Anwer to: Edip
from: Truthseeker
Salaam Edip,
Thank your for your remarks.
I know this is a sensitive issue for you, so I respect that you give
the opportunity for a quran-based discussion on this subject.
My intention is to support unity between followers of the Quran and to
prove that code 19 can be appreciated in a non-sectarian way.
I have noticed that many believers are not willing to see this
mathematical phenomena because they think that a part of the deal is
to accept Rashad Khalifa as a messenger in the line of Isa and
Muhammad.
This effort is about sharing a way to appreciate code 19 without a
sectarian approach.
It has nothing to do with denying signs, or denying the mercy of God
in giving the children of Adam the real human-messengers.
I am concerned about that some very respectable active Quran-alone
advocates are at the same time destabilising the perfect system of God
by promoting the opinion that after Muhammad there still are sent
messengers that the believers have to follow and obey.
Thereby creating real uncertainty and even fear in the ummah about who
is the messenger to follow and obey nowadays.
All the believers would have to be alert always everywhere to be able
to judge if a messenger-claimant is reliable. Rashad Khalifa would not
pass the test, because he missed important elements of the sharia that
were already described clearly in the Quran.
The acceptance of messengers after Muhammad has only led to further
cults and groups and strive within Islam. We have seen that the result
of this is discrimination, bloodshed and more chaos within the ummah.
Contrary to the message of the Quran, to establish a solid tolerant
universal democratic system, based on mutual consent, not in following
and obeying self-proclaimed messengers.
As you have noticed, even some followers of Rashad have named
themselves messenger of God, so do we have to obey and follow them as
well? What is the criterium then?
In my text I have 7 questions for you.
The development of Islam by the believers is described in the Quran.
42:38 - the mutual consultation (shoora) is prescribed, so our Creator
has prescribed for the believers a universal democratic system for the
development of the several levels of Islam.-
3:79 - believers have to study the Quran and share their knowledge.-
42:21 - warns against following people instead of following the
Quran.-
Question 1
Would a system based on numerous local messengers after Muhammad, that
have to be obeyed, as God has to be obeyed, not be contrary to the
democratic and emancipating system as prescribed in the Quran?
The Quran has no contradictions, verse 4:82.
Question 2
How can believers know that they have to follow and obey Rashad
Khalifa, as God has to be obeyed (verse 4:80), without accepting the
ahadeeth of Rashad about his messengership?
If one accepts the Quran as perfect and complete this is an
impossibility.
Or we accept the messengership of Rashad and admit that the Quran is
not complete.
Or we accept the Quran as complete and perfect without needing human-
made sources beside the Quran and see for instance Rashad as someone
deeply rooted in knowledge, these persons are in general predicted by
the Quran in verse 3:7. The believers are free to accept the
explanation of the people with deeper wisdom, we do not have to follow
and obey them as God has to be obeyed. So we can easier disagree with
Rashad about some issues of the sharia. Without the risk being
disobedient to the messenger. Eventhough Rashad told that we should
follow the Quran above his writings, still many believers are in a
dilemma concerning this issue.
You wrote:
1. Rasul (messenger) delivers a message, either a message revealed to
him (which would make him also a Nabi) or a previously revealed yet
ignored or distorted message.---
Actually you seem to blend the words rasul and nabi here, since you
say that if a messenger has a message revealed to him he would be also
a nabi.
Also restoration or spreading a forgotten message could only on the
basis of a revelation, not on human initiative.
Then it would be logic to state that no messengers could have a
revealed messages, since they would be prophets as well, after
Muhammad since Muhammad is the seal of the nabi's.
This would endorse my point that I would like to share.
But the Quran has another definition of a nabi/prophet.
According to verse 6:89 a prophet has a God-given scripture with him.
So your assumption that a rasul becomes a nabi because a message is
revealed to him seems not to be quran-based.
A messenger of God is a messenger who brings a message of God, when
this happens via a scripture then this messenger is a prophet as well,
as we see in the case of Musa, Isa and Muhammad.
