Bilal Philips – Miracle Of The Qur’An
AI: Summary ©
The conversation discusses the history and predictions of the Bible, including its ability to bring people back to life and its historical significance. The speaker also discusses the challenges faced by the Islamist movement and the use of Arabic in various cultural areas. The importance of learning the language and practicing it is emphasized, as it is a complete job and a holy spirit. The segment also touches on historical and scientific facts about the Bible, including its depiction of the holy spirit and its potential to treat health issues. The importance of reciting the Bible is also emphasized, as it is a way to develop one's faith.AI: Transcript ©
alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah carrion.
While he was off the minister in the vicinity Loma Jean
operates due to a Manjula Peace and blessings when his last prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the law goes follow the path of righteousness until the last day.
The topic this afternoon, the miracle of the crime
is one which touches something of the essence of Islam.
It is part of the face of Muslims.
A person who doesn't believe
in the miraculous nature of the Quran is in fact, according to Islamic teachers considered a non Muslim,
this reality
is something which are on which hinges
the prophethood of Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam. Because if one denies or rejects the miraculous nature of the Quran, one in fact rejects the prophethood. The revelation one rejects Islam in totality. So, the issue of the miraculous nature of the Quran is very fundamental to Islamic belief,
as a means of understanding what it means to Muslims.
And how
non Muslims may be able to perceive or to understand that miraculous nature. I will attempt in this afternoon's presentation, to touch on some aspects of the miraculous nature of the choir.
The first thing
we could look at,
is the concept of what is the miracle.
In English, according to Oxford, it refers to a marvelous event due to some suppose, supernatural agency.
From a religious point of view,
it represents
an act or an event,
which is supernatural, in the sense that it goes against the laws of nature.
And
it was used
by God,
to prove
to the people to whom prophets were sent, that they were in fact, prophets of God, and that the message that they brought was
indeed from God. Since from the religious perspective,
why were miracles necessary
to prove the prophets would
are the divine origin of the message brought by the prophets
because human nature
is such that it does not accept or submit to teachings or guidance, direction, unless it feels that the one who is guiding
or is demanding obedience
is either
physically or intellectually stronger than the one who is called to be guided, this is human nature.
A person who is calling to moral superiority,
does not necessarily find the following, that one who calls to physical
or intellectual
calls with physical or intellectual strength, one was proven himself to be more powerful because he has behind him force
or because he has an intellect which seems to be superior to everybody else's intellect.
So, God sent out along with the profit,
something which would challenge
the human mind
would cause them
To reflect,
to accept
that the person who was bringing these
superior moral codes
not just moral with moral,
affecting not only religious practices, but all aspects of life,
that these people were in fact bringing something which was from God.
The Miracle confirmed the divine origin of the teachings, as well as it pointed to God Himself.
For those who have doubts about even the existence of God.
Of course,
those who doubted God's existence have always historically been a minority.
It's really in our time, this is an unusual circumstance where we find, you know, large portions of mankind, officially disbelieving in the existence of God, but through history, as far as we recorded it, it was a very few,
very small group, who actually rejected the existence of God.
What we find when we look at the miracles of the Prophet
is that whenever God gave them miracles, these miracles seem to be
suitable or consistent with the context in which the Prophet was set.
For example, in the case of Prophet Moses, or an Arabic is known as Moosa.
May God's peace and blessings be upon him.
He was given
two basic miracles,
one, wherein when he placed his hand inside his cloak, and brought it out, it appeared bright and shiny.
And the second one was that of his staff, when he kept it on the ground, turned into a snake.
The people of Egypt to whom he was set,
were noted for their reverence for the magician, magic played,
or had a high
position within the society, the magicians, were next to God, or next to the kings who are next to God, they're at the upper end of the hierarchy of the society.
And as such, the miracle which was brought by Prophet Musa, it appeared to be similar to the acts of the magicians, because this was what was highly regarded.
And this was what now brought about the challenge.
wherein
the pharaoh feeling that what was had with him, was the same as what his magicians had. So he offered to
challenge him to prove that, in fact, he was no greater than his own magician, and prove to the people that he was a false prophet.
Of course, we're all familiar with the story, which is recorded in the crime as well as in the Old Testament.
When the magician
cast their rods, and stop on the ground, then it became or it appeared to the people to be like snakes.
And Prophet Moses
did the same.
However,
his staff became a snake that was capable of eating up the other snakes.
When this took place,
the magician fell down in frustration, accepting the God of Moses and Aaron,
because they knew
that what they were doing was merely
illusion.
It was made to seem in the eyes of the people that they were seeing snakes. But in fact, what we had thrown have not become snakes.
They did not have the ability to change the essence of nature or the nature of, of the rod and the staff.
However, what they observed
In the case of what Prophet Moses did, was that the nature of that stuff change, it became an actual snake, which is something which was far beyond their own abilities. And they knew this is not the work of a magician, having the skill that they had, that this went beyond this had to be, in fact, from God, as Moses claimed.
So that was enough
to convince the magicians, and many of the people, of course, there were other, you know, miracles took place in the life of, of Moses, and in the trial, faced with the Egyptian, until eventually, he left Egypt, with the people of Israel.
