Wilson:
With the appreciation
of the Arabic-speaking people and their respect for the Qur’an, I am inclined
to believe in its superiority. As a matter of fact, history does not record
any successful attempt by any individual or group to match the Qur’an. We know
that the Arabic-speaking people were not all Muslims at any time. We know also
that the Arabs at the time of Mohammad were very skillful in oratory, and we
know that the majority of them were violently opposed to Islam. The Qur’an
challenged them and the future generations to match it, but it seems that the
opponents of Islam did not accept that challenge at any time.
The superiority of the Qur’an is a
fact and beyond any reasonable doubt. But I would like to know if the Qur’an
has anything, besides its superiority and beautiful style, that supports its
being a true revelation of God and that Mohammad is truly His prophet.
Chirri:
There are in the
contents of the Qur’an more than one prediction dealing with the future, and those predictions are
fulfilled. Knowledge of the future is possible only to God and unavailable to
any human being.
Man has advanced so far in science and
technology to a stage undreamed of before. With all his advancements in
knowledge, he is still unable to foresee the future. The most civilized
nations wage wars against each other, and none of them is assured of victory.
Should the knowledge of the future be available to them, they would have
avoided des-tructive wars. A nation that foresees its defeat would refrain
from entering any war that will be concluded by its defeat.
To recognize the human inability of
foreseeing the future, we need only to remember our election campaigns. In
spite of all the information which is obtained through our modern media and
scientific methods, none of the can-didates is sure of his victory or defeat
until the votes are counted.
There is a great deal of information
contained in the Holy Qur’an dealing with the future which could not be
humanly predicted. Those predictions were fulfilled, and their fulfillment
indicates that the Qur’an is a true Divine revelation and that Mohammad is a
true messenger of God.
Some of those prophecies deal with the future
of the Holy Qur’an itself. Of these prophecies are the following:
1.
“Certainly We have revealed the Reminder (the Qur’an), and we shall preserve
it.” 15:9
This verse informs us that the Qur’an shall not
perish. It shall not disappear from this world, and it will last and continue
forever .
This
prediction was actually the opposite of what was humanly expected. The Qur’an
was introduced by a pro-phet who was unschooled and unable to read or write.
He introduced it in a language of an illiterate nation. The Arabs at the time
of the Prophet did not have a hundred readers in a million. In addition to
this, the overwhelming majority of that nation was standing against the
Prophet and his book, and so was the rest of the world. Under these
circumstances, such a book was expected to perish and disappear. The chances
of its continuity for so many gene-rations were very slim.
2. The following verse explains:
“It (the Qur’an) is an invincible book. False-hood does
not invade it neither from before it nor from behind it, a revelation from a
Mighty, Praised One.” 41:41-42
This verse informs the world that the Qur’an
will not be interpolated by words that had been said before the time of its
revelation nor by words that will be said after the time of its revelation. It
will be pure and will continue so forever.
This,
also, was a prediction contrary to what was huma-nly expected. A book,
introduced under the circumstances which we advanced, could not be humanly
expected to stay pure without any interpolation.
There was no printing-machine at the time of
revela-tion, nor such a machine was invented until several centu-ries after
Mohammad.
History shows us that no holy book had remained
pure without interpolation. The holy books had undergone ma-ny changes in many
centuries. The Qur’an was expected not to be exceptional.
The two
prophecies had been entirely fulfilled. The ful-fillment of the first is
self-evident: The Holy Qur’an did not perish. It lived and remains a highly
living book. Actually the life of the Qur’an is so rich that it may be the
most recited book in the world. Every Muslim is expected to pray five
times a day, and each
prayer includes a recital from the Holy Qur’an. Hundreds of millions of
Muslims perform their daily prayers, and hundreds of millions of times the
Qur’an is daily recited.
The fulfillment of the second prophecy
is quite obvious. The Holy Qur’an remained unchanged. No human word was
inserted into it. Even the critics of Islam testify for the remarkable purity
of the text of this great book. The words of the Qur’an which we read now are
exactly the same words which were recited by the Prophet Mohammad himself,
without subtraction or addition.
3. The Holy
Qur’an contains many statements by which the opponents of Islam were invited
to produce any Arabic discourse that would compare to the Qur’anic discourse.
