The Light of
Islam?
The law of abrogation is clearly taught by the Quran in Surah
2:106,108, stating: "We substitute one revelation for another..."
This is echoed in Surah 17:86, which reads, "If it were Our Will, We could
take away that which We have sent thee by
inspiration." The term abrogation is defined as:
1 : to
ABOLISH by authoritative action : ANNUL
2 : to treat as nonexistent synonym see NULLIFY
(Merriam Webster Online Dictionary)
In Surah 16:101 the law of abrogation is clearly defined as
one verse being substituted by a better verse. Verse 101 read,
"None
of our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be
forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar- Knowest thou not that Allah hath power over all things?"
According to the Quran, Allah is a god who abrogates and substitutes
new revelations to replace older ones for the convience
of his Muslim followers which lead to accusations by Muhammad’s contemporaries who
thought of him as an imposter. The Tafsir of Ibn Kathir illustrates on this Surah
here:
The
Idolators' Accusation that the Prophet was a Liar
since some Ayat were abrogated, and the Refutation of
their Claim
Allah
tells us of the weak minds of the idolators, and
their lack of faith and conviction. He explains that it is impossible for them
to have faith when He has decreed that they are doomed. When they saw that some
rulings had been changed by being abrogated, they said to the Messenger of Allah :
[إِنَّمَآ
أَنتَ
مُفْتَرٍ]
(You
are but a forger) meaning ONE WHO TELLS
LIES. But Allah is
the Lord Who does whatever He wills, and rules as He wants.
[بَدَّلْنَآ
ءَايَةً
مَّكَانَ
ءَايَةٍ]
(And
when We change a verse (of the Qur'an)
in place of another) Mujahid said: this means, "We remove one and put another in its place.'' Qatadah
said: this is like the Ayah:
[مَا
نَنسَخْ مِنْ
ءَايَةٍ أَوْ
نُنسِهَا]
(Whatever
verse We change [abrogate] or omit [the
abrogated]...)'' (2:106). Allah said, in response to them:
[قُلْ
نَزَّلَهُ
رُوحُ
الْقُدُسِ]
(Say:
"Ruh-ul-Qudus has brought it...'') meaning, Jibril,
[مِّن
رَّبِّكَ
بِالْحَقِّ]
(from your Lord with truth, ) meaning, with truthfulness and
justice
[لِيُثَبِّتَ
الَّذِينَ
ءَامَنُواْ]
(for the conviction of those who believe,) so that they will
believe what was revealed earlier and what was revealed later, and humble
themselves towards Allah.
[وَهُدًى
وَبُشْرَى
لِلْمُسْلِمِينَ]
(and as a guide and good news for the Muslims.) meaning He has made it a guide and good news to the Muslims
who believe in Allah and His Messengers.
[وَلَقَدْ
نَعْلَمُ
أَنَّهُمْ
يَقُولُونَ إِنَّمَا
يُعَلِّمُهُ
بَشَرٌ
لِّسَانُ الَّذِى
يُلْحِدُونَ
إِلَيْهِ
أَعْجَمِىٌّ وَهَـذَا
لِسَانٌ
عَرَبِىٌّ
مُّبِينٌ ]
(103.
