METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN
by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein
The believing Christian, the believing Jew, and the Qur’ān
There are others, on the other hand, who examine the Qur’ān and are so impressed by it that they are not only convinced that it is indeed the Word of the One True God, but respond to it with tears in their eyes:
For, when they come to understand what has been bestowed from on high upon this Apostle (i.e., when they realize the status of this Qur’ān), you can see their eyes overflow with tears, because they recognize something of its truth; [and] they say: "O our Lord-God! We do believe; make us one, then, with all who bear witness to the truth"
(Qur’ān, al-Māidah, 5:83)
The Qur’ān confirms that such people would belong to Ahl al-Kitāb or the community of Christians and Jews:
“And, behold, among the followers of earlier revelation (i.e., the Torah, Psalms, Gospel) there are indeed such as [truly] believe in Allah (i.e., the ‘ One True God’) and in that which has been bestowed from on high upon you (i.e., this Qur’ān) as well as in that which has been bestowed upon them (i.e., the Torah and the Gospel). Standing in awe of Allah, they do not barter away Allah’s messages for a trifling gain (hence they do not weigh what will be the consequence for them in accepting that which they recognize as Truth). They shall have their reward with their Lord-God – for, behold, Allah is swift in reckoning!”
(Qur’ān, Āle ‘Imrān, 3:199)
What is here truly remarkable is that Allah Most Wise has chosen to describe as Ahl al-Kitāb a people who accept the Qur’ān as the word of the ‘One True God’. The implication is that Allah Most Wise has here informed us of a people who accept of the Qur’ān as His revealed Word even while they still identify themselves as Christians and Jews. I pray with all my heart that thishumble book might assist such Christians and Jews to now affirm their belief in the Qur’ān as the Word of the God of Nabī Ibrāhīm (Abraham a), and hence that Nabī Muhammad (s) is His Prophet and Messenger (even while they may still choose to maintain their identity as Christians and Jews and follow the laws and rituals prescribed in their scriptures).
One of the reasons why such Christians and Jews respond in this way is because of their sincere attachment to their own scripture. The Qur’ān vividly describes that attachment:
“[But] they are not all alike: among the followers of earlier revelation there are upright people, who recite Allah’s revealed verses throughout the night, and prostrate themselves [before Him].”
(Qur’ān, Āle ‘Imrān, 3:113)
The Qur’ān is even more explicit that there will be Jews and Christians who will continue to identify themselves as Jews and Christians even while some of them recognize and accept the Qur’ān to be the Word of the One God, and recognize and accept Nabī Muhammad (s) to be His true Prophet. The most explicit such recognition occurs in verses 144 to 148 of Sūrah al Baqarah where the Qur’ān describes the event of the change, by Divine decree, of the Qiblah or direction to which one must turn in prayer, from Jerusalem to the Ka’aba in Makkah, for the community of believers who followed Nabī Muhammad (s).
Jews and Christians were required to turn in the direction of Jerusalem in prayer. Jerusalem was the spiritual capital of the world since it was in that town that Nabī Dāūd (David (a)) established the Holy State of Israel, and it was there that Nabī Sulaimān (Solomon (a)) constructed the Temple (referred to in the Qur’ān as Masjid al-Aqsā). The land was special in Allah’s sight. It was designated in the Qur’ān as the Holy Land and the Qur’ān further confirmed that it was given to the Israelite people:
“O my people! Enter the holy land which Allah gave to you; and do not turn back [from obeying this order], for then you will be lost!”
(Qur’ān, al-Māidah, 5:21)
But then a time came after the blessed Prophet, Nabī Muhammad (s) had migrated from Makkah to the northern city of Yathrib (subsequently renamed as Madīna al-Rasūl or simply Madīna), and after he and the Muslim community had spent seventeen months in that city praying in the direction of Jerusalem, when Allah Most High decided to change the Qiblah or direction of prayer. He ordered the Prophet and his followers to turn in the direction of the Ka’aba, i.e., old House of Allah in Makkah which had been constructed by Nabī Ibrāhīm (Abraham (a)), with assistance from his son Nabī Ismāīl (Ishmael (a)):
“We have seen you [O Prophet] often turn your face towards heaven [for guidance]: and now We shall indeed make you turn in prayer in a direction which will fulfill your desire. Turn, then, your face towards the Inviolable House of Worship; and wherever you all may be, turn your faces towards it [in prayer]. And, surely, those who have been received revelation prior to this, know well that this [commandment] comes in truth from their Lord-God; and Allah is not unaware of what they do.”
(Qur’ān, al-Baqarah, 2:144)
It is critically important for our discerning readers to carefully note that even after the change in Qiblah (or direction of prayer) from Jerusalem to Makkah had been proclaimed in the Qur’ān, Allah Most High continued to extend recognition to Jerusalem as the Qiblah of the Ahl al-Kitāb (i.e., Christians and Jews) and to insist that each community must turn to its own Qiblah. In other words, while the Qiblah in Jerusalem was cancelled (Mansūkh) for the Prophet (s) and his followers, it was not similarly cancelled for Christians and Jews:
“And yet, even if you were to place all evidence before those who have been received earlier revelation (prior to this Qur’ān), they would not follow your direction of prayer; and neither may you follow their direction of prayer, nor even do they follow one another’s direction. And if you were to follow their errant views after all the knowledge that has come unto you, you would surely be among the evildoers.”
