It is written in the Bible
that
a final Prophet ‘alaihis-salâtu wa-s-salâm’
will come after Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. The sixteenth verse of the fourteenth
chapter of the Gospel of John quotes Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ as having said:
“And I will pray the Father, and
he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;”
(John: 14-16) The twenty-sixth verse reads as follows: “But the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have
said unto you.” (ibid: 26) And it is written in the thirteenth verse of the
sixteenth chapter: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will
guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” (ibid:
16-13). [Christians insistently interpret the word ‘Comforter’ as ‘Ghost’.]
Furthermore, it is written in
the Old Testament part of the Holy Bible that a Prophet belonging to the Arabian race will come. The fifteenth verse of
the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy quotes Műsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ as having
said to the Israelites: “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy
brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;” (Deut: 18-15) The word
‘brethren’ of the Israelites used in this text means ‘Ismâîlîs (Ismaelites)’,
i.e. ‘the Arabs’. The last Prophet whose advent is given as good news in the Bible and the Torah is
Muhammad ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’. The religion he brought is Islam. Those who believe in this religion are termed Muslim. The Holy Book of Muslims is the Qur’ân al-kerîm. The Qur’ân al-kerîm was revealed in the Arabic language to our Prophet Muhammad ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi
wa sallam’ by Allâhu ta’âlâ. Despite the fourteen hundred years ever since, not a single word
or a single letter in it has been changed. Anyone who reads it, no matter in
what religion he is, admires its grandeur and sublime style. Even those who do
not know Arabic acknowledge the power of its tremendous textuality when they
read its translations in other languages.
The book Mir’ât-i-kâinât,
by Niţancýzâde Muhammed
Efendi,[1] contains the following information
concerning the three heavenly books:
“After serving Shuayb (Jethro)
‘alaihis-salâm’ for ten years in Medyen (Midian), he[2] left for Egypt to visit
his mother and his brother. En route to Egypt, on Mount Tűr (Sinai), he was
notified that he was the Prophet. He went to Egypt, where he invited Pharaoh and his tribe to his
religion. On his way back he made a visit to Mount Sinai again and talked with Allâhu ta’âlâ. The Ten Commandments (Awâmir-i-’ashara) and the Torah, which consisted of forty books, were revealed to
him. Each book contained a thousand chapters, of which each comprising a
thousand verses. To read one book would take a year. With the exception of Műsâ
(Moses), Hârűn (Aaron), Yűsha’, Uzeyr, andÎsâ (Jesus) ‘alaihim-us-salâm’, no
one was able to memorize the Tawrât (Torah). After Műsâ (Moses) ‘alaihis-salâm’
various copies of the Torah were written. With the command of Allâhu ta’âlâ, Műsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ made a
chest from gold and silver and placed in it the Torah that had been revealed to
him. He was one hundred and twenty years old when he passed away somewhere in
the vicinity of Jerusalem. In 668 [1269 C.E.] the Egyptian Sultan Baybars had a
tomb built over his grave. Yűsha’ ‘alaihis-salâm’ captured Jerusalem from
Amâlika. In a long process of time the Israelites were degenerated religiously
and morally. Buhtunnasar (Abuchadnezzar) came from Babel and invaded Jerusalem.
He demolished the Masjîd-i-Aqsâ, which had been built by Suleymân (Solomon)
‘alaihis-salâm’. He burnt all the copies of the Torah. He slew two hundred
thousand people. He captivated seventy thousand men of religion. He transported
them to Babel. When Behmen became the king he emancipated the slaves. Uzeyr
‘alaihis-salâm’ recited the Torah. Those who listened to him wrote it down.
After Uzeyr ‘alaihis-salâm’ Jewry degenerated again. They martyred one thousand
Prophets. They lived under Iran’s domination until the time of Alexander. After
Alexander they lived under the governors appointed by the Greek.
“As for the Bible; neither was
it preserved in its original purity. For one thing, no one knew the Bible by
heart. There is not a single record showing that the Apostles knew the Bible by
heart. Detailed information is given about the Bible in the initial
---------------------------------
[1] Niţancýzâde passed away in Edirne in 1031 [1622 C.E.].
[2] Műsâ (Moses) ‘alaihis-salâm’
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part of our book. On the other hand, because the Qur’ân al-kerîm was revealed gradually
in twenty-three years, the Believers memorized every passage as soon as it was
revealed. Yet, when seventy of the hâfizes (Muslims who had committed the
entire Qur’ân al-kerîm to their
memory) were martyred during the war of Yamâma,[1] ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu
’anh’, anxious about the decrease in the number of the people who knew the Qur’ân al-kerîm by heart, applied to
the time’s Khalîfa, Abű Bakr ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’, advised and requested that the Qur’ân al-kerîm should be compiled and
written down. Upon this Hadrat Abű Bakr ordered Zayd bin Thâbit ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’, who had been a secretary
for Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, to write down the sűras (chapters) of the Qur’ân al-kerîm on separate pieces of
paper. The Qur’ân al-kerîm had been
revealed in seven different dialects, including the Qoureishi dialect. In fact,
sometimes, when people could not properly pronounce a certain
---------------------------------
[1] Wahsî bin Harb Habashî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ was formerly the slave of one of the unbelievers of Qoureish. He was bribed to kill Hadrat Hamza ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’, a blessed paternal uncle of the Messenger of Allah and one of the early Muslims, in the war of Uhud, the second Holy War between the Believers and the unbelievers. When the war was over, the Messenger of Allah pronounced a malediction over some of the unbelievers. The name of Wahshî was not among the people accursed, though the Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ knew that he had killed his uncle. When he was asked why he would not curse Wahshî the blessed Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated: “On the night of Mi’râj (Hadrat Muhammad’s ascent to heaven) I saw Hamza (the Prophet’s blessed paternal uncle) and Wahshî entering Paradise arm in arm.” After the conquest of Mekka Wahshî and other people from Tâif visited the Prophet in the mosque in Medina and became Muslims. The Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ forgave him and ordered him to go to some place in the vicinity of Yamâma and live there. He felt so embarrassed for what he had done to Rasűlullah’s uncle that he lived the rest of his life with his head dropped. During the eleventh year of the Hegira a vehement battle took place between the Muslims and the renegades commanded by Musaylama-t-ul-kazzâb, who claimed to be a prophet. Wahshî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ joined the battle and killed the false prophet, with the same sword he had used to martyr Hadrat Hamza. It was then realized what a great miracle (mu’jiza) it was that the Prophet had sent him to Yamâma. Wahshî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ joined various other Holy Wars and passed away during the caliphate of ’Uthmân ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’.
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word in the Qur’ân al-kerîm, they were permitted to use another
word with the same meaning. For instance, there was a villager who always
mispronounced the word ‘taâm-ul-esîm’ and said ‘tâmmul-yetîm,’ instead. Abdullah
ibni Mes’űd ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ said to him, ‘If you cannot pronounce this word, say
‘taâm-ul-fâjir,’ which is its synonym.’ However, this variety of choice in
reciting the Qur’ân al-kerîm in different dialects and the option to use synonymous substitutes
gave birth to disputes on the superiority of the dialects to one another.
