Part 11 - Witness of The People of The Books : "Proof that Islam is the truth''
Assalamaleykum Arahmatullahi va Barakatu. It's Abdur-Raheem Green & you are joining me for the proof that Islam is the Truth. And today we are going to be dealing with a really truly fascinating subject - the witnessing of the people of the book. Now I'm going to be reading a couple of long stories over these episodes so my hope I make it interesting for you. And I'm going to be interjecting it also with some references from the Bible & the Quran to show how the people of the book - the Jews & Christians from amongst their scholars & leaders & kings recognised that Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him, was what he claimed to be - the final Messenger from Allah.
Now I'm going to start with a famous story that has been collected by Imam Bukhari & his Sahib. And we talked in one of the earliest episodes about the authentic nature of the verified Hadeeth of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah's blessings be upon him. And this Hadeeth or this saying is taken from one of the most authentic collections after of teachings in Islam after the Quran & which is in Sahib Bukhari. And it's telling about how when the Prophet Muhammad at a certain time in his Messengership in Medina sent letters to various rulers & dignitaries throughout the world at the time including the Persian Roman Emperor for example, the Pope in Rome, Negus of Abyssinia, the Caucus the leader of the Kots in Egypt. And one of these letters reached Heraclius. Heraclius was the Roman Emperor at the time. And when Heraclius received this letter he called for his translator & he gathered together some of the Arabs who were there at the time, & one of them happened to be Abu Sufian. Abu Sufian was the cousin of the Prophet & he was the leader of Mecca & the leader in a sense in fact of the opposition to the Prophet Muhammad & the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia. He was therefore the leader of the pagans at the time & he happened to be in Jerusalem when Heraclius received this letter.
So I'm going to read you that story. "He called for his translator who, translating Heraclius’s question said to them: Who amongst you is closely related to that man who claims to be a prophet. And Abu Sufyan replied: I am the nearest relative to him. And Heraclius said: bring him close to me & make his companions stand behind him. Heraclius told his translator to tell Abu Sufyan's companions that he wanted to put some questions to me regarding that man and that if I told a lie they should contradict me.’ - By the way it's Abu Sufyian who is actually telling the story, because at a latest age Abu Sufyan himself of course became Muslim. So he is telling the story in fact to Abdullah Ibn Abas, who was an early companion of the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him, & he is telling him the story & Abdullah Ibn Abas requoting. So there we are that when the court of Heraclius, & Heraclius is saying: "Ok, your companions stand behind you & if he tells a lie you must tell me that he is lying." Now Abu Sufyan said: ‘By Allah! Had I not been afraid that my companions were going to label me a lair, I would not have spoken the truth about the Prophet."
So the first question Heraclius asked Abu Sufian was this. ‘What family status has he amongst you?’ I replied (Abu Sufian replied): ‘He belongs to a noble family amongst us.’ And Heraclius asked: ‘Has anybody else amongst you ever claimed the same before him?’ I replied: ‘No’. ‘Was anybody amongst his ancestors a king?’, - Heraclius asked. Again Abu Sufian replied "No." Heraclius asked: ‘Do the nobles or the poor follow him?’ Abu Sufian replied: ‘It is the poor who follow him.’ And then Heraclius asked: ‘Are his followers increasing or decreasing?’ Abu Sufian replied: ‘They are increasing’. Then he asked: ‘Does anybody amongst those who embrace his religion become displeased and renounce the religion afterwards?’ Abu Sufian replied: "No." Heraclius then said: ‘Have you ever accused him of telling lies before his claim?’ Again Abu Sufian says: "No." Heraclius says: "Does he break his truce?" Abu Sufian replied: "No. We are at truce with him now & we do not know what he is going to do with it.’ And Abu Sufian said: "I could not find opportunity to say anything against the Prophet except that time."
Then Heraclius asked: ‘Have you ever had a war with him?’ And Abu Sufian said: ‘Yes’. ‘What was the outcome of the battles?’ "Well, sometimes we were victorious & sometimes he was victorious." And then Heraclius asked: ‘What does he order you to do?’ And Abu Sufian replied: ‘He tells us to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship anything along with Him, and to renounce all that our ancestors had said. He orders us to pray, to speak the truth, to be chaste and to keep good relations with our kith and kin’. Heraclius asked the translator to convey the following:
‘I asked you about his family and your reply was that he belonged to a very noble family. In fact all the Prophets come from noble families amongst their respective peoples. I questioned you whether anybody else among you claimed such a thing, your reply was in the negative. If the answer had been in the affirmative, I would have suspected this man was following the previous man’s statement - meaning if the Prophet, if there had been someone before him saying he was a Prophet, then the Prophet Muhammad might have just been imitating what the other guy was saying but no one amongst them had ever said that before. - Then I asked you whether any of his ancestors was a king. And you said "no." If you had said "Yes", I would have thought that this man was trying to take back his kingdom. - in other words used the mantle of prophethood to try & take back the kingdom. - Then I asked you if he was ever accused of telling lies before this - before his claim to prophethood - & you said "no". And then I wondered how can a person who never lies to people lie about Allah? How could a person who never lies to people lie about Allah? And then I asked you whether the rich people or the poor people follow him & you said that the poor people follow him.
