13. FITNAH
The Qur’ānic science has many
branches, among which are: اْلقََوَاعِد
(Arabic grammar), عِلْمُ اْلبَلَاغَة
(Rhetoric),
أَسْبَابُ النُّزُوْل (the occasion
which led to the occurrence of revelation), and الوُجُوْهُ
وَ النَّظَائِر (al-wujūh
wa’l-naz.ā’ir), usually translated,
although not very accurately, as Homonyms and Synonyms.
Wujūh is the plural
of wajh which has many meanings, among which are: face, aspect, sense,
meaning, intention, side, way, method, reason, etc. Naz.ā’ir is
the plural of naz.īr, which
has also many meanings, among which are: matching, equivalent, compensation,
and exchange. The expression لَيْسَ
لَهُ نَظِيْر
means
“unequalled, matchless, unparalleled, or unique of his (its) kind". Therefore al-wujūh wa ‘l-naz.ā’ir can also be translated as Meanings
and Equivalents.
Ibn
al-Jawzī (d. 597/1201) in his book الوُجُوْهُ وَ النَّظَائِر
فِي الْقُرْآن (Meanings and Equivalents in the Qur’ān) mentions fifteen meanings of the term fitnah
and its derivatives. They are: test, burning with fire, infidelity,
killing, straying from the right path, madness, torture, hindrance, example,
punishment, disease, decree, sin, excuse and idolatry. The details and examples
are as follows:
1.
الإخْتِبَار
(test).
This is the literal meaning of fitnah. he expression فَتَنْتُ الذَّهَبَ
فيْ النَّار
means “I tested the gold with fire.” We
remember the English proverb, “Gold is tested with fire, women with gold, and
men with women.” The goldsmith in Arabic is called فتّان (fattān, a tester), and the stone used
to test the gold is called فتّانَة (fattānah, a tester). The example in
the Qur’ān is as follows:
الم. أَحَسِبَ
النَّاسُ أَنْ يُتْرَكُوا أَنْ يَقُولُوا آَمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ.
وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ
مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ
(العنكبوت
: ١-٢).
“A.L.M. Do men think that they will be left alone on
saying
‘we believe’
and that they will not be tested? We did test
those before
them, and Allah will certainly know
those who are
true from those who are false.”[1]
2.
الإحْرَاقًُ
بِالنَّار (burning with fire). The expression ذَهَبٌ فَتِيْن means “burned gold.” Speaking about
أَصْحَابُ الأُخْدُوْد (the makers of the pit of fire) who burned the
believers alive, Allah says:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَتَنُوا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ثُمَّ
لَمْ يَتُوبُوا فَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ الْحَرِيقِ
(البروج: ١٠).
“Those who
persecute [here A. Yusuf Ali translates فَتَنُوا
as ‘persecute’
while it means
more specifically ‘burn alive’] the believers, men and
women, and do
not turn in repentance, will have the chastisement
Why did Allah mention “the chastisement
of burning fire” in this verse? Because the word fitnah here means
‘burning with fire” and Allah wanted to inflict the same kind of chastisement
they had done to the believers.
3.
الكُفْر
(unbelief, infidelity). The example in the Qur’ān is as follows:
فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ زَيْغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَابَهَ
مِنْهُ ابْتِغَاءَ الْفِتْنَةِ وَابْتِغَاءَ تَأْوِيلِهِ
(آل عمران: ٧).
“…. But those
in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that
is not entirely
clear, seeking discord [here A. Yusuf Ali translates
fitnah as
“discord”, whereas according to Ibn al-Jawzi it means
Al-Dāmaghānī in his bookالوُجُوْهُ
وَ النَّظائِر mentions the following verse where the
word فِتْنَة means “unbelief”:
لَقَدِ ابْتَغَوُا الْفِتْنَةَ مِنْ قَبْلُ
(التوبة: ٤٨).
“Indeed they [i.e., the hypocrites of Madinah who made
an excuse for not joining the campaign of Tabuk
4.
القَتْل
(killing). The example in
the Qur’ān is as follows:
وَإِذَا ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ أَنْ
تَقْصُرُوا
مِنَ الصَّلَاةِ إِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا
(النساء : ١٠١).
“And when ye
travel through the earth, there is no blame
on you if ye shorten your prayers, for fear the
Here A. Yusuf Ali translates fitnah as
“attack”, while according to Ibn al-Jawzī and al-Dāmaghānī it means
“killing.” A question arises here: If no more danger of killing or attack, are
we still allowed to shorten our prayers? Imām Ah.mad
b. H...anbal reported that Ya‘lá b. Umayyah
asked ‘Umar b. Khat.t.āb about this issue. ‘Umar, not
knowing the answer, asked the Prophet who said: “It is a gift from Allah to
you, so accept His gift.” The distance
of journey, which entitles us to shorten the prayer, is about 85 km (some
scholars say shorter).
5.
الضَّلَال
(straying from the right
path). The example in the Qur’ān is as follows:
وَمَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ فِتْنَتَهُ فَلَنْ تَمْلِكَ لَهُ مِنَ اللَّهِ
شَيْئًا
(المائدة: ٤١).
“If any one’s
trial [i.e., straying from the truth] is intended by Allah,
thou hast no
authority in the least for him against Allah.” [6]
This verse
dealt with the hypocrites and the Jews who were eager to catch up any lies
against the Prophet.
6.
الجُنُوْن
(madness). The example in the Qur’ān is as
follows:
فَسَتُبْصِرُ وَيُبْصِرُونَ. بِأَيِّيكُمُ الْمَفْتُونُ
(القلم: ٥-٦).
“Soon wilt thou
see, and they will see, which
of you is afflicted
with madness.”[7]
7.
اْلعَذَاب
(torture,
persecution). The example in the Qur’ān is as follows:
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آَمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ فَإِذَا أُوذِيَ
فِي اللَّهِ جَعَلَ فِتْنَةَ النَّاسِ كَعَذَابِ اللَّهِ
(العنكبوت:
١٠)
“Then there are
among men such as say: ‘We believe in Allah’, but
when they
suffer affliction in (the cause of) Allah, they treat men’s
8.
الصَّدُّ
(hindrance). The example in the Qur’ān is as follows:
وَاحْذَرْهُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنُوكَ عَنْ بَعْضِ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ
إِلَيْكَ (المائدة: ٤٩).
“But
beware of them lest they beguile [i.e., hinder] thee from any
of that (teaching)
which Allah hath sent down to thee…”[9]
9.
اْلعِبْرَة
(example). The example in the Qur’ān is
as follows:
رَبَّنَا لَا تَجْعَلْنَا فِتْنَةً لِلْقَوْمِ الظَّالِمِينَ
(يونس: ٨٥).
“O Lord!
Make us not a trial [i.e., an example]
This was the
supplication of the Israelites who followed Prophet Moses (p.b.u.h). They
prayed to Allah that they would not be conquered and oppressed by the Pharaoh
and his followers, so that they would not become an example for the oppressors
by thinking that since they had conquered the Israelites, the victor was on the
right side and the conquered was on the wrong way.
10. اْلعُقُوْبَة
(punishment).
The example in the Qur’ān is as follows:
فَلْيَحْذَرِ الَّذِينَ يُخَالِفُونَ عَنْ أَمْرِهِ أَنْ تُصِيبَهُمْ
فِتْنَةٌ أَوْ يُصِيبَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
(النور:
٣٦).
“Let those beware who withstand the Messenger’s order,
lest some trial [i.e., punishment] befall
them, or
Here A. Yusuf Ali translates fitnah
as “trial”, while according to Ibn Kathīr, it means “unbelief, hypocrisy and
heresy”.
11. المَرَض (disease). The example in the Qur’ān is as
follows:
أَوَلَا يَرَوْنَ أَنَّهُمْ يُفْتَنُونَ
فِي كُلِّ عَامٍ مَرَّةً أَوْ مَرَّتَيْنِ ثُمَّ لَا يَتُوبُونَ وَلَا هُمْ يَذَّكَّرُونَ
(التوبة: ١٢٦).
“See they not
that they [i.e., the hypocrites] are tried
[with disease] every year once or twice? Yet they
turn not in
repentance, and they take no heed.”[12]
According to Ibn al-Jawzī the fitnah
is “disease”, because the previous verse mentions “the disease of the heart”,
while according to Mujāhid and Qatādah it means respectively “hunger” and
“invasion”.
12. القَضَاء
(decree). The
example in the Qur’ān is as follows:
وَاخْتَارَ مُوسَى قَوْمَهُ سَبْعِينَ رَجُلًا لِمِيقَاتِنَا فَلَمَّا
أَخَذَتْهُمُ
الرَّجْفَةُ
قَالَ رَبِّ لَوْ شِئْتَ أَهْلَكْتَهُمْ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَإِيَّايَ أَتُهْلِكُنَا بِمَا
فَعَلَ
السُّفَهَاءُ
مِنَّا إِنْ هِيَ إِلَّا فِتْنَتُكَ تُضِلُّ بِهَا مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتَهْدِي مَنْ تَشَاءُ
أَنْتَ وَلِيُّنَا
فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الْغَافِرِينَ
(الأعراف: ١٥٥)
“And Moses chose seventy of his people for Our place of
meetingwhen they were seized with violent quaking, he prayed: ‘O my Lord! If it
had been Thy will Thou couldst have destroyed, long before,both them and me:
wouldst Thou destroy us for the deeds of the foolish ones among us? This is no more than Thy Trial [i.e., decree]: by it Thou causest whom
Thou wilt stray, and Thou leadest whom
Thou wilt into the right path.Thou art our protector: so forgive us and give us Thy mercy; for Thou art the best
of
However,
according to Ibn Kathīr fitnah here means “test”.