One of these statements is the following:
“Say: If all men.... will unanimously determine to
challenge the Qur’an, they will not produce its equal, even if they combine
their efforts.” 17:88
This statement not only challenges
mankind to compose speeches and discourses comparable to the Qur’an, but also
predicts clearly that any such attempt will fail, and the Holy Qur’an will
remain superior to all other Arabic discourses.
This statement
is very far reaching. It tells that the Holy Qur’an will not be equalled,
neither at the present nor in the future. Such a statement is a prediction in
a very unexpected direction. We know that the human talent and skill are
always evolving and improving. This is true in any field. A scientific
invention, regardless of its remark-ability, is always expected to evolve and
improve through additional knowledge and technology. The first plane that took
off the ground, no doubt, was very remarkable, but it cannot compare to any of
the planes of today.
Let us assume that the inventor of that
first aircraft had predicted that his plane will not be equalled in the
future. Such a prediction would be very absurd and will be dispro-ved within
one decade because it is opposed to the natural course. Mohammad recited this
statement which is contrary to the natural course. He uttered these words
about fourteen centuries ago, but his statement is still standing, and the
events of the world could not disprove it. On the contrary, the statement now
appears to be more meaningful than ever before. The older the prophecy
becomes, the more truthful it will appear.
There is another amazing point in this
prophecy. It is conceivable to challenge a certain class of people in afield
which is not accessible to everyone, such
as a special scien-tific field. We may conceive a gifted scientist,
discovering a scientific secret not accessible to any other expert in that
field. If such a scientist claims a permanent superiority in his invention, he
would be challenging just a limited num-ber of scientists.
With the Qur’an the case is different:
There is nothing special in it; its discourse is composed of words and
sentences with orders known, not only to a limited number of experts, but to
all Arabic-speaking people. There isn’t any secret that is hidden from the
rest of the people. All of it is known. The challenge, therefore, is not
directed to a limited number of people; it is directed to the millions in
every generation. With such a universal challenge, in no field of
specialization, the failure to produce a match to it is much more remarkable
than the failure of a few experts in a field of specialization.
This would be more amazing when we
remember that no scientific secret or discovery has remained unmatchable. The
highest secret in this century was the secret of the atomic bomb. It was the
most important discovery or inven-tion in this century. In spite of its great
importance, it could not be kept exclusive for the country which produced it.
Other countries tried to produce the same and succeeded.
Why did the Holy Qur’an remain superior and
beyond any other Arabic discourse? How did mankind refuse to accept the
challenge?
Either the Qur’an is truly superior and beyond
the reach of any talented individual or group in any generation (and this
means that it is a miraculous book), or it is within the reach of the people,
but God miraculously prevented man-kind from producing a similar discourse. In
either case, the prophecy has been fulfilled, and the Qur’an is still
stand-ing unequalled.
Wilson:
From reading the history of Islam, it seems
that the future of the new faith and of its followers was very doubtful at the
time of the revelation. The success of Islam afterwards and the growth of the
numbers of its followers were unexpected. I often wondered if the unexpected
suc-cess and rapid growth of Islam were foreseen by the Pro-phet and forecast
by the Qur’an.
The forecast of this would be an impressive
evidence on the truthfulness of Mohammad, because the future of the whole
faith and its followers seemed to be very dark at the time of revelation.
Chirri:
The Holy Qur’an contains definite prophecies
dealing with the future of Islam and its followers.
One of those prophecies deals with the future
of the Muslims. It assures the Muslims of a future religious free-dom and
promises them a mighty state:
“God has promised those of you who believe
(in Islam) and do good that He will surely make them rulers in the Earth, as
He made those before them rulers, and that He will surely establish for them
their religion, which He has chosen for them, and that He will surely give
them the feeling of security in exchange of their fear, so they will wor-ship
Me, not associating aught with Me; and who-ever is ungrateful after this, they
are the transgres-sors.” 24:55
When this
prophecy was revealed, the followers of Islam were a very small minority of
the inhabitants of Al-Hijaz. It was revealed, approximately, in the fifth year
after the Hijrah when the Muslims were a few thousands, bitterly antagonized
by all the inhabitants of Hijaz and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula. None of
the Muslims at that time had a feeling of security, nor were they able to
practice their religion freely. There was nothing indicating that such a hated
and bitterly fought minority would survive, nor was the future of this new
religion humanly predictable.
In spite of all these facts, the prophecy was
revealed in a definite and unconditional form.
More prophecies are contained in the
following verses which predict the triumph of Islam and the defeat of its
opponents.
