Mohammad Elshinawy – Was Muhammad ﷺ a Prophet? – A Gem from the Deedat Days
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of 1977, I decided to have a look at the Quran. I never met a Muslim, I lived 100 kilometers from the nearest Muslim.
See what interested me was what non Muslims said about Muhammad.
There are books and books written about Muhammad that tell you one thing we know for sure about this man, he had an outside source of information.
One book I've got says the Quran was written by a committee.
Because they've established so well, there's information in there that an Arabian shouldn't have known. He must have had someone from the outside bringing him this information. Since one thing we know for sure he had an outside source of information. Now he said, This book was a revelation. So they say he said he was a liar. He got it from somewhere, he put it in a book, and he gave it to someone telling him it was from God, he was a liar.
Other people write books and books on the subject of Muhammad. And they say one thing we know for sure, he thought he was a prophet. He was crazy.
Because they look at his life very carefully. And they see episodes like for example, when he hid in the cave with aboubaker. He was running from the whole city who wanted to kill him, and he hidden the cave. And when the Meccans came running up to the cave to kill them, what did he say to his friend, the tell him, see if you can find a back away out of the cave.
What he told his friend was relax. He was telling him, you know, I see what you see. But he said, God is with us, God will save us. So people on that basis, they say, you see, he thought he was a prophet. He thought God was with him, because he said things like that he wasn't a liar.
They never seem to realize that one man can't be both.
She can't be a liar and a crazy man at the same time. If you think that an angel gives the words of God in your ear,
and somebody says, I have a question for you. What does God tell you about this thing? I want to hear an answer tomorrow. If you are crazy man, if you think an angel whispers in your ear, then you don't sit up at night thinking, What will I tell him tomorrow? What can I find? Who knows the answer? You're crazy. You think the angel will tell you the answer. You don't go and look it up somewhere.
You can't be a liar and a crazy man at the same time.
You can be one or the other, or neither can't be both.
You see, I read two non Muslim biographies of Muhammad.
One was by rodents and it was an atheist who hated the man.
But many interesting things come up about his life that I had to wonder about. One story that's told is that when he was an older man, he had a son named Ibrahim Abraham. The son died when the child was two years old. The same day the boy died, there was an eclipse of the sun. Sky went dark. And the Muslims came running to their prophet and said, Look, it's a miracle. Your child died and the sky went dark and sadness.
that occurred to me see if he was a crazy man. He probably believed what they said. He probably think yes, it's a miracle. My child died, the sky is dark is it's a miracle. If he was a crazy man, if he was a liar, he would have taken advantage of it. He would have said Yes, right. My child died. The sky is dark. You tell everyone it proves I'm a prophet. It's a miracle. But what did he do?
He became angry with the Muslims. He told them that was nonsense. He was angry with them. How dare you say that? He said, the sun and the moon are signs of God and they don't worry themselves about the birth of a man or the death of a son of Muhammad.
Doesn't look very crazy doesn't look much like a liar.
Now you have a third alternative, of course, which people tell you all the time.
Say No, he was not a liar. He was not a crazy man. He was deceived by the devil.
Saved by the devil.
It's an interesting idea.
But whatever you say, you better be ready to back it up.
There's a lot of difficulties with that idea. For example, there is a verse in the Quran which tells the reader about a good habit to develop. It tells him before you read this book, I always say I will the Billahi min ash shaytani regime which means I take refuge in God from Satan the rejected is this Satan who wrote this,
who said before you read my book, ask God to save you from me. Satan wrote that.
As Jesus said, If Satan is divided against himself, then his kingdom will fall is fighting against his own interests.
So let me finish with a point that story that illustrates a point.
As I said, there's many theories and many explanations around many explanations.
But an explanation, something somebody tells you is just so much air coming out of his mouth, unless he has proof.
And unless he offers you something that you can use to falsify it.
