Boreal
Remembering Uzza
If Islam Was Explained to Me in a Pub
If It Was Only About Going Around in Circles
Uzza:
The battle for Medina is usually referred to as the Battle of the Ditch because
of a trench that was dug in six days on the flat approaches to the city[169].
This “ditch” completely stymied the Meccan forces. For two weeks an army of ten
thousand, which included a 300-horse cavalry unit, waited for their befuddled
commander Abu Sufyan to devise a strategy to overcome the obstacle and defeat an
army estimated at 3,000. He waited for two weeks before a windstorm forced his
troops, who were out in the open, to return to Mecca never to threaten the city
again[170].
Archie: Even if they could find 3,000 shovels for 3,000 men, which I doubt, they could not have, in six days, dug a ditch deep enough and wide enough that it could not be crossed with a little effort, or long enough that it could not be gotten around.
Uzza: That is the story that is told to school children. It is part of our history.
Archie: And who wrote these stories where the Muslims are constantly fighting superior forces who are unable to withstand their attack or finish them off?
Uzza: You must understand, until the Arabs as a nation under Islam became a force to be reckoned with and burst out of the Peninsula intent on making the world that of Allah, nobody paid any attention to commonplace skirmishes between tribes. These involved mostly posturing until the believers escalated them into violent confrontations.
Gerry: Surely the Prophet did not go unnoticed?
Uzza: At the time, Muhammad was just another doomsday prophet peddling a religion. That is how Mecca thrived, by appealing to every religion under the sun, inviting them to place a relic or an icon in a cube-like structure, the Ka'ba, to which pilgrims could come and pay homage. The Ka'ba became such a hit that, at the time of the Muslim conquest, there were at least 360 icons and relics in it including a statue of the Virgin Mary. The desire to invite everyone to worship at the Ka'ba spawned the religious months during which travellers to Mecca were inviolate, until Muhammad broke with this civilizing tradition.
Gerry: I think the history of the world would have been a lot less bloody if this civilizing influence of the Arabs before Islam had been allowed to spread.
Uzza: The Arabs before Islam were the most civilized people of their time[171], and that was reflected in their tolerance of the benign beliefs of others.
Archie: And profiting from them.
Uzza: Nothing wrong with that when everybody is happy with the arrangement, and they were coming in the tens of thousands every year, especially for the Hajj.
Bob: The Hajj was something people did before the Muslims?
Uzza: The first person to perform the Hajj was Adam.
Bob: Of Adam and Eve?
Uzza: Yes. God told Adam to go to this place in the desert, which He said was located directly below the most sacred place in Paradise, and to erect the structure we know today as the Ka'ba.
Archie: And around and around we go.
Uzza: What do you mean by that, Archie?
Archie: Look, for that sacred place in the sky to always be directly above the Ka’ba means that Paradise goes around in circles, performing a full rotation every twenty-four hours or so, as does the Earth.
Uzza: Not if a rotating Earth is all part of a grand illusion.
Archie: Now, why didn’t I think of that?
Bob: And where was Adam when Allah told him to build this Ka’ba thing?
Uzza: In a place we know today as Sri Lanka.
Archie: What the Hell was he doing there?
Uzza: That is where he landed when Allah threw him and Eve out of Paradise.
Bob: Eve was with him. They fell together. Makes sense.
Uzza: Eve landed about 3,000 miles east on the shore of the Red Sea about 100 miles from Mecca, which of course did not exist at the time.
Archie: HOW DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE ANY SENSE? Assuming that the Koran is right and Paradise is about five miles up; two people falling from that height would not land 3,000 miles apart, let alone survive the fall! [catching himself] What am I doing trying to make sense out of nonsense? Next thing you know they will be calling me an Islamic scholar.
Uzza: [starting to enjoy getting Archie's goat] I do not think anyone will ever mistake you for an Islamic scholar, Archie. Maybe if you grew a beard? [getting a bit drunk] How about another drink, you Islamic scholar you? So, who wants to hear the rest of the story of the Hajj and the Ka'ba?
Bob: I do.
Uzza: What about you, Gerry?
Gerry: I'd love to hear it.
Archie: Sure, why not.
Uzza: You are going love this, Archie. When Adam was thrown out of Paradise, he grabbed a stone.
Bob: I would have grabbed a parachute, myself.
