Historical and Biblical Accounts That Made the Final Prophethood Inevitable
By
Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy
April 3,
2017
In the
name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Grantor of Mercy.
Prelude:
A Parched Modern World
A person
awakens at the table of an unprecedented feud. The “open mind” is trying to
mature past its phase of vengeance against its oppressors, attempting to forgive
and forget, but while scrambling to compensate for the centuries it was forced
underground and branded a heretic. It finds itself amidst a vicious battle
between logic and loathing, trying to mitigate between the rationality it
values and the revenge it deserves. As the dust begins to settle, the mind
squints to discern whether it succeeded in securing its right to think
critically and sceptically, or whether its bloodlust has driven it over the
edge, chaining it anew—this time to paranoia and thinking cynically. Solemn
moments whisper to the mind that intellectuality and progress have finally
arrived, but humanity and compassion have apparently been trampled beneath
their feet.
In this
hostile atmosphere, which scorches the collective modern mind, people are left
parched for fulfilment and some semblance of balanced direction, and there is
nothing that can soothe their wounds like the coolness of conviction. Only when
the sunrise of certitude is witnessed with one’s own eyes can a person be
quenched by faith and sheltered by an impregnable inner peace. This particular
essay will highlight humanity’s undying need for prophethood, and both the
historical and biblical accounts that made the final prophethood inevitable.
Though the
Quran and Hadith are the primary sources for Dalâ’il An-Nubuwwa (signs
of prophethood), independent works particular to this topic were authored as
early as the late 8th or early 9th century CE. Imam as-Subki reports from Abu
Mansur al-Baghdâdi (d. 429H) who said,
Imam
Shâfi‘i (d. 204/820) compiled a book on proving prophethood in response to the
Brahmins who were stock deniers of all prophethood. Everyone who [later] wrote
about prophethood was dependent on this, for they all followed his style. [1]
There are
over ninety works on Dalâ’il whose titles are known until today, the
most famous of them being Dalâ’il an-Nubuwwa by Imam al-Bayhaqi (d.
458/1066). The objective of these authors was clear: to increase the believers
in conviction, dispel any doubts regarding the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ’s
authenticity, and concentrate this in one readily accessible location for
anyone inquiring about the truth of his prophethood.
Since the
purpose behind such authoring was to reach the seekers of conviction, and in
light of devout readers becoming scarce in our age of distractions and
stimulation-addictions, we will now leap into our study while attempting to be
concise enough to retain the interest of the contemporary mind. Essentially,
this is in large part a transcription of He was the Final Prophet, a
presentation delivered by Dr. Hatem al-Haj.[2]
The
Ethical Need to Believe in God's Messenger
In Islam,
believing in all the messengers is required to validate one’s faith, and
Muhammad ﷺ is certainly no exception to
that rule.
Muhammad is
not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allah and
[the] last of the prophets. And ever is Allah, of all things, Knowing.
[al-Ahzâb (33): 40]
Here, Allah
(the Exalted) establishes that whoever believes in His words must believe that
Muhammad ﷺ was His messenger, and
conversely, whoever rejects Muhammad as the messenger has belied the One who
declared him a messenger.
This verse
also establishes that Muhammad ﷺ
was the last of the prophets, which entails that rejecting this is tantamount
to disbelieving in the One who stated it.
Accepting
the ministry of the final messenger ﷺ
provides another benefit as well. It offers a rational explanation for why a
person cannot “just be a good person,” while disregarding faith. Certainly,
humanistic virtues such as compassion and justice are independently
praiseworthy, and can reap divine blessings in this life. However, in the
grander scheme of things, in terms of salvific eligibility in the hereafter,
accepting God’s message (upon discovering it) is necessary for validating one’s
goodness before God. The basic tools required to be good are one’s existence,
good will, and the various faculties (limbs, wealth, etc.) needed to enact the
good one recognizes. Since all these are endowed by God, rejecting God disqualifies
this goodness from a person, for it would then be—in essence—plagiarized
goodness. We as people, and rightfully so, view the most impressive research
with awe and admiration, but that sentiment quickly transforms into disgust
upon realizing it was actually the work of another, one whose contribution this
fraudulent person deliberately hid. People do not just see plagiarism as
disgraceful, but rather as condemnable, and even prosecutable.