And indeed We know that they (polytheists and pagans)
say: "It is only a human being
who teaches him.'' The tongue of the man they refer to is foreign,
while this (the Qur'an) is (in) a clear Arabic
tongue.) (Tafsir Ibn Kathir –Surah 16:101 -here;
Emphasis ours)
As you can see, the Arabs viewed both Muhammad and Allah as
despicable liars who would invent revelations for their very own gains. The
first question which comes to mind is “how can a divine revelation be improved upon?” Should it not have been perfect from the
start? This shows us that Hajj Allah must not be omniscient and all-powerful
and certainly can’t know everything. The Arabs didn’t view Muhammad’s Quran as
divine inspiration. To them it was absurd for an almighty God to bring a
perfect revelation and then change this very same revelation with something
different. The Quran demonstrates their
contempt for Muhammad’s excuse to change revelations in order to suit his
purpose:
Lo! those who disbelieve the revelations of Allah, Allah guideth them not and theirs will be a painful doom. Only they invent falsehood who believe not Allah's revelations, and (only) they are the liars. Whoso disbelieveth in Allah after his belief - save him who is forced thereto and whose heart is still content with the Faith - but whoso findeth ease in disbelief: On them is wrath from Allah. Theirs will be an awful doom. That is because they have chosen the life of the world rather than the Hereafter, and because Allah guideth not the disbelieving folk. Such are they whose hearts and ears and eyes Allah hath sealed. And such are the heedless. Assuredly in the Hereafter they are the losers. S. 16:104-9
Supplemented with the historical background from Ibn
Kathir:
The Idolators' Claim that the Qur'an was taught by a Human, and the Refutation of their
Claim
Allah tells us about the idolators'
lies, allegations, and slander when they claimed that this Qur'an
which Muhammad had recited for them, was actually taught to him by a human. They referred to a
foreign (i.e., non-Arab) man who lived among them as the servant of some of the
clans of Quraysh and who used to sell goods by As-Safa. Maybe the Messenger of Allah used to sit with him
sometimes and talk to him a little, but he was a foreigner who did not know
much Arabic, only enough simple phrases to answer questions when he had to. So
in refutation of their claims of fabrication, Allah said:
[لِّسَانُ
الَّذِى
يُلْحِدُونَ
إِلَيْهِ أَعْجَمِىٌّ
وَهَـذَا
لِسَانٌ
عَرَبِىٌّ مُّبِينٌ]
(The tongue of the man they refer to is foreign, while this (the
Qur'an) is a (in) clear Arabic tongue.) meaning, how
could it be that this Qur'an with its eloquent style
and perfect meanings, which is more perfect than any Book revealed to any
previously sent Prophet, have been learnt from a foreigner who hardly speaks
the language No one with the slightest amount of common sense would say such a
thing.
[إِنَّ
الَّذِينَ
لاَ
يُؤْمِنُونَ
بِآيَـتِ
اللَّهِ لاَ
يَهْدِيهِمُ
اللَّهُ
وَلَهُمْ
عَذَابٌ
أَلِيمٌ -
إِنَّمَا
يَفْتَرِى الْكَذِبَ
الَّذِينَ
لاَ
يُؤْمِنُونَ
بِآيَـتِ
اللَّهِ
وَأُوْلـئِكَ
هُمُ
الْكَـذِبُونَ
]
(104. Verily, those who do not believe in Allah's Ayat (signs, or revelation), Allah will not guide them, and
theirs will be a painful punishment.) (105. It is only those who do not believe
in Allah's Ayat who fabricate the falsehood, and it
is they who are liars.) Allah tells us that He does not guide those who turn
away from remembering Him and who are heedless of that which He revealed to His
Messenger , those who have no intention of believing
in that which he has brought from Allah. This kind of people will never be
guided to faith by the signs of Allah and the Message which He sent His
Messengers in this world, and they will suffer a painful and severe punishment
in the Hereafter. Then Allah informs us that His Messenger is not a forger nor a liar, because the one who fabricates
falsehood about Allah and His Messenger is the most evil of creatures.
