Questions from a Christian friend

[Muslim Knight]

Assalamualaikum,

I'm a Muslim from Malaysia. Recently I was asked by a Christian friend of mine some questions regarding verses of the Qur'an. I promised to answer him but I need some help here to formulate clear explanations. The questions are:

Question 1

"The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the
Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a
saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate
what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's
curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the
Truth!" (QS. 9:30) - Yusuf Ali's Quran Translation.

Proof of the Jews have actually said, "'Uzayr is the son of God."


Question 2

The Quran mentioned the attributes of Allah as:

"Now Allah leaves straying those whom He pleases, and guides whom He pleases: And He is Exalted in Power, Full of Wisdom." (Al-Quran, 14:4)

"If Allah so willed, He could make you all one People: But He leaves straying whom He pleases, and He guides whom He pleases: but ye shall certainly be called into account for all your actions."(Al-Quran, 16:93)

"For Allah leaves to stray whom He wills, and guides whom He wills. So let not thy soul go out in (vainly) sighing after them: for Allah knows well all that they do!" (Al-Quran, 35:8 )

My Christian friend compared to a verse in the Bible (2 Pet 3:9). He wants an explanation about what he sees as Allah's active attribute of letting people astray.


Question 3

My Christian friend then presented me with verses from Matthew 22:23-30) about a woman whose husband died. She remarried to his brother after which he also died later and this goes on until she has married seven times with his siblings. He wants to know what is the reply from Islam.


Question 4

My Christian friend wants to know if Allah's Words in book form (Al-Quran) was created by Him. He further asks that if Allah's Words can come to the world in book-form, how can it not be possible that Allah's Words can come in earthly form (he's obviously pointing out why Jesus is not God)


I have posted these questions in Christianity-Islam Forum Exchange but they take some time. I humbly ask assistance from my knowledgeable Muslim brothers and sisters to answer his questions. Jazakallahu khairan kathira.

Wassalam

 

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

Question 1

"The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the
Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a
saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate
what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's
curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the
Truth!" (QS. 9:30) - Yusuf Ali's Quran Translation.

Proof of the Jews have actually said, "'Uzayr is the son of God."

Muhammad Asad is a jew who converted to Islam and this is what he says about this verse:

This statement is connected with the preceding verse, which speaks of the erring followers of earlier revelation. The charge of shirk ("the ascribing of divinity [or "divine qualities"] to aught beside God") is levelled against both the Jews and the Christians in amplification, as it were, of the statement that they "do not follow the religion of truth [which God has enjoined upon them]".
As regards the belief attributed to the Jews that Ezra (or, in the Arabicized form of this name, `Uzayr) was "God's son", it is to be noted that almost all classical commentators of the Qur'an agree in that only the Jews of Arabia, and not all Jews, have been thus accused. (According to a Tradition on the authority of Ibn `Abbas - quoted by Tabari in his commentary on this verse - some of the Jews of Medina once said to Muhammad, "How could we follow thee when thou hast forsaken our giblah and dost not consider Ezra a son of God?") On the other hand, Ezra occupies a unique position in the esteem of all Jews, and has always been praised by them in the most extravagant terms. It was he who restored and codified the Torah after it had been lost during the Babylonian Exile, and "edited" it in more or less the form which it has today; and thus "he promoted the establishment of an exclusive, legalistic type of religion that became dominant in later Judaism" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1963, vol. IX, p. 15). Ever since then he has been venerated to such a degree that his verdicts on the Law of Moses have come to be regarded by the Talmudists as being practically equivalent to the Law itself: which, in Qur'anic ideology, amounts to the unforgivable sin of shirk, inasmuch as it implies the elevation of a human being to the status of a quasi-divine law-giver and the blasphemous attribution to him - albeit metaphorically - of the quality of "sonship" in relation to God. Cf. in this connection Exodus iv, 22-23 ("Israel is My son") or Jeremiah xxxi, 9 ("I am a father to Israel"): expressions to which, because of their idolatrous implications, the Qur'dn takes strong exception. (Asad, Message of the Qur'an)​

More info here:
http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Contrad/External/ezra.html

Question 2

The Quran mentioned the attributes of Allah as:

"Now Allah leaves straying those whom He pleases, and guides whom He pleases: And He is Exalted in Power, Full of Wisdom." (Al-Quran, 14:4)

"If Allah so willed, He could make you all one People: But He leaves straying whom He pleases, and He guides whom He pleases: but ye shall certainly be called into account for all your actions."(Al-Quran, 16:93)

"For Allah leaves to stray whom He wills, and guides whom He wills. So let not thy soul go out in (vainly) sighing after them: for Allah knows well all that they do!" (Al-Quran, 35:8 )

My Christian friend compared to a verse in the Bible (2 Pet 3:9). He wants an explanation about what he sees as Allah's active attribute of letting people astray.