There is
yet another reason why believing in the messengers is an inherent facet of
“being a good person,” namely that only the messengers can thoroughly define
good, through the inspiration they receive from God. At times, people—even with
good intentions—govern their lives with principles that are fatally flawed and,
like cancer, the damage they cause can sometimes be hidden until it is
irreparable. Such people may have genuinely sought “being good,” and “not
hurting anyone,” while oblivious to the evil and hardship they committed
against themselves and society. For this reason, Allah (the Exalted) sent His
messenger ﷺ to define goodness—protecting
humanity from both its short-sightedness and its occasionally perverted
perceptions.
And know
that among you is the Messenger of Allah. If he were to obey you in much of the
matter, you would be in difficulty, but Allah has endeared to you the faith and
has made it pleasing in your hearts and has made hateful to you disbelief,
defiance, and disobedience. Those are the [rightly] guided. [Al-Hujurât (49):
7]
Finally, it
remains to be said that Tawhid (monotheism), which is to single God out in
everything unique to Him, is the ultimate supreme good, and would be impossible
without the messengers. Humanity cannot know God, nor know His beauty and
grandeur, nor know His desire, nor know His promises and threats, nor embody
His legislative will which He lovingly ordained for the betterment of His
creation, without the prophets and messengers. Consider the dismal state of the
world before God sent Noah, or the darkness that smothered humanity before
Muhammad ﷺ, to ascertain humanity’s need
for prophethood.
The Prophet
Muhammad ﷺ once said,
Indeed,
Allah looked towards the people of the world and resented the Arabs and
non-Arabs alike, except for some remnants from the People of the Book. And He
said, ‘I have sent you [O Muhammad] in order to test you and test [others]
through you. And I sent down to you a Book which cannot be washed away with
water… [3]
Wherever a
person turned, darkness prevailed. In Roman coliseums, crowds cheering a lion
as it mauled a screaming prisoner or as gladiators gruesomely hacked away at
one another, was completely normal. In Persia, even the imperial family
practiced incest, the right to private ownership was threatened by Mazdakite
ethics, [4] and plagues ravaged the people in successive waves. In India, those
at the bottom of their class system were equivalent, if not inferior to,
rodents and vermin. In Arabia, finding a stony heart that could stomach burying
his infant daughter alive was no challenge.
In
Christianity, mystery triumphed regarding the identity of Jesus Christ, many
claiming he was God incarnate, while other faith groups alleged he was an
imposter preacher born out of wedlock. In the eastern religions, people
worshipped fire, water, weapons, and genitalia. In societies everywhere, a
woman either had no soul to begin with, or was given a lesser spirit to serve
man, even if that meant pawning her over a recreational gamble with his
friends, or burning herself alive in solidarity with him at his funeral. Few
people would survive birth, and even fewer would see adulthood. Those born into
slavery were doomed for life, and in the major civilizations of that historical
period, this sometimes exceeded 75% of the population.[5]
With this
being the condition of the world, how could Allah not offer a glimpse of hope
for the people of this planet? It is unfathomable that an All-Merciful,
Almighty God, leave the situation without any intervention. In reality, the
Most Merciful would not abandon them, but obligated Himself with reaching out
to the world and clarifying once more,
...so
that those who perished [through disbelief] would perish upon evidence and
those who lived [in faith] would live upon evidence. [Al-Anfâl (8): 42]
By sending
the final Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
God did not fail them, even if some choose thereafter to fail themselves: those
who decide after clarification to decline his message.
The
Multitude, Variety and Clarity of the Proofs
Since
prophethood is necessary for prosperity and salvation, the proofs for it were
beyond enumeration. Allah (the Exalted) equipped Moses with nine signs; some of
them were designed to stump the sorcerers in their own forte, while others
exposed the tyrant’s claim to supreme power. Allah (the Exalted) equipped Jesus
with the capacity to cure the incurable, for those around him took great pride
in their “expert medicine” and proficiency in healing the sick. It is from the
mercy of Allah that He sent with each messenger signs that were relevant to his
context, and thus He surrounded Muhammad ﷺ
with a multitude of proofs, for he was Allah’s mercy to all the worlds, and
hence had to be relevant to all at his time and for all time to come.
