Zarr Bin Hobeish relates this story: Two travelers sat together on the way to their destination to have a meal. One had five loaves of bread. The other had three. A third traveler was passing by and at the request of the two joined in the meal. The travelers cut each of the loaf of bread in three equal parts. Each of the travelers ate eight broken pieces of the loaf.
At the time of leaving the third traveler took out eight dirhams and gave to the first two men who had offered him the meal, and went away. On receiving the money the two travelers startedquarrelling as to who should have how much of the money. The five-loaf-man demanded five dirhams. The three-loaf-man insisted on dividing the money in two equal parts (4 dirhams each).
The dispute was brought to Imam Ali (krw.) (the Caliph of the time in Arabia) to be decided.
Imam Ali (krw.) requested the three-loaf-man to accept three dirhams, because five-loaf-man has been more than fair to you. The three-loaf-man refused and said that he would take only four dirhams.
At this Imam Ali (krw.) replied, "You can have only one dirham. You had eight loaves between yourselves. Each loaf was broken in three parts. Therefore, you had 24 equal parts. 8x3=24
Your 3 loaves made 9 parts out of which you have eaten 8 portions, leaving just 1 piece to the third traveler. (3x3)-8=1
Your friend had 5 loaves which divided into 3 made 15 pieces. He ate 8 pieces and gave 7 pieces to the guest.(5x3)-8=7
As such the guest shared 1 part from your loaves and 7 from those of your friend. So you should get one dirham and your friend should receive seven dirhams."
Thursday, August 27, 2009
HIKMAH MENINGGALKAN CAKAP BOHONG
Dalam sebuah hadis yang diriwayatkan oleh Luqman Hakim, menceritakan pada suatu hari ada seorang telah datang berjumpa dengan Rasulullah Shallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam kerana hendak memeluk agama Islam. Sesudah mengucapkan dua kalimah syahadat, lelaki itu lalu berkata :
“Ya Rasulullah. Sebenarnya hamba ini selalu saja berbuat dosa dan payah hendak meninggalkannya.”
Maka Rasulullah menjawab : “Mahukah engkau berjanji bahwa engkau sanggup meninggalkan bercakap bohong?”
“Ya, saya berjanji” jawab lelaki itu singkat. Selepas itu, dia pun pulanglah ke rumahnya.
Menurut riwayat, sebelum lelaki itu memeluk agama Islam, dia sangat terkenal sebagai seorang yang jahat. Kegemarannya hanyalah mencuri, berjudi dan meminum minuman keras. Maka setelah dia memeluk agama Islam, dia sedaya upaya untuk meninggalkan segala keburukan itu. Sebab itulah dia meminta nasihat dari Rasulullah Shallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.
Dalam perjalanan pulang dari menemui Rasulullah Shallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, lelaki itu berkata di dalam hatinya :
“Berat juga aku hendak meninggalkan apa yang dikehendaki oleh Rasulullah itu.”
Maka setiap kali hatinya terdorong untk berbuat jahat, hati kecilnya terus mengejek.
“Berani engkau berbuat jahat. Apakah jawapan kamu nanti apabila ditanya oleh Rasulullah.
Sanggupkah engkau berbohong kepadanya” bisik hati kecil. Setiap kali dia berniat hendak berbuat jahat, maka dia teringat segala pesan Rasulullah Shallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam dan setiap kali pulalah hatinya berkata :
“Kalau aku berbohong kepada Rasulullah bererti aku telah mengkhianati janjiku padanya. Sebaliknya jika aku bercakap benar bererti aku akan menerima hukuman sebagai orang Islam. Oh Tuhan….sesungguhnya di dalam pesanan Rasulullah itu terkandung sebuah hikmah yang sangat berharga.”
Setelah dia berjuang dengan hawa nafsunya itu, akhirnya lelaki itu berjaya di dalam perjuangannya menentang kehendak nalurinya. Menurut hadis itu lagi, sejak dari hari itu bermula babak baru dalam hidupnya. Dia telah berhijrah dari kejahatan kepada kemuliaan hidup seperti yang digariskan oleh Rasulullah Shallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam. Hingga ke akhirnya dia telah berubah menjadi mukmin yang soleh dan mulia.
“Ya Rasulullah. Sebenarnya hamba ini selalu saja berbuat dosa dan payah hendak meninggalkannya.”
Maka Rasulullah menjawab : “Mahukah engkau berjanji bahwa engkau sanggup meninggalkan bercakap bohong?”
“Ya, saya berjanji” jawab lelaki itu singkat. Selepas itu, dia pun pulanglah ke rumahnya.
Menurut riwayat, sebelum lelaki itu memeluk agama Islam, dia sangat terkenal sebagai seorang yang jahat. Kegemarannya hanyalah mencuri, berjudi dan meminum minuman keras. Maka setelah dia memeluk agama Islam, dia sedaya upaya untuk meninggalkan segala keburukan itu. Sebab itulah dia meminta nasihat dari Rasulullah Shallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.
Dalam perjalanan pulang dari menemui Rasulullah Shallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, lelaki itu berkata di dalam hatinya :
“Berat juga aku hendak meninggalkan apa yang dikehendaki oleh Rasulullah itu.”
Maka setiap kali hatinya terdorong untk berbuat jahat, hati kecilnya terus mengejek.
“Berani engkau berbuat jahat. Apakah jawapan kamu nanti apabila ditanya oleh Rasulullah.
Sanggupkah engkau berbohong kepadanya” bisik hati kecil. Setiap kali dia berniat hendak berbuat jahat, maka dia teringat segala pesan Rasulullah Shallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam dan setiap kali pulalah hatinya berkata :
“Kalau aku berbohong kepada Rasulullah bererti aku telah mengkhianati janjiku padanya. Sebaliknya jika aku bercakap benar bererti aku akan menerima hukuman sebagai orang Islam. Oh Tuhan….sesungguhnya di dalam pesanan Rasulullah itu terkandung sebuah hikmah yang sangat berharga.”
Setelah dia berjuang dengan hawa nafsunya itu, akhirnya lelaki itu berjaya di dalam perjuangannya menentang kehendak nalurinya. Menurut hadis itu lagi, sejak dari hari itu bermula babak baru dalam hidupnya. Dia telah berhijrah dari kejahatan kepada kemuliaan hidup seperti yang digariskan oleh Rasulullah Shallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam. Hingga ke akhirnya dia telah berubah menjadi mukmin yang soleh dan mulia.
From Mexico to Islam
Tuesday, 24 February 2009 22:09 Nadia
بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
“Say O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [Az-Zumar, 39:53]
I was born in Zitácuaro, a small town 130 kilometres from Mexico City. Mexico has a long history which is dominated by the period when it was a Spanish colony. The country’s heritage is from the Aztec, Maya and other Pre-Hispanic civilizations and today continues to prevail over the nation’s customs. This legacy remains not only in the folklore, the food, the character and the looks of modern Mexicans but also in the way they have combined the pagan native religions with the Catholicism taught by the Spaniards. This is why like most Mexicans I also grew up as a Catholic in a very superstitious environment where it was difficult to escape from the Church. Catholicism dominated the nation to such an extent that after Brazil Mexico has the world’s largest population of Catholics in the world.
My parents baptized me with the name of Nadia and took me to a catholic school where I studied until the age of 12. I remember being very devout in my faith and also frustrated with my parents and friends with their lack of adherence to the religion. The teachings of Jesus عليه السلام were not reflected in the actions of those who were around me, and for me it was not clear what Jesus عليه السلام being the son of god meant, nor why we were supposed to accept this.
What really troubled me from a young age were the contradictions I saw in Mexican society. My father always reminded me that Jesus was a man like any other and could never have been god. Nuns at the same time told us not to worship saints but they would carry and kiss images of them. Being in the middle of all these contradictions and hypocrisy made me weak and confused, but yet I tried to practise Catholicism until my father stopped me from going to the Church, as he felt I was turning into a fanatic. He always saw religious people as brainwashed. All of this made me very unclear about the purpose of life and whether their even was a creator.