“They desire to put out the light of God
with their mouths, but God will perfect His light, though the disbelievers may
be averse.” 9:32; 61:8
“He is the One
Who sent His Messenger with the guidance and the true religion, to make it
outweigh all other religions though the poly-theists may be averse.” 9:33; 61
:9 and 48:28.
The first verse predicts that the opponents of
Islam will not succeed in putting out the light of God, nor will their attacks
hinder its growth. God will make His light, Islam, perfect, though its
opponents will oppose it strongly. They may argue, fight, assail and mobilize
all their intellectual and material forces, determining to revoke Islam, but
all that will not extinguish its light, nor will that prevent it from becoming
full.
Both verses predict definitely and
unconditionally the victory of Islam over its opponents.
When this prophecy was revealed, the small
Muslim community was defending itself against the Polytheists and other
hostile elements in Arabia. Afterwards it had to defend itself against the
Persian and Byzantine Empires.
Each of these powers was incomparably
greater and richer than the Muslim state. The Persian and Byzantine Empires
were the outstanding forces in the world. To defeat them both is to defeat all
considerable forces in the world and to become the world’s superior power.
This would fulfill completely the meaning of the prophecy, but this was
seem-ingly impossible. We always expect the defeat of any single and
relatively weak army when forced to combat on more than one field more than
one superior power. This becomes clear when we remember that the mighty German
army had been defeated twice in the twentieth century, only because it was
fought by stronger allies on more than one front.
It may be the most remarkable military event
in history, that the inhabitants of Madina and Mecca, whose number did not
exceed a few thousands, could defend themselves, after the death of the great
Prophet, against the attacks of the apostate Arabs. With the exception of the
Muslims of these two cities, almost all the Arab nation had apostatized after
the death of the Prophet.
The Muslim state was
compelled, afterwards, to fight against the Byzantine and Persian Empires.
These two great
empires fought the
Muslims simultaneously on two diffe-rent fronts. The scanty Muslim forces were
forced to divide themselves in order to maintain the defense. The result was a
wondrous military phenomenon. The two great powers were vanquished and Persia
was completely defeated. Within one hundred years, the vast area extending
from the Atlantic Ocean to India, came under the rule of Islam. Those poor and
helpless people, at the time of the revela-tion of this prophecy, suddenly
became the superior power of the world.
The Prophet, relying on the heavenly
information, had forecast this triumph which took place after his death.
Speaking to Odey, son of Hatam (a Christian chief who joined the new faith
afterwards), the Prophet Mohammad uttered the following:
“.
. . Thou dost not incline to Islamism,”
continued Mohammad, “because thou seest we are poor. The time is at hand when
true believers will have more wealth than they know how to manage. Perhaps
thou art deterred by seeing the small number of the Muslims in comparison to
the number of their enemies. By God, in a little while, a Muslim woman will be
able to make a pilgri-mage on her camel, alone and fearless, from Kade-sia
(Iraqi area) to God’s temple at Mecca. Thou thinkest, probably, that the might
is in the hands of the unbelievers; know that the time is not far off when we
Will plant our standard on the white castles of Babylon.”[1]
Wilson: So far we have discussed two types of Qur’anic statements
prophesying unexpected futures: one dealing with the fate of the Qur’an
itself, and another dealing with the future of Islam. Does the Qur’an offer
any prediction about the future of the Prophet himself?
Chirri: The Holy Qur’an contains a very clear informa-tion that deals
with the safety of the Prophet Mohammad:
“O Messenger, deliver that which had been revealed to
thee from thy Lord; and if thou do not, thou hast not delivered His message.
And God will protect thee from all men. Surely God guides not the disbelieving
people.” 5:70
The verse assures the Prophet Mohammad
a full protec-tion against all human beings. No human power, according to the
prophecy, can destroy the life of Mohammad. Should the Prophet die in the
battlefield or be assassinated, the statement would be untrue and the
prophethood disproved.
With the conditions under which the
Prophet lived, the prophecy was contrary to human expectancy. From the time
Islam was publicly proclaimed, the Prophet was faced with a public hostility.
He was singled out as the sole enemy of the Meccans. His life became
surrounded with dangers. He lived constantly under threat and for many years
without any physical protection. When his defender, Abu-Talib, died, he could
not even find a temporary protection in the holy sanctuaries in order to
deliver his message to the pilgrims.
