THE MESSENGER

Below is the view of the people at 'Free-Minds' when it comes down to the
issue of 'messengers':

1. Is the messenger a mere ‘post-man’?.

¡°Even if we sent down to them a physical book, written on paper, and they
touched it with their hands, those who disbelieved would have said, "This is
no more than clever magic." (Quran 6:7)

The above verse clearly shows us that had GOD revealed a book straight
from the sky, this would not have helped those who did not wish to believe.

Therefore, it was GOD¡¯s plan that a messenger delivers the book to the
people over a set period of time that they may study and understand it.

“A Quran that we have separated, in order that it may be understood by the

people over a long period, although we sent it down all at once.”(Quran
17:106)

2. What was the role of the messenger?.

"Say, "I am not different from other messengers. I have no idea what will
happen to me or to you. I only follow what is revealed to me. I am no more
than a profound warner." (Quran 46:9)

It is GOD's system on Earth "sunna" that He constantly sends messengers to

warn and save communities before they annihilate themselves by following
other than GOD's perfect religion.

The role of the last Prophet of Islam was to also 'warn' his community as well
as the world:

"We thus reveal to you an Arabic Quran to warn the mother of communities
and all around it, and to warn about the Day of Summoning that is
inevitable. Some will end up in Heaven, and some in Hell." (Quran 42:7)

It is this very 'message' that has now reached over 1 billion human beings to
save their very souls!.

Yet, even though this difficult and profound message has reached all these
people, most are still claiming that this is not what the messenger delivered,
and that we should follow his example!.

“The messenger of GOD has set up a good example for those among you
who seek GOD and the Last Day, and constantly think about GOD.” (Quran
33:21)
The courage, patience, devotion, and love of GOD that the messenger
displayed are all exemplary examples for us to follow.

The messenger faced a terrifying challenge in delivering GOD¡¯s words to a

people who were accustomed to a way of life and traditions, which
contradicted the very system of GOD. It was this sole messenger that stood
in the face of overwhelming odds, continued to have faith and patience, and
always knew that he must serve GOD Alone, even if all the odds were telling
him otherwise.

“Do you expect to enter Paradise without being tested like those before you?
They were tested with hardship and adversity, and were shaken up, until the
messenger and those who believed with him said, "Where is GOD's victory?"
GOD's victory is near.” (Quran 2:214)

The Quran not only contains the laws of GOD, but it also contains the
beautiful examples of the prophet¡¦

- His dealing with the idol worshippers;

- His compassion towards the believers (3:31);
- His love and constant remembered of GOD (33:21);
- His human fear of failing (2:214);
- His dealing with his wives rebellion;
- His dealing with his adopted son¡¯s problems (33:27);
- His weakness in paying attention to the rich and powerful (80:1-12);

All these and many more examples are contained within the precious book
that GOD has honored. His, is like the exemplary example of Abraham with
the idol worshippers:

“A good example has been set for you by Abraham and those with him. They
said to their people, "We disown you and the idols that you worship besides
GOD. We denounce you, and you will see nothing from us except animosity
and hatred until you believe in GOD ALONE”” (Quran 60:4)

The life of the messenger gives us frail humans HOPE that it is indeed
possible to live the way of GOD (as described in the Quran) and to uphold His
covenant in light of all adversity¡¦

Without the messenger¡¯s example, we may not even had bothered to read
or study the Quran for fear that it was an ¡®impractical¡¯ book which
assumed too much of a fictional utopian society.

3. Do we follow the messenger?.

“The messenger said, "My Lord, my people have deserted this Quran."
(Quran 25:30)
What else did you see on this website but the very ¡®message¡¯ that the
messenger delivered?.

Our entire site, as well as our very lives have been transformed by the
splendor, fairness and beauty of the Quran. We will not allow the
messenger¡¯s work to go in vain, nor will we allow ourselves to ¡®desert¡¯
the Quran that he delivered.

Once a person understands the words of GOD, then he/she is responsible to

live that life and uphold the covenant with GOD as did Lot once he heard the
message delivered by Abraham:

“Lot believed with him and said, "I am emigrating to my Lord. He is the
Almighty, the Most Wise." (Quran 29:26)

4. Do we respect the messenger?.

“Surely, those who lower their voices at the messenger of GOD are the ones
whose hearts are prepared by GOD to become righteous. They have
deserved forgiveness and a great recompense.” (Quran 49:3)

None of us hear will ever blaspheme the message of the Quran, nor would
we allow any such thing to occur with our knowledge or presence.

It is this respect of the ¡®word of GOD¡¯ that the messenger himself

delivered which shows our respect and devotion to him.

“He has instructed you in the scripture that: if you hear GOD's revelations
being mocked and ridiculed, you shall not sit with them, unless they delve
into another subject. Otherwise, you will be as guilty as they are. GOD will
gather the hypocrites and the disbelievers together in Hell.” (Quran 4:140)

5. Do we love the messenger?.

“Some people set up others to rival GOD, and love them as they love GOD.
Those who believe love GOD the most. If only the transgressors could see
themselves when they see the retribution! They will realize then that all
power belongs to GOD alone, and that GOD's retribution is awesome.”
(Quran 2:165)

What else is left for us to say?.

We respect and follow the messenger by upholding that which he delivered,

but as for our love¡¦There is only ONE who is worthy of absolute love.
The One who initiated the heavens and the earth, the One who created life
and death, the One who¡¯s hand guides the hearts of those who believe¡¦

“Is One who creates like one who does not create? Would you now take
heed?” (Quran 16:17)

How can we even dare to love any other than GOD?

“If you count GOD's blessings, you cannot possibly encompass them. GOD is
Forgiver, Most Merciful.” (Quran 16:18)

Stay with GOD...there can never be anywhere else to go, but to Him.

OBEY GOD & THE MESSENGER

By Brother Naveed (e-mail: al_quraan@hotmail.com)

Many people site the Quraanic Verses that command us to Obey Allah and
Obey the Messenger, and say that Obeying Allah and obeying the Messenger
are two different things - Obeying Allah is to obey the Quraan and obeying
the Messenger is to obey the books of Hadith. They point that if obeying the
Messenger was the same thing as obeying Allah's Quraan, then Allah would
have only said Obey Allah. These people say that Allahs inclusion of obey the
Messenger implies that the Messenger is saying EXTRA things outside of the
Quraan that we must obey.

The thing that many proponents of Hadith forget is that Allah does not leave
it to speculation as to what the people are to obey. The Ayaat do not end at
Obey Allah and obey the Messenger, but they continue to include what the
duty of the Messenger is:

And obey Allah and obey the messenger and be cautious; but if you turn
back, then know that only a clear deliverance of the message is (incumbent)
on Our messenger <wa ma_ alar rasu_li il lal balaghul mubin (5:92)

And Allah has made for you of what He has created shelters, and He has
given you in the mountains places of retreat, and He has given you garments
to preserve you from the heat and coats of mail to preserve you in your
fighting; even thus does He complete His favor upon you, that haply you may
submit. But if they turn back, then on you devolves only the clear
deliverance (of the message) <wa ma_ alar rasu_li il lal balaghul mubin.
(16:81-82)

And if you (o people) reject (the truth), nations before you did indeed reject
(the truth); and nothing is incumbent on the messenger but a plain
delivering (of the message) <wa ma_ alar rasu_li il lal balaghul
mubin.(29:18)
And obey Allah and obey the messenger, but if you turn back, then upon Our
messenger devolves only the clear delivery (of the message) <wa ma_ alar
rasu_li il lal balaghul mubin.(64:12)

Say: Obey Allah and obey the messenger; but if you turn back, then on him
rests that which is imposed on him and on you rests that which is imposed
on you; and if you obey him, you are on the right way; and nothing rests on
the messenger but clear delivering (of the message) <wa ma_ alar rasu_li il
lal bala_ghul mubin. (24:54)

Now, if we look at these Ayaat, we notice that Allah has clearly pointed out
the duty of the Messenger, i.e. that he must DELIVER the Clarity <Balaghul
Mubeen. We have seen that the Clarity or the Message of the Messenger is
the Quraan. Here we will look at another important term used in the Quraan.
This term is Balagha, meaning the reaching, or delivery of the Messenger.

The word Messenger is derived from the word Message. A Messenger delivers
a Message. To Obey the Messenger would thus mean to obey the message he
is delivering. We have seen in the previous chapters that the Messenger is
teaching, preaching, explaining and living by the Quraan.