Consequently, the time’s Khalîfa, ’Uthmân ‘radiy-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’anh’ convened a commission under the presidency of,
again, Zayd bin Thâbit ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’, and commanded them to re-write and re-arrange the Qur’ân al-kerîm, this time only in the
Qoureishi dialect. The sűras (chapters) were chosen from the pages written in
the Qoureishi dialect. Seven copies of the Qur’ân
al-kerîm were written in the same way and they were sent to
different provinces. Thereby the Qur’ân
al-kerîm which the Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sallam’ and Jebrâîl (Gabriel) ‘alaihis-salâm’ had recited together twice in the
year coinciding with the Prophet’s passing away, was written down. The copies in other dialects
were annihilated. The copies of the Qur’ân
al-kerîm existing in the Muslim countries all over the world
are exactly concordant with the Mushaf-i ’Uthmânî (the copy of the Qur’ân al-kerîm written upon the command of Hadrat ’Uthmân), both in arrangement
and in phraseology. Not a single letter of it has been changed ever since.”
It is written in the Persian
book entitled Riyâd-un-nâsihîn:“When
’Uthmân ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ was the Khalîfa, he convened the As-hâb-i-kirâm
‘ridwânullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihim ajma’în’. They decided in consensus that that was
the same Qur’ân al-kerîm which
Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’ had recited during the year
of his passing away. It was not wâjib for the Ummat (Muslims) to make a choice
among the seven dialects; it was only permissible.”
The Islamic religion has four sources: The Qur’ân al-kerîm, the hadîth-i-sherîfs
(utterances of the Messenger of Allah), the ijmâ’-i-ummat, and the
qiyâs-i-fuqahâ. Ijmâ’ means consensus, unanimity. The unanimity of the
As-hâb-i-kirâm, as well as the unanimity of the leaders of the four madh-habs,
is a documentary source for Muslims. For Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sallam’ stated, “My Ummat (Muslims) never reach a consensus on something
wrong.” This hadîth-i-sherîf, too,
foretells that the
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religious
knowledge inferred by way of ijmâ’ will be correct. Therefore, this copy of the
Qur’ân al-kerîm on which the As-hâb-i-kirâm
‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’ unanimously
agreed is correct. It is harâm (forbidden) to read a copy in another dialect.
Besides, there is not a copy in any dialect except the one in the Qoureishi
dialect today. All the seven dialects have changed, been forgotten, and
disappeared in the course of time. Understanding the Qur’ân
al-kerîm by means of the various Arabic lexicons being in use today
requires reading books of tafsîr (explanation of the Qur’ân
al-kerîm) and thereby learning the meanings in which words were used in
the age when the Qur’ân al-kerîm was revealed.
Various Western scholars and
writers have expressed their admiration for the Qur’ân
al-kerîm. Goethe (d. 1248 [1749 C.E.]), a famous writer,
after reading an incorrectly translated German version of the Qur’ân al-kerîm, could not help saying,
“I felt bored with the repetitions it contained. Yet I admired the grandeur of
its phraseology.”
Beoworth Smith, a British
priest, states as follows in his book Muhammad and Muhammad’s Votaries ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wasallam’: “The Koran is a miracle of
pure style, knowledge, philosophy, and truth.”
And Arberry, who translated the Qur’ân al-kerîm into English, states,
“Whenever I listen to the azân[1] being called, it impresses me very deeply. Beneath the flowing
tunes I feel as if I hear a drum being beaten. This beating is like the beating
of my heart.”
Marmaduke Pisthal’s views about
the Qur’ân al-kerîm is as
follows: “A most inimitable harmony, and a most determined diction! A force
that arouses an inclination to weep or feelings of infinite love and affection
in the human heart!” These people are only a few of the many Western
philosophers, scientists and politicians who have expressed their great
respect, appreciation and admiration for the Qur’ân
al-kerîm. However, these people consider the Qur’ân al-kerîm not as a Book of Allah
but as a great and valuable work of art written by Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’. If
this were not the case, all these admirers would necessarily have become
Muslims by now.
---------------------------------
[1] The call to prayer. Please see the book Endless Bliss, third fascicle, eleventh chapter.
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See what even Lamartin has to
say:
“Muhammad is not a lying Prophet. For he believed that he had
been chosen by God to spread a new religion.” This shows: Western men of
knowledge argue that “Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ was not a liar, but he thought
that the Qur’ân al-kerîm, which was
actually his brainchild, was a revelation of Allâhu
ta’âlâ to him.” According to them, Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’
was not lying. He really considered himself a Prophet and believed that his utterances were inspired by Allâhu ta’âlâ.
The Qur’ân al-kerîm is a peerless miracle.
As we shall exemplify down below, it contains the most profound pieces of
knowledge and scientific information, essentials of law and jurisprudence that
would provide a basis for all the forms of civil law that have ever been
established up to now, a number of unknown facts about ancient history, the
most comprehensive ethical principles that could be given to humanity, valuable
pieces of advice, the most logical explanatory rudiments about this world and
the next, and many other similar facts, which no one knew, or could ever know,
or even imagine until the time of its advent. And all these facts are expressed
in such a high style as could not be within anyone’s capacity.
Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ was ummî
(illiterate). That is, he had not studied with anyone, learned from anyone, or
written anything. The forty-eighth âyat of ’Ankabűt Sűra purports, “[O
Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’! Before this Qur’ân al-kerîm
was brought down to you,] thou wast not (able) to recite a Book before this (Book
came), nor art thou (able) to transcribe it with thy right hand: In that case,
indeed, would the talkers of vanities (polytheists) have doubted [and
said that you had learned the Qur’ân al-kerîm
from someone else or copied it from other heavenly books. And the Jews would have
doubted, saying, ‘It is written in the Torah that the new prophet will be illiterate. Yet this person is not
illiterate.’]” (29-48) Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ was forty years old when
Jebrâîl (Gabriel) ‘alaihis-salâm’ brought him the first piece of wahy (revelation
of the Qur’ân al-kerîm) on the mount of Hira,
where he had secluded himself for worship. He was so overwhelmingly bewildered
and stricken with awe that he ran home with fright, asked his blessed wife
Hadîja ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhâ’ to make him lie on his bed and to cover him tightly
with something thick, and did not recover for a long time. Is this the way that
a person who assumed exceptional spirituality and
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great
superiority and who wished to prepare a new religious book for the humanity would
be? First of all, would not he have acquired knowledge ample enough to write
such a tremendous work of art, reading volumes of books and making the long
preliminary studies? As a matter of fact, Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ was taken
along in two different business expeditions to Damascus as he was a child, was
charged only with the protection and security of the commercial goods and the
management of the caravans in these expeditions, and accomplished these duties
owing only to HIS EXCEEDINGLY LOFTY MORAL QUALITY AND INTEGRITY and
unbelievably high intellectual merits. This sudden, unexpected revelation,
which he had not even imagined, frightened, rather than pleased him. However,
as the events of revelation recurred, he gradually realized that Allâhu ta’âlâ had decreed to assign him a considerably
important and heavy task, committed all his existence to obeying the
commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ, and began to
publicize the Islamic religion, which He had
communicated to him and which was based on the ‘Unity of Allah’. Muhammad’s
‘alaihis-salâm’ spreading Islam provided him no worldly benefits, but on the
contrary all the Meccans became his enemies. He is known to have stated, “No other Prophet suffered so much as I
have, nor did any one of them experience the same distresses as I have.”