Uzza: A large stone that he dragged all the way to Mecca where Eve was waiting[172].
Gerry: That means it was a woman who first disturbed the sands of Mecca; a woman founded Mecca.
Uzza: When you put it that way. But, it is the placement of the stone from Paradise that is associated with the founding of Mecca. It is as if Adam had planted Allah's flag when, after building the first Ka'ba, he made the stone its centerpiece and circled it seven times as the believers do today: counter clockwise, bowing up and down as Muhammad demonstrated.
Gerry: In things big and small, the reversal of right and wrong you mentioned earlier, the Prophet was very much the contrarian, wasn't he?
Uzza: Clockwise is how the pagans circled the Ka'ba. It was perhaps Muhammad's way of again putting Islam's imprint on a pagan tradition. This is, of course, if you are not convinced that he was simply demonstrating the way Adam first did it.
Bob: Is going in circles in opposite directions the only difference in the way the pagans and the believers do the Hajj?
Uzza: The Hajj before Islam was not the somber ritual you have today. It was more of a song and dance festival where you did your own thing. Some even circled the Ka'ba naked[173] and nobody minded until Muhammad put a stop to it. Allah described the pagan Hajj as "nothing but whistling and clapping"[174].
Bob: That’s my type of Hajj!
Uzza: The pagan Hajj could also be considered the first to perform the Thanksgiving tradition of sparing the lives of animals. Muhammad said that Al-Khuzai, who is credited with starting the custom of setting animals free at the Hajj before Muhammad put a stop to that as well, would spend an eternity dragging his intestines in Hell's fire[175].
Bob: Was the Prophet always that crude and cruel?
Uzza: When it came to describing what Allah would do to those who did not do as they were told, yes[176]!
Gerry: Did you do the Hajj?
Uzza: My father took me a few years ago. He wanted me to experience something he thought would be wonderful.
Gerry: And was it?
Uzza: Only if you like having your ass grabbed every time you bent down while going around in circles with a million other people.
Bob: You're kidding?
Uzza: It is next to impossible to segregate the sexes during the Hajj, therefore women and girls must silently submit, or risk being accused of arousing the males next to them, to the probing hands of men and boys who are not allowed to get so close to the opposite sex as during the Hajj, until they are married, and seek to understand with their hands what Islam has denied their eyes until their wedding night. I do not blame them. And it does not only happen at the Hajj.
Gerry: But you were with your father?
Uzza: Like I said, you are going around in circles squeezed in by a million or more people. He may have been close, but unless he looked up and sideways or backwards, which would have gotten him in serious trouble, he would not have seen the men crowding together to get at his daughter's behind[177].
Bob: What kind of trouble?
Uzza: Muhammad demonstrated how you did the Hajj as he demonstrated everything, from how you prayed and how you ate to how you clean yourself after answering the call of nature. Unless you did exactly as he demonstrated, especially anything that had to do with worshipping Allah, and I mean exactly, you risked serious injury, even death. One day, an old man decided he could not complete the prayers as Muhammad was demonstrating. Later that day he was executed as an unbeliever[178].
Gerry: Did you tell your father about the groping?
Uzza: Why, and spoil the Hajj for him?
Gerry: For your father, it was a good experience, then?
Uzza: My father was looking for a spiritual experience, and it was not. I do not know if it was the preachers shouting verses from the Koran as you made your way to different venues on stark concrete walkways, the unpicked garbage in large orange bags strewn about, the noise of animals being tortured to death, or the visit to perhaps the largest shopping mall in the world only a few hundred yards from what is supposed to be the holiest place on Earth, where someone stole his watch.
Bob: The Hajj is much more than just a pilgrimage then; it is a shopping destination?
Uzza: It is the Saudis combining the holy and the mercantile in Allah's and their Cause. Organizing the Hajj and the year-round lesser pilgrimages is an expensive proposition, not to mention funding the mosques and madrassas around the world that will generate the pilgrims and the money that will keep the thousands of Princes of the House of Saud in the lifestyle they are accustomed to when the oil runs out. The sumptuous five-storied Abraj Al Bait shopping mall, with its more than 1,000 stores overlooking the Ka'ba, is simply part of that strategy.
Archie: I am sure the merchant in the Prophet would approve.
Gerry: The pilgrimage has to be more than going around in circles, killing some animals, doing some shopping, then going back home?