Here again we will see that his delivery <Balagha is the Quraan:

Here is the <haza is a delivery <balaghu for Humans; let them take warning
therefrom, and let them know that He is One God; let the People of
Understanding take heed (14:52)

This Ayah points to IT <haza, meaning THIS IS (pointing to the Quraan

itself) is the delivery of the Messenger. This is further clarified in the
following Ayah:

Before this We wrote in The Zabur, after the Zikar: My righteous servants
shall inherit the earth. Verily in this is a message <Balaghan for the servants
of Allah (21:105-106)

However, some people says that 21:106 is pointing to 21:105 and not to the
Quraan. They still have no answer to 14:52. However, we will not pursue this
further as Allah does not leave His Message to speculation, but He Defines
what He means. Let us continue to read the Quraan:

O Messenger! Proclaim <Baligh what is sent down to you <ma Unzila Ilaika
from your Lord. If you do not, you would not have fulfilled and proclaimed
His message: and Allah will defend you from people. For Allah Guides not
those who Reject (5:67)

Here the Balagh is defined as that which is being sent down on the Prophet
from Allah <unzila. We have seen in the previous chapters what was being
sent down was nothing but the Quraan. However, a sick heart might still
insist that there was EXTRA something that was sent down and that EXTRA
something is in the Hadith books. Thus we continue to read the next Ayah
after 5:67, where Allah further explains the nature of what was being sent
down:

Say: O people of the Book! You have no grounds to stand upon unless you
stand fast by The Torah and The Injeel and all the rest that has come down
to you from your Lord. It is what is SENT DOWN to you that increases in
most of them their obstinate blasphemy. But sorrow you not over people
without faith (5:68)

Here what is being sent down on the Prophet is compared with the Torah and
the Injeel, i.e. it is the Quraan. It is further explained that Allah has sent
down<anzala the Book with the Prophets:Mankind was one single nation, and
Allah established Prophets giving glad tidings and warnings, and with them
He sent down <anzala The Book in Truth. (2:213)

It is He Who sent down <nazala to you, in Truth, the Book (3:3).

But people say that not only the Book was sent down but also an EXTRA
revelation known as al-Hikma (The Wisdom) was also sent down. They site
some Ayaat from the Quraan to this effect. One of them is related here:

For Allah has sent down <anzala to you the Book and the Wisdom and taught
you what you knew not (4:113)

We will, inshaAllah deal with Al-Hikma later in another chapter. But for now,
we will site a couple of Quraanic Ayaat to show that the Book is INCLUSIVE
of the Hikmah, and the Al-Hikma that is being sent down is the Quraan:

Those who conceal what Allah has sent down<anzala in the Book , and
purchase for them a miserable profit - they swallow into themselves nothing
but fire; Allah will not address them on the Day of Resurrection, nor purify
them : grievous will be their penalty (2:174)

Here we notice that the warning is ONLY given for concealing the Book, and
not the Hikmah. Does this mean that those who conceal the Hikmah in the
books of Hadith will not be punished No, but the answer is that The-Book is
inclusive of the Hikmah and concealing the Book would automatically conceal
the Hikmah.

Because Allah sent down<nazala the Book in Truth, but those who seek
causes of dispute in the Book are in a schism far (2:176)
If Hikmah is separate from the Book, then it means that it would be ok to
seek causes of dispute in the Hikmah as it is ONLY the Book that is
mentioned above. Here, I digress. Let me get back to the word Balagha.

There is no point in dwelling on speculations when one has the weightiest

evidence

Say: What thing is most weighty in Evidence Say: Allah is a Witness between
me and you; this QURAAN has been revealed to me by inspiration that with it
<BIHI I may warn you and all whom it reaches <BALAGHA (6:19)

Here the Messenger clearly establishes what his BALAGHA is It is the Quraan.
Thus to insist without proof that the Messenger was supposed to deliver
something else besides the Quraan is to oppose the Quranic verdict itself that
he was to deliver the Message of the Quraan only.

But the argument does not end here. People point out that Obey Allah and
Obey the Messenger should mean that obedience to the Messenger is
separate from Obedience to Allah. This is absurd, as the Messenger does not
have any authority except for the reason that he is SENT by Allah. Had
Muhammad not been a Messenger of Allah would people obey him The
answer is NO. Thus Obedience to the Prophet is BECAUSE he is the
Messenger of Allah. Thus the two are NOT mutually exclusive obedience -
one is highly dependent on the other. It is the same as saying eat an apple
and eat its nutrition. Here is further Evidence from the Quraan that they are
the same:

And an announcement from ALLAH AND HIS MESSENGER to the people on

the day of the greater pilgrimage that ALLAH AND HIS MESSENGER are free
from liability to the idolaters; therefore, if you repent, it will be better for
you, and if you turn back, then know that you will not weaken Allah; and
announce painful punishment to those who disbelieve (9:3)

Now, did the people hear Allah giving this announcement of immunity The
answer is No!. It was only from the LIPS of His Messenger, Muhammad, that
they heard this announcement of immunity. Yet it is supposed to come from
both Allah and His Messenger. Or do people think that one announcement
came from Allah and ANOTHER came from the Messenger Allah does not
speak to all the people. What He does is that He chooses a human being as
His instrument and communicates through that instrument.

Who among the companions of the Prophet ever heard any of Allahs
commandments from Allah DIRECTLY NONE!. How can they OBEY Allah then
In that case, according to your twisted logic all Allah had to do was say Obey
the Messenger as it is ONLY through the LIPS of the Messenger that they are
hearing the Quraan.
The following Ayah again establishes that Obedience to Allah and His
Messenger is ONE and the SAME thing:

O you who believe! Obey Allah and Obey the Messenger and do not turn back
from HIM <anhu while you hear (8:20)

Here the believers are identified to be those who were listening to the
Messenger who delivers the Quraanic laws to them, as the singular pronoun
anhu (from him) indicates. This confirms that Allah and His Messenger are
not two separate sources of law to be obeyed, but that the source of Divine
law to be obeyed is ONLY Allah and ONLY the people are able to hear these
divine laws through the LIPS of His Messenger.

Then peoples ignorance of the Quraan is further exposed when in desperation

they site the examples of other Prophets like Nuh, Lut, Hud and Salih in the
Quraan and say that in Ash Shuara ( Surah 26) people are commanded to
obey these Prophets. People say that since these Prophets did not have a
book, then to obey them would mean that obedience to Messenger is
DIFFERENT from Obedience to Allah. The Quraan refutes this claim as I have
shown above already. But in addition, the Quraan confirms that at each time
in history Allah has given a Book. Either the Prophets themselves were given
Books, or there already was a Book by a previous Prophet to which they were
calling the people:

And those to whom We have given the Book rejoice in that which has been
revealed to you, and of the confederates are some who deny a part of it.
Say: I am only commanded that I should serve Allah and not associate
anything with Him, to Him do I invite (you) and to Him is my return. And
thus have We revealed it, a true judgment(HUKMAN) in Arabic, and if you
follow their low desires after what has come to you of knowledge, you shall
not have against Allah any guardian or a protector. We did send messengers
before thee, and appointed for them wives and children: and it was never the
part of a messenger to bring an Ayah except as Allah permitted (or
commanded). For each PERIOD IS A BOOK (revealed). (13:36-38)

In no uncertain terms has Allah announced here that each Prophet had a
Book in his time. Prophethood and Book is always tied together:

It is not (possible) that a man, to whom is given the Book, and Wisdom, and
the prophetic office, should say to people: Be ye my slaves rather than
Allah's: on the contrary (He would say) Be ye slaves of Him Who is truly the
Cherisher of all: For ye have taught the Book and ye have studied it
earnestly. (3:79)

This Ayah ties Prophethood to the Book. Otherwise, if we take the baseless
claim that certain Prophets came without any Book then this Ayah would be
limited Only to those Prophets who came with the Book, and therefore those
Prophets who came without the Book can still tell people to be their slaves
rather than Allahs Further the Quraan explicitly tells us that Allah gave the
Book to Nuh and Lut and their Progeny:

We gave him Isaac and Jacob: all (three) guided; and before him, We guided
NUH, and among his progeny, David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and
Aaron. Thus do We reward those who do good; and Zakariya and John, and
Jesus and Elias: all in the ranks of the righteous. And Isma'il and Elisha, and
Jonas, and LUT; and to all We gave favor above the nations. (To them) and
to their fathers, and progeny and brethren: We chose them, and we guided
them to a straight way. This is the guidance of Allah: He giveth that guidance
to whom He pleases, of His worshippers. If they were to join other gods with
Him, all that they did would be vain for them. These are they to whom We
gave the BOOK and the wisdom and the prophecy; therefore if these
disbelieve in it We have already entrusted with it a people who are not
disbelievers in it (6:84-89)

