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Showing posts with label Miracle of Allah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miracle of Allah. Show all posts

Tuesday 5 February 2019

Why do Muslims Follow a Prophet Who was Illiterate?


Prophets are specially chosen people of Allah since Prophet Adam was created from nothing. Since these specially chosen people are favourites of our Creator, there can be no questions asked as to how and why these were chosen. We do not know weather the earlier prophets were men of letter or not, but we do know that the last Prophet of Allah was an unlettered man. And this became a big excuse for the followers of other faiths as to how an illiterate man could be a prophet?

For those who object to Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) being illiterate, the simple answer is that although he was illiterate, the revelations upon him came through the Angel Jibraeel (Gabriel) who would reveal a  particular revelation, make him understand its context and explanation. The Prophet (ﷺ ) of Allah would then memorize it, and read out to a few trusted companions who would the memorize it. And that is how the Qur'an slowly and gradually built up. And that is why it took 23 years for the whole Qur'an to be revealed so that it could understood and memorized completely.

In fact, it is a miracle that despite his illiteracy, Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) received the Quran as a last testament. This is a sign that the Quran is a divine revelation. And despite all hindrances, the Divine commandants spread all over the world in the shape of the Holy Qur'an revealed on to an unlettered world.

Please read our earlier post "Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) - The Dawn of Prophethood" which gives details how Angel Gabriel first approached the Prophet of Allah i the Cave of Hira, outside the city of Makkah and brought to him the very first revelation of the Holy Qur'an. These initial verses are the opening verses of Surah Al Alaq.




In fact when a revelation used to descend on the Prophet of Allah, it used to in-grind on his heart, as has been mentioned in Surah al-Shu’ara’, 194:
26:192) And indeed, the Qur'an is the revelation of the Lord of the worlds. 26:193) The Trustworthy Spirit has brought it down, 26:194) Upon your heart, [O Muhammad] - that you may be of the warners, 26:195) In a clear Arabic language 
He thus always felt as though the Qur’an had been engraved on his heart. His reading and reciting of the Qur’an was coming from the heart and was targeting people’s hearts as well before anything else. Such was happening effortlessly and naturally.

Here it would be pertinent to mention an incident which has been oft misquoted to show that the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) was literate by the pagans of Makkah. Rejecting his Prophet-hood, they wished to prove that the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) was able to read and write and that he read the scriptures of the former nations and composed the Qur’an from them. They brought as evidence that during the pact of Al-Hudaibiyah the people of Quraysh refused to write the Prophet’s title “Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah” and asked to remove it. So, he commanded `Ali to replace it with “Muhammad son of `Abdullah” but `Ali, in reverence to the status Muhammad (ﷺ) refused to erase it. So, the Prophet (ﷺ) himself erased it with his own hand. They maintain that erasing means that he could identify it and he was able to write and read. However, the actual happening was different from what has been quoted. In fact when Ali refused to erase the word, the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) asked `Ali where was the word “the Messenger of Allah” written. When Ali indicated with his finger, then Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) himself erased it.

Some critics of Islam even claim that when Allah had ordained Muhammad (ﷺ), why he still remained illiterate and why he did not learn to read and write. In fact some critics go  to the extent of accusing the Prophet (ﷺ) for deifying the Divine commandment by not learning to read and write. What such critics fail to understand is that after the heavy burden of prophet hood was placed on his shoulder, Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) was more worried about the spread of Divine message to the belligerent audience who confronted him with all means available to them in order to stop him from spreading the world of Allah. He was many a times physically assaulted, stoned and strangled. Under such trying conditions, Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) still confronted his opponents and finally won over a majority of them through his resilience and hard efforts. And if an unlettered man could overawe many learned and wise men of pagans of Makkah and other areas of Arabia of the time, it goes to his credit rather than a discredit.

