Assalamu alaykum peace beyond you. Welcome to another episode of asylum focus. I’m your host Howard Rasheed. Dave we have our 57th program and our series deals with Muhammad. Last question Dr. Allah. And today we will be starting a new topic our first segment dealing with the early meccan period. I have joining me as my guest on the program as usual Dr. Jamal bed we have St. Mary’s University brother Jamal Assalamu alaykum Bonnie Could I hadn’t really quickly summarize the main points that we touched on in last week’s program? Okay, last week, that hammered we continue to analyze the source of revelation received by Prophet Muhammad. And he said that the theory that holds that the
Quran or the revolution was a source of inner matters something coming from within the Prophet is erroneous on many grounds. One is the Quran contain many historical informations and facts which cannot just come by mere deflection, or meditation. Secondly, that the Quran contains numerous prophecies, none of which proved to be false or inaccurate. In fact, it was amazing accuracy with which this prophecies came to pass, give examples of this and we said that this was rather unparalleled in comparison to any other book containing practices, who indicated why. Thirdly, we indicated also that from the psychological standpoint, it is impossible to assume that the Quran
came from within the profit. And we gave a number of examples of this. And then finally, we said that
the second assumption that assumes that the profit might have based what he taught on what you learned from other religions, or other followers of other religions, seem to imply also that he did not say the truth when he said that it is a revolution from Allah, it is not based on others. And he indicated that this would be rather unusual assumption to accept, given his reputation of absolute truthfulness and honesty, even among his enemies, and also the lack of any single evidence of any scholars or clergy or other teacher that the Prophet could have possibly learned from him. So that’s, basically was the essence of our coverage. So we move on to our discussion of the early
measurement period. This is another area I’d like to touch on, I realized that this question may perhaps have been answered implicitly, but for the sake of clarity, I’d like to ask you to comment on what some critics regard is the the striking parallels between the Quran and the Bible, given the fact that the Bible preceded the Koran? Well, I think I like the use of the term explicit, implicitly answered in your question, because we can also say that all right, having already discussed with the great evidence, and in some detail, the proofs of the truthfulness of the prophets of his claim that he never learned from someone else. And in the absence of any credible
evidence of any human teacher, we can say then,
that it could not also be said that he learned that or based the Quran on the Bible. But it’s quite interesting also to look into this issue of so called parallels between the Quran and previous scripture, especially the Bible.
To begin with, it is true that there are numerous parallels to begin with, we have to be objective, there are numerous patterns of information, which are found both in the Quran and the Bible. It is also true, historically speaking, undeniable that the Quran was revealed after the Bible. So the Bible was there first when the Quran was revealed.
But the more significant issue is not this established.
Fact. The question here is, what does that really signify?
does it signify that Islam that was taught by the prophet and the Quran claimed to him to be a revelation was nothing but an adulterated or adopted form of Judaism, Christianity, or both of them. And we have seen already ample evidence to show that this is not the case.
Or the assumption that many writers never bother even to raise a viable one, which I believe is to be the true assumption. Or does that mean that this parallel proves and shows that it is the same God
who spoke to Abraham, Moses, Jesus, that is the same one also who spoke through Mohammed. This is the issue that so simple, so clear, and logical that
Those who read the writings of Oriental non Muslim orientalist, seem to accept the assumption they present as the only way of explaining it. never bother to wonder as to whether that proves actually, that it came from the same source from which this prophets also received revelation. What is unusual that God would reveal His attributes, his oneness, to Moses, confirmed that through Jesus, and confirmed again Finally, through the last prophet Muhammad peace, well, does that mean that each one copied from the other or each one derives from the very same divine source of being legitimate? Holy Prophets, truthful prophets, in their own rights, not imitators, and certainly not plagiarizes is
now this same analysis could apply as well, even to a similar question that some people raise and say, Hey, now there are things in the Quran that cannot even be traced in the Bible, on the New Testament, but can be traced to some Talmudic writings or some apocryphal early Christian writings, like the gospel of infancy, for example, about Jesus, that there are some stories in the Quran parallel to that, but not to be found in the New Testament. Somebody say, yeah, so it’s not only the Bible, now we’re adding additional
assumed sources of Talmud or, or apocryphal writing. But the question from the historical standpoint that should be raised here is that Who knows? Some of these writings that were classified as apocryphal, for example, were classified by human beings. And we know that there have been lots of writings about the life of Jesus, for example, in his lifetime, or should, I should say shortly after. Now, on what basis some writings were classified as apocryphal or canonized, it’s a matter of human judgment. So we don’t know whether those that were classified as apocryphal might have been presented to Revelation through information.