But
that particular incident
brings out the importance of the miracles
in the life of the Prophet, if we look, in the case, also of Prophet Jesus,
we find that he was raised amongst the Jews who are noted for their medical skills.
Even down to the history of the development of
Islamic civilization, you find that
even to quite recent times, many of the kneading doctors within the Islamic space work
of Jewish extraction, where Jews, Muslims, were not prejudicial towards Jews in the sense that they were, they had skills, they were not oppressed within Muslim communities. In fact, they found a safe haven amongst Muslims, when they were driven out of Europe, you know, during the Middle Ages, etc.
So
the Jewish doctors, who had the skill of being able to bring somebody you know, who has broken their leg, they were able to use their skills to mend the leg, the person who may have had a disease, I got disease in his eyes, they would put some medicine which would help to clear this disease. And at first, who appeared to be so sick, that he was on the brink of death, they would be able to bring this person back.
Jesus came with miracles, which went a step beyond what they were doing.
Because what God gave him, or what God did,
on his hand, was to make the lame walk. One who was born crippled, not one who broke his leg, but he was born a cripple, make him walk through something that the Jewish doctors could not do.
Furthermore, he made the blind see,
which is something again, beyond their capability.
And he brought the dead back to life. Of course, this is related in the Quran, that whenever he did this, he did this, in the name of God, by the will of God clarifying for the people that this was by the will of God. He was not claiming to do this himself just as Moses before him, all the other prophets, when they work miracles, it was not something which they did, claiming that it was from themselves. But this was by the power of God.
In any case, this was sufficient, really, to convince the people of his time, beginning with the doctors,
that he came with a message from God.
But God did not
stop the miracles at that point.
But also revealed unenhanced another miracle which is recorded in the Quran, which is not found in the Bible.
And that is that
Prophet Jesus, also molded out of clay bird, and he would blow on the bird and the bird would fly away in living bird. This is something going even beyond the bringing of the dead back to life. This is appearing to create life from that which had no life.
And this was
for the purpose of convincing without leaving a shadow of a doubt in the minds of the people to whom Jesus was sent. That he was in fact, a man
messenger of God.
Similarly, Prophet Mohammed, he got Peace and blessings beyond all the prophets
had certain miracles
perform certain miracles in Mecca and Medina
which
convinced or to convince the people to whom he was sent in,
in Mecca, Medina that he was a prophet of God.
There were challenges made to him.
It is recorded that in Mecca, he caused the moon to split.
Before the eyes of the Meccans, the moon split into two halves, one following either the fact
that on certain occasions when there was a shortage of food, for shortage of drink, that allow cause,
drink and food to become plentiful at his hand.
However, these miracles, like the miracles of the prophets before, their value was limited to the time in which they were performed. Because if somebody were to ask me to believe in the miracles of Prophet Moses and the miracles of Prophet Jesus,
this is something that I would have to believe on faith.
There is nothing you could do to prove to me, that Prophet Jesus brought the dead back to life.
And nothing I can touch nothing I can feel I can see it. So something I have to accept on faith.
Similarly, with the miracles of Prophet Moses, and
many of the miracles of Prophet Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings can be on all of them. However,
since Prophet Muhammad,
peace and blessings be upon him, wants to be the last of the prophets of God.
It was necessary that he also be given a miracle,
which would last
till the end of time.
If his was to be the last message,
then the miracle which which would prove the authenticity of the message would also have to be a lasting miracle which is tangible, which you and I could touch even today. Otherwise, it would be a case of us being required to believe on faith.
So,
God chose
as the major miracle of Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, the Quran
the message, the Scripture, which was given to him, was to be that major miracle
as Moses
and Jesus in the province before, had major miracles, which had to do with the areas in which the people were, especially the skills and which would prove to them outside of the other general miracles that they perform.
Mohammed may got Peace and blessings and all of the prophets also had a miracle as his major miracle, which
challenge the very area in which the people excelled. And which would laugh because he was to be the last prophet for all time.
What we find,
to understand the miracle of the crime
is that
the people of Mecca,
they were
very much
in love with
prose and poetry.
They loved it.
loved it so much that they used to have contests
and other parts of Arabia, where
four,
and speakers would gather, and they would compete with each other in who was able to express
the most eloquent of
prose as well as that poetry
and
the verses
which were considered to be the most excellent.
Were etched in gold, and how, on the Kaaba
in Mecca, the Kaaba, which was built by Prophet Abraham
as the first house of worship built,
and dedicated to the one God,
built by Prophet Abraham and furnish mine.
However,
over time,
idolatry overcame the original teachings and purpose of the Kaaba. And it became the center of idolatry for Arabia.
On the wall of the Kaaba, this house of worship, was placed these
poems,
which were the most eloquent and the most adored, by the Arabian, they became like objects of worship.
Consequently, the Koran
the revelation came
in a style
and literary style, which was far beyond anything they had ever heard, or I'd ever dreamed up.
It came
with
a poetic
form and literary style,
which did not bring anything which was actually new to them nothing which they had not experienced before, in, in pieces, but it came together in a form which they had never before
experienced,
a form which they found, in fact, to be inimitable.
And they were challenged, to imitate it,
to prove to them
that the Quran was a miracle.
