Dear Ms. Loretta
Rajkumar
Response to your comment
had been pending since some time now. I have finally found time to respond.
You start your comment
by saying that “God was against idol worship and He spoke to Moses; Moses was
the only prophet who came face to face with the Holy God.” I agree with you
that idol worship is not the desired mode of worship. Even many Hindus are
against idol worship as they find no sanction for idol worship in the
scriptures. But when you say God “spoke to Moses; Moses was the only prophet
who came face to face with the Holy God,” you are partially correct and
partially wrong. God did speak to Moses, that’s true. Old Testament as well as
the Quran confirms this. But was Moses face to face with the Holy God? If you
say so, that means God came to present Himself on that mountain top. Quran says
it was God’s ‘tajalli’ or God’s light which was made visible to Moses. Saying
Moses was face to face with God is akin to giving a form and shape to God,
whereas He has none (even as per Christian view). His powers are visible in
several manifest forms and the light visible to Moses was proof of God’s
presence. Moses was unable to withstand even this light and fell unconscious.
Your claim that Moses
was the only prophet who came face to face with the Holy God may be your view
based on information available in the Old Testament. Quran explicitly talks of
Prophet Mohammad being taken by angels to the abode of God and even talks of a
distance of ‘two spears or even lesser’ between the Creator and His creation. You
are requested to tell your view regarding whether Jesus got the opportunity to
come face to face with the Holy God or not. I say this because you have given
Jesus the status of ‘Son of God’ while you yourself are saying that none but
Moses came face to face with the Holy God. Kindly tell whether the ‘Son of God’
ever had the opportunity to come face-to-face with his ‘Father’? Can you
supplement your view (whatever it is) from the scriptures? If Jesus indeed came
face to face with his ‘Father God’ then when did this happen? If he didn’t then
you will have to agree that Moses was superior to Jesus in some attributes,
which is not true and I too didn’t believe in this.
After this, madam, you
are mentioning an altogether different subject. In nutshell, you are talking
about God making extinct the great civilizations of the past including those of
Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, Egypt, etc. and ‘he didn’t
ask sinful mankind like you n me to do His dirty work of killing His creations,
He is God Almighty; he can’t fail, he has hosts of angels to take up His
battle, not u and I nor I or Mohammad…” I agree with you fully. Man has no right
to kill another human being without a reason. You are saying so because my name
is Mohammad Alvi – a seemingly Muslim name – and all that you are hearing
lately about Muslims through the media is their beastliness and cruelty. What I
wish to tell you is that despite you hearing so much about the cruelty of
Muslims who are fighting for Al-Qaida, ISIS and similar organizations, such
people are still in minority. I consider all such people who are killing others
in the name of Islam as having no link to Islam. Quran says clearly: “One who
kills one innocent person is akin to killing the entire humanity.” This means anyone
who has willingly killed one innocent person, his sin is as if he has killed
the entire humanity. There is no place for savagery or brutality in true Islam.
I say true Islam, because a pseudo-Islam has been propagated that endorses all
such killings in the name of religion. But I must say that whatever logics
these insane people give in the name of Islam for killing others, neither Prophet
Mohammad’s life or teachings nor Quran endorse such treatment. Quran says: “To
you your religion, to me mine.” It talks of righteousness and piety as the
desired characteristics in a man. It even says that if a person sees injustice/oppression
being done and remains mute witness without speaking in favour of the
oppressed, his conduct is equivalent to as if he himself has committed the
injustice/oppression. Is there any room for savage and brutal killing of
innocents in the light of many such teachings? No! There is none. Not once
during his entire life did the Prophet attacked anybody. All wars were fought
in self-defence when armies marched on him. And whatever the propagandists may
say against him, he did not kill one person in his life. Quran describes him as
a Prophet of Benevolence, Peace and Good Conduct. And that he indeed was.