Even if it is said that some of those apocryphal writings were proved to be available in written form,
after the Bible has been written, and before the Quran was revealed, even then, who knows that this information was not available orally.
From the time of Jesus, peace be upon him and later on was put into writing. So from the historical standpoint, I don’t know of any scholar who can say for sure, with full confidence that well, apocryphal writings are totally false. They contain absolutely no true revelation or information. But from the standpoint again, of Islam,
the truth is the truth revealed from God, whether that truth was preserved, and Canaanites, rising, apocrypha rising and murder crisis, whatever the case may be, it is the truth revealed by God That does not mean that the Quran is based on those previous writings. with having said that much, I must also say, for the sake of clarity and objectivity also,
that while there are parallels that might be similar, between the Quran and the Bible on the surface, if you delve into it into some depth, you find that not all of them are really that clear. Color some writers seem to imply. This has been a subject of previous series and also of the series on the Quran, ultimate medicates. I only mentioned some topics that were discussed the, the issue or the question of anthropomorphism. Yes. As one could play the book of Genesis, for example, with what the Quran speaks about when it speaks about God.
Secondly, the perception of the nature, character and room of prophets, as you compare it to the Bible and the Quran, discuss that in detail in a previous occasion. In the series on Jesus, beloved messenger of Allah, we discussed in great detail the concept of sin, sinfulness, atonement, and how can we overcome sin or wash our sins? And did sin enter into the world? By the mistake of Adam? Is woman responsible for tempting Adam to eat from the tree is sent to be inherited?
Is there a possibility of forgiveness without bloodshed? Or is that a must the for forgiveness can be attained when in this and many others there are significant differences and put on stand in its own integrity and its own approach to live consistently dealing with all of these issues in a way that is not necessarily always parallel as some people might think, to the vibe and finally, in the series, also
On the Quran ultimate medically, we spend several programs, indicating that the discoveries of modern science might shed some light about the source of the Quran. For it contains amazing informations related to established scientific facts, not theories that were mentioned in the Quran 1600 years ago, could have not been known by any religious or scientific writer, only to be discovered in our era, or in the last few decades. And that raises a very serious question even human embryology in the most minor details that the Quran speaks about, has been amazing, not only to Muslim scholars, but even to scientific researchers and dimensioned, the name of Dr. Keith Moore
from the School of Medicine, University of Toronto showed his amazement, how the Quran describes those
early embryonic stages in a way that is known only very recently to us. And all of these seem to cooperate together to indicate that the first two theories or assumptions that occur on came from within the profit from other sources, human teachers, or previous scriptures, is absolutely unsubstantiated, and contrary to logic, to historical facts to this analysis, and that would leave us with the one and only remaining assumption that we started with. The doctrine is indeed, as it claims itself to be, and as claimed by the prophet to be
nothing but purely divine revelation dictated word by word, to the Prophet Muhammad who only conveyed it,
exemplified it and explained it to us.
We like to go back to the early period of Revelation, and ask you, how did the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him? How did he begin to proclaim His his mission? Okay, in addressing this, I think it would be useful to distinguish between two aspects, one is the scope of the message of the Prophet, secondly, the status or the strategy of conveying that message to mankind. In the Muslim understanding, the scope of his message is the entire word for all humanity for all times to come, as the last and final prophet of God.
And as the only one who was sent with the explicit command, to invite the entire human family to the path of God, and the only prophet who received the divine revelation to mankind in its most perfect,
complete and well preserved form that’s in Muslim understanding.
Now, in that sense, then, the action or the, the duty of the Prophet was to convey to the entire mankind.
But as far as the stages of conveyance of that message, it began, it began with the meaning of relatives, and close friends.
And the first one to accept Islam was his wife, Khadija,
and this, in my humble understanding is a tribute to believing women, in all claims and all places
for the their potential for goodness and spiritual development, for the seriousness of their commitment, as we find clearly embodied in the response by Khadija, his wife, a woman who earned for women for believing women, the honor to be the very first to accept Islam and to accept the prophethood of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
The
it is, I would say,
unreasonable to dismiss or belittle her response to the invitation by the prophet, simply by saying, Well, after all, she was his wife. And this is what was expected by way of family allusions and solidarity. Regardless, I don’t think it’s reasonable. For anyone who studies the situation in Arabia before Islam.
One can only appreciate the depth and importance of social traditions, customs, it was not easy in that society to deviate from those traditions and customs as we find today, easy people in the northern communities do not necessarily stick to traditions of all, but that was even much more difficult at that time to deviate. It was even more difficult to deviate from tradition, when it comes to the method of belief and religious convictions that people had.