And so it is with all the Prophets, they have always been followed by that type of people. - The prophets are always followed by the poor & the weak & the oppressed - Then I asked you whether his followers were increasing or decreasing. You said they were increasing, and that is the way of true faith until it is complete in all respects. I further asked you if there was anybody, who, after embracing his religion, became displeased and discarded his religion. And you said "No." In fact this is the sign of true faith, when its delight enters the hearts and mixes with them completely. I asked you whether he had ever betrayed. You said "No." And so the Prophets never betray. I asked you what he ordered you to do. And you told me that he ordered you to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship anything else along with Him and forbade you from worshiping idols and told you to pray, & to speak the truth and not commit illegal fornication. If what you said is true, he will very soon occupy this place underneath my feet and I knew it from the scriptures that he was going to appear but I did not know that he would be from you, and if I could reach him definitely, I would go immediately to meet him and if I was with him, I would wash his feet.’ Heraclius then asked for the letter of the Prophet which was delivered by Dihya to the Governor of Busra, & then it was forwarded to Heraclius to read. And this is what the letter said.
In the name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful. From Muhammad the slave of God & his Messenger to Heraclius the ruler of the Byzantines. Peace be upon him, who follows the right path. Furthermore I invite you to Islam, and if you become a Muslim you will be safe, and Allah will double your reward, and if you reject this invitation you will be committing a sin by misguiding your peasants: "O people of the scripture! Come to a word common between you and us that we worship none but Allah and that we associate nothing in worship with Him, and that none of us should take Lords beside Allah. Then, if they turn away, say: Bear witness that we are Muslims" (3:64). - This is of course the translation of a verse of the Quran. - And Abu Sufyan added, "When Heraclius had finished his speech and had read the letter, there was a great hue and cry in the Royal Court. And we were turned out of the court. I said to my companions surely the issue of Ibn-Abi-Kabsha - & that was a type of derogatory term, they used a nickname, they used for the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam - His affair has become so prominent that even the King of the Byzantines is afraid of him. And then I started to become sure that he would be the conqueror in the near future until I embraced Islam."
Now this is really a truly remarkable story for two reasons. First of all as we mentioned & that's the topic that we are dealing with. How Heraclius knew that there was a Prophet still to come? From where did he know this? How did he know this? We are going to talk about it later. There are some things in the gospels that indicate that a Prophet is going to come after Jesus. And we are going to see from the Bible how that Prophet is almost certainly the Prophet Muhammad may God's peace & blessings be upon him. The second thing that is really amazing about that story is how Heraclius, this wise & intelligent Roman Emperor analysed the life of the Prophet, asked certain questions to be sure in his mind was he a fake or was he truthful. Did he have the characteristics of a person who was truly a Prophet of God or was he someone who could be not what he claimed to be & he found along every single count. Indeed the Prophet Muhammad matched the descriptions & the attributes of how a Prophet should be.
As mention earlier today we are talking about the witnessing of the people of the book. Some truly remarkable stories from the Jews & the Christians, those people who lived in the time of the Prophet Muhammad may God's peace & blessings be upon him, who were expecting the arrival of a Prophet. And indeed Heraclius the Roman Emperor himself, or the Emperor rather of the Byzantines himself recognized that he was expecting a Prophet. He did not know how that, this Prophet was going to be from the Arabs but he recognised the description of the prophethood & the attributes & the qualities of prophethood when he questioned Abu Sufian who was the cousin of the Prophet & in fact was the leader of the opposition to the Prophet Muhammad may God's peace & blessings be upon him at the time. But I'd like to move a little bit earlier into an earlier time in the life of the prophet, & let’s talk about another great ruler at the time, & his name was Negus & he was in fact the king of Abyssinia.
Now it so happened that in the early days in Mecca the Muslims were suffering a huge amount of oppression. In fact the pagan Meccans were really persecuting the Muslims terribly. A lot of them of course were very poor people & many of them were even slaves & women & they were the people in society that nobody really cared if you attack them or beat them or even kill them. In fact some of the Muslims had even been killed due to torture & terrible things by the leaders of Mecca. And things became so bad that they decided they had to leave. So the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him he told his followers to go to Abyssinia & he said there is a king who will never do you injustice. So anyway they migrated to Abyssinia. Now it happened that Quraish had very good relationships with the Abyssinians & knew personally the king of Abyssinia. And they sent a delegation, their object was to try & retrieve the Meccans who had escaped & bring them back with them. So the Quraish went to the king, they sent a delegation & they went to the king & they complained to the king that we have these fugitives, they have escaped their country, they have been insulting the religion of our ancestors & kept on telling him stories & so on & so forth.
So anyway Negus ordered the emigrants who had come to his country to his court & he asked them about their religion & what was this claim. And Jafar ibn Abu Taalib who was the leader of the Muslims in Abyssinia gave this very beautiful little speech. And this is how he explained their condition to the King. He said: "O king, we were an ignorant people, worshipping idols, eating carrion and indulging in sexual pleasures. We ridiculed our neighbours, a brother oppressed his brother, and the strong devoured the weak. At this time a man rose amongst us, who had already been known to be truthful, noble and honest. This man called us to Islam. And he taught us to give up worshipping stones, to speak the truth, to refrain from bloodshed, and not to defraud the orphans of their property. He taught us to provide comfort to our neighbours and not to bring slander against chaste women. He enjoined on us to offer prayers, observe fasts and give charity. We followed him, gave up polytheism and idolatry and refrained from all evil deeds. It is for this new way that our people have become hostile to us and compel us to return to our old misguided life.