The complete definition of a human-messenger of God is according to
verse 9:33 and 61:9: a bringer of guidance and the religion of truth.
When we study the list of men that are mentioned as messengers, than
we see how this definition has to be applied.
Messengers came with a religion of truth for their people, this means
that they came with a new sharia.
For instance Musa, Isa and Muhammad came as messengers with a new
sharia.
For instance Sulayman is referred to as a prophet, we do not know of
any new sharia rules that came via him, as contrary to the messenger
Musa and the other messengers.
If a messenger has a God-given scripture, than the messenger is also a
prophet.
You are right in saying that a messenger can also restore a previous
message, in any way he is a bringer of a (partly) new sharia for his
people.
The message of a messenger has always implications for the sharia.
Another quranic proof of the messenger as sharia-bringer is the ruling
that the messenger has to be obeyed as God has to be obeyed, verse
4:80.
The believers can do this only if they have to follow instructions of
the messenger concerning the religion, this can be either a new sharia
for a people or an adjustment or restoration of a sharia.
The understanding of the quranic difference between a messenger and a
prophet is essential for this important issue.
Question 3
Isn't is better to rely on the quranic definition of human-messengers
and prophets and not to follow man-made assumptions in this important
matter?
I did not read any counterargument yet to discard the quranic
definition of both a messenger and a prophet.
I just have read of some people that stated that these both duties of
men sent by God could be blended.
The Quran is very precise so we should not blur this distinction.
Why would the Quran name Sulayman a prophet only and Saleh a messenger
only and Muhammad a messenger-prophet. This is only because these men
had three different ways of giving a guidance to their peoples.
- Sulayman brought a scripture but not a sharia-change.
- Saleh brought a religion, with sharia without a scripture.
- Muhammad brougth a scripture with a sharia and a confirmation of
former prophetic scriptures.
You wrote:
2. Nabi (prophet) receives a message and delivers it. Since every
person receiving a message for public (as opposed to personal), is
also expected to deliver it, thus making him a Rasul (messenger).---
A messenger gives a sharia and a prophet only if he is a messenger as
well, according to the Quran, as described above in point 1.
You wrote:
3. God sends messengers to the children of Adam. ---
Surely this has been done:
Verse 10:47 is in present tense, so it refers to the moment that
Muhammad had to convince his people he was in the tradition of the
messengers, since Noah. From this verse you can not say that there
will be messengers after him.
To all the nations have been sent messengers, the ones that are
mentioned in the Quran by name and the messengers that were sent
before Muhammad that were unknown to him, verse 40:78.
As believers we have to accept that before Muhammad there have been
sent messengers to all nations, in all continents.
That we can read from verse 10:47 and 40:78.
At the other hand there have been generations of peoples without a
messenger, as verses 36:6 and 5:19 clearly state.
Nowadays in all continents the message of the Quran has been brought,
thus many people are free to make up their mind.
But the sectarian division of followers of the Quran can be a strong
barrier, we should be aware of these barriers and try to take them
away.
You wrote:
4. God sends messengers and warners as a divine mercy to every nation
in their native language. ---
You put it in present tense, verse 10:47 is in present tense from the
perspective of Muhammad, not from our perspective. We were not present
then.
In having a mind-experiment in agreeing in your way of reading this
verse, then we get naturally questions of these kind:
1. Why do you bother to spread the message of the Quran alone in other
languages than Arabic, if every nation receives a messenger and
thereby a message in their native language, may be you are interfering
with the local messengership?
2. Who is the messenger for Turkey nowadays for instance, who the
Turkish people have to find, obey and follow?
3. How can we recognise such a messenger, what is the objective
criterium?
4. What would be the content of the message, compared to the available
translations of the Quran?
5. How would the new message interfere with the perfect Quran?
6. What could happen to the local communities of muslims if some of
the members accept the new messenger and others not?
7. How could a messenger give a pure oral message nowadays with all
the new media surrounding us? The message can not be in written form
because then the messenger would become a prophet, this is not
possible since Muhammad is the seal of the prophets.