Uzza: The Hajj is a five-day affair. There is the Tawaf, what you call “going around in circles” seven times; then there is the back and forth seven times between two hills to commemorate Hagar's search for water after being left with Ismael to fend for themselves by Abraham in the vicinity of the Ka'ba; then there is the procession to Mount Arafat to stand in vigil where Muhammad delivered his last sermon[179]; then there is the procession to Mina where we all throw pebbles at a pillar in a recreation of the three occasions when Muhammad threw stones at the devil, just like Abraham did to scare him off; and finally, the Feast of Eid ul Adha, which marks the end of the Hajj and commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Ismael. During this celebration of a man’s willingness to murder his son because God asked him to, hundreds of thousands of animals are slaughtered in the ritual manner, not only at Mecca but around the world.
Bob: Exactly what is this ritual manner of killing animals?
Uzza: As demonstrated by Muhammad, first you secure the animal in an upright position, then cut its throat and watch it struggle as it bleeds to death; the awful noise it makes is a testament to how painful this gratuitous cruelty can be. At one Hajj, Muhammad demonstrated the technique by personally slaughtering seven camels and two rams[180].
Bob: Isn't what the Prophet demonstrated also what happens in slaughterhouses?
Uzza: Only in slaughterhouses that prepare halal meats, which has become a booming business. When you see in your supermarket a piece of meat labeled halal, it is from an animal that has been literally tortured to death[181], not from an animal that has been stunned into unconsciousness before being bled[182].
Gerry: And the Koran demands this, that animals whose meat is meant to be eaten be tortured to death?
Uzza: NO! The Koran only prohibits the eating of carrion[183] and decrees that animals at the Hajj be killed while standing up[184].
Bob: I could never kill an animal the way Muhammad did.
Uzza: You could if you had grown up in an environment where this is normal. Muslim children have been conditioned by celebrations such as the feasts that follow Ramadan and the Hajj to watch and learn, even enjoy the suffering of animals, and later that of human beings put to death in such a cruel manner.
Bob: The next time I see halal meat at my supermarket, I may just throw up.
Uzza: There is also a benefit to children watching and learning how to kill an animal the ritual way. I remember looking at pictures of ISIS recruits and noticing their composure as they stood behind their kneeling victims getting ready to slice their throats like they would do a sheep. They are totally unperturbed; they know how it's done[185]. The agony their victims are about to experience will not bother them. Most recruits into regular armed forces need to be trained and conditioned to kill. Not so for most of those who join the ranks of holy warriors, as witnessed by the mass killings done by the fresh faces of Islamic State[186].
Gerry: That explains the knife attacks that have become commonplace. Micro-terrorism has proven more terrifying and effective than the macro variety.
Bob: What do vegetarians at the Hajj eat?
Uzza: Only Muslims can do the Hajj and Muhammad said that those who do not eat meat are not Muslims[187].
Bob: During the Hajj, did you get to kiss the rock of Paradise like the Irish kiss the Blarney Stone?
Uzza: Tradition holds that the stone was once heavenly-white, not the black-as-Hell stone you see today. This, it is said, was caused by too much kissing of the stone of Paradise, and not because it came from that other place, Archie. That is it, no more kissing.
Archie: I didn’t say anything.
Gerry: If there are stones in Paradise, then Paradise in the Koran is not like the spiritual place of the New Testament where men and women are equal, and happiness comes from being close to God and being free of physical wants and earthly desires?
Archie: If Paradise was a spiritual place, you would not need those pillars to hold it up, would you?
Footnotes
[169] No slaves were employed in the digging of the trench.
Narrated Anas:
Allah's Apostle went towards the Khandaq (i.e. Trench) and saw the Emigrants and the Ansar digging in a very cold morning as they did not have slaves to do that for them. When he noticed their fatigue and hunger he said, "O Allah! The real life is that of the Here-after, (so please) forgive the Ansar and the Emigrants."
In its reply the Emigrants and the Ansar said, "We are those who have given a pledge of allegiance to Muhammad that we will carry on Jihad as long as we live."
Bukhari 52.87
33:9 O believers, remember Allah’s grace on you when enemy hosts (of confederates allied against Muslims in the Battle of the Ditch (Khandaq) during the siege of Medina) came upon you; then We sent against them a wind and hosts you did not actually see. Allah perceives well what you do.