That it was, in fact, a divine revelation from God.
We find verses in the Koran, some of which were read
at the beginning of the program, wherein God challenge mankind in general, the people to whom the revelation first came to produce a quote,
like the one which was revealed.
And
the Quran
was revealed over a period of 23 years.
The challenge came in the early days of the revelation.
So the challenge was really not for the whole text, but for any portion of the text which people felt they would like to challenge.
After some time, when nobody met the challenge,
that challenge was reduced to 10 chapters only.
And finally, the challenge dropped to one chapter.
This one was the first verse read, brother, when God says, if you are in doubt about what we have revealed to our slave habit,
then bring one chapter like it
and call us witnesses.
Anyone beside the law, if you are in truth,
correct.
one chapter
one chapter of the Quran,
which has in its chapters, which are only three verses long, three lines long.
one chapter doesn't mean like 50 pages, you know, you have some chapters, about 50 pages, but you also have chapters, which are only three lines long.
Of course,
when we read this in English,
those of us who don't know Arabic, when we read this in English,
it's kind of difficult to understand how this could be a miracle. Because the translation which our brother read for us,
it was written by a particular individual back in the 30s. Use the valley
and I'm sure none of us doubt that if we were if we were to give the
Same material to Shakespeare, or Wordsworth, or one of the great English poets, but he could write in a couple of songs whenever they want to be heard.
But the plan is very clear.
That that's for iron is an Arabic, it was revealed in Arabic, if not the English that we read,
it is Arabic.
So for one, to taste the literary,
greatness, or magnificence out of the Koran, one would need to learn Arabic,
which is not something impossible.
If a person really wanted,
they could go above and beyond.
And I have met in the course of my travels, and different lectures, etc, in different parts of the world,
a number of
former non Muslims who studied Arabic,
for a variety of different reasons, I didn't meet any who was studying Arabic to find the miracle of the crime. But people who just studied Arabic for as a second language, or whatever, and in the course of the studies, because anybody who has to study Arabic, and they want to get into it in depth,
to be able to act with a translator, or whatever,
they have to study, at some point, something of the
terrain, to understand
the best examples of eloquence in Arabic, they have to study the Quran.
If they don't, you know, then they are, and language will always be, you know, at a lower level, they will not be able to reach the top level of the language.
And so you'll find in many institutions around the world,
Arabic being taught, and in the course of the teaching,
course, will have to be looked at.
And in the course of the study of method that said, a number of people who ended up in studying Arabic, started reading something of the Quran, and being struck
by the eloquence of the court, struck by it, so much so that they just had to keep searching and reading more and more until they ended up.
And this is one of the reasons why
Islam spread so rapidly in the Arabian Peninsula, initially, and in the neighboring countries, where Arabic was also the language of the people.
But for those
who may not understand how big there is another way to understand
the miracle of the Quran as a literary miracle,
from a historical point of view,
because for the Quran, to
fill the role of being a literary miracle, or being a miracle, there has to be one, a challenge to people to imitate it, to, they have to be a need amongst the people to meet the challenge. And three, there has to be a removal of the obstacles that might be there for meeting the challenge.
If the Quran fulfills this, then it can truly be called a miracle. One the challenge I've spoken about
the verses in the Quran,
Claire
clearly challenging the people to imitate,
imitate the whole Quran 10 verses of the Quran, or even 10 chapters of the Quran or even one chapter of the Quran which is only three versus
the need to meet the challenge.
Why does there have to be a need to meet the challenge? Well, because you can have a challenge
where there is no need.
And that challenge becomes a meaningless challenge. For example,
in America
back in
the 50s,
actually beginning from the 30s but there was an individual his name was Elijah Muhammad.
He claimed that he was a prophet of God
have been sent to black Americans.
And he taught a run
of Muslim I don't want to call it Islam,
which was in fact,
reverse racism.
Where
American society,
a product of European colonialism
had promoted a concept
to the non European people, the colored peoples of the world, that God was a white man.
Because Jesus
is presented in the images, as a European, it looks like somebody from Spain or France or
England.
People are saying this Jesus is God.
They are promoting an image of God looking like themselves.
This is that psychological slavery, which was put on the people.
What Elijah did,
as a reverse reaction to that he said, No as much.
In fact, God is like,
we have today feminists who say, God, the woman
who whatever.
He said, God is not.
And in fact, white people are all devil.
He reversed the picture.
And He further said, I challenge any white person to prove that he is not the devil
of
America. No, we don't know of any white people who got up to prove that they weren't devil. Because obviously, I mean, this challenge was meaningless. There was no need for white Americans or any white Americans to stand up to prove that he wasn't the devil.
This is a claim made by a little insignificant individual.
But for him and his followers, it was to see no white person got up to prove he wasn't the devil. So there must be
such a challenge we say is meaningless.
Because there was not a need in the society to meet the challenge.
Similarly, you have
one of the founders of
the highest
profile called the Bob.
He wrote a book which he called an Kitab, one of the, you know, the most holy
scriptures
in which he also claimed that if you don't believe, because they were an offshoot from Islam, they broke off from Islam, the Bible, etc. These were, they were raised in Muslim environments,
their initial practices, etc, are all Islamic, where they deviated step by step.
