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Name
Manfrid
-
Profession
Question
Why do we see all this contradiction and conflict between religions? Does not this reveal that religion is not but a waste of time and effort?
Answer
Thank you for your question.
As long as there are human beings on earth, there will be ‘contradiction and conflict’ not only about religion, but about almost everything under the sun. For instance, people differ about political ideologies, economic policies, philosophical systems and so on. Indeed we have had two world wars which massacred hundreds of thousands of people. But no one would claim they were caused by religious differences.
Will it be reasonable for any one to argue that henceforth there must not be countries or nations, because they create conflict and contradiction involving a lot of waste of time and effort!
It is not because of religion per se that there are conflicts; but it is because people DO NOT FOLLOW the teachings of Religion to avoid conflicts.
Hope I have answered the question.
Name
Truth Seeker
-
Profession
Question
You Muslims always repeat that the Bible has been distorted and corrupted; if so why do you quote them to prove Muhammad's Prophethood?
Answer
Thank you for your question.
It is not a mere allegation of Muslims that the Biblical books are NOT 100% divinely revealed or inspired books. It is a fact acknowledged by Christian scholars and experts on the subject. For your information, if you refer to the famous Jerome Biblical Commentary you can clearly see what I mean.
But we know that there is truth in the Bible. We know a good number of the teachings of the prophets (especially of Jesus) in the Bible, even though there are extraneous ideas in it, brought in by vested interests. You can refer to a Red-letter edition of the Gospels and see the actual verses spoken by Jesus (as recorded in the Gospels). Just read those verses and see how they differ from the verses of St Paul given in his epistles.
One important point you need to know is that those teachings of Paul introduced in his epistles contradict the basic teachings of the Old Testament of Prophets and of Jesus himself. This you can easily check.
For instance, there is no verse of Jesus that disapproves of the Law of Moses, whereas you can see for yourself what Paul has to say on that. You may read this in Galatians 3: 10: Paul says:
“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them."
Secondly, we do not need to quote Bible to prove Muhammad’s (peace and blessings be upon him) Prophethood. We quote the Bible to prove that the earlier scriptures clearly record the prophecies made by the earlier Prophets about the coming of the Last Prophet. And because we have convinced many Christians (for instance) of this fact, they have recognized Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as the Prophet-like-Moses foretold in the Bible. And alhamdu lillah, they have become Muslims.
And Allah knows best.
Name
Hani
-
Profession
Question
What is the importance of Prophethood?
Answer
Thank you for your question.
Allah Almighty created humans as His khulafa’ (vicegerents or ambassadors) on earth. This means among other things, that He gave humans many faculties like intelligence, imagination, memory etc. And to use these faculties, humans need freedom. So, out of His infinite wisdom Allah Almighty blessed them with freedom (within limits) also. Thus humans are free to choose either good or bad. In Allah’s scheme, those who choose good will be rewarded and those who choose bad will be punished. Since Allah Almighty is All-Merciful, He decided to give Guidance to humankind to help them choose good and attain eternal happiness.
Allah’s way of giving Guidance to humans is not Himself directly coming down to earth; but sending His Rusul (Messengers) to guide humankind. That is why all the Prophets came to their respective peoples with the duty of not only teaching them the Guidance of Allah, but also serving as model humans before the people. So Prophets are not only Messengers who bring Allah’s Guidance but also Models who teach through their own examples how we humans must live here on earth to finally attain eternal happiness in Paradise. This is the purpose of Prophethood and so we can see how important it is.
And Allah knows best.
Name
KH
-
Profession
Question
What is the relationship between the prophets? Is there a certain relationship between the messages they came with? Is there radical differences between them? and what is the wisdom behind sending many Prophets? Thanks for your time.
Answer
All the prophets came from Allah Almighty and the message they were entrusted with was basically the same message. For this reason, they form one brotherhood, though there were other kinds of relationship between the prophets in some cases – as between Ibrahim and Isma`il (peace and blessings be upon them); or between Ishaq and Ya`qub (peace and blessings be upon them).
There never was any radical difference between the prophets; though they had distinct personalities. For instance consider the prophets Moses and Aaron (Harun) (peace and blessings be upon them). Moses was hot-tempered and quick in action; while Harun was somewhat smooth-talking. But these are mere personal traits and they have little to do with the performance of their essential duties as prophets.