As explained in my article here:
http://www.load-islam.com/c/rebuttals/Is_the_Punishment_and_Mercy_of_Allah_Arbitrary
http://www.load-islam.com/c/rebuttals/Is_the_Punishment_and_Mercy_of_Allah_Arbitrary

Allah let's people go astray when they are unjust and turn away from the truth, following their personal desires. Allah only causes someone to go astray when they move in that direction themselves. As Allah swt says:
61:5 So when they turned away (from the Path of Allâh), Allâh turned their hearts away (from the Right Path). And Allâh guides not the people who are rebellious.

Question 3

My Christian friend then presented me with verses from Matthew 22:23-30) about a woman whose husband died. She remarried to his brother after which he also died later and this goes on until she has married seven times with his siblings. He wants to know what is the reply from Islam.

I'm not sure what the question is. Are you asking if the marriage is permissabel from an Islamic perspective?

Question 4

My Christian friend wants to know if Allah's Words in book form (Al-Quran) was created by Him. He further asks that if Allah's Words can come to the world in book-form, how can it not be possible that Allah's Words can come in earthly form (he's obviously pointing out why Jesus is not God)

The argument has many problems. First of all, a book is an actual form in which words are recorded. A book containing the words of God denotes a book which ahs characters and symbols which collectively represent the words of God. But no one records words in the form of living things. A person is not like a book that can be recited.

But anyway, the major point is this: Christians don't just say that Christ is the word of God, they say that Christ IS God. Muslims on the other hand never claimed that the Qur'an is God!

I hope this helps.

 

[Muslim Knight]

Alhamdulillah, these answers are sufficient. Shukran yazilan, brother Ansr 'Adl. Thank you so much!

 

[Muslim Knight]

OK, I mentioned before that he asked me the questions and it was not an invitation to a debate. I thought he merely wanted to know from our Islamic perspective. However, he turned around and refuted our answers. Since some of his answers were originally in Malay, I quoted then translated for reference.

As for Question 1, he refuted;

The Qur'an is clearly wrong in saying that the Jews believed that Ezra is the Son of God. The Jewish people DO NOT believe and have NEVER believed that Ezra is the Son of God. Dr. Saifullah first gives us a biography of Ezra and then attempts to save the Qur'an from its error.

Dr. Saifullah tells us:

The Islamic exegetes have mentioned that there existed a community of Jews in Yemen who considered Ezra as son of God. Hirschberg says in Encylopedia Judaica:

H Z Hirschberg proposed another assumption, based on the words of Ibn Hazm, namely, that the 'righteous who live in Yemen believed that 'Uzayr was indeed the son of Allah. According to other Muslim sources, there were some Yemenite Jews who had converted to Islam who believed that Ezra was the messiah. For Muhammad, Ezra, the apostle (!) of messiah, can be seen in the same light as the Christian saw Jesus, the messiah, the son of Allah.

Notice the words "proposed" and "assumption". There are no records from any Jewish community that believed Ezra was the Son of God! Suppose, as in the case of the Qur'an's error that Mary was a member of the Trinity, there was a heretical sect of Jews who believed that Ezra was the Son of God. An all-knowing God would know that the vast majority of the Jews DO NOT believe this. Why is the majority opinion important in this case?

Notice that the Qur'an says "The Jews", and not "some Jews"! This wording indicates that this verse is talking about the mainstream majority of the Jewish community. Notice also that this passage says "The Christians" (referring to the majority of Christians) call Christ the Son of God in spite of the fact that there were heretical groups in Arabia who denied this belief.

Since God is perfect and cannot error, He did not produce this verse. So, the question is : how did Muhammad make this error? The first possibility is that Muhammad knew nothing of Jewish theology and beliefs and either thought this in his own mind or heard it from someone else who was equally uniformed. The second, and more likely explanation, is that Muhammad knew the facts (the Jews did not regard Ezra as the Son of God) but distorted the truth to fit his needs of the moment.

Since God is perfect and cannot error, He did not produce this verse. So, the question is : how did Muhammad make this error? The first possibility is that Muhammad knew nothing of Jewish theology and beliefs and either thought this in his own mind or heard it from someone else who was equally uniformed. The second, and more likely explanation, is that Muhammad knew the facts (the Jews did not regard Ezra as the Son of God) but distorted the truth to fit his needs of the moment.

