Friday, March 7, 2014



  13. THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE QUR’AN’S CHALLENGE (4)

          Allah says in the Qur’an:
مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ كَرَمَادٍ اشْتَدَّتْ بِهِ الرِّيحُ فِي يَوْمٍ عَاصِفٍ
لَا يَقْدِرُونَ مِمَّا كَسَبُوا عَلَى شَيْءٍ ذَلِكَ هُوَ الضَّلَالُ الْبَعِيدُ (إبراهيم:18)
The parable of those who disbelieved in their Lord
 is that their works are as ashes, on which the wind blows
furiously on a stormy day; they shall not be able to get
 aught of what they have earned. That is the straying,
 far away (from the Right Path). (Q. 14:18)

          According to this verse, the good deeds of disbelievers in Allah would not benefit them in the Hereafter, and save them from the torment of Hell. Out of 22 words of this verse, two words are replaced by the True Furqan and put in its rat al-Thālūth (Triune God), also in verse 18. The two words are, بِرَبِّهِمْ with وَكَذَّبُوا بالإنْجِيل الحَقِّ, and  الْبَعِيدُ with الأَكِيْد . So, the words الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ meaning “those who disbelieved in their Lord” is replaced with الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَكَذَّبُوا بالإنْجِيل الحَقِّ meaning “those who disbelieve and denied the True Gospel”, but in this True Furqan, it is translated as “of those who rebelled and rejected the Truth as revealed in The True Gospel.” It runs as follows:

مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَكَذَّبُوا بالإنْجِيل الحَقِّ أَعْمَالُهُمْ كَرَمَادٍ اشْتَدَّتْ بِهِ الرِّيحُ فِي يَوْمٍ
عَاصِفٍ لَا يَقْدِرُونَ مِمَّا كَسَبُوا عَلَى شَيْءٍ ذَلِكَ هُوَ الضَّلَالُ الأَكِيْد (الثالوث:18)
The example of those who rebelled and rejected the
Truth as revealed in The True Gospel, their deeds are,
 more or less, like the ashes which are blown away by
 a stormy wind. They can never receive any reward
 for their labors for their effort is only vanity of
vanities  (The True Furqan, Triune God:18)

In the True Furqan, sūrat al-Gharānīq (Idols), verse 1-3 are copied with some changes from sūrat al-Najm (Q. 53), verse 2-5 ­as follows:

مَا ضَلَّ صَاحِبُكُمْ وَمَا غَوَى   “Your companion (Muhammad) has neither gone astray nor has erred" (Q. 56; 2) ; is replaced with قَدْ ضَلَّ رَائِدُكُمْ وَ قَدْ غَوَى  “Your leader (Muhammad) has gone astray and has erred (Idols:1)

وَمَا يَنْطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَى. إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَى .  Nor does he speak of (his own) desire. It is only a Revelation revealed.” (Q. 56:3-4), is replaced with وَمَانَطَقَ عَنِ الْهَوَى. إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ إِفْكٌ يُوحَى  “His denunciations are his own whims which are fabrications inspired by beguiling spirit.” (Idols:2)

 عَلَّمَهُ شَدِيدُ الْقُوَى  “He has been taught (this Qur’an) by one mighty in power (Gabriel).” (Q. 56:5), is replaced with  عَلَّمَهُ مَرِيْدُ الْقُوَى  " Who taught him to declare these, but the strong and vile one? " (Idols:3)

So, according to the True Furqan, it was the Devil,
Satan, rather than Allah who revealed the Qur’an to Muhammad s.a.w. through the angel Gabriel. The Qur’an’s teachings are considered those of Satan, and therefore are rejected in the True Furqan, such as the concept of fighting. It said:

وَزَعَمْتُمْ بِأَنَّا قُلْنَا قَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَ حَرِّضوُا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلَى الْقِتَالِ
 وَمَا كَانَ الْقِتَالُ سَبِيْلَنَا إن ذَلِكَ إلاّ تَحْرِيْضُ شَيْطَانٍ رَجِيْمٍ لِقَوْمٍ مُجْرِمِيْن
(الموعظة:2)
You have concocted that We have commanded,
 “Fight in the cause of God and urge on the believers to fight.”
 However, fighting is neither Our method nor is fighting urged
on the believers. Such decrees originate from none other
 than the cursed Devil and were given to
 a lawless people (Sermon:2)

