Ali Ataie – The Sacred Narratives in the Qur’an
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AI: Transcript ©
It is He, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, who
sent His Messenger
with guidance in the religion of truth, making
it prevail over all others
even to the dismay of those who associate
with Allah
Nowadays,
perhaps more than ever,
human beings are steeped in a type of
existential chaos,
in theological chaos, in moral chaos.
Of course,
chaos is the opposite of cosmos, meaning
order.
So disorder is is everywhere. There are millions
of people in the world, right now.
There are millions of people in the world
right now whose,
basically their entire world view is being turned
on its head,
by the current, sort of spirit of the
age, the current zeitgeist,
by this pervasive and pernicious culture that makes
them question their own common sense.
And and they should know that,
Islam has something,
unique and elegant
and beautiful and reasonable to offer them. And
by Islam, I don't mean some kind of
vague, undefined
submission.
I mean the message brought to us specifically
by the prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Salam. Allah
says that the Quran is,
that the Quran itself is a is a
healing, is a cure for what is in
the hearts of humanity.
People are afflicted everywhere with spiritual maladies and
diseases, and in many cases, they don't realize
that they even have them. There's rampant doubt,
and hypocrisy, and there's arrogance, and vanity, and
heedlessness. We ask Allah
to cure us of all such diseases and
maladies.
So so watering down our religious beliefs unnecessarily
or attempting to, combine or somehow equalize all
of these religion,
religions, actually compromises
our distinctiveness,
as a religion. It compromises
the Quran's distinctiveness
as a scripture,
as a unique book of healing.
There is something special about Islam.
There is something special about the Quran. There's
something special about the prophet Muhammad,
and we should make no apologies,
about this.
This is the truth.
However, we show humility before Allah, Subhanahu wa
ta'ala. And the prophet,
he said,
This is a hadith recorded by Imam Al
Beihak.
And this is a spiritual principle. So you
have mathematical principles, you have biological
principles.
This is a spiritual principle, a spiritual law
that if we are humble before Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will raise
us. And if we are arrogant, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala will debase and humiliate us. Almost
the exact same statement is attributed to, Isa
alaihi salam in the New Testament. So the
Christians, they have these spiritual laws.
People who believe in ultimate accountability,
they tend to have these
spiritual laws. But there are people who love
the dunya and cling to the dunya.
And these people follow other principles.
Right? They have other axioms. They have other
laws, like just do you,
or do what thou wilt. Do whatever you
want,
or live your truth
or it's my body. It's my choice.
This type of thing. I mean, good luck
with that.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
indeed we belong to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We don't own anything.
I don't own my wealth. I don't own
my house. I don't own my body. I
own nothing. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is a
sovereign Lord.
When the innocent little beautiful baby girl
will be asked on the ul Qiyamah
for what crime she was killed.
Can you imagine? This is proven. The majority
of children
killed by their parents are girls. No one
wants to talk about this war on women.
This is a global war on women.
The other, front of the war on women,
there's many fronts, there's multiple fronts of the
war on women, is when men appropriate the
gender of women.
When men think they can become women,
like some sort of gender blackface.
When womanhood becomes mockingly
performative,
this will systematically
erase
that which makes real women unique
and distinct
and precious.
This is in the Quran. The male is
not like the female.
The prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
recognized this perennial problem in human society that
people who don't believe in ultimate accountability
will up will up oppress others that are
physically weaker.
That's the law of the jungle.
But we're not animals living in a jungle.
We're human beings.
We are insane.
We have a aqal. There's something different about
us. We don't follow the law of the
jungle.
We follow the laws of revelation
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this is
why the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
The prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said whoever
has 3 daughters and shelters them and has
compassion towards them and protects them, takes care
of them. Jannah is wajib upon that person.
And
And they said to him, O messenger of
God, what if you have 2 daughters?
And he said, even if you have 2
daughters. And then the narrator of this hadith
he says, he says, we were going to
ask even if it's 1 daughter and we
were sure he would have said even 1
daughter. Salallahu alayhi wasalam.