This hadîth-i-sherîf is recorded in books. These
facts show that Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ did not seek any worldly advantages or
any personal aspirations in spreading a new religion. In fact, as we have
already pointed out, his educational background and the social environment he
had found himself living in would hardly promise him any success in the
realization of so great a dream.
Then, it would be impossible to
quite out of the question to believe that Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ might have
arranged the Qur’ân al-kerîm by himself. So let us now reason on the conjecture that the Qur’ân al-kerîm may be a stupendous
masterpiece revealed by Allâhu ta’âlâ.
When a new Prophet
appears, people around him anticipate miracles from him. Both Műsâ (Moses)
‘alaihis-salâm’ and Îsâ (Jesus) ‘alaihis-salâm’ had to display miracles to
prove their prophethood. Actually, these miracles took place only with the
command and permission and creation of Allâhu ta’âlâ.
Yet they were recorded as “the miracles of Műsâ and Îsâ ‘alaihim-as-salâm’ ” by
historians. In reality, Prophets ‘alaihimussalawâtu
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wattaslîmât’,
who are merely human beings like us, cannot perform miracles on their own.
Miracles are created only by Allâhu ta’âlâ. And
Prophets can display only the miracles created by Allâhu
ta’âlâ.
As the greatest miracle of Muhammad
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’, Allâhu ta’âlâ
revealed the Qur’ân al-kerîm to him. The Qur’ân al-kerîm is the greatest book, and it is
definitely a miracle. Despite this fact, the Arabs demanded Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’ that a Book be sent down from heaven or he change a mountain
into gold. The Qur’ân al-kerîm explains this
subject in an exquisite style. The fiftieth and fifty-first âyats of ’Ankabűt
Sűra purport, “Yet they (polytheists) say: ‘Why are not
Signs, [which will denote Muhammad’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ prophethood, like
the meal table of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and the rod of Műsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’,] sent down to him from
his Lord (Allâhu ta’âlâ)?’
[O My Messenger!] Tell them that the Signs are indeed with Allâhu ta’âlâ.
[They depend on His Will. He creates them whenever He wishes and in whatever
manner He chooses. These things are not within my capacity.] And I am indeed a clear
Warner of His torment.” “And is it not enough for them
[as a miracle] that we sent down to thee the Book which is rehearsed to them?
Verily, in it is Mercy and a Reminder to those who believe.”
(29-50, 51) Then, the Qur’ân al-kerîm is the
greatest miracle of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’. As for those who may assert that
“it is not a Book of Allah; it was written by Muhammad;” Allâhu ta’âlâ gives them their answer in the
forty-eighth âyat of ’Ankabűt Sűra, which we have quoted and explained above.
Thereby He dispels any possible doubts in this respect beforehand. Allâhu ta’âlâ emphasizes that Muhammad ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sallam’ does not have the capacity to write a book in that level and
that He Himself revealed the Qur’ân al-kerîm. As
a matter of fact, He purposely chose an illiterate person, Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’,
as the Prophet, so that people, seeing that he
had not learned how to read and write, would incontestably realize that the Qur’ân al-kerîm could have been revealed only by Allâhu ta’âlâ. The tafsîr (explanation) of this
âyat-i-kerîma contains detailed information on this subject. The greatest
personal signs testifying to the prophethood of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ are
his EXTRAORDINARY QUALITIES such as HONESTY, INTEGRITY, FAITHFULNESS, VALOUR,
PATIENCE, and EFFICIENCY, as well as his high knowledge. Allâhu ta’âlâ declares, as is purported in the
eighty-second âyat of Nisâ Sűra,
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“Do they not consider
the meanings in the Qur’an al-kerîm (with care)? Had it been from other than Allâhu ta’âlâ, they would surely have
found therein much discrepancy.”(4-82) How true it is! Today’s
Holy Bible, which we have already realized is not the Word of Allah, contains
so many discrepancies, which proves that it is man-made.
Now let us perform an extremely
patient and thoroughly impartial observation to see whether the Qur’ân al-kerîm is really a great
miracle. A book’s being a miracle requires its having been written in a very
eloquent language, its divulging such facts and prodigies as nobody else knows
or has heard of yet, and its having been arranged in such an order as no human
being could imitate.
We have given many examples
about the eloquence of the Qur’ân al-kerîm. Indeed, this fact is admitted by the entire world. No one so far
has denied the eloquence of the Qur’ân
al-kerîm.
Did the Qur’ân al-kerîm mention facts that no
one else knew as of that time? Let us see.
Today’s major encyclopaedias and
books written by scientists contain the following information concerning the
formation of our earth:
“Billions of years ago the entire universe consisted
of a single piece. Suddenly, a big explosion took place in the middle of that
piece. Consequently, the big piece broke into a number of smaller pieces, and
each of the smaller pieces began to move in a different direction. Finally,
some of the pieces united with one another, forming the so many various
planets, galaxies [milky ways], suns, and satellites [moons]. Because there was
no resistance left against the initial ‘big bang’ in space, the planets, the
satellites, and the galaxies they were in continued to float in space,
revolving in their orbits. The world is in a galaxy which contains the sun,
too. There are innumerable galaxies in the universe. The universe is an
ever-enlarging system. Other galaxies are gradually becoming farther and farther
away from the world, because the universe is enlarging continuously. If their
speed become equal with the speed of light, we will no longer see the galaxies.
We have to begin making more powerful telescopes. For we fear that it will soon
be impossible for us to see them.”
We talked with some scientists
and asked them when they had reached that conclusion. Their answer was, “For
the recent fifty or sixty years, scientists the world-over have been
unanimously
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sharing this theory.” A period of fifty or sixty years is a rather
short time within the context of worldly life.
Now let us presently turn our
attention to the Qur’ân al-kerîm and see what Allâhu ta’âlâ declares:
The thirtieth âyat of Enbiyâ
Sűra purports, “Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were
joined together (as one unit of creation), before We clove them asunder?...” (21-30) The thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth âyats of Yasîn Sűra
purport, “And a Sign for them, (for the
unbelievers,) is the night: We withdraw therefrom the day, and behold they are
plunged in darkness;” “And the sun runs his course [in its orbit]... .” (36-37, 38) That means
to say that it was fourteen hundred years ago when Allâhu ta’âlâ intimated to us the creation of
the earth, which scientists have been aware of only for the recent five or six
decades. Now let us go back to scientists.