I had never come across Islam and all I knew was that Arabs had a god called Allah since I came across this in fairy tales such as Ali Baba and the forty thieves. All the books I came across at a young age never mentioned that Muslims from Spain and West Africa arrived in the Americas at least five centuries before Columbus. Nor that in the mid-tenth century during the rule of the Khaleefah Abdul-Rahman III (929-961), Muslims of African origin sailed westward from the Spanish port of Delba (Palos) into the “Ocean of darkness and fog.” They returned after a long absence with much booty from a “strange and curious land.” Official history books do not mention that people of Muslim origin are known to have accompanied Columbus and subsequent Spanish explorers to the New World.
Even now, Islam and Muslims are so alien to Mexicans that there are no reliable population figures (census) on the Muslim community. Some sources claim 300 whilst others 1500 in a population of more than 100 million. We know that between the years 1850 and 1860 a new massive immigration of Arab Muslims who came from Syria and Lebanon, settled in Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia, but in Mexico there is hardly evidence to say that some Turkish immigrants could have brought Islam with them. It is very likely that the small Muslim community in Mexico is not older than three generations. In all Latin America, some estimates suggest there is less than a million out of a population of over 500 million. For all these reasons it is very difficult to actually come across Muslims not just in Mexico but Latin America.
I first came across Islam at college when I was studying literature, it was here I learnt of the Qur’an, but its history and contents were still unknown to me. When I moved to university which was in a much bigger city I studied communication science, this degree built in me the intellectual skills and an attitude that would later help me to grasp the wisdom of Islam. My degree built a strong idea of enquiry and critical thinking. Through this I came to enjoy science and became very interested in geopolitics. I remember being amazed after every lesson on linguistics, sociology and media studies on how the world worked. All of this made me think even more about the role of moral values in life.
Academically I was achieving good results, however, I was still not content as many questions were still unanswered. I was still not content with the answers Christianity provided me with regards God and Jesus.
It was when studying Business that I developed an almost obsession with productivity and efficiency. In a marketing lecture I reflected on the concept of God and trinity, is it like a promotional bundle, 3 in 1. Through my studies I came across a website on Islamic finance. After reading through the different Islamic products and how they were built upon Islamic evidences, I was taken aback by the idea that Islamic economics is Interest free. For me this was the first time I had come across a religion that actually discussed something very practical, I began thinking of Islam as a “living” religion. It was however after buying my first copy of the Qur’an that I became interested in Islam.
My first “Quran” was a Spanish translation edited by a non-Muslim publishing house. I wasn’t looking for it but it found me in a small town book fair. Pure destiny I believe. This happened sometime after I finished my degree and I had started to work. I think I was attracted to the book because I saw it as something exotic and out of this world, something that enclosed mystery and some ideas from far distant places and time. Still, my first reaction wasn’t a pleasant one, especially when I was reading Surah al-Baqara because it made me think of death and accountability.
لِّلَّهِ ما فِي السَّمَاواتِ وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ وَإِن تُبْدُواْ مَا فِي أَنفُسِكُمْ أَوْ تُخْفُوهُ يُحَاسِبْكُم بِهِ اللّهُ فَيَغْفِرُ لِمَن يَشَاء وَيُعَذِّبُ مَن يَشَاء وَاللّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
“To Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth, and whether you disclose what is in your own selves or conceal it, Allah will call you to account for it. Then He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills. And Allah is Able to do all things.” [Al-Baqara, 2:284]
This ayah made me feel uncomfortable about myself, it was like if God himself was admonishing me and making me remember my obligations to him.
The oneness of God was in line with what my heart always believed, but what I had read in the Qur’an was a little bit harsh for me at the time, especially the ayah’s that said Allah سبحانه وتعالى doesn’t guide the disbelievers.
Islam began to make practical sense when I came across other Muslims online through an instant messaging service called ICQ, which I used in order to contact my university tutors when I was studying an MBA. The Egyptian sister contacted me due to my name Nadia, thinking I was an Arab. The sister was actually doing online dawah, subhanAllah. Many Muslims contacted me thinking I was an Arab so in a short span of time I had a number of online Muslim friends.
We discussed a variety of issues online, I remember thinking I should be a much better person than I was when we discussed about the rights of women in Islam, I realised I had actually lost a lot of self respect and I thought about the time I had wasted in finding the truth. I wanted to change, but I was already engaged to an atheist and my liberal life style was holding me back. I was according to Mexican society a liberated woman because I was independent and successful; however deep down I was unhappy, I couldn’t even talk about my ideas to my fiancé or family.
As time passed I became even more interested in Islam and began to discuss with even more Muslims online. After some discussion with a brother online it was not too difficult to return the diamond ring to my atheist fiancé. I then travelled to Egypt in 2004 to meet this brother and hopefully marry him and take my Shahadah. However things did not turn out the way I had planned, the brother was not what I expected and meeting face to face was a disappointment.
I learnt a lot about Islam by travelling to Egypt, being amongst Muslims I got to see for the first time Islam in practical life. This motivated me to change me lifestyle and habits. I thought I would rely on destiny and see how things went with regards to taking the shahadah.
I was in the process of changing my lifestyle when Allah سبحانه وتعالى severely tested me by putting me in a life and death situation. I remember being helpless on the side of the road at night in my car, crying in despair asking for Allah سبحانه وتعالى mercy and forgiveness. I repented and promised Allah سبحانه وتعالى to become a Muslim and to make the best out of my life for the sake of Him alone.
Still, after that, I found things very difficult as I thought there is no halaal food here in Mexico, there are no Muslim men to marry and who was going marry me in Mexico - will I stay single forever? I was working for an IT global consulting firm and hated my job, I was not happy and felt like I was not worthy of being a Muslim. So, out of depression I became duped by horoscopes, not knowing it was shirk but when the predictions went all ill-fated and started to actually happen then I knew it was a sign from Allah, so after that I thought to myself from this point onwards I would never neglect a promise to my Lord under any circumstances. I left my job and started to search for other Muslims in Mexico and found a group of Turkish Muslims who were giving talks in Mexico City. Finally with their support and Allah سبحانه وتعالى grace I took shahada in January 2005.
Since taking shahadah my life completely changed. For a few years the only halaal food I found was available to me was sea food and I was the only Muslim in my town. Allah سبحانه وتعالى then answered my duah’s and through the internet I found a brother from the UK who I was to marry. Today I am surrounded by lots of Muslims in the UK whom I have learnt so much from.
I am often surprised with my memories because they don’t feel like memories of mine anymore. Recalling the past makes me rejoice in gratitude and it brings tears to my eyes as well because I realise the mercy of Allah for giving my hidayah. I have had the opportunity to repent, rectify and move on in my deen. I finally found peace and true liberation in letting go of a Jahil lifestyle and giving up my own desires and seeking none’s but Allah’s pleasure. All questions in my life have now been answered. I know that my purpose in life is to worship Him alone, and to honour with all my actions and thoughts the privileged status he gave us within his creations.
I no longer need anything in this dunya to reassure me as a valuable worthy person because He سبحانه وتعالى has shown me love beyond human dimension. Alhamdulillah he made me a believer to see all this. I don’t listen to music anymore, nor do I waste my time in frivolous activities but rather in learning more about my deen and spreading the message of Islam. Some people say I am too strict and extreme but I always let them know that there are just different degrees of devotion and to those who are seeking, I always advice them to pray with sincerity and certainty that Allah is listening. I encourage them to ask from Allah guidance and strength to follow the right path. Things are not easy but we should not let our sins or the people we love hold us back from the love of Allah, nor the fear or comfort to divert us from the fulfilment of His commands. One should love Allah so much that this love would stand firm even if all the Muslims in the world ceased to believe. I pray reverts don’t let no one to stand in their path to Allah.
Verily He helps those who strive for His cause. Allahu Akbar.