This entire Sura was "revealed" at Medina at a time when the Muslims had conquered much of Arabia and were preparing to attack neighboring lands. The Qur'an commentator Syed Maududi tells us that : "In this portion the Muslims have been urged to fight in the Way of Allah with the mushrik Arabs, the Jews and the Christians, who were duly warned of the consequences of their mischievous and inimical behavior. (Sura 9:13-37)

Muhammad was condemning the Christians of "shirk" because they believed that Jesus is the Son of God. Apparently, Muhammad wanted to accuse the Jews of "shirk" so he threw the accusation, that the Jews believed that Ezra was the Son of God, in for good measure. In any event an all-knowing God would NEVER and could NEVER make such an error! Clearly, these are Muhammad's words which he uttered to serve his purposes.

Taken from: ---

For Question 2, I'm not sure whether its a refutation, he says it was a good answer (credit to brother Ansr Al-`Adl) but he further complements from verse 3:54. He alleged that Allah is actively scheming (in this sense, deceiving) people. He says;

And they (the disbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed (against them): and Allah is the best of schemers. (3:54 Pickthal)

Istilah “scheme” dalam bahasa Arab ialah makara di mana ia membawa maksud seorang penipu dan perancang tipudaya. Ia selalu digunakan dlm konotasi negatif. Oleh itu, Allah digambarkan sebagai pembuat tipu helah yang terbaik dan perancang tipu daya yang unggul.

Translation: The term "scheme" in Arabic language is 'makara' which brings the meaning of a deceiver and a scheme-planner. It is used in negative connotation. Therefore Allah is pictured as a best schemer and the excellent deceiver.

He further goes down to how Allah leads His creatures astray;

Pertama: Allah makara terhadap Jin

Para jin itu membuat untuk Sulaiman apa yang dikehendakinya dari gedung-gedung yang tinggi dan patung-patung, dan piring-piring yang (besarnya) seperti kolam dan periuk yang tetap (berada diatas tungku).Bekerjalah hai keluarga Daud untuk bersyukur (kepada Allah).Dan sedikit sekali dari hamba-hambaKu yang berterima kasih. Maka tatkala Kami telah menetapkan kematian Sulaiman, tidak ada yang menunjukkan kepada mereka kematiannya itu kecuali rayap yang memakan tongkatnya. Maka tatkala ia telah tersungkur, tahulah jin itu bahwa kalau sekiranya mereka mengetahui yang ghaib tentulah mereka tidak tetap dalam siksa yang menghinakan. (QS. 34:13-14)

Kedua: Allah mengguna tipu helah untuk menyelamatkan Isa Almasih

dan karena ucapan mereka:"Sesungguhnya kami telah membunuh Al-Masih, Isa putera Maryam, Rasul Allah", padahal mereka tidak membunuhnya dan tidak menyalibnya, tetapi orang yang diserupakan dengan Isa bagi mereka. Sesungguhnya orang-orang yang berselisih paham tentang Isa, benar-benar dalam keragu-raguan tentang yang dibunuh itu. Mereka tidak mempunyai keyakinan tentang siapa yang dibunuh itu, kecuali mengikuti persangkaan belaka, mereka tidak yakin bahwa yang mereka bunuh itu adalah Isa. (QS. 4:157)

Namun Allah juga menggunakan helah untuk membantu Muhammad:

(yaitu) ketika Allah menampakkan mereka kepadamu di dalam mimpimu (berjumlah) sedikit. Dan sekiranya Allah memperlihatkan mereka kepada kamu (berjumlah) banyak tentu kamu menjadi gemetar dan tentu saja kamu akan berbantah-bantahan dalam urusan itu, akan tetapi Allah telah menyelamatkan kamu. Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mengetahui segala isi hati. (QS. 8:43)

Tetapi kita jumpa ayat lain di mana Allah berfirman:

Dan janganlah kamu campur-adukkan yang hak dengan yang bathil dan janganlah kamu sembunyikan yang hak itu, sedang kamu mengetahui. (QS. 2:42)


Translation;

First: Allah 'makara' against jinns

"Then, when We decreed (Solomon's) death. nothing showed them his death except a little worm of the earth, which kept (slowly) gnawing away at his staff: so when the Jinns saw plainly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have tarried in the humiliating penalty (of their task)." (Quran, 34:14)

Second: Allah uses deception to save 'Isa alaihissalam

"That they said (in boast) " We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah - but they killed him not, nor crucified him but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for a surety they killed him not-" (Quran, 4:157)

Third: Allah uses deception to save Muhammad

"Remember in thy dream Allah showed them to thee as few: if He had shown them to thee as many, ye would surely have been discouraged, and ye would surely have disputed in (your) decision: but Allah saved (you) for He knoweth well the (secrets) of (all) hearts" (Quran, 8:43)

But we find other verse in which Allah says;

"And cover not Truth, with falsehood, nor conceal the Truth when ye know (what it is)." (Quran, 2:42)

For Question 4 he says;

'Begini saudara, lihat premis-premis ini,

1. Firman Allah tidak dicipta
2. Quran adalah Firman Allah
3. Oleh itu, Quran tidak diciptakan.
Dalam masa yg sama, lembaran, dakwat dan juga hati manusia yang mengandungi Al-Quran semuanya adalah dicipta. Ini bermakna Al-Quran ada dua sifat iaitu abadi dan sementara, dicipta dan juga tidak dicipta dalam masa yang sama.'