          This verse is referring to the Qur’anic verses as follows:

وَقَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ وَلَا تَعْتَدُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُعْتَدِينَ (البقرة:190)

  And fight in the Way of Allah those who fight you, but
 transgress not the limits. Truly, Allah likes not the
 transgressors (Q. 2:190)
          This verse shows that fighting is only for self-defence, and not as an aggression.

وَلِيَعْلَمَ الَّذِينَ نَافَقُوا وَقِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا قَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَوِ ادْفَعُوا
 قَالُوا لَوْ نَعْلَمُ قِتَالًا لَاتَّبَعْنَاكُمْ هُمْ لِلْكُفْرِ يَوْمَئِذٍ أَقْرَبُ مِنْهُمْ لِلْإِيمَانِ
يَقُولُونَ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ مَا لَيْسَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يَكْتُمُونَ
(آل عمران:167)
And that He might test the hypocrites, it was said
to them: “Come, fight in the Way of Allah or (at least)
 defend yourselves.” They said: “Had we known that
 fighting will take place, we would certainly have followed
 you.” They were that day, nearer to disbelief than to Faith,
 saying with their mouths what was not in their hearts.
And Allah has full knowledge of what they
conceal. (Q. 3:167)

          This verse deals with hypocrites who did not want to join the Muslims in fighting in self-defence.

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ حَرِّضِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلَى الْقِتَالِ... (الأنفال:65)

O Prophet (Muhammad s.a.w.)! Urge the believers
 to fight… (Q. 8:65)
        The late Shaykh Abū Zahrah in explaining this verse said:

 It means to urge them and to spread among them
the spirit of self-defence, to arrange  equipment, to
prepare for war, to be equipped for fighting, and to
train their children [for self-defence], because
 the non-believers [i.e., the enemy] could not
 be trusted, although they incline to peace,
 because preparedness is the believers’
 protection from being totally crushed
 [by the enemy]… (زهرة التفاسير)

 

                 It is, then,  for self-defence rather than aggression,  that these verses for fighting were revealed.

 

        The allegation that the Qur’an was the inspiration of Satan who dictated to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., what to write in the Qur’an reminds us of the findings of Professor Gary Miller, a former mathematics and logic lecturer at Toronto University, Canada. He wondered how could it be so, when the Qur’an itself denies it? It says,

وَمَا تَنَزَّلَتْ بِهِ الشَّيَاطِينُ.وَمَا يَنْبَغِي لَهُمْ وَمَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ (الشعراء:210-211)

And in no way have Ash-Shayatîn (The ever-Vicious
(ones),  i.e., the devils) been coming down with it; And
 in no way does it behoove them, And in no way are
 they able to do (that).” (Q 26:209-210)

        Moreover, how could Satan, if he had dictated the Qur’an to him, and told him to seek refuge from him (Satan) first before reading the Qur’an? The Qur’an said:

فَإِذَا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ (النحل:98)

So when you read the Quran, then seek refuge in Allah from the
 outcast Shaytan (The all-vicious, i.e., the Devil).” (Q 16:98)

        In addition the Prophet s.a.w. was asked to seek refuge from the whispers of Satan. It said:

وَقُلْ رَبِّ أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ هَمَزَاتِ الشَّيَاطِينِ (المؤمنون:97)
And say: “My Lord! I seek refuge with You from the
whisperings (suggestions) of the Shayāṭīn
  (devils)…” (Q. 23:97)
The response and reaction of the Muslim world towards this True Furqan have been very strong, among whom are:

1.    Dr. Ṣalāḥ al-Khālidī, in his book, الْإنْتِصاَر لِلْقُرْآن , تَهَافُتُ فُرْقَان مُتَنَبِّئِ الأمْرِكَان أمَامَ حَقَائِق الْقُرآنِ  (“Victory for the Qur’an: the Collapse of the Furqan of the American self-claimed prophet in front of the truth of the Qur’an”), published in 1426/2005. The author questioned about the identity of this mysterious Saffee who claimed to be a prophet and claimed to have received revelation within seven days (Martyr:2). Nobody knows about him: his life, his preaching, and when and where did he appear. He was killed by his enemy, the Muslims (Martyr: 7).

