Theometer or Sectometer

(First conducted on the participants of my lectures at Oxford University in November 3-5, 2008)

© Edip Yuksel
www.19.org

Name: _________________________________________________

Email Address: __________________________________________

Phone: ______________________________________ Age: ______

Occupation: _____________________________________________

Nationality: _____________________________________________

Have you read the Manifesto for Islamic Reform? ______________

Favorite Books/Authors: ___________________________________

Your Sect: (a) Sunni (b) Shiite (c) Salafi (d) Another sect (d) No sect

Please put a CIRCLE around the letter of your choice:

1. According to the Quran, which one of these was never and cannot be idolized by people?

1. Prophet Muhammad
2. Desires or Wishful thinking (Hawa)
3. Crowds or peers
4. Ancestors or children
5. Reasoning (Aql)

2. Which one of these is a true statement?

1. The Quran is not sufficient to guide us; in addition we need Hadith and Sunna.
2. The Quran is not sufficient to guide us; we need Hadith, Sunna and follow the teaching of a Sunni sect.
3. The Quran is not sufficient to guide us; we need Hadith, Sunna and follow the teaching of a Shiite sect.
4. The Quran is not sufficient to guide us; we need Hadith, Sunna, follow the teaching of a sect and join a religious order.
5. The Quran is sufficient to guide us when we understand and follow it through the light of reason.

3. Which one of these hadiths narrated by Bukhari, Muslim and other “authentic” hadith books, do you think are fabricated?

1. Muhammad was illiterate until he died.
2. Muhammad married Aisha at age 54 while she was only 9 or 13 years-old.
3. Muhammad dispatched a gang of fighters (sariyya) to kill a woman poet secretly during night in her home, for criticizing him publicly through her poems.
4. Muhammad slaughtered 400 to 900 Jews belonging to Ben Qurayza for violating the treaty.
5. All of the above.

4. Which one of these laws or rules does not exist in the Quran?

1. Stone the married adulterers to death
2. Do not play guitar
3. Men should not wear silk and gold
4. Men are superior to women
5. All of the above

5. The Quran instructs us to follow the messengers. Following the messenger means:

1. Follow Hadith and Sunna; Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Hanbal, etc.
2. Follow his Ahl-al-Bayt.
3. Follow hadith, sunna, consensus of sahaba, ijtihad of imams and fatwas of ulama.
4. Follow Muhammad.
5. Follow the message he was sent with, which was Quran alone.

6. The Quran is God’s word, because:

1. There are verses of the Quran stating that it is God’s word.
2. The Quran is a literary miracle. None can bring a sura like it surpassing its literary qualities.
3. I do not need to have a reason. Reason is not reliable. I have faith in the Quran.
4. The moral teaching of the Quran is the best for individual and humanity.
5. The Quranic signs (aya) do not have internal contradiction nor does it contradict the signs in nature. Besides, it is numerically coded book with an extraordinary mathematical structure integrated with its composition and Arabic language.

7. Which one of the following is correct for Muhammad:

1. Muhammad was the final messenger and prophet.
2. Muhammad had the highest rank above all humans.
3. Muhammad demonstrated many miracles such as splitting the moon, healing the sick, and crippling a child
4. All of the above´
5. Muhammad was a human messenger like other messengers.

8. In what year he Bukhari started collecting hadith for his hadith collection known as the Sahih Bukhari, the most trusted Sunni hadith collection?

1. During the life of Muhammad inMedina
2. Ten years after Muhammad’s death.
3. 130 years after Muhammad’s death.
4. 200 years after Muhammad’s death
5. 230 years after Muhammad’s death.

9. According to Bukhari himself, he collected the 7,275 hadith among the 600,000 hadiths he collected. If each hadith, together with its isnad (the chain of reporters) and sanad (the text that was attributed to Muhammad) took about half a book page, how many volumes of books with 500 pages would they take to record all those 600,000 hadith allegedly collected by Bukhari?

1. 7 volumes
2. 10 volumes
3. 70 volumes
4. 100 volumes
5. 700 volumes

10. What are the last statements in the Farewell Sermon (Khutba al-Wada) which was reportedly witnessed by more than 100,000 sahaba, making it by far the most authentic hadith among the thousands of hadiths?

1. I leave you Abu Bakr; you should follow him.
2. I leave you my sahaba; you may follow any of them.
3. I leave you the Quran and Sunna; you should follow both.
4. I leave you the Quran and Ahl-al- Bayt (my family); you should follow them.
5. I leave you the Quran, you should follow it.

11. According to some “authentic hadith” found in Bukhari and other hadith books, there was a verse instructing muslims to stone the married adulterers to death: “Al-shayhu wal-shayhatu iza zanaya farjumuhuma nakalan…” According to hadith reports, what happened to those verses?

1. After the Prophet Muhammad’s death, Umayyad governor Marwan burned the pages where those verses were written.
2. Angle Gebrail came down and deleted it from the scripture.
3. Ibni Abbas forgot it yet Abu Hurayra never forgot it.
4. There is no reference to such a verse in any authentic hadith books.
5. After the Prophet Muhammad’s death, the skin which the verse was written on was protected under Aisha’s bed. A hungry goat ate it. Thus, it was abrogated literally yet kept legally.

