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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Thanks for this serious question, which reflects your concern about Islam. We really commend your efforts in pursuit of truth. This is what is required of all people, to seek truth and not to give in to anything that may cloud their minds with false ideas about Islam.
The Glorious Qur’an is the very Word of Allah revealed to His Messenger, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). The authenticity and divinity of the Qur’an are unquestioned, and there is no difference among Muslims on this fact. The Holy Qur'an has reached us through the process of tawatur (historical continuity and perpetuation achieved through transfer from generation to generation). When we say that the Qur'an has reached us through tawatur, we imply that so many people in every generation conveyed it to the next and so on that there can be no doubt about its authenticity.
In response to your question, the prominent Muslim scholar, Dr. Muhammad Abu Laylah, professor of the Islamic Studies & Comparative Religions at Al-Azhar University states:
“Dear questioner, I am glad to receive your question and to address it with great concern. Before I touch upon your question, I will touch upon your heart and try by the power of Allah and by the light of the Qur’an to make you cherish it and I pray to the Almighty to make you fully receptive and objective.
About your first statement that you were born into a very happy Muslim family, I tell you that Islam is your inherited faith and it is the gift of Allah to you. It came to you not from your father and mother only but it came to you from your great-great grandfather and mother, Adam and Eve. The best thing that your parents did for you was to bring you up according to Islam. They did not give you Islam but they protected and kept it intact for you. Islam is a God-given religion. Allah says: “… the nature (framed) of Allah, in which He hath created man.” (Ar-Rum: 30)
And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Every new born is born on the fitrah (pure nature).”
Concerning your reading about other religions, there is nothing wrong about it. The Qur’an itself makes many references to the religions before Islam, such as polytheism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and even to atheism.
To be a Muslim, you should know about religions. This will help you understand and rightly esteem your own faith.
You’re thinking that the Qur’an may contain some human insertions, specially the verses talking about what you call something worrying the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) personally and verses that were revealed in his favor. Before I proceed, I wonder whether you say this on your own accord or whether you have read it in a non-Muslim source. I say this because some missionaries and orientalists cast such doubts about the authenticity and the Divine nature of the Qur’an. As an example, Maxim Rodinson, in his book Muhammad raises such an unfounded and bald claim that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) himself was writing his own position or justifying some of his own actions. I myself wrote a book called Muhammad between Truth and Fallacy in answer to such a bald claim.
I think my book will not be of benefit to you because it is in Arabic. You based your doubt on some verses of the Qur’an in Surat Al-Ahzab.
First, we draw your attention to some facts that can help you greatly understand and form the answer yourself:
1. These verses are no different in nature from the rest of the verses of this surah, either in style or in rhetoric, or in impetus and other thematic features or characteristics. They are all stamped by the Qur’an and they all are Allah’s words.
2.It is Allah, not Muhammad, Who says to people that they should keep their manners in approaching the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or visiting him. In other words, Allah relieves Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) from telling people because they may misunderstand him or find way to twist his words.
3. Every word of the Qur’an is of universal nature though it may look local or limited to a certain time and space or to a certain group of people. The universal quality of these verses is to show people to be polite and to be well-mannered in dealing with their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or his successors or his scholars who stand for his religion later on.
4. Concerning your doubt about the clause of the verse concerning the wives of Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) not to be married after him, this command was strictly limited to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Though this ruling may look to be local, it is universal if put in the whole context. Moreover, there are some other verses in which Allah, for example, put blame on the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or drew his attention to something other than what he was thinking of. This does not mean that he was reproaching or blaming himself or objecting to himself. At the time these verses were revealed, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) had the power to say this in his own words. He had full authority over Muslims. Muhammad was the most truthful person who ever lived on this planet. He was in no need to support himself by lies or fabrications. Muhammad, by the power of truth, built a great Ummah, spread his religion in a very short time and by peaceful means to all of Arabia, and in the twenty-five years after his death Islam spread in Asia and Africa. Now, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. This is due to Muhammad’s truthfulness and sincerity and love of humanity.
I pray to Allah to take such notions from your mind and let your heart be filled with the light of the Qur’an! Ameen!”
You can also read:
Authenticity of the Glorious Qur'an .
If you are still in need of more information, don't hesitate to contact us. Do keep in touch. May Allah guide us all to the straight path!
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