13. الإثْم
(sin). The example in the Qur’ān is as
follows:
أَلَا فِي الْفِتْنَةِ سَقَطُوا (التوبة: ٤٩).
It means that they have fallen into
sin. However, according to al-Dāmaghānī the word fitnah here means kufr
(unbelief).
14. المَعْذِرَة
(excuse). The example in
the Qur’ān is as follows:
وَيَوْمَ نَحْشُرُهُمْ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ نَقُولُ لِلَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا
أَيْنَ شُرَكَاؤُكُمُ
الَّذِينَ كُنْتُمْ تَزْعُمُونَ. ثُمَّ لَمْ تَكُنْ فِتْنَتُهُمْ
إِلَّا أَنْ
قَالُوا وَاللَّهِ رَبِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِكِينَ
(الأنعام:-٣۲).
“One day shall
We gather them together:
We shall say to
those who ascribed partners (to Us):
‘Where are the
partners whom ye (invented and) talked
about?’There
will then be (left) no excuse for
thembut
to say: ‘By
Allah our Lord, we were not those
This is also the interpretation of ‘At.ā’ and Qatādah. However, according to
Ibn ‘Abbās, the expression فِتْنَتُهُمْ here means حُجَّتُهُمْ
(their argument) which was adopted by A.Y.
Ali who translated it as “subterfuge”
before the revision of his translation.
15. الشِّرْك (idolatry).
The example in the Qur’ān is as follows:
وَقَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ
الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ وَلَا تَعْتَدُوا
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُعْتَدِينَ. وَاقْتُلُوهُمْ حَيْثُ ثَقِفْتُمُوهُمْ وَأَخْرِجُوهُمْ
مِنْ حَيْثُ أَخْرَجُوكُمْ وَالْفِتْنَةُ أَشَدُّ مِنَ الْقَتْلِ
(البقرة: ۱٩٠-۱٩۱ ).
“Fight in the
cause of Allah those who fight you, but do
not transgress
limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors. And
slay them
wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from
where they have
turned you out; for persecution
Beside Ibn al-Jawzī, al-Dāmaghānī al-Tiflisī,
Abū al-‘Āliyah, Mujāhid, ‘Ikrimah, al-T.abarī and
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūt.ī all say
that the fitnah which is worse than killing is shirk (idolatry).
So it is not “denouncing against someone” as we used to hear people say, but
idolatry. Ibn Kathīr says: “Idolatry,
unbelief and turning away from Allah’s way are worse than killing.” Sayyid
Qutub says: “Fitnah in religion is an attack against the most sacred thing in
human life, and therefore, is worse than killing … whether it is in the form of
threat and infliction, creation of bad condition which will lead people astray
… such as the teaching of atheism, legalizing the prohibited things such as
adultery and alcohol.”
With
regard to the fitnah which means “informing about or against somebody”
which is a common meaning of fitnah in Egypt, or the fitnah which
means “slandering, backbiting” a common meaning of fitnah in Indonesia,
this is not the kind of fitnah which is worse than killing, but rather
the shirk, idolatry, polytheism. Here lies the danger of interpreting
Allah’s words without sufficient knowledge. A. Yusuf Ali did mention the
various meanings of fitnah, namely, trial or temptation, punishment,
tumult or oppression, discord, sedition, and civil strive.
By learning
الوُجُوْهُ وَ النَّظَائِر
in the Qur’ān we
have a better understanding of the verses of the Qur’ān. Further study of this
branch of the Qur’ānic science is extremely needed for those who want to learn
more about the Qur’ān.
14. SALMĀN AL-FĀRISĪ
(THE PERSIAN)
One
of the famous seekers of truth in Islamic history was Salmān al-Fārisī (the
Persian). He was the one who suggested to the Prophet to dig a trench around
Madinah to protect the city in the Battle of theTrench. How he became a Muslim,
the famous historian and mufassir (commentator of the Qur’ān), Ibn Jarīr
al-T.abarī (the native of Tabaristan) told
us about this s.ah.ābī (companion of the Prophet) as
follows:
Salmān
was a soldier of the Sassanian empire and a close friend of the prince. One day
they went for hunting and found a man in an isolated house weeping while
reading a book. He told them that he was reading a Bible (Injīl) revealed to
Prophet ‘Īsā (Jesus, p.b.u.h.) [not the
kind of Bible we are having now]. They were interested to learn its contents.
They learned them from the man and became believers. He told them that the dhabīh.ah (slaughtered animals) of their
people were prohibited for them.
One
day the king made a feast, but the prince refused to attend. When his father
insisted to know the reason, he said the it was because they were infidels and
their slaughtered animals were forbidden for him.
“Who
told you this?”, asked the king.
“The
monk”, said the prince. The king called the monk who confirmed what the prince
had said.
“If
killing were not a big thing for us,” said the king, “I should have killed you.
Leave the country!”
The
monk told Salmān and the prince that he was leaving for his church at Mosul (in
Iraq) where sixty monks were worshipping
Allah, and that they should go there, too, if they had really become believers.
The prince sold his belongings before leaving, but Salmān could not wait for
him. He left alone and went to the church at Mosul.
Salmān
worshipped very hard in this church. His host monk wanted him to take it easy.
Salmān asked him: “Which is better, the hard worship that I am doing or the
easy worship you are suggesting?” When
the monk said that his hard worship was better, Salmān kept it.
When
the monk offered to move with him to another church where easy worship was
offered, Salmān asked him again which church would be better for him. When the
monk told him that the present one was better, Salmān kept staying in it.
Before leaving, the monk entrusted Salmān to a learned monk.
The
new monk wanted to go to Jerusalem and told Salmān that it would be better for
him to accompany him to Jerusalem. So he went. In Jerusalem the monk told him
to go to seek knowledge from learned people. He did, and one day he came home
very sad.
“What
happened?”, asked the monk.
“All
good things have been taken by prophets before us and his followers,” said
Salmān.
“O
Salmān, don’t be sad,” said the monk. “There is still a new prophet left who is
the best one to follow. The time of his
coming is approaching. I don’t think I shall live long enough to see him. You
are still young. I hope you can see him. He will appear in the Arab land. If you see him, believe and follow him….
There is a seal of prophethood on his back. He will refuse charity but will
accept gift.”
Salmān
lost the monk on the way back to Mosul. He was betrayed by Bedouins of the Kalb
tribe who took him to Madinah. This made him very sad. Then he was bought by a
woman from Juhaynah tribe. With another young man he tended her sheep in turn,
one day for himself, the next day for the young man.
While
Salmān was tending the sheep, the young man came and said: “Today a man who
claimed to be a prophet is coming to Madinah.”
Salmān asked him to tend the sheep until he came back. He went to the
city to see the Prophet. He tried to see the seal of prophethood on his back.
When he saw it, he bought food with one dinar and presented it to the Prophet.
“What
is this?”, asked the Prophet.
“Charity,”
said Salmān.
“I
don’t need it, give it to the Muslims,” said the Prophet. Salmān went to buy
food again and presented it to the Prophet.
“What
is this?”, asked the Prophet.
“A
gift,” said Salmān
“Sit
down,” said the Prophet and ate the food and talked.
While
talking to the Prophet, Salmān remembered his friends whom he left behind. He
talked to the Prophet about them, saying: “They prayed, fasted, believed in
you, and witnessed that you would be appointed a prophet.” To answer this
question, Allah revealed to the Prophet the following verse:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَادُوا وَالنَّصَارَى وَالصَّابِئِينَ
مَنْ آَمَنَ
بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآَخِرِ وَعَمِلَ
صَالِحًا فَلَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ
رَبِّهِمْ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
(البقرة: ٦۲).
“Those
who believe (in the Qur’ān), and those who
follow the
Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and
the Sabians,
any who believe in Allah and the Last
Day, and work
righteousness, shall have their
reward with
their Lord, on them shall be
This means that the Jews who followed
Prophet Moses (p.b.u.h.) and kept the Torah until the advent of Prophet Jesus
(p.b.u.h.) will be safe. But those who still kept the Torah and did not want to
follow Prophet Jesus (p.b.u.h.) after that will be damned. The Christians who
followed Prophet Jesus (p.b.u.h.) and kept the Injil until the advent of
Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) will be safe. But those who did not want to follow
Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) after that will be damned.
There
are many views about the Sabians. Some scholars said that they were angel
worshipers. According to the Qur’ānic commentator Ibn Kathir they were people
who had no religion. The Orientalist B. Carra de Faux divided the Sabians into
two groups: the followers of Prophet Yah.yā (John the Baptist) and the pagan Sabians who
lived under the Muslim rule.
According
to Ibn ‘Abbās, the Prophet’s cousin and the famous Qur’ānic commentator, the
next verse revealed was:
وَمَنْ يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ
وَهُوَ فِي الْآَخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ (آل عمران: ٨٥)
“If anyone
desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah),
never will it
be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be
15. ‘ABD ALLĀH BIN UBAY
While
the Prophet was resting after the campaign of Banī al-Mus.t.aliq which took placed in 6/ca. 628 he
heard somebody fighting. It was Jahjāh b. Sa‘īd al-Ghaffārī, a muhājir (an
emigrant) fighting over water against Sinān b. Wabr al-Jahnī, of the ans.ār (“the helpers”, the native of
Madinah). Sinān shouted: “O ans.ār, help me!” and Jahjāh also
shouted: “O muhājirīn, help me!” The Prophet said to them: “Are you
still practising the jāhiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance) while I am among
you? Stop this jāhiliyyah practice,
because it is disgusting.”