After saying all this, I
agree that not only in this age but during all ages since the demise of Prophet
Mohammad, there have been people who used Islam to their advantage. Islamic
teachings were sabotaged by self-interest seekers very soon after Prophet’s
death. The books that Muslims possess today give a mix of real teachings and
those propagated by self-interest seekers. A vivid example of the extent to
which Prophet Mohammad’s teachings were sabotaged can be seen by the brutal and
savage assault by the Muslim rulers of the time, barely 50 years after
Prophet’s demise, on Prophet’s family itself. All but one of the male members
of the family of Prophet’s grandson and all his friends and well-wishers were
brutally killed, so much so that neither the aged nor the 6-month old children
were spared. The savagery of al-Qaida and ISIS fades in front of the savagery
committed by the killers of Prophet Mohammad’s grandson. Truth is that when the
teachings of Islam were usurped and sabotaged, the greatest price was paid by
none but the Prophet’s own family which had continued to remain the torchbearer
of true Islamic teachings. Consequently, Prophet’s family and descendants
remained in house-arrests or imprisonment and many of them were killed either
by sword or poison, by the hands of those who had usurped Islamic teachings and
yet were trying to show themselves as rulers of Muslims. Therefore, when you
see ISIS and al-Qaida in their present conduct, don’t blame their conduct on
Islam and Prophet Mohammad but you should know that the Prophet’s family has
paid the greatest price for remaining on the path taught by Prophet Mohammad
and standing opposed to those who were flaunting Prophet’s teachings and showing
them as true Islam.
There is one
clarification that I wish to give. You in your writing say that ‘after Jesus’s
death, 700 years later Mohammad comes and changes the whole world of thinking
that he is the only messenger of god.’ This is not true. Both Mohammad and
Quran endorses all the Biblical prophets from Adam till Jesus but says that
Mohammad was the Prophet that even Jesus had prophesied when he advised to his trusted
followers not to go with his teachings beyond the lost tribes of Israel and
they would not have done so that the Promised Son of Man would arrive. As you
rightly said, Mohammad was born in 570 A.D., the time that would have taken to
Jesus’s followers to go with his teachings to the lost tribes of Israel.
Muslims are of view that the term ‘Paraclete’ in Bible is reference to Mohammad
and I have proved on several occasions that the Spirit of Truth that Jesus was
repeatedly talking about was the Rooh or Holy Spirit that resulted in the birth
of Divinities – the Ahlulbayt – one of whom was Mohammad. And when the Light
(Noor) of Ahlulbayt came one after another in human form, it was the Spirit of
Truth that had actually descended on earth because the light or spirit of 14
together comprise the Holy Spirit. Moreover, you might not be aware, Mohammad
was known as the most truthful person in the whole of Arabia even before the time
when he proclaimed that he had been appointed the Messenger of God. There are
stories of innumerable Christians who acknowledged from their own scriptures
including the teachings of Jesus that Mohammad was the last Prophet who had been
prophesied not just by Jesus but by other Prophets prior to Jesus. Since
Christians and Jews who acknowledged from their scriptures that Mohammad was
the prophesied Prophet had embraced Islam, those who were left were those who
either couldn’t recognize him or didn’t want to recognize. If you are a
Christian, it shouldn’t be difficult for you to understand this because you
know how the Jews denied Jesus’s divine role, despite all the miracles that he
showed and all the good things that he did and preached. Those from among the
Jews who identified Jesus’s link with Divinity embraced his teachings while
those who didn’t continued to remain Jews and oppose Jesus’s teachings. Just as
there were those who didn’t connect Jesus with Divinity, 600 years later there
were still more who were not ready to connect Mohammad with Divinity.
Next you say that because
of Islam and Mohammad’s teachings the world is in chaos… God gave the 10
commandments, because of the idol worshippers… God didn’t go and say that go
and kill all unbelievers… but teach them and show love and compassion…” I have
already said that Islam and Mohammad’s teachings have nothing to do with the
conduct of the present day Muslims who have since long deviated from the
teachings of Mohammad and the path that he was preaching. I value the 10
commandments and it has been made obligatory in Quran to respect and revere the
10 commandments given to Moses. Quran even wants Muslims to give the same
weightage and value to the Ten Commandments as is given to the Quran.
The conduct of present
day Muslims and a lot many others who preceded them is very much like the
followers of Moses, who started worshipping the idol of a calf, within 40 days
of Moses’ departure. When Moses returned with his 10 commandments, ‘because of
the idol worshippers’, as you say, most of his followers were already
worshipping the idol that they had themselves made. Would you blame Moses, his
religion or his God for this deviation? Just as you will not blame Moses, his
religion or his God, you are not justified if you blame Mohammad or the path
that he showed or Allah – the God – for the conduct of present day ISIS, Jaish
and al-Qaida members. Or in other words, just as when you see the Christian
Spaniards wiping out the Aztecs from South America, you see the European
Christians wiping out Indians from North America, or migrant Christians killing
millions of local aborigines in Australia, the Christian US destroying two
cities in Japan in a single day or the Christian Nazis driving out the Jews from
mainland Europe and you don’t put the blame on Christianity or Jesus or His
God, you will be unjustified if you put the blame for the conduct of ISIS,
Jaish and al-Qaida on Mohammad, the path shown by him or the One God of the
cosmos that the Muslims believe in.