And certainly We sent Nuh and Ibrahim and We gave to their offspring the
(gift of) prophecy and the Book; so there are among them those who go
aright, and most of them are transgressors (57:26)

The above Ayaat make it clear that ALL Prophets came with Allahs Message
in some form of a Book, and that obedience to the Messenger is obedience to
Allahs Words that the Messengers are delivering. Whether these words are
preserved or not is another matter. But as far as the Quraan is concerned the
Book has been recorded and preserved. And as I have shown before that the
revelation delivered by the Prophet Muhammad was nothing but the Quraan,
and therefore, to obey the Messenger we must obey the Quraan. Besides,
the speculation that obedience to Allah and obedience to the Messenger are
separate conflicts with the explicit Quraanic statement that Allah does NOT
share anyone in His Law or Hukm:

Surely the Hukm (Law and Judgment) is for none but Allah (12:40)

He does not make anyone His associate in His Hukm (Law and Judgment)
(18:26)

The Messenger himself is made to testify that the Law and the Judgment is
only from Allah as revealed through the Messenger in His Book:

Shall I seek a Law-giver other than Allah When He it is Who has revealed to
you the Book distinctly elucidated. (6:114)

Thus, the proponents of Hadith are only relying on conjecture when they say
that obey the Messenger means to obey EXTRA commandments outside of
the Quraan; they have no evidence from the Quraan to back up this claim -
only conjecture:
Most of them follow nothing but conjecture: truly conjecture can be of no
avail against truth. Verily Allah is well aware of all that they do. (10:36)

OBEY GOD AND OBEY THE MESSENGER

Taken from the site: (http://www.quran-islam.org/222.html)

The hadith followers in their earnest attempt to advocate the legality of

following the hadith and sunna of the prophet, play on a corrupted
interpretation of the Quranic command to "obey God and obey the
Messenger". They claim that obeying God is to obey the Quran while as
obeying the Messenger is to obey his hadith (personal sayings) and his
sunnah (methods). They add that if obeying the Messenger was the same
thing as obeying God's Quran, then God would have only said Obey God.
Thus to their understanding, God's inclusion of "obey the Messenger" implies
that the Messenger has his own set of religious teachings outside of the
Quran that we must obey.

With the guidance of the Quran, the error in this claim can easily be exposed.
In the light of the Quran it can easily be seen that to "obey the Messenger" is
to obey the message he delivered (the Quran) and nothing else.

1- The necessity to say "obey the Messenger":

The inclusion of the phrase "obey the Messenger" after "Obey God" serves a
number of important causes:

A- Who among the companions of the Prophet ever heard any of God's
revelations directly from God? No one! Consequently, they cannot obey God
except through Muhammad's delivery of the Quran. This once again makes it
necessary for God to command people to obey the messenger since he is the
one who delivers to them God's message. Moreover, the messenger did not
just deliver the Quran and vanish! The prophet spent all his years from the
time he first received the revelation till his death inviting all people to believe
in and follow the Quran. Hence it is necessary for God to say to all humans to
obey the messenger who is inviting them to follow the Quran.

B- The Quran was revealed to Muhammad in order that he would deliver it to

a community which was primarily composed of idol worshippers but also
some followers of the previous scripture like the Jews and the Christians
(Nasara). Once again, and for the benefit of the followers of the scripture
that we understand the neccessity of the phrase "obey the Messener". To
make this clear, let us assume that the command in the Quran did not
contain the phrase "obey the Messenger" but was only a command to "Obey
God". Immediately, the Jews and the Christians (Nasara) would say : But we
already obey God, God has sent us the scripture and we obey it!" Hence, the
phrase "obey the messenger" which is enclosed in the message he
(Muhammad) delivered to them (Quran) endorses the Quran itself as being
the last revelation form God to all humans. The Quran was revealed to
mankind so as to supercede all previous scripture:

"Then we revealed to you (O Muhammad) this scripture, truthfully,

confirming previous scriptures, and SUPERSEDING them." 5:48

2- The duty of the Messenger:

"And obey God and obey the messenger and be cautious; but if you turn
back, then know that the SOLE DUTY of the messenger is the deliverance (of
the message)" 5:92

"And obey God and obey the messenger, but if you turn back, then upon Our
messenger is the SOLE DUTY of the clear delivery (of the message)" 64:12

Now, if we look at these Ayaat, we notice that God has clearly pointed out
the ONLY duty of the Messenger, i.e. that he must DELIVER the message
(Quran).

The word Messenger is derived from the word Message. A Messenger delivers
a Message. If there were no message there would not be a messenger. To
Obey the Messenger would thus mean to obey the message he is delivering.

3- Is it obey "Muhammad" or "obey the Messenger"?

God is the most efficient in expressing any meaning. All Quranic words are
chosen by God to convey a precise meaning.

We never read anywhere in the Quran words like "Obey God and obey
Muhammad" or obey Jesus, or Moses..........always the word
messenger........this is to emphasise once again that what is to be obeyed is
the "message" of God and not the personal words or views of the messenger.

As mentioned earlier, the word Messenger is derived from the word Message.
If there were no message there would not be a messenger. To Obey the
Messenger would thus mean to obey the message he is delivering.

4- The only "message" revealed to Muhammad was the Quran:

In reply to this Quranic truth, the proponents of hadith claim that they have
no problem with the fact that the only duty of Muhammad was to deliver the
message, but they quickly add that the hadith and sunna of Muhammad are
part of the "message" and were inspiration from God! They base such claim
on a corrupted interpretion of 53:3-4. As a matter of fact, they claim that
besides the hadith of Muhammad (which they claim was inspired) they claim
that Muhammad received additional revelation directly from God outside the
Quran which they call the 'Hadith Al-Qudsy' or the 'sacred hadith'!

For more info on the corruption of 53:3-4, please see:

The corruption of 53:3-4

With the guidance of the Quran we can quickly establish that Muhammad did
not receive ANY revelation from God other than the Quran. Yes the prophet
was inspired by God in certain personal matter, an example of that is found
in 66:3 where God inspired the prophet regarding the truth of a domestic
issue. However, this was mere inspiration from God and not revelation. The
difference between inspiration and revelation is that God inspires all humans
(note how God inspired the mother of Moses). God also inspires the animals
(example of that is in 16:68 where God tells us how He inspires the bees).
This is different from revelation which is specificaly an inspired scripture
which contains religious laws and prohibitions.

Note here that hadith followers uphold the hadith and sunna as the second
source of Islamic law besides the Quran, and by doing so they elevate the
hadith to the status of revelation.

We are told in the Quran that the prophet did not receive any revelation from
God other than the Quran:

"Say (Muhammad): What thing is 'Akbar Shahada' (greatest testimony)?

Say: God is a Witness between me and you; this QURAN has been revealed
to me by inspiration that with it I may warn you and all whom it reaches
(BALAGHA)" 6:19

This testimony which God describes as "Akbar Shahada" "Greatest

Testimony" commands Muhammad to testify that He received the Quran
from God. This testimony speaks of only one revelation received by
Muhammad from God which is the Quran. If Muhammad truly received other
revelation from God other than the Quran, would we not find any mention of
it in the Quran? Would God hide the fact that He gave Muhammad revelation
outside the Quran and then command us to obey it?

Moreover, to insist that every word uttered by the prophet was even
inspiration (let alone revelation) is once again to show ignorance with the
Quran. We are given in the Quran six different cases where the prophet
committed errors for which he was reprimanded by God.
The question here is how can someone who's every word is inspired by God
commit ANY errors? Could God be inspiring mistakes to His prophet!!!

5- God promises to preserve the Quran and nothing else:

"Absolutely, we have revealed the 'Zhikr' (Quran), and, absolutely, we will

preserve it." 15:9

These words proclaim God's promise to preserve the Quran. We do not read
anywhere else in the Quran that God would preserve the personal sayings of
the messenger. In actual fact, God did not preserve His Own previous
scripture (Torah and Injeel), why would He preserve the human words of one
of His servants? Is God elevating His servant to be a legislating god besides
Him when God tells us that the SOLE duty of the messenger is to deliver His
message?

But that is not all, we are told in the Quran that anything which is not from
God would ultimately contain many contradictions and corruptions:

"If it were from other than God, they would have found in it numerous
contradictions." 4:82

Despite these clear ayat, the followers of hadith have made claims that their
cherished hadith books (primarily Bukhari and Muslim) are fully authentic
(Sahih) and without corruption!

Do they not believe God's words in 15:9 and 4:82?