Watch the answer to the question beautifully explained by none other than Ahmed Deedat (Ahmed Hoosen Deedat (1918-2005) was a South African writer and public speaker. He was best known as a Muslim missionary, who held numerous inter-religious public debates with evangelical Christians, as well as video lectures on Islam, Christianity, and the Bible):
May Allah grant us wisdom to understand Qur'an and Sunnah to be able to dispel any misconceptions that non Muslims have against Islam. Aameen

Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
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Tuesday 3 July 2018

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): Migration to Medina (Hijrah) and Miracle of Allah

A major milestone in the history of Islam is the decision by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him - ) to migrate from Makkah to Media, then called Yathrib. The decision was not easy or entirely by the prophet himself, but it was rather forced upon him due to the ever increasing treacheries of the non believers of Makkah since the open proclamation of Islam by the prophet. The poor newly converted Muslims were the main target of the non believers who where and when found were subjected to extreme torture and their house ransacked.

In the meantime, there was a parallel development taking place in the city of Yathrib in the form of power politics. The state of unrest was mainly due to a long ongoing dispute between the local Arabs and the Jews, which had resulted into many bloody clashes costing precious lives. Thus a delegation from Yathrib elders visited Prophet Muhammad ()  in Makkah and requested him to be their arbitrator to bring peace to the community.

Prophet Muhammad ()  thus decided to migrate to Yathrib to find him a breathing space away from the hostile non believers of Makkah and thus asked his followers to slowly and gradually to head for Yathrib.

The non believers came to know of plan of migration of Prophet Muhammad () and decided to assassinate him before he too left. They thus planned the raid on the night before move of Prophet Muhammad (). Sensing the danger, Prophet Muhammad () had already left his cousin Ali ibn Talib and surreptitiously left Makkah along with his trusted friend and companion Abu Bakr. The presence of Ali in the house of the prophet frustrated the non believers and they sent out armed horsemen to follow Prophet Muhammad ()  and his companion on the route to Yathrib.

By dawn Prophet Muhammad () and Abu Bakr had reached a cave called Thawr and decided to take shelter in there to avoid detection. They stayed there for three days. One day one of the armed teams reached the mouth of the cave and both Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ)  and his companions could hear their voices outside. This rather scared Abu Bakr, but at that time Prophet Muhammad ()  assured him of Allah's protection and said: “How can you be apprehensive about two with whom is a third, especially when the third one is Allah (ﷻ)?” And true to assurance of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) the team after some time retracted and went back.

Unknown to both, Allah (ﷻ) had sent a spider that built its web on the mouth of the cave and a pair of doves came and made a nest near the cave mouth and laid eggs. The armed team when saw these two signs thought no one could have entered the cave from the intact web and disturbing the doves. The miracle of Allah thus saved the two.

The episode of Thawr is mentioned in Qur'an as under:
If ye help not (your leader), (it is no matter): for Allah did indeed help him, when the Unbelievers drove him out: he had no more than one companion; they two were in the cave, and he said to his companion, “Have no fear, for Allah is with us”: then Allah sent down His peace upon him, and strengthened him with forces which ye saw not, and humbled to the depths the word of the Unbelievers. But the word of Allah is exalted to the heights: for Allah is Exalted in might, Wise.“ [Surah Al Taubah 9:40]
Once reassured of their safety, the prophet and his companion left of Yathrib on the fourth day. Back in Yathrib, the Muslims who had earlier migrated from Makkah along with locals eagerly waited for the prophet. They would queue up at the mouth of Makkah - Yathrib route awaiting for their revered guests. 

Upon their arrival, they were greeted by the locals and everyone wanted the Prophet Muhammad () to stay with them. The Prophet Muhammad ()  who was riding his white camel "Qiswa" said that whereever her camel stops, he would stay with that household. The camel kept wandering in the streets followed by the crowd wanting to know who the blessed host of Prophet Muhammad () would be. Finally the camel sat in front of the house one Abu Ayub Ansaari. Prophet Muhammad () stayed with his host till his abode was ready and shifted there.The house of Abu Ayub Ansaari is part of Masjid e Quba. 

The life at Yathrib and the later part of life of Prophet Muhammad () will be covered in the next post.

Photo |References - 1 | 2 |

If you like Islam: My Ultimate Decision, and to keep yourself updated on all our latest posts to know more about Islam, follow us on Facebook

Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.

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