Biologists explain the earliest
life on the earth as follows: “The first earthly atmosphere contained ammonia,
oxygen, and carbonic acid gas. With the effect of thunderbolts, amino-acids
came into being from these substances. Billions of years ago protoplasms came
into existence in water. These substances developed into the earliest amoebas,
whereby the earliest life began in water. Later the living beings that came out
to land from water absorbed amino-acids from water, giving birth to beings
containing proteins in their constructions. As is seen, water is the origin of
all living beings, and the earliest living being came into being in water.”
It was fourteen hundred years
earlier when the Qur’ân al-kerîm announced that life was first created in the sea.
The thirtieth âyat of Enbiyâ
Sűra purports, “(Do not they know that) We made from water
every living being? ...” (21-30) The
fifty-fourth âyat of Furqân Sűra purports, “It is He (Allâhu ta’âlâ) Who has created man from water; then has He established
relationships of lineage and marriage: ...” (25-54) The thirty-sixth âyat of Yâsîn Sűra
purports, “Allâhu ta’âlâ is far from all sorts of fault or deficiency: He createdin
pairs all things that the earth produces, as well as their own (human) kind AND
(OTHER) THINGS OF WHICH THEY HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE.” (36-36) In this âyat-i-kerîma, the expression “and other things of
which they have no knowledge,” makes
references both to botanists and zoologists and to those scientists who will be
doing
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research for new sources, e.g. atomic energy, which humanity will
discover gradually in the course of time. As a matter of fact, the
twenty-second âyat of Rűm Sűra purports, “And among His Signs is the creation of the
heavens and the earth, and the variations of your languages and your colours:
verily in that are Signs for those who know.”
(30-22) That means to say that variations of languages and colours embody some
very subtle ultimate divine causes that we do not know yet. They will be
discovered in process of time.
Now let us study our knowledge
about the end of the world. Scientists argue that “There will certainly be an
end of the world. As a matter of fact, sometimes a planet breaks into pieces
and disappears in space. According to our observations, there will be a time,
which we cannot calculate beforehand, when our earth will lose its balance and
break into pieces.” The Qur’ân al-kerîm, on the other hand, announced this fact fourteen hundred years
before now. The first and second âyats of Zilzâl Sűra purport, “When the earth is
shaken to her (utmost) convulsion,” “And the earth throws up her burden[treasures and corpses] (from within),” (99-1, 2) The thirteenth âyat-i-kerîma of Mu’min Sűra purports, “He it is who showeth
you His Signs, [which signify His existence
and unity], and SENDETH DOWN SUSTENANCE for you FROM THE SKY:but only those
receive admonition who turn to Allah.” (40-13)
Some scholars conjecture that the expression,
“who sendeth down sustenance for you from the sky,” may refer to the sugary
substance which descended from heaven to Műsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and his people
whenever they lost their way in the desert, and which still appears in
waterless areas. The books of tafsîr explain the expression that purports, “who
sendeth down sustenance for you from the sky,” as “It is Allâhu ta’âlâ who sends you from heaven the causes of
your sustenance, such as rain and others, [snow, moisture].” Indeed, Allâhu ta’âlâ sends our food from heaven. Let us
explicate this fact. Today’s most eminent scientists explain the formation of
albumens and proteins as follows: “On rainy days, the oxygen and the nitrogen
in air combine with each other with the effect of thunderbolts and lightnings,
and produce the gas called nitrous monoxide, which, in its turn, makes another
compound with oxygen, i.e. the orange coloured nitrous dioxide. In the
meantime, again with the effect of thunderbolts and lightnings, the moisture
and the nitrogen in air combine to make ammonia. Owing to the moisture in air,
the nitrous dioxide
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changes
into nitric acid, which in its turn combines with the ammonia and the carbonic
acid in air, hence ammonium nitrate and ammonium carbonate. The salts formed in
this way fall on to the earth with rain. Once these salts reach the earth they
combine with the calcium salts to make the compound termed calcium nitrate.
This salt is absorbed by plants and makes them grow. These substances change
into various proteins, [e.g. albumens,] in the human beings and animals that
eat these plants, and feed the people who consume the meat, the milk, and the
eggs of those animals.” Then, people’s food, as is stated in the Qur’ân al-kerîm, comes from heaven.
The information given above is at the same
time an answer to those who slander the Qur’ân al-kerîm
by saying that “the things stated in it do not agree with scientific
knowledge.” The Islamic scholars ‘rahima humullâhu ta’âlâ’, the experts of the
knowledge of tafsîr (explanation of the Qur’ân al-kerîm),
explained the âyat-i-kerîmas within the scientific knowledge of their time.
What we want to do now is to prove that not only is the Qur’ân al-kerîm in conformity with the scientific knowledge of
every age, but the newest explorations will find their references in it. Each
âyat-i-kerîma has an infinite number of meanings. As all the attributes of Allâhu ta’âlâ are boundless, so His attribute Kelâm
(word, speech) has no limits. It is only the Owner of the Qur’ân al-kerîm, i.e. Allâhu
ta’âlâ, who knows all those meanings. And He has intimated most of them
to His Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’. And this blessed Prophet
of His ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’,
in his turn, informed his Sahâba (Companions) ‘radiy-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’ about the ones that he considered suitable for
them. We assume that the information we have given above could be a few drops
from that ocean of meanings.
Now, if we ask these scientists,
“Do you think a person who had not learned how to read and write could conceive
these facts fourteen hundred years ago?” they will say, “It is impossible.
Obtaining these facts today have cost humanity centuries spent reading
innumerable books and doing countless experiments. And doing all those experimentations
requires reading for years, establishing huge laboratories, and preparing and
using delicate instruments.”
Then, is it something
conceivable that a person who had not learned anything and who had grown up in
a vulgarly ignorant
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society should have discovered and propounded such tremendous
scientific facts on his own? Of course, not. Then, it is impossible to accept
the allegation that the Qur’ân al-kerîm was written by Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’. A book that announced to us fourteen hundred
years ago today’s facts which have been obtained after long, painstaking
endeavourscan only be the BOOK of ALLÂHU TA’ÂLÂ. Human beings cannot have such stupendous
power. ALLÂHU TA’ÂLÂ, alone,
possesses such power. Anyone who reads the aforesaid facts with attention will
believe this. One should be extremely bigoted, stubborn, and ignorant to deny
it. As Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ publicized the chapters of the Qur’ân al-kerîm, he conveyed only the
statements that Allâhu ta’âlâ had been revealing to him, and as others learned them, so did he.
Now let us touch upon the second
sign demonstrating the fact that the Qur’ân
al-kerîm is really a greatest miracle: the arrangement of its
contents.
When the Qur’ân al-kerîm is examined with
computers, which are the latest instruments of today’s high-level technology,
it will be seen that it has been established on an inconceivably terrific
mathematical basis. The result is perplexingly significant. This result is only
a miracle of Allâhu ta’âlâ.