This book contradicts the Christian belief that no prophet would appear after the departure of Jesus a.s., but it states that it is revelation to a prophet called Saffee.

This book is directed solely to Muslims calling them to Christianity, excluding pagans, idolaters, and atheists who are further away from believing in what the Christians believe, such as the existence of God, the angels, the prophets, holy books, and the Judgment Day. They deserve more to be called to Christianity than the Muslims who share many of what they  believe with those of the Christians.

On 21 January, 2011, Dr. Jamāl al-Sāmarrā’ī gave his comment on this issue, as follows: “…What is called the True Furqan, does not deserve any response, because it is neither a scientific nor a methodological book, but rather lies and ridiculous Crusade and Zionistic legends….  Its title itself looked ridiculous. Have you ever heard something called linguistically “criterion for the truth” (furqān lilḥaqq)? [What he means is that the criterion is itself the truth; falsehood cannot make distinction between right and wrong]. This is not their first efforts to counter the Qur’an, but it has become intensive with the coming of this Pope. Therefore, al-Azhar stopped the dialogue with the Vatican for his continuous enmity towards Islam…”

2.    Dr. Shawqī Abū Khalīl in his book entitled, الْفُرْقَاَنُ الْحَقّ: (قُرْآنُ) مُسَيْلَمَة الْأَمْرِكِي   (“The True Furqan: (the Qur’an of) Musaylamah the American. It was published by Dār al-Fikr, Damascus, 2007. The original Musaylamah was the one who claimed to be a prophet in Yamamah in Najd besides Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.

Dr. Shawqī was a prolific writer. He wrote over fifty books, including this book which contains 64 pages. He explained in this book how Dr. Anis Sorrosh was involved in the publication of the True Furqan. He passed away  in  2010at the age of 69.

        Millions of dollars have been spent to publish and distribute this so-called “21st Century Qur’an”, solely to convert Muslims into Christianity, but we know the outcome of it: failure. Allah has predicted it when He said:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ لِيَصُدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَسَيُنْفِقُونَهَا ثُمَّ تَكُونُ
 عَلَيْهِمْ حَسْرَةً ثُمَّ يُغْلَبُونَ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِلَى جَهَنَّمَ يُحْشَرُونَ (الأنفال: 36)
Verily, those who disbelieve spend their wealth
 to hinder (men) from the Pa th of Allah, and so will they
 continue to spend it; but in the end it will become
 an anguish for them. Then they will be overcome.
And those who disbelieve will be
 gathered to Hell. (Q. 8:36)
يُرِيدُونَ لِيُطْفِئُوا نُورَاللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ (الصف:8)

They intend to put out the Light of Allah with their
mouths. But Allah will bring His Light to perfection even
 though the disbelievers hate (it)  (Q. 61:8)

Next khuṭbah, inshā Allāh, we shall deal with another scholar who accepted the challenge of the Qur’an, or in other words, who challenged the Qur’an. (CIVIC, 7 March, 2014)

Bibliography:

المكتبة الشاملة
الشيخ محمد أبو زهرة: زهرة التفاسير
The True Furqan. Sacramento: Omega 2001 & Wine Press, 1999.
www.furat.com/?Prog=book&Page=authorinfo...
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_true_furqan_quran_hoax/
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_True_Furqan.jpg
 http://islamlecture.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/the-man-who-   challenged-the-quran-gary-miller-later-became-muslim/
http://www.islamnewsroom.com/news-we-need/500-fakequranfurqan3
http://www.kaheel7.com/ar/index.php/2012-12-04-18-31-08/625--q-q-
http://azadieiran2.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/the-true-furqan-alforghan-alhagh_www-azadieiran2-wordpress-com.pdf

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