When
the leader of the hypocrites, ‘Abd Allāh bin Ubay heard this, he said to his
people around him:
“Now, they did it: they have created
aversion against us, they have outnumbered us
in our own
country. By Allah, we are now with these
rugs of the Quraysh [meaning the ompanions of the Prophet
who protected him like a dress] who are like what the saying
said, سَمِّنْ كَلْبَكَ ِلَيْأُكَلَك (‘Fatten your dog so that it will
eat you [in the end”]). By Allah, when we return to
Madinah the honourable element [meaning his
people] will expel the meaner [meaning the
muhājirīn, the
emigrants] from it.”
He blamed his people further, saying,
“This is what you have done to yourselves.You
let them come
to your land and you let them share with
you your property. Had you prevented them
from
all these, they would
have never come here.”
A boy called Zayd b. Arqam heard these
words, told his uncle who, in turn, told the Prophet who was with ‘Umar. ‘Umar
said to the Prophet: “You better tell ‘Ubbad to kill him.” [In another version, ‘Umar said: “Let me kill
him.”] The Prophet said: O ‘Umar, how if
people say that Muhammad has killed his own companion? No, never, but tell
people that we are leaving for home.” So
people started moving.
When
‘Abd Allāh b. Ubay heard that the Prophet had been told what he had said, he
came to him to apologize, swearing that he had never said what Zayd had told
him. One of the ans.ār told
the Prophet that Zayd might have not quite remembered what he had heard from
‘Abd Allāh b. Ubay. When the Prophet believed him instead of Zayd, Zayd became
very sad. He had never been so sad before, and stayed at home. Then Allah
revealed the beginning of the Chapter of Hypocrites (Surat al-Munafiqin) as
follows:
إِذَا جَاءَكَ الْمُنَافِقُونَ قَالُوا نَشْهَدُ إِنَّكَ لَرَسُولُ
اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ إِنَّكَ لَرَسُولُهُ
وَاللَّهُ يَشْهَدُ إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَكَاذِبُونَ. اتَّخَذُوا
أَيْمَانَهُمْ جُنَّةً فَصَدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ إِنَّهُمْ
سَاءَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ. ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ آَمَنُوا ثُمَّ
كَفَرُوا فَطُبِعَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يَفْقَهُونَ.
وَإِذَا رَأَيْتَهُمْ تُعْجِبُكَ أَجْسَامُهُمْ وَإِنْ يَقُولُوا
تَسْمَعْ لِقَوْلِهِمْ كَأَنَّهُمْ خُشُبٌ مُسَنَّدَةٌ يَحْسَبُونَ كُلَّ
صَيْحَةٍ عَلَيْهِمْ هُمُ الْعَدُوُّ فَاحْذَرْهُمْ قَاتَلَهُمُ اللَّهُ
أَنَّى يُؤْفَكُونَ. وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا يَسْتَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ
رَسُولُ اللَّهِ لَوَّوْا رُءُوسَهُمْ وَرَأَيْتَهُمْ يَصُدُّونَ
وَهُمْ مُسْتَكْبِرُونَ. سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَسْتَغْفَرْتَ لَهُمْ
أَمْ لَمْ تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ لَنْ يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ إِنَّ
اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْفَاسِقِينَ. هُمُ الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ
لَا تُنْفِقُوا عَلَى مَنْ عِنْدَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ حَتَّى يَنْفَضُّوا
وَلِلَّهِ خَزَائِنُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ
وَلَكِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَا يَفْقَهُونَ. يَقُولُونَ لَئِنْ رَجَعْنَا
إِلَى الْمَدِينَةِ لَيُخْرِجَنَّ الْأَعَزُّ
مِنْهَا الْأَذَلَّ وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
وَلَكِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
(المنافقون:۱-٨).
“When the hypocrites come to thee, they say,
’We bear witness that thou art indeed the Messenger
of Allah’ Yea, Allah
knoweth that thou art indeed His Messenger, and Allah beareth witness that the
hypocrites are indeed liars.They made their oaths a screen (for their misdeeds):
thus they obstruct (men)from the path of Allah; truly evil are their deeds.
That is because they believed, then they rejected faith; so a seal was set:
therefore they understand not. When thou lookest at them, their bodies please
thee;and when they speak, thou listenest to their words. They are as (worthless
as hollow) pieces of timber propped up, (unable to stand on their own). They
think that every cry is against them.
They are the enemies; so
beware of them. The
curse of Allah be on them! How are they
deluded (away from the truth)! And when it is said to them, ‘Come, the
Messenger of Allah will pray for your orgiveness,’ they turn aside their heads,
and thou wouldst see them turning away their faces in arrogance. It is equal to them whether thou pray for
their forgiveness or not. Allah will not
forgive them. Truly Allah guides not
rebellious transgressors. They are the
ones who say, ‘Spend nothing on those who are with Allah’s Messenger, till
they disperse (and quit Madinah).’ But to Allah belong the treasures of the
heavens and the earth; but the hypocrites understand not. They say, ‘If we
return to Madinah, surely; the more honourable (element) will expel therefrom
the meaner.’ But the honour belongs to Allah
and His Messenger, and to the believers; but the
The
Prophet summoned Zayd, the boy. He told him that Allah was on his side, that he
had said the truth, and cited the verses to him.
On
the way back to Madinah the Prophet met the leader of the Aws tribe, Usayd b. H...ud.ayr who advised him to
be gentle with ‘Abd Allāh b. Ubay who felt that the Prophet had taken his power
from him.
‘Abd
Allāh’s son was also called ‘Abd Allāh. He was a very pious companion of the
Prophet. When he heard a rumor that the Prophet wanted to kill his father, he
came to him requesting him to carry out the execution. He said:
“If
you really wanted to, let me do it, I’ll bring his head to you. By Allah, the
Khazraj tribe knows that nobody among them who is more dutiful and obedient to
his father than I am. I am afraid, if
somebody else killed him I might not be able to stand seeing the killer of my
father, and I might kill him, so that I would kill a believer for the sake of
an unbeliever, and this act would lead me to Hell.”
“We
shall treat him well as long as he remains with us,” said the Prophet.
At
the gate of Madinah ‘Abd Allāh the junior stood with his sword unsheathed in
his hand. He let everybody pass except
his father.
“Get
back,” he said.
“What
is this, what is the matter with you?,” asked his father.
“I
will not let you pass, unless the Messenger of Allah gives you permission, for
his he the honourable and you are the meaner.”
[In another version, he said: “You will never enter Madinah until you
say that the Messenger of Allah is the most honourable and you are the
meanest.”]. Abdullah the senior waited
the Prophet and complained to him against his son. The Prophet gave him permission to enter
Madinah.
The
Prophet lived among the hypocrites in Madinah for almost ten years without
knowing them one by one except through their acts and behaviour. He knew them
all only through revelation shortly before his death. When he knew them he did
not kick them out of the Muslim community since they, like the Muslims, did
their religious duties. The only person whom the Prophet told the identity of
the hypocrites was H...udhayfah
al-Yamānī.
‘Umar
worried about himself. He came to H...udhayfah who
told him: “You are not one of them, ‘Umar,” and no further explanation. Who are we, then, to point our index finger
to somebody and say that he is infidel or hypocrite through guessing and
gesture, when the Prophet himself and H...udhayfah who
knew the identity of the hypocrites but kept them secret and did not expel them
from the Muslim community?
When
Abdullah b. Ubay passed away, his son Abdullah came to the Prophet and asked
him to give him his shirt to make a shroud for his father. When the Prophet gave him his shirt, he asked
the Prophet to perform the funeral prayer(صَلَاةُ
الْجَنَازَة) for his father. When the Prophet stood
to perform the prayer, ‘Umar held his dress, saying: “O Messenger of Allah, are
you going to pray for him when your Lord forbids you to?” (In another version
‘Umar said: “O Messenger of Allah, are you going to pray for the enemy of Allah
who said such-and-such thing on such-and-such day?” and ‘Umar kept counting the
days, and the Prophet smiled and said: “Even if you say more against him. O
‘Umar, stay back!”). Then the Prophet said: “Allah has given me a choice only
when He said,
اسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ أَوْ لَا تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ إِنْ تَسْتَغْفِرْ
لَهُمْ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً فَلَنْ يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ
(التوبة
:٨٠)
“Whether thou
ask for their forgiveness
or not (their
sin is unforgivable): if thou ask
seventy times
for their forgiveness,
I have made my
choice. I shall ask for his forgiveness more than seventy times.” [In another
version the Prophet said: “If I knew that he would be forgiven if I prayed for
his forgiveness more than seventy times, I would do.”]. So the Prophet prayed
for Abdullah b. Ubay, went to and stood at his grave. It is said that later ‘Umar wondered how dare
he try to prevent the Prophet from doing something he knew better than ‘Umar.
Then
Allah revealed the following verse:
وَلَا تُصَلِّ عَلَى أَحَدٍ مِنْهُمْ مَاتَ أَبَدًا وَلَا تَقُمْ
عَلَى قَبْرِهِ
إِنَّهُمْ
كَفَرُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَمَاتُوا وَهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ
(التوبة : ٨٤).
“Nor do thou
ever pray for any of them [i.e., the hypocrites]
that dies, not
stand at his grave; for they rejected Allah and His
Since then the
Prophet never prayed for any hypocrite or stood at his grave. (The story is
from a tradition reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim; the other version is by Ah.mad and al-Tirmidhī). If somebody
asked him to pray for a hypocrite he just said, هَذَا شَأْنُكَ “This is your business”.
This
showed how the Prophet treated his archenemy in disguise. He prayed for him and
asked Allah’s forgiveness for him at his death. He showed his mercy to him,
despite what he had done in his lifetime. It should not be misinterpreted that
the Prophet had acted against the will of Allah. Prohibition from praying funeral prayer for
non-believers was revealed later, allowing him to do so for the leader of the
hypocrites of Madinah, but not to the rest of them.