But even when people deviated from those traditions, it was not easy or immediate. But in the case of Khadija, we find that
immediately responded positively to the invitation of the Prophet.
And there were many incidents in early
Islamic history where the family relationship and tribal or clan allegiance was not enough, did not have much impact really, in terms of causing people to follow the prophet or respond to his call, as people simply refuse to deviate from the religion of their ancestors. Indeed, among those who became Muslims, in the early days, there were those who were persecuted most by their own relatives, their own parents, even or their spouses. So to say that Khadija simply responded because of that, you know, family relationship is not really a very fair type of explanation.
In fact,
the response of Khadija was not a response, number one to her husband, because he’s a husband, who happened to be a prophet, but was a response to the Prophet as a prophet, who happened, at the same time to be harassment,
motivated by the search for truth, based on commitment and faith in God, and enforce, by enforced by the unwavering trust, in the truthfulness and integrity of her husband, who Above all, was the Messenger of Allah before, she regarded him as a husband.
After he responded to the Prophet,
who else
responded in under what circumstances, when the second person to embrace Islam was a TV a 10 year old youth,
Ali, the cousin of the Prophet, and as we mentioned in a previous program, the circumstances while he was living in the household of the Prophet, and that his father was suffering from financial difficulties to the Prophet, simply offered to take Ali, to look after him just to help out.
How did he become Muslims an interesting story that is narrated by ignition,
the famous reference on Sierra
and he says that one time Ali
found
the Prophet, his uncle, sorry, his cousin, the Prophet and his wife, Elisa, worshipping.
And it definitely noted that this mode of worship was not the same one that his people used to do, and he is dead, not worshipping idols, and not being the same tradition.
So he asked his cousin, and the wife of the cousin, Alicia, what is that?
So the Prophet answered, this is the religion of God, which he chose for himself, and sent His prophets teaching it. And I invite you
to have faith and believe in Allah or God, alone who has no associate, to worship Him. And I invite you to reject or shun away the worship of these items. And let us answer the names of the idol
worship.
So Ali answered, well, I never heard that before. And I’d like to ask my father first.
So the profit answer, well, I am afraid of making that public right now, to make this method public. So if you
do not wish to become Muslim, or accept Islam, Ali, please keep it confidential.
Apparently, a man of faith entered into the heart of early next morning, he came to Prophet Mohammed. And he said, I accept what you offered me, that is to become Muslim. And then he uttered the testimony I bear with is that there is no God. And that Muhammad is, there is no God but Allah, the only true God and Muhammad is His Messenger, and he rejected the idols, but he kept it also confidential. Now, you notice you like the case of Khadija, there is a symbol here, because the acceptance of Islam by Ali is a tribute to those youth
who in their innocence, idealism and openness to respond to truth, as they see it,
and to commit themselves to defending it and to communicating it to others did not hesitate once they discovered that this is the right path to accept it. It will be mentioned that
Subsequent to this, Abu Talib, Ali’s father,
one time saw his son worshipping God, the One God with Prophet Muhammad in the desert.
So Abu Pilate first asked the Prophet, his nephew, what is that religion, Hammad. So the Prophet said, Well, my uncle, this is the religion of God, and his engines, and his prophets and messengers, and the religion of our father, Abraham.
God has sent me as a messenger to his servants with this religion. And you, my uncle,
is the one who’s most worthy to be advised by me.
And to be invited to guidance.
And you are the most rightful person to respond positively to my invitation. And to help me to support me.
Abu Talib looked at the prophet and he say,
brother of my son,
brother of my son,
Sorry, brother, son of my brother, son of my brother.
I can’t depart
from the religion of my parents, and ancestors and what they followed. But by God’s means,
nothing that you hate will happen to you. That means I stand by you. I’m not accepting but understandable. And then he turned to his son,
Ali.
And he said, What is that religion that you’re following son?
He said, my father, I believe in God.
And they believed in the Messenger of God defend Muhammad.
And I have accepted what he brought forth. And I prayed with him. And I followed him.
So Abu Talib looked to his son and he and he said,
Well, Ali,
he did not invite you that Mohammed did not invite you except to something which is good. So hang on with him stick through
it most people probably would find this somewhat strange. They wonder why.
You have a situation where the the uncle of the Prophet rejected Islam. He has he’s encouraging and allowing his own son to, to embrace Islam. How would you respond to that? When it seems to indicate to me in my humble understanding that Abu Talib
and his father in his own heart knew that Islam is the truth, that they believe in the one true, God is the correct one.