The important leaders took a solemn pledge to
hunt him down and kill him. When he escaped, a great reward was announced for
his capture, dead or alive. Before departure to Madina, Mohammad’s life was
certain to be taken, and Islam was expected to be wiped out while it was still
only a spark.
After arriving in Madina, the battles
began and the Muslims were thrown into open and violent conflict, in which
they were always greatly outnumbered. The Meccans managed to set the desert
tribes against the Muslims. More-over, he rulers of the Non-Arab nations were
vehemently exasperated by the very strong language Mohammad used in inviting
them to embrace Islam. An example of these invitations is his message to
Heraclius, the Byzantine Em-peror:
“In the name of God,
the Beneficent, the Merciful. From Mohammad, the son of
Abdullah, the Apostle of God, to Heraclius, the great of the Romans.
Surely I send you the invitation of
Islam. Be Muslim, and thou will be safe. God will reward thee twice. If thou
turn away, thou will be bur-dened with the sins of thy subjects. People of the
Scripture, come to an equitable word between us and you; That we shall worship
none but God, and that we shall associate naught with Him, and that we shall
not take each other for lords besides the Almighty God. But if they turn away,
then say: Bear witness, we are Muslims.”
Life of the Pro-phet Mohammad,
Mohammad Hussein Haikal, 3rded., p. 371
Despite the dangers with which the Prophet was sur-rounded, he lived an
ordinary life. He had no bodyguards and fought in battle, sometimes in the
front lines. He walked the streets after dark and dwelt in an unguarded home.
There was abundant opportunity for assassination, and numerous attempts were
made. A few of these attem-pts will be mentioned, and they are selected from
many occurrences:
One day he
was sleeping alone at the foot of a tree, at some distance from his camp. He
was awakened by a noise and lo! he beheld Durthur, an enemy warrior, standing
over him withdrawn sword. “O Mohammad,” cried he, “Who is there to save thee?”
“God,” replied the Prophet. For some unknown reason, Durthur let his sword
fall, which was in-stantly seized by the Prophet. Brandishing the weapon, he
exclaimed in turn, “Who is there now to save thee, O Dur-thur?” “Alas! No
one,” replied the soldier. “Then learn
from me to be merciful.” So saying, he
returned his sword to him. The heart
of the soldier was overcome. He acknowledged Mohammad as a true prophet and
embraced the faith.
On another occasion, Mohammad went accompanied
by some of his followers to visit a non-Muslim tribe. A meal was prepared
outside, in front of the mansion of the chief of the tribe. The Prophet knew
that he had been trea-cherously decoyed hither and was to be slain as he sat
down to eat. It is said that he was to be crushed by a mill-stone flung from
the terraced roof of the house. Without intimating his knowledge
of the treason, he left the com-pany abruptly and hastened back to Madina.
More than once,
Mohammad was abandoned in battle when his warriors left him almost alone
against thousands of pagans. At such times, he was the target of the enemy
forces and was extremely vulnerable.
Had Mohammad been
trying to perpetuate a lie, he might
have chosen a prophecy more likely to prove true than that he would be
protected against harm in such situations. Mohammad was sure of God’s
protection, and the prophe-cy was fulfilled.
Wilson:
Does the Qur’an offer any information about
the future of the prophethood in general?
Chirri:
The declaration which states the finality of
the Prophet Mohammad is a clear information about the future of prophethood:
“Mohammad is not a father of any of your men, but he is
the Messenger of God and the ‘Khatam’ of the prophets, and God is Ever-Knower
of all things.” 33:40
The word
Khatam, as advanced, means the seal which closes a container or the seal whose
imprint confirms the authenticity of certain contents of a written document or
a message. Sealing for closure or for confirmation comes at the end of what it
closes or confirms.
The Prophet
Mohammad said to his cousin Ali:
“Thy position from me compares to the position of Aaron
from Moses, but there will be no prophet after me.”
To
declare that Mohammad is the final of the prophets is, actually, an
information about the very far future of the prophethood. It informs that the
world shall not witness a prophet after the death of Mohammad, and that God
will not send any messenger to mankind, subsequent to him. Thus the long
history of the prophethood will come to a close by the death of Mohammad.
This is a
prophecy in an entirely unexpected direction. We should expect God to continue
sending His prophets to mankind. He sent many prophets before Mohammad, and we
normally expect Him to continue doing so after the death of the Prophet
Mohammad. The human generations, before Mohammad, were not more entitled to
heavenly messages than the generations subsequent to him. As a matter of
fact, Materialism in the modern age is much grea-ter than it was before
Mohammad; therefore, a spiritual revelation would be much more needed than
ever before.
