Prophet Muhammad and the Qur'an
By Dr. Gary Miller
Courtesy:
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1173087746000&pagename=Zone-English-Living_Shariah/LSELayout
 | |
| |
| |
It is known that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) had a very difficult life. All of his daughters died before him except one, and he had a wife, Khadijah, who was very dear and important to him, who not only preceded him in death but died at a very critical period of his life. As a matter of fact, she must have been quite a woman: When the first revelation came to him, he ran home to her, afraid. Certainly, even today one would have a hard time trying to find an Arab who would tell you, "I was so afraid that I ran home to my wife." They just aren't that way. Yet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) felt comfortable enough with his wife to be able to do that. That is how influential and strong she was. Although these examples are only a few of the subjects that would have been on Muhammad's mind, they are sufficient in intensity to prove my point. The Qur'an does not mention any of these things — not the death of his children, not the death of his beloved companion and wife, not his fear of the initial revelations, which he so beautifully shared with his wife — nothing. Yet, these topics must have hurt him, bothered him, and caused him pain and grief during periods of his life. Indeed, if the Qur'an was a product of his psychological reflections, then these subjects, as well as others, would be prevalent or at least mentioned throughout. |
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1173087746000&pagename=Zone-English-Living_Shariah/LSELayout
Common Grounds Between Moses and Muhammad
Question: (By David): I was wondering if there is any prophecy regarding the Prophet of Islam found in the Old Testament (Torah).
Answer: (By Prof. Shahul Hameed)First, let me please draw your attention that it is not really accurate to refer to the Old Testament as Torah (pronounced in Arabic as "Tawrah"). The Old Testament is a Christian term referring to the first 39 books of the Bible.
The Catholic Bible contains seven other books and additions to some books. The Christians have the New Testament (27 books) also in addition to the Old Testament. The Jewish Bible consists of 39 books; and the Torah is believed to be the first five books of the Jewish Bible. The Christians often call these five books, the Law or the "Pentateuch", which is the Greek word for "Five Books".
1. He would be from among the brethren of the Children of Israel.
Courtesy: http://www.readingislam.com/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1176802095181&pagename=Zone-English-Discover_Islam/DIELayout
The Catholic Bible contains seven other books and additions to some books. The Christians have the New Testament (27 books) also in addition to the Old Testament. The Jewish Bible consists of 39 books; and the Torah is believed to be the first five books of the Jewish Bible. The Christians often call these five books, the Law or the "Pentateuch", which is the Greek word for "Five Books".
The Torah of the Jewish Bible is practically the same as the Torah of the Christian Bible. But for Muslims, the Torah (Tawrah) was the Book revealed by God to Prophet Moses (Musa,peace be upon him). Muslims do not believe that the present Jewish (or Christian) Torah is an exact copy of the Tawrah God revealed to Moses, peace be upon him.
One important reason is that the present Torah contains passages that are of questionable authenticity in the eyes of Muslims. For instance, at the end of the Book of Deuteronomy (the fifth book), you see a passage that describes the death and burial of Moses. (See Deuteronomy 34:5-8). If this were a book revealed to Moses by God, it is not likely to describe the death and burial of Mosesin the past tensethere. In addition, the nature of the narration, as well as the content in several places, clearly points to human authorship or interpolations. But, that is another story.
Back to your original question, I understand that you are asking whether there is any prophecy regarding Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the Torah. This means the first five books of the Bible.
In fact there is a clear prophecy about the coming of the Last Prophet in the fifth book of the Torah (or the Christian Pentateuch). The verses are from Deuteronomy, Chapter 18:
“I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass,thatwhosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will requireitof him.” (Deuteronomy 18:18-19)
Here Moses is addressing the Children of Israel. He quotes Jehovah as telling him of the coming of a Prophet. The marks for recognizing the coming prophet would be as follows:
1. He would be from among the brethren of the Children of Israel.
2. He would be like Moses.
3. He would speak words and commands put in his mouth by God.
4. He would speak in God’s name.
If you examine the above details of the distinguishing traits of the foretold prophet and those of Muhammad (peace be upon him) who was born centuries after this prophecy, you will be surprised to learn of the striking similarities. Here one may also consider the Christian argument that the above prophecy is about Jesus. So we need to examine who is actually meant here, with reference to the details of the prophecy.