Nadia
Original Link:
http://www.khilafah.com/index.php/comment/5447-from-mexico-to-islam
بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
“Say O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [Az-Zumar, 39:53]
I was born in Zitácuaro, a small town 130 kilometres from Mexico City. Mexico has a long history which is dominated by the period when it was a Spanish colony. The country’s heritage is from the Aztec, Maya and other Pre-Hispanic civilizations and today continues to prevail over the nation’s customs. This legacy remains not only in the folklore, the food, the character and the looks of modern Mexicans but also in the way they have combined the pagan native religions with the Catholicism taught by the Spaniards. This is why like most Mexicans I also grew up as a Catholic in a very superstitious environment where it was difficult to escape from the Church. Catholicism dominated the nation to such an extent that after Brazil Mexico has the world’s largest population of Catholics in the world.
My parents baptized me with the name of Nadia and took me to a catholic school where I studied until the age of 12. I remember being very devout in my faith and also frustrated with my parents and friends with their lack of adherence to the religion. The teachings of Jesus عليه السلام were not reflected in the actions of those who were around me, and for me it was not clear what Jesus عليه السلام being the son of god meant, nor why we were supposed to accept this.
What really troubled me from a young age were the contradictions I saw in Mexican society. My father always reminded me that Jesus was a man like any other and could never have been god. Nuns at the same time told us not to worship saints but they would carry and kiss images of them. Being in the middle of all these contradictions and hypocrisy made me weak and confused, but yet I tried to practise Catholicism until my father stopped me from going to the Church, as he felt I was turning into a fanatic. He always saw religious people as brainwashed. All of this made me very unclear about the purpose of life and whether their even was a creator.
I had never come across Islam and all I knew was that Arabs had a god called Allah since I came across this in fairy tales such as Ali Baba and the forty thieves. All the books I came across at a young age never mentioned that Muslims from Spain and West Africa arrived in the Americas at least five centuries before Columbus. Nor that in the mid-tenth century during the rule of the Khaleefah Abdul-Rahman III (929-961), Muslims of African origin sailed westward from the Spanish port of Delba (Palos) into the “Ocean of darkness and fog.” They returned after a long absence with much booty from a “strange and curious land.” Official history books do not mention that people of Muslim origin are known to have accompanied Columbus and subsequent Spanish explorers to the New World.
Even now, Islam and Muslims are so alien to Mexicans that there are no reliable population figures (census) on the Muslim community. Some sources claim 300 whilst others 1500 in a population of more than 100 million. We know that between the years 1850 and 1860 a new massive immigration of Arab Muslims who came from Syria and Lebanon, settled in Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia, but in Mexico there is hardly evidence to say that some Turkish immigrants could have brought Islam with them. It is very likely that the small Muslim community in Mexico is not older than three generations. In all Latin America, some estimates suggest there is less than a million out of a population of over 500 million. For all these reasons it is very difficult to actually come across Muslims not just in Mexico but Latin America.
I first came across Islam at college when I was studying literature, it was here I learnt of the Qur’an, but its history and contents were still unknown to me. When I moved to university which was in a much bigger city I studied communication science, this degree built in me the intellectual skills and an attitude that would later help me to grasp the wisdom of Islam. My degree built a strong idea of enquiry and critical thinking. Through this I came to enjoy science and became very interested in geopolitics. I remember being amazed after every lesson on linguistics, sociology and media studies on how the world worked. All of this made me think even more about the role of moral values in life.
Academically I was achieving good results, however, I was still not content as many questions were still unanswered. I was still not content with the answers Christianity provided me with regards God and Jesus.
It was when studying Business that I developed an almost obsession with productivity and efficiency. In a marketing lecture I reflected on the concept of God and trinity, is it like a promotional bundle, 3 in 1. Through my studies I came across a website on Islamic finance. After reading through the different Islamic products and how they were built upon Islamic evidences, I was taken aback by the idea that Islamic economics is Interest free. For me this was the first time I had come across a religion that actually discussed something very practical, I began thinking of Islam as a “living” religion. It was however after buying my first copy of the Qur’an that I became interested in Islam.
My first “Quran” was a Spanish translation edited by a non-Muslim publishing house. I wasn’t looking for it but it found me in a small town book fair. Pure destiny I believe. This happened sometime after I finished my degree and I had started to work. I think I was attracted to the book because I saw it as something exotic and out of this world, something that enclosed mystery and some ideas from far distant places and time. Still, my first reaction wasn’t a pleasant one, especially when I was reading Surah al-Baqara because it made me think of death and accountability.
لِّلَّهِ ما فِي السَّمَاواتِ وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ وَإِن تُبْدُواْ مَا فِي أَنفُسِكُمْ أَوْ تُخْفُوهُ يُحَاسِبْكُم بِهِ اللّهُ فَيَغْفِرُ لِمَن يَشَاء وَيُعَذِّبُ مَن يَشَاء وَاللّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
“To Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth, and whether you disclose what is in your own selves or conceal it, Allah will call you to account for it. Then He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills. And Allah is Able to do all things.” [Al-Baqara, 2:284]
This ayah made me feel uncomfortable about myself, it was like if God himself was admonishing me and making me remember my obligations to him.
The oneness of God was in line with what my heart always believed, but what I had read in the Qur’an was a little bit harsh for me at the time, especially the ayah’s that said Allah سبحانه وتعالى doesn’t guide the disbelievers.
Islam began to make practical sense when I came across other Muslims online through an instant messaging service called ICQ, which I used in order to contact my university tutors when I was studying an MBA. The Egyptian sister contacted me due to my name Nadia, thinking I was an Arab. The sister was actually doing online dawah, subhanAllah. Many Muslims contacted me thinking I was an Arab so in a short span of time I had a number of online Muslim friends.
We discussed a variety of issues online, I remember thinking I should be a much better person than I was when we discussed about the rights of women in Islam, I realised I had actually lost a lot of self respect and I thought about the time I had wasted in finding the truth. I wanted to change, but I was already engaged to an atheist and my liberal life style was holding me back. I was according to Mexican society a liberated woman because I was independent and successful; however deep down I was unhappy, I couldn’t even talk about my ideas to my fiancé or family.
As time passed I became even more interested in Islam and began to discuss with even more Muslims online. After some discussion with a brother online it was not too difficult to return the diamond ring to my atheist fiancé. I then travelled to Egypt in 2004 to meet this brother and hopefully marry him and take my Shahadah. However things did not turn out the way I had planned, the brother was not what I expected and meeting face to face was a disappointment.
I learnt a lot about Islam by travelling to Egypt, being amongst Muslims I got to see for the first time Islam in practical life. This motivated me to change me lifestyle and habits. I thought I would rely on destiny and see how things went with regards to taking the shahadah.
I was in the process of changing my lifestyle when Allah سبحانه وتعالى severely tested me by putting me in a life and death situation. I remember being helpless on the side of the road at night in my car, crying in despair asking for Allah سبحانه وتعالى mercy and forgiveness. I repented and promised Allah سبحانه وتعالى to become a Muslim and to make the best out of my life for the sake of Him alone.
Still, after that, I found things very difficult as I thought there is no halaal food here in Mexico, there are no Muslim men to marry and who was going marry me in Mexico - will I stay single forever? I was working for an IT global consulting firm and hated my job, I was not happy and felt like I was not worthy of being a Muslim. So, out of depression I became duped by horoscopes, not knowing it was shirk but when the predictions went all ill-fated and started to actually happen then I knew it was a sign from Allah, so after that I thought to myself from this point onwards I would never neglect a promise to my Lord under any circumstances. I left my job and started to search for other Muslims in Mexico and found a group of Turkish Muslims who were giving talks in Mexico City. Finally with their support and Allah سبحانه وتعالى grace I took shahada in January 2005.
