Many Muslims are unaware that Islam has not started at the time of prophet Muhammad rather powered by the Quran sent down to him to take it to the next level to make it fit for the people of the generation as well as for the people of the generations to come until the end of the world. While God has assigned authority to the Quran to control His religion leading the believers to the straight path as well as bringing good news of His forgiveness for them and a great reward from Him. But it is unfortunate that it brings bad news for those who have discarded it crowding in the mosques and around the grave of Muhammad being proud of him to be the last prophet expecting his intercession on a day of the Judgment accepting his sayings as hadiths and his practices as sunnahs invented about 200 years after his death, which are big lies and falsehood can be confirmed from even just reflecting to a few crucial verses in the Quran (2:185, 39:23 and 6:114) before knowing details from the discussion:
[2:185] Ramadan which is a month has been revealed in it the Quran as guidance for mankind, clear proofs of the guidance, and the statute book. So whoever among you has witnessed the month, then he should fast in it, and whoever has been ill among you or on a journey, then the prescribed number in other days. God wishes for you ease and He does not wish for you hardship, and that you may complete the prescribed number, and that you may glorify God through which He has guided you and that you may appreciate.
[39:23] God has sent down a scripture of the best Hadith being consistent to each other. The skins of those who fear their Lord shiver from it (Quran), then their skins and their hearts soften up to God’s message. That is God’s guidance; He guides with it (Quran) whomever He wills, and whomever God lets go astray, then there is no guide for him.
[6:114] Is there then other than God should I seek as judge, while He is the One who has sent down to you the scripture is a detailed one? And those whom we have given them the scripture know that it is a sent down from your Lord with the truth. So, do not be with the doubtful ones.
Thus, those who claim them Muslims should look in the mirror and reflect on themselves that whether they are really following the word of God in the Quran, or the innovations that have nothing to do with the religion given by God. But the problem is that the Muslim masses don’t even know what is in the Quran to make that judgment. Thanks to the bearded, turbaned, and closed-minded scholars who constantly refer to sources other than the Quran to conduct their affairs and to delegate their opinions. Because of their misinterpretation of Quran and misguidance, the majority of Muslims today are divided and confused. In fact, they are under achievers, under civilized, under developed, under nourished – under too many undesirable conditions that can be included to increase the list. When people refer to the sources other than the Quran, they can justify almost anything in the name of religion or God and even the killing of innocent people through terrorist acts which are strongly condemned in the Quran.
How God communicates with humans
The Quran teaches us that God has not given us strength and vision to see Him physically (6:103) and He does not talk to people directly but He uses three different methods to reach His chosen individuals through which humans receive knowledge from Him (42:51). The first one is the inspiration which is not a word or message but an idea that can enter the heart of the chosen individuals. The second one is the word heard by the person spoken to, like, from behind a veil, and the third one is the revelation sent from God through archangel like Gabriel and is delivered to His chosen individuals, which is the highest form of divine message. However, He has also warned us that if anyone who claims false inspiration from God will suffer a severe retribution which will start at the moment of his death (6:93):
[6:103] None of the visions can encompass Him, but He encompasses all the visions. He is the Compassionate, the Cognizant.
[42:51] And it has not been for human that God would speak to him, except inspiration, or from behind a barrier, or sending a messenger (angel) is to reveal by His permission what He wills. Indeed, He is High, Wise.
[6:93] And who is more wicked than whoever has invented lie about God, or said: “It has been inspired to me,” while it was not inspired anything to him; or whoever said: “I will bring down the same what God has sent down.” And if you could see when the wicked are in agonies of the death, while the angels are stretching out their hands: “Bring yourselves out, today you will be recompensed with the humiliating punishment for what you have done to say about God other than the truth, and what you have done against His revelations to be arrogant.”
God’s covenant and prophecies in the Quran
God has made certain covenants and prophecies in the scripture what will happen in the future. He has taken a covenant of the prophets that He will send a messenger after delivery of all the scripture placed in every scripture has been confirmed in the Quran (3:81) including placing it in the Quran (33:7) to bring people back to His revelations through producing a creature from the earth that will speak to them that they are not certain about His revelation (27:82):
[3:81] And when God has taken a covenant of the prophets: “Surely, whatever I have given you of scripture and wisdom, then has come to you a messenger confirming that which is with yourselves. You must believe in him and you must support him.” He said: “Have you affirmed and taken My covenant on that?” They said: “We have affirmed.” He said: “Then you shall bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses.”
