points out that Muhammad's own presuppositions (wad) and system (qanun) show that religious traditions are not trustworthy. The Jews and Christians say that Jesus really died, but the Qu'ran contradicts them. Ibn al-Rawandi also points out specific Muslim traditions, and tries to show that they are laughable. The tradition that the angels rallied round to help Muhammad is not logical, because it implies that the angels of Badr were weaklings, able to kill only seventy of the Prophet's enemies. And if the angels were willing to help Muhammad at Badr, where were they at Uhud when their help was so badly needed? The Zumurrud criticizes prayer, preoccupation with ritual purity, and the ceremonies of the hajj; throwing stones, circumambulating a house that cannot respond to prayers, running between stones that can neither help nor harm. It goes on to ask why Safa and Marwa are venerated and what difference there is between them and any other hill in the vicinity of Mecca, for example, the hill of Abu Qubays, and why the Kaaba is any better than any other house. From the Encyclopaedia of Islam'': See also Turan Dursun Baron d'Holbach Further reading References External links Mehmet Karabela, IBN AL-RAWANDI,The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Science, and Technology in Islam, vol. 1, New York: Oxford University Press, 2014 Encyclopedia Iranica, "EBN RĀVANDĪ, ABU’l-ḤOSAYN AḤMAD" b. Yaḥyā (d. 910?), Muʿtazilite theologian and “heretic” of Ḵorāsānī origin The blinding emerald: Ibn al-Rawandi's 'Kitab al-Zumurrud.' İşte 1.000 yıl önceki Turan Dursun in Turkish. 827 births 911 deaths Critics of Sunni Islam Freethought Former Muslims Rawandi Iranian people of Jewish descent Rawandi People from Kashan