Look at these premises
1. The Word of God is not created
2. Quran is the Word of God
3. Therefore, Quran is not created
In the same time, the pages, ink and also human heart containing Al-Quran are all created. This means Al-Quran has two characteristics i.e. eternal and temporary, created and not created in the same time.

'Sekiranya kita mengandaikan bahawa Al-Quran adalah bersifat abadi, maka kita juga dapat mengandaikan bahawa doa berikutnya adalah juga bersifat abadi, kerana sebahagian daripada Al-Quran.'

If we accept that Al-Quran is eternal, then we can also say the following du'a is also eternal, because it is part of Al-Quran.

'Dengan menyebut nama Allah Yang Maha Pemurah lagi Maha Penyayang. Segala puji bagi Allah, Rabb semesta alam, Maha Pemurah lagi Maha Penyayang. Yang menguasai hari pembalasan. Hanya Engkaulah yang kami sembah dan hanya kepada Engkaulah kami mohon pertolongan. Tunjukilah kami jalan yang lurus, (yaitu) jalan orang-orang yang telah Engkau anugerahkan nikmat kepada mereka; bukan (jalan) mereka yang dimurkai dan bukan (pula jalan) mereka yang sesat. (QS. 1:1-7)'

This is the Malay translation of surah Al-Fatihah.

'Ini adalah suatu doa yg dituju terus kepada Allah, dan lagi ini juga sepatutnya adalah doa yang abadi iaitu suatu doa yang wujud sebelum penciptaan. Dalam terang pandangan tersebut, ini sama ada bermaksud bahawa Quran adalah suatu entiti peribadi hidup yg berbeza dari Allah, memandangkan Ia berdoa kepada Allah, atau bahawa Allah pada kenyataannya berdoa kepada diri-Nya sendiri sejak abadi lagi. Sekiranya posisi ini benar maka ia menunjukkan ada dua entiti abadi yang berbeza, Allah dan Quran, yakni ada dua Tuhan kalau tiada tuhan yg lain lagi ataupun bahawa Allah wujud dalam kejamakan dlm diri-Nya sendiri.'

This is a prayer straight towards Allah, and this is supposed to be eternal du'a that is a prayer which was present before Creation. In this clear view, this either means that Quran is living personal entity different from Allah, since it is praying to Allah, or Allah in the sense that He is praying to Himself since time immemorial. If this position is true then it shows that there are two different eternal entities, Allah and Quran, meaning there are two Gods if there is no other god or Allah is present in a multitude within Himself (as in Trinity).

'Apakah Allah berdoa?'

Does Allah make prayer?

In Sura 33:056

“Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect.”

The phrase “send blessings” was originally “pray upon”. The translator didn’t think it is appropriate to say that God and His Angels would pray upon (inferring praying to) the prophet Mohamed, so he had to change it to “send blessings.”

This is an example of the difficulty translators sometimes face when trying to literarily translate the Quran, and how they have to deviate from the original text to present something that makes sense. We are not trying to say here that Muslims believe that God or Muslims pray to Mohammed

Taken from: ---

How is it then? It seems that Quran is also Allah.

He calls himself Teddy. He can be contacted at [email protected]

 

[Muslim Knight]

As for Question 3, he wants to know the position of the woman in Paradise, who is her husband in the end. Please refer to original thread.

 

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

brother Muslim knight,
Sorry for the delayed response.

As for Question 1, he refuted

You need to watch your terminoloy, brother. Refute means that he has completely proven my assertions to be false. Having read his responses, it is quite clear that he may have responded to my assertions, but he has clearly not refuted them.

On to his responses (or rather what he has copied and pasted from other websites)...

With regards to Uzayr, he has only pasted a response to the Islamic-Awareness site. He has not responded at all to the quote that I gave from Muhammad Asad, a former Jew himself, who pointed out that, as mentioned in At-Tabari's tafsir, some Jews came to the Prophet Muhammad pbuh and said, "How can we follow you when you do not believe Uzayr is the son of God?". Noice that the Qur'an doesn't say that the Jews believe Uzayr is the son of God, but the Qur'an is very precise in saying that the Jews say Uzayr is the son of God. Thus, it cannot be a contradiction in any way since the Qur'an is only responding to the verbal proclamation of a group of Jews!

