Mohammad Elshinawy – The Quran A Historical Wonder
AI: Summary ©
The title of the Quran is discussed as a symbol of the loss of human history, as it is the source of modernity. The history of the Bible is also discussed, including the use of the word "staying in the holy Bible" and the history of the holy Bible. The speaker notes the lack of authenticating accounts of Muhammad's actions and the potential for confusion with other people. The segment concludes with a brief advertisement for a book and discussion of the Prophet Muhammad's teachings.
AI: Summary ©
Sonic everybody
Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah Allah Allah He also have a drain we begin the name of Allah. All Praise and Glory be to Allah Who makes finds peace and blessings be upon His messenger Muhammad and his family and his companions and all those who adhere to his guidance asking Allah azza wa jal to make us of the Best of those who adhere to his guidance. Allahumma Minato
Okay, so we continue in sha Allah our discussion this evening.
Building on last week, were discussing what makes the Quran miraculous. Last week we spoke about it from a linguistic dimension How can a work of language or work of literature ever objectively be called beyond human reach, be beyond, you know, human effort actually be supernatural? And we covered
you know, a host of arguments, lines of argument that could be used to prove that even if you don't firsthand, have a grasp or a mastery in your grasp of Arabic language. Today in sha Allah, we want to speak about the Quran, its accuracy, in terms of how it speaks about lost human history, aspects of human history, that information for it was long forgotten, because the Quran is remarkably accurate, about historical events. That would have been absolutely impossible for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam to have known. You know, some scholars, when they discuss this point, they make an interesting assertion. They say the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam being so
accurate, so precise about the last pass is actually even more impressive than the dozens and dozens of times, he spoke precisely and accurately about things to come in the future. Why?
Why do you think they said that? That speaking about the loss past accurately and precisely, is more remarkable than him speaking about the future accurately and precisely? You think telling the future is like, extremely difficult. Why are they saying actually speaking about the past is even more difficult.
Anybody want to try, she's going to be
it happened already. So you can't, what's the word reverse engineer it, you can't back project. You know, if I were to say that in the future, there's going to be a masjid on Tilghman with blue carpets, someone can work to bring about that prophecy. They'll buy a property on Tillman to put in it blue carpets, to say, Mohammed Chanel is a prophet, then we have to kill him.
Not kill him, report him
to the psychiatric ward. But the past it's over done with you either got it right or you didn't. That's why it's a bigger gamble there. They mean, right? It's more risky, because you can't change it.
And so we want to speak about just some examples of why it's so remarkable. And we'll begin with some examples from ancient Egypt because Ancient Egypt is widely regarded as a truly lost civilization until very recent history.
So the first and most obvious assertion that the Quran speaks about with regards to ancient Egypt in the time of Musa alayhis salam, Allah azza wa jal said that Moses went to a pharaoh the Pharaoh or rebelled against Allah and against his messenger Moses Alehissalaam. And they chased after them the seas parted, Pharaoh drowned. That part of the story is already aligned with the Bible. So the Quran didn't say anything new, okay. But this here is different. Allah says Subhana wa Tada philleo Munna. GKB Bedouin will be where Danica, at least Hakuna Lehmann Hello fucka Is today the day that we've drowned you Allah declared to Him, we will save you in terms of your body we will preserve your body
so that you will may be assigned for those who come after you assigned for those who want to rebel against God
after you and indeed many among humanity are heedless of our signs. This money
exists today in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo. And as someone who recently went to the museum said to me it's so sad that Allah azza wa jal said to us the Muslims in our Quran. This is a sign for everyone later and so many people are heedless of Allah signs. He said if you see how casual and how joke it's if people are in that room, right? It is on
befitting of why Allah azza wa jal did this but bring it back to prophethood and the Quran being a miracle. Why is Allah azza wa jal saying this the Quran asserting this, that Pharaohs body has been preserved for future generations? Why is that remarkable? Number one, you need to know that the preservation of mummies in general is quite uncommon. Most mummies are gone forever. Most of them aren't, don't get preserved. Okay, that's the first thing. So he said that a mummy would be preserved that's already uncommon. Number two, he said which specific mummy, the mummy of Musa right, the pharaoh of Moses, Allah He Salam, all the way he's speaking about a civilization across
the globe, if you will, all the way in Egypt, right? That's what he's talking about in his in the eye is bringing the world the Prophet Muhammad is speaking about a very specific mummy in a very specific place from 1000s of years ago.