Before penetrating deeper into
the inner essence of the experiment done, let us study how the Qur’ân al-kerîm was revealed, and what Allâhu ta’âlâ stated to His Messenger ‘sall-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’ during the revelation. For this has to do with the
arrangement of the Qur’ân al-kerîm. The Qur’ân al-kerîm was not revealed in the same order as today’s arrangement. The
earliest revelation was the ’ALAQ Sűra. First, five âyats of ’Alaq Sűra were
revealed to Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’. They purport, “O Muhammad! Read! In
the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Allah, Who created everything.” “Created
man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood [’alaq]:” “Read, and thy Lord
(Allah) isMost bountiful,” “He Who teacheth (with the use of) thePen,”
“Teacheth man that which he knoweth not.”
(96-1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
We have already touched upon the
awe and the alarm that the Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa
sallam’ felt with this first revelation. He had never imagined that Allâhu ta’âlâ would assign him the extremely
great and heavy task of announcing a new religion. Contrary to the recurrent
Christian
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allegations, the initial five âyats of the Muzammil Sűra, which
purport, “O thou, (Muhammad), folded in garments!” “Standto prayer by night,
but not all night,” “Half of it, or a littleless,” “Or a little more; and
recite the Qur’ân in slow, measured rhythmic tones.” “Soon shall We send down
tothee A WEIGHTY TASK QUITE DIFFICULT TO CARRY,” (73-1, 2, 3, 4, 5) indicate that he was not a self-appointed prophet and that he did not even know
that Allâhu ta’âlâ was going
to give him a great task and he was going to endure inconceivably heavy
burdens.
How challenging the task was is
apparent in the fact that as soon as Muhammad ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’
began to publicize Islam he was surrounded by a number of enemies. Despite all
his efforts, the number of Believers was no more than fifty-six, forty-five men
and eleven women, [according to the account given in Medârij and Zerkânî], by the sixth year of Islam,
as of the day when ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ joined the Believers.
Nevertheless, having an utterly honest, pure, and perfect personality, and
recognizing the paramount importance of the duty Allâhu
ta’âlâ had given him, the Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ faced the dangers and endured the
difficulties with great intrepidity and determination, and accomplished the
task with success.
Let us repeat once again that the entire
world respects the Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ and no
one, with the exception of a few bigoted priests, has ever criticized him. Let
us read together an article about Muhammad ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ and
Islam, which appeared in an encyclopaedia entitled Kurschner,
published in Stutgart, Germany, in 1305 [1888 C.E.]. We have chosen that
encyclopaedia as the source of our citation because books in that category have
to abide by the truth as long as it is possible. What concerns us in this
connection is its comments on the moral quality and the virtues of our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’alaihi wa sallam’. Since it reflects the opinions which the Christian
scientists of the previous century entertained concerning the Islamic religion,
we have paraphrased the following passage in its entirety:
“Muhammad’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ registered name
is Abul-qâsim bin Abdullah. He is the founder of the Islamic religion. He was
born in the city of Mecca in 571, on the twentieth of April. From his
childhood, he engaged in trade, made numerous journeys(!), established contacts
with people, and evinced an omnifarious
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interest
in learning. He married Hadîja, the young widow of a deceased wealthy merchant,
who had hired him for the management of the business she had inherited from her
husband. In 610 he came up with the conviction that he was a prophet receiving messages from Allah, and embarked on
an assiduous activity to communicate to the idolatrous Arabs the CONCEPT of ONE
ALLAH. Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ believed with all his heart that Allâhu ta’âlâ had given him this duty. Although the
majority of Meccans were against him, rejected his ideas vehemently, and even
tried to kill him, he would not give up his struggle, and went on with his
activity. Eventually, when the oppressions of his adversaries were too heavy
for him to bear, he left the city of Mecca, and migrated to Yathrib [Medina].
Muslims call his migration Hijrat (Hegira] and accept the date as the beginning
of their calendar. Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ found many supporters in Medina.
What he wanted to do was to correct the Arabs’ religion, idolatry, and to prove
to them the unity of Allah. According to Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, the
religious essentials communicated by the Prophets Ibrâhîm(Abraham), Műsâ
(Moses), and Îsâ (Jesus) ‘alaihim-us-salâm’ were the same, and the religions
taught by these Prophets were true. Later, however, the last two religions were
interpolated and turned into Judaism and Christianity with the wrong tenets and
heresies inserted into them in the course of time. Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ was
telling everybody that all those former religions were the continuations of one
another and that Islam was the most consummate and the purest form of all those
religions.
“Islam means ‘to submit oneself
entirely (to Allah’s Will).’ The Qur’ân
al-kerîm is the Holy Book of the Islamic religion. Whereas in
the holy books belonging to the other religions mention is made only to
spiritual matters, the Quar’ân al-kerîm also contains social, economical and
jurisprudential teachings. These teachings include a number of principles that
people should observe in worldly life, and even several principles of civil
code. In addition, it contains commandments as to how to perform acts of
worship, how to fast, and how to wash, as well as admonitions that other people
and votaries of other religions should be treated kindly. The Qur’ân al-kerîm commands to struggle
against those non-Muslim governments that perpetrate cruelty. Its basic
essential is to worship one Allah. It prohibits religious images and icons. It
forbids wine and pork. It accepts Műsâ (Moses) and Îsâ (Jesus) ‘alaihimassalâm’
as Prophets. Yet it holds these two
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Prophets inferior to the final Prophet Muhammad ‘alaihissalâm’. [It is a definite fact. For the
qualities and superiorities of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ are written in the
Torah and in the Injîl (Bible), which were revealed to Műsâ andÎsâ
‘alaihimassalâm’, respectively. Műsâ and Îsâ ‘alaihimassalâm’ were aware of
this fact and they therefore begged and prayed very earnestly that they be
joined into his Ummat (Muslims). Îsâ’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ prayers were accepted,
and Allâhu ta’âlâ raised him
up to heaven, alive. Towards the end of the world he will come back down to
earth, follow, and spread, the Sharî’at of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’.] It gives
the good news that those who accept the Islamic religion and lead a life in
conformity with its commandments will go into Paradise, wherein are worldly
pleasures, rivers, fruits, and sofas covered with silk, and will be given young
and beautiful houris (maidens of Paradise).
“Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ was extremely
beautiful-tempered, friendly, well-mannered, and utterly honest. He always
avoided anger and vehemence, and was never oppressive. He asked Muslims to be
always good tempered and friendly, and stated that the way to Paradise went
through mildness and patience. He said that veracity, mercy, charity to the
poor, hospitality, and compassion were the permanent essentials of Islam. He
always lived in contentment, and avoided luxury and ostentation. He rejected
all sorts of discrimination among Muslims, and showed the same respect to every
Muslim. He never had recourse to coercion, unless it was inevitable, tried to
settle all sorts of problems in a peaceful, placatory, admonitory and explanatory
way, in which he was mostly successful. [Throughout his lifetime, he did not
hurt or offend anyone. He was never angry with anyone in a matter where his own
person was involved. He was never heard to say, “No,” to a request. If he had
what was asked of him, he would give it; if he did not have it, the sweetness
of his silence would satisfy well beyond appeasement. He was the darling of Allâhu ta’âlâ. He was the sayyid, the master of all
people, past, present, and future.] In 630 he returned to Mecca, conquered the
city easily, and in quite a short time transformed the semi-wild Arabs into the
most civilized people of the world.