Jesus indeed was a
champion of righteousness and peace. He didn’t retaliate even with his persecutors.
Mohammad’s conduct was no different. Bani Umayya tribe of Quraish had waged
several wars on Mohammad. Several neo-Muslims were killed by them and no effort
was spared by them to cut the cord of Islam in its infancy. While Mohammad was
in Makkah, all kinds of torture, cruelty and humiliation were inflicted on him
and his followers. Yet, we see, about 12 years after he was forced to leave
Makkah, when Mohammad returned to Makkah with thousands of believers in Islam,
not even a drop of blood was spilled despite the fact that he was all powerful
and the Bani Umayya had no chance to even flee. General amnesty was declared.
There was no forceful conversion as well. Nobody was imprisoned or tortured.
There were several people who had tortured Mohammad in the past, who had
inflicted humiliation on him, and had in the past tried to inflict as many
damages possible on Islam and its followers, yet none was killed, imprisoned or
tortured.
Countless other examples
can be given of Mohammad’s hatred of violence and war and his total love for
peace and justice to prevail. The study of lives and conduct of the true
followers of Islam – the Ahlulbayt – too reveal the extent they would go to
maintain peace and avert war or bloodshed. Ali would never fight with a person
who was disarmed, who was with his back to him or who didn’t come to wage an
attack on him. Ali even spared an enemy who had come to kill him but when he
was about to be killed, spat on Ali’s face. Ali immediately let go his opponent
because he didn’t want to fight him in a fit of rage. History has recorded that
while Muawiya – Ali’s chief opponent who belonged to Bani Umayya tribe – used
deceit as his chief weapon, Ali never resorted to the same tactics and was seen
as the most upright and peace loving person even when he was fighting a war.
Now we come to a very
crucial subject that you have raised. You say: “Can you tell me which 12 tribes
does Islam belongs? As from the time God chose the 12 tribes of Israel, he
accurately told Abraham to go and possess the land given to him and his
descendants… and the Bible clearly states that it was Isaac the promised seed
of Abraham will be the sacrifice and not Ismael. Now that Abraham who was a Hebrew/Jewish…
Sara who was a mobite woman and Hagar was an Egyptian maid, how does that link
to Islam that came about 4000 years later… then why change all Jewish names to
Islam, eg. Abraham Abrahim, Jacob to Yacob, Isaac to Isaak, Moses to Musa,
etc…. the bible clearly says that no words must be taken from this bible or add
on, those who do this will face eternal damnation, respect our holy bible as
most contents was taken from the old testament by Mohammad.. Jesus didn’t come
and rewrite the Bible, He came to save mankind through his death which was
prophecised accurately by the prophets of Old Testament.”
Again, Madam, there are
some points that I agree to and some that I don’t. Let us see your point of
view. You say Abraham was a Hebrew/Jewish. Is it true? If Abraham was Jewish,
then you will have to agree that all Christians are on the wrong. Because Jesus
never said he was bringing a new religion. He always kept saying that he was
merely reiterating what had been said earlier. If Abraham was Jewish, then
Christians should call them as Jewish because there is no religion that Jesus
brought. The answer to what you said lies in your statement alone. Truth is
that Abraham was not Jewish. Abraham was propagating the path of the One Lord
of the Universe; the same path that was propagated by other Prophets before and
after him. It is we humans who gave the names likes Jews and Christians.
You are trying to
belittle the position of Hajira (Hager) when you say while Sara was a noble
woman, Hajira (Hager) was an Egyptian maid. Neither the teachings of Jesus nor
that of Mohammad value a man on the basis of his wealth and status. The sole
criteria for measuring a person is righteousness and good deeds. When you
belittle Hajira because she was a maid, you are speaking against the teachings
of Jesus. Moreover, all Jews who were freed by Moses were at one point in time
slaves in that very Egypt from where Hajira belonged. So, from your point of
view, how can the Jews make claim of supremacy over others? Even Joseph was
taken as slave and sold as slave during one phase of his life. Does this give a
reason to belittle his position? Hajira’s elevated position in the eyes of the
God can be seen in Genesis itself when God couldn’t see Hajira running to fetch
water for his dying son and made water sprout from close to Ismael’s feet.