You see, there's many theories of how the planets go around the sun and how the stars burn and all the rest of it. Many theories, most of them are just so much wind, scientists Pay no attention to them, because they don't contain something that could be checked to prove it false.
See, Einstein was considered an intelligent man, because when he offered his theory in 1905, and again in 1915, he didn't just offer a theory. He said, Here's three ways to prove I'm wrong.
Now, it's worth listening to he told me, here's three different things you can do if you can do this. I'm wrong. Here you are.
Is there anything like that in Christianity is the Christian ever said, you want to prove I'm wrong? All you have to do is this is ever done, that
the crime is filled with that kind of thing filled with it. So you want to prove this book is wrong? Do this, prove it, go ahead and do it. Filled with that kind of thing.
That is an example of it that made a big impression in its day.
during the lifetime, 14 centuries ago,
the prophet of Islam.
You see, he had an uncle named Abu lahab. It was his nickname Abdullah hub. This man hated Muhammad, he hated anything the man said. He used to watch him going through the city. And if he saw him talking to someone, he waited till they split up, he'd go after the man he spoke to and taking music. What did Muhammad tell you? Whatever it is, it's a lie. Does he tell you Dave, it's night? Did he say black? It's white.
exact opposite. Whatever he heard the Muslim say, he said the opposite. That was the way his mind worked.
There's a little chapter of the Quran called lahab. And it says about this man that you'll never change. It condemns him to * jahannam.
You see if the man had ever become a Muslim, the Muslims would believe Well, now he's not condemned anymore. You see, for 10 years before Abdullah have died, that was a part of the Quran. And the Muslims could come to Abu lahab and say, do you know it's been revealed to us in your in our book that you will never be a Muslim? God says you will never be a Muslim.
for 10 years, they told him that all he had to do was say, well, your book is wrong. I want to be a Muslim. What do you think of your book now?
So I had to do
get 10 years to think about it. And that's the way he was. See, if somebody is your enemy, you don't come to him and say, you want to prove I'm wrong here, say this, Come on, sit if all you have to do is say the words and I'm wrong, you finish me.
He never did it.
See, this is one of many cases of something that was offered that could have been falsifiable.
So it was, as I say, in 1978, after,
along with it be 15 years of arguing with the church authorities one place or another, I got the idea. I'm going to argue with some other people. I'm going to read the Quran, see how much of it is any good?
Pick out the true pick out the false
thought it'll take a few years I'll take some serious study and so on. I read through it about three days later, I finished it. I said, This is what I've been saying for 15 years.
So I went to find some Muslims.
I don't want somebody to feel you've been tricked into something.
I haven't said anything about Christianity. That isn't true.
I'm second thing about Islam. It isn't true unless it was a slip of the tongue or something. I'm simply trying to
remind an individual Don't close your mind before it's too late. Don't make up your mind before you have all the facts.
Most people who used to be Christians and become Muslims will tell you I am a better Christian than I used to be. Now I follow Christ I didn't before.
That's what I would tell you.
Bible says Jesus told his disciples when you greet one another let your greeting be peace be with you. He set the example. Peace be with you who says that today? Christians
once in a great while maybe Muslims whether they speak Arabic or not, they sense a llama like Peace be with you. Jesus when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, he put his forehead on the ground who prays like that Christians or Muslims? Jesus used to fast for more than a month at a time who fasts today. Christians or Muslims
who really is trying
to imitate Jesus.
Somebody said to me for coming in here, they said, the Muslims make Jesus out, they insult him and so on and so on. How possibly do they insult him? they lift him up,
up.
They can't tolerate anything bad said about him.
They would just as quickly tell you that you know, they
say Muhammad Rasul Allah means Muhammad is the Messenger of God, they will just as quickly say, he said, Jesus aisa rasulillah, no problem.
Just as quickly tell you that because it's true. They occupy the same place. If God Himself wants to make distinctions among His prophets, that's his business, not ours. Treat them all with the same amount of respect. May God guide us always closer to the truth.