The
complexity of the causes in this area is entirely beyond the human knowledge.
No human being is able to know how God determines to send a prophet to
mankind. The knowledge of this is exclusive only to God.
Wilson:
An impressive prophecy usually deals with
some specific event that may take place at a certain time. The information
which the verse contains does not deal with a specific event that will take
place at a particular time. It does not tell us of something that will happen.
It is a negative information, telling us that no prophet will come after
Mohammad.
Chirri:
To give a positive information is much easier than to give a negative
one. Let us illustrate that by an example of information that deals with the
past rather than the future: It is much easier to say that Mr. Smith drove a
car than to say
that Mr. Johnson never drove a car. To be truthful in the positive one, one
needs to see Mr. Smith once driving a car. To say truthfully that Mr. Johnson
never drove a car, one needs to know all the past of Mr. Johnson.
Let us deal
with a future information. We may predict that there will be, within fifty
years, a genius scientist from among the people of Detroit. This is much
easier than to say that there will be no genius scientist in Detroit within
fifty years. Such information requires an extensive knowledge about the
millions who will live in Detroit within that period. Such knowledge is
actually beyond our reach.
Suppose that we
make a wider prediction. Let us state that the United States of America or the
whole world will not have any genius scientist for fifty years. Such a
pre-diction would obviously be absurd. If we predict that the whole world will
not have such a scientist forever, the absurdity of our prediction would be
self -evident.
Such is the declaration
of the finality of the prophethood of Mohammad. It deals not only with a
limited future of a particular nation; it deals with the unlimited future of
the whole world. The whole world, it actually says, will not witness another
prophet after Mohammad, until the end of
the world. Mohammad
himself was humanly unable to fore-see
such a future. The prediction was not his. It is a revelation of the only One
Who knows the future of mankind.
This prophecy
has been fulfilled. The world, for the last thirteen centuries, did not
witness one single prophet.
Wilson:
Many individuals after Mohammad claimed
prophethood. some of them lived in this century and some of them are still
living. Does not their claim affect the truthfulness of the prophecy?
Chirri: The claim of prophethood does not amount to anything and will
not affect the truthfulness of this proph-ecy, unless such a claim has been
proven. It is a fact that hundreds of individuals proclaimed their
prophethood, and some of them had lived at the time of the Prophet Moham-mad
himself. It is also a fact that none of those individuals could prove their
prophethood. Most of them have been disproved, and their claims died with
them. The disproval of their claims is, by itself, another evidence on the
truth and the fulfillment of this prophecy.
Wilson: The absence of prophethood in the last thirteen centuries is
not a conclusive evidence of the end of pro-phethood. This vacuum in the past
does not mean that mankind will not receive more prophets in the future.
Should any messenger come in the future, his advent will disprove the
declaration.
Chirri: The finality of the prophethood of Mohammad was not evident at
the time of the Prophet himself because the advent of other prophets was
highly probable. And so it seemed within the first few centuries, subsequent
to his death. By the lapse of a thousand years from the death of the Prophet,
the advent of more prophets became less probable. Separation between two
prophets before the time of Mohammad never reached a thousand or even seven
hundred years. There was only about four hundred years between Abraham and
Moses. Hundreds of prophets came successively between Moses and Jesus. The
separation between Jesus and Mohammad did not reach six hundred years.
The
need for prophets is always standing. The absence of the prophethood within a
thousand years, in spite of the need of the human race for guidance, is very
unusual. It suggests a certain relation between this long vacuum and the
finality of the Prophet Mohammad. The relation bet-ween the finality of the
Prophet Mohammad and the absence of the prophets for such a long period is
very obvious. By the lapse of more than thirteen centuries, the truthfulness
of the prophecy has become more evident. The older this prophecy becomes, the
clearer its truth will be. The truth of the declaration has passed the stage
of any reasonable doubt. The probability of the advent of future prophets now
has become negligible.
Wilson: I may agree with you that though the advent of more prophets is
possible, it is less probable than before; and it seems that it is unlikely to
happen in the future. But I would like to know the reason for the conclusion
of the prophethood by the death of Mohammad. Mankind still needs spiritual
guidance and, actually, with the rise of Materialism in the modern ages,
mankind needs such gui-dance more than ever before.
