Hello, welcome to another segment of Islam focus Assalamu alaikum peace be unto you. Today we have our third program in our new series dealing with the sources of Islam. We’ll be having our second segment of dealing with the topic of the authorship of the Quran. I have joining me on the program, Dr. Jamal better we have segments University of the Jamaat, I started, like on a crusade.
I wonder if I could perhaps have you very quickly highlight the
main points that we touched on in our first program dealing with this topic of authorship in the ground last week, could you quickly highlight the main points we touched on? Sure. The program starts first by examining the internet evidence from the Quran itself. What does the Quran say about its own sources. And we have seen that overwhelmingly, the Quran clearly indicate that it came from Allah or God. Or we look also into the style of the Quran. And we have seen that it sounds like somebody’s speaking and authority Allah speaks either directly or through such imperatives as say, Mohammed.
In addition to this, we also looked into the statements made by Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him himself, which are totally consistent with the what the Quran says that he has nothing to do with the wording of the Quran that it simply was dictated to. The Quran also, in many verses, we have seen negates conclusively clearly that this Quran would have come from any source, other than a divine revelation. And since the discussion touched on the topic of Revelation, the last part of the program, briefly define what revelation means the various meanings of Revelation, why the revelation to prophets is very special, very particular, and what forms it might take, you have taken in the
past. Now, you said that Prophet Mohammed was supposed to be a problem claim that he, he was not the author of the Quran. This is commonly believed by by many people, particularly orientalist, how can you verify that claim? one to start with? We should. Usually, the person is challenged when he claims that he has something to say I wrote that beautiful naturally work or famous word, or invented this electronic gadget or something. Usually the challenge is the other way around, isn’t it? People come back to me and say, prove now that you are the inventor, prove that you’re the author of such beautiful work. It’s not that usual, however, that somebody says, Listen, I am not
the author. I didn’t like it. I didn’t invent and say no, prove that you didn’t invent it.
This is a good point that has went by Dr. Jesse and I said that alone, the witness or testimony of the person himself would suffice to make the point that he is not claiming credit
for himself.
What would you say to those people who, who would suggest that Prophet Muhammad may have attributed the Quran to God for His own benefit? There was some benefit in it for him to do that. Okay, perhaps we can analyze that also as a possibility, not necessarily a very good possibility that we have to be open into looking into that.
But we have to ask ourselves, what kind of benefit personal benefit would accrue to the profits by claiming falsely or contrary to that this Quran is coming from God while he is the actual author of it? Well, we know that people usually benefit personally, not when they disclaim something, but when they claim something to their credit. You know, when somebody says I did or service or I did invent that, usually this is what they claim in order to get some benefit. In the case of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon and he was actually a disclaimers rather than a claim. So what what kind of benefits really would he be after from this kind of key?
No, I don’t want to sound overly skeptical on this particular point, but
support
Someone says that by attributing the Quran to a higher authority to God, it may benefit the person even even more. Well, maybe you’re right in saying that might sound too skeptical. But again, let’s go with this for the sake of clarification.
But to make this assumption seem to imply also, for the just let’s put it as a, like I said, for the sake of discussion, not necessarily that it’s an acceptable
suggestion. But we suggest that he, in fact, did not really tell the truth, when he said, it’s conclusively so many times that the Quran did not come from him, which means in fact that there was a surge of deliberate deception, if you will.
This assumption is totally inconsistent with what we know about the prophet in terms of his characters and his life. But with this reservation just put that as a vision aside, for the time being, we can come back to it later.
But one of the useful things to objectively examine this issue
would be to look at his wealth or his material, life, and provisions before he was a prophet. And after he became a prophet to find out whether he really benefited in any way materially from claiming to be a prophet receiving revelation, rather than the author of the Quran, like any other reformer.
Now, we know that before he became Prophet, longtime 15 years actually, before he started his mission at the age of 25, he married a very rich woman, among the crocheted dynasty called the Khadija she was a very wealthy, successful woman in business, and he was in charge of business. And you know, of course, that
was a very successful and well liked merchant, as many historians, even some language teams admit that he was living comfortably, he didn’t have any financial worry whatsoever.
When we compare that with what happened to him, after he began his career, as a prophet, we will notice immediately that he suffered a great deal material, he was much more worse off than he was before his mission. In fact, at times he had to go through a severe hunger even, what kind of benefit did he get materially from his claim?
Could you perhaps explain leave us this last point a little bit further, and perhaps give some documentation in terms of his relative status? Financial years? Yes, one.
