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Islam FAQ (Part 5/15): Islam, Quran & Muhammad (PBUH) |
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Archive-name: islam-faq/part5
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Last-modified: 1995/3/27
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Copyright 1993,1994,1995 Asim Mughal (mughal@caltech.edu)
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Frequently Asked Questions: Part 5
__________________________________
This message is automatically posted to 'soc.religion.islam'
every month and when updated. This lists answers to most
commonly asked questions on the forum. Contributions & changes
are requested and should be directed to: mughal@caltech.edu
OVERVIEW: The Frequently Asked Questions document for
Islam has been divided in parts. Below is the index.
Part 1 - Welcome & Index
Part 2 - Info on Islamic News Groups
Part 3 - Introduction to Islam
Part 4 - God & Worship
Part 5 - Islam, Quran & Muhammad (PBUH)
Part 6 - Marriage Laws in Islam
Part 7 - Women In Islam
Part 8 - Life after Death, Moral System & Human rights in Islam
Part 9 - Islam: Prophethood, Jesus & Trinity
Part 10 - Islam: Farrakhism & Malcom X
Part 11 - Islamic Internet Guide: Islamic Resources on Internet
Part 12 - Other Islamic Resource Guides on Internet
Part 13 - Islamic Literature: Books & Video
Part 14 - Islamic Calendar & Prayer Time Table for 1994
Part 15 - Misc: List of Halal Foods
________________________________________________________
PART 5: Islam, Quran & Muhammad (PBUH)
Contents
--Articles--
1. WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT ISLAM ...................................... from III&E
2. WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THE QUR'AN ................................. from III&E
3. QUR'AN ON QUR'AN ............................................... from III&E
4. WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT MUHAMMAD (PBUH) ............................ from III&E
5. THE SWORD OF ISLAM ............................................. from III&E
6. Has the sword gone Blunt? No, far from it. ..................... from III&E
7. CHOOSING ISLAM: ONE MAN'S TALE ................................. from III&E
8. Who can I ask questions on Islam? .........................................
9. Indroductory Publications ...................................... from III&E
--Announcements--
10. Archive Info ..............................................................
11. Credits ...................................................................
Articles .....................................................................
1. WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT ISLAM ...................................... from III&E
The Islam that was revealed to Muhammad (PBUH), is the continuation and
culmination of all the preceding revealed religions and hence it is for
all times and all peoples. This status of Islam is sustained by glaring
facts. Firstly, there is no other revealed book extant in the same form
and content as it was revealed. Secondly, no other revealed religion has
any convincing claim to provide guidance in all walks of human life for
all times. But Islam addresses humanity at large and offers basic
guidance regarding all human problems. Moreover, it has withstood the
test of fourteen hundred years and has all the potentialities of
establishing an ideal society as it did under the leadership of the last
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
It was a miracle that Prophet Muhammad could bring even his toughest
enemies to the fold of Islam without adequate material resources.
Worshippers of idols, blind followers of the ways of forefathers,
promoters of tribal feuds, abusers of human dignity and blood, became
the most disciplined nation under the guidance of Islam and its Prophet.
Islam opened before them vistas of spiritual heights and human dignity
by declaring righteousness as the sole criterion of merit and honor.
Islam shaped their social, cultural, moral and commercial life with
basic laws and principles which are in conformity with human nature and
hence applicable in all times as human nature does not change.
It is so unfortunate that the Christian West, instead of sincerely
trying to understand the phenomenal success of Islam during its earlier
time, considered it as a rival religion. During the centuries of the
Crusades this trend gained much force and impetus and a huge amount of
literature was produced to tarnish the image of Islam. But Islam has
begun to unfold its genuineness to the modern scholars whose bold and
objective observations on Islam belie all the charges leveled against it
by the so-called unbiased orientalists.
Here we furnish some observations on Islam by great and acknowledged
non-Muslim scholars of modern time. Truth needs no advocates to plead on
its behalf, but the prolonged malicious propaganda against Islam has
created great confusion even in the minds of free and objective
thinkers.
We hope that the following observations would contribute to initiating
an objective evaluation of Islam:
"It (Islam) replaced monkishness by manliness. It gives hope to the
slave, brotherhood to mankind, and recognition of the fundamental facts
of human nature." --Canon Taylor, Paper read before the Church Congress
at Walverhamton, Oct. 7, 1887; Quoted by Arnoud in THE PREACHING OF
ISLAM, pp. 71-72.