1. It is clearly mentioned that the coming prophet would be from ‘their brethren’, i.e from the brethren of the Children of Israel. We know that Jesus was one of the Children of Israel and so it is clear that the prophecy does not apply to him. Whereas Muhammad (peace be upon him) was born in the family of Ishmael; indeed his grandfather was Qaidar (Biblical name: Kedar), one of the twelve sons of Ishmael.
2. Of the two prophets (i.e Jesus and Muhammad) is mentioned to be like Moses. In fact, it is Prophet Muhammad who is really like Moses, and not Jesus. For instance, Jesus was born miraculously without a father; he did not marry and lead a family life; his mission was very short (three years at the most); and God raised him unto Himself when he faced the possibility of violent death at the hands of his enemies. (Christians believe that he was crucified).
And so we find that Jesus did not have the time to realize the dream of establishing a society based on the principles he taught. Indeed he had declared that his mission was for ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Matthew 15:24), and not for the whole of humanity.
And so we find that Jesus did not have the time to realize the dream of establishing a society based on the principles he taught. Indeed he had declared that his mission was for ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Matthew 15:24), and not for the whole of humanity.
Compare the above with the mission of Muhammad (peace be upon him). Like Moses, he had a father and mother; he married and led a family life; his mission was long like that of Moses; he died a natural death; and he brought a Law (Shari`ah) for the establishment of a social system, like Moses.
It is also worth emphasizing that at the end of the Book of Deuteronomy, the following is clearly stated:
“And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom theLordknew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which theLordsent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand…” (Deuteronomy 34:10-12)
This makes it clear that there never was a prophet like Moses in the whole of Israel after Moses, according to the Bible.
Thus we can clearly see that between the two, it was Muhammad from the brethren of the Children of Israel, who could be called, “a Prophet like Moses”.
And Allah knows best.
Abraham and Muhammad: The Divine Promise
Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) reached the age of 85 and was childless. He couldn't get his hopes up as his wife, Sarah, was in her mid-70s and barren. As Prophet Abraham was accepting his destiny of not becoming a father, God had another plan for him. In Genesis, God promised Abraham to multiply his seed.
But how could this Divine promise be fulfilled given the facts mentioned above? What does the name "Ishmael" mean? How is the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) the descendant of Prophet Abraham?
To get an answer for these questions and more, listen to Dr. Jamal Badawi's 5-minute audio.
Prophets and Books
By Khalid Baig
According to a report in Musnad Ahmed collection of Ahadith, Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, said: "From Adam to me, Allah sent a hundred and twenty-four thousand Prophets, of whom three hundred and fifteen were entrusted with a Book."
The question is why were there so many more Prophets than Books? To reflect on this is to gain an understanding about the very institution of Prophethood. If the role of a Prophet were simply to deliver the Book, as some mis-guided people in our time try to argue, there should have been as many Books as Prophets. But the very fact that there have been many Prophets without a new Book, firmly establishes the need for the Prophets as a source of guidance in its own rights.
It had to be so because life emulates life. We need live human beings to inspire us; to show right from wrong in every day struggles of life; to confront us and pose questions; to answer questions; to clarify misconceptions; to hold our hand; to be the model. We certainly need principles to guide our thoughts and actions. But we also need real life examples to relate the principles to real life situations. For most of our living experience involves judgment calls. Politeness is a desirable moral value. But when does politeness turn into weakness? Firmness is also a desirable attribute. But when does it turn into arrogance? How do we balance our duties towards Allah with those towards other human beings? How do we balance both with duties towards ourselves?
We are constantly faced with conflicting claims on our resources, energies, and attention. How do we resolve those conflicts, without doing any injustice? These are real life questions that require real life answers.
This point is beautifully established in the Opening Chapter (Surah Fatiha) of Qur'an. It is a short surah, consisting of only seven verses, and it consists of a prayer for guidance: O' Allah! Show us the Straight Path. Yet two of the seven verses are used to describe the Straight Path in terms of people. "The path of those on whom Thou has bestowed Thy Grace. Not the path of those who earn Thine wrath nor of those who go astray."