Note: Here is a confirmation of God’s covenant with the prophets to send a messenger after the deliver of all the scripture that the covenant has been placed in every scripture being the Quran is the final edition of God’s scripture (33:40 and 43:4).
[33:7] And when we have taken their covenant from the prophets, and from you (Muhammad), and from Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, son of Mary. And we have taken a solemn covenant from them.
Note: Here is the indication that the covenant has been placed in the Quran given to Muhammad) including references of what has been given to Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus frequently referred prophets in the Quran, while it eliminates any doubt that Muhammad has not been referred as God’s messenger of the covenant.
[27:82] And when has fulfilled the punishment upon them, we have brought forth for them a creature from the earth to speak to them that the people have been with our revelations do not ascertain.
He also promised that Gog and Magog will descend from every elevation just before the end of the world (21:96-97) when God will send Zul-Qarnain with the authority to protect the believers from the attack of Gog and Magog (18:93-95). But at certain point the protection will be broken and the horn will be blown to happen the Day of Destruction as promised according to God’s will (18:98-99). It is noteworthy that the appearance of Zul-Qarnain would be the final sign when the world will come to an end:
[21:96] Until when Gog and Magog have appeared, and they will descend from every height.
[21:97] And the truthful promise has approached when those who disbelieved stare in horror: “Woe to us! we had been heedless to it. Indeed, we were wicked.”
[18:93] When he reached the valley between two palisades, he found people whose language was barely understandable.
[18:94] They said, ‘O Zul-Qarnain, Gog and Magog are corruptors of the earth. Can we pay you to create a barrier between us and them?”
[18:95] He said, “My Lord has given me great bounties. If you cooperate with me, I will build a dam between you and them.
[18:98] He said, “This is mercy from my Lord. When the prophecy of my Lord comes to pass, He will cause the dam to crumble. The prophecy of my Lord is truth.”
[18:99] At that time, we will let them invade with one another, then the horn will be blown, and we will summon them all together.
Hadith and Sunnah
We may not know a single verse from the Quran but we are very familiar to some of hadiths and sunnahs while there is lot of usages of them among us being hadith as ‘sayings’ and sunnah as ‘practices’ of the prophet. But it is unfortunate that we are not aware of what they actually mean based on the Quran. However, our religion given by God has been corrupted with many man-made innovations and traditions, and one of these innovations is the volumes and volumes of Hadith books written about 200 years after the death of prophet. The religious rules and regulations based on such innovations contain and cover literally almost every aspect of our life despite the warnings given in the Quran (31:6, 6:112-113) as well as disregarding what has been said in the Quran to whom these innovations were attributed to, i.e., the prophet (49:9, 6:50-51 and 7:203):
[31:6] And from the people, whoever purchases the baseless Hadith (lahwa al-hadeethi) to mislead from God’s path without knowledge and takes it as mockery; those – for them there is a humiliating punishment.
[6:112] And thus that we have made an enemy for every prophet, the devils from the human and the jinn to inspire of them to other the fancy word (zukh’rufa al-qawli) in deception. And if your Lord had willed, they would not have done it. So you shall disregard them and what they fabricate.
[6:113] And thus that there inclines to it hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter, and that they please with it, and that they commit what they are committing.
[46:9] Say: “I (Muhammad) am not an exception from the messengers, and I do not know what will be done with me or with you. I just follow what is revealed to me, and I am not but a clarifying warner.”
[6:50] Say, “I (Muhammad) do not say to you that I possess the treasures of God nor do I know the unseen nor do I say to you that I am an angel. I only follow what is revealed to me.” Say, “Are the blind and the seer the same? Do you not think?”
[6:51] And you shall warn with this (Quran) to those who fear that they will be gathered to their Lord; it has not have for them other than Him any protector nor an intercessor that they may attain righteousness.