This individual who was, you know, familiar with the crime, etc. He claimed that in his book,
they either I believe that this is from God, then produce one letter like it.
No, of course.
It was written in Arabic.
And the letters, the alphabetical letters, which make up the Arabic alphabet, anybody can write it. so obvious, nobody is going to stand up and say we're going to prove that
this is not a true book from God because we can write a calf like the puff you wrote, or an Aleph like,
nonsensical.
In fact,
when the individual was brought to trial, he was brought to trial. And scholars challenged him on his book. And they pointed out all the grammatical mistakes in his book, he made many grammatical mistakes, he was not an expert in Arabic literature, etc.
He said, Well, this is a new divine grammar, you know, his answer, but no, anybody who had the least knowledge, basic knowledge of Arabic could see that in fact, this was in very poor standard.
That said, there was no need
in this society, really to meet the challenge of producing one lecture, because it was a meaningless job.
In the case, of
what
We find is that
the message what's the broad
challenge the whole socio economic status of
Arabia,
particularly of Mecca, and of the Quraysh tribe, which controlled that area, there was a challenge here.
Why? Because Islam calls to
the fact that the religion which they followed was false,
that the gods which they had set up, were all false, and that there was only one God.
This challenge them because of the fact that Mecca,
had become the center of idolatry. in Arabia, all of the tribes that had their own personal idols, they had brought them to Mecca, and it had become the place of pilgrimage of worship.
For all of the pagan
tribes of Arabia.
What that did for the Quraysh, the tribe was controlled Mecca,
was that it made them the middlemen,
the guardians of the shrine, and as guardians of the shrine, they received a lot of wealth, they became very wealthy, the most wealthy of the tribes of Arabia, and with that game power status.
So what Islam was threatening to do was to destroy their status,
to make them equal with everybody else.
And to remove any special significance in terms of
religious significance in terms of Mecca being a center of idolatry, to remove that totally,
the remaining tribes would no longer come.
Therefore, the economy that is the wealth that they would bring with them would no longer be there.
So their whole existence was threatened.
There was a need to meet the challenge.
And they tried. First,
when we see what did they do, they tried to convince Prophet Mohammed, we've got peace and blessings be upon him, that
he should
stop the message
by offering him first.
Well, they said if you if it is that you want to be the most wealthy amongst this will gather our wealth and give all of us give you a portion and make you the most.
If it is women you want, we'll gather the best, the most beautiful of all women you can marry them
will even make you the king of men.
They tried to offer him whatever they could have the material things, which they thought would naturally motivate a person who would be challenging or might motivate the person who was trying to take over leadership.
But of course, the prophets rejected these offers.
They tried to talk to his relatives to stop him,
the relatives could not. So eventually, they set up a boycott,
which ran for over two years, where the profit and the members of his clan, which is a
branch of the Quraysh tribe,
they were boycotted, from any good which were coming in to Mecca, they were forced to a point of starvation.
But in spite of this,
they were not able to stop him preaching the message. After failing, they decided that they must then kill him.
What they did was they got, they agreed to take young men from each of the sub clans of the Quraysh tribe,
who would together go to his home and kill him sharing the killing of him. They didn't want to choose just one person because in those days, if one person from one clan killed somebody else, then the whole clan will be against this next clan for the rest of their existence, there will be a feud which would go on for centuries. So they figured if everybody took part in the killing, then the people of the clan of the Prophet would not be able to take on all of the other clans. So they made this arrangement. They tried to kill him. However, God commanded him to emigrate from Mecca, and he
left. Before they were able to kill him the very night that they gathered to kill him, he left the house, they were unable to catch him.
But even that was not enough for them.
They send people after him trying to catch him. Before he could escape, they sent trackers after. And after he made it to Mecca, they were not able to catch him on the way, they then sent armies to try to
kill him in the in Medina, another town which was some five 600 kilometers to the north.
battle to play, many people are still alive.
Until eventually, Islam spread, came back and took over Mecca, and they were defeated. Now, this is over a period of some
almost 20 years
if all they had to do to defeat him to prove, in fact, he wasn't a prophet
was to produce three lines of poetry similar, have similar, a similar level of eloquent as those in the Quran, any three from the Quran.
Of course, they would have done that, instead of going through all of the various stages, offering him money, position, women trying to kill him, chasing him, war against them losing their lives, don't need to go through all that, if all you have to do is to produce three, and it could be done.
So from that historical circumstance, we can understand that obviously,
it was not possible for them to imitate. And this is why you find a number of verses in the Quran, which address the people in which
the people are quoted as referring to the Koran as being magic, because that was all it was love for them.
Being unable to imitate it. The only thing left for them to say is that Mohammed is the magician. And the Quran is magic,
to something beyond your capabilities.
This challenge has remained
until today, and will remain until the last day, the quad has not changed.
Let's say well, there was a Quran in the time of the Prophet which is different today in case you're able to imitate it today. We say no, it's not the one that came from the same Koran, which was revealed at that time. It's the same Quran which was read for you.
Now, the challenge is there. Anyone who wishes to prove that it is not divine revelation only has to do that
people have tried
and none have succeeded.
One thing also to note
is that some people might say, Well, you know,
the reason why the crime cannot be imitated is because, like great poets,
Shakespeare etc.