The wisdom behind sending many prophets, as we may figure with our little understanding is this:
As mankind grew from stage to stage through history, the conditions of their livelihood as well as the levels of their knowledge underwent changes. New cultures and civilizations were born, which made the people forget the Message God had conveyed to them through His prophets in earlier times. So new prophets had to come to bring the people back to the essential message taught by the prophets of old, until the Guidance of God is completed and perfected through one Last Prophet, who would lead the whole of humanity to the whole truth. This, I think, is the reason for Allah's sending many prophets.
And Allah knows best.
Name
abdelrahman
-
Profession
Question
As-salamu `alikum,
Is there a difference between the Injel (Gospel) that Jesus received and the Bible? If so, what has happened to the original Injil? Is it comparable to the Qur'an ? In what way former Prophets did receive their Books?
Answer
Wa`alaykum As-salam
Thank you for your question.
There is a lot of difference between the original Injil Jesus received from Allah and the Bible. In fact the Bible is a big volume containing two sections. The first section is the Old Testament and the second one is the New Testament. The Injil received by Jesus can be seen partly in the four Gospels of the New Testament. There is no record that the original Injil as received by Jesus was dictated by Jesus and kept safe from corruption. What we have now is the story of Jesus composed chiefly from hearsay or from scraps of writings by different narrators decades after Jesus’ time. But in these records we have portions of Injil and the explanations of Jesus himself.
The Gospel narratives can at best be compared to the Hadiths (the Prophet's traditions) and not to the Holy Qur’an. Because the Holy Qur’an consists of ONLY the Words of Allah Almighty, while the Gospels contain the words of Jesus and possibly words of God quoted by Jesus, combined with the words of the narrators. However, unlike Gospels, the Hadith literature was thoroughly checked by successive generations of scholars and according to meticulous methodology to sift through the original hadiths from the fabricated ones.
All the prophets of God received their books through revelation just as the Last Prophet received the Qur’an.
And Allah knows best.
Name
Rayiad
- Egypt
Profession
Question
Was Muhammad mentioned in the Gospel?
Answer
Thank you for your question.
Certainly the coming of the Last Prophet is foretold in the Gospels. But you won’t see the name, 'Muhammad' there. Indeed there was an Aramaic word in the original Gospel or Injil that had the same meaning of the name 'Muhammad'. In the present Gospel of John we have that name translated as ‘the Comforter’ in some places and ‘the Spirit of Truth’ in other places. The descriptions of the ‘Comforter’ or ‘the Spirit of Truth’ clearly indicate they mean none other than Muhammad, peace be on him.
Here is the relevant passage from John 16:
" I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." (16: 12-14)
The Christian claim is that this prophecy is about the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Christian Trinity. But this is untenable, because it is made clear in the above verses that the Spirit of Truth refers to someone who would come AFTER Jesus' time. It is clearly stated that the Spirit of Truth will 'lead you into all truth': which means that he will be the Last Prophet.
Note also that he will glorify Jesus. All these qualities are those of none other than Muhammad and so the prophecy is clearly about Muhammad, peace be on him.
And Allah knows best.
Name
Jween
- Greece
Profession
Question
Do you think that we are in a dire need for a Prophet now?
Answer
Thank you for your question.
I don’t think we are in dire need for a Prophet now, because, the mission of all the prophets as we understand it, is over.
We know that even when the prophets came they were not always accepted or obeyed. And so there is no reason to think that a prophet will change it all in no time. In the End Times, we learn that Jesus will come back with a mission; but then it will be End Times you know.
At present it is the duty of the followers of the prophets to live up to their teachings and find solutions to our problems in ways that have already been charted out for us. And so what is required is a return on our part to the original and genuine teachings of our prophets, now.
And Allah knows best.
Name
Jamme
- Austria
Profession
Question
Is there is a reference to Muhammad in the Book of Moses (Torah)?
Answer
Thank you very much for your question.
There certainly are clear prophecies about Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in the Torah of Moses. For instance consider these verses from Deuteronomy 18. Here is what Jehovah spoke to Moses about the prophet to come:
“I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:18-19)
Here Moses is addressing the Children of Israel. He quotes Jehovah as telling him of the coming of a Prophet. The marks for recognizing the coming prophet would be as follows:
1- He would be from among the brethren of the Children of Israel.
2- He would be like Moses.
3- He would speak words and commands put in his mouth by God.
4- He would speak in God’s name.
If you examine the above details of the distinguishing traits of the foretold prophet and those of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) who was born centuries after this prophecy, you will be surprised to learn of the striking similarities. Here one may also consider the Christian argument that the above prophecy is about Jesus. So we need to examine who is actually meant here, with reference to the details of the prophecy.