12. According to both Bukhari and Muslim, when Muhammad was in his death bed, he asked his comrades around to bring him a paper and pen to write something for them so that they would not divert from the right path. According to the same “authentic” Sunni hadith books, Omar bin Khattab stopped a sahaba who was hurrying for a paper and pen and said the following: “The prophet is sick and has fever. He does not know what he is saying. God’s book is sufficient for us.” According to the hadith, all the prominent comrades (sahaba) agreed with Omar and Muhammad passed away without writing down his advice. What do you think about this hadith?

1. If it is narrated by both Bukhari and Muslim, then it must be true
2. If it is true, then, Omar and all other Sahaba must have betrayed Muhammad and committed blasphemy.
3. If it is true, then, Omar and all prominent Sahaba were followers of the Quran alone.
4. If it is false then all other hadith too should be rejected.
5. All of the above except the first option. Either true or false, Bukhari and Muslim lose their credibility.

13. Do we need to SAY “sallallahu alayhi wasallam” after Muhammad’s name?

1. Yes, every time Muhammad is mentioned we have to praise his name.
2. Yes, but we need to say only once in our lifetime.
3. Yes, the more we say the better.
4. Yes, and those who do not say it after Muhammad’s name disrespect him and they will not receive his intercession.
5. No, the Quran does not ask us to say anything after Muhammad’s name; muslims were asked (salli ala) to support him, as he was also asked to support them (salli alayhim).

14. What is the correct Testimony (shahada) according to the Quran:

1. I bear witness that there is no god but the God and the Quran is God’s word.
2. I bear witness that there is no god but the God and Muhammad is His messenger.
3. I bear witness that there is no god but the God and Muhammad is His messenger and His servant.
4. I bear witness that there is no god but the God and Abraham, Jesus, Moses and Muhammad are His messengers.
5. I bear witness that there is no god but the God.

15. Should Muslims who do not observe daily prayers be beaten in public?

1. Yes.
2. No.

16. Should Muslims who are caught for consuming alcohol for the fourth time be killed?

1. Yes.
2. No.

17. Did the prophet give permission to kill women and children in the war?

1. Yes.
2. No.

18. According to the Quran, are women banned from reading Quran and pray during their menstruation periods?

1. Yes
2. No.

19. In the daily Sala prayers, do you recite “attahiyyatu lillahi wassalawatu …. as salamu alayka ayyuhannabiyyu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu”?

1. Yes
2. No

20. Does the Quran justify taxing Jewish and Christian population under Muslim authority with extra or different taxation called Jizya?

1. Yes
2. No.

21. Does the Quran instruct women to cover their hair?

1. Yes.
2. No.

22. Are woman restricted from leading congregational prayers?

1. Yes.
2. No.

23. Are women mentally and spiritually inferior to men?

1. Yes.
2. No.

24. Does the Quran restrict women from initiating divorce?

1. Yes.
2. No.

25. Is polygamy with previously unmarried women allowed?

1. Yes, up to four women.
2. No, polygamy is allowed only with the widows who have orphans.

26. Do pilgrims need to cast real stones at the devil?

1. Yes.
2. No.

27. Is the black stone near Kaba holy?

1. Yes.
2. No.

28. May a muslim own slaves?

1. Yes.
2. No.

29. Is circumcision a required or encouraged practice in Islam?

1. Yes.
2. No.

30. Should converts change their names to Arabic names?

1. Yes.
2. No.

31. How much zaka charity one should give away?

1. 2.5%
2. As much as one can afford, without making themselves needy.

32. Are those who break their fast during Ramadan before the sunset required to fast 60 consecutive days as a punishment for not completing the day?

1. Yes.
2. No.

33. Is leadership the right of Quraish tribe?

1. Yes.
2. No.

34. Is drawing pictures or making three dimensional statutes a sin?

1. Yes.
2. No.

35. Are there more dietary prohibitions besides pork, carcass, running blood, and animal dedicated to idolized names?

1. Yes.
2. No.

36. Is displaying Muhammad’s name and the names of his closest companions next to God’s name in the mosques idol-worship?

1. Yes.
2. No.

37. Did Muhammad advise some sick people to drink camel urine?

1. Yes.
2. No.

38. Did Muhammad gauge people’s eyes with hot nails?

1. Yes.
2. No.

39. After following the advice of Moses, did Muhammad, bargain with God about the number of prayers, lowering down from the impossible-to-observe 50 times a day to 5 times a day?

1. Yes.
2. No.

40. Does Muhammad have the power of intercession?

1. Yes.
2. No.

41. Was Muhammad sinless?

1. Yes.
2. No.

42. Did God create the universe for the sake of Muhammad?

1. Yes.
2. No.

43. Did Muhammad have sexual power of 30 males?

1. Yes.
2. No.

44. Was Muhammad bewitched by a Jew?

1. Yes.
2. No.

45. Do some verses of the Quran abrogate other verses?

1. Yes.
2. No.