Disconcerted and confused, the Meccans and their allies abandoned the siege of Medina.
33:25 Allah turned back the unbelievers in a state of rage, having not won any good (spoils), and Allah spared the believers battle. Allah is, indeed, Strong and Mighty.
As at the Battle of Badr, the casualties inflicted by these “hosts” during this desert sitzkrieg were light; casualties for both sides were 8 Meccans dead and 6 Muslims.
I am not aware in the entire history of civilisation of a more gracious, more loving, more vibrant society than that of the Arabs before Islam … [it was a time] … of unbound freedom, lofty sentiments, a nomadic and chivalrous way of life, [a land] of fantasy, joy, mischievousness, bawdy impious poetry, refined love-making…
Ernest Renan, cf. Robert Montagne, La Civilisation du désert
In Arab traditions, the story of Adam and Eve is not like that of other people's. They were tricked by the devil into eating the forbidden fruit and for that transgression were literally thrown out of Paradise. Eve landing in Arabia and Adam in [present day] India...
Adam made his way to Mecca, dragging with him a stone from Paradise and built the first Ka'ba [in which he placed the stone].
Next to the Ka'ba is another stone, the Maqām Ibrāhīm ("Abraham's place of standing") on which Abraham is alleged to have left his footprint.
Later in a pilgrimage to Mecca Adam ran into Eve near mount Arafat. In one meaning of the Arabic ta'arafa, "they recognized each other."
The miracle is not that they found each other, but that they recognized each other having been separated for over a hundred years...
They fell in love again ... and began procreating.
La Vie de Mahomet, Virgil Gheorghiu, Robert Lafont, 1962, p. 18
[173] Following is one of five accounts of the story of Adam and Eve in the Koran. This one is all about the first couple discovering their “private parts,” not once, but twice. The first time their “private parts” just seem to appear out of the blue (rev. 7:22). In a later explanation, it is Satan stripping them of their clothing in front of a concealed audience of his kin (rev. 7:27). Could there be a connection between the first couple prancing around naked and nakedness at the Hajj before Islam? Allah seems to think so (see last revelation in this series).
7:19 And [We said]: “Adam, dwell you and your wife in Paradise, and eat from wherever you wish; but do not come close to this tree, lest you both become wrongdoers.”
7:20 But Satan tempted them secretly in order to expose their nakedness to them saying: “Your Lord has forbidden you this tree, lest you become angels or become immortal.”
7:21 And he swore to them: “I am indeed a sincere advisor to you both.”
7:22 Then he brought about their downfall by deceit; so that when they tasted the tree, their private parts became visible to them, and they started to cover themselves with the leaves of Paradise. Then their Lord called out to them: “Have I not forbidden you that tree and said to you: ‘Indeed Satan is your sworn enemy’?”
7:23 They said: “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves and if you do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will surely be among the losers.”
7:24 He said: “Go down, some of you as enemies of the others. On earth you will have a dwelling place and a means of enjoyment for a while.”
7:25 He said: “Therein you shall live and therein you shall die, and from it you will be brought out.”
7:26 “O Children of Adam, We have provided you with clothing and finery to cover your private parts. But the attire of piety is the best.” Such are Allah’s Signs, that they may take heed. The stripping:
7:27 “O Children of Adam, do not let Satan lead you astray as he drove your parents out of Paradise, stripping them of their clothes so as to show them their private parts. He and his host (army or tribe) see you from a place where you cannot see them. We have made the devils the friends of those who do not believe.”
Whoever told the pre-Islamic Arabs they could perform the Hajj naked, it wasn’t Allah, even if they think it was.
7:28 When they commit an indecency, they say: “We have found our fathers doing it, and Allah commanded us to do it.” Say (O Muhammad): “Allah does not command indecencies. Do you impute to Allah what you do not know?”
8:35 Their prayer at the House (the Ka’ba) is nothing but whistling and clapping; so taste the punishment for your disbelief.
[175] Narrated Said bin Al-Musaiyab:
Al-Bahira was an animal whose milk was spared for the idols and other deities, and so nobody was allowed to milk it.
As-Saiba was an animal which they (i.e. infidels) used to set free in the name of their gods so that it would not be used for carrying anything.
Abu Huraira said, "The Prophet said, 'I saw Amr bin 'Amir bin Luhai Al-Khuzai dragging his intestines in the (Hell) Fire, for he was the first man who started the custom of releasing animals (for the sake of false gods).'"