Chirri:
I do not know the exact reason for the conclusion of the prophethood. It
may be the universality of the proph-ethood of Mohammad. All the previous
prophets were sent to particular communities or nations. All the Israelite
proph-ets were sent to the Hebrews. None of them were sent to the whole human
race. Even the great Jesus, according to the Gospel, said:
“I am sent only to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.”
Only Mohammad came as a universal prophet who
was sent to no particular nation or region but to all mankind. From the Holy
Qur’an:
“Say: O mankind,
surely I am the Messenger of God to you all, of Him, Whose is the kingdom of
the Heavens and the Earth.” 7:158
By reaching the degree of universality, the
prophethood has reached its highest stage. It may end at that stage. The
message is directed to the whole human race. Mankind no longer lacks the
spiritual guidance. The guidance has be-come available to all nations and to
every individual. What mankind needs is not a new guidance, but the acceptance
of the available guidance.
Wilson:
I often wondered about some Qur’anic verses
which are contained in chapter 30. The verses deal with the future of the
Romans and predict their triumph over their opponents:
“The Romans are vanquished in the nearby
land, and they, after their defeat, will gain victory within nine years. God’s
is the command before and after. And on that day, the believers will rejoice
for God’s help. He helps whom He pleases, and He is the Mighty, the Merciful.
(It is) God’s promise. God will not fail in His promise, but most people know
not.” 30:1-6
I like to hear your
comment on these verses which seem to contain a very definite prophecy, as I
would like to know if that prophecy has been fulfilled.
Chirri:
In the first decade of the seventh century,
a war between the two great powers of the time, the Persian and Byzantine
Empires was started. The war continued for more than twenty years, and the
Persians were mostly victorious.
The Encyclopedia
Britannica describes the situation:
“The Persian armies plundered
Syria and Asia Minor, and in 608 advanced to Chaledon. In 613 and 614,
Damascus and Jerusalem were taken by the General Shahaboraz, and the Holy
Cross was carried away in the triumph. Soon after, even Egypt was conquered.
The Romans (the people of the Byzantine Empire) could offer but little
resis-tance, as they were torn by internal dissensions and pressed by the
Avars and Slavs.”
The verses from the Qur’an cited were revealed
in the sixth or seventh year after the first revelation came to Mohammad.
(This means that these verses were revealed in 615 or 616.) The prophecy
contained therein is definite and unconditional. It states that the vanquished
Romans will obtain a decisive triumph over the victorious Persians within nine
years from this revelation.
Once again the prophecy
was made in a direction con-trary to the expected outcome of the conflict. It
was to be expected that the Romans would be defeated completely, since the
Persian forces had already reached the very gates of Constantinople. At that
time even the Roman leaders had little hope of eventual victory .
The Roman leaders, with
all their military skill and infor-mation
about that war, could not anticipate their victory. Clear information was
unavailable to Mohammad because radio, television, press and efficient postal
system did not yet exist. Mohammad, living in Mecca and very far from
Constantinople, made the prediction of triumph within a stated time.
The prophecy was
fulfilled within nine years after it had been made. Heraclius, the Roman
Emperor, advanced to Northern Media, where he destroyed the great fire temple
of Gondzak; then in 623 he recaptured all of the lost ground.
Wilson:
The above quoted verses indicate that the
Mus-lims were very concerned for the defeat of the Romans at the hand of the
Persians. The prophecy seems to have been revealed as a condolence to the
Muslims, since it states that the believers in Islam will rejoice for the
victory of the Romans.
This actually
announces a true love on the part of the Muslims towards the Christians.
Chirri: Your statement is true. The Muslims actually
were very saddened by the news of the defeat of the Chris-tians at that time.
The Christians are followers of the scrip-tures, and the Muslims are followers
of the new scripture, the Qur’an. Both share many beliefs. The Muslims,
there-fore, felt that there is a close bond between them and the Christians.
They felt that the Christians are their brothers in religion.
The news of
the defeat of the Romans was a good tiding to the idol-worshippers. They
rejoiced at the defeat of the Christians and classed them with the Muslims,
their ene-mies, because both Muslims and Christians are followers of the
scriptures and opposed to idol-worshipping.