6- The command to follow the Quran and nothing else:

In the Quran God commands all believers to follow the Quran Alone, this
command is found in numerous verses, the following are examples:

"These are God's revelations that We recite to you truthfully. In which Hadith
other than God and His revelations do they believe?" 45:6

"Shall I seek other than God as a source of law, when He has revealed to you
this book fully detailed?"6:114

This clear command once again confirms that obeying the messenger is
confined to obeying the "message" he delivered from God (Quran) and
nothing else.
7- Are we commanded to follow the Sunna of Muhammad?

The followers of hadith and Sunna use a corrupted meaning of 33:21 to imply
that we should follow the methodology of the messenger and thus we need
to follow his Sunna!

To expose the corruption and manipulation in such claim, let us first read
33:21

"The messenger of God has set up a good example for those among you who
seek God and the Last Day, and constantly think about God." 33:21

From these words we note that God is very specific in describing the capacity
in which the prophet has set a good example. The good example lies in his
constant thinking of God and how he sought God and the last day.

Sadly, the worshippers of hadith and Sunna have reduced this glorious ayat
so as to imply that we should eat as the prophet ate, sleep as he did and
even enter the toilet with the same foot which he used!!! .... this is among
many other ridiculous do's and do not's that fill the books of hadith.

To make the issue undisputable, God has told us in the Quran that the only
Sunna is the Sunna of God. No where in the Quran is there any mention of
the Sunna of Muhammad!!!!

"You will find that the Sunna of Allah is the only Sunna"
(33:62....35:43.....48:23)

8- Was the messenger authorised by God to issue any teachings

besides the Quran?

God asserts to all believers that prophet Muhammad was commanded not to
teach any other teachings, otherwise he would incur severe punishment from
God:

"It (the Quran) is a revelation from the Lord of the universe. Had he
(Muhammad) uttered any other teachings, We would have grabbed him by
the right, and We would have severed his Wateen (Major artery of the heart),
none of you could have helped him."69:43-47

Those who insist that the prophet left us a second source of religious law
(hadith) are either accusing the prophet of disobeying God's commands in
69:43-47, or do not really understand the Quran.
9- The instructions left by the prophet

In accordance to 6:114, 69:43-47 and many other clear cut ayat, prophet
Muhammad himself commanded his people not to write his own hadith, this
is documented in Muslim and other books:

"Do not write down anything of me except the Quran. Whoever writes other
than that should delete it" (Ahmed, Vol. 1, page 171.....also Sahih Muslim)

For the first 200 years after the death of the prophet, and in accordance with
his instructions, the writing of his hadith was forbidden. The first one to
document a comprehensive collection of hadith was Al-Bukhari (Note that Al-
Bukhari was born in the year 194 After Hijrah).

Even if we were to follow the hadith (which we are not), how accurate can a
collection of sayings documented two centuries after the death of the prophet
be?

The peculiar matter here is that the followers of hadith do not wish to obey
the Quran nor do they want to obey the instructions left by the prophet! In
their blind and stubborn adherence to the tales told by the likes of such
narrators as Abu Huraira and others they make an astonishingly ridiculous
claim. They claim that the prophet issued these instructions (not to write his
hadith) only in the first period of revelation and only because he was worried
that his hadith would be mixed up with the Quran! They add that these
instructions were cancelled in his later years! Well, if that was the case, why
did they wait two whole centuries before documenting the hadith? Did it take
two centuries to prepare a copy of the Quran that did not have hadith mixed
with it!!!

Moreover, by saying this ridiculous claim (that the prophet was afraid that his
hadith would be mixed up with the Quran) they once again show their
ignorance with the Quran. In Sura 75 we are assured that God would secure
the safe collection of the Quran:

"It is WE who will collect it into Quran." 75:17

This promise from God about the safe collection of the Quran, plus the
promise in 15:9 for the preservation of the Quran reduces the claim of the
hadith followers (that the prophet was worried that his words would get
mixed up with the Quran) to utter nonesense. It is either they do not believe
God or they do not believe the prophet's trust in God's ability!
10- Did the prophet really follow other than the Quran?

The answer to this question is decisively dealt with in the Quran. We read:

"Then we revealed to you this scripture, truthfully, confirming previous

scriptures, and superseding them. You shall rule among them in accordance
with God's revelations, and do not follow their wishes if they differ from the
truth that came to you" 5:48

God's command to the prophet to follow what was revelaed to him (Quran) is
loud and clear. The importance of this command is emphasised as the same
words "You shall rule among them in accordance with God's revelations" are
repeated in ayat 49.

If we are to follow the prophet we must thus follow what he was commanded
to follow, and that is the Holy Quran.

GLORIFYING MOHAMMED
By Brother A. Mohammed (e-mail: A361M@aol.com)

This very common phrase (AL-SALAT ALA AL-NABI and AL-TASLEEM) derives
from the following verse:

"God and His angels ‘Yossalloon ala al Nabi’, O you believers you shall ‘Salloo
alayhee’ and ‘Sallemoo tasleema’." (33/56)

Since this is a clear command from God, we must surely obey it. However,
and before obeying this command we must first understand the meaning of
it. We notice that the verse contained two commands, the ‘Salla ala al Nabi’
and the ‘Tasleem’.

First we should inspect the present interpretation of these words among

Muslims today, then we must find out whether this interpretation is in line
with the one contained in the Quran. To do this, the easiest method is to ask
any Muslim as to what is the meaning of the simple and widely spoken words
‘Salli ala al Nabi’.

Strangely enough, when most Muslims are asked as to what these words
mean they are not really sure! The reader is welcomed to try this himself.

The simple question asked is:

‘When you say ‘Salli ala al Nabi’ what do you really mean? Are you praising
the prophet? Are you imploring him so that he may intercede on your behalf
on judgment day, are you praying God to grant the prophet His highest
mercy? or what?
Sadly this widely repeated phrase has become a number of things except the
one thing that it was really meant to be! For one thing it has become a
means to break up arguments! If two Muslims get involved in a heated
argument you would find one of them saying to the other:

"Why don’t you ‘tesallee ala al Nabi’?"!!!

Similarly if one Muslim is about to ask a favor of the other he often starts
with the same words: "Sallee ala al Nabi", after which he would get into what
he really means to say!

We must pose here and wonder, is the aim behind Allah’s command (Sura
33, verse 56) is to provide us with an effective tool to break up arguments or
to facilitate the obtaining of favors from one another?!! Obviously not! The
verse informs us that God and his angels do the same ‘Salla ala al Nabi’, but
surely God does not get in heated arguments with anyone nor does He ask
favors from anyone!

If the common Muslim has not made up his mind as to the meaning of the
words he repeats many times a day, what then is the opinion of the
‘Moffasereen’ (the interpreters)?

First they will say that God has exclusively honored Muhammad when He
said :

"God and His angels Yossalloon ala al Nabi (for the prophet)"

Immediately, their claim is exposed by Quranic evidence. In the Quran we

read that God and His angels do the same to all believers and not just to the
prophet:

"He is the one who ‘Yessallee alaikom’ (for the believers) and His angels, to
deliver you out of darkness into the light" (33/43)

we also read :

"These (the believers) have deserved ‘Sallawat’ from their Lord and mercy,
they are the guided ones." (2/157) …… again the same meaning,

but the matter does not end there, in Sura 9 we find God commanding the
prophet to do the same for the believers :

"Take from their money a charity to purify them and sanctify them, and ‘Salli
alaihom’ for your ‘Sallawat’ reassures them. God is Hearer, Omniscient."
(9/103)
Now if this verb ‘Yessalli’ is done by Allah to the believers, also by the
prophet to the believers, how can the interpreters say that it is an exclusive
honor bestowed by God on the prophet?!!!

To wiggle out of this tricky situation the interpreters have fabricated a

ridiculous excuse. They claim that the word ‘Sallawat’ has no less than five
different meanings!!

1- First they will say that when God does the ‘Sallat’ to the prophet it means
honoring exclusively.

2- When God does the ‘Sallat’ to the believers it means granting them His
mercy.

3- When the angels do the ‘Sallat’ to the prophet it means constantly praising
him.

4- When the angels do the ‘Sallat’ to the believers, or when the prophet does
it for the believers, it is in the sense of imploring God’s mercy for them.

5- When the believers do the ‘Sallat’ to the prophet it is a sign of loving him
and following him.

If the word (Sallat) in the Quran can have all these meanings then the Quran
is indeed a collection of ambiguous puzzles!

