (1985).

  • Mark R. Cohen, Under Crescent and Cross (1994).

  • Norman Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands (1979).

  • Patricia Crone & Michael Cook, Hagarism (1977).

  • Bernard Lewis, The Jews of Islam (1984).

Disclaimer

This post critiques Islam as an ideology, doctrine, and historical system—not Muslims as individuals. Every human deserves respect; beliefs do not. 

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