Also interesting is Dr. Muhammad Mohar Ali's comments on this issue:

Of course there is no evidence in the extant Old Testament about it; but the Qur'an was not referring to what is written in the Old Testament about 'Uzayr but to the belief and assertion of some of the Jews of the time who regarded 'Uzayr as the son of God. In fact the 'ayah in question, 9:30, starts with the expression: "And the Jews say". The commentator Al-Baydawi, to whome Watt refers a number of times in his book, (fn. Watt, Muhammad's Mecca, 108, note 2 to Chapter 1 and notes 2 and 10 to Chapter III) makes it clear with reference to this 'ayah that because the Old Testament was given its present form by 'Uzayr, many of the Jews of the time considered him a "son of God" and that specifically at Madina there was a group of Jews who held that belief. Al-Baydawi futher points out that the 'ayah in question was read out and recited as usual but no Madinan Jew came forward with a contradiction (fn.Al-Baydawi, Tafsir, I, second Egyptian impression, 1968, p. 412). It is to be noted that this 'ayah is unanimously regarded as Madinan. Hence the silence of the Jews of the place on the matter is suggestive enough, particularly as they were avowed critics of the Prophet.
Not only Al-Baydawi but also other commentators mention that the 'ayah refers to the views of a particular group of the Jews. For instance, Al-Tabari bives a number of reports together with their chains of narrators specifically mentioning the leading Jews of Madina who considered Uzayr a son of God. The most prominent of those Jews were Finhas, Sullam ibn Mishkam, Nu'man ibn Awfa, Sha's ibn Qays and Malik ibn al-Sayf (fn. Al-Tabari, Tafsir, XIV, 201-204). Similarly, Al-Qurtubi mentions the same fact and the same names adding that the expression "the Jews" occuring at the beginning of the 'ayah means "some particular Jews", just as the expression "people told them" (qala lahum al-nas) means not all the people of the world but some particular people. He further says that the Jewish sect who held that 'Uzayr was God's son had become extinct by his (Al-Qurtubi's) time (fn. Al-Qurtubi, Tafsir, Pt. VIII, 116-117). (Muhammad Mohar Ali, The Qur'an and the Orientalists, Jam'iyat 'Ihyaa' Minhaaj Al-Sunnah 2004, p. 66)​

So as for what he quotes,

Notice the words "proposed" and "assumption". There are no records from any Jewish community that believed Ezra was the Son of God!

First of all, this is the fallacy of argumentum ad ignorantium which we can refute with the expression, "absence of proof is not proof of absence". In other words, just because we don't have historical evidence that shows that some Jews believed this, does not prove that no Jews ever believed this!

Secondly, as was previously mentioned, there are specific historical narrations related by Qur'anic commentators like Al-Baydawi and At-Tabari which state the names of specific Jewish leaders who came forward to the Muslims and said "We cannot believe you since you do not accept Uzayr as the son of God". And notice that the Qur'an doesn't say that the Jews believed Uzayr was the son of God, it says quite clearly that they said he was the son of God. So, the Qur'an was responding to an explicit proclamation of the Jews. Either the Jews were intentionally lying, or they actually believed what they said - but in any event the Qur'an can't be wrong since the Jews of Madinah actually said this.

Suppose, as in the case of the Qur'an's error that Mary was a member of the Trinity, there was a heretical sect of Jews who believed that Ezra was the Son of God. An all-knowing God would know that the vast majority of the Jews DO NOT believe this. Why is the majority opinion important in this case?

The Qur'an is focused on refuting all misconceptions on God, no matter who believes in them. The Qur'an mentions the Jews alongside the Christians here because it points out that no one is the son of God, whether they be Christ, Uzayr, Krishna, etc.

Notice that the Qur'an says "The Jews", and not "some Jews"! This wording indicates that this verse is talking about the mainstream majority of the Jewish community.

This is an example in the Qur'an where the wording is 'aam (general) but the meaning is khaas (specific), just like the example before, "and the people said" does not mean every person in the world.

Notice also that this passage says "The Christians" (referring to the majority of Christians) call Christ the Son of God in spite of the fact that there were heretical groups in Arabia who denied this belief.

Nevertheless, the ones the Muslims came in contact with believed this.

Since God is perfect and cannot error, He did not produce this verse. So, the question is : how did Muhammad make this error? The first possibility is that Muhammad knew nothing of Jewish theology and beliefs and either thought this in his own mind or heard it from someone else who was equally uniformed. The second, and more likely explanation, is that Muhammad knew the facts (the Jews did not regard Ezra as the Son of God) but distorted the truth to fit his needs of the moment.

