The Struggle of the Prophet (pbuh)

Worldly Persuasion of Muslim Rulers

And of course the worldly persuasion we can see in Muslim rulers, accepting the offerings of the west for their protection, etc. And they're busy trying to keep their seats, their thrones, their positions.

They wanna look after it. So we see that happening. The difference is of course in the time of Prophet Muhammad, he rejected it. But in our times, our leaders have embraced it. This is the difference.

Economic Blockades

And in terms of the economic blockade, whenever the word sharia comes up, you'll find the west keen on blockading, you know, surrounding this and crushing it.

Sudan is a classical example. When Sudan declared sharia back in 1984, America put an economic blockade on Sudan. Which lasts till today. The longest blockade in history, with the exception of Cuba. Longest blockade in history with the exception of Cuba. To try to bring them to their knees and get them to give up this sharia thing.

This idea of sharia. Because they don't want it to spread. It's like a disease. They're afraid that if it spreads, it will affect what? Their own economic well-being.

Assassinations

In terms of the assassination attempts, we know assassinations are happening around the world. One of the earliest assassinations was that of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. Ruler who stood up to the west and said, "OK, I'm shutting the taps. Because what you guys are doing in Israel, etc. to the Palestinians, I'm shutting the taps. We are ready to go back and live on the desert as we lived before. No problem."

He was a man of principle. And the only way to overcome that was to eliminate him. So he was assassinated. And others.

Open Warfare

And when we look at the next stages, the stage of open warfare, what happened to Iraq but open warfare? Afghanistan. Southern Sudan.

The Truce

And of course, the truce - we know after all that they have said about the Taliban, they're now in negotiating truce with the Taliban. After saying they would never speak to the Taliban, "these guys are this and that, and the other will never come to the table with them," they're now at the table working things out.

So this cycle is inevitable. It is a cycle which all of the earlier Prophets went through. Most documented in the life of Prophet Muhammad because he was the last of the messengers.

Learning from the Blueprint

We don't have the details in the struggles of the earlier Prophets like what we have in the case of Prophet Muhammad because he was to be the last of the Prophets of God. So we have that blueprint.

On one hand, to keep us aware of what we are living, why we are living this. And the issue is, most of the Muslim world is unaware of what is going on. These are all separate events happening to them here, there and everywhere.

But when we look at the life of the Prophet Muhammad, we can see this is a chain of events, all linked, following a familiar pattern. That if Muslims are not conscious of it, then they are unable to benefit from that knowledge.

They learn the history of the Prophet Muhammad like they learn fairy tales. You know, everybody knows the details of this, that and the other. But what it all means? Virtually nothing in our lives. There is no way of benefiting from it practically in our day-to-day lives.

The Coming Return

However, Alhamdulillah, the return and the conquest, the reconquest of our Muslim lands is coming. The Sahwa or the awakening in the Muslim world today is real, it's happening.

Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, the other countries that are going through changes, this is all a part and parcel of that return. But we shouldn't be fooled at the same time with orchestrated changes. Because the West is

very skilled in manipulating movements, struggles, etc.

So what may look to be truly Islam coming to the forefront, we can find signs that it's not truly Islam. There is some Islam there, but it's what will be tolerated. So the struggle isn't over, we still have a long way to go.

The Quran: Proof of Prophethood

However, in this struggle of Prophet Muhammad is another message for us, another sign, an awakening point for many of us who have lost contact with the Quran. It contains proof of the prophethood of Prophet Muhammad.

As he said:

Hadith on the Miracle of the Quran:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4981)

"All prophets were given something which would cause people to believe in them. The thing which I was given is none other than the revelation, the Quran, which Allah revealed to me. So I hope that I will have the most followers among them on the day of judgment."

Miracles Suited to Each Era

Allah gave the prophets miracles to convince their people that they were in fact prophets of God. Because if somebody stands up and says, "I'm a prophet of God," what's your proof? How do we know you're a prophet of God? You have so many false prophets around.

So the miracles were given to them to prove to the people, those who were willing to open their hearts, that they were in fact prophets of God. And what Allah did is that he chose miracles which were in the areas that the people excelled. So that the miracles would have a greater impact on them.

Prophet Musa's Miracle

So for example, Prophet Moses (Musa), who was raised up in Egypt. Egypt was known for sorcery, magic. So he was given a miracle which was like what the magicians were doing, but it was greater.