Also you should keep in mind it helps to remember the Quran also spoke about many perished nations, many nations destroyed by Allah azza wa jal, and Allah never said we preserve this body or that body, right? So it wasn't a blanket statement. Because Allah punish these people, He preserves their body. He said, Allah punish many people, but this body in particular, has been preserved. Also, as we already said, the Bible didn't say this, the Bible did not say that the mummy or the body of frown will be
rescued or saved or brought back recovered.
And so this is an example I'm going to show you different examples. This is an example of adding a truth that the Bible did not okay. The Bible didn't know this even so you can't even say he got this one from plagiarizing from the Bible. Right? I Salatu was set up. This was civilization long gone. No one knew of them. No one spoke of them, including in biblical tradition.
When did people start discovering
this stuff?
The Rosetta Stone anyone know there was no stone as to the Museum in London British Museum. Anyone know what the Rosetta Stone is?
They just brought it to the British Museum few decades ago to celebrate 200 years of the birth of Egyptology. What's Egyptology it is the study of ancient Egypt, that science only started 200 years ago. Why did it only start 200 years ago? Because we had no way to study ancient Egypt before 200 years ago. You see, when when Napoleon
Bonaparte was some people think he was Muslim.
When he invaded Muslim lands, right.
During sort of this, these invasions of what was discovered is this stone. This was a tablet, a stone called the Rosetta Stone, it was discovered in 1799. These are objective facts. You look them up yourself, right. This was a stone of hieroglyphics. And it was finally decoded. And so people for the first time were able to decipher meaning decode, translate, ancient Egyptian language, they just started learning about what these people were about who they were, what they did, and all of that, before that it was all lost all of it. Okay, just keep that in mind. Knowledge of ancient Egypt was lost for 1200 years after the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And for hundreds of years before
him for talking about the Bible, right? And 1000s of years before him and we're talking about Egypt itself, locked away in the vaults, under the pyramids in these places. Even if you got in you didn't understand what was going on. No one knew the language it was a lost civilization.
So now let me give you some examples of what he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam spoke of besides the preservation of the body of Pharaoh
and we'll come back to the Rosetta Stone in a second. So the life of the pharaohs. If you look at the Bible, when it speaks about the king and the time of Ibrahim alayhi salam, it calls him a pharaoh. Okay.
When you look at the story of use of Alehissalaam Joseph, the king in his story is called The Pharaoh and you go to the story of Musa alayhis salam, the king is called a lot
of Pharaoh.
The Quran now
refuses to call the king of the time of Abraham, anything but the king king Neruda Jabbar. That's it, in the time of use of La salaam refuses to call him a pharaoh. He's always called the King, not the Pharaoh.
The Quran knows the term Pharaoh said, Well, maybe they didn't know know the Quran use the terms Pharaoh more than 60 times, but they were all
All only in the story of Musa alayhis salam.
So what? What does it mean? Now in the past 200 years with the study of ancient Egyptian civilization, you go look this up Encyclopedia Britannica now elsewhere, this term Pharaoh, which meant like Elite Bloodline, or half man, half god elite house,
this was used only under what they call the New Kingdom, the New Kingdom is basically like
13 to 1500 years before the Common Era. So, that's how long
about 3000 years ago, okay.
And they say that the time of use of Alayhis Salam was hundreds of years before that, about 17 to 800 years before the Common Era. Okay, further back, and the time of Ibrahim Alayhi. Salam was even further back about 1850 to 2000 BC, before the Common Era. So in that case, it would be historically incorrect to call the king of Abraham Pharaoh, because the term wasn't around yet. Got it? And it would have been wrong to call it in the time of use of Ali's Salam. Not just this is really interesting, not just because the term wasn't around yet. It came in the time of around Moses, right time of Thutmose the third, about, you know, 10 to 12 centuries Before Common Era. But they said
also in the time of Joseph,
the occupiers of Egypt, the rulers of Egypt or occupiers, they were not actually from the Egyptian bloodline. They were Palestinians.