The truth of the matter is that this was an actualy statement uttered by the Jewish leaders, whose names have been listed previous in the quote by Dr. Muhammad Mohar Ali.

On to the second question....

And they (the disbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed (against them): and Allah is the best of schemers. (3:54 Pickthal)

Translation: The term "scheme" in Arabic language is 'makara' which brings the meaning of a deceiver and a scheme-planner. It is used in negative connotation. Therefore Allah is pictured as a best schemer and the excellent deceiver.

The word 'makara' does not necessitate a negative connotation. The meaning of the verse here is that the disbelievers though they could plot an evil scheme yet they failed to realize that they were already subject to God's divine plan, and God is the best of planners. I find it hilarious that a Christian is complaining about God planning in the Qur'an, whereas in the Bible it explicitly states that God deceives!

"And for this cause God shall send them strong DELUSION, that they should believe a LIE" (2 Thess. 2:11)

Explain that for us!

First: Allah 'makara' against jinns

"Then, when We decreed (Solomon's) death. nothing showed them his death except a little worm of the earth, which kept (slowly) gnawing away at his staff: so when the Jinns saw plainly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have tarried in the humiliating penalty (of their task)." (Quran, 34:14)

Allah swt allowed the Jinns to continue in their labour though Sulayman was dead in order to teach them a lesson: that only God knows the unseen and even the Jinn have limited understanding.

Second: Allah uses deception to save 'Isa alaihissalam

"That they said (in boast) " We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah - but they killed him not, nor crucified him but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for a surety they killed him not-" (Quran, 4:157)

The disbelievers sought to murder Prophet Jesus pbuh, so Allah allowed them to be confused and deceived in that matter, but the true followers of Prophet Jesus pbuh were not deceived for they were fully aware of this from before.

Third: Allah uses deception to save Muhammad

"Remember in thy dream Allah showed them to thee as few: if He had shown them to thee as many, ye would surely have been discouraged, and ye would surely have disputed in (your) decision: but Allah saved (you) for He knoweth well the (secrets) of (all) hearts" (Quran, 8:43)

This is a matter of Allah swt granting the Prophet Muhammad pbuh courage and protecting Him. This is not deception because the Prophet Muhammad pbuh was receiving revelation from Allah, such as the above verse.

But we find other verse in which Allah says;
"And cover not Truth, with falsehood, nor conceal the Truth when ye know (what it is)." (Quran, 2:42)

This is a command for human beings not to distort the revelation of God.

This is a prayer straight towards Allah, and this is supposed to be eternal du'a that is a prayer which was present before Creation. In this clear view, this either means that Quran is living personal entity different from Allah, since it is praying to Allah, or Allah in the sense that He is praying to Himself since time immemorial. If this position is true then it shows that there are two different eternal entities, Allah and Quran, meaning there are two Gods if there is no other god or Allah is present in a multitude within Himself (as in Trinity).

This confusion is clarified in the following article by Dr. Ali Ataie:

According to Geisler and Saleeb, Islam's conception of the Qur'an is exactly identical to the Christian concept of Christ as the Divine Logos. They contend that Muslims should have no scruples in accepting the divinity of Christ as the second person of a triune deity, since Muslims claim the same about the Qur'an.

To elaborate further, the Qur'an is the UNCREATED word of God (according to Sunni Orthodox Muslims as opposed to the Shia or Mu'tazilite position) and His final revelation. The Qur'an, not the physical book but rather the words themselves, are inseparable from God.

Christian fundamentalists like the two mentioned above maintain that Christ too is uncreated and cannot be separated from God in his nature, as well as His final revelation. Therefore, Muslims worship the Qur'an as the second entity in their godhead just as Christians worship Jesus as the second person in their godhead!

This very weak argument smells of guilt on the side of the Christian because he knows that he has made a religion for himself that in no way resembles the true spirit of what Christ taught.

After years and years of trying to justify and qualify the trinity as the "one true God," the Christian has resorted to the tactic of pointing the finger outward toward the Muslims of all people! In order to understand the position of the Qur'an in relation to the so-called "divinty" of Jesus, we must examine more closely the Muslim concept of God.

According to the Qur'an, the God of Islam has 99 attributes called asma-ul-husna. These attributes or names are NOT the essence of the Almighty, but only a reflection of His essence or nature. For instance, the attribute of Mercy, Ar-Rahman, is a title God uses for Himself many times in the Qur'an.

We as human beings can conceive of some one acting in a very Merciful way towards us. When we examine, however, the nature around us, the endless sustenance of all creatures, our gifts of sight, sound, and smell, our loving and fruitful relationships with other human beings, and our faculties of understanding and reason, can we possibly grasp the true meaning and all encompassing significance of God's title Ar-Rahman? Certianly not!