8. What would be the new local sharia? Since the quranic definition of
a messenger is: a bringer of guidance and the religion of truth, to be
obeyed as God has to be obeyed.
9. What would be the effect of new messengers on the unity of the
total ummah?
10. Would fake-messengers get more chance to influence innocent
believers?
Verse 4:80 - Whoever obeys the messenger is obeying God. As for those
who turn away, we did not send you as their guardian. -
This is the sincerity of this subject, we can not make any speculation
about this.
For me, Muhammad is the messenger for all nations, as history has
proven, the (translated) Quran is available in all the continents. So
Muhammad is the messenger for Turkey and the other countries, in the
past, present and future.
I do not see any added-value in your point of view concerning this
issue, this point of view has proven to be a great source of unrest,
uncertainty, pain and even violence within the ummah.
Question 4
Can you give me the name of one or more messengers after Muhammad who
brought a perfect quranic sharia?
This should have been done via a purely oral message, since Muhammad
is the seal of the prophets, so there can not be new prophetic
scriptures, anywhere in the world.
Verse 16:36 uses the past tense: for every nation there was a
messenger. With Muhammad there is a messenger for his nation after a
cessation of messengership.
For the future, the Quran refers in verse 27:82 to a creature out of
the earth (dabbatan mina el ardi) that will speak to the people who
are not certain about the signs, the verses of the Quran. The computer
is used for research of the Quran, discussions about the verses of the
Quran, as we are doing now and spreading the message of the Quran.
The Quran does not speak about the persons who used the creature out
of the earth, the computer, for great discoveries about the Quran,
problably to avoid quranic support for the acceptance of messengers
after Muhammad. The Quran helps us hereby to avoid sectarian
behaviour, while accepting code 19.
Question 5
Why does the Quran refer for the future to a creature out of earth,
the computer that will help the people who are not certain about the
signs -ayaat- of the Quran and not to messengers to all nations who
would come to give explanation about the signs?
For the past tense before the mission of Muhammad and the present
tense, during the time of the presence of Muhammad is referred to
messengers, for the period after Muhammad is only referred to the
computer as a medium for the people to receive knowlegde about the
signs, the Quran has predicted this perfectly.
Another proof of the perfection and completeness of the Quran,
concerning the revelations in the past, present and future.
You wrote:
5. The Quranic expression pertinent to this issue is "Muhammad is
God's messenger (rasul) and final prophet (nabi)" but NOT "Muhammad is
God's final messenger and prophet" as claimed by those who wish to
close God's mercy after Muhammad's departure. ---
God's mercy is in the Quran, good efforts are made by spreading the
message of the Quran alone, but that does not make those people
messengers in the quranic sense.
New prophetic scritures are not to be expected because Muhammad is the
seal of the prophets, it is very unlikely that an oral message of a
person would replace or adjust the Quran.
Your assumption that I belong to them who would wish to close the
mercy of God is far from the truth.
I do not see any mercy of God in the division of believers into the
Qadani, Bahai and Khalifite cults, as a result of accepting messengers
after Muhammad. We can see the discrimination, separation of families,
the bloodshed and persecution. Where is the mercy in this?
This issue of messengership is a sincere test for the believers. I
hope you are aware of verse 3:105 and verses 30:31-32.
Verse 3:105 warns dividers of Islam into groups with a severe
punishment.
Verses 30:31-32 state that belonging to a group in Islam is tantamount
to the unforgivable sin of setting partners to God - shirk -.
To endorse division of Islam can have serious consequences for the
soul.
Supporting messengership after Muhammad can only lead to sects and
cults within Islam, I advice you not to be in denial about this.
I really hope that the believers can bring themselves to safer
grounds, concerning this matter.
We should spread a unifying message of Islam not a dividing one,
unfortunately I see that you spread a dividing message.
I can not see it otherwise, reading your message.
You wrote:
6. God made covenant with prophets regarding a particular messenger
(3:81).