After
the death of the Prophet, H...udhayfah also
refrained from praying for the dead body of a person that he knew to be a
hypocrite. ‘Umar also would not stand up to pray for a dead person unless he
saw H...udhayfah standing there. Otherwise, if
H...udhayfah was not there, ‘Umar would
not pray for the dead person without giving any reason or comment. This is one
of many examples of Islamic behaviour how to treat the hypocrites, the enemy in
disguise.
16. THE BATTLE OF UH...UD (1)
One
of the famous battles in Islamic history is the battle of Uh.ud. Uh.ud is a hill
north of Madinah where the battle took place between the Muslims, led by
Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) and the infidel Quraysh tribe of Mecca. (Makkah).
led by Abū Sufyān. The Meccans wanted to take revenge
for their defeat and the loss of face at the battle of Badr the year
before. In this battle they were one
thousand in number but were defeated by three hundred Muslims.
After
a journey of about ten days from Mecca, the Meccan army consisted of three
thousand men, each with a camel for the journey, and two hundred horses. They
reached the oasis of Madinah on Thursday in the month of Shawal 3/21 March,
625. Two days later, on Saturday 23 March, 625 C.E. the battle took place. The
victory was almost within the Muslims’ hand, but soon turned to be a defeat.
Khālid b. al-Walīd, who led the Meccan calvary observed some disorder in the
Muslim advance. He overran the archers and attacked the Muslim flank and rear.
The Prophet received two or three wounds on his face and leg. He himself
wounded one Meccan who died from it.
The
Muslim army retreated to the slopes of the hill. The casualties: 27 of the
Meccan and 75 of the Muslims, 70 of them were the ans.ār, whereas among the muhājirīn was the
Prophet’s uncle H...amzah.
Why
the defeat? Because the archers, who had been told by the Prophet not to leave
their posts to protect the Muslim infantry against the attack from the rear,
left their posts. Why did they leave their posts? Because they saw the infantry was advancing
and thought that the battle was over. On the other hand, the Muslim casualties
were mostly due to the Quraysh calvary. The Muslims themselves were too poor
and could not afford to have a calvary of their own.
Was
the defeat of the Muslims in this battle a serious defeat? No, from the
military standpoint. The Meccan victory was not great. Although the Meccans had
successfully avenged their defeat and bloodshed of the battle of Badr, they
failed in many of their objectives. They failed to destroy the Muslim community
in Madinah and remove the Prophet from his position and influence. They also
failed to get northern Arabia under their control. They could not destroy completely the Muslim
army, because they had a number of wounded and most of their horses had
received arrow wounds. We see how important it was to obey the commander
Why
did Allah let the Muslims be defeated?
Because Allah wanted to give us Muslims a lesson. After the battle of Uh.ud Allah revealed to the Prophet the
following verse:
وَلَا تَهِنُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَنْتُمُ الْأَعْلَوْنَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ
مُؤْمِنِينَ.
إِنْ يَمْسَسْكُمْ قَرْحٌ فَقَدْ مَسَّ الْقَوْمَ قَرْحٌ مِثْلُهُ
وَتِلْكَ الْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا
بَيْنَ النَّاسِ وَلِيَعْلَمَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا وَيَتَّخِذَ
مِنْكُمْ شُهَدَاءَ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الظَّالِمِينَ.
وَلِيُمَحِّصَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا وَيَمْحَقَ الْكَافِرِينَ.
أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَنْ تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ
وَلَمَّا يَعْلَمِ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا مِنْكُمْ وَيَعْلَمَ
الصَّابِرِينَ. وَلَقَدْ كُنْتُمْ
تَمَنَّوْنَ الْمَوْتَ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَلْقَوْهُ فَقَدْ رَأَيْتُمُوهُ
وَأَنْتُمْ تَنْظُرُونَ.
(آل
عمران:۱٣٩-۱٤٣).
“So lose not heart. Nor fall into despair: for ye must
gain mastery if ye are true in
faith. If a wound hath touched you, be
sure a similar wound hath touched the others. Such days (of varying fortunes)
We give to men and men by turns: that Allah may know those that believe, and
that He may take to Himself from your
ranks martyr-witness [shuhada’, i.e., martyrs] to truth. And Allah loveth not
those that do wrong. Allah‘s object also
is to purge those that are truth in faith and to deprive of blessing those that
resist faith [‘The purge or purification
was in two senses, (1) It cleared out the Hypocrites from the ranks of the
Muslim warriors, (2) The testing-time
strengthened the faith of the weak and wavering: for suffering has its own
mission in life. The Prophet’s example—wounded but staunch, and firmer than
ever—put new life into the Community.’ A.Y. Ali’s commentary]. Did ye think that ye would enter Heaven
without Allah testing those of you whofought hard (in His cause) and remained
steadfast? Ye did indeed wish for death before ye encountered it [i.e., at the
battle of Badr]: now ye have seen it
with your own eyes [i.e., in the battle of Uhud], (and ye flinch!).”[22]
What about the Muslims now? We are
humiliated everywhere. Why? Because we
do not stick to our faith. We do not have strong faith. Allah says, “Ye must
gain mastery if ye are true in faith” as mentioned above. He also says:
قَالَتِ الْأَعْرَابُ آَمَنَّا قُلْ لَمْ تُؤْمِنُوا وَلَكِنْ قُولُوا
أَسْلَمْنَا وَلَمَّا يَدْخُلِ الْإِيمَانُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ
(الحجرات:۱٤).
“The desert
Arabs [i.e., Bedouins] say ‘We believe’. Say: ‘Ye have no
faith; but ye (only) say ’We submitted our
wills to Allah [aslamna, we
In another verse He says:
الْأَعْرَابُ أَشَدُّ كُفْرًا وَنِفَاقًا وَأَجْدَرُ أَلَّا يَعْلَمُوا
حُدُودَ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ
حَكِيمٌ
(التوبة: ٩٧).
“The Bedouins
are worst in unbelief and hypocrisy, and
most fitted
to be in ignorance of the command which Allah
hath sent down
Al-A‘rāb
means “the Bedouins”. people living in the desert under their tents and under
the burning sun. They were blamed for their infidelity, hypocrisy and lack of
faith. But now, are we Muslims better than they were? The whole world knows how weak we are. We are
still Bedouins in mentality and faith although we live in cities and palaces—as
comfortable a life technology can give.
17. THE BATTLE OF UH...UD
(2)
Abu
Sufyān was the brother of Ummu Jamīl who was the wife of Abū Lahab, the
Prophet’s uncle. His name was Sakhr b. H...arb b.
Umayyah. He was a leader of the aristocratic party in Mecca. He was a respected
merchant and led the great Meccan caravan several times. His eldest son H...anzalah was killed in the battle of
Badr. His other son ‘Amr was taken prisoner, but afterwards he was exchanged
for one Muslim who was fallen into Abū
Sufyān’s hands when going to Mecca as pilgrim. His daughter Ramlah married a Muslim
and emigrated with him to Abyssinia where she bore her daughter H...abībah. She was then called Umm (Mother of) H...abībah.
In
Abyssinia Ramlah’s husband converted to Christianity leaving her and her family
without provider. When the Prophet learned about her condition he sent a letter
to the emperor of Abyssinia asking to marry her. In this way she would remain
Muslim and would find a protector when she returned to Mecca. Thus the Prophet
was Abu Sufyān’s enemy and son-in-law at the same time.
Abū Sufyān wanted to take revenge for
the Meccan defeat at the battle of Badr a year before. The size of his army was
one thousand men. At the Battle of Uh.ud the Meccan army became three
thousand men. His wife Hind promised her
slave Wah.shī to free him if he killed H...amzah, the Prophet’s uncle. He did and
was later set free. The Prophet was hurt, and there was a rumour that he had
been killed.
The
battle of Uh.ud is so important in Islamic
history. It was the second battle in Islam and the first Muslims’ defeat. There
were many Qur’ānic verses revealed to the Prophet after the battle of Uh.ud concerning this battle, although it
was not mentioned by name in the verses.
Some of these verses are as follows:
سَنُلْقِي فِي قُلُوبِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا الرُّعْبَ بِمَا أَشْرَكُوا
بِاللَّهِ
مَا لَمْ يُنَزِّلْ بِهِ سُلْطَانًا وَمَأْوَاهُمُ النَّارُ وَبِئْسَ
مَثْوَى الظَّالِمِينَ. وَلَقَدْ صَدَقَكُمُ
اللَّهُ وَعْدَهُ إِذْ تَحُسُّونَهُمْ بِإِذْنِهِ حَتَّى إِذَا فَشِلْتُمْ
وَتَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي الْأَمْرِ وَعَصَيْتُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا
أَرَاكُمْ مَا تُحِبُّونَ مِنْكُمْ مَنْ يُرِيدُ الدُّنْيَا وَمِنْكُمْ
مَنْ يُرِيدُ الْآَخِرَةَ ثُمَّ صَرَفَكُمْ عَنْهُمْ لِيَبْتَلِيَكُمْ
وَلَقَدْ عَفَا عَنْكُمْ وَاللَّهُ ذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ.