To believe that God may say one simple word and imply five different
meanings is to imply that the Quran is vague and crooked! The important
fact is that after all that, and as it turns out, none of these five meanings is
correct! To verify that let us study the use of the word ‘Sallat’ in the Quran.
Immediately we find that the word ‘Sallat’ has been mentioned in the Quran
in two different context :

a- The ‘Sallat’ for Allah, which is an act of worship, as used in the following
verse :

"I am God; there is no other God beside Me, Thus you shall worship me and
observe the ‘Sallat’ to commemorate Me." (20/14)

b- The ‘Sallat’ of the prophet on the believers or of the believers on the

prophet as mentioned in previous verses.

The difference between the two uses of the same word all depends on the
letter or the word that comes immediately after the word ‘Sallat’.

The word ‘Sallat’ is either followed by the Arabic letter ‘L’ which means (to,
for) as in:
"……..observe the ‘Sallat’ to commemorate Me." (Sura 20, verse 14)

This first use, means the act of prayer, which is done exclusively for God.

The word ‘Sallat’ can also be followed by the Arabic word ‘Ala’ which means
(on) as in all the previous verses.

Now, if ‘Sallat for’ means the act of worship of God, what is the meaning of
the word ‘Sallat on’ as the one done for the prophet or the believers?

Before we analyze this second meaning, which has been the cause of all the
corruption, we must first clarify a vital point. Consider the following example:

A father tells his son:

‘Like I wash my face, you too wash your face.’

The logic of this simple sentence suggests that since the father does one
thing and asks the son to do it as well, then it implies that the same action
done by the father is done by the son. It is not logical to assume that the
father means to say:

‘When I wash my face I mean to wipe my face with water but when you wash
your face my son it means you should wash your feet!!’

Going back to (Sura 33, verse 56), and since the two verbs (Yossalloon and
Salloo) are used in the same verse, without any insinuation of a change in
meaning, then by logic they must have the same meaning.

Consequently, when God informs us that He and the angels (Yossalloon ala al
Nabi), then in the same sentence commands us to do the same, we must
understand that it is of the same meaning.

Here we reach the heart of the matter. What is the meaning of (Sallat ala al
Nabi) that can be done by God and by the believers equally? The same thing
that is done by God must be done by the believers, as per the previous
example.

First, and to give the interpreters the benefit of the doubt, let us look at the
five different meanings they have suggested for the word ‘Sallat ala al Nabi’
and try to find out if any of these meanings can possibly be done by God and
also by the believers :
1- God bestowing honor on His servant:
This can be done by God to any of His servants, but it is not in the authority
of any human to honor another human on behalf of God.

2- To grant mercy:
Again this may only be done by God to any of His servants, all humans are
themselves in need of God’s mercy, they do not have it within them to grant
one another God’s mercy.

3- To constantly praise: God is too exalted ( Al Moutaali ) and proud ( Al

Moutakaber) than to constantly sing the praises of any of those He has
created. On the other hand, the Quran teaches the believers that the only
one worthy of constant praise is God.

4- To implore God’s mercy:

This may be done by believers but it does not make sense for God to implore
Himself.

5- As a sign of following someone:

Again may not be done by God be exalted. He does not follow anyone.

From this brief analysis it is clear that some of these interpretations may be
done by God, while others may be done by human beings but there is not
one interpretation that could apply to God and human beings equally. What
then is the correct meaning of these words?

The only meaning for the words ‘Sallat ala al Nabi’ that is found in the Quran
and that can apply to God, His angels and to the believers alike is to ‘support
the prophet’. God and His angels indeed support the prophet and by the
same token God commands the believers to support His prophet. This correct
meaning is confirmed by Quranic verses :

1- God supports His prophet :

"We have bestowed upon you (O Muhammad) a great victory, whereby God
forgives your past sins, as well as future sins, and perfects His blessings on
you, and guides you in a straight path. Additionally, God will support you
with an unwavering support." (48/1-3)

2- The angels commanded by God to support the prophet :

"Your Lord supports you with three thousand angels, sent down (to support
you)." (3/124)

3- Believers commanded to support the prophet of God :

"(You shall give) to the needy who immigrated. They were evicted from their
homes and deprived of their properties, because they sought God’s grace
and pleasure, and because they supported God and His messenger. They are
the sincere ones." (59/8)

"If you fail to support him (the prophet), God has already supported him.
Thus when the disbelievers chased, him and he was one of two in the cave,
he said to his friend, ‘Do not worry, God is with us’, God then sent
contentment and security upon him, and supported him with invisible
soldiers." (9/40)

"Those who believe in him (the prophet), respect him, SUPPORT HIM and
follow the light (the Quran) that was sent down with him are the truly
successful ones." (7/157)

It is clear from these verses that God commands believers to do three things
regarding His prophet :

1- To believe in him.

2- To support him.

3- To obey and follow his message (the Quran).

Thus the correct meaning of the words ‘Sallat ala al Nabi’ is to support the
prophet. Since the prophet is now dead and no longer with us then it is not
possible to support him personally. The support now is directed to his
message which is the Quran.

With that correct meaning of the word, it is right to think that when God
‘Yessallee ala al Momeneen’ it means He supports them and guides them out
of the darkness. This meaning is indeed confirmed in the verse :

"He is the one who ‘Yessallee alaikom’ (supports you), together with His
angels, to lead you out of the darkness into the light." (33/43)

Similarly when God and His angels ‘Yessalloo ala al Nabi’ it is in the sense
that He supports the prophet together with His angels. God does not go
around repeating the words ‘Sallee ala al Nabi’, ‘Sallee ala al Nabi’ !!!

Similarly when the prophet ‘Yessalle ala al Momeneen’ (believers), as God

commanded him in (Sura 9, verse 103), it is in the sense, that is he is to
support them. Obviously God’s command to His prophet in this verse does
not mean that the prophet should go around saying ‘Sallee ala Zeid’, ‘Sallee
ala Ali’, ‘Sallee ala Belal’ !!
It is important here to inspect some of the ‘hadith’ that are related to the
‘Sallat ala al Nabi’ and verify their agreement with the Quran.

One of the very famous ‘hadith’ goes that the prophet said that whoever
does not ‘Yessallee ala al Nabi’ will not attain the prophet’s ‘Shafa’a’
(intercession) on judgment day. Various other ‘hadith’ indicate that the
prophet emphasised his wish that the believers should say these words for
him. Here we must wonder, did the prophet really ask this of the believers?
And if not why? As stressed earlier in this book, the verification of any
concept, saying or ritual must be based on whether this concept is in
agreement with the Quran or not.

To verify these ‘hadith’ let us first read the following verses :

"Do not ask them for a return, you simply deliver this reminder for all the
people." (12/104)

"I have not asked you for any return. My return comes only from God. I have
been commanded to be a submitter." (10/72)

"Say I do not ask you for any return" (38/86)

These verses assert the fact that the prophet never asked the believers for
anything in return for delivering God’s message to them. It is indeed far
more respectful to think of the prophet as he who’s mission was much more
noble than to go around saying do this for me or do that (e.g. if you do not
visit my grave I will not intercede for you, and if you do not ‘Tessallo alaya’ I
will not do that for you ......etc.)

Another of the cherished ‘hadith’ implies that the prophet instructed Muslims
to say a specific prayer for him. The words of this prayer are as follows :

‘Aaty (grant) Sayedna (our Master/Lord) Muhammad the way, the virtue and
the highest degree and deliver him to the praise worthy status that You
promised him, You do not break Your promises.’

This simple everyday prayer contains various violations of the teachings of

the Quran:

1- To believe that the prophet has asked the believers to do something for
him is in violation of the previous Quranic verses that command the prophet
to ask for no return whatsoever from the believers. The only return he will
receive will be from God.

2- It is indeed wrong in the sight of God to call anyone our Lord except He.
"Or have they set up other Lords besides Him, God is the only Lord and
Master" (42/9)

3- The one who uses such a prayer is the one who either never read the
Quran or has read it but does not really believe it! This is because Sura 48
confirms that God has informed the prophet that He has forgiven him all his
sins, past and future :

"We have bestowed upon you (O Muhammad) a great victory, whereby God
forgives your past, as well as future sins." (48/1-2)

What this great sign of mercy from God to his prophet means is that
Muhammad is secured the highest reward in the hereafter (since he is
forgiven all his sins). As a result, no prayer could elevate his position any
higher (since there is none better than he who has been forgiven all sins in
advance!).

4- The words ‘you do not break your promises’, are to say the least insulting
to God. The utterance of these words can only mean that whoever speaks
them is not really sure if God will keep His promise and that a small reminder
will come handy !!

Instead, when a true believer reads in the Quran that God has forgiven the
prophet all his sins, will consider the matter a closed one. He will not need to
remind God of His promises.