Furthermore, he had full confidence in the truthfulness of the property knew him he was raised in his house is something he knew with absolute honesty and truthfulness of his nephew, Hammad discrepancies.
And that is quite clear from his statement that he says, when he said to some, that Muhammad did not invite you except to something that’s good, so stick to him, hang on with him.
But at the same time, I must say also that apartheid was so much enslaved by the religious beliefs and customs and traditions of his ancestors and his people. That he was quite hesitant to break away with that past wrongs as it may be, even though he discovered the truth. And this is a complex problem that relates to what I call a moral and spiritual decision.
Which face a lot of people in every time everywhere.
people when they discovered that they were not necessarily following the true path.
They sometimes have a lot of questions in mind. It’s really bothering questions. Is it possible that I was wrong all my life until this point? Is it possible that I was following something which is not quite the truth might have been even false with thinking that it was the truth?
Is it
possible that all my beloved parents and ancestors were in error when this guy did this are really pressing questions and it’s faced? Many believers in the times of many prophets, not only just one Prophet, because a prophet comes and there are some traditions which are wrong and then try to correct it and people always have this kind of question in mind. But I must say that in
acknowledging also, Abu Talib, he did something positive that while he did not have the courage to follow the truth, he did not try to find the Prophet. He did not try to persuade his son not to follow the Prophet actually, like he said even he encouraged him to follow the Prophet Leah
In his heart that this was the path of guidance and goodness.
Any other early follower of Islam from within the household of the of the Prophet the, with from within the household, there was also another person who became very famous also in Muslim history. And that was Zaid haritha, who, as we mentioned in a previous program, was a slave who was given his freedom by the prophet and the Prophet adopted him after giving him his freedom. And it appears to me that the embracing of Islam by that third person
reminds us we have their own of Prophet Muhammad as the liberators of those in bondage, and the champion of those in society, among others, not only those who are poor, weak, and vulnerable. It also indicates that when it comes to faith in God, commitment to him, the very edge of wealth,
social status, and power has no relevance whatsoever. It is a matter of faith that stem as the number one
most important consideration. And here we find somebody who was a former slave, earning the honor of being among those very earliest people who embraced Islam, and were in the most inner circle and confidential circle around the prophet who devoted their lives to God.
In addition to the early followers, to the ones we’ve just discussed, who was the first individual to accept Islam outside of the prophets household and immediate relatives of the Prophet? Yes. Well, the first one was none but Abu Bakr son is an
integral, rich and kind person from Croatia, who happened by the way to also to be the second killer after the death of the Prophet. At that time, also, he was a very close friend, confidence of the Prophet. It is not quite clear historically as to whether the Prophet initiated the invitation to Abu Bakr, or whether Abu Bakr got some hint or had something. So he came and asked the prophet and accepted his mission, but that’s immaterial anyway. The main thing is that as soon as Abu Bakr embraced Islam and believed in the Prophet, he began to invite his own confidence that people are so close to him who trusted him in a very confidential way. And since abubaker, was a very respected
Why is truthful, and also persuasive person. His efforts resulted in the guidance of a group of people who later on happened to be among the most prominent leaders of the Muslim community and later years.
The inclusion of Abu Bakr, I must comment as we commented, also, on the first three, embrace Islam,
abacha was a man who has both power, influence as well as well.
And to be among the early followers also indicate that Islam was not simply a movement, as some scholars speculate or theorize a movement of rebellion on the part of the poor and downtrodden. The weakened society, again, is those who are rich or powerful, or
a movement simply to improve the financial or associated status. And we’ll come to that later. It shows it was more much more than that, when we have already a rich man who submitted to the truth regardless of position. So it’s either high position or low position doesn’t make any difference really, in terms of devotion to that. But we can conclude also from the circumstances, of embracing Islam, on the part of those early for people, that for any movement, religious or otherwise, if we were to generalize, there is a need to begin with an inner circle, a circle which is committed to the face, committing to that God, whatever it may be, and then it begins to move outwardly, to, to
spread further and further.
The second observation is that the ready response on the part of those early people who accepted Islam indicates the importance, the great importance of the mutual trust that exists between the person who’s calling people and those who are called, between the Prophet and the followers between the companions of the Prophet and those who also try to spread the message to other people. And the significance of those four, three of them already from the own household of the Prophet is that they are or were the closest people
Put to the Prophet. They were the ones who knew best about his character and his honesty which facilitated the positive response to, to his call, and facilitated the very difficult task of breaking away with the tradition of the ancestors, a very difficult thing to depart from in the atom include our programming and now because we’re at a time at a general thank you very much racing program. Well, thank you all for watching. invite you back this week. Assalamu alaikum peace BMT.