[الَّذِينَ
لاَ
يُؤْمِنُونَ
بِآيَـتِ
اللَّهِ]
(Verily, those who do not believe in Allah's Ayat,)
Allah will not guide them, and theirs will be a painful punishment, meaning,
the disbelievers and heretics who are known to the people as liars. The
Messenger Muhammad , on the other hand, was the most
honest and righteous of people, the most perfect in knowledge, deeds, faith and
conviction. He was known among his people for his truthfulness and no one among
them had any doubts about that - to such an extent that they always addressed
him as Al-Amin (the Trustworthy) Muhammad. Thus when Heraclius, the king of the Romans, asked Abu Sufyan about the attributes of the Messenger of Allah , one of the things he said to him was, "Did you
ever accuse him of lying before he made his claim'' Abu Sufyan
said, "No''. Heraclius said, "He would
refrain from lying about people and then go and fabricate lies about Allah''
[مَن
كَفَرَ
بِاللَّهِ
مِن بَعْدِ
إيمَـنِهِ
إِلاَّ مَنْ
أُكْرِهَ
وَقَلْبُهُ
مُطْمَئِنٌّ
بِالإِيمَـنِ
وَلَـكِن
مَّن شَرَحَ بِالْكُفْرِ
صَدْرًا
فَعَلَيْهِمْ
غَضَبٌ مِّنَ
اللَّهِ
وَلَهُمْ
عَذَابٌ
عَظِيمٌ - ذلِكَ
بِأَنَّهُمُ
اسْتَحَبُّواْ
الْحَيَوةَ
الْدُّنْيَا
عَلَى
الاٌّخِرَةِ
وَأَنَّ
اللَّهَ لاَ
يَهْدِى
الْقَوْمَ
الْكَـفِرِينَ
- أُولَ㺀ئِكَ
الَّذِينَ
طَبَعَ اللَّهُ
عَلَى
قُلُوبِهِمْ
وَسَمْعِهِمْ
وَأَبْصَـرِهِمْ
وَأُولَـئِكَ
هُمُ الْغَـفِلُونَ
- لاَ جَ㸍َمَ
أَنَّهُمْ
فِى الاٌّخِرَةِ
هُمُ الْخَـسِرونَ
]
(106. Whoever disbelieves in Allah after his belief - except one
who was forced while his heart is at peace with the faith - but whoever opens
their breasts to disbelief, on them is wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a
terrible torment.) (107. That is because they
preferred the life of this world over that of the Hereafter. And Allah does not
guide the people who disbelieve.) (108. They are those upon whose hearts,
hearing (ears) and sight (eyes) Allah has set a seal over. And they are the
heedless!) (109. No doubt, in the Hereafter they will be the losers.) (Tafsir
Ibn Kathir –Surah 16:104-9 -here;
Emphasis ours)
Not
only was Muhammad accused of forging lies in the name of God but was also
thought to have been taught the Quran by a human. The historical data shows us
that the early Arabs weren’t impressed by his alleged message from God. I’ve
heard many times from Muslims that Islam is the true way of light but yet when
one attempts to study the Quran, he/she finds out that it is nothing more than
a book composed haphazardly by ignorant men who believe that Muhammad was a
prophet. T.P. Hughes writes:
... The Qur'an is,
however, generally held to be a standing miracle, indeed, the one miracle which
bears witness to the truth of Muhammad's mission, an assumption based on the
Prophet's own statements in the Qur'an (Surah x. 39,
xi. 16, liii. 34), where he calls upon the people who
charge him with having invented it to procure a single chapter like it. But
the Mu'tazalites have asserted that THERE IS NOTHING
MIRACULOUS IN ITS STYLE AND COMPOSITION (vide Sharhu'l-Muwaqif)
... (Hughes, Dictionary of Islam [Kazi
Publications, Inc. (USA) 3023-27 West Belmont Ave., Chicago Il. 60618], p. 521;
bold and capital emphasis mine)
Thomas Carlyle, whose comments on Muhammad in Heroes and Hero Worship
(1841) are often quoted with approval by Muslims, states in reference to the
Quran:
"A wearisome confused
jumble, crude, incondite, endless iterations, longwindedness,
entanglement; most crude incondite-insupportable STUPIDITY, in short!
Nothing but a sense of duty could carry any European through the Koran."
(Carlyle, Sartor Resartus: On Heroes and Hero
Worship [London, 1973], p. 299; bold and capital emphasis ours)
"His Koran has become A STUPID PIECE of
prolix absurdity; we do not believe, like him, that God wrote that!"