إِذْ تُصْعِدُونَ وَلَا تَلْوُونَ عَلَى أَحَدٍ وَالرَّسُولُ
يَدْعُوكُمْ فِي أُخْرَاكُمْ فَأَثَابَكُمْ غَمًّا بِغَمٍّ لِكَيْلَا
تَحْزَنُوا عَلَى مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلَا مَا أَصَابَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ
خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُون. ثُمَّ أَنْزَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ الْغَمِّ أَمَنَةً نُعَاسًا
يَغْشَى طَائِفَةً مِنْكُمْ وَطَائِفَةٌ
قَدْ أَهَمَّتْهُمْ أَنْفُسُهُمْ يَظُنُّونَ بِاللَّهِ غَيْرَ الْحَقِّ
ظَنَّ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ يَقُولُونَ هَلْ لَنَا مِنَ الْأَمْرِ مِنْ
شَيْءٍ قُلْ إِنَّ الْأَمْرَ كُلَّهُ لِلَّهِ يُخْفُونَ فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ
مَا لَا يُبْدُونَ لَكَ يَقُولُونَ لَوْ كَانَ
لَنَا مِنَ الْأَمْرِ شَيْءٌ مَا قُتِلْنَا هَاهُنَا قُلْ لَوْ كُنْتُمْ
فِي بُيُوتِكُمْ لَبَرَزَ الَّذِينَ كُتِبَ
عَلَيْهِمُ الْقَتْلُ إِلَى مَضَاجِعِهِمْ وَلِيَبْتَلِيَ اللَّهُ
مَا فِي صُدُورِكُمْ وَلِيُمَحِّصَ
مَا فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ.
(آل
عمران:۱٥۱-۱٥٤).
“Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the
unbelievers
[i.e., Abu Sufyān and his followers for departing away from
the
battle of Uhud], for that they joined partners with Allah,
for which He had sent no authority [i.e., proof]: their abode will be the Fire:
and evil is the home of the wrong-doers! Allah did indeed fulfil His promise to
you when ye with His permission were about to annihilate your enemy [i.e., in
the battle of Uhud]—until ye flinched and fell to disputing about the order
[i.e., not to leave the post and maintain discipline], and dis-obeyed it after
He brought you in sight (of the victory) which ye covet. Among you are some that hanker after this
world and some that desire the Hereafter.
Then did He divert you from your foes in order to test you. But He forgave you [i.e., for not
annihilating you because of your sin]: for Allah is full of grace
to those who believe.
Behold! Ye were climbing up the high ground,without even casting a sideglance
at any one, and the Messenger in your rear was calling you back. There did
Allah give you one distress after another by way of requital [the first
distress was that many of them were killed and wounded and they lost booty: the
second grief was the news that the Prophet was killed], to teach you not to
grieve for (the booty) that had escaped you and for (the ill) that had befallen
you. For Allah is well aware of all that
ye do. After (the excitement) of the
di-stress, He sent down calm on a band of you overcome with slum-ber. [i.e., to
the believers, so that they did not suffer the di-tress], while another band
[i.e., the hypocrites] was stirred to anxiety by their own feelings, moved by
wrong suspicion of Allah—suspi-cions due to ignorance. They said: ‘Have we any
hand in the affair?’ Say thou: ‘Indeed, this affair is wholly Allah’s.’ They
hide in their minds what they dare not reveal to thee. They say (to
themselves): ‘If we had had anything to do with this affair, we should not have
been in the slaughter here.’ Say: ‘Even
if you had remained in your homes, those for whom death was
decreed would certainly have gone forth to the place of
their
death;’ but (all this was) that Allah might test what is in
So the battle of Uh.ud was a test who was truly a Muslim
and who was a hypocrite. Those who did not want to fight were not true
believers. There is an English proverb saying, “A friend in need is a friend
indeed.” If a Muslim is called to fight in the way of Allah and does not
hesitate to answer the call for Allah’s sake, he is a Muslim.
What
have these verses to do with us? Well,
we have fought many battles and we have been defeated several times worse than
the battle of Uh.ud, but we
never learn from the battle of Uh.ud.
Hopefully, one day we shall learn.
18. THE BATTLE OF UH...UD (3)
Last Friday I
talked about some Qur’ānic verses revealed after the battle of Uh.ud. Today I want to explain the rest
of the verses dealing with the battle of Uh.ud. Allah
said:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَوَلَّوْا
مِنْكُمْ يَوْمَ الْتَقَى الْجَمْعَانِ إِنَّمَا اسْتَزَلَّهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ
بِبَعْضِ مَا كَسَبُوا وَلَقَدْ
عَفَا اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ حَلِيمٌ
(آل
عمران: ۱٥٥)
“Those of you
who turned back on the day of the two hosts met,
--it was Satan
who caused them to fail, because of some (evil)
they had done.
But Allah has blotted out (their fault):
for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Forbearing.”[26]
This verse
talks about the hypocrites led by Abdullah b. Ubay.
Allah says further:
يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا لَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا
وَقَالُوا لِإِخْوَانِهِمْ
إِذَا ضَرَبُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ أَوْ كَانُوا غُزًّى لَوْ كَانُوا عِنْدَنَا
مَا مَاتُوا وَمَا قُتِلُوا
لِيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ ذَلِكَ حَسْرَةً فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ يُحْيِي
وَيُمِيتُ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ.
وَلَئِنْ قُتِلْتُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَوْ مُتُّمْ لَمَغْفِرَةٌ
مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرَحْمَةٌ خَيْرٌ مِمَّا
يَجْمَعُونَ. وَلَئِنْ مُتُّمْ أَوْ قُتِلْتُمْ لَإِلَى اللَّهِ تُحْشَرُونَ.
(آل
عمران:۱٥٦-۱٥٨)
“O ye who believe! Be not like the unbelievers, who say of
their
brethren, when they are travelling through the earth or
engaged
in fighting: ‘If they had stayed with us, they would not
have died, or been slain.’ This that Allah may make it a cause of sighs and regrets
in their hearts. It is Allah that gives
life and death, and Allah sees well all that ye do. And if ye are slain, or die, in the way of
Allah, forgiveness and mercy from Allah are far better than all they could
amass. And if ye die or are slain, lo!
it is unto Allah that ye are brought
together.”[27]
These verses mean that believers
should not be like unbelievers who said about people travelling for business or
fighting for Islam. “If they had been with us, not in their travel or in
expedition, they would not have died or been killed, they would have been
alive.” Allah does not want us to say so, because He Himself is the One Who
gives life and takes life; wherever we go we would not die before its time.
Moreover, dying in the way of Allah is better than the wealth we collect, for
Allah will reward us. In other words, travelling for business is better than
staying at home, but going out and fight in the way of Allah is the best,
because Allah will forgive and have mercy on us.
When the Muslims wanted to know the
condition of their brothers who fell martyrs in the battle of Uh.ud, Allah revealed:
وَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَمْوَاتًا
بَلْ أَحْيَاءٌ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ يُرْزَقُونَ. فَرِحِينَ
بِمَا آَتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ وَيَسْتَبْشِرُونَ بِالَّذِينَ
لَمْ يَلْحَقُوا بِهِمْ مِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ أَلَّا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ
وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ. يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ بِنِعْمَةٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ
وَفَضْلٍ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ.
(آل
عمران:۱٦٩-۱٧۱)
“Think not of those who are slain in Allah’s way as dead. Nay
they live, finding their sustenance from their Lord. They rejoice in the bounty provided by
Allah. And with regard to those who left
behind, who have not yet joined them (in their bliss), the (martyrs’) glory in
the fact that on them is no fear, nor have they (cause to) grieve. They rejoice in the grace and the bounty from
Allah, and in the fact that Allah sufferethnot the
reward on the faithful to be lost (in the least).”[28]
Therefore the
martyrs are alive, rejoicing the bounty of Allah, living on a different plane
of life in a different world.
The
Meccan army retreated to H...amrā’ al-Asad
about 12 km outside Madinah. The next day the Prophet and his companions who
joined him in the battle of Uh.ud set out in
pursuit of the retreating enemy. When they reached the place the enemy had
already left. However, they remained nearby to avoid the impression that they
were actually fleeing from the Prophet and the Muslims. During the day the
Muslims collected wood and lit many fires at night so that that their force
looked larger that it really was. The
purpose was to lower the spirit of the enemy. It worked and Abu Sufyān and his
army returned Mecca within a day or two. On this occasion Allah revealed the
following verse:
الَّذِينَ اسْتَجَابُوا لِلَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا أَصَابَهُمُ
الْقَرْحُ
لِلَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُوا مِنْهُمْ وَاتَّقَوْا أَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ.
(آل عمران:۱٧۲)
“Of those who
answered the call of Allah and the Apostle,
even
after being wounded, those who do right and
Long before reaching Mecca, the Meccan
leaders must have realized their difficult position, despite their recent
victory in the battle of Uh.ud. They had
collected all their forces, even with the support of neighbouring tribes. The
only way they could raise a stronger army was through the assistance of some
nomadic tribes in the east and the northeast. For this purpose, they used any
means, such as making propaganda about the Prophet’s weakness, mentioning
memories of the prominence of Mecca, promising booty, even giving bribes. These
means worked, and with their huge army they attacked Madinah known as the
battle of the Trench.
19. PROPHET
MUHAMMAD’S MIRACLES
Like
other prophets before, Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) was also endowed with
miracles. The miracles of Prophet Moses
(p.b.u.h.) were turning his stick into a serpent and splitting the sea;
the miracles of Prophet Jesus (‘Isā, p.b.u.h.) were speaking in his cradle
defending his mother’s honour, healing the sick and the blind, bringing a dead
person back to life, and many others.
These
are among Prophet Muhammad’s miracles: when he was nursed by H...alīmah in the desert, he used to play
and tend sheep with H...alīmah’s son
Abdulllah. One day two men wearing white dress came and took him away, opened
his breast and cleaned his heart. Abdullah ran home and told his mother what
had happened. H...alīmah
worried about Muhammad, so she brought him back to his mother in Mecca. At that time, he was four years old. These
two people in white dress were angels. This kind of heart cleaning operation by
angels occurred only to the Prophet, although the appearance of angels as human
beings occurred also to Prophet Abraham (Ibrāhīm, p.b.u.h.), Maryam (Mary,
Prophet Jesus’ mother), and later Gabriel appeared to the Prophet and his
companions as a handsome man resembling Duh.yat al-Kalbī.
