



Here is a very brief list1 of pollutants and evils intruded into Islam through hadiths, Siras and their by-products:

Idolization of the messenger

Deifying the messenger with exclusively divine attributes, thus turning him into an infallible, omniscient and omnipotent demigod; Venerating him as a superman, superior to all other messengers and humans; Considering him as a subsidiary god who is authorised as a share-holder in divinity and divine legislation to amend, delete and add to Quranic laws and ethics; Ascribing various miracles to him including physical miraj and splitting of the Moon; Associating his name with God’s name in shahada, azan and salat prayers; Converting his tomb into the second holiest sanctuary; Constant, compulsory uttering of salawat, or darood, after his name; Belief in his intercession; Considering some messengers superior to others, and so on …

Idolization of the secondary authorities



Hadiths, such as Sahih Sitta and The Four Books; Orders and sects, like Sunni, Shiite, Ibadi, Sufi etc; Madhhabs and factions, e.g., Maliki, Hanafi, Shafi’i, Hanbali, Salafi, Jafari, Wahhabi, Alawite, Alevi etc; Ahl e Bayt; Infallible Imams; The Fourteen Infallibles; Karbala; Nizamiyya; Deoband; Darul uloom; Hazrats, lords, saints, sheikhs, imams, mawlas, ulemas, maulvis, mawlanas, sharifs, sayyids, qutubs etc; Claim that the majority’s consensus or ijma is necessarily right; Tariqah; Taqlid; Classes of clergy, and so on …

Innovation of extra rules



Reducing Islam to five pillars; Reducing salat to five ritual prayers; Fossilized, ritualistic details of prayers; Prayer caps, turbans, khirqas; Loud demonstration of prayer and its call; Additional prayers; Adopting Arabic customs and traditions as religious practices; Male and female circumcision; Stoning of adulterers; Cutting of thief’s hands; Reducing zakat to a fixed 2.5 percent rate; Beards, miswaks, khidhabs; Detailed rules on how to wash one’s privates; Right hands, left hands, right feet, left feet; Belief that there are separate lists of do’s and do not’s such as waajib (compulsory), mustahab (desirable), makruh (abominable), and so on …

Innovation of extra prohibitions



Nasikhs-mansukhs; various maslaha-masail; fatwas; Disfavouring of scientific knowledge and secular education; Forbiddance of interest, equating it with usury; Prohibition of dance, music and musical instruments; Prohibition of painting and sculpting of animate objects; Prohibition of chess and sports; Criminalization and killing of homosexuals; Prohibition of masturbation; Prohibition of gold and silk for men; Prohibition of trimming the beard; Prohibition of dogs; Meticulous dietary prohibitions; halal slaughter; Prohibition of cremation, and so on …

Discrimination against women

Head cover, or hijab, and full veil, or niqab; Segregation of men and women; Forbidding women to lead or participate in congregational prayer; Prohibiting women to become a head of state or an administrator; Forbidding menstruating women from prayer; Prohibition of female education; Prohibiting women to travel alone; Forbidding women to shake hands with men; Forbidding women to use perfumes and make-ups; Claim that two female witnesses equal one male witness 2 ; Prohibition for women to use birth control; Mutah marriage; misyar marriage; Triple talaq, hilla and so on …

Pagan beliefs and practices

Belief in magics and miracles that violate natural laws; Glib recitation and totemization of the Quran; Seeking help from dead prophets and saints; Holy hair, holy clothes, holy teeth, holy feet traces; Rosaries, amulets; Holy shrines; Holy dreams; Holy loopholes; Kissing the blackstone; Holy Zamzam water; Stoning the Devil; Sacrificial slaughter of livestock by non-pilgrims, and so on …

Religious intolerance

Blasphemy law; Killing of apostates; Jizya, or forced tax, for non-muslims; To coerce people to abide by religious rules; Punishment for drinking; punishment for not praying or fasting; Claim that Islam has come to dominate the world; Claim that Muslims must establish Islam as a political power like khilafah; Belief that it is allowed to bully people living in non-Islamic lands (Dar-ul Harb); Belief that it is ok to disregard the rights of those living in non-Islamic lands; Claim that only the Muhammadans/ Sunnites/ Shiites are to go to paradise; Claim that all non-Muslims are future dwellers of hell, and so on …

Misconceptions related to death, afterdeath and apocalypse

Alamat e qayamat, or signs of apocalypse; The Messiah, Mahdi; The Antichrist, Dajjal; Physical ascension and second coming of Jesus; The Beast of the Earth, Al-Daabbah, as a sign of Doomsday; Gog and Magog, Yajooj and Majooj, as a sign of Doomsday; Divine torment during death; Munkar-Nakir; Torture in the grave; Belief that the dead benefits from the prayers and actions of the living; Belief that burial is more Islamic than cremation, and so on …

Fallacies related to a hasty reading of the Quran

Literal understandings of the figurative texts of the Quran; Belief in the special creation of Adam 3 and the creation of Eve from Adam’s rib; Belief in virgin birth 4 , miracles of Jesus and similar other miracles; Belief that hadiths are necessary to fill the gaps of the Quran; Hostility towards science, reason and critical thinking 5 in favour of parroting and blind following, and so on …

Because the Quran delivers the full message of Islam, it is the Quran alone that embodies the original and complete Islam. Anything in the name of Islam outside this Quranic Islam cannot be Islam, but unauthorized additions to Islam.

The Quran describes these additions as ‘evil’ junks and ‘burdens’ for the soul6 (2:286, 7:157, 5:100, 16:20-25, 62:5). They harm rather than benefit.

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Note 1

For a longer list, please visit the following link: ‘Things not contained in the Quran: list of interpolations’ https://www.facebook.com/groups/253980834732392/permalink/469556776508129/

Note 2

The Quran never generalises that two female witnesses equal one male witness. The need for a second woman’s testimony is limited only in the case of recording a loan and its sole purpose is one woman to support the other (2:282). This instruction, important in the context of the then patriarchal socio-economic reality, carefully considers the different gender roles and life experiences that prevailed at the time of the Quranic revelation and was obviously for the protection of women from being subjected to high pressure by the party breaching the contract. See Edip-Layth’s note on 2:282.

Note 3

The ancient parables re-narrated in the Quran are NOT historical accounts. Rather they are meant for deeper, figurative understanding. The story of Adam is a good example of such parables: https://lampofislam.wordpress.com/2020/04/17/the-story-of-adam-is-a-parable/

Note 4

We cannot get in the Quran any support for the Virgin Birth of Jesus unless our minds are preconditioned by the influence of secondary sources: https://lampofislam.wordpress.com/2017/01/03/does-the-quran-really-support-the-virgin-birth-of-jesus/

Note 5

The Quran constantly appeals to humans to use their intellect and reason, to be free-thinking and sceptical, to be truth-seekers and iconoclasts: https://lampofislam.wordpress.com/2017/10/30/the-quran-calls-for-critical-thinking-and-reasoning/. In contrast, hadiths, including the so-called sahih hadiths, constantly contradict and blatantly oppose science and reason: https://lampofislam.wordpress.com/2019/11/04/how-hadiths-contradict-science-and-reason/

Note 6

Today’s Muhammadans are misguided like those Mishna-following Jews whom the Quran compares with ‘a donkey carrying a load of books’. While ignoring the divine messages as incorporated in the Quran, they are carrying burdens of volumes of man-made books and religious junks that they cannot make sense of: The parable of those who were given the Torah, but then failed to uphold it, is like the donkey that is carrying a cargo of books. Miserable indeed is the parable of people who denied God’s messages – for God does not guide the wicked people. 62:5