" Now when the king of Abyssinia heard that there is no way that I will return these people to you, there is nothing that they have done wrong & they are free to stay & live in my kingdom. So anyway the Muslims left thinking that was the end of it, but no, the delegation of Quraish were not going to give up so easily. One of them thought to himself: I know. Lets tell Negus what they say about Jesus, so they went to Negus & they said, & he said to him: "You know the Muslims, they don't say that Jesus is God or the son of god, they say he's only a Prophet of God. Ask them what they believe about Jesus & you'll see they even insult your own religion. Anyway Negus called t hen back to the court the other day & Jafar ibn Abu Taalib he was very worried, he didn't really know what to say but he determined to speak the truth, & to tell him exactly what was in the Quran.
So Negus asked him: "What do you say about Jesus?" So Jafar said: "We say what our Prophet says, that he is a Messenger from Allah & his word which he bestowed upon Mary & a spirit from him. So this is what we believe concerning Jesus & that he was given the Injil." And when Negus heard this he said: "Truly Jesus said nothing more than that about himself. What is this book that you read", - Negus asked. And Jafar ibn Abu Taalib he read the first few verses of sura al Mariam, which are very-very beautiful verses talking about Jesus. And when he read these verses Negus began to cry & so did all, many of the assembled courtiers, even the Bishops they began to cry because of these beautiful words about Jesus in the Quran. And then Negus said: "Verily what your Prophet has brought & what Jesus said are two things from the same source. You are free to stay & live in my kingdom." In fact the same Negus of Abyssinia himself converted to Islam. He most certainly recognised the Truth that Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him was a Prophet of God.
There was in Arabia one Christian. There were not many Christians at all in pagan Arabia, but there was one & his name was Waraka & he was a very distant cousin of the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him. In fact he was more closely related to Khadija who was the first wife of the Prophet & for many-many years of course his only wife. And when the Prophet Muhammad first received the first verses of the Quran he came down terrified running, he did not know what this experience was, it was a frightening experience to him, & he came running to his wife & his wife suggested (Khadija) that they should go & visit Waraka & see what he had to say about this. Now Waraka, when he heard about what the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam had experienced said that this is the holy spirit, this is the Angel Gabriel, the spirit that comes with the revelation that has been sent to you. And then he went on to say: "Surely, by him in whose hand is Waraka's soul, if you are the Prophet of these people, & there has come to you the greatest angel who came to Moses, you will be called a liar & they will use you despitefully & cast you out & fight you." So this is what Waraka said. And he said: "By Allah if Allah gives me life I will most certainly follow you." In fact Waraka died very soon after that.
But we also want to talk about the Jewish community. There was a Jewish community, quite a large Jewish community that lived in Arabia & some of those people had specifically emigrated because they were expecting in Arabia the coming of the last Prophet. In fact out of the Rabbis of Medina half of them actually became Muslim. And one of the very famous & most learned of the Rabbis of Medina was Abdullah ibn Salam. In fact he said concerning the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him: We knew your name & we knew the time & the place of your coming. And he accepted Islam. In fact when he accepted Islam he said to the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam: "Oh, Messenger of Allah, the Jews are a very tricky people so let us test them before we announce of my embracing Islam.
So what he did is, he gathered all the Jews & he got the Prophet Muhammad to talk to them. And the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him asked the Jews, he said to them: "What would you say if Abdullah Ibn Salam became Muslim?" They said: "May Allah protect us from that, he will never become Muslim." "So, well, what do you think of him?" He said: "He is the best of us & the most knowledgeable person amongst us & he is the wisest amongst us. He would never become Muslim." And again the Prophet said: "What would you say if he became Muslim?" They said: "No he will never become Muslim, may Allah protect us from that." And when they said that the third time then Abdullah Ibn Salam stepped out from where he was hiding, he said: "Ash-Hadu A-La ILAHA ILA-LLAH. Ash-Hadu Ana Mohamadan Abduhu wo rassulu." And when he said that then the Jews started say: "He is the most ignorant amongst us & he is the worst amongst us & he is the least on two know anything amongst us.
" So they completely changed their tune once he had become Muslim. But Abdullah Ibn Salam was one of the very famous Jews & the Jewish Rabbis who converted to Islam in the time of the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam. Because he recognised that Muhammad was the person that had been foretold in his scriptures. We are going to have some more fantastic stories & amazing histories of those people of the book who converted to Islam based on their knowledge of the prophesies of the Prophet Muhammad in the Bible & we are going to be detailing some of those in our next episode. So don't forget to join us for the proof that Islam is the Truth. Assalamaleykum Arahmatullahi va Barakatu.