7. Muhammad was a prophet and he is specifically mentioned as one of
those prophets who made the covenant (33:7). (There is no reason to
claim that the covenant in 33:7 to be a different one than the 3:81).
---
Your opinion: "there is no reason to claim that the covenant in 33:7
is different from 3:81", seems not to be according to the Quran.
There are 4 clear quranic reasons for this.
1.
Verse 3:84 clearly states that Muhammad is the messenger of the
covenant, according to this verse Muhammad and his followers, have to
say that they believe in the mentioned messengers and the prophets and
that they make no difference between the prophets.
Verse 2:41, 2:91, 2:97, 3:3, 4:47, 5:48 state that the Quran confirms
previous scriptures. Mind the Arabic word - musaddiq - , used in verse
3:81 and the mentioned verses, another quranic proof of Muhammad being
the messenger of the covenant.
The word -musaddiq- is absent in the verses around code 19.
So Muhammad is the messenger of the covenant of 3:81 not one of the
supporting prophets.
Muhammad is both adressed as a messenger and a prophet in the Quran.
2.
Verse 3:81 mentions that the messenger will confirm the scriptures
that are with the prophets of this covenant. Code 19 refers to the
Quran alone, not to the scriptures of the previous prophets who were
part of the covenant.
3.
It is a really wrong assumption that the Quran needs confirmation by
anyone after the departure of Muhammad.
Our Creator has stated in verse 4:82 that the absence of
contradictions in the Quran is the proof of its Divine origine.
And also verses 98:1-3 state that the Quran itself is a clear proof.
So it would be rather obstinate to say that the Quran was confirmed
centuries later, when God already declared the Quran itself a proven
Divine sign.
God does not have shortage of words, as you know of course.
Code 19 is a great phenomena but is not called a confirmation by it's
Creator, as said above, we can not find the Arabic word -musaddiq-
related to the code in the Quran, this is only "possible" via an abuse
of verse 3:81.
Muhammad is the messenger of the covenant of 3:81 since the word -
musaddiq- is used in the verses 2:41, 2:91, 2:97, 3:3, 4:47, 5:48, a
confirmation that Muhammad is the confirmer of the previous scriptures
of the prophets, who had to support the messenger Muhammad according
to verse 3:81.
4.
The covenant of verse 3:187 relates to the assigment of the prophets,
not to hide their scriptures for their people. This covenant should
not be ignored in this issue of messengership.
Verse 3:81 speaks of prophets who are given a book, that is consistent
with the ones who where given a book mentioned in 3:187.
The difference is, this covenant of 3:187 includes Muhammad as a
prophet and 3:81 includes Muhammad as the confirming messenger.
Muhammad has kept his promise of spreading the scripture of Islam in
the best way, since his message can be known in all continents.
Question 5
How did the discoverer of code 19 confirm the Tawrah, the Zabur and
Ingeel for instance, since he claimed to be the messenger of the
covenant, confirming the scriptures of the previous prophets?
Question 6
How can you explain that if someone is supposed to be the messenger of
the covenant and thereby should have been supported by all the
prophets concerned, that he misses many important issues of the sharia
that are already clearly described in the Quran?
Messengers can make mistakes, of course beause they were humans, but
the human-messengers gave a perfect sharia to their people as Musa,
Isa and Muhammad did. They did not miss the most essential parts of
the sharia as can be read in your writings about Rashad Khalifa as
well.
How to obey and follow the messenger then? We can not follow and obey
a mathematical phenomena. As the people of Thamud could not obey and
follow the she-camel. They had to obey the message of their messenger
Saleh, not the sign of God, the she-camel.
Rashad even, problably unknowingly, invited the believers to commit
the unforgivable sin of shirk, to follow his ahadeeth and the concept
of millat Ibrahim as a source next to the Quran.
That seems not to be the meaning of being a messenger of God.
You wrote:
8. There is only one case where the finality of messengership (rasul)
is mentioned in the Quran and those who wanted to end God's mercy
(messengers) were criticized (See 40:28-56).