They were called the Hyksos. the Hyksos dynasty Hyksos. After you decipher the hieroglyphics now, oh, hexose meant foreign kings. That's literally what it meant. They were not indigenous rulers. And so even if the term Pharaoh had existed, or even if we're gonna say, Oh, the Bible was using it loosely, generally, but they still wouldn't qualify, because they were not rulers of Egypt. They were invading forces occupiers of Egypt for that period. Is that clear? And so now, we're not talking about the Quran adding a detail about ancient Egypt that the Bible doesn't have. This is the Quran walking through a minefield of historical inaccuracies in the Bible, and never stepping on any
of them, right? The Quran omitting those historical errors you have in the biblical tradition. How did he do that? So Allahu alayhi wa sallam. That's another example. And that is why before I read to you this
so this is the translation. This is like the translation of the book of Dr. Maurice wu chi. So when, when the French sent their scientists to research, the Rosetta Stone and the excavations and all of that in Egypt, he was among though the team of researchers that went and he came back and he wrote this book in French, but this is the translation, the mummies of the pharaohs, modern medical investigations. And he wanted like a whole bunch of national,
multiple national awards for this. By the way, many people that are familiar with this discussion, claimed that Dr. Murray's book, I became Muslim. I could not find any evidence for him becoming Muslim, except maybe the the wishful hopeful thinking of Muslims, and we hope he became Muslim that would be good for him. But if he didn't become Muslim,
it is a little bit better for us. Meaning it does add credibility that's a sort of non religious call religion is he's not a fellow Muslim, just vouching for his religion. This is an objective French government's and forensic researcher who came back and said, this quote, by the way, is not in that book. It's in other writings called Moses and Pharaoh, the Hebrews of Egypt. This is a translation of the wrote in French he said, I must confess that when the Quran was first being conveyed to people, the ancient Egyptian language had vanished from the collective memory of humanity for over 200 years, and remained that way until the 19 century. Like I have no idea where
the Quran got this stuff from.
He says, Therefore, it was impossible for us to know that the king of Egypt should be called anything other than the title mentioned in the Holy Bible. The subtle word choice of the Quran on this matter is thought provoking.
All right.
So now
was the Quran.
remarkable in its history, after these archeological excavations, know, the history of the Quran was remarkable to the people. Its first audience that we're hearing it from the lips of the prophets, Allah Allahu Allah is them to begin with. In other words, this is fun and everything, but this is overkill. You get it. We this is even unnecessary.
I'm sorry if the the image bothers I know it's an iconic image of sort of the Christian tradition, but that doesn't mean we should feel alienated from it or buy it. So,
you have to keep in mind so once this is saying this is saying the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam should tell the people that are disbelieving in his message that the Quran is from Allah lauscha Allah Who Metallo to who Alikum say to them, Mohammed, wake them up, tell them if Allah had willed, I would never have recited this to you, meaning I would never be able to bring this Quran to you on my own. This is like confidential information revealed secrets are revealed, right? It's a revelation from a secret source right from Allah azza wa jal where DRock won't be here, nor would he have made it known to you, you wouldn't have had the slightest realization about it. You wouldn't
have come anywhere close to this stuff. He says, this is the point of reference for LA Cadila beef to fee Komamura flhrci alone, for I had remained among you for a lifetime before it.
Will you not reason?
How's that related? I've lived with you for a lifetime.
What does that have to do with this subject? that the Quran is special?
If I would have gotten it from another human being, you would have known you know me, I am the shepherd in on the hills and in the valleys of Mecca. I am the tradesmen, who did trade under my uncle and then shortly for Khadija della Juana. You know everything about me, my life's an open book, I've lived with you for a lifetime, you get it.
