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Articles of Faith New Muslims

Prophet Abraham & the Trial of Faith: Doubt & Trust

What trials did Prophet Abraham and his family go through? How did they come out of them? What is the difference between the Qur’anic and biblical accounts of the story?

Prophet Abraham & the Trial of Faith

Beyond his human grief, Abraham develops a relationship with God based on faithfulness, reconciliation, peace, and trust.

There are simple facts alone illustrate the remarkable bond linking Muhammad’s life to Abraham’s (peace be upon them). Yet it is the spiritual lineage that even more dearly reveals the exceptional nature of this bond.

The whole Abrahamic experience unveils the essential dimension of faith in the One. Abraham, who is already very old and has only recently been blessed with a child, must undergo the trial of separation and abandonment, which will take Hagar and their child, Ishmael, very close to death.

Doubt & Trust

His faith is trust in God: he hears God’s command-as does Hagar-and he answers it despite his suffering, never ceasing to invoke God and rely on Him.

Hagar questioned Abraham about the reasons for such behavior; finding it was God’s command, she willingly submitted to it. She asked, then trusted, then accepted, and by doing so she traced the steps of the profound ‘active acceptance’ of God’s will: to question with one’s mind, to understand with one’s intelligence, and to submit with one’s heart.

In the course of those trials, beyond his human grief and in fact through the very nature of that grief, Abraham develops a relationship with God based on faithfulness, reconciliation, peace, and trust. God tries him but is always speaking to him, inspiring him and strewing his path with signs that calm and reassure him.

Several years after this abandonment in the desert. Abraham was to experience another trial: God asked him to sacrifice his first-born son, Ishmael.

Abraham in the Qur’an

The Islamic tradition is that God asks Abraham to sacrifice Ishmael; in the Bible, the tradition is that Abraham is asked to sacrifice his second son, Isaac.

This is how the Qur’an recounts the story:

So We gave him (Abraham) the good news: the birth of a sweet-tempered son. Then, when (the son) was old enough to walk with him, he said: “0 my son! I have seen in a dream that I offer you in sacrifice. Now see what you think!” (The son) said: “0 my father! Do as you are commanded; you will find me, if God so wills, one of the steadfast” So when they had both submitted (to God), and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead, We called out to him: “0 Abraham! You have already fulfilled the dream!- thus indeed do We reward those who do right. For this was a clear trial.” And we ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice. And we left for him among generations (to come) in later times: peace and salutation to Abraham! (As-Saffat 37:101-109 )

The trial is a terrible one: for the sake of his love and faith in God, Abraham must sacrifice his son, despite his fatherly love. The trial of faith is here expressed in this tension between the two loves.

Abraham confides in Ishmael, and it is his own son, the object of sacrifice, whose comforting words to his father are like a confirming sign: “0 my father! Do as you are commanded; you will find me, if God so wills, one of the steadfast.”

As was the case a few years earlier with Hagar, Abraham finds in others signs that enable him to face the trial. Such signs, expressing the presence of the divine at the heart of the trial, have an essential role in the experience of faith and shape the mode of being with oneself and with God.

When God causes His messenger to undergo a terrible trial and at the same time associates that trial with signs of His presence and support (the confirming words of his wife or child, a vision, a dream, an inspiration, etc.), He educates Abraham in faith: Abraham doubts himself and his own strength and faith, but at the same time the signs prevent him from doubting God. This teaches Abraham humility and recognition of the Creator.

Then Abraham is tempted by deep doubt about himself, his faith, and the truth of what he hears and understands, the inspirations and confirmations of Hagar and Ishmael (whom he loves but sacrifices in the name of divine love) enable him not to doubt God, His presence, and His goodness. Doubt about self is thus allied to deep trust in God.

In the Bible

Indeed, trials of faith are never tragic in Islamic tradition, and in this sense, the Qur’an’s story of Abraham is basically different from me Bible’s when it comes to the experience of sacrifice. One can read in Genesis:

After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” (God) said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” …

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and me knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” (Isaac) said. “Behold me fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God Himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. (Genesis, 22:1- 2 and 6-8)

Abraham must sacrifice his son, and here he experiences this trial in absolute solitude. To his son’s direct question, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham answers elliptically. He alone answers God’s call.