“The Islamic religion allows men
to practise polygamy with the proviso that each wife shall enjoy equal rights.
Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ passed away in 632, on the eighth of June.” This is
the end of our translation from the encyclopaedia Kurschner.
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The following conclusion can be drawn from this passage in the
encyclopaedia: Although the historian who wrote this passage does not seem to
believe in the full sense that Islam is the religion of Allâhu ta’âlâ, he admits that it is a perfect
religion, that it enjoined belief in one Allah, and that it made a civilized
nation from the savage Arabs, and he specially praises and lauds our Prophet. In fact, Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’, who the entire world acknowledges is the most perfect human
being, was called ‘Muhammad-ul-emîn = Muhammad
the Trustworthy’ by his arch enemies, the most implacable unbelievers, owing to
his superlative honesty and faithfulness. He carried on this sacred task
despite all sorts of unfavourable conditions. After a short while Jebrâîl
‘alaihis-salâm’ (the Archangel) brought him the remaining fourteen âyats of
’Alaq Sűra. Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ began to recite to the Meccans the âyats
of the Qur’ân al-kerîm that were
being revealed to him, and to invite them to the true religion, despite their
cruel reactions. The Meccans would laugh at him and scoff at him. Whenever they
saw him performing (the prayer called) namâz, they would eye him with the same
consternation you would feel when you saw someone worshipping an invisible
idol, and they would exclaim, “You must have gone crazy!” Then Allâhu ta’âlâ revealed to him the first four
âyats of Qalam Sűra, which purported, “Nűn. By the Pen and by the (Record)which (men)
write,-” “Thou art not, by the Grace of thyLord (Allah), mad or possessed.”
“Nay, verily for thee is aReward unfailing;” “And thou (standest) on an exalted
standard of character.” (68-1, 2, 3, 4)
Then âyat-i-kerîmas were
revealed to refute those who argued that the Qur’ân
al-kerîm was not the Word of Allah but it had been prepared
by Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’.
The eighty-eighth âyat of Isrâ
Sűra, for one, purported, “Say: If the whole of mankind and Jinns were to gather
together to produce the like of this Qur’ân [in
rhetoric, in beautiful poesy, and in the perfection of its semantic
completeness], they could not produce the like thereof, evenif they backed each
other with help and support.” (17-88)
The third and fourth âyats of
Najm Sűra purported, “Nor does he (Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm) say (aught) of (his own) desire. [For
he has been commanded to announce tawhîd (the unity of Allah), to annihilate
polytheism, and to spread the Sharî’at].” “It is no less than revelation sent down to
him.” (53-3, 4)
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The hundred and tenth âyat of
Kahf Sűra purported, “Say (to them): I am but a man like yourselves, (but) the
revelation has come to me, that your Allah is one Allah; [His Person hath not a likeness, nor art there any partners for
His Attributes.] Whoever expects to attain his Lord (Allah), let him work with righteousness, and, in the worship of his Lord (Allah), admit no one as partner.” (18-110)
Eventually, the Muddaththir Sűra
was sent down to reassure those who still harboured doubts as to the fact that
the Qur’ân al-kerîm was the
Word of Allah.
The initial ten âyats of that Sűra
purported: “O thou, (Muhammad), wrapped up (in a mantle)!” “Arise and
deliverthy warning [about the imminent torment of Allâhu ta’âlâ to those who will not believe]!” “And thy Lord do
thou magnify!”“And thy garments keep free from stain!” “And all abomination
shun = (Keep away from what I am going to prohibit)!” “Nor expect, in
giving, any increase (for thyself) = (Never embarrass
others by reminding them of the favours you have done for them)!” “But for thy Lord’s
(Cause), be patient and constant!” “Finally, when the trumpet is sounded,”“That
will be- that Day- a Day of Distress,- ” “Far fromeasy for those without
Faith.” (74-1 to 10)
And its âyats from the
twenty-fourth onwards purported, “Then said he: This is nothing but magic,
derived from ofold;” “This is nothing but the word of a mortal!” “Soon will I
cast him into Hell-fire!” “And what will explain to theewhat Hellfire is!”
“Naught doth it permit to endure, and naught doth it leave alone [those who enter it]!” “Darkening and changing the colour of man!”
“Over it are nineteen [angels inflicting
torment]!”
“And We have set none but angels as guardians of the Fire (so that they shall
tormentwho deserved the Fire). And We have fixed their number only as a trial
for unbelievers,- in order that the People ofthe Book [Jews and Christians will see that the number given here is the
same as the number given in their Book (the Torah and the Bible) and
consequently they will] arrive at certainty [about the
prophethood of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ and] about the Qur’ân. And the Believers may
increase in Faith,- and that no doubts [as to the
verity of this number] may be left for the People of the Book and the Believers,
and that those in whose hearts is a disease and the Unbelievers may say, What
symbol doth Allah intend by this [number
nineteen]?” “Thus doth Allah leave to stray whom He pleaseth, [i.e. the evil people], and guide
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whom He pleaseth, the good]: and none can know the forces of thy
Lord, [i.e. the number of the angels that He created to inflict
punishments on the people of Hell,] except He. [These nineteen
angels are the chiefs of the other angels]...” (74-24 to 31)
Number nineteen in this Sűra,
which is an answer to those who are skeptical of the fact that the Qur’ân al-kerîm is the Word of Allah,
was stated in the Torah, too.
In the Islamic religion, sacrosanctity of
something requires its having stated to be so in one of the four basic sources
of Islam called Edilla-i-shar’iyya. The numbers ‘nineteen’
and ‘seven hundred eighty-six’ have never been stated to be sacrosanct.
Accordingly, these numbers are not sacred. In Bahâîsm,
a heresy that appeared in the name of religion in the late nineteenth century
and which spread over the world in a short time, number nineteen has been
sanctified. Their fasting period is nineteen days a year. Each Bahâî has to
invite nineteen other Bahâîs to his home every nineteen days. The assembly in
charge of their religious matters consists of nineteen members. They have all
but replaced this number nineteen for the six essential tenets of Islamic
belief. They call themselves Muslims, and they mention the Islamic names such
as Allah and the Qur’ân, yet they have nothing to do with Islam. They are
clandestine enemies of Islam.