"Sense of justice is one of the most wonderful ideals of Islam, because
as I read in the Qur'an I find those dynamic principles of life, not
mystic but practical ethics for the daily conduct of life suited to the
whole world." --Lectures on "The Ideals of Islam;" see SPEECHES AND
WRITINGS OF SAROJINI NAIDU, Madras, 1918, p. 167.
"History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims
sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword
upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that
historians have ever repeated." --De Lacy O'Leary, ISLAM AT THE
CROSSROADS, London, 1923, p. 8.
"But Islam has a still further service to render to the cause of
humanity. It stands after all nearer to the real East than Europe does,
and it possesses a magnificent tradition of inter-racial understanding
and cooperation. No other society has such a record of success uniting
in an equality of status, of opportunity, and of endeavours so many and
so various races of mankind . . . Islam has still the power to reconcile
apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the
opposition of the great societies of East and West is to be replaced by
cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition. In
its hands lies very largely the solution of the problem with which
Europe is faced in its relation with East. If they unite, the hope of a
peaceful issue is immeasurably enhanced. But if Europe, by rejecting the
cooperation of Islam, throws it into the arms of its rivals, the issue
can only be disastrous for both." --H.A.R. Gibb, WHITHER ISLAM, London,
1932, p. 379.
"I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because
of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me
to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence
which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the
wonderful man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must
be called the Saviour of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were
to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in
solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace
and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it
would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be
acceptable to the Europe of today." --G.B. Shaw, THE GENUINE ISLAM, Vol.
1, No. 81936.
"The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the
outstanding achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there
is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic
virtue." --A.J. Toynbee, CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL, New York, 1948, p. 205.
"The rise of Islam is perhaps the most amazing event in human history.
Springing from a land and a people like previously negligible, Islam
spread within a century over half the earth, shattering great empires,
overthrowing long established religions, remoulding the souls of races,
and building up a whole new world - world of Islam.
"The closer we examine this development the more extraordinary does it
appear. The other great religions won their way slowly, by painful
struggle and finally triumphed with the aid of powerful monarchs
converted to the new faith. Christianity had its Constantine, Buddhism
its Asoka, and Zoroastrianism its Cyrus, each lending to his chosen cult
the mighty force of secular authority. Not so Islam. Arising in a desert
land sparsely inhabited by a nomad race previously undistinguished in
human annals, Islam sallied forth on its great adventure with the
slenderest human backing and against the heaviest material odds. Yet
Islam triumphed with seemingly miraculous ease, and a couple of
generations saw the Fiery Crescent borne victorious from the Pyrenees to
the Himalayas and from the desert of Central Asia to the deserts of
Central Africa." --A.M.L. Stoddard, quoted in ISLAM - THE RELIGION OF
ALL PROPHETS, Begum Bawani Waqf, Karachi, Pakistan, p. 56.
"Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest
sense of this term considered etymologically and historically. The
definition of rationalism as a system that bases religious beliefs on
principles furnished by the reason applies to it exactly . . . It cannot
be denied that many doctrines and systems of theology and also many
superstitions, from the worship of saints to the use of rosaries and
amulets, have become grafted on the main trunk of Muslim creed. But in
spite of the rich developments, in every sense of the term, of the
teachings of the Prophet, the Quran has invariable kept its place as the
fundamental starting point, and the dogma of unity of God has always
been proclaimed therein with a grandeur, a majesty, an invariable purity
and with a note of sure conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed
outside the pale of Islam. This fidelity to the fundamental dogma of the
religion, the elemental simplicity of the formula in which it is
enunciated, the proof that it gains from the fervid conviction of the
missionaries who propagate it, are so many causes to explain the success
of Muhammadan missionary efforts. A creed so precise, so stripped of all
theological complexities and consequently so accessible to the ordinary
understanding might be expected to possess and does indeed possess a
marvelous power of winning its way into the consciences of men."
--Edward Montet, "La Propagande Chretienne et ses Adversaries
Musulmans," Paris, 1890; Quoted by T.W. Arnold in THE PREACHING OF
ISLAM, London, 1913, pp. 413-414.
"I am not a Muslim in the usual sense, though I hope I am a "Muslim" as
"one surrendered to God," but I believe that embedded in the Quran and
other expressions of the Islamic vision are vast stores of divine truth
from which I and other occidentals have still much to learn, and 'Islam
is certainly a strong contender for the supplying of the basic framework
of the one religion of the future.'" --W. Montgomery Watt, ISLAM AND
CHRISTIANITY TODAY, London, 1983, p. ix.
2. WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THE QUR'AN ................................. from III&E
Humanity has received the Divine guidance through two channels: firstly
the word of Allah, secondly the Prophets who were chosen by Allah to
communicate His will to human beings. These two things have always been
going together and attempts to know the will of Allah by neglecting
either of these two have always been misleading. The Hindus neglected
their prophets and paid all attention to their books that proved only
word puzzles which they ultimately lost. Similarly, the Christians, in
total disregard to the Book of Allah, attached all importance to Christ
and thus not only elevated him to Divinity, but also lost the very
essence of TAWHEED (monotheism) contained in the Bible.
As a matter of fact the main scriptures revealed before the Qur'an,
i.e., the Old Testament and the Gospel, came into book-form long after
the days of the Prophets and that too in translation. This was because
the followers of Moses and Jesus made no considerable effort to preserve
these Revelations during the life of their Prophets. Rather they were
written long after their death. Thus what we now have in the form of the
Bible (The Old as well as the New Testament) is translations of
individuals' accounts of the original revelations which contain
additions and deletions made by the followers of the said Prophets. On
the contrary, the last revealed Book, the Qur'an, is extant in its
original form. Allah Himself guaranteed its preservation and that is why
the whole of the Qur'an was written during the lifetime of the Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) himself though on separate pieces of palm leaves,
parchments, bones, etc... Moreover, there were tens of thousands of
companions of the Prophet who memorized the whole Qur'an and the Prophet
himself used to recite to the Angel Gabriel once a year and twice in the
year he died. The first Caliph Abu Bakr entrusted the collection of the
whole Qur'an in one volume to the Prophet's scribe, Zaid Ibn Thabit.
This volume was with Abu Bakr till his death. Then it was with the
second Caliph Umar and after him it came to Hafsa, the Prophet's wife.
It was from this original copy that the third Caliph Uthman prepared
several other copies and sent them to different Muslim territories.
The Qur'an was so meticulously preserved because it was to be the Book
of guidance for humanity for all times to come. That is why it does not
address the Arabs alone in whose language it was revealed. It speaks to
man as a human being:
"O Man! What has seduced you from your Lord."
The practicability of the Qur'anic teachings is established by the
examples of Muhammad (PBUH) and the good Muslims throughout the ages.
The distinctive approach of the Qur'an is that its instructions are
aimed at the general welfare of man and are based on the possibilities
within his reach. In all its dimensions the Qur'anic wisdom is
conclusive. It neither condemns nor tortures the flesh nor does it
neglect the soul. It does not humanize God nor does it deify man.
Everything is carefully placed where it belongs in the total scheme of
creation.
Actually the scholars who allege that Muhammad (PBUH) was the author of
the Qur'an claim something which is humanly impossible. Could any person
of the sixth century C.E. utter such scientific truths as the Qur'an
contains? Could he describe the evolution of the embryo inside the
uterus so accurately as we find it in modern science?
Secondly, is it logical to believe that Muhammad (PBUH), who up to the
age of forty was marked only for his honesty and integrity, began all of
a sudden the authorship of a book matchless in literary merit and the
equivalent of which the whole legion of the Arab poets and orators of
highest calibre could not produce? And lastly, is it justified to say
that Muhammad (PBUH) who was known as AL-AMEEN (The Trustworthy) in his
society and who is still admired by the non-Muslim scholars for his
honesty and integrity, came forth with a false claim and on that
falsehood could train thousands of men of character, integrity and
honesty, who were able to establish the best human society on the
surface of the earth?
Surely, any sincere and unbiased searcher of truth will come to believe
that the Qur'an is the revealed Book of Allah.
Without necessarily agreeing with all that they said, we furnish here
some opinions of important non-Muslim scholars about the Qur'an. Readers
can easily see how the modern world is coming closer to reality
regarding the Qur'an. We appeal to all open-minded scholars to study the
Qur'an in the light of the aforementioned points. We are sure that any
such attempt will convince the reader that the Qur'an could never be
written by any human being.
"However often we turn to it [the Qur'an] at first disgusting us each
time afresh, it soon attracts, astounds, and in the end enforces our
reverence... Its style, in accordance with its contents and aim is
stern, grand, terrible - ever and anon truly sublime -- Thus this book
will go on exercising through all ages a most potent influence."
--Goethe, quoted in T.P. Hughes' DICTIONARY OF ISLAM, p. 526.