And that is why, you know, the the Jews and Christians among them, were those so many of them were so astonished by this, like the fact that someone on the hills of Mecca. This is the idea, right? who spent his lifetime in an illiterate society could even know who Abraham is. Right? Even know the lineages even know who Joseph is use of Allah is Salam, right, brings you the whole sort of sort of use of including a couple of elemental heartfully. And the surah begins with saying, You were completely unaware of this before we revealed it to you it was a challenge. Do you know who Joseph is, and he gives them an entire account with more detail than they had
to even know who Musa alayhis salam was to even know who he is Ali Salam was to even know who to look for nine was besides the simple name, and sometimes it was just one word that was enough for them. You know, when the Prophet alayhi salatu salam was coming back from above, this is a great example. And you know, he was beaten up and he was so exhausted, and he was so depressed from the reaction of his people. And then he stopped at that garden and someone brought him some grapes. His name was dad's servant, who worked on the plantation on the land. And then before he put the grapevine, his mouth, he said, Bismillah, I said, Hey, where'd you get that word from? What's his
Bismillah stuff?
He said, I mentioning the name of my Lord. He said, That's the statement of my people from Ethiopia. He said, Yes, that is the land of my brother, UNICEF and a meta Prophet, prophet Jonah.
He said,
you know, Unison no matter how can you not even know who that is? Right? He said, that is my brother. He was a prophet, and I am a prophet. And so he believed in him right away, like, how do you know about Jonah? So to think you know, that the very identities the very personalities that he knew across cultures are a Salatu was Salam, that degree of detail for them was inexplicable? How do you explain that?
And we just went through the study of sort of that calf Surah, to care for those that were not here, it was a challenge to the Prophet Muhammad, you know about the Seven Sleepers in the cave, you know about the righteous king there on the earth. So he mentioned that national knuckles so they can have a humble half, we will tell you in full truth, their accounts. And not only does he tell them of the accounts, then he goes on Salallahu Alaihe, salam to say, and you guys debate, was it three and the dog was four? Was it five and the surah is talking about the debates your scholars are having about it behind closed doors, and then you guys debate it? Should we build a mosque over the cave? Or
should we leave it as such, and he's telling you the facts of the story, and which facts of the story are disputed by you by your experts.
And that is why many of the Jews in the time of the Prophet SAW Selim said, he must be a prophet. Whether we believe in him or not, is another story we can explain it away, Prophet to the Arabs, not to us, he has to be a prophet. We got to stop saying he's not a prophet. It just it is silly at this point, because of the the simplest of truths, and he knew so many of them. Allen salatu, salam, you even know I'll give you one last example.
And so then with death it Allah azza wa jal says wema Jana is having natty lemma like a kitten. Why am I Jana? That's a home Illa feature.
levena Cafaro
over the fire or 19 angels, and we did not make it as such as 19 Angels, except as a trial for the disbeliever Oh 90 And we can handle 9090 is not that much right like as a trial for the disbeliever Allah then says the AI continues Leah stay Athena levena Otto kitab. And so the people of the Scripture before you can become certain, okay, how did he know it was 19 because their books at 19
only the elite of the elite of the experts knew that it was 90 and that detail about the Day of Judgment. So they became searching through the number 1919 Angels over the fire because it concurred with their records their scriptures. So they said how else could he know this? You know some people and they tried to critique the Quran and say that the Prophet SAW Selim was spoon fed from other people we say But then who? Who they say all but you guys have that story about the hero. He goes on the story of Bill Hader, who's Bill Hader.
Behera is a monk who's worshipping in a monastery in one time and the Prophet saw some of them was in his youth will die live took him on trade route to a sham. And he runs out and says have the hots and whenever you're in high season, I already know enough that he didn't have that also a little bit I mean, he begins to just say this is the hem seal of the prophets, the best of the First and the Last. This is the messenger of the Lord of the Worlds. And
so
how do you respond to this? He had access to these people?
What will be their response?
Think with me, folks.