The variety
of proofs are what make them relatable to every time, place, culture, and
mindset. During the Prophet’s lifetime, some accepted his ministry after one
glance at his face: ‘Abdullâh b. Salâm (rA) said, “I immediately knew that this
was not the face of a liar.”[6] Another was brought to a firm conviction after
hearing from him ﷺ
a few short statements espousing the values of Islam: Tufayl b. ‘Amr (rA) said,
“I have never heard anything superior or more balanced than this.”[7] Others
confirmed his prophethood on the basis of his reputation for being truthful:
Quraysh said after living 40 years with him, “We have never experienced a lie
from you.”[8] Others believed after witnessing miracles, understanding that
nothing ordinary could have explained these astonishing occurrences. By this
variety, a nomadic shepherd in the Himalayas and a neuroscientist in his or her
laboratory can follow any number of pathways to certainty, as can the ivory
tower philosopher and the pragmatic altruist, as can the buzzing hordes under
the skyscrapers of New York City and Shanghai, as can the banana workers in the
Amazon rainforest.
Allah (the
Exalted) also made the proofs verifying the prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ
crystal clear, so that any honest seeker can find them. As for those obsessing
over their material indulgences, or those who sanctify their social
relationships over their Supreme Maker, or those whose self-conceit has blinded
them to the flaws of their arguments, they will only find clouded judgment. In
many of these cases, their flawed justifications may go unnoticed even by
themselves, for people have forever been able to lock themselves in echo
chambers, where only their views reverberate around them, and they can
successfully silence their consciences and sedate the guilt of denying the
undeniable. As the Most High said,
And
[even] if We opened to them a gate from the heaven and they continued therein
to ascend, they would say, ‘Our eyes have only been dazzled. Rather, we are a
people affected by magic.’ [Hijr (15): 14-15]
The
Historical Necessity for Prophethood
Anyone
versed in biblical scripture, and anyone who has studied the condition of the
world before the prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ,
would conclude that Almighty God had to send a messenger. This was for two
reasons: people were waiting for the final prophesied messenger, and an All-Compassionate
God could not let the atrocities of the world continue much longer.
Biblical
Prophecy
And has it
not been a sign to them that it is recognized by the scholars of the Children
of Israel? [ash-Shu‘arâ’ (26): 197]
Though some
contemporaries of the last prophet rejected him out of animosity and prejudice,
and others simply hadn’t yet been guided, some of the biblically versed—like
‘Abdullâh b. Salâm (rA)—quickly accepted Islam, and that was of the proofs
Allah cited against Quraysh, since most of the Arabs were illiterate, did not
ascribe to any scripture, and held that the Jews were superior to them for
being People of the Book.
These
People of the Book knew God’s promise to bless Ishmael; and to make from him in
particular a great nation. They did not believe that being born of a
slave-woman detracted from his legitimacy, and knew that the first-born son of
Abraham was most entitled to the covenant (had it been meant to be only for one
the two sons, which is not the case here, as we Muslims believe). Despite
adulteration, there still remained—until today, even—clear indicators of the
prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ
in the Judeo-Christian tradition, of which we will mention a select few.
A Great
Nation
And also of
the son of the bondwoman I will make a nation, because he is thy seed. And
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water,
and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her
away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the
water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as if it were a
bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against
him, and lift up her voice, and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad; and
the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth
thee, Hagar? Fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great
nation. [Genesis: 21/13-18, KJV]
A “great
nation” in biblical terminology can never be a nation of polytheists or
idolaters. Therefore, when did the progeny of Ishmael become a great nation worshipping
the one true God? This did not happen at anyone’s hand before Muhammad ﷺ.
Some claim that this took place in Sinai, but this is sheer absurdity, because
it was a given that the Arabs were a people who forever maintained knowledge of
their lineage, which they traced back to Ishmael. Nobody ever denied this
history, while on the opposite end, nobody has ever documented a great
Ishmaelite nation in Sinai. It is a staggering proposition that the Ishmaelite
Arabs were somehow all mistaken about their ancestry that converges at Ishmael,
and that a great Ishmaelite nation rose and then vanished in Sinai without
anyone ever knowing. Couple these historical facts with the biblical
description of Paran—where Abraham left Ishmael—being a wilderness south of Jerusalem,
making it even clearer that Paran must be Mecca. Hence, both the historical
facts and biblical texts concur that the Meccans were the descendants of
Ishmael, and that his mother brought him a wife from Egypt, not that his
offspring took residence in Sinai, Egypt.