Another group of heresy lurking
behind the name Muslim are the votaries of Qâdiyânî, or Ahmadiyya, which was founded by
the British in India in 1298 [1880 C.E.]. These people claim that Ahmad
Qâdiyânî (d. 1326 [1908 C.E.]), the puppet founder of the heresy, is a prophet, so much so that they even hold
himsuperior to our Prophet. They belittle Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, too. All the Islamic states
decided unanimously that Qâdiyânîs were not Muslims. They wrote this decision
in their books and announced it worldwide. A Qâdiyânî of Pakistan named
’Abd-us-salâm won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Some people rejoiced at the
event, thinking that it was a Muslim’s success. On the contrary, this success
is identical with the Russians being rewarded for a lunar mission. Because
these disbelievers, consciously or inadvertently, follow the working principles
prescribed in the Qur’ân al-kerîm in their worldly activities, Allâhu ta’âlâ makes them attain their goals in the world. Yes, successes
achieved by such people are embarrassing for Muslims, though advantageous for
humanity. Like these disbelievers, Muslims, too, should obey the Qur’ân al-kerîm, work hard, make
scientific discoveries useful for humanity,
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and lead the entire world by personal example in science, as well
as in belief and morals.
The Qur’ân al-kerîm possesses a third
miracle. Let us observe it.
The pre-Islamic Arabia was a desert
inhabited by wandering, semi-barbarous Bedouins. They were idolatrous heathens.
They led a primitive life. They practiced the horrible custom of burying their
daughters alive. Because the so-called peninsula did not occupy any of the
world’s important passageways, the universally known invaders, such as
Alexander the Great, the Persians and the Romans, who fought against whoever
happened to stand in their way, were not even aware of the Arabs, nonetheless
for fighting with them. Therefore the Arabs were not smeared with the
immoralities, the cruelties, and the rogueries
practised by the Iranians and Romans. They preserved their manly and naive
manners. That incompetent and wretched, but pure and unsophisticated nation,
under the leadership of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, and with the guidance of the Qur’ân al-kerîm which he brought to them, underwent a
sudden transformation, attained the zenith of civilization, and with an
extraordinary effort developed into an astoundingly powerful Islamic state
including Turkistan and India in the East within its borders, in thirty years’
time. They achieved gigantic improvements in knowledge, in science and in
civilization, and explored many facts unknown until that time. They reached the
highest levels in all branches of knowledge such as science, medicine and
literature. As we have mentioned earlier in the text, they were so much
advanced in knowledge that the Andalusian universities afforded an education
even to Popes, and people from all parts of the world raced to this country to
get their shares from the teachings its educational institutions dispensed. The
following comments have been paraphrased from The Spiritual Development of Europe,
by John W. Drapper, an impartial historian who wrote about that epoch in
Europe: “Europeans of that time were barbarians in the full sense of the word.
Christianity had proven short of saving them from barbarism. What Christianity
had failed to do Islam managed. The Arabs who came to Spain taught them how to
wash themselves first. Then they relieved them of the tattered and lousy animal
hides with which they had been covering their bodies, and gave them clean and
lovely clothes to wear. They built houses, villas, and palaces. They educated
the natives of the land. They established universities. Religious bigotry
aggravated by
-203-
deep-seated
rancour urges the Christian historians to hush up the truth, and they can never
get themselves to acknowledge the gratitude the European civilization owes to
Muslims.”
Thomas Carlyle, who admits the
abovesaid facts in their entirety, adds, “A heroic Prophet led the Arabs with a book that
they understood very well. Then the Islamic religion sparkled. It ignited an
enormous stretch of land from India to Granada, and illuminated the entire
world that had been dark until that time.”
La Martine had to say about Muhammad
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’: “A philosopher, an orator, a prophet, a commander, a person who cast a spell on
human thoughts, who put new principles, and who established a tremendous
Islamic state. This person is Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’. Measure him with all
sorts of gauges used to assess the greatness of people. Is there a man greater
than he? Impossible!”
Gibbon’s opinion about the Qur’ân al-kerîm is as follows: “... and
the Koran is a glorious testimony to the unity of God.”[1]
Michael H. Hart, an American
astronomer, studies all thegreat people from Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’ to our time,
picks out one hundred of them, and chooses Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ as the best
of the one hundred best people. He observes, “His power originated from the Qur’ân al-kerîm, the tremendous
masterpiece which he believed Allâhu ta’âlâ had inspired to him.”
Jales Massermann, a renowned
Jewish psychologist and a professor in the University of Chicago, U.S.A.,
presents a list of great people who occupy the annals of history as guides for
humanity under the caption Where Are the Great Leaders? in the July 15, 1974, special edition of Time, where he studies and analyzes their lives, chooses Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’ as the greatest, and concludes that “Next after Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’ is Műsâ (Moses) ‘alaihis-salâm’. Jesus (Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’)
and Buddha were not people good enough for leadership.” Being a Jew, he would
normally be expected to prefer Műsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ to Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’.
Yet he prefers the reality to bigotry.
It was Muhammad ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sallam’, again, who came up with the majority of the votes in a
public opinion poll
---------------------------------
[1] The
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon; edited by Dero A. Saunders, 1952, chap. 16, div. 2, p.
653.
-204-
conducted in the United States to choose the ‘Greatest Man of all
Times’.
It is not something that an
ordinary person, an average leader or a usual commander could do to elaborate a
small crowd of barbarians into the greatest, the most civilized, the most
virtuous, the highest-charactered, the most valiant, the most knowledgeable
nation of the world. This is a miracle made only by Allâhu ta’âlâ, who sent the Qur’ân al-kerîm through Muhammad
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ to the Arabs and made them accomplish all these
things. This unbelievable great result came about only as a consequence of
following the Qur’ân al-kerîm and obeying the
commandments of the Qur’ân al-kerîm.
Do not all these facts we have
stated and the divine orderliness in the arrangements of its contents show you
that the Qur’ân al-kerîm is the
greatest miracle of the world? As you see the third miracle of the Qur’ân al-kerîm is its guiding the
world to civilization in a short time.
Ahmed Cevdet Pâţa ‘rahima hullâhu ta’âlâ’, a
great historian, who passed away in Istanbul in 1312 [1894 C.E.], states as
follows in his book Qisâs-i-Enbiyâ (History of Prophets):
“Forty years after Îsâ’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ ascension[1] to heaven, the Romans
attacked Jerusalem, killed some of the Jews and captivated others. They sacked
Jerusalem and razed the Bayt-ul-muqaddas, i.e. the Mesjîd-i-Aqsâ (al-Aqsâ).
Jerusalem turned into a wilderness. Jewry never recovered after that havoc, nor
were they ever again able to re-establish a government. They dispersed to
various places, where they led adespicable life. Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ was thirty
years old when he was given the message notifying his prophethood. Twelve
people believed in him. These people are called Hawâriyyűn(Apostles, or disciples). When he was raised up to heaven alive,
the Apostles dispersed, each going to a different place to spread the new
religion. Some time later, books were written in the name of Bible. They were
history books telling about Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. The genuine Bible (Injîl) has
never beenobtained. Unbelief and polytheism prevailed
---------------------------------
[1] We do not mean the ‘ascension’
mentioned in Christian literature. According to Islam, Îsâ (Jesus)
‘alaihi-salâm’ was not crucified. Judas Iscariot, his betrayer, was arrested
and crucified. Allâhu ta’âlâ
raisedÎsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, alive, up to heaven. This is the ‘ascension’ we
mean.