(Qur’ān, al-Baqarah, 2:145)
While, as communities, Christians and Jews continue to withhold recognition of the Qur’ān as the Word of the One God, and Muhammad (s) as His Prophet, and would hence refuse to turn away from Jerusalem to Makkah, the Qur’ān points out that they are not all the same:
“They unto whom We have vouchsafed revelation aforetime know it as they know their own children: but, behold, some of them knowingly suppress the truth.”
(Qur’ān, al-Baqarah, 2:146)
In His Wisdom, the Lord-God chose not to write-off or dismiss those previous communities known as Ahl alKitāb (i.e., Christians and Jews) in consequence of their withholding recognition of Muhammad (s) as His Prophet and the Qur’ān as His Word. Rather, He wisely gave them time, while urging patience, and while implicitly recognizing that they worshipped Him. He did so even while Christians worshipped Nabī ‘Īsa, i.e., Jesus (a), as the son of God and the third person in a triune God. (See the verses below):
“For every community faces a direction of its own, of which He is the focal point. Vie, therefore, with one another in doing good works. Wherever you may be, Allah will gather you all unto Himself: for, verily, Allah has the power to will anything.”
(Qur’ān, al-Baqarah, 2:148)
The Qur’ān is even more explicit on the subject of Allah, Most Wise, continuing to extend a measure of Divine recognition of the communities of Jews and Christians even while though they withhold recognition of Prophet Muhammad (s) and the Qur’ān:
“And unto you [O Prophet] have We vouchsafed this divine writ, setting forth the truth, confirming the truth of whatever there still remains of earlier revelations and determining what is true therein. Judge, then, between the followers of earlier revelation in accordance with what Allah has bestowed from on high, and do not follow their errant views, forsaking the truth that has come unto you. Unto each of you have We appointed a [different] law and way of life. And if Allah had so willed, He could surely have made you all one single community: but [He willed it otherwise] in order to test you by means of what He has vouchsafed unto, you. Vie, then, with one another in doing good works! Unto Allah you all must return; and then He will make you truly understand all that on which you were wont to differ.”
(Qur’ān, al-Māidah, 5:48)
It is in respect of their relations with such Christians and such Jews that the Qur’ān has counseled Muslims to be patient and to build strong bonds (of friendship and alliance) with them in order that success can be achieved:
“O you who have attained to faith! Be patient (with such Christians and Jews), and vie with one another in showing patience (with them), and build bonds of friendship and alliance (with them) and fear Allah (in this matter) that success can be achieved!”
(Qur’ān, Āle Imrān, 3:200)
There are Muslims who would respond that Christians commit Shirk (i.e., blasphemy) when, for example, they worship Nabī ‘Īsa (Jesus (a)), instead of the God who he himself worshipped. Since they are a people who commit Shirk, the implication, according to these Muslims is that they are destined for the Hell-fire, and hence there can be no friendship and alliance between Muslims and a people who are destined for the Hell-fire.
My response is that the Qur’ān and the Prophet (s) must inform us of the identity of the Christians who have faith and who will be closest in love and affection to Muslims in Ākhir al-Zamān, and they must also inform us who are the Christians with whom we are prohibited to have such relations as friendship and alliance. They must inform us who are the Christians who we Muslims can marry and whose food we can eat?
It is only when there is no answer in the Qur’ān and no answer in the Hadīth, that we can offer an opinion on the subject.
Such Muslim should pause for one blessed moment to consider the following exchange between Nabī ‘Īsa (Jesus (a)), and Allah Most High, which is recorded in the Qur’ān:
“AND LO! Allah said: O Jesus, son of Mary! Did you say unto men, ‘Worship me and my mother as deities beside God’?" [Jesus] answered: “You are limitless in Your glory! It would not have been possible for me to say what I had no right to [say]! Had I said this, You would indeed have known it! You know all that is within myself, whereas I know not what is in Your Self. Verily, it is You alone who fully knows all the things that are beyond the reach of a created being’s perception.
“Nothing did I tell them beyond what You did bid me [to say]: ‘Worship Allah, [who is] my Lord-God as well as yours.’ And I bore witness to what they did as long as I dwelt in their midst; but when You took (my soul), You alone has been their keeper: for You art witness unto everything.
If you punish them – verily, they are your servants; and if you forgive them – verily, you alone are Almighty, truly Wise.
[AND on Judgment Day] Allah will say (concerning such people): “Today, their truthfulness shall benefit all who have been true to their word: theirs shall be gardens through which running waters flow, therein to abide beyond the count of time; well-pleased is Allah with them, and well pleased are they with Him: this is the triumph supreme.”