For example, in this Bukhari and Muslim, his wife Ayesha inherited and that’s a very famous, you know, saying that was narrated, she said that a month or two would go by, without fire being lit. In our house, she means fire in order to have a cooked or hug me.
When people asked her, how did you and the profit den or the household of the profit survive? She said, as well, then a third one said that the two things, the water, and the days, dried it, except she added that sometimes some of the answers, you know, neighbors, used to send him some goat’s milk, or almond milk, so that that would be done supplementally in addition to waters and dates. And we should note here that this was not just a temporary sacrifice for some time to make up for it later on when things look better. But even after his victory, and the victory of Muslims, after we had lots of wealth available to them, the same simple life continued the same suffering, even second
was the provision, a continued, in fact, the Quran in surah 33, especially from Isaiah 28 on describes a situation where the household of the Prophet had some kind of unease and discomfort that How come there is so much wealth, and they are living in a very, very severe and difficult self imposed type of deprivation, like any other poor in the Quran actually makes reference to that.
One time hafsa his wife was asked about the bidding of the Prophet. And she said his bidding was simply a piece of canvas that I used to fold just to make a double fold and put it under him to slip on.
And she said one night, I thought that I should make it a little bit more comfortable for him. So I made it four fold.
When you woke up for the early morning prayer, he said, What did you do in my bed? And she said, Well, it’s the same canvas. I simply made it for four instead of two, four. He said, No, keep it as it is. Don’t make it for four anymore, to form, why he gets the reason
Because I’m afraid that this much comfort,
nail stand in my way
to stand to wake up at night and have the late night prayer I used to wake up late at night before dawn to pray. So imagine this kind of life that he lived. And that was at the time again, where Muslims were victorious. And if he wanted to live as a king, he could have easily done so without any problem. One time one of his famous companions
entered into his room, and he started crying.
The President said, What’s wrong? what’s what’s happening?
Um, so do you see, when I entered the room, I only saw the Prophet sleeping on a symphony net, that lift marks in his body was not really very soft with lift marks on his body. And I looked in the room, and the only thing I found was just a handful of barley in one corner of the room. So when the Prophet asked him what why you’re crying,
he said, O Messenger of God.
You see the person Keynesian Byzantine emperors and all that are living in all kinds of luxury with rivers flowing underneath them in their palaces, and you the most select of God’s creature and his last messenger and prophets you’re living in such dire need?
Why don’t you pray to God to make it easier and to provide for us more?
When the Prophet heard that he instead of lying down, he
sat down? And he said,
Are you still in any doubt about this matter? That’s this matter of this? He said, This ease and comfort is much better in the Hereafter, rather than in this life here.
Another Companion of the Prophet by the name of Amanda she once said, he said, I saw the mission, messenger of God, that’s Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, staying for the whole day, twitching or squirming? Because of hunger, that you cannot even find enough of the bad quality bait, that quality date to fill his stomach, a famous Companion of the Prophet Abu hurayrah.
He said that the Prophet never had really a full stomach of dread. Imagine even bread
for three consecutive days until he died. And that was narrated in Bukhari Muslim, and the previous saying about the bad quality date, even as mentioned in Muslim. So this is the sort of life that you live, what kind of benefits did he get by claiming to be a profit? Except even more difficult, and more aesthetic type of life?
I think we pass
in fairly answer to this next question from what you’re just insane. But you’ve mentioned like prior to taking a permission, the Prophet Muhammad was a fairly successful businessman. And of course, he later ignored a lot of hardship. But I’ll ask this question In any event, with respect to the assets of the Prophet when he died in comparison, say to the his assets before he began his prophetic career, can you Okay, maybe you can start from the point mentioned earlier that, you know, what was the situation before he started the mission? It was mentioned that Khadija was reasonably rich woman, she was a successful merchant, and he was actually in charge of her church. That’s actually
how she gets to know about him and his skill and honesty. And they both were so much loving as a couple because she was his own wife, as you know, from the age of 25 until 50, that’s basically his main part of youth and manhood.
And there were so much in love and affection with each other that her once was his wealth, everything was available and put under his disposal.
Definitely, of course, after Khadija died when he was the age of 50, she was about 65. Roughly when when she died,
of course, her once all became available to him under his disposal. How did you do with it what what he left really at the time of his death
in both Bukhari and Muslim and ultimately three references of prophetic saying and prophetic life about the prophetic life.