Since taking shahadah my life completely changed. For a few years the only halaal food I found was available to me was sea food and I was the only Muslim in my town. Allah سبحانه وتعالى then answered my duah’s and through the internet I found a brother from the UK who I was to marry. Today I am surrounded by lots of Muslims in the UK whom I have learnt so much from.
I am often surprised with my memories because they don’t feel like memories of mine anymore. Recalling the past makes me rejoice in gratitude and it brings tears to my eyes as well because I realise the mercy of Allah for giving my hidayah. I have had the opportunity to repent, rectify and move on in my deen. I finally found peace and true liberation in letting go of a Jahil lifestyle and giving up my own desires and seeking none’s but Allah’s pleasure. All questions in my life have now been answered. I know that my purpose in life is to worship Him alone, and to honour with all my actions and thoughts the privileged status he gave us within his creations.
I no longer need anything in this dunya to reassure me as a valuable worthy person because He سبحانه وتعالى has shown me love beyond human dimension. Alhamdulillah he made me a believer to see all this. I don’t listen to music anymore, nor do I waste my time in frivolous activities but rather in learning more about my deen and spreading the message of Islam. Some people say I am too strict and extreme but I always let them know that there are just different degrees of devotion and to those who are seeking, I always advice them to pray with sincerity and certainty that Allah is listening. I encourage them to ask from Allah guidance and strength to follow the right path. Things are not easy but we should not let our sins or the people we love hold us back from the love of Allah, nor the fear or comfort to divert us from the fulfilment of His commands. One should love Allah so much that this love would stand firm even if all the Muslims in the world ceased to believe. I pray reverts don’t let no one to stand in their path to Allah.
Verily He helps those who strive for His cause. Allahu Akbar.
Nadia
Original Link:
http://www.khilafah.com/index.php/comment/5447-from-mexico-to-islam
A Letter From Gaza
Tuesday, 20 January 2009 21:55 Umm Taqi
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
My dear sisters and brothers I wanted to take this opportunity to send you a message from the sisters and brothers in Gaza. Please hear our situation and tell everyone that you know and don’t know.
When the Zionists attacked us on 27th December 2008, they not only attacked Hamas, they not only attacked the Muslims of Gaza, they attacked Muslims everywhere. They attacked Islam in the hope that they will weaken it and ultimately destroy it and ummah of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم.
And they will never stop here. They want the beloved Al Aqsa, they want the West Bank and believe me when I tell you that they want the whole of the Middle East.
But they will never succeed. They will never remove the light of Allah inshAllah.
Our situation is dire but our iman is strong Alhamdulillah, even though we have no water to speak of, and when we do, it is polluted and diseased. We have no money to buy mineral water. When we find the money those that sell it say that it is too dangerous for them to travel out to get new supplies. We have no gas, and have not had for the last four months. We cook the little food we have on real fires that we have learned to prepare.
Our men have lost all of their jobs. They spend their days at home now. My husband can spend a day just going from place to place just for the basic need of water. He usually returns empty handed. There are no schools, no banks from which we can withdraw our money. Few hospitals are open for our wounded. You are constantly aware that you risk your life when you go out and when you are indoors. They give us a curfew between 1-4pm. We can go out, they say, in safety to get your supplies, but that is a lie. They have often used that opportunity to add more shuhadaa to their list.
We eat one day rice and one day bread. Meat and milk are a luxury. They are using chemical warfare in the areas which are on the borders. They are killing us by bullets and tanks and B52s, but they are also killing us slowly by starving our children, inflicting indescribable diseases with their chemical warfare and laughing as our suffering becomes prolonged and unbearable.
All this and we are being told that people demonstrate all over the world. MashAllah the fact that you go to embassies and leave your homes makes us feel truly that we are not alone in our struggle.
But you go home at night and lock your door. We cannot do that. I have to leave my home on the second floor every night and stay with my sister on the ground floor. Should there be an attack, it’s quicker to leave from the ground floor.
But the ummah is asking where are the Muslim armies? Where is the victory? And where is our true leader who will save us from this death? Where are the armies of Salahadeen Ayubi? Do not look to the UN, they recognised Israel in 1949 as a state and sealed our fate as it is today. Do not turn to America or Britain, did they not invade our ummah in Iraq and Afghanistan. Call the armies in Egypt, in Syria, in Turkey, in Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. In Bangladesh, in the Gulf, in Indonesia and in Libya where are they? Are they content to watch women scream for their help as they bury their young children? Are the screams of their sisters and brothers falling on deaf ears? We have a right to eat and drink in safety and security. We have a right to laugh and live in hope, do we not?
Yes we are tired. When we hear rockets and bombs and see planes that fly too close to our building, I scream with my young son and my husband feels helpless. The brothers will know what it must be like to feel helpless to protect the honour and lives of your family. It kills something of him inside. We often wonder when will they sell our land cheaply, will it take one thousand or two thousand deaths. We wait to see. The Israelis have started to plan where their settlements will be in Gaza. This is what we have become.
In all this there is no one but Allah سبحانه وتعالى that can save us. Don’t forget us because you are all that we have now. Your sadaqaat is not reaching us, and when they open borders it only reaches a few who can do nothing with it because we risk our lives just to buy food. They will kill anyone, anyone even if he is a five year old child carrying food for his family. We want to live from the sweat of our men, not from the sweat of others because we are dying.
Keep up the work of Allah and pray and work for the victory that will come soon and rescue our ummah everywhere inshAllah.
May Allah سبحانه وتعالى make us steadfast in our deen, during struggle and during ease. Ya Allah bring us the victory soon and re-establish Islam as the authority by which we live, Ya Allah send us the sons of Salahudeen, the army of Islam to rescue Mohammed’s صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم ummah from the oppression under which we live. Ya Allah protect our children and remove the zionists from our land. Ya Allah witness today that we account our rulers, we pray that you return our true leader the Khaleefah soon. Ameen.
والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
Your sister umm Taqi
http://www.khilafah.com/index.php/letters/5039-a-letter-from-gaza
Scientists comment on The Quran
“I am very much impressed by finding true astronomical facts in [the] Quran, and for us the modern astronomers have been studying very small pieces of the universe. We’ve concentrated our efforts for understanding of [a] very small part. Because by using telescopes, we can see only very few parts [of] the sky without thinking [about the] whole universe. So, by reading [the] Quran and by answering to the questions, I think I can find my future way for investigation of the universe.” Dr. Gerald C. Goeringer is Course Director and Associate Professor of Medical Embryology at the Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA. During the Eighth Saudi Medical Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Professor Goeringer stated the following in the presentation of his research paper:
“In a relatively few ayahs (Quranic verses) is contained a rather comprehensive description of human development from the time of commingling of the gametes through organogenesis. No such distinct and complete record of human development, such as classification, terminology, and description, existed previously. In most, if not all, instances, this description antedates by many centuries the recording of the various stages of human embryonic and fetal development recorded in the traditional scientific literature.” Dr. William W. Hay is a well-known marine scientist. He is Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA. He was formerly the Dean of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA. After a discussion with Professor Hay about the Quran’s mention of recently discovered facts on seas, he said:
“I find it very interesting that this sort of information is in the ancient scriptures of the Holy Quran, and I have no way of knowing where they would come from, but I think it is extremely interesting that they are there and that this work is going on to discover it, the meaning of some of the passages.”And when he was asked about the source of the Quran, he replied: “Well, I would think it must be the divine being.”