Assalamaleykum Arahmatullahi va Barakatu. It's Abdur-Raheem Green & you are joining me for the proof that Islam is the Truth. And today we are going to be dealing with a really truly fascinating subject - the witnessing of the people of the book. Now I'm going to be reading a couple of long stories over these episodes so my hope I make it interesting for you. And I'm going to be interjecting it also with some references from the Bible & the Quran to show how the people of the book - the Jews & Christians from amongst their scholars & leaders & kings recognised that Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him, was what he claimed to be - the final Messenger from Allah. Now I'm going to start with a famous story that has been collected by Imam Bukhari & his Sahib. And we talked in one of the earliest episodes about the authentic nature of the verified Hadeeth of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah's blessings be upon him. And this Hadeeth or this saying is taken from one of the most authentic collections after of teachings in Islam after the Quran & which is in Sahib Bukhari. And it's telling about how when the Prophet Muhammad at a certain time in his Messengership in Medina sent letters to various rulers & dignitaries throughout the world at the time including the Persian Roman Emperor for example, the Pope in Rome, Negus of Abyssinia, the Caucus the leader of the Kots in Egypt. And one of these letters reached Heraclius. Heraclius was the Roman Emperor at the time. And when Heraclius received this letter he called for his translator & he gathered together some of the Arabs who were there at the time, & one of them happened to be Abu Sufian. Abu Sufian was the cousin of the Prophet & he was the leader of Mecca & the leader in a sense in fact of the opposition to the Prophet Muhammad & the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia. He was therefore the leader of the pagans at the time & he happened to be in Jerusalem when Heraclius received this letter. So I'm going to read you that story. "He called for his translator who, translating Heraclius’s question said to them: Who amongst you is closely related to that man who claims to be a prophet. And Abu Sufyan replied: I am the nearest relative to him. And Heraclius said: bring him close to me & make his companions stand behind him. Heraclius told his translator to tell Abu Sufyan's companions that he wanted to put some questions to me regarding that man and that if I told a lie they should contradict me.’ - By the way it's Abu Sufyian who is actually telling the story, because at a latest age Abu Sufyan himself of course became Muslim. So he is telling the story in fact to Abdullah Ibn Abas, who was an early companion of the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him, & he is telling him the story & Abdullah Ibn Abas requoting. So there we are that when the court of Heraclius, & Heraclius is saying: "Ok, your companions stand behind you & if he tells a lie you must tell me that he is lying." Now Abu Sufyan said: ‘By Allah! Had I not been afraid that my companions were going to label me a lair, I would not have spoken the truth about the Prophet." So the first question Heraclius asked Abu Sufian was this. ‘What family status has he amongst you?’ I replied (Abu Sufian replied): ‘He belongs to a noble family amongst us.’ And Heraclius asked: ‘Has anybody else amongst you ever claimed the same before him?’ I replied: ‘No’. ‘Was anybody amongst his ancestors a king?’, - Heraclius asked. Again Abu Sufian replied "No." Heraclius asked: ‘Do the nobles or the poor follow him?’ Abu Sufian replied: ‘It is the poor who follow him.’ And then Heraclius asked: ‘Are his followers increasing or decreasing?’ Abu Sufian replied: ‘They are increasing’. Then he asked: ‘Does anybody amongst those who embrace his religion become displeased and renounce the religion afterwards?’ Abu Sufian replied: "No." Heraclius then said: ‘Have you ever accused him of telling lies before his claim?’ Again Abu Sufian says: "No." Heraclius says: "Does he break his truce?" Abu Sufian replied: "No. We are at truce with him now & we do not know what he is going to do with it.’ And Abu Sufian said: "I could not find opportunity to say anything against the Prophet except that time." Then Heraclius asked: ‘Have you ever had a war with him?’ And Abu Sufian said: ‘Yes’. ‘What was the outcome of the battles?’ "Well, sometimes we were victorious & sometimes he was victorious." And then Heraclius asked: ‘What does he order you to do?’ And Abu Sufian replied: ‘He tells us to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship anything along with Him, and to renounce all that our ancestors had said. He orders us to pray, to speak the truth, to be chaste and to keep good relations with our kith and kin’. Heraclius asked the translator to convey the following:
‘I asked you about his family and your reply was that he belonged to a very noble family. In fact all the Prophets come from noble families amongst their respective peoples. I questioned you whether anybody else among you claimed such a thing, your reply was in the negative. If the answer had been in the affirmative, I would have suspected this man was following the previous man’s statement - meaning if the Prophet, if there had been someone before him saying he was a Prophet, then the Prophet Muhammad might have just been imitating what the other guy was saying but no one amongst them had ever said that before. - Then I asked you whether any of his ancestors was a king. And you said "no." If you had said "Yes", I would have thought that this man was trying to take back his kingdom. - in other words used the mantle of prophethood to try & take back the kingdom. - Then I asked you if he was ever accused of telling lies before this - before his claim to prophethood - & you said "no". And then I wondered how can a person who never lies to people lie about Allah? How could a person who never lies to people lie about Allah? And then I asked you whether the rich people or the poor people follow him & you said that the poor people follow him. And so it is with all the Prophets, they have always been followed by that type of people. - The prophets are always followed by the poor & the weak & the oppressed - Then I asked you whether his followers were increasing or decreasing. You said they were increasing, and that is the way of true faith until it is complete in all respects. I further asked you if there was anybody, who, after embracing his religion, became displeased and discarded his religion. And you said "No." In fact this is the sign of true faith, when its delight enters the hearts and mixes with them completely. I asked you whether he had ever betrayed. You said "No." And so the Prophets never betray. I asked you what he ordered you to do. And you told me that he ordered you to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship anything else along with Him and forbade you from worshiping idols and told you to pray, & to speak the truth and not commit illegal fornication. If what you said is true, he will very soon occupy this place underneath my feet and I knew it from the scriptures that he was going to appear but I did not know that he would be from you, and if I could reach him definitely, I would go immediately to meet him and if I was with him, I would wash his feet.’ Heraclius then asked for the letter of the Prophet which was delivered by Dihya to the Governor of Busra, & then it was forwarded to Heraclius to read. And this is what the letter said.