Notice how he did not stop at shelter
them. You shelter them. You have compassion,
rahma, towards them. You take care of them.
Protect them.
Okay. So I want to say a few
things about the sacred narratives in the Quran.
This is really the topic
of my Khutba Insha'Allah.
So it is a fact that the sacred
narratives
described in the
Quran, such as the story of the flood
at the time of Nuh alaihi salaam, the
story of Joseph, Yusuf alaihi salaam,
the story of the Exodus,
from Egypt, the Hijra of Musa, alayhi salam
with the Bani Israel. The Quranic versions of
these narratives
make much more historical sense,
than their biblical counterparts. In other words, the
flood and the exodus as described in the
bible
are basically historically impossible
or at least highly implausible.
Somehow, the Quran avoided
many of the problematic historical claims
of the biblical authors. And this is from
the dala'il and nabua.
This is one of the proofs of prophecy.
This is a proof that the prophet Muhammad
salallahu alaihi wasallam was a true Nabi, a
true prophet. For example, I'll give you an
example. The bible says that 600,000 men of
fighting age made exodus
from Egypt with Musa, alayhis salam. This means
about 3,000,000 people made exodus
from Egypt. If we count the women, the
children, the elderly, not to mention animals, 3,000,000
people plus livestock.
Historically, this is
almost falsifiable.
This would mean that basically a third of
the entire population of Egypt made Hijra. This
would have been noticed by other civilizations in
that region yet no one recorded it. 3,000,000
people for 40 years would have left a
major footprint
in the Sinai desert.
There is none.
If 3,000,000 people were marching, just to give
you a visual or to conceptualize this a
little bit. If 3,000,000 people were marching, 10
men across, when the first row reached Mount
Sinai, the last row would have still been
in Egypt.
What does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say in
the Quran?
The exodus is confirmed in its general sense
in the Quran, but there are changes that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes the narrative that
are extremely important
and often overlooked by even scholars let alone
average readers. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
we reveal to Musa alayhi salam,
journey under the cover of night with my
servants. Indeed you will be pursued.
So they all left in 1 night. And
and and Pharaoh sent summoners to the cities.
Saying these people are a small remnant.
A small remnant according to the Quran, a
small group of believers
in Allah and his messenger Musa alaihi salaam
made hijra, made the exodus. Hamani Sahaba made
Hijra from Mecca to Medina during the time
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. It was
a small group.
The biblical version of the exodus cannot be
true historically.
While the Quranic version is very plausible,
if the prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi wasallam plagiarized
the bible which is the standard Quranic, the
standard aafwan, the standard orientalist trope that he
plagiarized the bible in the Quran. And they
say this even to this day. Why didn't
he copy these problems?
How did he know to make this adjustment
to the narrative?
How did the prophet salallahu
alaihi salallahu alaihi salallahu alaihi salallahu alaihi salallahu
alaihi salallam were called mulk. They were called
kings not pharaohs.
The ruler at the time of Musa alaihi
salam was called firaan, was called pharaoh. The
Quran is correct historically. The book of Genesis
gets it wrong.
Why didn't the prophet
call the ruler? Why didn't the prophet, again
in quotes, call the ruler of Egypt at
the time of Yusuf alaihi salaam a pharaoh
like the bible did?
How did he know to make this adjustment
to the narrative?
How did he know to avoid this,
this anachronism? It's called anachronism.
There are linguistic subtleties in the Quran
that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam could not
have known.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
The name is Zakaria in Hebrew
means the mention of the Lord. This is
what it His name is Zakaria in Hebrew
means the mention of the Lord. So this
verse is a play on words.
The mention of the mercy of your Lord
to his servant,
the mention of the Lord.
This is there's this beautiful subtle symmetry
in this one ayah.
The author of this ayah, new Hebrew. There's
no doubt about it. If a Jew living
in the Hijaz heard this verse, his ears
would perk up. He would notice the subtlety.
Another example, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
That the wife of Ibrahim alaihi salam,
she laughed and then we gave her glad
tidings of Isaac. Isaac means laughter.