"The Koran admittedly occupies an important position among the great
religious books of the world. Though the youngest of the epoch-making
works belonging to this class of literature, it yields to hardly any in
the wonderful effect which it has produced on large masses of men. It
has created an all but new phase of human thought and a fresh type of
character. It first transformed a number of heterogeneous desert tribes
of the Arabian peninsula into a nation of heroes, and then proceeded to
create the vast politico-religious organizations of the Muhammadan world
which are one of the great forces with which Europe and the East have to
reckon today." --G. Margoliouth, Introduction to J.M. Rodwell's, THE
KORAN, New York: Everyman's Library, 1977, p. vii.
"A work, then, which calls forth so powerful and seemingly incompatible
emotions even in the distant reader - distant as to time, and still more
so as a mental development - a work which not only conquers the
repugnance which he may begin its perusal, but changes this adverse
feeling into astonishment and admiration, such a work must be a
wonderful production of the human mind indeed and a problem of the
highest interest to every thoughtful observer of the destinies of
mankind." --Dr. Steingass, quoted in T.P. Hughes' DICTIONARY OF ISLAM,
pp. 526-527.
"The above observation makes the hypothesis advanced by those who see
Muhammad as the author of the Qur'an untenable. How could a man, from
being illiterate, become the most important author, in terms of literary
merits, in the whole of Arabic literature? How could he then pronounce
truths of a scientific nature that no other human being could possibly
have developed at that time, and all this without once making the
slightest error in his pronouncement on the subject?" --Maurice
Bucaille, THE BIBLE, THE QUR'AN AND SCIENCE, 1978, p. 125.
"Here, therefore, its merits as a literary production should perhaps not
be measured by some preconceived maxims of subjective and aesthetic
taste, but by the effects which it produced in Muhammad's contemporaries
and fellow countrymen. If it spoke so powerfully and convincingly to the
hearts of his hearers as to weld hitherto centrifugal and antagonistic
elements into one compact and well-organized body, animated by ideas far
beyond those which had until now ruled the Arabian mind, then its
eloquence was perfect, simply because it created a civilized nation out
of savage tribes, and shot a fresh woof into the old warp of history."
--Dr. Steingass, quoted in T.P. Hughes' DICTIONARY OF ISLAM, p. 528.
"In making the present attempt to improve on the performance of my
predecessors, and to produce something which might be accepted as
echoing however faintly the sublime rhetoric of the Arabic Koran, I have
been at pains to study the intricate and richly varied rhythms which -
apart from the message itself - constitute the Koran's undeniable claim
to rank amongst the greatest literary masterpieces of mankind... This
very characteristic feature - 'that inimitable symphony,' as the
believing Pickthall described his Holy Book, 'the very sounds of which
move men to tears and ecstasy' - has been almost totally ignored by
previous translators; it is therefore not surprising that what they have
wrought sounds dull and flat indeed in comparison with the splendidly
decorated original." --Arthur J. Arberry, THE KORAN INTERPRETED, London:
Oxford University Press, 1964, p. x.
"A totally objective examination of it [the Qur'an] in the light of
modern knowledge, leads us to recognize the agreement between the two,
as has been already noted on repeated occasions. It makes us deem it
quite unthinkable for a man of Muhammad's time to have been the author
of such statements on account of the state of knowledge in his day. Such
considerations are part of what gives the Qur'anic Revelation its unique
place, and forces the impartial scientist to admit his inability to
provide an explanation which calls solely upon materialistic reasoning."
--Maurice Bucaille, THE QUR'AN AND MODERN SCIENCE, 1981, p. 18.
3. QUR'AN ON QUR'AN ............................................... from III&E
"Hence, indeed, We made this Qur'an easy to bear in mind: who, then is
willing to take it to heart?" --Chapter 54: Verses 17, 22, 32, 40
(self-repeating)
"Will they then not meditate on the Qur'an, or are there locks on their
hearts?" --Chapter 47: Verse 24
"Surely this Qur'an guides to that which is most upright and gives good
news to the believers who do good works that they shall have a great
reward." --Chapter 17: Verse 9
"Surely We have revealed the reminder (Qur'an) and We will most
certainly guard it (from corruption)." --Chapter 15: Verse 9
"Praise be to Allah Who has revealed the Book (Qur'an) to His slave
(Muhammad) and has not placed therein any crookedness." --Chapter 18:
Verse 1
"Will they not then ponder on the Qur'an? If it had been from other than
Allah they would have found therein much discrepancy." Chapter 4: Verse
82
"And certainly We have explained in this Qur'an every kind of example;
and man is most of all given to contention. And nothing prevents men
from believing when the guidance comes to them, and asking forgiveness
of their Lord, except that what happened to the ancients should overtake
them, or that the chastisement should come face to face with them."