This difference between the two accounts may seem slight, yet it has essential consequences for the very perception of faith, for me trial of faith, and for human beings’ relation to God .

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The article is an excerpt from Dr. Tariq Ramadan’s In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press (2007).

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Divine Unity New Muslims

A God, A Place, and A Prophet

A God, A Place, and A Prophet

Abraham is the insistent, continuous expression of pure monotheism, of human consciousness’s adherence to the divine project through self-giving.

Islamic monotheism has always stood in continuity with the sacred history of prophethood. From the beginning, the One God sent humankind prophets and messengers entrusted with the message, the reminder of His presence, His commands, His love, and His hope.

From Adam, the first prophet, to Muhammad, the Last Messenger, Muslim tradition recognizes and identifies with the whole cycle of prophethood, ranging from the most famous messengers (Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus, etc.) to the lesser known, as well as others who remain unknown to us. The One has forever been accompanying us, His creation, from our beginnings to our end.

This is the very meaning of tawheed (the Oneness of God) and of the Qur’anic formula that refers to humankind’s destiny as well as to that of each individual: “To God we belong and to Him we return.”

A Lineage, a Place

Of all messengers, the most important figure in the Last Prophet’s lineage is undoubtedly Abraham (peace be upon him). There are many reasons for this, but from the outset, the Qur’an points to this particular link with Abraham through the insistent and continuous expression of pure monotheism, of human consciousness’s adherence to the divine project, of the heart’s access to His recognition and to His peace through self-giving.

This is the meaning of the word Islam, which is too often translated quickly by the mere idea of submission but which also contains the twofold meaning of “peace” and “wholehearted self-giving”.

Thus a Muslim is a human being who, throughout history-and even before the last Revelation-has wished attain God’s peace through the wholehearted gift of him- or herself to the Being. In this sense, Abraham was the deep and exemplary expression of the Muslim:

He (God) has chosen you, and has imposed no difficulties on you in religion; it is the cult of your father Abraham. It is He Who has named you Muslims, both before and in this (Revelation); that the Messenger may be a witness for you, and ye be witnesses for mankind! (Al-Hajj 22:78)

In God’s Scriptures

Along with this recognition of the One, the figure of Abraham stands out most particularly among the line of prophets leading up to the Messenger of Islam for several other reasons.

The book of Genesis, like the Qur’an, relates the Story of Abraham’s servant Hagar, who gave birth to his first child, Ishmael, in his old age. (Genesis, 15:5 (Revised Standard Version)

Sarah, Abraham’s first wife, who in turn gave birth to Isaac, asked her husband to send away his servant and her child.

Abraham took Hagar and Ishmael away to a valley in the Arabian Peninsula called Bakkah, which Islamic tradition identifies as present-day Mecca.

The Islamic account, like Genesis, relates the questionings, suffering, and prayers of Abraham and Hagar, who were compelled to experience exile and separation. In both the Muslim and Judeo-Christian traditions, this trial is recounted with the certainty and intimate comfort that the parents and child were carrying out a command from God, who will protect and bless Abraham’s descendants born of Hagar. To Abraham’s invocations about his son, God answers in Genesis:

“As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him … and I will make him a great nation.” (Genesis, 17:20)

Then further on, when Hagar is helpless and without food and water:

“And God heard the voice of the child, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not; for God has heard the voice of the child where he is. Arise, lift up the child, and hold him fast with your hand; for I will make him a great nation.” (Genesis, 21:17-19)

As for the Qur’an, it relates Abraham’s prayer:

“O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in a valley without cultivation, by Your Sacred House; in order, O our Lord, that they may establish regular Prayer: so fill the hearts of some among men with love towards them, and feed them with fruits: so that they may give thanks. O our Lord! truly do know what we conceal and what we reveal: for nothing whatever is hidden from Allah, whether on earth or in heaven. Praise be to Allah, Who has granted unto me in old age Isma`il and Isaac: for truly my Lord is He, the Hearer of Prayer! (Ibrahim 14:37-39)

Great Nation

On a purely factual level, the Prophet Muhammad is a descendant of Ishmael’s children and is therefore part of that “great nation” announced by the Scriptures.