Dr. T. V. N. Persaud is Professor of Anatomy, Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health, and Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. There, he was the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy for 16 years. He is well-known in his field. He is the author or editor of 22 textbooks and has published over 180 scientific papers. In 1991, he received the most distinguished award presented in the field of anatomy in Canada, the J.C.B. Grant Award from the Canadian Association of Anatomists. Professor Persaud has included some Quranic verses and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad in some of his books - and presented these verses and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad at several conferences. When he was asked about the scientific miracles in the Quran which he has researched, he stated the following:
“…Muhammad .. could not read, didn’t know to write. - You have someone illiterate making profound pronouncements - amazingly accurate about scientific nature. [so] many accuracies - I have no difficulty in my mind that this is a divine inspiration or revelation which led him to these statements.” Dr. E. Marshall Johnson is Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. There, for 22 years he was Professor of Anatomy, the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy, and the Director of the Daniel Baugh Institute. He was also the President of the Teratology Society. He has authored more than 200 publications. In 1981, during the Seventh Medical Conference in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Professor Johnson said in the presentation of his research paper:
[Summary] “The Quran describes not only the development of external form, but emphasizes also the internal stages, the stages inside the embryo, of its creation and development, emphasizing major events recognized by contemporary science.” Also he said: “As a scientist, I can only deal with things which I can specifically see. I can understand embryology and developmental biology. I can understand the words that are translated to me from the Quran. As I gave the example before, if I were to transpose myself into that era, knowing what I knew today and describing things, I could not describe the things which were described. I see no evidence for the fact to refute the concept that this individual, Muhammad, had to be developing this information from some place. So I see nothing here in conflict with the concept that divine intervention was involved in what he was able to write.” Professor Alfred Kroner who is one of the world’s most famous geologists. He is a Professor of Geology and the Chairman of the Department of Geology at the Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. Professor Alfred said:
“Thinking about many of these questions and thinking where Muhammad came from, he was after all a Bedouin. I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years with very complicated and advanced technological methods that this is the case.” He also said: “Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics 1400 years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind for instance that the earth and the heavens had the same origin, or many others of the questions that we have discussed here.” Keith L. Moore is a professor emeritus in the division of anatomy (department of surgery), former Chair of anatomy and associate dean for Basic Medical Sciences (Faculty of Medicine) at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has also worked at the King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He is most known for his textbooks on the subjects of anatomy and human embryology.
“It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Quran about human development. It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from God, or Allah, because most of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of God or Allah”. Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson is the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. Formerly, he was Professor of Ob-Gyn and the Chairman of the Department of Ob-Gyn at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He was also the President of the American Fertility Society. He has received many awards, including the Association of Professors of Obstetrics and Gynecology Public Recognition Award in 1992. Professor Simpson studied the following two sayings of the Prophet Muhammad:
[In every one of you, all components of your creation are collected together in your mother’s womb by forty days...] [If forty-two nights have passed over the embryo, God sends an angel to it, who shapes it and creates its hearing, vision, skin, flesh, and bones....]He studied these two sayings of the Prophet Muhammad extensively, noting that the first forty days constitute a clearly distinguishable stage of embryo-genesis. He was particularly impressed by the absolute precision and accuracy of those sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). Then, during one conference, he gave the following opinion:
“It follows, I think, that not only there is no conflict between genetics and religion but, in fact, religion can guide science by adding revelation to some of the traditional scientific approaches, that there exist statements in the Quran shown centuries later to be valid, which support knowledge in the Quran having been derived from God.” Dr. Yoshihide Kozai is Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University, Hongo, Tokyo, Japan, and was the Director of the National Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan. He said:
“I am very much impressed by finding true astronomical facts in [the] Quran, and for us the modern astronomers have been studying very small pieces of the universe. We’ve concentrated our efforts for understanding of [a] very small part. Because by using telescopes, we can see only very few parts [of] the sky without thinking [about the] whole universe. So, by reading [the] Quran and by answering to the questions, I think I can find my future way for investigation of the universe.” Professor Tejatat Tejasen is the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Previously, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the same university. During the Eighth Saudi Medical Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Professor Tejasen stood up and said:
“During the last three years, I became interested in the Quran…. From my study and what I have learned from this conference, I believe that everything that has been recorded in the Quran fourteen hundred years ago must be the truth, that can be proved by the scientific means. Since the Prophet Muhammad could neither read nor write, Muhammad must be a messenger who relayed this truth, which was revealed to him as an enlightenment by the one who is eligible [as the] creator. This creator must be God. Therefore, I think this is the time to say La ilaha illa Allah, there is no god to worship except Allah (God), Muhammadur rasoolu Allah, Muhammad is Messenger (Prophet) of Allah (God). Lastly, I must congratulate for the excellent and highly successful arrangement for this conference…. I have gained not only from the scientific point of view and religious point of view but also the great chance of meeting many well-known scientists and making many new friends among the participants. The most precious thing of all that I have gained by coming to this place is La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadur rasoolu Allah, and to have become a Muslim.” sources..internet
THE QUR’AN AND MODERN SCIENCE
Taken from: “The Origin of Man”,by Dr. Maurice Bucaille.
FROM THE ORIGIN OF MAN
As most people in the West have been brought up on misconceptions concerning Islam and the Qur’an; for a large part of my life, I myself was one such person. Let me cite one or two specific examples to indicate the kind of inaccurate ideas generally current.
MISCONCEPTIONS
As I grew up, I was always taught that ‘Mahomet’ was the author of the Qur’an; I remember seeing French translations bearing this information. I was invariably told that the ‘author’ of the Qur’an simply compiled, in a slightly different form, stories of sacred history taken from the Bible; the ‘author’ was said to have added or removed certain passages, while setting forth the principles and rules of the religion he himself had founded. There are moreover Islamic scholars today in France whose duties include teaching and who express exactly these views, although perhaps in a more subtle form.
This description of the origins of the Qur’anic text, which is so out of touch with reality, might lead one immediately to assume that if there are scientific errors in the Bible, there must also be errors of this kind in the Qur’an! This is the natural conclusion to be drawn in such circumstances, but it is based on a misconception. We are well aware that at the time of Muhammad - the Qur’anic Revelation took place between 610 and 632 A.D - scientific obscurantism prevailed, both in the Orient as well as in the West.
In France, for example, this period corresponded roughly to the reign of King Dagobert, the last of the Mrovingians. This approach to what was supposedly the Qur’anic text may on first sight seem logical, but when one examines the text with an informed and impartial eye, it becomes clear that this approach is not at all in keeping with reality. We shall see in a moment the truth of this statement, which is obvious from the texts.
Whenever there is textual proof of the existence in the Qur’an of statements that are in agreement with modern knowledge, but which in the Bible are related in a manner that is scientifically unacceptable, the stock response is that, during the period separating the two Scriptures, Arab scientists made discoveries in various disciplines which enabled them to arrive at these supposed adaptations. This approach takes no account whatsoever of the history of the sciences. The latter indicates that the great period of Islamic civilizations, during which, as we know, science made considerable progress, came several centuries after the communication of the Qur’an to the communication of the Qur’an to man.
Furthermore, scientific history informs us that, as far as the subjects dealt with in this present book are concerned, no discoveries were made during, the period separating the Bible from the Qur’an.
When this aspect of the Qur’an is mentioned in the West, however, we are likely to hear it said that while this may indeed be so, nowhere is this fact referred to in the translations of the Qur’an which we possess today, or in the prefaces and commentaries that accompany them.
This is a very judicious remark. Muslim - and indeed non-Muslim -translators who have produced a French version of the Qur’an are basically men of letters. More often than not, they mistranslate a passage because they do not possess the scientific knowledge required to understand its true meaning. The fact is, however, that in order to translate correctly, one must first understand what one is reading. A further point is that translators - especially those mentioned above - - may have been influenced by notes provided by ancient commentators often came to be regarded as highly authoritative, even though they had no scientific knowledge - nor indeed had anybody else at that time. They were incapable of imagining that the texts might contain allusions to secular knowledge, and thus they could not devote attention to a specific passage by comparing it to other verses in the Qur’an dealing with the same subject - a process that often provides the key to the meaning of a word or expression. From this results the fact that any passage in the Qur’an that gives rise to a comparison with modern secular knowledge is likely to be unreliably translated.
Very often, the translations are peppered with inaccurate - if not totally nonsensical - statements. The only way to avoid such errors is to possess a scientific background and to study the Qur’anic text in the original language.