"In the name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful. From Muhammad the slave of God & his Messenger to Heraclius the ruler of the Byzantines. Peace be upon him, who follows the right path. Furthermore I invite you to Islam, and if you become a Muslim you will be safe, and Allah will double your reward, and if you reject this invitation you will be committing a sin by misguiding your peasants: "O people of the scripture! Come to a word common between you and us that we worship none but Allah and that we associate nothing in worship with Him, and that none of us should take Lords beside Allah. Then, if they turn away, say: Bear witness that we are Muslims" (3:64). - This is of course the translation of a verse of the Quran. - And Abu Sufyan added, "When Heraclius had finished his speech and had read the letter, there was a great hue and cry in the Royal Court. And we were turned out of the court. I said to my companions surely the issue of Ibn-Abi-Kabsha - & that was a type of derogatory term, they used a nickname, they used for the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam - His affair has become so prominent that even the King of the Byzantines is afraid of him. And then I started to become sure that he would be the conqueror in the near future until I embraced Islam." Now this is really a truly remarkable story for two reasons. First of all as we mentioned & that's the topic that we are dealing with. How Heraclius knew that there was a Prophet still to come? From where did he know this? How did he know this? We are going to talk about it later. There are some things in the gospels that indicate that a Prophet is going to come after Jesus. And we are going to see from the Bible how that Prophet is almost certainly the Prophet Muhammad may God's peace & blessings be upon him. The second thing that is really amazing about that story is how Heraclius, this wise & intelligent Roman Emperor analysed the life of the Prophet, asked certain questions to be sure in his mind was he a fake or was he truthful. Did he have the characteristics of a person who was truly a Prophet of God or was he someone who could be not what he claimed to be & he found along every single count. Indeed the Prophet Muhammad matched the descriptions & the attributes of how a Prophet should be. We are going to be talking about some more people from the people of the book who witnessed the truth of Muhammad's prophethood after the break. Don't go away. Join us for more of the proof that Islam is the Truth.
Assalamaleykum Arahmatullahi va Barakatu. May the peace & blessings of Allah be upon all of you & may he guide all of us closer to the right path. And today we are talking about the witnessing of the people of the book. Some truly remarkable stories from the Jews & the Christians, those people who lived in the time of the Prophet Muhammad may God's peace & blessings be upon him, who were expecting the arrival of a Prophet. And indeed Heraclius the Roman Emperor himself, or the Emperor rather of the Byzantines himself recognized that he was expecting a Prophet. He did not know how that, this Prophet was going to be from the Arabs but he recognised the description of the prophethood & the attributes & the qualities of prophethood when he questioned Abu Sufian who was the cousin of the Prophet & in fact was the leader of the opposition to the Prophet Muhammad may God's peace & blessings be upon him at the time. But I'd like to move a little bit earlier into an earlier time in the life of the prophet, & let’s talk about another great ruler at the time, & his name was Negus & he was in fact the king of Abyssinia. Now it so happened that in the early days in Mecca the Muslims were suffering a huge amount of oppression. In fact the pagan Meccans were really persecuting the Muslims terribly. A lot of them of course were very poor people & many of them were even slaves & women & they were the people in society that nobody really cared if you attack them or beat them or even kill them. In fact some of the Muslims had even been killed due to torture & terrible things by the leaders of Mecca. And things became so bad that they decided they had to leave. So the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him he told his followers to go to Abyssinia & he said there is a king who will never do you injustice. So anyway they migrated to Abyssinia. Now it happened that Quraish had very good relationships with the Abyssinians & knew personally the king of Abyssinia. And they sent a delegation, their object was to try & retrieve the Meccans who had escaped & bring them back with them. So the Quraish went to the king, they sent a delegation & they went to the king & they complained to the king that we have these fugitives, they have escaped their country, they have been insulting the religion of our ancestors & kept on telling him stories & so on & so forth. So anyway Negus ordered the emigrants who had come to his country to his court & he asked them about their religion & what was this claim. And Jafar ibn Abu Taalib who was the leader of the Muslims in Abyssinia gave this very beautiful little speech. And this is how he explained their condition to the King. He said: "O king, we were an ignorant people, worshipping idols, eating carrion and indulging in sexual pleasures. We ridiculed our neighbours, a brother oppressed his brother, and the strong devoured the weak. At this time a man rose amongst us, who had already been known to be truthful, noble and honest. This man called us to Islam. And he taught us to give up worshipping stones, to speak the truth, to refrain from bloodshed, and not to defraud the orphans of their property. He taught us to provide comfort to our neighbours and not to bring slander against chaste women. He enjoined on us to offer prayers, observe fasts and give charity. We followed him, gave up polytheism and idolatry and refrained from all evil deeds. It is for this new way that our people have become hostile to us and compel us