(Ibid, p. 344; bold and capital emphasis ours)
Notice what this Muslim says about Carlyle:
It was Friday the 8th of May, 1840, that is about a
hundred and fifty years ago, at a time when it was a sacrilege to say anything
good about Muhammad (pbuh), and the Christian West
was trained to hate the man Muhammad (pbuh) and his
religion, the same way as dogs were at one stage trained in my country to hate
all black people.1 At that time in history, Thomas Carlyle, ONE
OF THE GREATEST THINKERS OF THE PAST CENTURY delivered a series of lectures
under the theme - "Heroes and Hero-worship." (Source; bold and capital
emphasis mine)
Although nothing is necessarily wrong with a divine book
being composed by men if they were
inspired by God but the basic dilemma which faces Muslims is that they try
to ignore the lack of proof for Muhammad’s prophet-hood. How do you know that
God inspired Muhammad?
Let’s analyze the situation to get a better picture:
- Allah abrogates and
substitutes divine revelations.
- These abrogated
revelations were perfect according to the Quran.
- Conclusion: If perfect
revelations were abrogated and replaced, then they can't be perfect.
To avoid the difficulty of these above implications many
Muslims have appealed to the Bible as proof that revelations, despite being
perfect, must be modified according to the changing times of human history. The
late Yusuf Ali, perhaps the greatest Islamic
commentator of our time, in his defense of abrogation claims that there is a
need for progressive revelation within scripture, saying:
"its form may differ according
to the needs and exigencies of the time".
Christians do believe in progressive revelation as well, as
God reveals and changes His will for a people as they change culturally over a
period of generations. The problem with Surah 2:106, 17:86 and 16:101 is that
they do not refer to revelations given prior to Muhammad, but refer uniquely to
the Quranic verses themselves. One cannot claim
progressive revelation within a space of only 20 years (this was the time in
which the Quran was written). The period found in the previous scriptures spans
1,500 years! People and cultures change in that amount of time. Thus the
revelations would reflect those changes. To demand the same for a revelation of
a mere 20 years suggests that God is not all knowing. The only other option can
be that the recorder made corrections, and then came up with a revelation to
authenticate those corrections. Let’s look more into the light of Islam to see
just how un-all knowing Allah really is.
Muhammad will not forget the revelations which Allah gives
him (Surah 87:6-7)-
We shall
make thee read (O Muhammad) so that thou shalt
not forget Save that which Allah willeth.
Lo! He knoweth the disclosed and that which still is
hidden;
Is then changed to withdrawing that which Allah’s wills to
withdraw (i.e. revelations) (17:86).
And
if We willed We could withdraw that which We have revealed unto thee, then wouldst thou find no guardian for thee against Us in respect thereof.
What exactly is the purpose for forgetting and withdrawing
divine revelation? What does Allah have to hide? You will never find in the
Bible any scripture which says that God lets people forget his scriptures and
revelations. To forget God’s revelation would cause one to perish as the bible
illustrates here:
my people are destroyed FROM LACK OF KNOWLEDGE. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children. Hos 4:6
And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous
decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? Only
be careful, and watch yourselves closely
SO THAT YOU DO NOT FORGET the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from
your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their
children after them. Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at
Horeb, when he said to me, "Assemble the people
before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they
live in the land and may teach them to their children." Deut 4:8-10
As you can see, forgetting previous revelation from God is
extremely detrimental. How forgetting revelation is supposed to be a light to
an unbelieving world? Maybe Allah and Muhammad can tell us. By saying that God
is all-powerful while allowing you to forget his own revelation renders God’s
character as being deceitful. People forget everyday, without the help of God,
so this great revelation from Hajj Allah is absolutely useless to one’s moral
character.
One good example of Allah forgetting is that he curses all
liars but yet permits Muhammad to break an oath (surah
66:1-2)-
O
Prophet! Why bannest thou that which Allah hath made
lawful for thee, seeking to please thy wives? And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
Allah hath made lawful for you (Muslims) absolution from your oaths (of such a
kind), and Allah is your Protector. He is the Knower, the Wise.