If this is the correct meaning of the words ‘Sallat ala al Nabi’, then what is
the meaning of the word ‘Tasslleem’ as in ‘Wa sallemoo tasleema’ (Sura 33,
verse 56)?

Sadly, the corrupted interpreters have found another corrupted meaning to

these words as well. They claim that these words are a command from God
to salute the prophet and send him our greetings! This is based on their false
interpretation of the word ‘Tasleema’ to mean greetings!

This is contrary to the meaning of the word in the Quran as will be

demonstrated, but before doing that we must consider all similar words to
‘Tasleem’ that are used in the Quran.

1- Islam: Which means submission to the will of God as in:

"The only religion approved by God is Islam" (3/19)

"Anyone who adopts other than Islam as his religion, it will not be accepted
from him, and in the Hereafter he will be with the losers.’ (3/85)

2- Salam: Which means greetings as in:

"Do not say to the one who offers you Salam (greetings), ‘You are not a
believer....." (4/94)

3- Salm: Which is the opposite of war as in:

"If they are inclined towards Salm (peace), then so shall you and put your
trust in God. He is the Hearer, the Omniscient." (8/61)

4- Saleem: Which means without defects as in:

"That is the day when neither money nor children will be of any use, only the
ones who come to God with a heart that is Saleem (without defects, pure)
(will be saved)." (26/88-89)

5- Istisllam: Which means surrender as in:

"Stop them and ask them, ‘How come you do not help one another?’ On that
day they will be Mostaslemoon (in total surrender)." (37/25-26)

6- Soullaman : Which means a ladder as in:

"And if their rejection gets to be too much for you, you should know that
even if you dug a tunnel through the earth, or climbed a Soullama (ladder)
into the sky, and produced a miracle for them (they still would not
believe)...." (6/35)

7- Tasleem: Which means recognition and acceptance.

As in the subject of this search (33:56)

It is noteworthy to mention that the word ‘Taslleem’ is found in only three

verses in the Quran, and in all three verses it means to recognize and
endorse:

"Never indeed, by your Lord; they are not believers until they come to you to
judge in their disputes, then have no objection to your judgment and
‘Yessallemoo Taslleema’ (totally accepting and endorsing it)." (4/65)

His messenger had promised us, indeed God and His messenger have been
truthful. All this strengthened their Iman and Taslleem (faith and
recognition)." (33/22)

"God and His angels ‘Yessalloo ala al Nabi’ (support him). O you who believe
you shall ‘Salloo alayhee’ (support him) and Sallemoo Taslleema , ( fully
recognize him and accept him as the messenger of God)." (33/56)
A very simple and effective way of proving that the word ‘Tasslleem’ means
recognition and not greetings as the corrupters would have us believe, is to
substitute each of these two words, first (recognition), then (greetings) in
place of the word ‘Tasslleem’ in each of the previous verses and see which
one of the two words make more sense.

Let us start with the word greetings:

- ".........they are not believers until they come to you to judge in their
disputes, then have no objection to your judgment and greetings" !!

- ".....indeed God and His messenger have been truthful. All this
strengthened their Iman and greetings" !!!!!

It is obvious that the substitution of the word greetings in these verses

makes no sense whatsoever. However if we insert the word recognition in
place of ‘Tasslleem’ all three verses will make perfect sense.

The correct meaning of verse 56 of Sura 33 is thus:

"God and His angels support the prophet, O you who believe you too shall
support him and fully recognize and accept him (as the prophet of God)."

Indeed it makes perfect sense that God should command the believers to
support His prophet and totally accept him rather than to be primarily
concerned in people going around saying (Sallee ala al Nabi) without
understanding what it really means and sending our greeting to the prophet
who is dead and can no longer hear us, (see Sura 35, verse 14).

However, the corrupters have come up with the most absurd scenario to
justify the need to constantly greet the prophet. They claim that the prophet
is alive in his grave, that he can see us when we visit his grave, that he
hears us when we greet him and actually replies to our greetings!!

This absurd fabrication is once again in contradiction to various Quranic

verses.

FIRST

Indeed the prophet is alive, however he is definitely not in his grave but up
somewhere in the kingdom of God. This is confirmed by various verses that
indicate that the righteous are not dead but are alive and prosperous in
God’s Kingdom.

SECOND
The prophet does not return the greetings simply because the Quran affirms
that those who died cannot hear us, and thus cannot respond to us:

"Those you call on other than Him (your Lord) do not possess as much as a
seed’s shell. If you call on them they cannot hear you. Even if they heard you
they cannot respond to you...." (35/13-14)

The Quran states that a barrier separates the dead from the living :

"A barrier will separate them from this world till the day they are
resurrected." (23/100)

For all that, the correct meaning of (Sura 33, verse 56) is:

"God and His angels support the prophet, O you who believe, you too shall
support him and fully recognize and accept him (as the prophet of God)."

This accurate and precise meaning is asserted and authenticated in the

following verse:

"Those who believe in him (the prophet), and respect him, and support him,
and follow the light (the Quran) that was brought down with him, those are
the truly successful ones." (7/157)

This verse includes all that God commanded us to do for the prophet :

1- To believe in him, which corresponds to (Sallemoo Tasleema) in 33:56

2- To support him which correspond to (Salloo Alayhee) in the same verse.

3- To obey him (to follow the message that was revealed to him, which is the
Quran).

This is what God commands any people to do for their prophet, whether they
are the people of Moses, Jesus or Muhammad.

The importance of this last verse is profound since it exposes the corrupted
interpretation of three prime concepts :

1- ‘Sallemmo Tasllemma’ is a command from God to the believers to

recognize and believe in His prophet, it is not a command from God for them
to send him greetings!!!

2- ‘Salloo Alayhee’ is a command from God to the believers to support His

prophet, it is not a command to the believers to go around like parrots
repeating ‘Salli ala al Nabi’ without even knowing what it means!
3- To obey the prophet is a command from God to the believers to follow the
light (Quran) that He has revealed to His prophet (7:157), it is not a
command to follow that which is falsely attributed to the prophet, and called
his Sunna, and which was never mentioned in the Quran, not even once!

The only Sunna authorized in the Quran is the Sunna of God.

ISRA & MIRAJ

By Abu Samad (abusamad@hotmail.com)

These days, many Muslims believe that Miraj of Muhammad (PBUH) was a
physical journey. In contrary, Allah has said that Miraj was a vision or ru'ya
(surah Bani -Israil ayat 60). This extraordinary vision was shown to our dear
prophet when he was humiliated for years by the people around him. Years
after years, after his dedicated work, only few people were following the
truth. In such situation, any body would be disheartened and go to a low
morale. At that time, Allah (SWT) showed him a vision that he is leading a
prayer and all the past prophets were attending this prayer. The significance
of this vision was that our dear rasul was selected as the imam for the whole
world and he holds the highest level of dignity and status amongst all the
prophets. All the past prophets had provided their support and recognition.
Thus it would be soon that his preaching would prevail all over the world. In
this spiritual journey, he was also taken beyond the world and was shown a
view of the universe. Many people believe that this journey was physical. But
our prophet said that he was in the stage of half-sleep and half-awake. When
he woke up (or returned from the journey), he found his seat was still warm.
This itself says that the journey had taken place in a fraction of a moment.
All the incidents that happened in this short period of time can only occur
spiritually or in ru’ya.

The disbelievers thought that our rasul implied a physical journey and they
ridiculed our prophet and demanded a book to be brought down from the
heaven (Bani-Israil, ayat 93). Our rasul replied: “but I am just a human
being” (ayat 93). This ayat shows that because he is a human being, he does
not possess power of a superman or is not provided with a 'burraq' to travel
physically to heaven and bring a book! Unfortunately, these days we Muslims
started to believe that the journey was physical.

Some Questions:

If you believe that this journey was indeed a physical journey, then you have
to come up with some reasonable answers to the following questions:

1. Why did Angel Gabriel enter the house by breaking through the roof? Was
the landing imperfect? Who repaired the breakage before any body could see
the defect?
2. It is told that Burraq would not allow our prophet to ride him, till Gabriel
twisted its ears. Did Allah send a special animal that would not do its duty till
its ears are twisted?

3. How did all other prophets come to Jerusalem? Did they come in spiritual
form or in physical form? If they came in physical form, then resurrection or
Qiyamat had once taken place already. Because the dead prophets were
brought back to life already in to their earthly bodies.

4. If they came in physical form, what kind of transportation did they

acquire? More Burraqs? Or only few large burraqs like jumbo jets?
Remember that we are talking about 124,000 prophets.

5. We are told that Prophet's Burraq was tied to one corner of Masjidul Aqsa.
Where did all other prophets tie their individual burraqs or their jumbo
burraqs?