to return to our old misguided life." Now when the king of Abyssinia heard that there is no way that I will return these people to you, there is nothing that they have done wrong & they are free to stay & live in my kingdom. So anyway the Muslims left thinking that was the end of it, but no, the delegation of Quraish were not going to give up so easily. One of them thought to himself: I know. Lets tell Negus what they say about Jesus, so they went to Negus & they said, & he said to him: "You know the Muslims, they don't say that Jesus is God or the son of god, they say he's only a Prophet of God. Ask them what they believe about Jesus & you'll see they even insult your own religion. Anyway Negus called t hen back to the court the other day & Jafar ibn Abu Taalib he was very worried, he didn't really know what to say but he determined to speak the truth, & to tell him exactly what was in the Quran. So Negus asked him: "What do you say about Jesus?" So Jafar said: "We say what our Prophet says, that he is a Messenger from Allah & his word which he bestowed upon Mary & a spirit from him. So this is what we believe concerning Jesus & that he was given the Injil." And when Negus heard this he said: "Truly Jesus said nothing more than that about himself. What is this book that you read", - Negus asked. And Jafar ibn Abu Taalib he read the first few verses of sura al Mariam, which are very-very beautiful verses talking about Jesus. And when he read these verses Negus began to cry & so did all, many of the assembled courtiers, even the Bishops they began to cry because of these beautiful words about Jesus in the Quran. And then Negus said: "Verily what your Prophet has brought & what Jesus said are two things from the same source. You are free to stay & live in my kingdom." In fact the same Negus of Abyssinia himself converted to Islam. He most certainly recognised the Truth that Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him was a Prophet of God. There was in Arabia one Christian. There were not many Christians at all in pagan Arabia, but there was one & his name was Waraka & he was a very distant cousin of the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him. In fact he was more closely related to Khadija who was the first wife of the Prophet & for many-many years of course his only wife. And when the Prophet Muhammad first received the first verses of the Quran he came down terrified running, he did not know what this experience was, it was a frightening experience to him, & he came running to his wife & his wife suggested (Khadija) that they should go & visit Waraka & see what he had to say about this. Now Waraka, when he heard about what the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam had experienced said that this is the holy spirit, this is the Angel Gabriel, the spirit that comes with the revelation that has been sent to you. And then he went on to say: "Surely, by him in whose hand is Waraka's soul, if you are the Prophet of these people, & there has come to you the greatest angel who came to Moses, you will be called a liar & they will use you despitefully & cast you out & fight you." So this is what Waraka said. And he said: "By Allah if Allah gives me life I will most certainly follow you." In fact Waraka died very soon after that. But we also want to talk about the Jewish community. There was a Jewish community, quite a large Jewish community that lived in Arabia & some of those people had specifically emigrated because they were expecting in Arabia the coming of the last Prophet. In fact out of the Rabbis of Medina half of them actually became Muslim. And one of the very famous & most learned of the Rabbis of Medina was Abdullah ibn Salam. In fact he said concerning the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him: We knew your name & we knew the time & the place of your coming. And he accepted Islam. In fact when he accepted Islam he said to the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam: "Oh, Messenger of Allah, the Jews are a very tricky people so let us test them before we announce of my embracing Islam. So what he did is, he gathered all the Jews & he got the Prophet Muhammad to talk to them. And the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him asked the Jews, he said to them: "What would you say if Abdullah Ibn Salam became Muslim?" They said: "May Allah protect us from that, he will never become Muslim." "So, well, what do you think of him?" He said: "He is the best of us & the most knowledgeable person amongst us & he is the wisest amongst us. He would never become Muslim." And again the Prophet said: "What would you say if he became Muslim?" They said: "No he will never become Muslim, may Allah protect us from that." And when they said that the third time then Abdullah Ibn Salam stepped out from where he was hiding, he said: "Ash-Hadu A-La ILAHA ILA-LLAH. Ash-Hadu Ana Mohamadan Abduhu wo rassulu." And when he said that then the Jews started say: "He is the most ignorant amongst us & he is the worst amongst us & he is the least on two know anything amongst us." So they completely changed their tune once he had become Muslim. But Abdullah Ibn Salam was one of the very famous Jews & the Jewish Rabbis who converted to Islam in the time of the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam. Because he recognised that Muhammad was the person that had been foretold in his scriptures. We are going to have some more fantastic stories & amazing histories of those people of the book who converted to Islam based on their knowledge of the prophesies of the Prophet Muhammad in the Bible & we are going to be detailing some of those in our next episode. So don't forget to join us for the proof that Islam is the Truth. Assalamaleykum Arahmatullahi va Barakatu.
Part 12 - Muhammad PBUH in the Bible (Part 1)
__________________
My prayers and my rites, my living and my dying are for Allah alone the Lord of all the worldsLast edited by Omar (ex Andrey); 06-10-2009 at 08:47 AM.