You put the blame on
Muslims for changing the Jewish names to Islam, eg. Abraham to Ibrahim, Jacob
to Yaqoob, Isaac to Isaak, Moses to Musa, etc. I think you have said this
because of your lack of knowledge in this area. It is not Muslims who have
changed names but it is the European Christians who are in the habit of
changing names. When Muslims reached the shores of Spain, their fleet was being
commanded by Tariq, who landed near a mountain on the Spanish coast. Muslims
called that mountain ‘Jabr-ut-tariq’ or ‘mountain of Tariq’. Europeans call it
Gibraltor today. Born in 721 A.D., Jabir ibn Hayyan gave so much contribution
to the field of Chemistry that he is known as Father of Chemistry. Europeans
call him Geber. Abu Ali Husain nicknamed Ibn-e-Sina is regarded as one of the
most significant thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. Europeans call
him Avicenna. Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi is described by many
as father of modern surgery. His books, originally written in Arabic, were
translated in European languages and were taught to the students of medicine as
recently till the last century. West call him Albucasis. These are just few
examples out of the many that I can give to show that it is not the Muslims but
the Western world which has changed names so that they appear less Muslim and
people do not realize the contribution of Muslims to science and technology.
The same happened to the
case of the names of Prophets of yesteryears. You are perhaps reading the
English translations of your scriptures. Do you know the names that you are
reading in English have not been similarly pronounced in the original Hebrew
texts? Even the name of Jesus is not mentioned in Hebrew text but the
pronunciation is similar to the Quranic Isa. The same is the case with Musa
(and not Moses). Conclusion: if you really feel like asking questions in this
regard, then you should ask the Western world why they have altered the
pronunciations of the names of their own prophets.
The great tortures and
hardships that the Christians had to face for several hundred years after
Jesus, from the hands of Roman rulers, slowly led to an amalgamation of Roman
beliefs and Christian teachings. Jesus was nowhere the ‘Son of God’ in early
Christian teachings but he became the ‘Son of God’ with progress in time.
Likewise, lot many changes were brought about in the translations of Old
Testament and Bible by the later day priests to suit their advantage.
For instance, I can give
examples from Old Testament itself which will shed light on how the Christian
world replaced the name of Ismael with Isaac wherever the description of the
son’s sacrifice given by Ibrahim (Abraham) is talked about in the Old
Testament. I know this will come hard on your existing belief but I request you
to give this a patient reading.
Let’s read what
description Old Testament (Genesis, 22.1 onwards) says when it talks of the
sacrifice given by Abraham. You will agree that Genesis talks about Isaac and
not Ismael in its description. Genesis says:
22:1
Some time after these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am!” Abraham replied. 22:2 God said, “Take your son – your only son,
whom you love, Isaac – and go to the land
of Moriah
22:3
Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took two of his
young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for
the burnt offering, he started out for the place God had spoken to him about.
22:4
On the third day Abraham caught sight of the place in the distance. 22:5 So he
said to his servants, “You two stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go
up there. We will worship and then return to you.”
22:6
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then
he took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them walked on
together. 22:7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father?” “What is it, my
son?” he replied. “Here is the fire and the wood,” Isaac said, “but where is
the lamb for the burnt offering?” 22:8 “God will provide for himself the lamb
for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham replied. The two of them continued on
together.
22:9
When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar
there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac and placed him
on the altar on top of the wood. 22:10 Then Abraham reached out his hand, took
the knife, and prepared to slaughter his son. 22:11 But the Lord’s angel called
to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered. 22:12 “Do not
harm the boy!” the angel said. “Do not do anything to him, for now I know that
you fear God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”
22:13
Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram caught in the bushes by its horns.
So he went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead
of his son. 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord
provides.” It is said to this day, “In the mountain of the Lord provision will
be made.”
22:15
The Lord’s angel called to Abraham a second time from heaven 22:16 and said,
“‘I solemnly swear by my own name,’ decrees the Lord, ‘that because you have
done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 22:17 I will indeed
bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be as
countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your
descendants will take possession of the strongholds of their enemies. 22:18 Because
you have obeyed me, all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on
one another using the name of your descendants.’”
22:19
Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer Sheba
Quran says
Abraham took his elder son Ismael for sacrifice but Genesis says that he took
Isaac. The prayer made by Abraham regarding his progeny’s expansion from Ismael;
remaining of leadership (Imamat) even in his descendants; and about the 12
princes in the progeny is mentioned in the Quran but Old Testament is showing
Abraham praying for his son Isaac and his progeny. How will you decide now, at
a time when we are face to face with two contradicting versions, the real truth?