1- It is clearly mentioned that the coming prophet would be from ‘their brethren’, i.e from the brethren of the Children of Israel. We know that Jesus was one of the Children of Israel and so it is clear that the prophecy does not apply to him. Whereas Muhammad was born in the family of Ishmael; indeed his grandfather was Qaidar (Biblical name: Kedar), one of the twelve sons of Ishmael.
2- One of the two prophets (i.e Jesus and Muhammad) is mentioned to be like Moses. In fact, it is Prophet Muhammad who is really like Moses, and not Jesus. For instance, Jesus was born miraculously without a father; he did not marry and lead a family life; his mission was very short (three years at the most); and God raised him unto Himself when he faced the possibility of violent death at the hands of his enemies. (Christians believe that he was crucified). And so we find that Jesus did not have the time to realize the dream of establishing a society based on the principles he taught. Indeed he had declared that his mission was for ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Matthew 15:24), and not for the whole of humanity.
Compare the above with the mission of Muhammad (peace be upon him). Like Moses, he had a father and mother; he married and led a family life; his mission was long like that of Moses; he died a natural death; and he brought a Law (Shari`ah) for the establishment of a social system, like Moses.
It is also worth emphasizing that at the end of the Book of Deuteronomy, the following is clearly stated:
“And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand…” (Deuteronomy 34:10-12)
This makes it clear that there never was a prophet like Moses in the whole of Israel after Moses, according to the Bible.
Thus we can clearly see that between the two, it was Muhammad from the brethren of the Children of Israel, who could be called, “a Prophet like Moses”.
This is only one of the prophecies about the Last Prophet in the Old Testament.
Hope I have answered your question.
Name
Rahma
-
Profession
Question
Would you please explain in details the difference between a prophet and a messenger?
Answer
Thank you for your question.
"Prophet" is the word used by the people of the Books (especially the Christians) for Nabi and Rasul. In fact the two Arabic words DO NOT EXACTLY MEAN the same as “Prophet”. The word, ‘Prophet’ means one who prophesies or one who foretells future events. This is relevant to the Christian concept of a Prophet whose chief mission is to foretell the coming of the Messiah in the sense of Savior.
To Muslims, a prophet (i.e Nabi or Rasul) is one who receives Divine Revelations and conveys them to his people. He has also a duty to be a model to his people.
Now, about the two Arabic words: Nabi and Rasul:
We find these two words used interchangeably in the Holy Qur’an. For instance we can see the same person being called both a Nabi and a Rasul. The reason seems to be that the ‘Prophet’ in Islam has two capacities: he receives information from God, and he imparts that message to mankind. He is called Nabi in the first capacity, and Rasul in the second capacity, with one difference. The word Rasul has a wider significance, being applicable to every messenger in a literal sense; and the angels are called Divine Messengers Rasul, because they are also bearers of the Divine messages when complying with His Will.
I would like to add here a precautionary note: There is no consensus among the scholars about the exact implications of the words, Nabi and Rasul. Different scholars have given different interpretations.
You may see the following verses to see how the terms are used in the Qur’an:
"Also mention in the Book (the story of) Moses: for he was specially chosen and he was an apostle [Rasul] (and) a prophet [Nabi]." (Maryam 19:51)
"Also mention in the Book (the story of) Isma`il: He was (strictly) true to what he promised and he was an apostle [Rasul] (and) a prophet [Nabi]." (Maryam 19:54)
"Never did We send an apostle [Rasul] or a prophet [Nabi] before thee but when he framed a desire Satan threw some (vanity) into his desire: but Allah will cancel anything (vain) that Satan throws in and Allah will confirm (and establish) His Signs, for Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom" (Al-Hajj 22:52)
And Allah knows best.
Name
Koning
- Ireland
Profession
Question
Is science enough for guiding people?
Answer
Thank you for your question.
Science is good enough to make our physical living conditions more comfortable; for instance, by providing faster travel, quicker cures for illnesses and more efficient ways of manufacturing better consumer articles etc.
But how can science teach us to be better human beings?
Today we find that the findings of science lead "the most civilized country" to the manufacture of more and more chemical, biological and nuclear weapons of global destruction. They don't bother to give food to the starving multitudes in Africa or Asia, as their aim is to rule the whole world. This is what science has done. This proves that science on its own cannot save mankind: What we badly need is Religion, i.e. the True Religion, better understood and more sincerely followed.