His staff, when he threw it on the ground, became a snake. Now the magicians of Egypt could do that too. But the thing is that they were doing a trick on the people. They were mesmerizing the people. People thought they

saw these sticks as snakes, but they really weren't. They just appeared to be moving.

They threw them on the ground and it appeared that way to them. Whereas in the case when Musa, when he threw the stick, it really became a snake. And it ate up the false snakes of the other magicians.

Which is why they submitted. They prostrated to Allah immediately. They knew the truth when they saw it.

Prophet Isa's Miracle

In the case of Prophet Jesus (Isa), who was sent amongst the Jews? The Jews were known until today, they were known for medicine. The top medical experts around the world, if you look and see who they are, they're Jews.

Being the top medical experts puts you in a critical position. If you are a president who is working against them, operations can easily fail. Accidents happen. Very, very crucial position to be in.

So they make sure the top heart surgeons, the top medical experts are from amongst themselves. Crucial.

So, in those days, of course, the medical doctors were able to heal people who broke their arms, who had eye diseases, etc. They were able to do what appeared to the people who had no knowledge of the medicines and the techniques, as something almost miraculous.

So Prophet Isa was given a miracle in the same area, except on another level. Instead of just fixing a broken bone, somebody who was born crippled, with a birth defect, he fixed. Something which the Jewish doctors could not.

People who were born blind, he made them see. Jewish doctors couldn't do that. So he was on a whole another level. He even brought the dead back to life. That something definitely was not in their hands.

People got sick, they got them well, but not somebody is dead, he's declared dead, he's coming back to life again.

The Lasting Miracle: The Quran

So, Prophet Muhammad, being the last messengers of Allah, he was also given miracles to prove to the people that he was a prophet of God. However, his miracle had to be on yet another level.

He had miracles which were on the similar level of the other prophets. When the Quraysh asked him to show them a sign, he pointed to the moon and the moon split in front of them. That was a miracle.

But that type of miracle was not the main miracle of the Prophet. Why? Because he was to be the last of the messengers.

If somebody asked you, "Prove to me that Prophet Moses' staff, his staff turned into a snake." Do we have the staff of Prophet Moses in a museum somewhere? Turning into a snake and back into a staff? Do we have this? Anywhere? You heard about that? No? No. Nowhere.

Or somebody said, "Okay, prove to me that he split the Red Sea." Do we have a marker somewhere in the Red Sea where you can see a split till today?

"Okay, somebody says, okay, prove to me that Prophet Jesus made the dead come back to life." Do we have the dead man who he called back to life around? We can say he died and here he is. Or the blind who saw? Or the birds that he made from clay blew on it and it flew away? Do we have any of those things?

These are things that we believe in.

The Unique Nature of the Quranic Miracle

Similarly, we believe in the moon. Yes, there is somebody who said, "Yeah, you know when the first moon lander landed on the moon for the Americans and they were walking around, they did find the crack in the middle of the moon." It's not true. It's Muslim fairy tales, right?

We're looking for, you know. Or the story about one of the astronauts hearing the Adhan on the moon. Not a fairy tale. Then he went to Egypt and he heard the same Adhan again and he became a Muslim. Not true. What was his name again? Neil Armstrong, yes.

Because they call Neil Armstrong, he's still a Christian, he doesn't, he never heard any Adhan, it's not true. Widespread, you know, like all these fishes that we find with scales saying Allah and, you know, we're famous for this stuff, right? May Allah protect us.

Anyway, the point is that these miracles are not tangible. We can't hold them now. They happened at the time and they serve that purpose.

But Prophet Muhammad was to be the Prophet till the end of the world. He was the Prophet to all humankind till the end of the world. So he had to have a miracle which would last. Which people could say, "Today show me the miracle." Here it is. He had to have that. That was unique.

The Literary Miracle of the Quran

So, that miracle, his main miracle as he said, it was the Quran. Because what were the Arabs known for? Were they known for medicine? No. Were they known for magic? No. Technology? No. They're not known for any of these things.

The only thing they were known for was poetry, prose, eloquence. They loved their literature. And they had taken it up to such a height, they used to have yearly competitions where people would come from all over Arabia, you know, like rap artists, right? Rap artists, this one raps and that one raps.

Like this, they were saying huge long poems. People would memorize these poems hearing at one time. They're heavy into this. The eloquence, they loved the word. The literary word.