Their works are not
imitatable
who can write like Shakespeare who can write like words.
But the point is that
there are people
who can
because even Shakespeare and his writing, scholars are of different opinions as to whether everything that we traditionally ascribed to Shakespeare, were actually from Shakespeare.
There are other writers where they say well, possibly some of this was actually his writing.
And if somebody were to discover
a present to the public, a
document written on
ancient paper, using ancient ink,
which was in the style of Shakespeare, people would have to accept this as being Shakespeare.
And we know about you know, cases of forgeries which happened in the case of Hitler's diaries and all these other things right. And you have right now a number of
works, which are attributed to some of the major writers which are in question as to their authenticity or not.
However,
The Koran
has a particular style,
a style, which has made it so easy to memorize
that
millions around the world have memorized the Quran from cover to cover
in style, which is so unique, that anytime anybody reads anything,
which is not
from the Koran, it is immediately, you know, assignable by people they can detect it immediately.
This is the bar.
Now, there are other areas of miracles in the Quran. And
I've been sort of given the signals to give you an opportunity to ask some questions.
However, before closing off this part of it, I should like to at least briefly mentioned some of the other aspects of the miraculous
nature of
God also placed in the Koran, certain facts,
which would challenge people all the way
through time, we find a verse in which a lot says, suddenly him if I can see and put him
in a home,
that we would reveal to them our science,
in the horizons
in the world, and even within themselves,
until it became clear to them that this quote, was the truth,
the promise of God.
And
what we have found is that
there are a number of verses in the Koran, which speak to scientific facts,
which it is only in modern time, that we have come to know about
their descriptions of the development of the embryo in the womb, descriptions, which have stages, which are only observable under the microscope
with
some people
in studying the Koran was so amazed that it drove them or forced them to accept Islam. One example is this doctor, a French doctor, his name is Maurice Buckeye. He wrote a book called The Bible, the Koran in science.
He was a Christian
medical
doctor,
who did research on the Koran, learning Arabic, in depth to understand and studying Bible learning Hebrew and Greek, comparing
from a scientific point of view.
And he, after the course of his studies concluded
that
where we find many inconsistency in the Bible, concerning scientific facts, related to human existence, creation, etc, with what he found was the court was consistent throughout its stages in describing various phenomena, scientific phenomena, nothing, which seemed to contradict in any way that which was known as scientific fact even some of the latest theories
coming about the Big Bang Theory and etc. They were verses which were speaking in reference to these things.
This was enough for him to make him a Muslim.
One of the leading embryologist in Thailand,
attended a conference about three years ago, in which embryology in the Quran was looked at from the point of view of the verses etc. And he had been invited to as one of the embryologist leading embryologist in different parts
To the world, invited to attend the conference to express their own opinions, etc. After the doctor was presented to him, he, in the course of the conference declared his
acceptance of Islam.
So
there is there is enough in the Quran for anybody who would like to because of our time factor would like to read further to understand, you know, what the Quran has spoken about with regard to modern science, they can avail themselves in all of this book, and read and get the information compared to the crowds that they have read it and see it make the compasses for themselves, just to be in a state of, of knowledge to be aware of what
the Koran has spoken of 1400 years ago, which
much of which
only today, we are discovering, through the latest developments in technology.
So, I will stop at this point, just briefly alluding to some of the scientific
facts which exist in crime, which caused people to reflect on the divine origin of the crime. And I'm saying this to say that
even though
we may find in the writings of some of the ancient Greeks or whatever, statements, which have proven to be true today, in terms of scientific facts,
some people might say, well, that's the same kind of thing. You have people of the past they made statements, and some of it came out to be true. But the point is that the same people who made these claims who made these statements, what do you find, they will make one statement or two statements which have turned out to be scientific facts, but then you will find along with them colossal blunders, they will have made statements which is totally ridiculous, totally incorrect. Many, they may have one or two which are correct, and many, many, many which are incorrect. Whereas when you look at the plan, and the statements, that it's made with regard to scientific facts, etc, you will
find that it is consistent, no error
with regards to scientific facts.
So I'll stop at this point. And give you an opportunity to raise some questions or enter into some discussion
concerning this topic, and we'll finish the questions concerning this specific topic. If people would like to ask any general questions concerning Islam,
then I'll be glad to try to answer them.
Thank you very much.
On behalf of the President,
I really enjoyed this lecture. And this talk was very beneficial lecture for us. And I hope that everybody has the question later on, either cannot
be satisfied with the answer at all, he can discuss more with the brother later on.
At this stage, I would like to open the floor for questions.
You can either pass them around if you have written them on a piece of paper, or you can get up and just to raise your hand and you can ask your question I asked for from the people who want to ask their questions to be very brief and straight to the point. men make your question shortened and understandable. And of course, the
same with the answers.
Well, I think before we you know, go into that which seems to be you know, the topic which is sort of marginal, and I prefer to
affect in regard to treating people with the Quran.
I think before going into that, which is sort of another issue. I mean, I prefer to deal with questions which are more directly related to the miracle of the crime itself, the actual topic which is presented.
anybody has a question, please don't feel shy, you know. And actually, I would prefer if there are, you know, non Muslims present here.