First of all, the account of Mahira is not authentically traceable. Like yes, we mentioned it and there may be there's not much harm in mentioning it. But it's not an authentic hadith. It just mentioned the history books. And it's also problematic because if the story of the hero were true, wouldn't people say that the years later when he actually became a prophet say oh, yeah, that guy said he was and dry. They would have cited that, but no one ever made a mention of it again. So that that's already something that problematizes the incidence of the hero, but let us assume it happened. You're quoting my books that he made the hero it says he met the hero for an hour. What
are you gonna get in an hour? And that's what the intended meaning of this idea is. I've lived with you for a lifetime meaning it will take a lifetime of apprenticeship that I would not be able to hide to know all that I know. Make sense now. This is the meaning of this iron
ore they can cite you know what a cup NOFA that one's authentic. It's like it when the angel came to me when to water the cousin of the Khadija or the Alana what is it what is our narration say
what have I said to him yeah you're and then he died a few days later about the Allah Tala and or short time later about the Allah Tala and
you're going to agree or disagree you're only allowed to agree. Now God this Allah
you just mentioned there were other particulars that Ron is mentioning that no other people.
So even if he took the parts from the people that you mentioned, how about the other parts that he also did not know. So Right. So many ways to cut this
because he time, but there are other aspects that you just mentioned. Fantastic.
Fantastic, which version that he edits from which book and you know, actually we can speak on that in light of this as well. Allah azza wa jal says, wala Cardinal, Allah mu and now homea po Luna Inanna, your alemayehu Bashar, we certainly know Allah says that they're going to say or they've said, it is only a human being who teaches him someone's whispering in his ear, right.
Then Allah says Lisa, no levy you will he do in LA he urged me you have the sun on Arabi. You move in, but the tongue of the one they refer to as foreign. Like you're saying some Judeo Christian scholar in Latin or Greek or Aramaic is talking to him. Then we move back to last week's subject has the Quran linguistic miracle, even if he had someone speaking to him, supposedly, right? How do you speak about only the source while ignoring the end product? You're attributing him to a non Arab source fine, but this is an Arabic end product. Listen to leather, you're doing a layup. Jimmy, there's not an Arabic tongue he's plagiarizing from right, you're saying outside.
But this is the idea that this is a very bizarre hypothetical to begin with. That's what the Quran you know, so amazing at its line of argument.
If you go to the most authoritative scholars on the Bible, and I didn't want to make too many slides and I just grabbed some of them from from the book here. You know, one of the toughest recent critics of the Quran
And William Tisdale, who died in the 1920s, he's a critic of the Quran. But he honestly admits and he says, there seems to be no satisfactory proof that an Arabic version of the New Testament existed in Muhammad time. That's the New Testament. There's not much dispute on this.
One of the Pope's of Alexandria, the Pope to address the second, he says, the first Arabic Listen, the first Arabic translation surface towards the end of the eighth century,
the end of the eighth century, and more than 100 years after Islam, and it was done by by Bishop John of Seville in Spain, it was a partial translation
that did not include the entire book, and was insufficiently circulated.
These are their authorities saying this stuff didn't exist. So you're telling me, someone whispered to him for a lifetime and no one knew. Or he had a manuscript of the hundreds of 1000s of manuscripts in Arabia of all places, he had the right one. And he understood that language that no one knew he understood other than Arabic, and then he produced it, you're just really reaching at that point.
It becomes preposterous. And this holds true by the way for the Old Testament, or what the Jews call the Torah,
Sidney Griffith and the most authority, authoritative academic researchers in this space, they also agree on this fact that no written Arabic texts, even whatsoever of substantial length, whether scripture or poetry, originally translated, he says, can be traced back to the periods before Islam. So there is no proof whatsoever that anyone had access to that in Arabic at all. Even if Mohammed was the only human on the face of the earth, salallahu alayhi salam who had the only correct copy with all the correct and extra details, you still run into the problem of what
how's it in amazing Arabic? How is the end product so exquisite?
I think I've met my goal of keeping this under half hour. And I'm very happy about that because we took a few extra minutes last week. Any questions on this before we close?