We are told that when the Prophet died, his shield, you know that she’ll be using the battlefield injection. his shield was held as collateral in the hands of a Jewish citizen, in Medina, as a collateral for some bodily that the Prophet bought from him
or his wife when he died. She said when the Prophet died, there was nothing visible in the household.
Except somebody that was narrated in Bukhari and Muslim,
that this is not only limited to what is theirs inside the household, I would say it even you find, as narrated by Admiral Harris, in both in Bukhari that he said that when the Prophet died, he didn’t leave anything behind. No Durham or dinar, which means like say, no dollar, no sense. No no words whatsoever that he left or cash, he left no person in bondage, nor did he leave anything except for two things he mentioned. He said his white, you know, right, and his arm, apparently referring to his insert.
In fact, there was a piece of land known as the land of Fedak, there have been some mistake by studying by default, it was, you know, kept by the profit as a personal orange, that was not the case. In fact, this land was reserved by the prophet, so that the income from that land would be used to support the orphans, the poor, and also after his death to provide for the needs of his household.
The difference that might have arisen as related more to the administration of the land, but nobody ever made a justifiable claim that he even on that planet was just for the benefit of the poor. And in fact, that’s consistent with what he said clearly. He said, We prophets are not supposed to leave any material position behind us when we die for our heirs. He said, whatever is left must be spent as a charity. And that reflects not only his deeds, but it’s consistent also with what he taught the Muslims, not to be extravagant in their lives, to keep their eyes also as well, on the life hereafter, as merited. In other words, for example, when people were talking about his suffering,
and how you could have all kinds of things under his disposal, but still prefers to live like any other poor. He said, what what do I have to do with this life? My similar to it with this life is like someone who’s traveling, and then on the way he stopped under a tree. So he sat down to rest and listen, but under the shadow of that he then he continued to struggle. So he regarded this entire life, like moments that the person spends under the tree. This was his attitude, and this was his behavior. So again, we’ll come back to this question, basic question, what kind of benefit, which really did he acquire by claiming, unfairly or unjustifiably, that is not the author of the
Quran, and that he is the Prophet sent by God to guide humanity?
Now, our skeptics might perhaps agree that okay, perhaps give him some very convincing arguments that he didn’t benefit from it in a material way. But there may be other ways to benefit other than in a material sense. For example, they might say that the problem may have attributed to the curonian, or to God in order to be able to gain power and leadership. Well, let’s look at it logically also.
There is no disagreement, even among critics of Islam, if you will,
that, as the leader, perfect Muhammad peace be upon him is regarded by some even as the greatest leader in history, not one of the greatest, some even regarded as the most successful leaders in human history, in terms of the achievement that
now a person with this qualities and these talents, could very easily without claiming profit, who would say I am a leader, I’m going to lead you will look at my wisdom, look at my talents and qualities. It doesn’t have to say, of course, you will show it and people with
fact, it would be easier for him to claim power leadership because of this quality, directly without claiming a prophet to be a prophet. Because to claim prophets would that means you talk about something that most people can’t comprehend, that you’re receiving revelation, and the angels come with the Word of God dictated to you, many people find this difficult to believe, but they find it very easy to believe that yes, this is a great leader. And this happened in history with other people as well.
And this is also known historically, that the Quran that he uttered
challenge, the most eloquent of the eloquent and for 1400 years now nobody claimed that he ever was able to imitate even a portion of the Quran, in the same degree of beauty and style and wisdom contained in the Quran. What if he was that smart? Well, that could have been used, even as a segment or a sign of his ability and deserving leadership. He doesn’t have to claim it comes from God, it’s better for him actually say, Oh, this great, challenging Quran is mine. And that gave him even more power and more respect by the people. That’s how
People would think about it. Now, let’s look also into his characters to see whether he was a person who was really egotistical looking for personal glory and power and prestige and so on.
And to start with, you cannot support the pursuit of power that is yours in this question with the answer to the previous one, material benefits. Why? Because when people seek power and prestige, they want also to have fancy meals, very big palaces that are very graceful, nice closing guards all around, they have to be held like, you know, kings are great people, if they were really looking for power.
Whereas when you really look at the life of the Prophet, you find it an amazing example of humility and humbleness.
He used to sit on on the ground,
in the same pot with others poor and downtrodden people.
He used to mix more even so with the poor and needy than with the rich with whom a person can take, you know, prestige and support.