[7:203] And when you (Muhammad) do not have them with a sign, they say: “If you have had it.” Say: “I (Muhammad) only follow what is revealed to me from my Lord. This is an enlightenment from your Lord, and guidance and mercy for a people who believe.”
Concept of advent of Mahdi
According to hadith, the advent of Mahdi (مهدي) is the prophesied reformer, which is not universally accepted in Islam. Even, there are basic differences about the timing and nature of his advent and guidance among those who accept his advent. Mahdi or Mehdi is an Arabic word (name) meaning “The guided one” will change the world into a perfect and just Islamic society alongside Jesus before a Day of the Resurrection or a Day of the Gathering. The Mahdi will assist Jesus in defeating the Dajjal, who represents evil. To some Muslims, these figures, the Mahdi and the Dajjal associated with the end time events are real while to others the end-time scenario is symbolic of the eternal battle in all people as well as in society between good and evil, and of the conviction that good can triumph. The advent of such reformer is a hadith based concept and it is not unusual that there should have more than one versions of it being made up stories. However, there is no mention in the Quran about the advent of Mahdi, even though the Arabic word, al-muh’tadee meaning “The guided one” in the active participle form is found in the Quran (7:178):
[7:178] Whoever God guides, then he is the guided one (fa-huwa al-muh’tadee), and whoever He lets go astray, then those of them are the losers.
Shia and Sunni
Islam split into Shia and Sunni in the aftermath of the death of prophet Muhammad in 632 A.D. based on the politics of the early caliphs while the ethnic reason remained unknown to many Muslims. The war that broke between the two Muslim groups known as battle of Karbala lasted until 680 A.D. and ended up with two distinct sects among the early Muslims. Because of this, Islam is not only divided into two sects but also hadiths were collected differently by Shia (al-kutubal-arbah) and Sunni (kutubal-sittah) hadith collectors who are the first-line corruptors of Islam (45:6-7) as God has revealed a scripture of best hadith (39:23). However, the number of hadith accepted by Shi’as is far less than the hadith accepted by Sunnis. Even the prayers and rituals differ between Shia and Sunni while both Shia and Sunni have at times been divided into many branches based on the concept of imams and centennial reformers. Thus, Islam is divided into sects and sub-sects despite the warning in the Quran (42:13) and so called prophet’s hadith and sunnah became the main source of Islamic teachings and laws, and in the absence of a clear hadith for any situation they prefer the opinions of their scholars. Thus, the beliefs and practices of Islam get corrupted with the man-made doctrines among Shia and Sunni Muslims including their sub-sects over the period of time while the Quran serves as a secondary source of God’s laws and teachings leaving a message among the typical Muslims to just read or listen to it to receive a reward from God. Thus, the Muslim masses remain ignorant of the message in the Quran becoming the victims of the so called Muslim scholars generation after generation:
[39:23] God has sent down a scripture of the best Hadith (ahsana al-hadeethin) being consistent to each other. The skins of those who fear their Lord shiver from it, then their skins and their hearts soften up to God’s message. That is God’s guidance; He guides with it whoever He wills; and whomever God lets go astray, then there is no guide for him.
[45:6] That is of God’s revelations we recite them to you (Muhammad) with the truth. So, in which statement after God and His revelations do they believe?
[45:7] Woe to every sinful liar.
[42:13] He has decreed for all of you the religion what He had enjoined for Noah, and what we have inspired to you (Muhammad), and what we had enjoined for Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. That you shall establish the religion and you do not divide in it. It has been difficult for the idolaters what you (Muhammad) call them to it. God chooses to Himself whomever He wills and He guides to Himself whoever turns.
Emerging of Baha’i faith
In 1844, a 25-year-old man, Siyyid Mírzá `Alí-Muhammad took the title of the ‘Báb’ meaning “The Gate” claiming to be the prophesied Mahdi. While the Báb claimed a station of revelation referring to no finality for his revelation. In the books written by the Báb he constantly entreats his believers to follow whom God shall make manifest when he arrives. The movement quickly spread across the Persian Empire and received widespread opposition from the Islamic clergy. The Báb was executed in 1850 by firing squad at the age of 30 and the community was almost entirely exterminated in 1853.