The Challenge of Disjointed Letters

So Allah gave them the miracle right where they loved the most. And he took the letters that they used to make up their lovely poetry and prose, and he stuck it at the beginning of 14 of the chapters of the Quran.

الم

Alif, Lam, Meem. What's this? Something that the Arabs never did. This was something outside of the normal. They never did this before. But it was the challenge to them.

"See the same Alif, Lam, Meem, that you make all those poems that you love so much. So much that 10 of them, you've written on gold bars and hung it on the Kaaba. You worship it. The Muallakat, they worship them. They worship their poetry."

So Allah gave them:

ق

Qaf. And blew their minds. Wow! Something which they could not imagine. Literary eloquence at a level which was beyond their comprehension. It mesmerized them.

That's why they said, "He's a magician. When you go by his house, put your finger into your ears. Otherwise it will just catch you and you're... Better put your finger in your ears."

The Three-Level Challenge

The point is that this literary miracle was so real that Allah challenged the Arabs. Three levels of challenge.

First Challenge:

Surah Hud (11:13):

"If you don't believe this is from Allah, produce ten chapters like it."

Second Challenge:

Surah Yunus (10:38):

"Produce one chapter like it."

Third Challenge - Repeated:

Surah Al-Baqarah (2:23):

"And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant, then produce one chapter like it."

And he repeated this verse in Makkah and Medina. Produce one chapter like it. Smallest chapter, Al-Kawthar, is only three lines. They still couldn't do it. And they tried. But they couldn't do it.

Understanding the Miracle

Now, some people might say, "Well, what's so magical or so miraculous about these three lines of poetry?"

Why? Because we look at it, most of us, look at it from our various languages. When we read the Quran, we read the Quran in our languages, translated, translated meaning.

So we read and we see, "You know, I read this chapter of the Quran and I know other English writers who have written much better, you know, literary works than this. This is mediocre stuff. I don't see anything magical about it."

Why? Because the miracle of the Quran is not in English or Urdu or Bengali or Somali. It is in Arabic. It's in Arabic.

But even the Arabs today might not be able to grasp it. The common Arabs today. Because they've lost touch with the language of the time when it was at its peak.

The Missionary Challenge

So, if for example, a missionary, and some brothers came to me and asked me about this. A missionary says to you, "If I produce a chapter like the Quran, will you convert to Christianity?"

Most Muslims say, "Oh, I don't know, I don't think I can do that." We hesitate.

We should say, "Yes! I'm ready to convert to Christianity if you produce one chapter like it."

Allah says you cannot, you produce one, I'm ready. Right now. But most of us wouldn't do that. If that's put in front of us, we say, "Oh, I'll have to think about that one."

Why? Because we doubt. We doubt the miraculous literary nature of the Quran. We doubt it. And as I said, the average Arab, he or she may not be able to grasp that miraculous nature.

The False Imitation: Al-Furqan

So if the missionaries put together something, and they did. They put together a religious book called Al-Furqan. Yeah. Called Al-Furqan.

And just as we begin with:

They have it beginning with:

And the story of Genesis is put into Arabic rhyme and poetry. And if you were to read this to the average Arab, who didn't know - maybe "Bismi Isa Al-Masih," you know, "Ilah Al-Taqdis" - okay, they might catch that one.

But if you... The rest of it where God is replaced with Allah, just as in Arabs, in the Arabic translation of the Bible, they use Allah. They may hear some of these and say, "Yeah, that's Quran." And they may swear, "Yes. Wallahi, this is Quran."

Because they're out of touch with that language. So the missionary will say, "Well then, we are able to do it."

Who Can Judge?

But how do we judge whether somebody has successfully imitated the Quran or not? Do we give it to the average person and ask him, "What do you think?"

Somebody who has some background in English literature could write a sonnet in the style of Shakespeare. And show it to the average person who has read a few Shakespeare things. And they say, "Yeah, that's Shakespeare. Sounds just like him, Shakespeare."

But if you gave it to a Shakespeare expert, they would say right away, "No, that's not Shakespeare." They could spot the mistakes.

So it means that the only way that you could judge this would be to give it to an Arabic literature expert who is of necessity, in most cases, an Arab. And in most cases, Arab, Arabic literary experts are Muslims.

They say, "Ah, it's biased. So how can we depend if your people are going to be judging whether we did it or not. You're just not going to accept it anyway. It's biased."