‘I asked you about his family and your reply was that he belonged to a very noble family. In fact all the Prophets come from noble families amongst their respective peoples. I questioned you whether anybody else among you claimed such a thing, your reply was in the negative. If the answer had been in the affirmative, I would have suspected this man was following the previous man’s statement - meaning if the Prophet, if there had been someone before him saying he was a Prophet, then the Prophet Muhammad might have just been imitating what the other guy was saying but no one amongst them had ever said that before. - Then I asked you whether any of his ancestors was a king. And you said "no." If you had said "Yes", I would have thought that this man was trying to take back his kingdom. - in other words used the mantle of prophethood to try & take back the kingdom. - Then I asked you if he was ever accused of telling lies before this - before his claim to prophethood - & you said "no". And then I wondered how can a person who never lies to people lie about Allah? How could a person who never lies to people lie about Allah? And then I asked you whether the rich people or the poor people follow him & you said that the poor people follow him. And so it is with all the Prophets, they have always been followed by that type of people. - The prophets are always followed by the poor & the weak & the oppressed - Then I asked you whether his followers were increasing or decreasing. You said they were increasing, and that is the way of true faith until it is complete in all respects. I further asked you if there was anybody, who, after embracing his religion, became displeased and discarded his religion. And you said "No." In fact this is the sign of true faith, when its delight enters the hearts and mixes with them completely. I asked you whether he had ever betrayed. You said "No." And so the Prophets never betray. I asked you what he ordered you to do. And you told me that he ordered you to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship anything else along with Him and forbade you from worshiping idols and told you to pray, & to speak the truth and not commit illegal fornication. If what you said is true, he will very soon occupy this place underneath my feet and I knew it from the scriptures that he was going to appear but I did not know that he would be from you, and if I could reach him definitely, I would go immediately to meet him and if I was with him, I would wash his feet.’ Heraclius then asked for the letter of the Prophet which was delivered by Dihya to the Governor of Busra, & then it was forwarded to Heraclius to read. And this is what the letter said.
"In the name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful. From Muhammad the slave of God & his Messenger to Heraclius the ruler of the Byzantines. Peace be upon him, who follows the right path. Furthermore I invite you to Islam, and if you become a Muslim you will be safe, and Allah will double your reward, and if you reject this invitation you will be committing a sin by misguiding your peasants: "O people of the scripture! Come to a word common between you and us that we worship none but Allah and that we associate nothing in worship with Him, and that none of us should take Lords beside Allah. Then, if they turn away, say: Bear witness that we are Muslims" (3:64). - This is of course the translation of a verse of the Quran. - And Abu Sufyan added, "When Heraclius had finished his speech and had read the letter, there was a great hue and cry in the Royal Court. And we were turned out of the court. I said to my companions surely the issue of Ibn-Abi-Kabsha - & that was a type of derogatory term, they used a nickname, they used for the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam - His affair has become so prominent that even the King of the Byzantines is afraid of him. And then I started to become sure that he would be the conqueror in the near future until I embraced Islam." Now this is really a truly remarkable story for two reasons. First of all as we mentioned & that's the topic that we are dealing with. How Heraclius knew that there was a Prophet still to come? From where did he know this? How did he know this? We are going to talk about it later. There are some things in the gospels that indicate that a Prophet is going to come after Jesus. And we are going to see from the Bible how that Prophet is almost certainly the Prophet Muhammad may God's peace & blessings be upon him. The second thing that is really amazing about that story is how Heraclius, this wise & intelligent Roman Emperor analysed the life of the Prophet, asked certain questions to be sure in his mind was he a fake or was he truthful. Did he have the characteristics of a person who was truly a Prophet of God or was he someone who could be not what he claimed to be & he found along every single count. Indeed the Prophet Muhammad matched the descriptions & the attributes of how a Prophet should be. We are going to be talking about some more people from the people of the book who witnessed the truth of Muhammad's prophethood after the break. Don't go away. Join us for more of the proof that Islam is the Truth.
Assalamaleykum Arahmatullahi va Barakatu. May the peace & blessings of Allah be upon all of you & may he guide all of us closer to the right path. And today we are talking about the witnessing of the people of the book. Some truly remarkable stories from the Jews & the Christians, those people who lived in the time of the Prophet Muhammad may God's peace & blessings be upon him, who were expecting the arrival of a Prophet. And indeed Heraclius the Roman Emperor himself, or the Emperor rather of the Byzantines himself recognized that he was expecting a Prophet. He did not know how that, this Prophet was going to be from the Arabs but he recognised the description of the prophethood & the attributes & the qualities of prophethood when he questioned Abu Sufian who was the cousin of the Prophet & in fact was the leader of the opposition to the Prophet Muhammad may God's peace & blessings be upon him at the time. But I'd like to move a little bit earlier into an earlier time in the life of the prophet, & let’s talk about another great ruler at the time, & his name was Negus & he was in fact the king of Abyssinia. Now it so happened that in the early days in Mecca the Muslims were suffering a huge amount of oppression. In fact the pagan Meccans were really persecuting the Muslims terribly. A lot of them of course were very poor people & many of them were even slaves & women & they were the people in society that nobody really cared if you attack them or beat them or even kill them. In fact some of the Muslims had even been killed due to torture & terrible things by the leaders of Mecca. And things became so bad that they decided they had to leave. So the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him he told his followers to go to Abyssinia & he said there is a king who will never do you injustice. So anyway they migrated to Abyssinia. Now it happened that Quraish had very good relationships with the Abyssinians & knew personally the king of Abyssinia. And they sent a delegation, their object was to try & retrieve the Meccans who had escaped & bring them back with them. So the Quraish went to the king, they sent