And then it says, woman
woman woman
And then following Isaac,
Jacob. The name Isaac means laughter in Hebrew.
The name Jacob means to follow or to
come after.
This is a type of word play that
adds to the eloquence
and brilliance of the Quran.
Whoever composed this verse knew Hebrew. Of course
we know this is a revelation from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
I'll give you another example. There's there's 100
and 100 if not 1000 of these types
of examples.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about Yahya alayhi
salam.
Now Yahya is John. John the Baptist, peace
be upon him. Most probably.
The Quran calls him Yahya, meaning he lives
because he was martyred.
And the martyrs are alive.
They're alive with their Lord, receiving sustenance
from their Lord.
But the Hebrew name of John is Yohanan,
which is related to hananan.
This is the only occurrence of this word
in the entire Quran.
And it's describing Yahya alaihi salam because it
actually relates to his historical name.
These are subtleties that go over the head
of 99%
of the Quran's readers. The author of the
Quran is playing with these languages in a
masterful way.
Now we also believe in miracles.
Musa alayhi salaam performed many miracles. The
And secular historians do not consider miracles when
determining what happened in history.
That's part of our iman Bilhayb.
Right? Because the past is *. We don't
have access to it. We can't reproduce these
things. Our belief in miracles is not irrational
nor is it falsifiable. It is based upon
our belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And
we can argue rationally
that this universe had a designer and a
creator and that this creator is personal. This
is why there is something rather than nothing.
This is a big philosophical conundrum
for these philosophers. Why is there something rather
than nothing?
This creator who brought this universe into existence
from nothing
has power over every atom in the universe.
Miracles are easy for him. But this is
a philosophical argument, this is a theological argument.
But from a standpoint of history,
the Quran's narratives avoid
the historical pitfalls
of the biblical narratives. And I would say
this is also true of the teachings of
Jesus, peace be upon him, our master, Isa
alaihis salaam.
When the Quran's Christology,
it's statements about Christ. Even though so so
so the Quran's Christology make more historical sense
than what the New Testament even teaches about
Jesus, peace be upon him. Even though the
Quran came 500 years after the New Testament.
This is amazing.
Most historians today do not believe
that the historical Jesus, peace be upon him,
claimed to be divine.
They say he claimed to be a prophet
and a healer
who taught a more relaxed interpretation
of the Torah,
and that he spoke of someone to come
after him who would bring the kingdom of
God on earth.
And when it comes to the crucifixion,
so here the Christian will point will point
out to the Muslim and say, look, here
the historian says, Isa alaihi salam was crucified,
but the Quran denies it. But here I
would say
that historians have highly overemphasized
the historicity
of the crucifixion. I think if they look
closely at the evidence again,
many of them will affirm at least the
historical
plausibility
that Isa alaihi salam was not crucified.
What does the Quran say? It says those
who differed about it, meaning the crucifixion,
were in doubt, in check concerning it. They
did not have certain knowledge.
They did not have realm
except that they followed one conjecture.
In other words, none of the evidence
that Jews and Christians marshal to support Jesus'
crucifixion.
None of it was written by an eyewitness
of this alleged historical event. Every epistle, every
gospel, every statement in Christian, Jewish and Roman
sources without exception
came much later
and were offered by people who were not
there.
Paul was the first person in recorded history
to claim that Jesus was crucified. This was
20 years later after after the alleged event
and he wasn't even there. Paul never met
the historical Jesus. He was not a disciple.
So these sources are conjectural.
They are. Today, we know that this is
true. The Quran is correct.
But back when the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam
first ordered the uttered these words, Christians and
historians believe that the 4 gospels that 2
of them were written by 2 disciples of
Jesus and the other 2 were written by
disciples of disciples. No historian really believes that
anymore.
The Quran is correct
Yet most historians continue to drag their feet
on this issue.
There's a dogmatism among even secular historians. Don't
think these people are objective.
Put put put 50, quote unquote,
objective secular historians in a room and and
give them a topic. You have 50 different
responses, 50 different opinions.