That, you know,
that they be given the first opportunity to raise questions because I know sometimes
our Muslim brothers and sisters were, you know, they have their own questions which may deal with topics which even go beyond the very basic topic which we're covering here. So if there are any nominal presidents who would like to ask a question, please. You know, I'd like to give you the first opportunity to express
your question or your comments or whatever.
Okay.
On
because
the case of the so called numerical miracle of the Quran,
which was proposed, most recently by Rashad Khalifa in the United States is an Egyptian within the United States.
What he did, what he claimed to have done, was to have put the Koran in the computer.
And from analyzing the frequency of occurrence of words and letters in the crime, he found that 19 seem to be the miraculous numerical denominator of everything in the choir, that the verse which precedes all of the various chapters of the crowd, with the exception of the ninth chapter Bismillah R Rahman Rahim is made up of 19 letters. And each word in that in that phrase, is a law. Rahman Rahim I mentioned in the cry in multiples of 19 times, you know, a lot said in another chapter of the Quran that you know, over it are 19. And he went, you know, he went on to, to show how, even the chapters we have chapters which are preceded by
letters, like Alice lamb mean, half certain letters, which precede the chapters of whose meaning we don't know, he went on to show that these letters were the chapter which preceded by a path, for example, you'll find the metro conference is mentioned in that chapter,
a multiple of 19 times, you know, when he went to the show, this intricate numerical
system, which is inter woven throughout the course,
based on 19. However,
from there, as you mentioned, the individual began to make other statements he claimed, in a conference in Morocco,
Morocco,
that this is in the late 70s, that to this 19. And it's multiple, he was able to determine the exact date of the Day of Judgment.
And once he said that, then Western scholars became very skeptical about what he was saying, right? And furthermore,
he went on to claim that the sooner of the problems I felt, was, in fact, all fabricated, it's not authentic, that the only authentic thing for us is the Koran. And that's really the sooner is fabricated. Furthermore, he then claimed to have discovered
and that's an interpolated verse in the Quran verse, which was not actually a part of the crime. Why was it a part of the Quran because it didn't match his 19 multiples, you know. And then, finally, in about 1985, he claimed that he was in fact a prophet of God, and that his miracle was this 19.
He was later assassinated,
maybe about a year later, so he is no longer living. And, but there are people who still
promoted
his theories, his ideas,
As a matter of fact, that you know, famous Muslim
speaker, you know, had in the early stages, done a summary of his work and, and printed, you know, hundreds of 1000s of copies and distributed them around the world. And so further promoting his, his ideas. However,
in fact, the ideas that he has presented this the miracle series, in fact,
I did some research myself back in 85.
Before he claimed Prophethood, I did that I was teaching Islamic studies to grade 10 class at the time, and I had my grade 10th, grade 11, you know, because the requirements available on computer, you know, do a check on all of the figures that he presented by computer as well as visual check. And the result was when they brought in the results was that 99% of his claims were false.
He had like 1%, which was like not the letters in Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Yeah, this is clear, even COVID-19 there. But when you went through everything else, it was actually he was just playing, he was playing with the numbers. So the numbers are not authentic. In fact, what he even did, in a number of cases, because he also produced his own copy of the Quran, where, you know, he, his numbers are all matched at the end of each of the chapters, what he did was he even changed the text of the Quran to try to make it matches multiple, you know, so I gathered all that data together and
presented a representation of his theory is back in 85. The book is called the current numerical miracle hoax or heresy, you know, anybody would like to get a copy of it, they can contact me afterwards, I'll tell them how to get it. But it was proven systematically, all of his arguments are false.
And then I went on to show that even this idea of numerology, and you have some people who will also go into the Quran from this neurological point of view, where they will use, you know, 8786, for example, to represent Bismillah, that this is now has no basis in Islam. It's false.
So
his proposals were not followed up, not merely because he himself was in a deviant and an apostate. But because, in fact, the data which he was presenting was, in fact false.
I did have two questions about the number 19 stuff you answered already. So
the other question that we have, which is little bit
far from the topic, but we'll ask it anyway, is concerning? Muslim, main Muslim learning, people love the book,
specifically Christian. So what does it say about this?
I think it's disgusting. It's from a non Muslim. And
it being so I will give it an answer before your question, which is probably a little more closer to the topic.
Just briefly,
we can mention that it is stated in the Koran it is allowable, for a male Muslim to marry a Christian or Jewish woman. And this is a special
consideration or a special consideration which has been given in the case of Christians and Jews, because of the president in their scriptures of some of the true revelation of God, as his special consideration given to them, because of that fact. Not that the essence of Christianity, as it exists today, is recognized by law No, is looked at as being a deviation from the teachings of Jesus, as well as the essence of Judaism being a deviation from the teachings of Moses, but there is in the Torah, and in the gospels, something of the revelation which was revealed to
Jesus and Moses and as such,
the Quran and Islam has made a special allowance in the case of marriage, wherein Muslim males may marry Christian, female or Jewish female. And if not vice versa,
because of the fact because some people would ask why is it that Muslim females may not marry Christian and Jewish males
And the reason being that the in the case where a Muslim is married to a Christian, if he asked her to be modest, not to
cook pork in the house, or to bring alcohol into the house, you know any of the things that he will ask of her
in the home, it will not be against the teachings of her religion.