6. A gathering of such huge magnitude is sure to cause much commotion in

the area. Did the people of Jerusalem miss such a major gathering? Not even
a single person noticed 124,000 prophets and 124,000 burraqs suddenly
entering their small town of Jerusalem?

7. How big was the Aqsa Mosque at that time? Could it really hold 124,000
prophets? Football stadiums in this country can barely hold such large
number of spectators.

8. If you say that, all the prophets came spiritually and none of them came
physically, then why did our prophet Muhammad(PBUH) make a physical
journey? He could also have gone there spiritually.

9. When the incident of Miraj happened, what our prophet needed was a
morale boost at the humiliating situation around him. He did not really need
any physical boost. If at all Allah sent all the prophets in their physical
bodies, then it would have been more helpful to send them to Makkah. These
124,000 prophets could have camped in Makkah for a day or two, and scared
the hell out of the disbelievers.

10. Which prayer was that? Isha? Or some other time? Was there an Adhan?
Or Ikamat? Who gave the Adhan or Ikamat that all the prophets could hear
yet none of the residents of Jerusalem could hear?

11. As we are told, our prophet then went to the heaven and several
prominent prophets greeted him. We know that those prominent prophets
also were in the congregational prayer at Jerusalem. How did they reach
heaven before Muhammad (PBUH)? Another kind of transportation that is
quicker than a Burraq? So you mean that Allah provided a slow Burraq to
Muhammad (PBUH)?
12. Why did the gatekeepers enquire the identity of Gabriel and
Muhammad(PBUH)? The angel gatekeepers did not recognize a major angel,
the Gabriel? If the gatekeepers are so stupid or ill-informed, then they may
not do a good job in protecting the heaven.

13. Allah had sent his special angel Gabriel and a special animal Burraq, to
bring our prophet to the heaven. In such a special occasion, did Allah forget
to instruct the gatekeepers about the very special guest? In this world, we
usually send some body to the airport to pick the special guest up. Of course
Miraj does not happen every day. Out of so many prophets, only our rasul
experienced this miraj. In such a major event, the gatekeepers repeatedly
insulted Gabriel and our prophet by asking their identity? Also, Allah probably
did not install security systems where you could swipe your magnetic cards
to enter or let a scanner scan your finger prints or a voice activated system.

14. What is the need of a gate in front of the heaven, any way? Who tries to
trespass that such security is needed? Was it not possible for the Burraq to
fly little higher and cross the wall without any interruption at the gates?
Helicopters can do that.

15. Why did Gabriel stop at each gate? I thought his style is to pierce
through the roof. Probably, the roof of heaven is made of a different grade of
concrete that Gabriel would have hurt himself.

16. Allah has said that he resides close to our jugular vein. But this
description says that Allah resides in the seventh heaven, behind a curtain.
Does it not hit the fundamental understanding of Islam that Allah is
omnipresent and without a physical body?

17. Allah said that

"And know that Allah cometh in between a man and his heart" (8:24),

and also "for we are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein (50:16)".

If we subscribe to the story that Allah is stationed behind the curtain in the
seventh heaven, then these two ayats are in serious question. Please also
read ayats 2:115, 6:3. What do you want to believe? Allah's words in Quran
or this story??

18. Another form of this story says that beyond this curtain was an
exceptionally bright light. What kind of light was that? Electromagnetic
radiation? The curtain a special grade of lead with high atomic number that
could restrict the light or energy of Allah? Can some thing restrict Allah? Is
Allah confined to one area?
19. Why does Allah need so much of security? Is He not the most powerful?
Is there a threat of a military coup from Iblees that Allah needs the security?
Security guards of our presidents are usually physically stronger, swifter, and
able than the presidents. So, Allah's 'body' guards are physically stronger
than Allah that they could protect Allah in case of any assault?

20. We are told about seven heavens. We know seven and seventy are
mentioned in Quran or in Arabic, that signifies multiple. In this case, it is
literally seven numbered of heavens? Are they stacked vertically or
horizontally? If they are vertically placed, I find it is quite awkward for our
prophet and Gabriel to converse with the gatekeeper angels. May be at that
time also, Otis was making elevators which stopped at each floor of the
heaven and allowed easy conversation.

21. Burraq is a winged animal little smaller than a horse. It flaps its special
wing to cross long distances at a fast pace. Once it crossed the atmosphere,
it really did not require the wings, as there is no air to flap his wings. At that
time, did he transfer his rider to another kind of animal? Or probably he
manages equally well without flapping the wings. I presume he carefully
covered our prophet with his wings at that time, because it is terribly cold in
high altitude. He might also have saved extra air or oxygen inside his wings
for our prophet's survival. Probably there was no need for extra air, as it
happened too fast, before our prophet needed another breath of air.

22. We are repeatedly told that during our prophet's visit to the heaven, he
was prescribed with 50 prayers a day and six months of sawm for his
followers. Let's just think what fifty prayers a day will do to us. Out of 24
hours a day, we probably sleep 6-7 hours. That leaves us with 17-18 hours.
We spend about two hours in eating, bathing, and other biological needs.
That leaves us with about 15 -16 hours. If we have to pray fifty times in this
time, then we have to pray about four times an hour. Well, then there is not
much time left for other things to do. We do not have enough time to go to
grocery. Well, we do not need to go, because every one in the grocery store
is also praying fifty times a day. Actually, the grocery store is empty.
Because, the farmers did not grow any crops this year as they were praying
fifty times a day. In fact, we do not need grocery that much, since we are
also fasting six months!!

23. Who saved us from this difficult task of 50 prayers and six month of
fasting? Musa (AS)? So, Musa (AS) was instigating our prophet against the
initial commands of Allah? So, we believe that our prophet listened to the
"advices" of Musa instead of "orders" from Allah? While Al-Quran says in
10:15,

"if I were to disobey my Lord, I should myself fear the chastisement of a

great day (to come)."
24. Our prophet had to make several trips to Allah to get all the reductions
and discounts on prayers and fasting. When Musa(AS) "instigated" our
prophet, did it take so long for Muhammad(PBUH) to realise the burden of so
many prayers and such long fasting?

25. Allah says that He is Rahman and Rahim. But I see that He wanted us to
go through 50 prayers and 6 months of fasting. Not very Rahim, huh?

26. Only Musa (AS) had the real perception of the hardship of mankind.
Neither Allah nor Muhammad (PBUH) had any clue! But again, Allah insists in
Al-Quran 2:185,

"…Allah intends every facility for you, He does not want to put you to
difficulties…".

27. I thought heaven was very secure with all these gatekeepers. Did the
security guards allow Musa(AS) to loiter around? Why did the gatekeepers
allow Muhammad(PBUH) multiple revisits to Allah? Where was Gabriel at that
time?

28. These days, many of us celebrate the incident of Isra and Miraj. Did our
prophet celebrate this incident? Did his companions celebrate this incident?
No?

Other web sites

If you insist on celebrating Isra and Miraj, then please read the website,
http://www.qss.org/articles/isra.html written by Shaykh `Abdul `Aziz ibn
Baz . A part of this web site states, “If the celebration of this night had been
lawful, they (companions) would have been first to do it. The Prophet also is
the most sincere in guiding people. He most truly fulfilled his mission, and
performed his noble duty. If the glorification and celebration of that night had
something to do with Islam, the Prophet would never have neglected it nor
concealed it. Since nothing about this was narrated from the Messenger and
his companions, therefore glorification and celebration of that night was
absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Islam, as Allah has perfected for
this nation its religion, completed His favor upon it and rebuked and refuted
the innovators who introduce into the religion that which Allah has not
allowed”.

I would strongly suggest you to visit another site Mairaj or the Ascesion. If
my style of writing irritated you, you will find more polite way of writing in
this web site as well as the one mentioned in the above paragraph.

There are multiple web sites that describes in detail of Isra and Miraj, as if it
happened physically. I am not providing links to those sites. If you are
intersted to read those sites, you can to go any search engine and enter
Miraj. One site will even describe you about the heaven of burraqs where
there are 40 million burraqs, each with a "La-ilaha illallahu muhammadur
rasulallah" inscribed on its forehead!! I do not want to speculate who did the
census to conclude 40 million burraqs or who would read the Kalimah written
on their forehead.

Conclusion

If you think that this incident of Miraj occurred in vision or in dream, and the
journey was spiritual in nature, then you will find very logical answers to all
the questions that I posed. If you think the journey was indeed physical,
then let me know what are the answers based on Quran.

May Allah bless all the readers without limit in their effort in serving the
cause of Islam. Also, may Allah forgive me for my mistakes, ignorance and
wrong attitude and guide me in the right path.