(Qur’ān, al-Māidah, 5:116-119)
Such Muslims should carefully study the response that Nabī ‘Isa (Jesus) (a) made when Allah asked him the question concerning the Shirk being committed by Christians. Did he not know that they commit Shirk, and did he not know that Allah does not forgive Shirk?
They should also carefully study the following question: Since Christians commit Shirk (blasphemy) when they worship Nabī ‘Isa (Jesus) (a), and are hence Mushrikūn, and since Allah Most High has prohibited marriage between a Muslim and someone who is Mushrik, then why has He permitted Muslim men to marry Christian women? Is the Qur’ān inconsistent?
The critics should understand that there are various kinds of Shirk, and not all of them qualify for no forgiveness. The implication of the reply of Nabī ‘Isa (Jesus) (a) : “and if You forgive them, then verily you are the Oft Forgiving Most Merciful” is that Allah Most High can forgive the Shirk of a Christian if He chooses to do so.
In the following verse of the Qur’ān, Allah Most High has summed up the subject concerning the implications of Christian Shirk. Despite their worship of Jesus as a third person in a trinity and their belief in him as the son of God, etc., Allah Most High ordered Muslims not to argue with them except in the kindest way possible, and then further ordered that Muslims should say to them: Our God and your God is One:
And do not argue with the followers of earlier revelation otherwise than in a most kindly manner – unless it be such of them whose conduct is evil, and say: “We believe in that which has been bestowed from on high upon us, as well as that which has been bestowed upon you: (hence) our God and your God is one and the same, and it is unto Him that We [all] surrender ourselves.”
(Qur’ān, al-Ankabūt, 29:46)
This writer is confident that most of the believing Christians who can qualify for such forgiveness, and whose conduct would not be evil, would be those who will one day be closest in love and affection for Muslims. He is also confident that most of them will be found among the Orthodox Christians against whom Dajjāl’s Ottoman Empire waged relentless and bogus Jihād for some 600 blood-stained years. When Orthodox Christians demonstrate such a response to the Qur’ān in which they accept its divine origin with tears in their eyes, it would no longer be possible for Turkish Muslims and Muslims in the Balkans to persist in their hatred for them.
The Qur’ān has disclosed that while it provokes some to respond to it with a sense of awe, and to marvel at it, it provokes others differently. They scoff at it and ridicule it:
“Nay, but whereas you marvel (at this Qur’ān), they scoff (at it);
“And when they are reminded [of the truth], they refuse to take it to heart;
“And when they become aware of a [divine] message, they turn it to ridicule;
And say: “This is clearly nothing but [a mortal’s] spellbinding eloquence!”
(Qur’ān, al-Saffāt, 37:12-15)
The Judeo-Christian Zionist enemies who have NATO as their own formidable military force, and who seek to establish their rule or political dominion from Jerusalem over all of mankind, pursue that goal with a pig-headed obsession supported by relentless oppression and a mountain of increasingly blatant lies and false-flag acts of terrorism (such as the 9/11 attack on America). They wage relentless undisguised war on Islam and Muslims, as well as on Orthodox Christians and non Zionist Jews. They are experts in false-flag terrorism, in character assassination, and in demonizing innocent Muslims as terrorists while they are themselves busy in surreptitiously supporting and sustaining a bogus and barbaric Islamic State/ISIS to do their dirty work for them.
This book sends a message to the Oppressor State of Israel and to its Zionist Christian, Zionist Jew and Hindu acolytes and especially to its neo-Ottoman Turkish supporters. We recognize that innocent people (mostly Muslims, Orthodox Christians and non-Zionist Jews) will continue to suffer and weep in consequence of their lies, injustice and oppression. But we take comfort in the fact that this world is a moral order in which a time will surely come when their false-flag Zionist chickens will come home to roost for them. If, as is possible, someone who is independent-minded becomes the next President of USA, and they then attempt to control him the way they have successfully controlled every US President except John F Kennedy, it is quite likely that their fragile 9/11 false-flag balloon will blow up in their stricken faces!
At that time, Zionist lies will come back to haunt them. Lies will be placed at their door, and no matter how much they proclaim their innocence, no one will believe them.
At that time, when light from Nabī ‘Isa (Jesus) (a), the true Messiah, drives away the darkness of Dajjāl the false Messiah, those of the faithful who now weep – Muslims, Orthodox Christians, non-Zionist Jews and others – in Libya and elsewhere, will laugh in happiness, and whoever laughs last, will laugh best!
Nabī Muhammad (s) has warned, as only a true Prophet could warn, that at that time when their false-flag chickens will come home to roost, even the trees and stones will speak and demand that they be punished! At that time, the worst place in the world for a Jew to be would be the Holy Land while supporting the Oppressor State of Israel, and the safest place for him (if wishes to be saved from dying the way Pharaoh died) is far away from that Imposter State of Israel.
to be continued .....
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