So allow me to paraphrase an excellent point
made by doctor Louay Faturhi. It is what
he says. It's a paraphrase. He says, if
the prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi sallam is the
real author of the Quran and he desperately
hoped to convert Jews and Christians to Islam
and to become his followers, then why in
the world did he deny the crucifixion of
Jesus
when both Jews and Christians maintained that he
was crucified? Why would he invent an uncrucified
Jesus? Why would he create an unnecessary barrier
to con to, conversion?
The answer seems to be that the Quran
is stating an actual fact since it has
direct access to history
as a divine revelation.
It is simply a fact that Jesus of
Nazareth, the son of Mary, peace be upon
them, was not crucified.
Of the flood, the Exodus, the story of
Joseph, the teachings of Jesus are more historically
accurate
than what the Bible says. So why would
this also not be true about the history
of the patriarchs?
About Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and Jacob, peace be
upon them.
Now, despite the problems with the biblical text,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us that there
are predictions and descriptions
of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
in the Torah and in the gospel that
have survived the pens of the editors.
The
Torah and the gospel that are with them
that they have. The truth is there. Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala preserve these things so that
they might recognize.
They simply need to extract them using reason
and logic and textual criticism,
theological consistency,
the tools of historical inquiry.
There's a verse in Genesis 17, 17/20
that says that God blessed Ishmael, and that
God would make him a great nation. The
context of this verse as it appears in
Genesis
is as an afterthought.
Right? It says that God favored Isaac
over Ishmael.
And God made an everlasting covenant with Isaac
and his descendants, not Ishmael.
But okay, I'll give Ishmael. I'll make him
a great nation as well. I'll give him
something.
But in reality it's all about Isaac.
This is how the verse about Ishmael is
presented.
So from the context, from the present context
of this passage, the normative Jewish claim.
Okay? It's important for us to understand the
claims.
The norm and and stop building these straw
men and destroying them. We have to know
what people actually believe.
The normative Jewish claim is that all the
nations of the earth will be blessed by
the descendants of Isaac, not Ishmael.
But blessed how? What do the rabbi say?
Blessed with the light of monotheism,
they say.
This is the absolute bedrock and basis and
foundation
of Jewish teaching according to Judaism,
monotheism,
Tawhid,
the king messiah, they say.
Okay. From David's line going back to Isaac
will convert the world to Tohid. Ishmael and
his descendants will play a supporting role, a
subordinate role.
This is their claim about what it says
in Genesis 17, about Ishmael and Isaac. We
should know their claims. Now is this true?
What actually happened in history?
So there's there's a text and then there's
reality.
Anyone can make a claim.
There's the claim and then there's the truth.
Let me give you an analogy.
Imagine I said in the year 1990,
many years ago, I was very young,
young man,
Many of you weren't even born. Imagine I
said in 1990
that the Houston Oilers
will be the greatest dynasty in NFL history.
And I also said specifically that the New
England Patriots, they'll be okay,
but the Oilers will be greater. I promise
you.
Now fast forward to
2022. Was I right?
What actually happened?
Can I still be right?
In the future? No. Why? Because the Houston
Oilers no longer exist.
I have been falsified
by history.
I have been falsified by the
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Here's a fact.
The line of David is lost. It's been
lost for 2000 years.
Here's a fact, the greatest and most successful
monotheist
in the history of humanity, it's not even
close,
was the prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam. A
descendant of Ishmael.
He made the world monotheistic like no one
before him and no one will after him.
Here's a fact, the chronology of events described
in Genesis were created by editors 100 of
years later. So who did God most likely
make this promise with? Ishmael or Isaac?
Absolutely no disrespect
to Saydna Ishaq alaihis salam. Obviously,
we love him. He's a prophet of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. In our prayer, we send
blessings upon the family of Ibrahim alaihis salam.
We don't say upon Ismail and his progeny.
Upon Adi upon the entire family, Adi Ibrahim.
Everyone.
But facts are facts.
Claims that are contrary to facts
don't change facts.