It would have been simpler to just refer to the Straight path as the Path of the Qur'an. But the longer description has been used to emphasis the fact that human beings need a human model to provide complete guidance.
Of course Prophets were sent to provide the needed guidance. It is also obvious that whatever a Prophet declares is binding on all his followers. "To accept a person as a Prophet of God and then to refuse to accept his commands, is so ridiculous that I would not have believed any sensible person would ever offer this proposition," says prominent Hadith scholar Maulana Manzoor Naumani. But this most irrational of ideas has been promulgated by a segment of Western educated Muslims. They say, without a sense of irony, that we accept the Qur'an but not the Hadith.
Anyone who says that he accepts the Qur'an but rejects the hadith cannot be serious. Or he has not read the Qur'an either. For the Qur'an says:
![[Image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sZoCYuiOb0GGp_fRThsiOKIIL0KhWp57129jEE9B14mnHniXHXXoAvALS965Zt7QoVvShZEfoBnXx4NKcg5x_BjtOqYCi1yE-LYibQIg=s0-d)
"And We have sent down unto you the Message so that you may explain clearly to the people what is sent for them and so that they may give thought." (Al-Nahal 16:44).
It also declares:
![[Image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uUnPTSgh495qathQWFYr5z5twDL_Qnn3jDKksV7ZKgSNSpRJgj8V-8DHNjAJHV36JbFsj-Kau8ucoY9btrCIcZgArZCNAydd0T0Ap6C1I=s0-d)
"Allah did confer a great favor on the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the Signs of Allah, purifying them, and instructing them in Scripture and Wisdom, while before that they had been in manifest error." (Aale Imran 3:164).
So it is the job of the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, to explain the Qur'an. And it is the job of the believers to obey him.
![[Image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u4plNQ7wSusG4DhMVxPr40JtAZYpPtJN2zUohLeunme_RdqmZHZC91Tbqg7D09E__ZRDlR7JaDPTbczUIX5jNjALbSDVA3DXvDUr_AsH4=s0-d)
"He who obeys the Messenger obeys Allah indeed" (Nisa 4:80).
And even more emphatically it says:
![[Image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_syBKwkgnh336g-aTtY-QCrtgw7jJuP4W689SV8d8H2hOC0Fbn6tDe1EEVr8DAPaoL_LCVYdXBCuGiFdbdndbIsYqUybw38tJdK_Nr-2MU=s0-d)
"And obey Allah and obey His Messenger."( Al-Taghabun 64:12).
It is to be noted that here the Qur'an did not say "Obey Allah and His Messenger." By using the command "obey" independently the fact has been firmly established that the status of an order given by the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, is the same as that given by Allah.
Even a casual reader of the Qur'an can notice that it gives commands without giving many details. For example it refers to salat (ritual prayers) 67 times. But it never explains how the salat has to be performed. The question is not just how a follower of the Qur'an is to follow that command, but the bigger question is: why the omission in the first place? Is it an oversight, in which case one cannot consider it to be the Book of Allah, or is it simply because another source for those details had been provided? Similarly the Qur'an approvingly mentions many other practices, like the call to prayer (adhan) and the Friday prayer, but never gives commands about them. Again, why? Is there any other explanation possible except for the obvious one that there is a parallel source of instruction in the person of the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam?
Actually in the form of Hadith, Muslims have an unprecedented branch of knowledge. Just a list of all the books written on the subject would take several thousand pages, says prominent hadith scholar Habib-ur-Rahman Azami. Other religions also claim to possess revealed scriptures. But no other religion has an example corresponding to Hadith. "Hadith is a branch of knowledge whose equivalent is not to be found in other religions," says Dr. Hamidullah.
For the design-your-own-religion crowd, that may be a problem, But for the sincere follower, it is a great favor and blessing of Allah. We have been entrusted with a unique treasure trove of guidance. An appreciation of that favor is the first step towards benefiting from that treasure.
.jpg)
Posts