What else to do? If we are the experts, who else can judge?

The point is that the expert will tell you this is not of that standard. Why? Because here are the weaknesses in it. Here, here, there, there. It's weak from this point. They will identify it. So they'll do it academically. They're not just going to say, "No, it's not because we don't feel like it is." No, no. They will give you the points. Why not?

False Claims of Grammatical Errors

The non-Arab Arabs, Arabic experts, they will tell you, for example, "In the Quran there are mistakes, grammatical mistakes."

Now, Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Baha'is, he had a book called Al-Kitab Al-Aqdas (الْكِتَابُ الْأَقْدَسِ), the holiest of books. This was his book of revelation in Arabic. However, when knowledgeable Arabs looked at his writings, they said, "Hey, it's filled with grammatical mistakes."

Because he wasn't an Arab. He was a Persian. So he wrote, he made mistakes.

So they said, "No, this is a new divine grammar."

When the non-Muslim Arabists say, "There are mistakes in the Quran," they say:

Example They Give:

تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ

"What is this? Everybody knows, you pick up any book of Arabic grammar, it tells you that if you have a demonstrative pronoun, there are different forms which must match the noun that it is governing in gender and number. So, you only use تِلْكَ when you're referring to feminine nouns."

You will not say تِلْكَ الْكِتَابُ you'll say ذلِكَ الْكِتَابُ . And when you're dealing with plural, you have أُولئِكَ and تِلْكَ So what you're supposed to have here is أُولَئِكَ الرُّسُلُ not تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ

Okay, this is maybe above some of your heads. But the point is that Arabic grammar came from the Quran. So you can't go back to the Quran and say the Quran made mistakes.

Those people who are experts in grammar will tell you, "Yes, you can use تِلْكَ. It was used in ancient Arabic poetry, it was used in the Quran. It is a use for special emphasis, but it was no longer in common use."

After time passed, people focused on one element of the grammar and they left the other elements for classical literature. That's all. There's no grammatical mistake in the Quran.

The Failed Challenge of Bahá'u'lláh

Not like Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'u'lláh was telling something else. So, when Bahá'u'lláh said in his الْكِتَابُ الْأَقْدَسُ :

"If you don't believe that this is from Allah, produce one word like it."

Hey, come on. It's a joke. It's a joke. Nobody had to produce one word like it because we all know, you can pick the dictionary up and produce so many words like it. It's just a joke.

Or like when Elijah Muhammad in America, we had a false prophet there by the name of Elijah Muhammad, who taught that white people were devils and black people were Allahs. This was his teachings, right?

Nonsense, of course.

He said, "I challenge any white person to come up and prove that he isn't a devil."

And of course, no white person went up to Chicago, you know, challenged him and said, "Okay, here I am, prove here I'm not a devil."

He said, "See? None of them have come. They are devils."

So the challenge of the Quran is not like that. The challenge of the Quran is not like that.

The Proof in the Struggle

We just looked at that struggle of the Prophet. His struggle. What he went through. What the Quraysh did to try to stop him. All of that. What they offered him. Their loss of their lives and their wealth. All of this to try to stop him.

And all they needed to do was to produce three lines of poetry like Surah Al-Kawthar. Surah Al-Kawthar. That's all they have to do.

Do you think practically, logically, that they would, if they were able to do it, they would do this? Go through all that struggle instead of doing this so much simpler thing?

So in the struggle of Rasulullah is the sign that the Quran is a miracle. A literary miracle.

That though we cannot grasp it due to our weakness of our language, etc., so we can't grasp it on that level where we can read it and say, "Wow!" We can understand it in the struggle of Rasulullah.

A struggle which overcame all odds. A struggle which would not have taken place if there was a way out.

The Call to Tawheed

The call of Rasulullah to tawheed - that shook the whole of Meccan society. The socio-economic order was being challenged. The religious center of Arabia was being demolished. They had every reason to meet that challenge.

So in that struggle, inshallah we can see, we can learn, we can appreciate the Quran. Which is the true legacy which Prophet Muhammad has left for us. Tangible in our hands.

And the message of the Quran is to worship Allah alone.

Closing: Our Mission

And that is the total legacy that we have to carry to the people of British Columbia, to the people of Canada, to the people of the world. This was the legacy from the struggle of Rasulullah

Thank you for listening and I hope that whatever I said was of benefit and whatever errors are there are from me.

End of Lecture