This relation
between the Muslims and the Christians was only natural. Had the Christians
accepted Mohammad and received his truth with open hearts, as the Muslims
accepted the truth of Jesus, the brotherly relation could have continued
between the followers of the two faiths. Unfortu-nately, the Christians
refused to recognize the prophethood of Mohammad and to accept his truth. This
and the subseq-uent events which took place after the death of the Prophet
changed the natural atmosphere between the Muslims and Christians.
Wilson:
Does the Holy Qur’an contain any
information dealing with facts known to our scientific age but unknown to the
world at the time of Mohammad? The existence of this type of information, if
any, would be additional evi-dence on the prophethood of Mohammad. It is
impossible for an unschooled person such as Mohammad, who lived in the seventh
century, to know what would be discovered by modern scientists. Any
information of this sort would be very convincing evidence on the soundness of
the message of Islam.
Chirri:
The reader of the Qur’an may find more than one reference dealing with
certain facts, some of them have been discovered recently, and some of them
are still in the stage of anticipation.
Modern science is looking now, though
without cer-tainty, for the time when we will find living beings on some other
planets. The scientists of today are not sure of the existence of any
biological life on planets other than ours, but to them this is highly
probable.
As a matter of fact, one of the Russian
scientists claimed that he received signals from outer space, and he thought
that the source of those signals is some living being located on a different
planet. The scientist may be able in the near or remote future to find and
meet other living beings on planets other than ours.
What we are hoping to discover in our
scientific age was forecast over thirteen centuries ago in the Holy Qur’an:
“And of His signs is
the creation of the Heavens, and the Earth and what He has spread forth in
both of them of walking biological beings, and He is All-Powerful to gather
them together, when He wills.” 42:29
The verse informs us of the existence
of biological living beings who walk on their feet in the heavens and the
earth, arid that it is possible for the living beings who are station-ed on
our planet to join the ones who are stationed in the heavens.
One of the scientific discoveries of
our modern age is the existence of sex in the plants as well as in the animal
king-dom. The entire pollen grain, the scientists say, is composed of cells
which have the reduced number of chromosomes. Two of these cells are male
cells. To function in repro-duction, the pollen must fall on the stigma of
some flower and develop a tube down through the stigma and other tissues until
it reaches the egg. The two male cells pass down through this tube, usually
near its growing tip. One of them fertilizes the egg, and from the combined
cells, an embryo develops. The other male cell unites usually with two other
cells near the egg, in the middle of the embryo sac, and the triple product
forms the nutritive part of the seed .
The existence of male and female in plants was
entirely unknown before the advance of modern science. But the Holy Qur’an
clearly states the existence of sex in the plant kingdom:
“Glory be to the One Who created all pairs of males and
females of what the Earth grows and of themselves and of what they know not.”
36:36
At the time of the Prophet Mohammad, no
one had any knowledge about the conditions of outer space. People used to
think that the more man ascends to the sky, the more he may find air and the
more he would be able to breathe. Now we know that outer space does not
contain air, and that if a person ascends into the sky, he may suffocate
through lack of oxygen.
The Holy Qur’an, however, has a clear
indication of this fact:
“So whomsoever God chooses to guide, He opens his heart
for Islam, and whomsoever He chooses to leave in error, He makes his chest
close and narrow as if he is ascending in the sky. Thus, does God lay penalty
on those who do not believe.” 6:125
The narrowness of the chest of a person who
ascends in the sky means his incapability of breathing which was contrary to
the prevalent concept about outer space at the time of Mohammad.
Wilson:
The evidence which has been discussed is very
convincing and offers a great support to the prophethood of Mohammad. The
superiority of the Qur’an itself is pri-mary evidence of this truth and so are
the many quoted prophecies. I wonder if the Old and the New Testaments contain
any prophecy foretelling the advent of the Prophet Mohammad.
Chirri:
There is in the Bible more than one statement
which indicate the expectation of the Prophet Mohammad. He is not mentioned by
name, but the descriptions seem to fit only Mohammad.
We find in the Deuteronomy book the following
state-ment:
“I will raise up for them (the Israelites)
a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put My words in his
mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not
give heed to My words which he shall speak in My name, I, Myself, will require
it of him.” 18:18-19
This
statement promises that God will raise up a prophet from among the brethren of
the Israelites; that that prophet will be like Moses himself; that God will
put His own words, in the mouth of that prophet; and that that prophet will
speak those words in the name of God Who put them in his mouth.
Thus, the expected prophet has three
descriptions, none of them is applicable but to the Prophet Mohammad:
1. The promised prophet will be from the
brethren of the Israelites. The Israelites are related only to the Arabs.