Mentioned in the book, Ismael alayhis salam. Indeed,
he was true to the promise and a
messenger and a prophet. He used to enjoin
on his people prayer and fasting and with
and and his lord was well pleased with
him. And and his lord was well pleased
with him. And and his lord was well
pleased with him. And and his lord was
well pleased with him. And and his lord
was well pleased with him. And
and
and with and and his lord was well
pleased with him.
This is what reality demonstrates.
Historical
reality that falsifies the claims
of Ahlul Kitab and exposes
the errors in their scriptures. What about the
Christians? The Christians inherited the Jewish scriptures,
and so they force themselves essentially to accept
the book of Genesis hook line and sinker.
So then the Christian claim is also
that God would bless the world through the
descendants of Isaac. They accept the text of
Genesis as it stands. But according to them,
God did this through Jesus peace be upon
him, who was God's divine
son or God himself,
who died for our sins as a human
sacrifice.
This is Paul's claim in the book of
Galatians.
The problem with this Christian claim, with all
due respect I'm not trying to disrespect anybody.
Right? We we have to be clear about
our beliefs
and about their beliefs. This is what they
believe.
When we offu state,
when we muddy the waters, we confuse people.
Let's be clear and direct. The prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam was clear and direct in his
speech.
The problem is that the Christian claim is
utterly incompatible
with Abrahamic monotheism and is highly blasphemous.
The Torah says loish elavichazayv
in Hebrew. That's right. Any man who claims
to be God is a liar.
The Quran says that the reward for a
man who claims to be God is Jahannam.
So the Jewish claim as to how God
will bless the nations through Isaac
is historically impossible, while the Christian claim as
to how God will bless the nations through
Isaac is theologically impossible.
How perfect are the ayats of the Quran?
This is perfect. Their fabrications have deceived them
about their very own religion.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blessed humanity
through Ismail alaihi salam. This is what reality
demonstrates.
Here's the actual verse in Genesis 17/20 about
Ishmael.
Ishmael and I'll end with this inshallah. This
is the first isolated from its contrived and
falsifiable context in the Torah.
Is this definitely what,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed to Musa alayhi
salam.
But it's probably something close to this. God
says to Abraham, I have blessed him, meaning
Ishmael, and will make him fruitful and will
multiply him exceedingly.
Twelve princes shall he beget and I will
make him a great nation.
I have blessed Ishmael, it says. And the
Hebrew says,
That is to say in Arabic, Ishmael was.
The cognate here in Arabic is.
It further says that from this Mubarak person,
Ismael alaihi salam, there will come a great
nation. In this context, great doesn't simply mean
great in numbers. It means spiritually great.
We know this because he's called Mubarak.
Right? The verse is not talking about a
lot of mushrikeen.
The verse is talking about a multitude of
mawhidun,
of monotheists.
This is clearly a reference to the blessed
and great Ummah of the prophet Muhammad salallahu
alaihi wa sallam, who again was the most
successful monotheist
in the history of humanity.
Judaism cannot simply ignore him. He's too great
to ignore.
This is a major
delil of Nabuwa,
a proof of prophecy. The Quran is the
greatest testimony to monotheism
in the history of the world. The prophet
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi sallam is the greatest monotheist
of all time. There's no one in even
in the same ballpark. It's not even close.
Now in mystical Judaism, I'll just mention this,
I thought this was interesting. There's something called
Gematria. This is kind of like a numerological
interpretation
of sacred texts. So as Muslims, you know,
we we should be careful of these things,
take them with a grain of salt as
one of my teachers said. Perhaps there is
something to this, but we should never be
dogmatic or insistent about these things. Right? They
say too much salt on a meal spoils
the dish.
Nonetheless,
some interesting numerological
correspondences
have been pointed out to me by my
Jewish colleagues. I have Jewish, when I used
to work at a Catholic school,
the rabbi professor came to me and he
pointed these things out to me.
He said in Genesis 17/20,
God said to Abraham that we would multiply
Ishmael exceedingly.
The word exceedingly he says in Hebrew is
which translates as exceedingly.
And he said the numerical value of this
is 92 exactly.