Whenever he was invited, even by a poor person for a simple meal, he gratefully accepted, graciously accepted the invitation just ate from whatever was was given. At one point, even when he entered into a place where believers were sitting, they stood up for him, he dejected that he didn’t like it, he said, Don’t stand up to glorify each other.
Whenever he came to a place where they are seated, he didn’t go like people seeking power to be in the central place. He just said, whenever a place was available, no wonder Some people even who come with would not realize who is the boss who is the really the prophet and who is just a common man, he’s just behaved like a very simple person.
And one incident, a person hearing about the greatness of the Prophet, and you know, what he’s teaching and so on, came to him, and somehow he was trembling. And the Prophet just patted on his back, very compassionate. So take it easy, brother, I am only a son of a woman who used to eat dry bread.
In one travels, he was traveling with his companion, and the time came for food. So the staff is preparing to cook the food. So somebody said, I’ll do this, somebody, I’ll do that, and the professor and to me, I will take the assignment of collecting the woods, they were surprised to have such a great person or prophet of God, we can do that for you. You know, what was his answer? Should I do that you could do that for me, that I hate to have any distinction over you. In other words, I would like to see everybody working and then just sitting there, I want to work on some collect and cut the wood with you. One time as edited in Bukhari, he passed by a number of young girls who are
sinking in some occasion, making some kind of poetry. And one of them said, among us, there is a profit, who knows what will happen in the future. They felt to him. He stopped her. I said, No, don’t say that. Make the other points that you were saying before. Don’t Don’t say that about me. In his own lifetime, it was reported that he consulted quite a bit with his companions, and many decisions, and many times accepted. their opinion, of course, matters which is not decided by revelation, it just matters which are left to discretion.
Even though in some cases, it was against his own personal opinion. Well, these are all I hope, are clear evidence
from his life and behavior that this was not the type especially magically, he would be seeking power and glory. In addition to that the Quran itself, in fact,
gives confirmation to the same conclusion that he never actually aspired for leadership, or to be a prophet. we’re expected
to pursue this point a little bit further. Is there any evidence in the Quran itself that
would indicate that Prophet Muhammad did not aspire or expect to be a leader or a prophet? Personally, there are several
citations of passages in the Quran. With me just an example of a few. The first one, one are quinteto keytab mata Moravec that’s in Surah 2886. It says, you do not or you have not hoped or expected that the book would be given to you or sent you that’s the book he refers to the Quran, but it is mercy from your Lord.
To indicate also further that he was not a person who was looking for prestige or power or you know, prominence.
He was directed in the Quran to tell the people
akula komenda in Allah, Allah Allah Allah aku elimelech some very interesting citation that you find in in 656 and 850. It says, say, oh Mohammed to people, I tell you not that
I have the treasures are in my hands are the treasures of Allah or God, nor do I know what is hidden or the unseen. Nor do I tell you that I am an angel. I only follow what is revealed unto me.
Similarly, in sort of seven when I want
to learn economists enough and one other run, Ilana Sharma, welcome to excel 2,000,001. I’m a senior Indian
economy, which means say to people, I have no power over any good or harm to myself to let alone others to myself.
As except as Allah wills, if I had knowledge of the unseen, I would have multiplied all good and not even should have touched me. I am but Warner’s in a blink of glass tightening to those who have faith.
The Quran also indicates that he never claimed to know anything that will happen even in the future except as allowed to use to him specifically but no, you know, kept Blanche are often knowledge that which would equate him with God and making more than a human. For example, in Surah 46 it says
dominar Rasul. Allah, Allah, say, Mohammed igino. I’m not a bringer of a new thing called doctrine among the apostles, nor do I know what will be done to me or to you, I only follow that which is revealed unto me, I’m only a 100 open and clear.
To give one more example, which is even very explicit and very clear, in Surah 18 in the Quran, Ayah 110. This is put in a mountain of Ashura. Mr. Khan.
I am only a human like yourself, it has been revealed to me that your God is one God. These are only few of the many citation that can be referred to in the Quran, suffice to say that he also forbid people from making his graveyard as a place of worship. He even said it clearly as was mentioned in one previous program, he said, don’t you overpraise me as the Christians over Praise Jesus, the Son of God, I am only the servant of God and His Messenger.
On that note, we conclude our program for today. We want to invite you back next week when we’ll continue with our federal discussion of this topic of the authorship of the of the crown. I want to thank you for watching. This is your host Hamlet Rashid, Salaam Alaikum. Peace be unto you