On
the 27th of Ramadan, the Prophet received the first revelation at
Mt. H...irā’. The revelation continued for 23
years. He was ordered by Allah to call people to Islam. In the beginning, he
called people secretly for three years.
Then, when he called them openly, the people of Mecca were against
him. In the seventh year of his mission,
they boycotted him, the Muslims, and the Banī Hāshim clan for assisting him.
They wrote the ban on a piece of parchment and put it in the Ka‘bah. The
Prophet, the Muslims and the Banī Hāshim clan took refuge to the mountain near
Mecca where they lived in a very poor condition. After three years, Allah
informed the Prophet that the parchment had been destroyed by termites except
the word بِاسْمِكَ اللَّهُمَّ (“In Your Name,
O Lord!”). The Prophet told this to his uncle Abū T.ālib
who told the people. They opened the Ka‘bah and found what Abū T.ālib had told them was true. So, they stopped the boycott.
When
Sūrat al-Masad (Qur’ān, chapter 111) was revealed to the Prophet and was heard
by Abū Lahab’s wife, Ummu Jamīl, she was very angry. The surah runs as follows:
تَبَّتْ يَدَا أَبِي لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ. مَا أَغْنَى عَنْهُ مَالُهُ
وَمَا كَسَبَ. سَيَصْلَى نَارًا ذَاتَ لَهَبٍ. وَامْرَأَتُهُ حَمَّالَةَ
الْحَطَبِ. فِي جِيدِهَا حَبْلٌ مِنْ مَسَدٍ.
(المسد:۱-٥)
“Perish the hands of the Father of Flame! Perish he! No profit to him from all his
wealth, and all his gains! Burnt soon
will he be in a fire of blazing flame! His wife shall carry the (crackling)
wood—as fuel— A twisted rope of palm-leaf fibre
Abū Lahab (“Father of Flame”) was the nickname of the Prophet’s uncle for his
fiery hot temper and ruddy complexion. His wife, Ummu Jamīl was also cruel to
the Prophet. She used to carry a bundle of thorn tied with ropes of twisted
palm-leaf fibre and scattered them at night in the paths where he used to take
to injure him. After hearing the revelation concerning her and her husband she
went to the Ka‘bah and took a piece of stone to throw at the Prophet. Abū Bakr
was there. Although the Prophet was near her she did not throw the stone at
him. Later he told Abū Bakr that Allah had made him invisible to her.
When Allah ordered the Prophet and the
Muslims to immigrate to Madinah, the Prophet, Abū Bakr and Ali were the last to
leave. The Meccans did not want Madinah to become a centre of Islamic call that
would compete for the position of Mecca. They sent their young men, each
representing a clan, to kill the Prophet, so that all clans would be
responsible for the assassination. The Prophet’s clan would not be able to
retaliate against them. They surrounded
the Prophet’s house to kill him while he was asleep. But Allah informed him
about this scheme. So he asked his cousin Ali to sleep on his bed and cover
himself with the Prophet’s green garment. In the dark the Prophet came out of
the house citing Surat Yāsīn (Qur’ān, chapter 36)
until he reached
وَجَعَلْنَا
مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ سَدًّا وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ سَدًّا فَأَغْشَيْنَاهُمْ فَهُمْ
لَا يُبْصِرُونَ.
(يس: ٩)
“And We have put a bar in front of them and a bar
Behind them, and
further, We have covered them up;
those those young men who intended to kill him felt
drowsy. The Prophet even put dust on their heads to humiliate their scheme. In
the morning they found Ali instead of the Prophet.
The Prophet and Abū Bakr hid at Thawr
Cave for three days. The searchers did not enter the cave because they found a
spider web covering its entrance and a dove and its nest with its chicks at the
entrance. In the cave a scorpion stung Abu Bakr’s foot, and the Prophet, by
Allah’s permission, cured him with his saliva and by massaging it with his
hands.
After failing to assassinate the
Prophet, the Meccans announced a reward of one hundred camels to anyone who
could find him. Surāqah found him, but when he approached, his horse stopped
suddenly and threw him down. He became a Muslim and the Prophet told him: “What
do you think if you wore the armlet (bracelet) of Chosroes, the Emperor of
Persia?’ This happened later, after the conquest of Persia.
Miracles also took place in the
battles of Badr and Uh.ud as well as prior to the battle of the
Trench. In the battle of Badr Allah sent angels to assist the Muslims who were
small in number. In the battle of Uh.ud the Prophet cured the eye of Qatādah b.
al-Nu‘mān. Prior to the battle of the Trench, the Prophet and the Muslims
worked in the daytime digging a trench as suggested by Salmān and went home in the evening. One evening
Jābir b. Abdullah approached the Prophet and invited him for supper, for he had
slaughtered a small sheep. The Prophet not only accepted the invitation but
also invited those who were digging the trench. Jabir did not know what to
do. The food was brought to the Prophet.
He said the basmalah, namely,
بِسْمِ اللهِ
الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيْم
“In the name of
Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful”
and ate with a group of people. Then they went out
and another group came in and ate, until all of them had their supper and there
was enough food for everyone.
While digging the trench, Salmān was not able to break a hard rock with his
axe. The Prophet who was near him took the axe and broke the rock with three
strokes, each with a strange sparkle. When Salmān asked what these three strokes and strange sparkles mean, he said that
the first one was the prediction that Allah would make for him the conquest of
Yemen, the second for the conquest of Syria and North Africa (Morocco), while
the third for the conquest of the East.
All these actually happened during the reign of the four rightly guided
caliphs, Abū Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthmān and ‘Alī (may Allah be pleased with them).
20. THE QUR’ĀN, THE LIVING MIRACLE
The Qur’ān is the only living miracle which remains
and seen by people. Other miracles of the Prophet and previous prophets can
only heard from people and read from books. But the Qur’ān remains and challenges people to produce
the like of it. At the beginning, the Qur’ān challenged the Meccan infidels to produce a Scripture like the Qur’ān and the Torah. Allah said:
فَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ عِنْدِنَا قَالُوا لَوْلَا أُوتِيَ
مِثْلَ مَا أُوتِيَ مُوسَى
أَوَلَمْ يَكْفُرُوا بِمَا أُوتِيَ مُوسَى مِنْ قَبْلُ قَالُوا سِحْرَانِ
تَظَاهَرَا وَقَالُوا إِنَّا بِكُلٍّ
كَافِرُونَ. قُلْ فَأْتُوا بِكِتَابٍ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ هُوَ أَهْدَى
مِنْهُمَا أَتَّبِعْهُ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ.
فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَجِيبُوا لَكَ فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّمَا يَتَّبِعُونَ
أَهْوَاءَهُمْ وَمَنْ أَضَلُّ مِمَّنِ اتَّبَعَ
هَوَاهُ بِغَيْرِ هُدًى مِنَ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ
الظَّالِمِينَ.
(القصص:٤٨-٥٠).
“But (now) when the Truth has come to them from
Ourselves, they say, ‘Why are not (signs) sent to him, like
those which were sent to Moses?’ Do they
not then reject (the signs) which were formerly sent to Moses? They say: ‘Two kinds of sorcery [i.e.,
Prophet Moses was called a sorcerer by the Egyptians for doing miracles, such
as turning his staff into a serpent and turning his hand into radiant-white,
and Prophet Muhammad’s miracle of the Qur’ān and its wonderful words were
called sorcery by the Meccan idolaters], each assisting the other!’ And they say: ‘For us, we reject all (such
things)!’ Say, then bring ye a Book from
Allah, which is a better guide than either of them, that I may follow it! (Do)
if ye are truthful! ’But if they hearken
not to thee, know that they only follow their own lusts: and who is more astray than one who follows his own
lusts, devoid of guidance fromAllah? For
Allah guides not
The challenge to produce a Book
similar to the Qur’ān might be too hard for the Meccans. Then the
challenge was reduced into ten chapters.
Allah says:
أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ قُلْ فَأْتُوا بِعَشْرِ سُوَرٍ مِثْلِهِ
مُفْتَرَيَاتٍ وَادْعُوا مَنِ اسْتَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ
دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
(هود:۱٣).
“Or they may say: ‘He forged it’. Say: ‘Then bring ten
surahs
[i.e.,
chapters] forged, like unto it, and call (to your aid)
Whomsoeverye can, other than Allah!-- if ye
speak the truth.’”[33]
Then the Qur’ān made the challenge for
one chapter only. Allah says:
وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ فِي رَيْبٍ مِمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَى عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُوا
بِسُورَةٍ مِنْ مِثْلِهِ
وَادْعُوا شُهَدَاءَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ.
فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَلَنْ تَفْعَلُوا
فَاتَّقُوا النَّارَ الَّتِي وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ
أُعِدَّتْ لِلْكَافِرِينَ.
(البقرة: ۲٣-٤۲)
“And if ye are
in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant then
produce a surah (a chapter) like thereunto, and call your witnesses or helpers (if there are any)
besides Allah, if ye are truth-ful. But
if ye cannot—and of a surety ye cannot—then fear the fire whose fuel is men and
stones,--which is prepared for those who reject faith.”[34]
This is a test and a challenge to the
Meccans to produce a chapter similar to a chapter in the Qur’ān. They could ask
any help from anywhere other than Allah, to inspire spiritual truth in such a
noble and beautiful language in one chapter as evidence that they could also
produce something similar to the Qur’ān. The challenge is repeated in another
verse as follows:
أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ قُلْ فَأْتُوا بِسُورَةٍ مِثْلِهِ
وَادْعُوا مَنِ اسْتَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ.