9. A careful and honest reading of those verses (40:28-38 and
40:39-56) will give you exactly the name of the messenger prophecized
in 3:81 and what would happened to him and the characteristics of
those who opposed him.---
You say it rightly, we know of only one case were finality of
messengership is mentioned, that was the moment of the departure of
the messenger-prophet Joseph. This was done by the people of Egypt
then.
Both the Jewish people and the Meccans were not questioning the
principle of messengership, according to the Quran. But they had
difficulty in accepting the right one in the right way sometimes. The
same is happening nowadays.
Self-proclaimed messengers are followed and obeyed by scores of
misguided believers and thereby setting them as partners next to God
in following these persons in accepting one or more of their ahadeeth
as a source next to the Quran.
Logics dictate that at a moment the last messenger would be on the
earth a period before the last day arrives, this logic statement would
be contrary with the way you read verse 40:34, that there would be no
last messenger.
For me the last but lasting moment of messengership is the period of
the human messenger Muhammad, his message is protected perfectly by
our Creator and made known over all continents.
So the messengership of Muhammad is not final, it remains via the
Quran until the last day, God knows best.
Characteristics of people who reject the signs of God are described in
verse 40:34-35, we are not allowed to reject the signs of God, indeed
we should be careful in this matter.
The best way to do this seems to be to follow the Quran alone, to
appreciate code 19 and to avoid sectarian division. Who denies the
signs of verses 3:105 and 30:31-32? I advice the believers to be very
aware of these signs.
The way you read these verses is influenced by your frame of
reference.
The Quran should be read without accepting any ahadeeth, it is highly
probable that you would not have read these verses in this way if you
had not accepted the ahadeeth of Rashad about the messengerhip of
Rashad.
The Quran is complete and clear, we are not allowed to use sources
next to the Quran to explain for instance verses that are clearly
referring to the tradition of the sharia-bringing messengers.
The last sharia-bringing messenger was Muhammad, we do notknow of a
person that gave a purely oral message after Muhammad concerning the
sharia of Islam, a written message would be impossible, since the
messenger-prophet Muhammad is the seal of the prophets.
The continuing mercy of God can be Godwilling found in following the
Quran in the purest way.
Code 19 is a test for the believers, as is the self-proclamation of
messengership of the discoverer of it.
We have to be appreciative of code 19 that is one part of the test.
But the other part of the test seems to be that we have to accept code
19 in a non-sectarian way.
This allegory may be interesting to reflect on:
Imagine that the remains of the she-camel, that was the sign of the
messenger Saleh, are found and a scientist discovers via computer-
aided genetic research that this animal had unique features, thereby
helping some of the believers to accept the history about the Thamud
in a litteral way.
Could the scientist claim that the unique features of the she-camel
are his sign and could he thereby tell the world rightfully that he is
a messenger in the quranic sense who has to be obeyed?
Or are the features of the camel still belonging to the sign given to
Saleh?
Question 7
I ask you to consider Rashad Khalifa as a person deeply rooted in
knowledge, according to verse 3:7. For this the Quran gives clear
permission. What do you have to lose in this?
Since your understandable critisism on Rashad's findings on the
sharia, you would no longer have the dilemma anymore of having to
disobey the messenger while you should obey him as God has to be
obeyed, or to commit -shirk- in following man-made ahadeeth, just one
or more.
This discussion is very relevant and was started because I am
concerned about the sectarian division that is unfortunately found
with the followers of the Quran alone.
I hope the believers will choose to be on probable safer grounds
concerning this issue and will not take the possible risk to be
accountable, because they contributed to being divided into groups by
accepting one or several self-proclaimed messengers after Muhammad,
verse 3:105.
In following the Quran the believers are following and obeying the
messenger of God, the messenger Muhammad and thereby obeying God as
well. In this the mercy of God can be found.
Not in obeying self-proclaimed messengers and thereby creating sects.
Which person could rightfully claim to be another messenger to be
followed and obeyed as if one obeys God, with a perfect Quran already
with us?
I am looking forward to your answers to my questions.
Take care and salaam,
Truthseeker.