In 1852, two years after the execution of the Báb, Mirza Husayn Ali who took the title of Bahá’u’lláh meaning “the glory of God” met with a couple of radical Babi leaders and learnt of an assassination plan against the Shah, Nasser-al-Din Shah, in retaliation for the Báb’s execution. Bahá’u’lláh condemned the plan, but on August 15, 1852 Babis attempted the assassination of the Shah and failed. The entire Bábí community was blamed, and a slaughter of several thousand Bábís followed. Many of the Bábís who were not killed, including Bahá’u’lláh, were imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál, an underground dungeon of Tehran. However, the prime minister of Persia decided that it was preferable for Bahá’u’lláh to be banished from the state and he was released from prison in 1853.
While in prison, Bahá’u’lláh had a vision of the ‘Most Great Spirit’ in the form of a heavenly maiden who assured him of his divine mission and promised divine assistance. Bahá’u’lláh himself wrote that he had the feeling of something glowing from the crown of his head and of hearing words of protection and victory. This is as significant for the Bahá’í revelation as the visitation of Gabriel which caused in case of other prophets. It stands at the heart of Bahá’u’lláh’s claim to be the Manifestation of God that refers to what are commonly called prophets. In the Baha’i faith, it is believed that the Manifestations of God are the only channel for humanity to know about God because of the contact with the Spirit is what transforms the heart and mind, creating a living relationship between the soul and God. They act as perfect mirrors reflecting the attributes of God into the physical world. Bahá’í teachings hold that the motive force in all human development is due to the coming of the Manifestations of God. The Manifestations of God are directly linked with the Bahá’í concept of progressive revelation.
Bahá’u’lláh and his family arrived in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1853 where he stayed for 10 years. On arrival, he met the followers of the Báb and his influence grew to the extent that it caused dissension, conflict and jealousy amongst the followers of the Báb, even with his own brother Azal, proclaimed himself as the Messenger of God.To escape the conflict, Bahá’u’lláh left Baghdad and spent the next 2 years living as a hermit in Kurdistan. Eventually, he returned to Baghdad in 1856 when he found that the Bábi community had become dispirited and divided. So Bahá’u’lláh spent the next 7 years teaching the basic teachings of the Báb by both word and example.
Bahá’í faith is a monotheistic religion emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. The scriptural basis for Bahá’í practices comes from the writings of Bahá’u’lláh. He wrote three obligatory prayers: the short, the medium and the long, and Bahá’ís are free to choose to say one of the three each day. The short and the medium prayer have to be said at specific times while the medium and long prayers also include movements and gestures during the prayers, the motions and gestures are symbolic and are used to help concentration during the prayers. In addition, the obligatory prayer is to be preceded by ablution, the cleaning of the hands and face, and one has to face the Qiblah, which is the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh.
Emerging of Ahmadiyya faith
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community begins when Mirza Ghulam Ahmad took the oath of allegiance from a number of his companions at a home in Ludhiana, India, on 23 March 1889 while he reportedly started receiving revelations concerning his future. At the end of the 19th century, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian proclaimed himself to be the “Centennial Reformer of Islam” (Mujaddid), metaphorical second coming of Jesus and the Mahdi (the guided one) awaited by the Muslims. His followers claim that his advent was foretold by Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, and also by many other religious scriptures of the world. Ahmadiyya emerged in India as a movement within Islam, also in response to the Christian and Arya Samaj missionary activity that was widespread in the 19th century.
Ahmadiyya faith claims to represent the latter-day revival of the religion of Islam. The Ahmadiyya community has missionary activities and their overseas missionaries in some modern nations of the world was their first contact with the claimant from the Muslim world. The Ahmadiyya movement is considered by some historians as one of the precursors to the Civil Rights Movement in America. According to some experts, Ahmadiyya were “arguably the most influential community in African-American Islam” until the 1950s. Today, the Ahmadiyya Muslim community has one of the most active missionary programs in the world. It is particularly large in Africa, UK and Italy. In the post-colonial era, the community is credited for much of the spread of Islam in the continent.