Zamzam
and the Flourishing City
Then God
opened her (Hagar’s) eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled
the bottle with water and gave the lad a drink. And God was with the lad; and
he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. And he dwelt in the
wilderness of Paran: his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
[Genesis: 21/19-21]
In Mecca,
there exists the well of Zamzam—the oldest spring of water the world has ever
known. Put the two millennium before the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
aside, and merely consider the multitudinous millions of pilgrims visiting for
Hajj and ‘Umrah over the past 1,500 years. They all return home with
immeasurable gallons of Zamzam water. Alongside this, an endless
round-the-clock supply of this water is transported to Qubâ’ and the Prophetic
Mosque in Madinah, while residents of Mecca have tanks installed in their homes
for standardized Zamzam delivery. Hence, this was certainly a blessed well
which Hagar and Ishmael received, and a clear first brick set by God for this
city to flourish.
Shining
from Paran
And this is
the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel
before his death. And he said, ‘The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir
unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of
saints. From his right hand went a fiery law for them. [Deuteronomy: 33/1-2]
Sinai
(Egypt) is a clear reference to Moses (peace be on him) and the Torah, and Seir
(Palestine) is an allusion to Jesus and the Evangel. If we refuse to accept
that the third reference is to Muhammad ﷺ
and the Quran, we will be stranded for another momentous event suitable for
mention alongside Sinai and Jerusalem. At the climax of his ministry, the
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
returned to Paran (Mecca), marching with 10,000 of his Companions, and
reinstating in that land the worship of the one true God alone. Polytheism and
idolatry were ousted from around the House built by Abraham, and the glory of
God shone anew.
Where Kedar
Lives
Behold my
servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my
spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring
forth judgment unto truth. He shall not
fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles
shall wait for his law.[9] … Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from
the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the
isles, and the inhabitants therefore. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof
lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants
of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.[Isaiah:
42/1-13]
This
servant in Isaiah cannot be Jesus (peace be on him), when Christianity and
Islam agree he rose without bringing justice to the nations, as his handful of
disciples did not possess the strength required to enforce justice. This
servant cannot be Moses (peace be on him) who died in the wilderness of Sinai,
exasperated by the resistance of his own people. Interestingly, the Bible
identifies Kedar as the firstborn of Ishmael. [10] The Bible also asserts that
the first son is most entitled to the covenant. These combined truths become
painfully problematic for someone wishing to conceal that where Kedar settled
fits nothing but Mecca, and that Ishmael’s descendant who gained enough power
to enjoin “God’s justice” fits nobody but Muhammad ?. It was because of these
glaring facts that they kept hidden that Allah (the Exalted) said,
Those to
whom We gave the Scripture know him as they know their own sons. But indeed, a
party of them conceal the truth while they know [it]. [Al-Baqarah (2): 146]
John and
the Prophet
And this is
the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to
ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am
not the Christ. And then they asked him, What then? Art though Elias? And he
saith, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No.[John: 1/19-21]
Who is
“that prophet” who is neither the Christ, nor is he Elijah? Who is “that
prophet” whose name apparently does not even need stating, as if his identity
was common knowledge and his promised coming was awaited by all? This passage
insinuates—at the very least—that people were not just awaiting another
prophet, but rather something unique. Indeed, they were awaiting the greatest
prophet and the finality of prophethood; one who would illuminate for humanity
the path to God one last time—permanently. But where would he come from?
I will
raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put
my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. [Deuteronomy: 18/18]
The prophet
they asked John about was not from among them (the Israelites), but rather from
among their brethren (the Ishmaelites). The New International Version added
“Israelite brethren,” but this is a very recent change—as if concealing the
message is a perpetual work in progress, or that a committee steps in to improvise
every time they feel something is going to be correctly interpreted. Secondly,
nobody from the Ishmaelites—or from humanity, even—had a greater semblance to
Moses than the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Thirdly, only Muhammad [11] ﷺ
tirelessly taught his followers that not a single word that left his lips
should be credited back to him.
By the star
when it descends, Your companion (Muhammad) has not strayed, nor has he erred,
nor does he speak from [his own] inclination. It is but a revelation revealed.