It seems like Allah is more favorable to Muhammad over
countless others whom he cursed. It is obvious that Allah and Muhammad always
find excuses to justify their inconsistent behavior. Shouldn’t the prophet set
an example by not breaking oaths? Does Allah have respect of persons? Yes. Why
curse other liars but permit Muhammad to lie as well as be his protector. This
implies that Allah isn’t a fair God and he protects liars!!! This is a stark
contrast from Yahweh in the Holy Bible.
The Quran also explicitly states that Allah alone must be
worshipped and it should be noted that Christians are also called unbelievers
for worshipping Jesus. However, Allah contradicts his own commandments and
demands Satan and the angels to worship Adam! One of the greatest differences
between Islam and Christianity is the fact that Christians worship Christ.
Muslims can be very hostile when it comes to this action and in Islamic
countries anyone who worships none but Allah can be put to death, with no
questions asked. This hatred of worshipping of Christ stems from these Quranic verses or Surahs-
And
the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is
the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. THEY IMITATE THE
SAYING OF THOSE WHO DISBELIEVE OF OLD. ALLAH (HIMSELF) FIGHTETH AGAINST THEM.
HOW PERVERSE ARE THEY! They have taken as
lords beside Allah their rabbis and their monks and the Messiah son of Mary,
when they were bidden to worship only One Allah. There is no Allah save Him. Be
He Glorified from all that they ascribe as partner (unto Him)! Fain would they
put out the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah disdaineth
(aught) save that He shall perfect His light, however much the disbelievers
are averse. He it is Who hath sent His messenger with the guidance and
the Religion of Truth, that He may cause it to PREVAIL OVER ALL RELIGION,
however much the idolaters may be averse. O ye who believe! Lo! many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) monks devour
the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar (men) from the way of Allah. They who
hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah, unto them give
tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom, On the day when it will (all) be heated
in the fire of hell, and their foreheads and their flanks and their backs will
be branded therewith (and it will be said unto them): Here is that which ye
hoarded for yourselves. Now taste of what ye used to hoard. S. 9:30-35
They say: "Allah hath begotten
a son" :Glory be to Him.-Nay, to Him belongs all
that is in the heavens and on earth: everything renders worship to Him.
We will now turn to the Sahih Hadiths (Authentic prophetic
sayings of Muhammad) to so we can glean even more information from Muhammad
dealing with what happens to those Christians and Jews who don't just worship
Allah alone:
Narrated 'Aisha
and 'Abdullah bin 'Abbas:
When
the last moment of the life of Allah's Apostle came he started putting his 'Khamisa'
on his face and when he felt hot and short of breath he took it off his face
and said, "MAY ALLAH CURSE THE JEWS AND CHRISTIANS for they built the
places of worship at the graves of their Prophets." The Prophet was
warning (Muslims) of what those had done. (Bukhari Volume 1, Book 8, Number 427)
And,
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:
During
the lifetime of the Prophet some people said, : O
Allah's Apostle! Shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?"
The Prophet said, "Yes; do you have any difficulty in seeing the sun at
midday when it is bright and there is no cloud in the sky?" They replied,
"No." He said, "Do you have any difficulty in seeing the moon on
a full moon night when it is bright and there is no cloud in the sky?"