Therefore, the attributes of God are really reflections of His true Essence and Nature, a nature that no human mind can grasp. They (the attributes) are NOT the Essence itself. According to Christian theology, God's Essence(s) are/is His attribute(s). Therefore, because God showed love for all of humanity by sending his "Son" to die a criminal's death, God IS Love. Because God bestows mercy in difficult times, He IS Mercy.

This of course is extremely problematic and very contradictory. If God's essence IS His attribute, then since He also created evil, He must be Evil! If God's essence IS His atttribute, then since He also punishes sinners and is Wrathful, God IS Wrath! Muslims would rather believe that God is lovING, and MerciFUL, and WrathFUL.

The Christian quest for the Divine Essence of the Almighty arises from his insatiable infatuation with his Lord. Instead of searching out what God requires, or what He Wills, the Christian tries to ascertain what God is. This foolish journey will get him nowhere, if not move him backwards. He believes in One God, yet claims that this ONE Essence or Nature, appeared in three distinct and separate persons, namely, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Geisler claims that since Jesus is the Word of God and His uncreated divine revelation, he bears no difference to Islam and their holy book, the Qur'an. Therefore, he contends, Muslims are not really monotheistic but bitheistic! Simply put, he says the Muslim belief toward the Qur'an is IDENTICAL to the Christian belief toward Jesus. To counter this argument, one must have a basic understanding of Christian theology.

According to Christianity, Jesus is a "separate and distinct person" from the Father and Holy Spirit. No Muslim however, regardless of denomination or philosophy, will put forward the claim that the Qur'an is a "separate and distinct person or entity" from God, the Creator, the Most High, the All-Knowing, etc.

Secondly, the Christian fails to comprehend WHY the Qur'an is so highly esteemed. The Qur'an certainly is not a separate and distinct reveletion OF a single Essence, but rather it is a reflection or revelation emanating FROM that single Essence -- It is the Speech of God (Kalam), not God the Speech.

Just as the attribute of Mercy cannot be separated from God, His Speech cannot be either. In this sense, the Islamic conception of Jesus as a word from God is justified and the Christian notion of Jesus as God the Word is exploded. (God said "Kun," an uncreated Word that initiated the creation of Jesus. Jesus is not THE Word, but rather resulted FROM the Word)

In the Qur'an Jesus is called "Kalimatullah," a word FROM God. The Qur'an is called "Kallamullah," the Word OF God.

The Christian however, contends that Islam's God is only viewed as Good because He DOES good. Whereas, the Christian God does good because He IS Good. Again, this line of reasoning leads to many unexplained questions when it comes to the problem of evil in the world (theodicy). If God Wills evil, then is He evil? Yes, according to Christians. In Islam however, if God Wills evil, HE certainly is not evil!

The Christian finds fault with the Qur'an calling God by 99 names and attributes and claims that in Islam God is just as Merciful as He is Destructive; He is 1/99 Just, and 1/99 Great, and 1/99 the Punisher, and 1/99 the Vengeful, etc. (!!!)

Again, the Christian mind has failed to realize the importance of these names in the Qur'an. Obviously, God has laid much more stress on His Attributes of Compassion and Mercy. 113 of the 114 chapters of the Qur'an begin with the refrain, "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful."

God reveals in the Qur'an, "He has inscribed the Law of Mercy upon Himself." Clearly, the dominating attribute of God in Islam is His abounding Mercy.​

(SOURCE)​

Does Allah make prayer?

In Sura 33:056

“Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect.”

The phrase “send blessings” was originally “pray upon”. The translator didn’t think it is appropriate to say that God and His Angels would pray upon (inferring praying to) the prophet Mohamed, so he had to change it to “send blessings.”

This is an example of the difficulty translators sometimes face when trying to literarily translate the Quran, and how they have to deviate from the original text to present something that makes sense. We are not trying to say here that Muslims believe that God or Muslims pray to Mohammed

Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi writes:

The word “salah” literally means “to come close and near”. It is used in the Qur’an for prayers as well as for blessings. Through our salah or prayers we try to come closer to Allah with submission and surrender. Allah also draws near to His Prophet and the believers through His blessings.
In the Qur’an it is also mentioned that Allah sends “salah” on the Prophet (Al-Ahzab 33: 56) as well as on the believers (Al-Ahzab 33: 43). When Allah comes closer to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and to other believers, it means that He comes closer to them with His blessings, love and favor. Allah says in the Qur’an, [Lo! Allah and His angels shower blessings on the Prophet. O ye who believe! Ask blessings on him and salute him with a worthy salutation.] (Al-Ahzab 33: 56) and [He it is who blesseth you, and His angels (bless you), that He may bring you forth from darkness unto light; and He is Merciful to the believers.](Al-Ahzab 33: 43)
Thus when it is said that Allah sends His salah on the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) it means that He blesses the Prophet. When it is said that angels send salah, it means that they pray to Allah for His blessings for His Prophet. When we, the believers, are told to do so it means the same thing that we should ask Allah to bestow His blessings on Prophet Muhammad.
Allah sent and continues to send His blessings on the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the believers. His blessings are countless and they come in numerous ways. We should pray to Allah to send more and more blessings on Prophet Muhammad. The Prophet Muhammad himself has instructed us that when we send blessings unto him, we should say “Allahumma salle `ala Muhammad wa `ala ale Muhammad kama sallaita `ala Ibrahima wa `ala `ale Ibrahim. Innaka hameedum Majeed.” This and a number of other similar versions of salah `ala al-nabee are mentioned in many authentic Hadiths. In our prayers we should use only those authentic versions and should not make any changes from our side.
Allah told us that we should send salah on Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) then told us that the best way to do that is to request Allah to send His blessings upon him. So there is no shirk (associating other partners with Allah). We are not sending blessings on him. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted to include his Aal also in this blessing. The word Aal has various meanings. It could mean his family as well as his followers. (SOURCE)​

So we see that the word 'salah' has many meanings.

As for Question 3, he wants to know the position of the woman in Paradise, who is her husband in the end. Please refer to original thread.

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih Al-Munajjid has written a lengthy article on this topic, quoted here:
http://www.islamicboard.com/showpost.php?p=118407&postcount=1

I hope this helps.

 

[Muslim Knight]

Alhamdulillah, your answers clear the cloud in the back of my mind as well. Jazakallah, brother Ansar. I thank you very much. I am grateful for your time spent and your expert knowledge.

 

[Muslim Knight]

I apologize for wrong usage of terminology earlier on. It is clearly a case of misunderstanding.

 

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

Re: Mary


I thought I would answer a related issue here, inshaa'Allah

On the topic of Mary and the Trinity, verse in question:
5:116 And behold! God will say: O Jesus the son of Mary didst thou say unto men, worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah? He (Jesus) will say: Glory to thee, never could I say what I had no right (to say)".

From Dr. Ali Ataie:

What the Trinity is not
Christians charge the Prophet Muhammad as one who denounced an incorrect concept of the Christian Trinity because Allah has said: “And behold! Allah will say: ‘O Jesus the son of Mary! Didst thou say unto men, worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah?’ He will say: ‘Glory to Thee! never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, thou wouldst indeed have known it. Thou knowest what is in my heart, Thou I know not what is in Thine. For Thou knowest in full all that is hidden’” (Qur’an 5:116).
Christian authors claim that the Prophet believed the Trinity to consist of somewhat of a “holy family,” Father, Son, and Mother. Looking at the verse a little closer, however, reveals that this assertion is completely incorrect and unfounded. The words “in derogation of Allah” translated from the Arabic “min du-nillah,” does not correspond to a sense that complements, but rather antagonizes. In essence God is asking Jesus if he ever told his followers that he or his mother were gods other than Allah. Certainly no Christian will ever concede that there are three gods, but only one God in three persons. This verse has nothing to do with the Trinity; it is dealing with the deification of Jesus and Mary.
Was Mary ever deified though? There were actually sects of Christianity at the time of Muhammad called the Miriamites and Choloridians who worshipped Mary as a mother-goddess much like the cult of Isis did in Greco-Roman times. Also, mention the word “Catholic” and you will see your born-again accuser blush. The Catholic will answer that he only uses Mary as an intermediary, not as an object of worship. Explain to him the Muslim concept of shirk, or false deification. According to Islam, worship is a direct contact between the worshipper and God. Invoking God through a creature, no matter how saintly he or she might have been, would make us no better than the Israelites and their golden calf or the Quraysh with their stone statues.
Paul tells us: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen” (Romans 1:22-25). Although Paul is actually offering a cause of the rampant homosexuality in Roman culture, he unwittingly lets the cat out of the bag. Worshipping man and serving him, which is exactly what Christians intend with Jesus, is foolish behavior. If you say, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Hail Mary, mother of God...,” you are a fool! – Not my word, but Paul’s.
Keep these words of Paul in mind: “changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man.” Now listen to what he says about Jesus in Colossians 1:15: “He (Christ, a man) is the image of the invisible God.” Can you say hypocrisy? (Ataie, In Defense of Islam, pp. 44-45)​

From Dr. Muhammad Mohar Ali:

Related links:
http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Contrad/External/marytrin.html
http://answering-christianity.com/sami_zaatri/mary_worship.htm