How will you know who is right and who is wrong? And who altered the
description by changing the names of the persons mentioned. Was it Isaac’s name
that was replaced with the name of Ismael or was it Ismael’s name that was
replaced with the name of Isaac? This is important because while Mohammad and
the 12 princes (the 12 Imams) were born in the progeny of Ismael, the progeny
of Isaac saw illustrious prophets like Jacob, David, Lot, Moses, Jesus and many
more. While the prophets in the progeny of Isaac are respectful figures for all
– Jews, Christians and Muslims – Mohammad who was born in the progeny of Ismael
is revered only by the Muslims.
The issue
can be solved by no other means but by the use of intellect. I request you to
understand the issue through use of your faculties of reason and intellect. I
will give three proofs from Old Testament itself which will give an indication
that it were the Christians (or Jews) who replaced the name of Ismael with that
of Isaac wherever the mention of the sacrifice had been made so that people
face difficulty in reaching the truth.
I request
you to read the aforementioned description from Genesis regarding the
sacrifice. Again and again, Isaac is being called the ‘only son’ whereas it may
be proved from Genesis itself that Ismael was the elder brother who was taken
along with his mother Hajira (Hager) and left at a far off place in a barren
land. If Isaac indeed was the one who had been taken for sacrifice, why the
repeated mention of ‘only son’.
Come, let’s
use our intellect! Abraham was 86 years old when Ismael was born to Abraham and
Hajira. This can be proved from Genesis itself which says:
16:15
So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, whom Abram named Ishmael. 16:16 (Now Abram
was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.)
Genesis
17:24 tells that Abraham was 99 years old when the Divine Order for
circumcision came and Abraham not only ordered circumcision of his 13 year old
son Ismael but rest of the people. The same year, the angels arrived and gave
glad tidings to Sara (Abraham’s other wife) regarding the birth of a son. This
proves that when Isaac was born, Ismael must have been 14 years old. Quran says
that when the kid Ismael grew big enough to move around with his father, the
order for sacrifice came. Naturally, it is apparent from Quran that Ismael was
not a grown up youth when the sacrifice was given but had just started helping his
father in his work. Isaac was born when Ismael was 14 years old, as per Genesis.
The repeated stress on the term ‘only son’ in Genesis shows that originally
there was the mention of Ismael, who was the only son of Abraham till he was
14, but his name was later replaced with that of Isaac.
Now see the
second proof. The barren desert of Beer Sheba was the place where Abraham had
left his wife Hajira and infant son Ismael. If you read the history of Beer
Sheba, it was considered as the border outpost of the then inhabited region,
beyond which there was nothing but barren desert. Clearly, Abraham had gone
beyond Beer Sheba to the barren desert and left his wife and child there. Quran
is of view that Hajira and Ismael were left at the place which is now called
Makkah. Quran also narrates the incident of spring flowing from near the feet
of Ismael and that place is still considered sacred by the Muslims. See 21.14
onwards from Genesis:
21:14
Early in the morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them
to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, and sent her away.
So she went wandering aimlessly through the wilderness of Beer Sheba
The
description tells that Hajira and not Sara “went wandering aimlessly through
the wilderness of Beer Sheba.” The description in Genesis also talks about
water coming out miraculously from close to the feet of Ismael. Thus, the
description in Genesis is same as the description in Quran when it comes to
water sprouting from the ground for Ismael, with the only difference that while
Quran indicates the place as modern day Makkah, Genesis describes it as the ‘wilderness
of Beer Sheba’.
I invite you
to read the aforementioned description of Genesis (22.1 onwards) where the
sacrifice is mentioned. The description talks about Abraham taking two of his
servants and traveling for three days to reach the foot of the mountain where
he was to give the sacrifice. It talks about his attempt to give sacrifice of
his ‘only son’ (Isaac, as mentioned in Genesis) but ends with:
22:19
Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer Sheba
where Abraham stayed.
This
descriptions shows that Abraham was staying at Beer Sheba while 21.14 tells
that Hajira with her son Ismael wandered around in the wilderness of Beer
Sheeba. This too proofs that the sacrifice was given of Ismael and not of Isaac
who lived somewhere near Jerusalem.
Now the
third proof, which is more logical in nature. That this incident of sacrifice occurred
with Ismael and not Isaac can be inferred from the fact that its remembrance
remained in the progeny of Ismael while the progeny of Isaac retained not even
a single remembrance in terms of rituals. All through history, since the time
of Ismael, his progeny and followers, continued with the rituals of running
between two hills (Safa and Marwah) in remembrance of Hajira’s run in search of
water to and fro seven times. The ritual was retained as part of the Hajj
ritual by Prophet Mohammad, perhaps because it is a living proof that the
sacrifice was meant for Ismael and not for Isaac. Are these not enough reasons
to prove my point of view?
To be continued…
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