And he said the phrase as a great
nation, the Goy Gador,
is also exactly 92, the numerical value. And
he said did you know that the numerical
value of Muhammad
in Hebrew is
exactly 92?
This subtlety did not escape the notice of
Hebrew
exigits.
And there are Jewish scholars who admit
that the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
is a fulfillment of this verse, Genesis 17/20.
They admit this. They admit that this verse
is predicting
the Muslim Ummah under the prophet Muhammad salallahu
alayhi wa sallam. You'll find this under classical
literature.
This is the position of a famous 11th
century Tunisian rabbi
named Hananel ben Hushiel. People can look this
up. The famous spanish
rabbi and Torah commentator,
Bahia Ben Asher. He quoted rabbi Chanael. This
is what he said quote, once this prophecy
came true
Islam conquered the civilized world like a whirlwind.
We, the Jewish people lost our position of
preeminence in the world due to our sins.
End quote.
They know that this verse is describing the
prophet sallallahu alaihi salam.
I'll be done in 2 minutes inshallah. Now
what do we learn from the Quran
about the historical situation in the Hejaz
during the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam? The Quran quotes the enemies of
the prophet, the mushrike in Mecca.
Right? Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
says
That when it is said to them, there
is no god but Allah, they have arrogance.
And they say, should we abandon our gods
for a possessed poet? These are charges that
polemicus today continue to levy against the prophet
salallahu alaihi wasalam. He was a poet. Right?
In other words, the Quran is not some
revelation.
It's just literature. It's high register. Rhymed prose.
Or the prophet was
possessed. We're out of his mind.
They still say these things. Nothing has changed.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala responds.
Rather he comes with the truth and confirms
the messengers.
So after hearing such ayat,
the mushrikeen in Mecca finally bit the bullet
and sought counsel
from the Jews in Yathrib.
They described the prophet salallahu alaihi salam to
the Jews in Yathrib. And when the Jews
in Yathrib heard the descriptions of the prophet
salallahu alaihi salam, sight unseen that didn't even
see him yet. Many of their scholars
knew he was a true prophet
and they communicated this to the farish.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us a record
of this.
Is it not is it is it not
a sign for these mushrikeen
that many llorama
from the Jews knew him to be
true? This first gives us a key piece
of insight into the actual historical situation in
Mecca and Yathrib.
The Quran would not make such a statement
unless it were true. It would not make
such a statement if the Quran could immediately
falsify it. In other words, the Quran is
reminding the Quraysh what they already knew that
Jewish scholars in Yathrib and elsewhere were confirming
the Nabooah of the prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi
wa sallam. These were learned Ahlid Kitab, people
of scripture. They recognized him as a prophet
before they even met him. These ayatrah from
Surah to Shura, a Meccan Surah. This is
before the Hijra.
Why else is this significant?
It is significant because the earliest Muslims in
Mecca tended to be slaves and and the
youth and women, people that the Meccan aristocracy
did not value so much. And so Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling the Quraysh that
while you're going around calling him a poet
and insane
and a soothsayer
and making fun of his followers, meanwhile, in
and in other places in the North, ulama
of the bible and of biblical tradition have
recognized the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
as being a true prophet. You're missing the
boat.
Even many Jews in Medina, during the prophet's
time, took this position regarding him. They knew
he was a prophet, but they wavered because
he was an Arab, he was a gentile.
But the Quran argues, Ibrahim alaihis salam, who
is your father? The Jews call Ibrahim,
Abraham Avinu.
Abraham, our father, our patriarch.
Not Jewish.
He is Nabi al Umni. The prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is Nabi al Umni.
He is the prophet of the Abrahamic restoration.
I'll just end with this hadith from him
from Imamatidmid, he relates to hadith.
And Abi Musa
So he says that
the Jews would come and sit in the
majalis of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
in Medina, and they would sneeze on purpose
because they wanted the prophet to say, may
Allah have mercy upon you.
They knew he was a prophet.
And and the prophet
would say,
And the prophet would say, may Allah guide
you and correct your understandings. May Allah
strengthen our iman with knowledge.
May Allah
make us a means of guidance and not
a hindrance to guidance.