--Chapter 18: Verses 54-55
"And We reveal (stage by stage) of the Qur'an that which is a healing
and a mercy for believers, and to the unjust it causes nothing but loss
after loss." --Chapter 17: Verse 82
"And if you are in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto Our slave
(Muhammad) then produce a surah (chapter) of the like thereof, and call
your witnesses besides Allah if you are truthful." --Chapter 2: Verse 23
"And this Qur'an is not such as could be forged by those besides Allah,
but it is a verification (of revelations) that went before it and a
fuller explanation of the Book - there is no doubt - from the Lord of
the Worlds." --Chapter 10: Verse 37
"So when you recite the Qur'an, seek refuge in Allah from Satan the
outcast." --Chapter 16: Verse 98.
4. WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT MUHAMMAD (PBUH) ............................ from III&E
During the centuries of the crusades, all sorts of slanders were
invented against Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). But with the birth of the
modern age, marked with religious tolerance and freedom of thought,
there has been a great change in the approach of Western authors in
their delineation of his life and character. The views of some
non-Muslim scholars regarding Prophet Muhammad, given at the end,
justify this opinion.
But the West has still to go a step forward to discover the greatest
reality about Muhammad and that is his being the true and the last
Prophet of God for the whole humanity. In spite of all its objectivity
and enlightenment there has been no sincere and objective attempt by the
West to understand the Prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh). It is so strange
that very glowing tributes are paid to him for his integrity and
achievement but his claim of being the Prophet of God has been rejected
explicitly or implicitly. It is here that a searching of the heart is
required, and a review of the so-called objectivity is needed. The
following glaring facts from the life of Muhammad (pbuh) have been
furnished to facilitate an unbiased, logical and objective decision
regarding his Prophethood.
Up to the age of forty, Muhammad was not known as a statesman, a
preacher or an orator. He was never seen discussing the principles of
metaphysics, ethics, law, politics, economics or sociology. No doubt he
possessed an excellent character, charming manners and was highly
cultured. Yet there was nothing so deeply striking and so radically
extraordinary in him that would make men expect something great and
revolutionary from him in the future. But when he came out of the Cave
(HIRA) with a new message, he was completely transformed. Is it possible
for such a person of the above qualities to turn all of a sudden into
'an impostor' and claim to be the Prophet of Allah and invite all the
rage of his people? One might ask: for what reason did he suffer all
those hardships? His people offered to accept him as their King and he
would leave the preaching of his religion. But he chose to refuse their
tempting offers and go on preaching his religion single-handedly in face
of all kinds of insults, social boycott and even physical assault by his
own people. Was it not only God's support and his firm will to
disseminate the message of Allah and his deep-rooted belief that
ultimately Islam would emerge as the only way of life for humanity, that
he stood like a mountain in the face of all opposition and conspiracies
to eliminate him? Furthermore, had he come with a design of rivalry with
the Christians and the Jews, why should he have made belief in Jesus
Christ and Moses and other Prophets of God (peace be upon them), a basic
requirement of faith without which no one could be a Muslim?
Is it not an incontrovertible proof of his Prophethood that in spite of
being unlettered and having led a very normal and quiet life for forty
years, when he began preaching his message, all of Arabia stood in awe
and wonder and was bewitched by his wonderful eloquence and oratory? It
was so matchless that the whole legion of Arab poets, preachers and
orators of the highest calibre failed to bring forth its equivalent. And
above all, how could he then pronounce truths of a scientific nature
contained in the Qur'an that no other human being could possible have
developed at that time?
Last but not least, why did he lead a hard life even after gaining power
and authority? Just ponder over the words he uttered while dying: "We
the community of the Prophets are not inherited. Whatever we leave is
for charity."
As a matter of fact, Muhammad (pbuh) is the last link of the chain of
Prophets sent in different lands and times since the very beginning of
the human life on this planet. Read the following writings of the
Western authors:
"If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are
the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great
man in modern history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms,
laws and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than
material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man
moved not only armies, legislations, empires, peoples and dynasties, but
millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than
that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the
beliefs and souls. . . his forbearance in victory, his ambition, which
was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an
empire; his endless prayers, his mystic conversations with God, his
death and his triumph after death; all these attest not to an imposture
but to a firm conviction which gave him the power to restore a dogma.
This dogma was twofold, the unity of God and the immateriality of God;
the former telling what God is, the latter telling what God is not; the
one overthrowing false gods with the sword, the other starting an idea
with words.
"Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas,
restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images; the founder of
twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is
Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be
measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?"
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