SCIENTIFIC ERRORS
On the subject of man, as well as the other topics mentioned earlier, it is not possible to find any corresponding data in the Bible. Furthermore the scientific errors contained in the Bible - such as those describing man’s first appearance on earth, which, as we have seen, may be deduced from the Genealogies that figure in Genesis are not to be found in the Qur’an. It is crucial to understand that such errors could not have been ‘edited out’ of the Qur’an since the time they first became apparent: well over a thousand years have elapsed since the most ancient manuscripts and today’s texts of the Qur’an, but these texts are still absolutely identical. Thus, if Muhammad were the author of the Qur’an (a theory upheld by some people), it is difficult to see how he could have spotted the scientific errors in the Bible dealing with such a wide variety of subjects and have proceeded to eliminate every single one of them when he came to compose his own text on the same themes. Let us state once again, that no new scientific facts had been discovered since the time the Bible was written that might have helped eliminate such errors.
In view of the above, it is imperative to know the history of the texts, just as it is essential to our understanding of certain aspects of the Bible for us to be aware, of the conditions in which it was written.
As we have noted earlier, experts in Biblical exegesis consider the books of Old and New Testaments to be divinely inspired works. Let us now examine, however, the teachings of Muslim exegetes, who present the Qur’an in quite a different fashion.
When Muhammad was roughly forty years old, it was his custom to retire to a retreat just outside Mecca in order to meditate. It was here that he received a first message from God via the Angel Gabriel, at a date that corresponds to 610 A.D. After a long period of silence, this first message was followed by successive revelations spread over some twenty years. During the Prophet’s lifetime, they were both written down and recited by heart among his first followers. Similarly, the revelations were divided into suras (chapters) and collected together after the Prophet’ death (in 632 A.D.) in a book: the Qur’an. The Book contains the Word of God, to the exclusion of any human additions. Manuscripts dating from the first century of Islam authenticate today’s text, the other form of authentication being the recitation by heart of the Qur’an, a practice that has continued unbroken from the time of the Prophet down to the present day.
UNCORRUPTED NATURE OF THE QUR’AN
In contrast to the Bible, therefore, we are presented with a text that is none other than the transcript of the Revelation itself; the only way it can be received and interpreted is literally. The purity of the revealed text has been greatly emphasized, and the uncorrupted nature of the Qur’an stems from the following factors:
First, as stated above, fragments of the text were written down during the Prophet’s lifetime; inscribed on tablets, parchments and other materials current at the time. The Qur’an itself refers to the fact that the text was set down in writing. We find this in several suras dating from before and after the Hejira (Muhammad’s departure from Mecca to Medina in 622 A.D.) In addition to the transcription of the text, however, there was also the fact that it was learned by heart. The text of the Qur’an is much shorter than the Old Testament and slightly longer than the New Testament. Since it took twenty years for the Qur’an to be revealed, however, it was easy for the Prophet’s followers to recite it by heart, sura by sura. This process of recitation afforded a considerable advantage as far as an uncorrupted text was concerned, for it provided a system of double-checking at the time the definitive text was written down. This took place several years after the Prophet’s death; first under the caliphate of Abu Bakr, his first successor, and later under the caliphate of Omar and in particular that of Uthman (644 to 655 A.D.) The latter ordered an extremely strict recension of the text, which involved checking it against the recited versions.
TEXT OF QUR’AN UNCORRUPTED
After Muhammad’s death, Islam rapidly expanded far beyond the limits of the area in which it was born. Soon, it included many peoples whose native language was not Arabic. Very strict steps were taken to ensure that the text of the Qur’an did not suffer from this expansion of Islam: Uthman sent copies of his entire recension to the principal centers of the vast Islamic empire. Some copies still exist today, in more or less complete form, in such places as Tashkent (U.S.S.R) and Istanbul. Copies have also been discovered that date from the very first centuries after the Hijra; they are all identical, and all of them correspond to the earliest manuscripts.
Today’s editions of the Qur’an are all faithful reproductions of the original copies. In the case of the Qur’an, there are no instances of rewriting or corruption of the text over the course of time.
If the origin of the Qur’an had been similar to those of the Bible, it would not be unreasonable to suppose that the subjects it raised would be presented in the light of the ideas influenced by certain opinions of the time, often derived from myth and superstition. If this were the case, one might argue that there were untold opportunities for inaccurate assertions, based on such sources, to find their way into the many and varied subjects briefly summarized above. In actual fact, however, we find nothing of the kind in the Qur’an.
But having said this, we should note that the Qur’an is a religious book par excellence. We should not use statements that have a bearing on secular knowledge as a pretext to go hunting after any expression of scientific laws. As stated earlier, all we should seek are reflections on natural phenomena, phrases occasioned by references to divine omnipotence and designed to emphasize that omnipotence in the eyes of mankind throughout the ages. The presence of such reflections in the Qur’an has become particularly significant in modern times, for their meaning is clearly explained by the data of contemporary knowledge. This characteristic is specific to the Qur’an.
UNEXPECTED DISCOVERIES
It was not until I had learnt Arabic and read the Qur’an in the original that I realized the precise meaning of certain verses. Only then did I make certain discoveries that were astounding. With my basic ideas on the Qur’an - which to begin with were inaccurate, just as those of most people in the West - I certainly did not expect to find in the text the statements that I in fact uncovered. With each new discovery, I was beset with doubt lest I might be mistaken in my translation or perhaps have provided an interpretation rather than a true rendering of the Arabic text.
Only after consultations with several specialists in linguistics and exegesis, both Muslim and non-Muslim, was I convinced that a new concept might be formed from such a study: the compatibility between the statements in the Qur’an and firmly established data of modern science with regard to subjects on which nobody at the time of Muhammad - not even the Prophet himself - could have had access to the knowledge we possess today. Since then, I have not found in the Qur’an any support given to the myths or superstitions present at the time the text was communicated to man. This is not the case for the Bible, whose authors expressed themselves in the language of their period.
In ‘La Bible le Coran et la Science’ (The Bible, the Qur’an and Science), which first appeared in the original French in 1976 and which subsequently appeared in English in 1978, I set forth the main points of these findings. On November 9, 1976, I gave a lecture to the Academia de Medecine (French academy of Medicine) in which I explored the statements of the origins of man contained in the Qur’an; the title of the lecture was ‘Donnees physiologiques et embryologiques de Coran’(Physiological and Embryological Data in the Qur’an). I emphasised the fact that these data - which I shall summarize below - formed part of a much wider study. The following are some of the points which arise from a reading of the Qur’an:
* a concept of the creation of the world which, while different from the ideas contained in the Bible, is fully in keeping with today’s general theories on the formations of the universe;
* statements that are in perfect agreement with today’s ideas concerning the movements and evolution of the heavenly bodies;
* a prediction of the conquest of space;
* notions concerning the water cycle in nature and the earth’s relief, which were not proven correct until many centuries later.
All of these data are bound to amaze anyone who approaches them in an objective spirit. They add a much wider dimension to the problem studied in the present work. The basic point remains the same , however: we must surely be in the presence of facts which place a heavy strain on our natural propensity for explaining everything in materialistic terms, for the existence in the Qur’an of these scientific statements appears as a challenge to human explanations.
That does not mean to say, however, that the statements in the Qur’an - especially those concerning man - may all of them be examined in the light of the findings of modern science. The creation of man as described in both the Bible and the Qu’ran totally eludes scientific investigation of the event per se.
Similarly, when the New Testament or the Qur’an informs us that Jesus was not born of a father, in the biological sense of the term, we cannot counter this Scriptural statement by saying that there is no example in the human species of an individual having been formed without receiving the paternal chromosomes that make up one half of its genetic inheritance. Science does not explain miracles, for by definition miracles are inexplicable, thus, when we read in both the Qur’an and the Bible that man was moulded from the ground, we are in fact learning a fundamental religious principle: Man returns from where he came, for from the place he is buried, he will rise again on the judgment.