Because it's like Christianity does not insist that people must drink alcohol, or that they must eat pork, or they must dress immodestly.
Whereas,
in the other case, where a Christian male may be married to a Muslim female,
because he is allowed to eat pork, he may then request his wife to prepare pork, which is prohibited for Muslims, he may request his wife to bring alcohol, which is prohibited for Muslims to buy, sell, or drink.
Or he may request her to dress like the other women of his family dresses, or the society dresses, you know, wearing short skirts or whatever. So she may be required to
do a number of things which are against the religion. And as such, for her protection, Islam has limited the allowance of marriage
between Christians and Jews to male married female.
There are not many questions in the
mirror cloud upon myself.
One of the things that is asked a lot is
when you talk about the miracle of the miracle, typically when you are talking about the church, or part of it
being a challenge, especially to the poet's in that time,
if somebody is born as a non Muslim,
right now,
and he is born in a non Arab country,
he wouldn't understand this, this program that you're talking about, and the nature of the miracle. Part of it are from the majority point of view, because he doesn't know Arabic, and he's born non Arab, he's born non Muslim, how would you explain to him that he is really a miracle from Allah villages? Well, this was what the last part of my presentation was about, you know, explaining from a historical point of view, that that person who does not understand Arabic, but has understood he can read the history of the life of the Prophet what he went through, that can show that if this Koran had been imitatable, if it was possible to imitate it, then the people to whom the Prophet was
initially sent, who knew the language were at the height of excellent eloquence in their language, if they were capable of imitating, they surely would have done so rather than go through all the struggles that they went through, to try to stop it.
So this is sort of a historical evidence, which, you know, a person can can see obviously indicates that the crime could not have been imitated. But to understand the actual miracle, from its own literary sense, one would have to learn to do that. But the thing is that it is possible. I mean, it's still not something which is impossible, if I personally wish to do so it is still possible. But as I said, the historical evidence is also a sufficient proof for a person if they look at it, you know, honestly, looking at the situation, seeing that there was a need to meet the challenge, and people did not need it.
That it obviously was something which was beyond their capability of imitating.
There is another question here.
Why do you Why do you refer to where prophets, Jesus?
Peace and blessings be upon him blowing life into play?
Don't do not we, as Muslims believe that only God creates life? So how can these phenomena be explained?
Well, it's explained in the Quran, that when Jesus did this, he said that this was by the will of Allah.
That's how it is simply explained. It's not that he was in fact, blowing and making this bird living it was God was making a living through the acts that he was doing. He clarified to the people, that this was not him doing his job itself, but that
miracle
God's power which was bringing this birth to life, to his, to his dream as an instrument, just as when he, you know, brought a dead person back to life. We believe that only God can bring the dead back to life resurrection, this is the power of God alone, that this was Jesus explaining to the people that it is to the will of God to the power of God, that this person is coming back to life as I touch him, for example.
Okay, we can go to a question of a brother concerning the Quran
the using the Koran as a cure for
sicknesses.
People, Muslims have historically recited the Koran over people who have been sick. And
people, a number of people, over the centuries have been cured.
This
was done in the time of the Prophet
Muhammad Rasul Allah, where some of his companions
had done so and reported back to him, and he sanctioned.
He then recited over a person was
in a state of madness, he was crazy. They recited over him or person was stung by
a
scorpion, quite sick. And a number of a number of occasions. This has happened from the time of the companions to today, sanctioned by the prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. It's not to say that it is an alternative in the sense that
if we have
developed certain medicines which deal with certain sicknesses, that we do not use these medicines, now we say we just have to rely on the poor and no, because the topmost element also stated that, you know, for every sickness God, which God has created, he created a cure along with it, except for old age.
So, we are invited to treat our sicknesses with the medicines that we have. And the problem so Solomon also stated that we should treat our sicknesses but not treat them with that which allies made how long so we have certain limitations with what we use for treatment, but at the same time
to decide for an over those who are sick,
to when we give them medicines or if we don't have any, you know, we've tried everything else or whatever, you know, the use of the Quran, recitation of the Quran, praying to our cetera, supplication for people who are sick. This is also recognized in Islam as part of the method for treating sicknesses
by the will of God
without
OPM, for example, more
than
that
morning
Everyone,
in terms of everything
created having a particular benefit to mankind,
I wouldn't agree with that statement.
Because if that were the case,
then
we wouldn't have prohibited things,
everything would be allowed for us.
Part of the test of this life is a goddess created some things
which are harmful,
harmful in various levels, maybe as individuals or society, you know, psychologically physically in a variety of different ways.
And he has prohibited us from taking those things,
as he has created the vast majority of things for our benefit.
So there is not every in everything that is created in the on earth or in the plan, etc, necessarily.
And I just added to that point that effectively in a race relative to that, and in terms of the crime itself,
the use of the crime.