They replied, "No." The Prophet said, "(Similarly) you will have
no difficulty in seeing Allah on the Day of Resurrection as you have no
difficulty in seeing either of them. On the Day of Resurrection, a
call-maker will announce, "Let every nation follow that which they used
to worship." THEN NONE OF THOSE WHO USED TO WORSHIP ANYTHING OTHER THAN
ALLAH like idols AND OTHER DEITIES but will fall in Hell (Fire),
till there will remain none but those who used to worship Allah, both those who
were obedient (i.e. good) and those who were disobedient (i.e. bad) and the
remaining party of the people of the Scripture. THEN THE JEWS will be called
upon and it will be said to them, 'Who do you use to worship?' They will say,
'We used to worship Ezra, the son of Allah.' It will be said to them, 'YOU ARE
LIARS, FOR ALLAH HAS NEVER TAKEN ANYONE AS A WIFE OR A SON. What do you
want now?' They will say, 'O our Lord! We are thirsty, so give us something to
drink.' They will be directed and addressed thus, 'Will you drink,' whereupon
THEY WILL BE GATHERED UNTO HELL (FIRE) which will look like a mirage whose
different sides will be destroying each other. Then they will fall into the
Fire. AFTERWARDS THE CHRISTIANS WILL BE CALLED upon and it will be said to
them, 'Who do you use to worship?' THEY WILL SAY, 'WE USED TO WORSHIP JESUS,
THE SON OF ALLAH.' It will be said to them, 'YOU ARE LIARS, for Allah has never
taken anyone as a wife or a son,' Then it will be SAID TO THEM, 'What do
you want?' They will say what the FORMER PEOPLE have said. Then, when there remain (in the gathering) NONE BUT THOSE WHO USED
TO WORSHIP ALLAH (ALONE, the real Lord of the Worlds) WHETHER THEY WERE
OBEDIENT OR DISOBEDIENT. Then (Allah) the Lord of the worlds will
come to them in a shape nearest to the picture they had in their minds about
Him. It will be said, 'What are you waiting for?' Every nation have followed what they used to worship.' They will reply,
'We left the people in the world when we were in great need of them and we did
not take them as friends. Now we are waiting for our Lord Whom we used to
worship.' Allah will say, 'I am your Lord.' They will say twice or thrice, 'We
do not worship any besides Allah.' " (Bukhari Volume 6, Book 60, Number 105)
This Hadith gives us a very
explicit picture of what Muhammad said would happen on the day of resurrection.
What is important to note is that both the Jews and Christians are mentioned
wholly as those who worship others beside Allah. The accusation made to the
"people of the book" from Allah is that they both worshipped either
Ezra or Jesus as the son of God. Hence, they are all thrown into hell-fire
while only the Muslims who worshipped Allah alone will see their lord in
Despite the fact that Allah doesn't want Jews and
Christians, in particular to worship nobody but him, but yet Allah tells Satan
to worship Adam! Satan is punished by Allah eternally for not worshipping Adam
just because he was obeying Allah’s command about not worshipping “none but
Allah”!!! Surah 2:34-
And
behold, We said to the angels: "Bow down to
Adam" and they bowed down. Not so Iblis: he
refused and was haughty: He was of those who reject Faith.
The Quran shows us that it was
Allah who actually made Satan what he is today by punishing him just because he
obeyed Allah’s original command of “worship none but Allah”! Ibn Kathir tries
to explain this obvious inconsistency away:
The Prostration was before Adam but the Obedience was to Allah
Qatadah commented on Allah's statement,
[وَإِذْ
قُلْنَا
لِلْمَلَـئِكَةِ
اسْجُدُواْ
لاًّدَمَ]
(And (remember) when We said to the
angels: "Prostrate yourselves before Adam.'')
"The obedience was for Allah and the prostration was before
Adam. Allah honored Adam and commanded the angels to prostrate before him.'' Some
people said that this prostration was just a prostration of greeting, peace
and honor, hence Allah's statement,
[وَرَفَعَ
أَبَوَيْهِ
عَلَى
الْعَرْشِ
وَخَرُّواْ
لَهُ
سُجَّدَا
وَقَالَ
يأَبَتِ هَـذَا
تَأْوِيلُ
رُؤْيَـى مِن
قَبْلُ قَدْ جَعَلَهَا
رَبِّى
حَقًّا]
(And he (Prophet Yusuf) raised his
parents to the throne and they fell down before him prostrate. And he said:
"O my father! This is the interpretation of my dream aforetime! My Lord
has made it come true!'') (12:100)
The practice of prostrating was allowed for previous nations,
but was repealed for ours. Mu`adh said to the Prophet , "I visited Ash-Sham and found that they used
to prostate before their priests and scholars. You, O Messenger of Allah, are
more deserving of prostration.'' The Prophet said,
«لَا
لَوْ كُنْتُ
آمِرًا
بَشَرًا أنْ
يَسْجُدَ
لِبَشَرٍ
لَأَمَرْتُ
الْمَرْأةَ
أنْ تَسْجُدَ
لِزَوجِهَا
مِنْ عِظَمِ
حَقِّهِ عَلَيْهَا»
(No. If I was to command any human to
prostrate before another human, I would command the wife to prostrate before
her husband because of the enormity of his right on her.)