Side by side with the main religious aspect of such reflections on man, we find in the Qur’an statements on man that refer to strictly material facts. They are quite amazing when one approaches them for the first time. For example, the Qur’an describes the origins of life in general and devotes a great deal of space to the morphological transformation undergone by man, repeatedly emphasizing the fact that God fashioned him as He willed. We likewise discover statements on human reproduction that are expressed in precise terms that lend themselves to comparison with the secular knowledge we today possess on the subject.
INTEREST TO MEN OF SCIENCE
The many statements in the Qur’an that may thus be compared with modern knowledge are by no means easy to find. In preparing the study published in 1976, I was unable to draw on any previous works known in the West, for there were none. All I could refer to were a few works in Arabic dealing with themes treated in the Qur’an that were of interest to men of science - there was, however, no overall study. Over and above this, research of this kind requires scientific knowledge covering many different disciplines. It is not easy, however, for Islamologists to acquire such knowledge, for they possess a mainly literary background. Indeed, such questions hardly seem to occupy a place in their field of classic Islamology, at least as far as the West is concerned. Only a scientist, thoroughly acquainted with Arabic literature, can draw comparisons between the Qur’anic text - for which he must be able to read Arabic - and the data supplied by modern knowledge.
There is another reason why such statements are not immediately apparent: Verses bearing on a single theme are scattered throughout the Qur’an. The book is indeed a juxtaposition of reflections on a wide variety of subjects referred to one after the other and taken up again later on, often several times over. The data on a precise theme must therefore be collected from all over the Book and brought together under a single heading. This requires many hours’ work tracking down verses, in spite of the existence of thematic indexes provided by various translators, for such lists may perhaps be incomplete and indeed, in many cases, they often are.
IslamiCity.com
Dr. Maurice Bucaille is an eminent French surgeon, scientist, scholar and author of “THE BIBLE, THE QUR’AN AND SCIENCE” which contains the result of his research into the Judeo-Christian Revelation and the Qur’an. It is a unique contribution in the field of religion and science.
Being an outstanding Scientist, he was selected to treat the mummy of Merneptah (Pharaoh) which he did. During his visit to Saudi Arabia he was shown the verses of the Holy Qur’an in which Allah says that the dead body of the Pharaoh will be preserved as a “Sign” for posterity. An impartial scientist like Dr. Bucaille, who (being also a Christian) was conversant with the Biblical version of Pharaoh’s story as being drowned in pursuit of Prophet Moses. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that unknown to the world till only of late, the Holy Qur’an made definite prediction about the preservation of the body of that same Pharaoh of Moses’ time. This led Dr. Bucaille to study the Holy Qur’an thoroughly after learning the Arabic language. The final conclusion of his comparative study of Qur’an and the Bible is that the statements about scientific phenomena in the Holy Qur’an are perfectly in conformity with the modern sciences whereas the Biblical narration’s on the same subjects are scientifically entirely unacceptable.FROM THE ORIGIN OF MAN
As most people in the West have been brought up on misconceptions concerning Islam and the Qur’an; for a large part of my life, I myself was one such person. Let me cite one or two specific examples to indicate the kind of inaccurate ideas generally current.
MISCONCEPTIONS
As I grew up, I was always taught that ‘Mahomet’ was the author of the Qur’an; I remember seeing French translations bearing this information. I was invariably told that the ‘author’ of the Qur’an simply compiled, in a slightly different form, stories of sacred history taken from the Bible; the ‘author’ was said to have added or removed certain passages, while setting forth the principles and rules of the religion he himself had founded. There are moreover Islamic scholars today in France whose duties include teaching and who express exactly these views, although perhaps in a more subtle form.
This description of the origins of the Qur’anic text, which is so out of touch with reality, might lead one immediately to assume that if there are scientific errors in the Bible, there must also be errors of this kind in the Qur’an! This is the natural conclusion to be drawn in such circumstances, but it is based on a misconception. We are well aware that at the time of Muhammad - the Qur’anic Revelation took place between 610 and 632 A.D - scientific obscurantism prevailed, both in the Orient as well as in the West.
In France, for example, this period corresponded roughly to the reign of King Dagobert, the last of the Mrovingians. This approach to what was supposedly the Qur’anic text may on first sight seem logical, but when one examines the text with an informed and impartial eye, it becomes clear that this approach is not at all in keeping with reality. We shall see in a moment the truth of this statement, which is obvious from the texts.
Whenever there is textual proof of the existence in the Qur’an of statements that are in agreement with modern knowledge, but which in the Bible are related in a manner that is scientifically unacceptable, the stock response is that, during the period separating the two Scriptures, Arab scientists made discoveries in various disciplines which enabled them to arrive at these supposed adaptations. This approach takes no account whatsoever of the history of the sciences. The latter indicates that the great period of Islamic civilizations, during which, as we know, science made considerable progress, came several centuries after the communication of the Qur’an to the communication of the Qur’an to man.
Furthermore, scientific history informs us that, as far as the subjects dealt with in this present book are concerned, no discoveries were made during, the period separating the Bible from the Qur’an.
When this aspect of the Qur’an is mentioned in the West, however, we are likely to hear it said that while this may indeed be so, nowhere is this fact referred to in the translations of the Qur’an which we possess today, or in the prefaces and commentaries that accompany them.
This is a very judicious remark. Muslim - and indeed non-Muslim -translators who have produced a French version of the Qur’an are basically men of letters. More often than not, they mistranslate a passage because they do not possess the scientific knowledge required to understand its true meaning. The fact is, however, that in order to translate correctly, one must first understand what one is reading. A further point is that translators - especially those mentioned above - - may have been influenced by notes provided by ancient commentators often came to be regarded as highly authoritative, even though they had no scientific knowledge - nor indeed had anybody else at that time. They were incapable of imagining that the texts might contain allusions to secular knowledge, and thus they could not devote attention to a specific passage by comparing it to other verses in the Qur’an dealing with the same subject - a process that often provides the key to the meaning of a word or expression. From this results the fact that any passage in the Qur’an that gives rise to a comparison with modern secular knowledge is likely to be unreliably translated.
Very often, the translations are peppered with inaccurate - if not totally nonsensical - statements. The only way to avoid such errors is to possess a scientific background and to study the Qur’anic text in the original language.
SCIENTIFIC ERRORS
On the subject of man, as well as the other topics mentioned earlier, it is not possible to find any corresponding data in the Bible. Furthermore the scientific errors contained in the Bible - such as those describing man’s first appearance on earth, which, as we have seen, may be deduced from the Genealogies that figure in Genesis are not to be found in the Qur’an. It is crucial to understand that such errors could not have been ‘edited out’ of the Qur’an since the time they first became apparent: well over a thousand years have elapsed since the most ancient manuscripts and today’s texts of the Qur’an, but these texts are still absolutely identical. Thus, if Muhammad were the author of the Qur’an (a theory upheld by some people), it is difficult to see how he could have spotted the scientific errors in the Bible dealing with such a wide variety of subjects and have proceeded to eliminate every single one of them when he came to compose his own text on the same themes. Let us state once again, that no new scientific facts had been discovered since the time the Bible was written that might have helped eliminate such errors.
In view of the above, it is imperative to know the history of the texts, just as it is essential to our understanding of certain aspects of the Bible for us to be aware, of the conditions in which it was written.
As we have noted earlier, experts in Biblical exegesis consider the books of Old and New Testaments to be divinely inspired works. Let us now examine, however, the teachings of Muslim exegetes, who present the Qur’an in quite a different fashion.
When Muhammad was roughly forty years old, it was his custom to retire to a retreat just outside Mecca in order to meditate. It was here that he received a first message from God via the Angel Gabriel, at a date that corresponds to 610 A.D. After a long period of silence, this first message was followed by successive revelations spread over some twenty years. During the Prophet’s lifetime, they were both written down and recited by heart among his first followers. Similarly, the revelations were divided into suras (chapters) and collected together after the Prophet’ death (in 632 A.D.) in a book: the Qur’an. The Book contains the Word of God, to the exclusion of any human additions. Manuscripts dating from the first century of Islam authenticate today’s text, the other form of authentication being the recitation by heart of the Qur’an, a practice that has continued unbroken from the time of the Prophet down to the present day.