There are no people in the world that may be called the brethren of the
Israelites except the Arabs, because the Israelites are the descendants of
Isaac, and the Arabs are the descendants of Ishmael, the older brother of
Isaac.
2. That prophet will be like Moses. Moses was a prophet of a new dispensation,
and he was a secular as well as a spiritual leader to his people. This
description fits only Mohammad among all the prophets who came after Moses.
None of those prophets, including Jesus, was sent with new rules and
dispensations. Jesus followed the dispensations of Moses and did not introduce
new religious laws. Nor was he a secular leader to the Israelites. In addition
to this, all those prophets, except Mohammad, came from the Israe-lites
themselves and not from their brethren.
3. The statement described the promised
prophet as a prophet who will not speak of his own. The very words of God will
be put in his mouth.
No prophet except
Mohammad has claimed that his book contains the very words of God. Moses
himself recei-ved the revelation, but he conveyed the heavenly message by his
own words. What we read in the five books of Moses is considered to be the
words of Moses, not the very words of God. All the books of which the Old
Testament is composed were written and worded by human writers, and so are the
four gospels. Jesus spoke the truth which he re-ceived, but he spoke in his
own words. The Bible, at best, is considered a dialogue between God and man.
Only the Qur’an contains the words which
Mohammad recited as the very direct words of God. Mohammad never claimed any
word in the Qur’an. He recited the Qur’anic words as the words of God who put
them in the mouth of Mohammad.
Thus, the descriptions seem to fit only
Mohammad, and no one else.
Another statement, indicating the anticipation
of Mohammad, is found in the same Deuteronomy book:
“This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children
of Israel before his death. He said:
“The Lord came
from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon us; He shone forth from Mount Paran, He
came from the ten thousands of holy ones with flaming fire at His right hand.”
33
The Lord’s
coming means the coming of His revelation. Moses spoke of God’s manifestation
to three prophets at three places: The manifestation in Sinai which represents
the prophethood of Moses himself.
The other manifestation
is the revelation which was re-ceived at Seir. This represents the revelation
which was received by Jesus because Seir is located in the land of Jordan.
The third manifestation is the light of God
which shone from the Mount of Paran. This represents the prophethood of
Mohammad. The Mount of Paran is located in the cou-ntry of Hijaz, the country
in which Mohammad was born and lived. The following words give more
indications to this fact:
“He came from the ten
thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.”
Mohammad is the Prophet who entered Mecca, the
capital of Hijaz, heading an army of ten thousand Muslims by which he subdued
the idol-worshippers of Mecca.
The New Testament, also, contains some clear
anticipa-tion of the advent of Mohammad:
“Jesus said unto them (the
Israelites), did ye never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders
rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: This is the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God
shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on
whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” Matthew 21:42-44
The statement
is a prophecy informing the Jews that the kingdom of God shall be taken from
them, and that it will be given to another nation; No other nation after Jesus
had claimed a heavenly message except the Arab nation which conveyed to the
world the message of Islam which was revealed to Mohammad. Jesus called the
nation which will supersede the Israelites “the stone which was rejected by
the builders.” This is a reference to the covenant which was made between God
and Isaac, at the time of Abraham, of which Ishmael was excluded. From the Old
Testament:
“As for Ishmael, I have heard
you; behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him
exceedingly: he shall be the father of twelve princes and I will make him a
great nation. But I will establish my Covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah
shall bear to you at this season next year.” 1:17:20-21
Ishmael and his
children, according to this statement, have been excluded, at the time of
Abraham, from the covenant, and for this, Jesus called them the stone which
was rejected by the builders. Now Jesus was informing the Israelites that the
same stone which was rejected will become the head of the corner .
Mohammad and the Arabs
are descendants of Ishmael, and these are the nation which Jesus expected to
supersede the Israelite nation.
Jesus described the
superseding nation as a crushing stone; whoever falls on it will be broken,
and on whom it may fall, it will grind him to powder. This means that that
nation which will receive the kingdom of God will be a brave nation, capable
of defeating any enemy that may attack it and crushing any enemy it may
attack. This description is applicable only to the Arab nation which was
distinguished from among all nations by carrying a spiritual message and by
being brave enough to defend itself and to defeat its enemies. History, after
Jesus, had witnessed many brave nations, but none of them were motivated by a
heavenly revelation except the nation of Mohammad.