(يونس: ٣٨)
“Or do they say, ‘He forged it!’? Say: ‘Bring then a surah
[a chapter] like unto it, and call (to your aid) anyone
The shortest chapter in the Qur’ān consists of
three verses only, namely, Sūrat al-Kawthar, as follows:
إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ الْكَوْثَرَ.
فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَانْحَرْ. إِنَّ شَانِئَكَ هُوَ الْأَبْتَرُ.
(الكوثر : ۱-٣)
“To thee have We granted the
abundance.
Therefore, to
thy Lord turn in prayer and sacrifice.
For he who hatest thee, he will be cut off
(from future hope).” [36]
The challenge of the Qur’ān (tah.addī) is an amazing challenge; it
challenges not only the poets of Mecca in the time of the Prophet, but also the
people of our present time and of the future, so that they can prove that the
Qur’ān is the product of Muhammad and not revelation from Allah. Many tried but failed, among them: Musaylimah
b. H...abīb, T.ulayh.ah b. Khuwaylid al-Asadī, al-Nad.r b. al-H...ārith,
Abū ’l-H...asan Muh.ammad b. Yah.yā known as
“Ibn al-Rawandī”, Abu ’l-T.ayyib al-Mutanabbī,
Abū l-‘Alā’ al-Ma‘arrī, Labīd and Ibn al-Muqaffa‘. The style of the Qur’ān is
beyond their reach.
Labīd became Muslim in the year 9 A.H. One day ‘Umar asked him to cite some of his
poems. Instead, he read Sūrat al-Baqarah (chapter 2 of the Qur’ān) and
said that after Allah had taught him that surah and Surat Al ‘Imrān
(chapter 3 of the Qur’ān) he stopped citing poetry.
Ibn
al-Muqaffa‘ (d. 727 C.E.), the famous prose writer of Persian origin, was asked
one day to challenge the Qur’ān for hearing that many people would convert to
Islam. He promised to do it in one year. After six months his friends came to
see what he was doing. He was sitting at his desk, a pen in his hand, pieces of
paper scattered on the floor, and confessed he could not produce a single
sentence to challenge the style of the Qur’ān.
Allah says:
قُلْ لَئِنِ اجْتَمَعَتِ الْإِنْسُ وَالْجِنُّ عَلَى أَنْ يَأْتُوا
بِمِثْلِ
هَذَا الْقُرْآَنِ
لَا يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِ وَلَوْ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ ظَهِيرًا
(الإسراء: ٨٨).
“Say: ‘If the whole of mankind and jinns were to gather together to produce the like of this Qur’ān, they
could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help
and support.”[37]
The infidel of Mecca would have taken
the shortest way in fighting the Prophet and the Muslims if they could, by
producing three verses (in one chapter) similar to those of the Qur’ān. But
because they could not, they took the long way by fighting them with swords.
In
conclusion I would like to cite a short surah and one of my favourites, Sūrat
al-D.uh.ā. Whenever I read it I feel as if it were
revealed to me. It exhibits a simple but perfect rhetorical balance: an opening
oaths by contrasted light and darkness, introduces three triplets matching
exactly together.
When
revelation stopped for a period of time the Meccan infidels said: “Muhammad’s
Lord has forsaken him.” So Allah revealed the following surah:
وَالضُّحَى. وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى. مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ
وَمَا قَلَى. وَلَلْآَخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لَكَ مِنَ الْأُولَى. وَلَسَوْفَ
يُعْطِيكَ
رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَى. أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآَوَى. وَوَجَدَكَ
ضَالًّا فَهَدَى.
وَوَجَدَكَ عَائِلًا فَأَغْنَى. فَأَمَّا الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرْ.
وَأَمَّا السَّائِلَ
فَلَا تَنْهَرْ. وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ.
(الضحى:۱-۱۱).
“By the glorious morning light,
and by the night when it is
still,-- [This is the opening with contrasting light and
darkness,
two oaths]. Thy
Guardian-Lord hath not forsaken thee, nor is
He displeased. And verily the Hereafter will be better for thee
than the present. And
soon will thy Guardian-Lord give thee
(that wherewith) thou shalt be well-pleased. [This is the first
triplet. It contains
two negations and two promises]. Did He
not find thee an orphan and give thee shelter (and
care)? And
He found thee wandering,
and He gave thee guidance? And
He found thee in need, and made thee independent? [This is
the second triplet. It contains three rhetorical questions].
Therefore treat not the orphan with harshness, nor repulse
him who asks. But the
bounty of their Lord—rehearse and
proclaim!”. [This is the third and the last triplet. It
contains three commandments of which two
21. THE
QUR’ĀN’S PROPHECY (1)
The first proof of the authenticity of
the Qur’ān as the words of Allah is its inimitability through its eloquence.
The second is its prophecy, and the third is its scientific expression.
We
have seen in history many prophecies that did not come true. The Communist
Manifesto stated in 1848 that Germany would be the first country that will lead
Communist revolution. More than 130 years have passed and the revolution has
not taken place in Germany. Karl Marx predicted that the sun of the Red
Republic would rise in the sky of Paris, and until now this has not yet occurred.
Hitler stated in a speech in Munich in March 14, 1931 that victory would be on
his side, and the whole world knows that his end was defeat and suicide. But
the prophecy of the Qur’ān has been proved by history to become true.
The
Prophet and early Muslims were facing three groups of potential oppositions:
the Meccan idolaters, the Jewish capitalists, and the hypocrites. When the situation at Mecca became worse, the
Prophet and his followers migrated to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and then to Madinah.
They were in great difficulties for they had left their property at Mecca. They
lived at the courtyard of the mosque at Madinah, for they had no place to live.
They were about 400 in number. Among them was Abū Hurayrah, who said: “You saw
me staggering between the pulpit of the Prophet and the room of ‘Ā'ishah [the
Prophet’s wife], and people said that I was mad. I was not mad, but I was
hungry.”
In
this worse condition of Muslims the Qur’ān repeatedly promised and prophesized
the victory on their side. Allah says:
كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَأَغْلِبَنَّ أَنَا وَرُسُلِي إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَوِيٌّ
عَزِيزٌ
(المجادلة:۲۱).
“Allah
decreed. It is I and My messengers who
must
Again Allah
says:
يُرِيدُونَ لِيُطْفِئُوا نُورَ
اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِهِ
وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ. هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى
وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ
لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ.
(الصف:٨-٩)
“Their intention is to extinguish Allah’s light (by blowing)
with
their mouths: but Allah will complete His light, even though
the
unvelievers may detest (it). It is He Who has sent His
Messenger
with the guidance and the religion of truth, that he make it
pre-vail over all religion, though the
unbelievers be averse.”[40]
This prophecy
came true later when the whole of Arabia came under Muslim rule.
The
use of singular in the verse “over all religion” instead of using “over all
other religions” in plural in the above verse, A.Y. Ali gives us his commentary
as follows:
“There is really only one true Religion,
the Message of Allah submission to the will of Allah: this
is called Islam. It was the religion
preached by Moses and Jesus; it was the religion of Abraham, Noah, and all the
prophets, by what-ever name it may be called.
If people corrupt that pure light, and call their religions by different names, we must bear with them, and we may allow the names for convenience. But
Truth must prevail
over all.”
The second prophecy was the victory of
the Romans over the Persians a few years after they have been defeated. Allah says:
الم. غُلِبَتِ الرُّومُ. فِي أَدْنَى الْأَرْضِ وَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ
غَلَبِهِمْ
سَيَغْلِبُونَ. فِي بِضْعِ سِنِينَ لِلَّهِ الْأَمْرُ مِنْ قَبْلُ
وَمِنْ بَعْدُ وَيَوْمَئِذٍ يَفْرَحُ
الْمُؤْمِنُونَ. بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ يَنْصُرُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ
الرَّحِيمُ. وَعْدَ اللَّهِ
لَا يُخْلِفُ اللَّهُ وَعْدَهُ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ.
(الروم:۱-٦).
“A.L.M. The Romans have
been defeated—in a land close-by [i.e., Syria and Palestine]: but they (even)
after (this) defeat of theirs,will soon be victorious—within a few years. With
Allah is the command,in the past and in the future: on that day shall the
believers rejoice—with the help of Allah. He gives victory to whom He will, and
He isExalted in Might, Most Merciful.(It is) the promise of Allah. Never does
Allah depart from His promise:
These verses were revealed in 616
C.E., the seventh year of the prophetic mission, shortly after the defeat of the
Romans. The Persians were Magians, sun and fire worshippers with whom the
Meccan idolaters took side, while the Romans were Christians, People of the
Book, with whom the Muslims took side. When the Persians defeated the Romans,
the Meccan idolaters wanted to ridicule the Muslims and said: “Our friends, the
Persians, are defeating your friends, the Romans. In the same way we shall
defeat and crush you if you do not give up your new religion.” But the Muslims
told them that the Romans would be the victors in a few years. They made a
bet. At that time making a bet was not
yet prohibited. Ten camels for every year passed. If the Romans were not the
victors within three years, the Meccans would win the bet and take thirty
camels from the Muslims. The Prophet told Abū Bakr to extend the time of the
bet to nine years, because the word بِضْع (a few) in Arabic means the number between
3 to 9, and the Romans would be victorious in 9 years at the latest
according to Qur’ānic prophecy. The Meccans agreed to extend the time to nine
years.