UNCORRUPTED NATURE OF THE QUR’AN
In contrast to the Bible, therefore, we are presented with a text that is none other than the transcript of the Revelation itself; the only way it can be received and interpreted is literally. The purity of the revealed text has been greatly emphasized, and the uncorrupted nature of the Qur’an stems from the following factors:
First, as stated above, fragments of the text were written down during the Prophet’s lifetime; inscribed on tablets, parchments and other materials current at the time. The Qur’an itself refers to the fact that the text was set down in writing. We find this in several suras dating from before and after the Hejira (Muhammad’s departure from Mecca to Medina in 622 A.D.) In addition to the transcription of the text, however, there was also the fact that it was learned by heart. The text of the Qur’an is much shorter than the Old Testament and slightly longer than the New Testament. Since it took twenty years for the Qur’an to be revealed, however, it was easy for the Prophet’s followers to recite it by heart, sura by sura. This process of recitation afforded a considerable advantage as far as an uncorrupted text was concerned, for it provided a system of double-checking at the time the definitive text was written down. This took place several years after the Prophet’s death; first under the caliphate of Abu Bakr, his first successor, and later under the caliphate of Omar and in particular that of Uthman (644 to 655 A.D.) The latter ordered an extremely strict recension of the text, which involved checking it against the recited versions.
TEXT OF QUR’AN UNCORRUPTED
After Muhammad’s death, Islam rapidly expanded far beyond the limits of the area in which it was born. Soon, it included many peoples whose native language was not Arabic. Very strict steps were taken to ensure that the text of the Qur’an did not suffer from this expansion of Islam: Uthman sent copies of his entire recension to the principal centers of the vast Islamic empire. Some copies still exist today, in more or less complete form, in such places as Tashkent (U.S.S.R) and Istanbul. Copies have also been discovered that date from the very first centuries after the Hijra; they are all identical, and all of them correspond to the earliest manuscripts.
Today’s editions of the Qur’an are all faithful reproductions of the original copies. In the case of the Qur’an, there are no instances of rewriting or corruption of the text over the course of time.
If the origin of the Qur’an had been similar to those of the Bible, it would not be unreasonable to suppose that the subjects it raised would be presented in the light of the ideas influenced by certain opinions of the time, often derived from myth and superstition. If this were the case, one might argue that there were untold opportunities for inaccurate assertions, based on such sources, to find their way into the many and varied subjects briefly summarized above. In actual fact, however, we find nothing of the kind in the Qur’an.
But having said this, we should note that the Qur’an is a religious book par excellence. We should not use statements that have a bearing on secular knowledge as a pretext to go hunting after any expression of scientific laws. As stated earlier, all we should seek are reflections on natural phenomena, phrases occasioned by references to divine omnipotence and designed to emphasize that omnipotence in the eyes of mankind throughout the ages. The presence of such reflections in the Qur’an has become particularly significant in modern times, for their meaning is clearly explained by the data of contemporary knowledge. This characteristic is specific to the Qur’an.
UNEXPECTED DISCOVERIES
It was not until I had learnt Arabic and read the Qur’an in the original that I realized the precise meaning of certain verses. Only then did I make certain discoveries that were astounding. With my basic ideas on the Qur’an - which to begin with were inaccurate, just as those of most people in the West - I certainly did not expect to find in the text the statements that I in fact uncovered. With each new discovery, I was beset with doubt lest I might be mistaken in my translation or perhaps have provided an interpretation rather than a true rendering of the Arabic text.
Only after consultations with several specialists in linguistics and exegesis, both Muslim and non-Muslim, was I convinced that a new concept might be formed from such a study: the compatibility between the statements in the Qur’an and firmly established data of modern science with regard to subjects on which nobody at the time of Muhammad - not even the Prophet himself - could have had access to the knowledge we possess today. Since then, I have not found in the Qur’an any support given to the myths or superstitions present at the time the text was communicated to man. This is not the case for the Bible, whose authors expressed themselves in the language of their period.
In ‘La Bible le Coran et la Science’ (The Bible, the Qur’an and Science), which first appeared in the original French in 1976 and which subsequently appeared in English in 1978, I set forth the main points of these findings. On November 9, 1976, I gave a lecture to the Academia de Medecine (French academy of Medicine) in which I explored the statements of the origins of man contained in the Qur’an; the title of the lecture was ‘Donnees physiologiques et embryologiques de Coran’(Physiological and Embryological Data in the Qur’an). I emphasised the fact that these data - which I shall summarize below - formed part of a much wider study. The following are some of the points which arise from a reading of the Qur’an:
* a concept of the creation of the world which, while different from the ideas contained in the Bible, is fully in keeping with today’s general theories on the formations of the universe;
* statements that are in perfect agreement with today’s ideas concerning the movements and evolution of the heavenly bodies;
* a prediction of the conquest of space;
* notions concerning the water cycle in nature and the earth’s relief, which were not proven correct until many centuries later.
All of these data are bound to amaze anyone who approaches them in an objective spirit. They add a much wider dimension to the problem studied in the present work. The basic point remains the same , however: we must surely be in the presence of facts which place a heavy strain on our natural propensity for explaining everything in materialistic terms, for the existence in the Qur’an of these scientific statements appears as a challenge to human explanations.
That does not mean to say, however, that the statements in the Qur’an - especially those concerning man - may all of them be examined in the light of the findings of modern science. The creation of man as described in both the Bible and the Qu’ran totally eludes scientific investigation of the event per se.
Similarly, when the New Testament or the Qur’an informs us that Jesus was not born of a father, in the biological sense of the term, we cannot counter this Scriptural statement by saying that there is no example in the human species of an individual having been formed without receiving the paternal chromosomes that make up one half of its genetic inheritance. Science does not explain miracles, for by definition miracles are inexplicable, thus, when we read in both the Qur’an and the Bible that man was moulded from the ground, we are in fact learning a fundamental religious principle: Man returns from where he came, for from the place he is buried, he will rise again on the judgment.
Side by side with the main religious aspect of such reflections on man, we find in the Qur’an statements on man that refer to strictly material facts. They are quite amazing when one approaches them for the first time. For example, the Qur’an describes the origins of life in general and devotes a great deal of space to the morphological transformation undergone by man, repeatedly emphasizing the fact that God fashioned him as He willed. We likewise discover statements on human reproduction that are expressed in precise terms that lend themselves to comparison with the secular knowledge we today possess on the subject.
INTEREST TO MEN OF SCIENCE
The many statements in the Qur’an that may thus be compared with modern knowledge are by no means easy to find. In preparing the study published in 1976, I was unable to draw on any previous works known in the West, for there were none. All I could refer to were a few works in Arabic dealing with themes treated in the Qur’an that were of interest to men of science - there was, however, no overall study. Over and above this, research of this kind requires scientific knowledge covering many different disciplines. It is not easy, however, for Islamologists to acquire such knowledge, for they possess a mainly literary background. Indeed, such questions hardly seem to occupy a place in their field of classic Islamology, at least as far as the West is concerned. Only a scientist, thoroughly acquainted with Arabic literature, can draw comparisons between the Qur’anic text - for which he must be able to read Arabic - and the data supplied by modern knowledge.
There is another reason why such statements are not immediately apparent: Verses bearing on a single theme are scattered throughout the Qur’an. The book is indeed a juxtaposition of reflections on a wide variety of subjects referred to one after the other and taken up again later on, often several times over. The data on a precise theme must therefore be collected from all over the Book and brought together under a single heading. This requires many hours’ work tracking down verses, in spite of the existence of thematic indexes provided by various translators, for such lists may perhaps be incomplete and indeed, in many cases, they often are.
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