[an-Najm (53): 1-4]
Jesus
and the Comforter
Nevertheless
I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not
away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him
unto you?” … “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them
now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all
truth: for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that
shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. [John: 16/7-13]
Jesus
(peace be on him) could not be implying the Holy Spirit here, calling him the
Comforter that cannot arrive until Jesus departs, since the Holy Spirit was
always with Jesus. Jesus could not be implying Paul or the papacy, since they
did away with laws instead of perfecting them, and have not shown us proof that
they communicate with the heavens. Only the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
revived the honour of Jesus without burying his legacy of worshipping the
Creator alone. Muhammad ﷺ
taught his followers that he would only speak that which he would hear, and he
would precisely foretell future events.[12] He brought definitive guidance on
all truths, perfecting by it the Divine code of law for humanity. In one
splendid metaphor, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
describes prophethood as a magnificent structure that people observed in awe,
short of a single missing brick that needed to be placed in its structure to
fill the gap and perfect its glory. He ﷺ then
commented, “I am that brick; I am the seal of the prophets.”[13]
Construction
of the Ka‘ba
Scriptures
aside, simply consider the religious paradigm in Arabia. Among the Arabs,
Abraham was recognized as the ultimate patriarch, and due to the esteem they
held him in, all paid homage to him – by visiting the House he built in Mecca (the
Ka‘ba). Despite the fact that they were idolaters, the polytheists affirmed
that Mecca was a special sanctuary whose veneration was desired by God. They
saw themselves as the heirs of that heritage, and thus they felt compelled to
honour this Ka‘ba that Abraham had erected. Why else would God command Abraham
to just leave Hagar and his firstborn infant in a particular place, and a
barren wilderness at that? For an Arab whose worldview stems from that
paradigm, it is inconceivable that Allah sent Abraham to construct the Ka‘ba,
sprung a blessed well beneath it, gave rise to a great nation because of it,
and protected it from invasions—just so it would be surrounded by idols and
become a venue for depravity. It is no surprise, then, why people at that time
were dead sure that something was about to happen, something momentous that
would change the entire scene in that part of the world and soon far beyond.
Notes:
[1] Tabaqât ash-Shâfi‘iyya: 5/146.
[2] Dr Hatem al-Haj, MD, is a practicing physician, as well as a PhD in
Islamic Law from al-Jinan University (Tripoli, Lebanon), a founding member of
the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA), and an author of several
books and publications.
[3] Collected by Muslim (2865): Book 53, Hadith 76.
[4] Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, From Africa to Zen:An
Invitation to World Philosophy (p. 157). Rowman and Littlefield Publishers,
(2003).
[5] See: The Invention of Ancient
Slavery? (p. 115), by Niall McKeown, Bristol Classical Press (2007)
[6] Collected by at-Tirmidhi (2/79), Ibn Mâjah (1334, 3251), and Ahmad
(5/451)
[7] Collected in Seerat Ibn Hishâm (1/382-383)
[8] Collected by al-Bukhâri
(4770)
[9] In Sahih al-Bukhâri (2125), it is authentically transmitted that
‘Amr b. al-‘Âs (rA)—a Companion of the Prophet Muhammad ?—said that among what
was foretold in the Torah about the Prophet ? was,
You are My slave and My messenger; your name is al-Mutawakkil (the
Reliant upon God). He is neither harsh nor aggressive, and he does not yell in
the marketplace. He does not repay evil with evil, but rather overlooks and
forgives. Allah will not take him (in death) until He has straightened a
crooked nation through him, having them say there is no god but Allah, and [not
before] he has opened hard hearts, deaf ears, and blind eyes.
[10] “And these are the names of
the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the
firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam.” [Genesis:
25/13] Also see: [1 Chronicles: 1/29]
[11] Both Moses and Muhammad were prophets born of two parents, both
married and had children, both came with a new comprehensive law, both faced
persecution and thus emigrated from their homelands, both returned to defeat
their oppressors, and both had a natural death and burial.
[12] A separate study in this Proofs of Prophethood series will
highlight the prophecies and miracles.
[13] Collected by al-Bukhâri and Muslim.
Original
Headline: An Ethical and Historical
Necessity: The Proofs of Prophethood
Source: The Yaqeen Institute
URL: https://newageislam.com/debating-islam/historical-biblical-accounts-that-made/d/124453