a delegation & they went to the king & they complained to the king that we have these fugitives, they have escaped their country, they have been insulting the religion of our ancestors & kept on telling him stories & so on & so forth. So anyway Negus ordered the emigrants who had come to his country to his court & he asked them about their religion & what was this claim. And Jafar ibn Abu Taalib who was the leader of the Muslims in Abyssinia gave this very beautiful little speech. And this is how he explained their condition to the King. He said: "O king, we were an ignorant people, worshipping idols, eating carrion and indulging in sexual pleasures. We ridiculed our neighbours, a brother oppressed his brother, and the strong devoured the weak. At this time a man rose amongst us, who had already been known to be truthful, noble and honest. This man called us to Islam. And he taught us to give up worshipping stones, to speak the truth, to refrain from bloodshed, and not to defraud the orphans of their property. He taught us to provide comfort to our neighbours and not to bring slander against chaste women. He enjoined on us to offer prayers, observe fasts and give charity. We followed him, gave up polytheism and idolatry and refrained from all evil deeds. It is for this new way that our people have become hostile to us and compel us to return to our old misguided life." Now when the king of Abyssinia heard that there is no way that I will return these people to you, there is nothing that they have done wrong & they are free to stay & live in my kingdom. So anyway the Muslims left thinking that was the end of it, but no, the delegation of Quraish were not going to give up so easily. One of them thought to himself: I know. Lets tell Negus what they say about Jesus, so they went to Negus & they said, & he said to him: "You know the Muslims, they don't say that Jesus is God or the son of god, they say he's only a Prophet of God. Ask them what they believe about Jesus & you'll see they even insult your own religion. Anyway Negus called t hen back to the court the other day & Jafar ibn Abu Taalib he was very worried, he didn't really know what to say but he determined to speak the truth, & to tell him exactly what was in the Quran. So Negus asked him: "What do you say about Jesus?" So Jafar said: "We say what our Prophet says, that he is a Messenger from Allah & his word which he bestowed upon Mary & a spirit from him. So this is what we believe concerning Jesus & that he was given the Injil." And when Negus heard this he said: "Truly Jesus said nothing more than that about himself. What is this book that you read", - Negus asked. And Jafar ibn Abu Taalib he read the first few verses of sura al Mariam, which are very-very beautiful verses talking about Jesus. And when he read these verses Negus began to cry & so did all, many of the assembled courtiers, even the Bishops they began to cry because of these beautiful words about Jesus in the Quran. And then Negus said: "Verily what your Prophet has brought & what Jesus said are two things from the same source. You are free to stay & live in my kingdom." In fact the same Negus of Abyssinia himself converted to Islam. He most certainly recognised the Truth that Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him was a Prophet of God. There was in Arabia one Christian. There were not many Christians at all in pagan Arabia, but there was one & his name was Waraka & he was a very distant cousin of the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him. In fact he was more closely related to Khadija who was the first wife of the Prophet & for many-many years of course his only wife. And when the Prophet Muhammad first received the first verses of the Quran he came down terrified running, he did not know what this experience was, it was a frightening experience to him, & he came running to his wife & his wife suggested (Khadija) that they should go & visit Waraka & see what he had to say about this. Now Waraka, when he heard about what the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam had experienced said that this is the holy spirit, this is the Angel Gabriel, the spirit that comes with the revelation that has been sent to you. And then he went on to say: "Surely, by him in whose hand is Waraka's soul, if you are the Prophet of these people, & there has come to you the greatest angel who came to Moses, you will be called a liar & they will use you despitefully & cast you out & fight you." So this is what Waraka said. And he said: "By Allah if Allah gives me life I will most certainly follow you." In fact Waraka died very soon after that. But we also want to talk about the Jewish community. There was a Jewish community, quite a large Jewish community that lived in Arabia & some of those people had specifically emigrated because they were expecting in Arabia the coming of the last Prophet. In fact out of the Rabbis of Medina half of them actually became Muslim. And one of the very famous & most learned of the Rabbis of Medina was Abdullah ibn Salam. In fact he said concerning the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him: We knew your name & we knew the time & the place of your coming. And he accepted Islam. In fact when he accepted Islam he said to the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam: "Oh, Messenger of Allah, the Jews are a very tricky people so let us test them before we announce of my embracing Islam. So what he did is, he gathered all the Jews & he got the Prophet Muhammad to talk to them. And the Prophet Muhammad may Allah's peace & blessings be upon him asked the Jews, he said to them: "What would you say if Abdullah Ibn Salam became Muslim?" They said: "May Allah protect us from that, he will never become Muslim." "So, well, what do you think of him?" He said: "He is the best of us & the most knowledgeable person amongst us & he is the wisest amongst us. He would never become Muslim." And again the Prophet said: "What would you say if he became Muslim?" They said: "No he will never become Muslim, may Allah protect us from that." And when they said that the third time then Abdullah Ibn Salam stepped out from where he was hiding, he said: "Ash-Hadu A-La ILAHA ILA-LLAH. Ash-Hadu Ana Mohamadan Abduhu wo rassulu." And when he said that then the Jews started say: "He is the most ignorant amongst us & he is the worst amongst us & he is the least on two know anything amongst us." So they completely changed their tune once he had become Muslim. But Abdullah Ibn Salam was one of the very famous Jews & the Jewish Rabbis who converted to Islam in the time of the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam. Because he recognised that Muhammad was the person that had been foretold in his scriptures. We are going to have some more fantastic stories & amazing histories of those people of the book who converted to Islam based on their knowledge of the prophesies of the Prophet Muhammad in the Bible & we are going to be detailing some of those in our next episode. So don't forget to join us for the proof that Islam is the Truth. Assalamaleykum Arahmatullahi va Barakatu.
Part 12 - Muhammad PBUH in the Bible (Part 1)
__________________
My prayers and my rites, my living and my dying are for Allah alone the Lord of all the worldsLast edited by Omar (ex Andrey); 06-10-2009 at 08:47 AM.