This
is what happened: The Roman emperor at the end of the 7th century was Maurice,
but he neglected the political condition of the empire. He was dethroned by Phocas. But Maurice had
helped Chosroes II of Persia to regain his throne, had even given him his
daughter to marry. Chosroes was angry and attacked Phocas. Antioch and
Jerusalem fell to the Persians in 614-5 C.E.
At
the same time, a son of the governor of the Roman colony in North Africa,
Heraclius, secretly dispatched his force by sea and succeeded in killing
Phocas. But he could not resist the Persians. Chosroes destroyed the churches,
killing nearly 100 thousand peaceful Christians, built temples for worshipping
fire, forced people to convert to Magian and worship the sun and fire, and took
the cross to his capital Madā’in (Ctesiphon) in Iraq. From Jerusalem he wrote
to Heraclius asking him why he did not ask his God to help him to take
Jerusalem back from his (Chosroes’)
hand.
Heraclius
sent a messenger and sued for peace, but Chosroes was angry and said: “I want
Heraclius to be brought and chained under my throne. I will not make peace with
the Romans until they abandon their religion and worship the sun, our god.”
After
six years of fighting, Chosroes agreed to make peace on condition that the
Roman emperor paid him: 100 talents of gold (one talent equals to 26 kg), 1000
talents of silver, 1000 horses, 1000 cloth of silk (one cloth equals to appr.
30 m), and 1000 slave girls.
Heraclius
was desperate. He fought and won in six battles using his sea force in which
his enemy was weak. The fourth battle occurred in 624 C.E., the same year of
the battle of Badr, the eighth year of the bet. The Muslims were very happy for
their victory at Badr and the Romans’ victory in Syria. This was meant by the Qur’ān ic verse: “…on
that day the believers shall rejoice in Allah’s help.”
The
fifth battle occurred in 625 C.E., the same year in which the battle of Uh.ud occurred where the Muslims were
defeated. The Romans succeeded in freeing all territories captured by the
Persians. It was also the ninth year of the bet. The Meccans should have paid
90 camels to the Muslims for their lost in the bet, but this did not
happen.
The
last battle between the Romans and the Persians took place in Iraq in December 627 C.E. A few months earlier
Chosroes had torn the Prophet’s letter asking him to accept Islam. On this, the
Prophet said that in the same way the Persian empire would be torn into pieces.
Chosroes
was arrested and imprisoned in his palace by his own son who had killed eight
of his brothers. Chosroes died on his fifth day in the prison, while his son,
after eight months rule, was killed by his own brother who sued later
for peace with the Romans. In March 628 C.E. Heraclius entered his capital
Constantinople welcomed by thousands people of the inhabitants of the city.
The
comment of the great historian Edward Gibbon on this event is that the Qur’ānic
prophecy was the remotest one to come true because the first decade of Heraclius’
rule indicated the fall of the Roman empire.[42]
22. THE QUR’ĀN’S PROPHECY (2)
When the verse وَأَنْذِرْ عَشِيرَتَكَ الْأَقْرَبِينَ
(الشعراء : ۲۱٤)
“And admonish thy nearest kinsmen“[43] was revealed
the Prophet gathered his kinsmen and said to them: “If I tell you that a
horseman in the valley is going to attack you, will you believe me?” They said: “Yes, for we have never found you
lying.” “Well,” said the Prophet, “I am
warning you of an impending punishment.” He asked them to follow him and become
Muslims. But his uncle Abu Lahab threw
stone at him and said; “May you perish the whole day, O Muhammad! Are you gathering us just to tell us this?” He told people that the Prophet was a liar
and that they should not believe him. Then Allah revealed Surat al-Masad
(Qur’ān, chapter 111) as follows:
تَبَّتْ يَدَا أَبِي لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ. مَا أَغْنَى عَنْهُ مَالُهُ
وَمَا كَسَبَ. سَيَصْلَى نَارًا ذَاتَ لَهَبٍ. وَامْرَأَتُهُ حَمَّالَةَ
الْحَطَبِ. فِي جِيدِهَا حَبْلٌ مِنْ مَسَدٍ.
(اللهب:۱-٥)
“Perish the hands of the Father of Flame! Perish he! No
profit to him from all his wealth, and all his gains! Burnt
soon will he be in a fire of blazing flame! His wife shall
carry the (crackling) wood—as fuel—A twisted rope
This is one of many examples in the verses of
the Qur’ān which speak profusely about various events which came true in later
times.
We see from Islamic history that many
archenemies of the Prophet changed into staunch supporters of Islam. Such
persons deserved to be forgiven and rewarded, such as Khālid b. Walīd who
fought the Prophet in the battle of Uh.ud, and ‘Umar who had even wanted to kill the Prophet. Abū Lahab, the nickname of the Prophet’s
uncle ‘Abd al-‘Uzzā (lit. “servant of the idol ‘Uzzā”) was singled out. The Qur’ān had passed its judgement on him, and so he
died accursed a week after the battle of Badr. He is the only enemy of the
Prophet mentioned by name in the Qur’ān. Allah did not care whether a man was the Prophet’s own uncle or not.
Strangely enough, Abū Lahab had loved
the Prophet when he was still young. He freed the slave-girl who reported to
him the birth of the Prophet. The Prophet and his uncle Abū Lahab were
neighbours, and earlier, before Muhammad became a prophet, his uncle’s son
‘Atabah and ‘Utaybah married his daughters Ruqayyah and Umm Kalthūm. After the
prophetic mission, they became divorced. Ruqayyah married to ‘Uthmān, and when
she died he married Umm Kalthūm.
As promised in the Qur’ān,
the Prophet remained under divine protection against the innumerable dangers
that threatened him from all quarters.
The verse runs as follows:
وَاللَّهُ يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ النَّاسِ
(المائدة: ٦٧)
“And Allah will
defend thee from men
(who mean mischief)”[45]
By this verse,
the Prophet had been protected against assassination. The promised was
fulfilled, for he died in his bed at the age of 63 among his family, in spite
of the numerous plots against his life and the 23 years he spent in continuous
armed conflict.
Other
Qur’ānic verses promised the protection of the Qur’ān itself against loss and
dispersion; this promised was fulfilled.
Allah said in the Qur’ān:
لَا تُحَرِّكْ بِهِ لِسَانَكَ لِتَعْجَلَ بِهِ. إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا جَمْعَهُ
وَقُرْآَنَهُ.
(القيامة:۱٦-
۱٧).
“Move not thy
tongue concerning the (Qur’ān) to make
Allah also
reassures:
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ
(الحجر: ٩).
“We have,
without doubt, sent down the message;and
The
Prophet had a vision that he and his companions entered the Holy Mosque at
Mecca where they circumambulated the Ka‘bah, shaved and cut their hair. As we
know, prophets’ visions are true visions. But when they tried to enter the Holy
City, they were stopped by the Meccan infidels at H...udaybiyyah
in 6 A.H. In order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed the Prophet signed the Treaty
of H...udaybiyyah and postponed his
pilgrimage to the next year. Some people started doubting the vision of the
Prophet, saying: “We have neither shaved nor cut our hair, not even seen the
Ka’bah. Where is, then, the vision?” Then Allah revealed the following verse:
لَقَدْ صَدَقَ اللَّهُ رَسُولَهُ الرُّؤْيَا بِالْحَقِّ لَتَدْخُلُنَّ
الْمَسْجِدَ
الْحَرَامَ
إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ آَمِنِينَ مُحَلِّقِينَ رُءُوسَكُمْ وَمُقَصِّرِينَ لَا تَخَافُونَ
فَعَلِمَ
مَا لَمْ تَعْلَمُوا فَجَعَلَ مِنْ دُونِ ذَلِكَ
فَتْحًا قَرِيبًا
(الفتح: ۲٧)
“Truly did
Allah fulfil the vision for His Messenger;
ye shall enter
the Sacred Mosque, if Allah wills, with
minds secure,
heads shaved, hair cut short, and without
fear. For He knew what ye knew not, and He
Again
this prophecy came true when the Muslims set out for Mecca with the objective
of performing pilgrimage without difficulty in 7 A.H. Among them was Walīd Jr., Khālid’s brother. During his stay in Mecca, Walīd looked for his
brother. He could not find him, so he wrote him a letter. The letter said: “It is so strange that you
do not know the truthfulness of Islam. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon
him, asked me about you and said: ‘Where is Khālid?’ I told him, ‘Allah will
bring him.’”
After
reading the letter Khālid went to Madinah to see the Prophet and embraced
Islam. The Prophet said to him,
“Praise be to Allah Who has guided you. I know
you are a bright man.”
“O
Messenger of Allah,” said Khālid, “pray to Allah that He may forgive me for
what I did against you. I did not know
any better.”
“Islam
washes away the sins done before becoming a Muslim,” said the Prophet. “O
Allah, forgive Khālid for what he did.”
In
the same year, 8 A.H., a year after he received his brother’s letter inviting
him to Islam, Khālid became a general of his former enemy, one of the leaders
of the Muslim army that conquered Mecca, the conquest that had been prophesized
by the Qur’ān.
At
the fare-well pilgrimage in 10 A.H. the Prophet recited to the Muslims the last
Qur’ānic verses revealed to him, as follows:
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ
نِعْمَتِي
وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينً
(المائدة:
٣)
“This day I
have perfected your religion for you,
completed my favour upon you, and have
This
verse had, in fact, been a prophecy of the end of the Prophet’s message. A year
after making this announcement, the Prophet left the wordily life, after
discharging the Trust and delivering the Message. He died on Monday 12 Rabī‘ al-Awwal 11 A.H., the same day and date
where he had been born 63 years before.
[42]E. Gibbon, The
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 5, p. 74, quoted
by Wahiduddin Khan, al-Islām Yatah.addā, p.
117
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