Bukhari 76.723
[176] Muhammad’s account of Allah crushing a helpless animal under Abraham’s feet on Judgment Day until blood oozes then throwing it into the fire is about as vicious as vicious can get and an example for the believers that when it comes to unbelievers, nothing is too bad for them.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "On the Day of Resurrection Abraham will meet his father Azar whose face will be dark and covered with dust. (The Prophet Abraham will say to him): 'Didn't I tell you not to disobey me?'
His father will reply: 'Today I will not disobey you.'
Abraham will say: 'O Lord! You promised me not to disgrace me on the Day of Resurrection; and what will be more disgraceful to me than cursing and dishonoring my father?'
Then Allah will say (to him): 'I have forbidden Paradise for the disbelievers.’
Then he will be addressed, 'O Abraham! Look! What is underneath your feet?'
He will look and there he will see a Dhabh (an animal,) blood-stained, which will be caught by the legs and thrown in the (Hell) Fire."
Bukhari 55.569
[177] The devil likes to “make sport” of peoples’ behinds when they cannot avoid exposing their posterior. You should protect yourself against such an eventuality, but there is no harm if you don’t.
Narrated Abu Hurayrah:
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said… If anyone goes to relieve himself, he should conceal himself, and if all he can do is to collect a heap of sand, he should sit with his back to it, for the devil makes sport with the posteriors of the children of Adam.
If he does so, he has done well; but if not, there is no harm.
Abu Dawud 1.35
[178] Narrated Abdullah bin Masud:
The Prophet recited Suratan-Najm at Mecca and prostrated while reciting it and those who were with him did the same except an old man who took a handful of small stones or earth and lifted it to his forehead and said, "This is sufficient for me."
Later on, I saw him killed as a non-believer.
Bukhari 19.173
[179] The second most important document in Islam after the Koran is probably Muhammad’s Farewell Khutba, his farewell sermon. In his last sermon, delivered on mount Arafat outside Mecca a few months before he died, he summarized all the basic beliefs of Islam and all the duties of a Muslim. English translations will usually run less than 1,300 words. Like the Koran, commentators have spoken about the Muhammad’s last khutba in laudatory terms. If you are not a believer your praise may be more guarded.
The Prophet slaughtered seven Budn (camel) with his own hands while the camels were standing. He also sacrificed two horned rams (black and white in color) at Medina.
Bukhari 26.772
I saw Ibn Umar passing by a man who had made his Badana (sacrifice) sit to slaughter it.
Ibn Umar said, "Slaughter it while it is standing with one leg tied up as is the tradition of Muhammad."
Bukhari 26.771
[181] In its March 8, 2012 edition, Le Point, the popular mainstream French (France) weekly published excerpts from a confidential government report prepared by Le Conseil général de alimentation, de l’agriculture et des espaces ruraux on La protection animale en abattoir; la question particulière de l’abattoir rituel (Animal protection in slaughterhouses; the question of ritual slaughter, my translation).
The excerpts reveals that during 2010, 2,068,439 cattle, 382,460 calves, 2,568,444 sheep and 35,713 goats were ritually slaughtered i.e. the animal was not rendered unconscious before being bled to death.
The longest time reported for an animal to die while fully conscious was six minutes for cattle, almost twice that time for calves at eleven minutes, and five minutes for sheep. No time was available for goats or camels.
Under the heading Intensité et durée de la douleur: souffrance (Intensity and duration of the pain: suffering), the report goes on to describe the type of pain an animal that is not stunned* prior to bleeding experiences. It’s not for the squeamish. Again, the translation is mine, as are explanatory comments surrounded by round brackets ().
The pain that a conscious animal experiences at the time of its throat being slit is assumed to be intense …
To be able to compare different method of slaughter as to the amount of pain they cause, we must take into account the visible signs that permit us to gage the intensity of the pain experienced by the conscious animals … The amount of pain will vary depending on the type of animal.
A slit throat is in itself painful:
• The incision provokes a nociceptive reaction (“pain caused by stimulation of peripheral nerve fibers that respond only to stimuli approaching or exceeding harmful intensity” Wiki) causing extreme pain;
• the contraction of the muscle at the point of the incision has to be extremely painful;
• blood will fill the lungs provoking a sensation of drowning.