ISRA & MIRAJ

By Brother Joe (e-mail: Joe28@iname.com)

While the Isra did happen (17:1, 53:1-18), fairytales associated with it do
not make any sense when scrutinized under Quran's light. First I will sum up
this story, and then I will take a look at it Quranicly.

This story is usually called in Muslim literature the story of al-isra'a and al-
mi'raj or the prophet Muhammad quit night journey (al-isra'a) from Mecca to
al-masjid al-aqsa (the farthest mosque) in Jerusalem, then his ascension to
heaven (al-mi'raj) and his return in few minutes back to Mecca. They said it
happened on 27th night of Rajab (the 7th lunar month) in 621 AD
(Muhammad was then 50-year old).

When he met the Lord, he received at first fifty daily salats (the contact
prayers ritual). Following Moses' advises who was in the 7th heaven,
Muhammad was going back and forth to the Lord debating in behalf of
believers, who were down in earth, to lighten the number of salats for them.
He could not do it anymore, out of shyness, when the Lord lowered many
times this number fifty down to only five.

They said that since every good deed is rewarded tenfold, therefore whoever
upholds salat five times daily, is rewarded fifty fold. The original ordinance
and decision of God remained then unchanged!!!

Let's look now at this story under Quran's light, which I sum up in the
following seven points:
1. First of all, Muhammad was summoned during the Night of Destiny in
Ramadan (the 9th lunar month) to the ultimate place and he only received
the Quran (2:97, 2:185, 17:1, 44:3, 53:1-18, 97:1-5). This flight could not
happen then in Rajab (the 7th lunar month) as this story states.

2:185, "Ramadan is the month during which the Quran was sent down,
providing guidance for the people, clear teachings..."

17:1 "Most glorified is the One who summoned His servant (Muhammad)
during the night, from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest place of prostration,
whose surrounding we have blessed, in order to show him from our signs
<ayat>. He is the Hearer, the Seer."

44:3, "We have sent it (Quran) down in a blessed night, in order to warn."

53:1-18, "By the stars as they fell away. Your friend (Muhammad) was not
astray, nor was he deceived. Nor is he speaking out of a personal desire. It is
divine inspiration. Instructed by the Most Powerful. Possessor of all authority.
From His highest height. As He was at the highest horizon. He drew nearer
by moving down. Until He became as close as possible. He then inspired His
servant what was to be inspired. The heart <al-fuad> never made up what it
saw. Do you doubt what he saw? He saw him in another descent. At the
ultimate point. Where the eternal Paradise is located. The whole place was
overwhelmed. The sight did not waver, nor exceed the limit. He saw great
signs <ayat> of his Lord."

2. Muhammad did not receive anything else, especially salat. Salat was given
to Abraham (21:73, 22:78), and Muhammad was merely his follower in that
(16:123).

3. There are similarities between the debating part of this story and the story
of Abraham in the Bible (Genesis 18:17-33). Abraham was debating with the
Lord in behalf of the people of Sodom (Lot’s people) to not destroy them if
there were fifty righteous people among them, until this figure became only
ten.

However, here is what Quran says about this event.

29:31-32, "When our messengers went to Abraham with good news (about
his son's birth), they also said, "We are on our way to annihilate the people
of that town, for its people have been wicked." He said, "But Lot is in it."
They said, "WE ARE FULLY AWARE OF EVERYONE IN IT. WE WILL OF
COURSE SAVE HIM AND HIS FAMILY, BUT NOT HIS WIFE; SHE IS DOOMED."

11:74-76, "When Abraham's fear subsided, and the good news (about his
future progeny) was delivered to him, he proceeded to argue with us on
behalf of Lot's people. Indeed, Abraham was clement, extremely kind, and
repenting. "O Abraham, REFRAIN FROM THIS. Your Lord's judgment has
been issued; they have incurred unavoidable retribution."

Abraham's intentions and God answering prayers are not the issues here.
The issue here is, "Does God change His commands once they are issued?
Could someone with prayers make God do so?" The answer to both
questions, as shown from the two ayat above, is NO.

Therefore, if a part in the Bible, or in any other book (scripture,

philosophy...) for that matter, says otherwise about this event and this issue,
then this part is false. Quran came to AUTHENTICATE previous scriptures and
to GUARD them, not to confirm their falsehood.

4. During this flight, Muhammad received Quran. He must be then at most

40-year old (the age he declared his prophethood), not 50 as this story
states.

5. The natural question here is this. Does it mean that Muhammad, Moses, or
Abraham is more merciful toward the people and more knowing about what
they could do than God? I seek God for His forgiveness.

6. Muhammad is described here as visiting al-aqsa mosque (the farthest

mosque) in Jerusalem. But this mosque was only built 65 years after
Muhammad's death! Even its Arabic name al-aqsa was taken from Quran
(17:1), not the other way around.

7. There is another interesting version of the same story by Ibn Ishak, the
first recorder of Muhammad's biography. He lived much earlier than any
other recorder of this story; which makes his version trustworthier
historically. In his version, he said that Muhammad informs his wife about his
flight when he woke up for Fajr salat. He told her the flight happened while
he was sleeping after Esha salat. His narration talks about Esha (evening)
and Fajr (dawn) salats. Therefore, Muhammad could not possibly receive
salat in his flight!

From the seven points above, we conclude easily that the story of Isra and
Miraj as known in most Muslim literature does not hold water when
scrutinized under Quran's light. Isra or Muhammad’s ascent to heaven to the
farthest place of prostration, however, did happen where he received Quran.

God knows best,

Joe.

WAS PROPHET MOHAMMED ILLITERATE?

Muslim scholars and the entire Muslim world will tell us that prophet
Mohammed was an illiterate man who could not read or write. They tell you
this information to make the miracle of the Quran sound even more
miraculous disregarding that such statements create some obvious
questions:

- According to historians, the prophet Mohammed encouraged his followers to

learn to read and write and teach others the same so as to spread knowledge
throughout the world. How is it that a man who led by example never learnt
to read and write himself?.

- The Quran was transmitted to us through the prophet Mohammed’s own

lips over a period of 23 years. Is it conceivable that the man who was in
contact with God’s words and who was careful to have them written down
and copied never bothered to learn to read what he was having written?.

- The prophet Mohammed was reputed to be a skilful tradesman, having

done some successful enterprises for his first wife “Khadija”. Any student of
history knows that numbers as we know them weren’t developed until
decades after the prophet’s death. All trade was done with letters having
numeric values (A=1, B=2, G=3, D=4, H=5, etc..). How could the prophet
be a successful trader without knowing the letters?.

Although the above questions may seem obvious to any rationale human
being, they do not appear so to those who have engulfed themselves in
fabricated tales where truth and deception mix. The case that Islamic
scholars use to prove that the prophet Mohammed was illiterate is the use of
the word “Ummy” in the Quran when referring to the prophet. The scholars
have said that “Ummy” means “Illiterate” and that God is the one who
supports this story.

Let us look at ALL the verses in the Quran which use the word “Ummy”:

“…and tell those who have received the scriptures and the Ummien have you
submitted?…” (3/20)

“And from the people of the scriptures are those whom if you entrust him
with an ounce he will return it to you, and those whom if you entrust him
with a Dinar he will not return it to you unless you are persistent, that is
because they said: We have no obligation to the Ummien, and they say upon
God falsehood while they are fully aware“(3/75)

“The ones who follow the Ummy messenger prophet whom they find written
in their Torah and Gospel…” (7/157)

“And from them are Ummien who do not know the scriptures except wishes
and they only follow conjecture” (2/78)
“He is the One Who sent to the Ummien a messenger from amongst them…”
(62/2)

“…believe in God and His messenger the Ummy prophet who believes in
God…” (7/158)

For the sake of clarity I have kept the word “Ummy” in its original form
without translating it so the reader may draw his/her own conclusions. If we,
as the Islamic scholars have previously done, use the word “Illiterate”, then
we get some strange and non-sensible verses.

The Arabs of Mecca were very well known for their strength in poetry and
their deep grasp of the Arabic language. These people were neither Jews nor
Christians, but they believed that they followed the religion of Abraham.

Since the Arab’s were never recipients of any heavenly scripture then they
could be correctly described as “Gentiles”, and since the prophet Mohammed
was raised from amongst the Arabs then he too was a “Gentile” before
receiving the scriptures.

Therefore, a more accurate translation of the word "Ummy" would be

"Gentile" since a gentile is a term used on any who have not received the
scriptures, which is exactly what the Arabs were, and NOT "Illiterate" as
people would have us believe.