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everywhere. Îsâ’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ religion was kept hidden for
three hundred years. People who were found to have belief in it were subjected
to persecution. The Roman emperor Constantine declared that religion free in
310, and he himself became a Christian, too. He built the city of Istanbul and
moved his throne from Rome to Istanbul. However, because the essentials of that
religion had already been defiled and forgotten, it was degenerated into a
plaything in the hands of priests. In the three hundred and ninety-fifth [395] year
of the Christian Era, the Roman Empire was broken into two different religious
states. Those who remained adherent to the Pope in Rome were called Catholic, while the people who attached themselves to the Patriarch in
Istanbul were termed Orthodox. Churches were filled with
images and icons. Other nations had already been living in nescience and
polytheism. The Romans captured the entire Europe, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. They
were advanced in science and arts, yet degenerated in morals. They took to dissipation
and cruelty. They spread their immoralities in the countries they captured.
Fortunately, they did not attack the Arabian peninsula.
“The Arabs, in the meantime,
remained intact in their ignorant world. Some of them had somehow found
themselves in Christianity, some had been practising the Judaic religion, a
great majority had been worshipping idols, and others were still adherent to
the old traditions and customs surviving from the dispensations of Prophets
Ibrâhîm (Abraham) and Ismâîl (Ishmael) ‘alaihim-as-salawâtu wa-t-taslîmât’.
Most of the inhabitants of Mekka were idolaters. The Ka’ba was awash in idols
and icons. And the entire world was in darkness and heresy. Stranded as the
Arabs were scientifically, they importantly concerned themselves with
literature. There were eloquent orators and influential poets among them. Most
people boasted with their poetic skills. This general tendency and emulation
towards perfection was a portent of the Holy Book Allâhu ta’âlâ was soon to reveal.” This is
the end of our translation from Ahmed Cevdet Pâţa.
No wonder if Allâhu ta’âlâ should inflict in the next
world the severest torment on those who insist on their denial despite all the
so palpable proofs testifying to the fact that the Qur’ân al-kerîm is the true Book of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Christians’ arguments that
“the Qur’ân al-kerîm contains
utterly cruel principles,” should be answered as follows: “No. There are many
passages in the Qur’ân al-kerîm stating that Allâhu ta’âlâ is extremely compassionate and
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forgiving. If a sinful person repents for his wrongdoings, Allâhu ta’âlâ will forgive him. Yet it would
by no means be cruelty to employ eternal torture on those who will not believe
in the Qur’ân al-kerîm in the face
of so many obvious proofs.
Being a true Muslim means not only
performing the acts of worship in the superficiality of practising a custom,
but also acquiring beautiful moral habits, observing one’s social duties, and
being exteremely pure spiritually. If a person does his worships regularly but
at the same time associates deceitfulness with intelligence, cheats people,
sometimes even succumbs to vicious propaganda and commits homicide, burns and
destroys places, and lies, he is not a true Muslim, even though he may claim to
be one. Allâhu ta’âlâ dictates how a Muslim
should be in the Furqân Sűra of the Qur’ân
al-kerîm. The true Islamic scholars called Ahl-as-sunna ‘rahima-humullâhu
ta’âlâ’ wrote an exceeding number of books to explain it. But we still cannot
purge ourselves of bad habits, do not work as hard as the Qur’ân al-kerîm commands us to, do not obey the
commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ, cannot abide by
our promises, make our streets piles of dirt and ruins, and cannot purify
ourselves physically and spiritually. This is the case in the face of the fact
that we have the Word of Allah, the Qur’ân al-kerîm,
with all its clear commandments, instructions and prescriptions, the
commandments of our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’, and the so
many books written by the scholars of Ahl-as-sunnat.
Allâhu ta’âlâ declares as follows, as is purported in the twenty-eighth âyat of
the Fat-h Sűra of the Qur’ân al-kerîm:
“It is Allâhu ta’âlâ Who has sent His Prophet Islam theGuidance and
the religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religions: and enough is Allâhu ta’âlâ for a Witness (to
testify to the fact that) [Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’ is] (the true Prophet)” (48-28)
The ninth âyat of Saff Sűra
purports, “It is Allâhu ta’âlâ Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’)with the Qur’ân [which is
the Guidance] and Islam (which isthe Religion of Truth), that He may proclaim it
over all religions, even though the pagans may detest (it).” (61-9)
And Allâhu ta’âlâ promises:
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“ALLÂHU TA’ÂLÂ SHALL
REWARD THE PEOPLE OF GRATITUDE.”
The word
‘gratitude’ in the context means ‘being a Muslim in the full sense of the word
specified in the Qur’ân al-kerîm, and using the
blessings He has given us in compliance with His instructions.’ We have stated
earlier in the text that there are more than a billion Muslims on the earth
today. Which means to say that every forth person is a Muslim. If these Muslims
obey the command of Allâhu ta’âlâ and become
entirely clean people both spiritually and physically, establish brotherly ties
with one another, work and make progress in all areas, Allâhu
ta’âlâ will reward them, and then Muslims will regain the same
leadership of civilization as they enjoyed in the Middle Ages.
Thy love has infatuated me;
O my Allah, I love Thee!
Thy love is so sweet, really;
O my Allah, I love Thee!
Neither wealth pleaseth me,
Nor do I worry about poverty.
Thy love, alone, makes me happy;
O my Allah, I love Thee!
Thou hast commanded us to pray,
And advised to keep in the right way;
Thine blessings to enjoy in endless way.
O my Allah, I love Thee!
The nafs[1] I have is so treacherous;
Poor me, with this being so lecherous!
I’ve found the real delight, so gorgeous:
O my Allah, I love Thee!
Doing the prayers properly,
And also earning the worldly,
Is what I do daily and nightly.
O my Allah, I love Thee!
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[1] Nafs is a malignant force in human nature. It always urges man to turn away from Allâhu ta’âlâ. It is the most stupid being, for all its wishes are harmful to it. It is, again, this malignant force that causes a Muslim who overcomes it to attain a degree higher than that of some angels.
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Love is not
only words, O Hilmi![1]
Thy Allah commandeth drudgery;
Let your manners testify to thee!
O my Allah, I love Thee!
Islam’s
enemies are so many,
Attacking the religion insidiously;
How could one ever sit idly!
O my Allah, I love Thee!
A lover
simply will not sit lazily,
Lest his darling should be hurt slightly.
Silence the enemy, and then say honestly:
O my Allah, I love Thee!
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[1] The author of this hymn, Hüseyn Hilmi Iţýk Efendi, addresses himself.
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