…
The length of time it takes for an animal (that has not been stunned) to become unconscious is a result of many factors:
• the constriction of the arteries compensates for the loss of blood and causes an increase in the heart rate;
• where cattle is concerned, the vertebral arteries are not cut when the incision is done …; different anastomosis (channels) between the vertebral and cervical arteries allow the vertebral arteries to continue bringing blood to the brain even after the carotid artery has been cut;
• other factors may contribute to the time an animal remains conscious e.g. a clot in the carotid artery …
…
Rendering an animal unconscious is both the beginning and the end of its suffering when conventional methods are used. In the ritual slaughter of an animal, unconsciousness comes much later.
During this period, which varies among types of animals, the animal, in a conscious state, will be subjected to many painful procedures, some related to the incision made by the person performing the sacrifice, others by the stop and go (“saccadé”) nature of the ritual.
[182] Modern, non-traditional slaughtering methods use what is commonly referred to as a captive bolt pistol which delivers a forceful strike to the forehead rendering an animal unconscious prior to slaughter “to prevent the pain and suffering of the animal during the bleeding (exsanguination) process (which is itself necessary to prevent meat spoilage) during butchering.”
5:3 You are forbidden the eating of carrion, blood, the flesh of swine as well as whatever is slaughtered in the name of any one other than Allah. [You are forbidden] also the animals strangled or beaten to death, those that fall and die, those killed by goring with the horn or mangled by wild beasts, except those which you slaughter and those sacrificed on stones set up [for idols]. [You are forbidden] to use divining arrows; it is an evil practice. Today, those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion; so do not fear them, but fear Me. Today, I have perfected your religion for you, completed my Grace on you and approved Islam as a religion for you. Yet, whoever is compelled by reason of hunger (to eat what is forbidden), but not intending to sin, then surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Merciful.
22:36 And the camels We have made for you as parts of the sacred rites of Allah. You have some good therein; so mention Allah’s Name over them as they stand in line. When their sides fall to the ground, eat of them and feed the contented and the beggar. That is how We subjected them to you, that perchance you may be thankful.
[186] Brigadier General S. L. A. Marshall, Chief Historian of the European Theater of Operations in World War II, in a series of interviews with American riflemen, concluded that only 15 to 20 percent of them fired their weapons at an exposed enemy soldier. His conclusions have been supported by other studies.
The modern military has largely overcome this reluctance in a normal person to killing another human being, even in theaters of war, through repetition and operant conditioning (modification of behaviour based on stimulus/response), making it an automatic reflexive reaction for a soldier to fire his weapon at a threat, real or imaginary.
What if your objective is to deliberately and methodically eliminate a segment of humanity for which you will require the assistance of the general population? You do what the NAZIs did. You dehumanize that portion of humanity you wish to eradicate, making their elimination the moral equivalent of getting rid of a pest. Islamists have taken this dehumanization process one step further, adding demonization to the mix.
4:76 Those who believe fight for the Cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight on behalf of the Devil. Fight then the followers of the Devil. Surely the guile of the Devil is weak.
Islam, as a religion, has proven particularly effective at overcoming peoples’ strong genetic predispositions against killing one of their own kind by concentrating on a thorough indoctrination in the Koran. It starts at home where a child is expected to have at least mouthed in its entirety, under the tutelage of its mother, what philosopher Robert Redeker, writing in Le Figaro, described “as a book of incredible violence."
Three women approached the Prophet one day. One of them said, “O Prophet! My husband has shunned the company of his wife.”
The second said, “My husband has stopped eating meat!”
The third said, “My husband has stopped using perfume!”
Hearing the women, the Prophet was upset. He saw that misguided ideas were beginning to take root amongst his followers. Although it was not the time for any mandatory prayer, he proceeded to the mosque. He went in such a great hurry that even his cloak was not properly placed on his shoulder and one end of it was touching the ground. He ordered the people to assemble in the mosque. People rushed there leaving aside their tasks.
The Prophet ascended the pulpit and said, ”I have heard that my companions are getting wrong ideas.”
He added, “I am Allah’s Messenger, I eat meat and delicious food! I wear good clothes! I wear perfumes and keep the company of my wives and have conjugal relations with them! Whosoever opposes my ways is not my follower!”
The Prophet has repeated this sentence on several occasions:
"One who does not adopt my ways is not a Muslim".
Wasa'il