The Messenger

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 His His His His His His

dealing with the idol worshippers; compassion towards the believers (3:31); love and constant remembered of GOD (33:21); human fear of failing (2:214); dealing with his wives rebellion; dealing with his adopted son¡¯s problems (33:27); 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: [email protected]) 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
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
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
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
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 (33:62....35:43.....48:23)

Sunna

of

Allah

is

the

only

Sunna"

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 AlBukhari 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 By Brother A. Mohammed (e-mail: [email protected])

MOHAMMED

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 strengthened their Iman and greetings" !!!!!

been

truthful.

All

this

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 ([email protected]) 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: [email protected]) 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 almi'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 . 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 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 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.