In terms of reputation, we know quite well that it's not just the physical act of reciting the Quran, or playing it over a tape recorder, etc, which is going to necessarily have an effect on the person. those on whom the Quran is being recited, for one
has to have certain conviction within themselves. Those who are reciting, after themselves be conscious of what they're reciting and you know, doing it with full sincerity and faith etc. And there are other factors which have to be added,
along with the
recitation reputations
for a lot to
allow this to be a benefit
traditionally, or from practice of Muslims to the ages, this is what has been concluded.
But as I stated, whether
you're making a general statement,
you know, and I said this general statement
will contradict certain basic principles that we understand from Islam, that there are things which have been prohibited, and God did not prohibit things arbitrarily, he did not prohibit things which are beneficial to us, he prohibited things which are harmful to us. And these things, which are half were almost the things that he created. So it means that though, in general, your statement is correct, that in general, whatever we find what God has created, there is benefits in it. There are specific things within that creation which are harmful to us, which he which he has prevented us from, for the purpose of protecting us, and at the same time for the purpose of testing our own
faith, you know, and developing our own commitment and submission to God.
Other questions that we should talk here?
Yeah.
Are there any more questions that you want to ask?
What does Islam say about other religions?
Islam teaches that there is only one true religion. And that is Islam.
Well, the miracles of Moses and the earlier prophets, etc. This is all looked at as being part of the miracles of Islam. Because
the true prophets of God, according to Islamic view, the true prophets of God were all Muslims, they all thought Islam, and Islam means submission to the will of God. So that Moses what Moses thought was Islam, what Abraham thought was Islam.
He called people to submit, and to worship god alone. So the miracles that came to them were miracles from God, which we accept, and we believe in.
But you may find, for example, today, a variety of religions around the world, though, we are taught in the Quran, that God's sent to every nation and tribe, prophets, messengers, who call the people to the worship of God, in time, the teachings of those prophets became distorted. So you found our people in latter generations, attributing to these earlier people things which rarely, they didn't teach, or they didn't practice.
And wherever you find religions, which call people to worship, the creation of God, this is looked at as being a deviation from the teachings of the Prophet. Only in Islam, is the worship of God in the pure sense,
emphasize at all,
in all practices,
upheld the worship of God alone, without worshiping his creation, or through his creation, you know, as intermediaries or anything it is, man worshipping God directly.
And this what we believed was the teachings of Allah.
So, where there are two prophets,
Islam is looked at as being their religion. It is a universal religion, not restricted. We don't look at Islam as having begun, you know, 1400 years ago in Arabia, by Mohammed, we got this investment the apartment No, we looked at Islam as coming with Adam. When Adam came to earth, being the first man he was also the first man and first buffet
that his descendants, his children, etc, he taught them the worship of the one God.
Well,
in this regard,
I wouldn't consider this myself to be the miraculous aspect of the Quran. Because this is consistent with the teachings of the earlier prophets. This existed
in the teachings of Moses, when he taught the people in terms of the commercial aspects to social, the legal, all the various faculties in that liberation also,
you know, and it is as much if you're going to call that miraculous it is as much miraculous in the time of Moses as it was in the time of Muhammad may got this message, the book. So I would not argue that point. The point which is specifically stressed in the Quran itself, is the literary aspect of the Quran.
The fact that it is inimitable,
the teachings themselves are not claimed to be new
to the teachings was it was a miracle that you'd have to say the teachings are inevitable. And it's not the case, the teachings are consistent with the teachings of the prophets from the time of Adam. So that is consistency, showing that it is a part of the same revelation. It is not new. But the the revelation itself is not new, because revelation came to the earlier prophets. But what was new about this final revelation was that God sent it in a form, which was inevitable preserve,
I deliberately did not preserve the messages before
they will complete for the time in which they were sent,
they will complete for the timer.
And God did not send them with something which was not sufficient was not what they needed. Like they needed completion know, for the time in which they're sent the circumstance, etc. They will complete.
But it was limited to that period of time.
Are there any more questions?
At this time, on behalf of the organizing committee here, I think, brother, we were pleased to be here with us to teach us about many things that we learned today. And hopefully continue on learning. And I think all the Presidents here and hope that they can join us for the remaining of the program today. And also getting the pleasure of
he's going to stay here for the country console, we have a schedule up here that you can take a look at. And if you can come over to the other lectures that you're gonna give in many places during this week. You're welcome to attend and you have any questions or comments, you can talk to us and talk to him about that.
Before closing, I would like to make
two announcements. The first one is concerned concerning the short course that the
opponent hotmart that he asked me to announce here, it will be given tomorrow on the on hedges specifically between 10am in the morning to 2pm and lunch will be provided it will be given at one o'clock.
And I will also be putting in the presentation. Yeah. Yeah.
It will be also in that meeting and
you want to join us tomorrow to
the second announcement is
about the June meeting that the independent Islamic sisterhood Association having set up for Saturday, May 22 at 2pm.
So
here who know about it to join
Oh, yeah, yeah, part of this series or part of the lectures that product direct seeding is gonna be up to University of Queensland. Specifically, the topic we
had a B psychology lecture number three on Tuesday, May 11, between one and 2pm
physiology
Yeah, I'll give a chance to brotherly sisters we've got some refreshments and after refreshments inshallah we will pray Our mosque is not that big we'll take them to pay.
Opening
of Hanukkah Loma
Linda in
the panopticon below on the phone
Thank you
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