Ar-Razi agreed with this view. Also, Qatadah said about Allah's statement,
[فَسَجَدُواْ
إِلاَّ
إِبْلِيسَ
أَبَى وَاسْتَكْبَرَ
وَكَانَ مِنَ
الْكَـفِرِينَ]
(And they prostrated except Iblis (Shaytan), HE REFUSED
and was proud and was one of the disbelievers (disobedient to Allah).)
"Iblis, the enemy of Allah, envied Adam because Allah
honored Adam. He said, `I was created from fire, and he was created from clay.'
Therefore, the first error ever committed was arrogance, for the enemy of Allah
was too arrogant to prostrate before Adam.'' I - Ibn Kathir - say, the
following is recorded in the Sahih,
«لَا
يَدْخُلُ
الْجَنَّةَ
مَنْ كَانَ
فِي قَلْبِهِ
مِثْقَالُ
حَبَّةٍ مِنْ
خَرْدَلٍ مِنْ
كِبْر»
(No person who has the weight of a mustard seed of arrogance in
his heart shall enter
Iblis had disbelief, arrogance, and
rebellion, all of which caused him to be expelled from the holy presence of
Allah, and His mercy.
[وَقُلْنَا
يَاءَادَمُ
اسْكُنْ
أَنْتَ
وَزَوْجُكَ
الْجَنَّةَ
وَكُلاَ
مِنْهَا
رَغَدًا
حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا
وَلاَ
تَقْرَبَا
هَـذِهِ
الشَّجَرَةَ
فَتَكُونَا
مِنَ
الْظَّـلِمِينَ
- فَأَز㼐لَّهُمَا
الشَّيْطَـنُ
عَنْهَا
فَأَخْرَجَهُمَا
مِمَّا
كَانَا فِيهِ
وَقُلْنَا اهْبِطُواْ
بَعْضُكُمْ
لِبَعْضٍ
عَدُوٌّ
وَلَكُمْ فِى
الأَرْضِ مُسْتَقَرٌّ
وَمَتَـعٌ
إِلَى حِينٍ ]
(35. And We said: "O Adam! Dwell
you and your wife in the Paradise and eat both of you freely with pleasure and
delight, of things therein wherever you will, but come not near this tree or
you both will be of the Zalimin (wrongdoers). '') (36. Then the Shaytan made
them slip therefrom (the
In the Bible Satan rebelled
because he was fighting against God, while in the Quran, Satan rebelled because
he was following and obeying Allah!!!
So, from this we see that if you follow Allah, you still might be punished!
Isn't this just great? Now if what happened to Satan is the result of following
Allah, what makes you think that the same won't happen to the 1.2 billion
Muslim followers who follow him today? Is it because they follow his
commandments not to worship “none other than him”? Hardly, since Satan obeyed
this exact command and look where he wounded up!
SATAN WAS CONDEMNED TODAY BY ALLAH BECAUSE HE OBEYED HIS
COMMAND NOT TO WORSHIP OTHERS THAN ALLAH!
Is this the light of Islam? Yes. You
can’t even follow Allah’s command clearly because you still may wind up
disobeying him. Apparently Satan was more aware of the fact that to “prostrate
oneself before another other than the creator” was clearly not worshipping God!
Maybe Allah forgot this command or it was probably abrogated! Since the Quran
has always existed, Satan would surely have known not to disobey this command
even though Allah himself considered him a disbeliever! Satan was a disbeliever
just because he obeyed Allah!
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Quennel Gale at queball20@yahoo.com