According to Ahmadiyya faith the history of religion is cyclic and is renewed every seven millennia. The present cycle from the time of the Biblical Adam is split into seven epochs or ages, parallel to the seven days of the week, with periods for light and darkness. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad appeared as the promised Messiah at the sixth epoch heralding the seventh and final age of mankind, as a day in the estimation of God is like a thousand years of man’s reckoning. According to Ghulam Ahmad, just as the sixth day of the week is reserved for Jumu’ah (congregational prayers), likewise his age is destined for a global assembling of mankind in which the world is to unite under one universal religion of Islam.
Ahmadi Muslims believe that there cannot be a conflict between the word of God and the work of God, and thus religion and science must work in harmony with each other. With particular reference to this relationship, the second Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community states that in order to understand God’s revelation, it is necessary to study His work, and in order to realize the significance of His work, it is necessary to study His word. According to the Nobel laureate, Abdus Salam, a devout Ahmadi Muslim, 750 verses of the Quran (almost one eighth of the book) exhort believers to study Nature, to reflect, to make the best use of reason in their search for the ultimate and to make the acquiring of knowledge and scientific comprehension part of the community’s life. All Ahmadiyyas disapprove of the armed Jihad in Islam while they believe the Quran is complete as it is. They do believe that God still sends divine messages to some men. Some Ahmadiyyas believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be a prophet while others dispute that.
Conclusion
On the 19th century two Mirzas, one from Shia group in the Persian empire and the other from Sunni group in the Indian sub-continent claimed themselves to receive the revelation from God based on the concept of Mahdi foretold by prophet Muhammad. But the Quran has confirmed that the prophet had no knowledge of the future, and he followed what was revealed to him (46:9 and 6:50-51). It is strange to mention that when they had received communication from God, the claimants were not informed of their claims to be based on made up story while it is a historical fact that when the prophet recited couple verses of the Quran by mistake, the Gabriel came down immediately and corrected him (22:52). However, the present day Muslim scholars may not accept this historical fact considering it to be disrespectful for the prophet failing to realize that the highest priority was ensured to reveal the pure Quran for the mankind mediated by the Gabriel but not through whom it was given.
The followers of Persian Mirza ended up with a separate religion transforming them from Islam to a new religion, Baha’ism through Babism with the scriptural support from the writings of Bahaullah being inspired through channels of manifestation of God like prophets sent in the past. What they believe and practice do not fit to Islam and there is no way for them to claim themselves Muslims anymore. On the other hand, the followers of Indian Mirza have a room to believe that they are Muslims like other sects of Muslims as they claim that they follow the Quran. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed himself to be a Mahdi in the symbolic form of Jesus or centennial reformer (Mujaddid) or ummati Nabi (prophet without scripture) but it is unfortunate to mention that we do not see such terms in the Quran. However, their translated Quran has a verse numbering including both numbered and unnumbered verses, which is different from that of the standardized edition of the Quran.
The so-called prophet’s Hadith and Sunnah being made up stories (31:6, 6:112) accompanied misinterpretation of certain crucial verses (2:213, 3:81, 33:40) by the closed minded Muslim scholars make a room to corrupt our religious beliefs and practices, even open a door for some people to claim them to be a prophet despite the severe warning in the Quran (6:93). While there are specific prophecies in the Quran to send a messenger but not by name and the appearance of Zul-Qarnain just before the end of the world to protect the believers from the attack of Gog and Magog (19:84, 21:96). When the channel of prophethood ended with the revelation of the Quran (33:40) but the other channels of communication of God with humanity are still open and He can inspire anyone from us at any time for specific purposes as we see in case of His servant whom Moses met at the junction of the two seas (18:65) while his unusual activities indicate that he was not a human being but an angel. However, a claimant with a valid proof from the Quran to guide humanity in the right direction with the message sent with him, then why should we not accept him if we are true believers for our own benefits to avoid our deviation and misguidance to get into the Hereafter with a guarantee from God to see our success therein? If we truly believe in God and follow His words, we would not be possessed by the Satan what he promised with Him (17:62). The Quran is so efficiently built incorporating knowledge, logic and facts together to serve as guidance and reminder for humanity until the end of the world so that we can properly interpret or derive what is needed at the time of our real need to get rid of all innovations, falsehood and misguidance that we see around us.
Peaceful Friday, salaam and God bless.
Tafazzal (2/16/2018).