I read Rudolph Otto’s book “The Idea of the Holy” many years ago, quite early on in my spiritual struggle. I appreciated his emphasis on both the numinous character and the moral perfection of the Divine. At the time, I felt that all religions shared a similar appreciation and understanding of the holiness or sacredness of God. However, when I more recently became familiar with the roots and teachings of Islam, I was forced to conclude that Islam’s God, Allah, as depicted in many parts of the Quran and other Islamic scripture, is not holy. A god who orders his subjects to hate, and even kill, non-Muslims is not holy. A god who describes the Jewish people as "the vilest of all creatures" and descendants of apes and pigs is not holy. I could go on and on, for the Quran and Hadiths are full of examples of Allah’s unholiness. So when I see pictures of devout Muslims touching their foreheads to the ground in reverence to their unholy god, I feel great sadness. Perhaps there are many nominal Muslims who are simply ignorant of the nature of Muhammad’s Allah, but devout Muslims should know better. The fact that they don’t means that they don’t appreciate or understand true holiness. If they understood, they would know that Allah of the Quran is not worthy of veneration, and is simply a creation of Muhammad's sick ego.
This is what the eminent atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell had to say about Islam:
“Over a billion people believe in Allah without truly knowing what Allah supposedly stands for or what he really demands of them. And the minority that do understand continue to be Moslems because they have redefined their morality and ethics to fit within the teachings of Islam, which are floridly lacking in morality (italics mine). They therefore redefine what is good and evil in order to fit their lives into what is preached by Islam, instead of examining Islam to see if it fits within the good life. Backwards thinking, imposed by a backward religion.” (Mr. Russell defined “the good life” as “one inspired by love and guided by knowledge”.)
This is what the eminent atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell had to say about Islam:
“Over a billion people believe in Allah without truly knowing what Allah supposedly stands for or what he really demands of them. And the minority that do understand continue to be Moslems because they have redefined their morality and ethics to fit within the teachings of Islam, which are floridly lacking in morality (italics mine). They therefore redefine what is good and evil in order to fit their lives into what is preached by Islam, instead of examining Islam to see if it fits within the good life. Backwards thinking, imposed by a backward religion.” (Mr. Russell defined “the good life” as “one inspired by love and guided by knowledge”.)
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