Abraham is hence his “father” in the primary sense, and Islamic tradition understands that the blessings of this father’s prayers extend to his descendant the Last Prophet as well as to the place where he left Hagar and Ishmael, where, a few years later, he was to undergo the terrible trial of his son’s sacrifice, and where he was finally to raise with him God’s sacred House (the Ka`bah). Qur’anic Revelation recounts:

And remember that Abraham was tried by his Lord with certain commands, which he fulfilled: He said: “I will make thee an Imam to the Nations.” He pleaded: “And also (Imams) from my offspring!” He answered: “But My Promise is not within the reach of evil-doers.” 

Remember We made the House a place of assembly for men and a place of safety; and take ye the station of Abraham as a place of prayer; and We covenanted with Abraham and Isma`il, that they should sanctify My House for those who compass it round, or use it as a retreat, or bow, or prostrate themselves (therein in prayer).

And when Abraham prayed: My Lord! Make this a region of security and bestow upon its people fruits, such of them as believe in Allah and the Last Day. (Al-Baqarah 2:124-126)

This is the millenary teaching of Islamic tradition: there is a God and a line of prophets whose central figure is Abraham, the archetype of the Muslim, the blood father of this lineage of Ishmael leading up to Muhammad.

Abraham and Ishmael sanctified this place in Bakkah (Mecca) by building God’s House (bayt Allah) with their own hands. And this is precisely where the last of God’s messengers to humankind was born: Muhammad ibn `Abdullah, who bore the message reminding people of the One, of the prophets, and of the sacred House. A God, a place, a prophet.

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The article is an excerpt from Dr. Tariq Ramadan’s book “In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press (2007).

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Divine Unity New Muslims

The Most Powerful Declaration Ever Devised

“There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” This simple statement is the most powerful declaration ever devised. For beyond the words themselves lies a powerful concept and a compelling ideology. Whole societies, cultures and empires have been elevated with its application, or ruined by its rejection.

cause of islam

This Declaration of Faith captures the essence of what Islam is all about: peaceful surrender to the will of the Divine.

And yet, away from grandiose movements and campaigns, the lone spiritual wanderer can attain to the highest levels of wisdom and insight, in the contemplation of its mysteries.

This Declaration of Faith, the Shahadah, captures the essence of what Islam is all about: peaceful surrender to the will of the Divine.

Same Message…Same Declaration

But Islam is not a new religion that began in the seventh century with a great Prophet. Islam is, rather, the latest declaration and installment of a Message brought by all the previous Prophets. The specific circumstances of the age and culture determined the structure of those teachings, but the basic declaration; the basic directive was always the same: surrender to the Universal Will and do what is morally right.

If, over the course of time, a people came to forget, ignore or change the teachings bequeathed by their Messenger, Allah, in His mercy, would renew His Message by sending fresh guidance. In this way, every age had access to divine precepts. Allah says:

Certainly, We have raised among every nation a Messenger who declared, ‘Serve Allah and shun false objects of worship.’ Thus were some guided by Allah, while ruin was justified on others. Travel over the earth and see what befell those who rejected their Messengers. (An-Nahl 16:36)

This process of revelation and correction went on unabated through human history. Some of the Messengers brought major revelations and scriptures, while most were teachers of wisdom and morality to their community or tribe.

Last Guidance

But at long last, after many thousands of years, humanity finally reached a point in its development when one final Messenger would be sufficient: when a last Prophet from Allah could deliver a way of life applicable to all. This last Prophet was Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Allah says concerning His last Messenger:

O followers of earlier revelation! Our Messenger has come to you bringing clarity after a break (in the chain) of Messengers. This, lest you might claim, ‘We never received any announcer of good news nor any Warner.’ Now you have received an announcer of good news and a Warner. And Allah has power over everything.  (Al-Ma’idah 5:19)

Muhammad (peace be upon Him) lived in the full blaze of history’s lamp. His life, deeds and teachings are well known and authenticated. He neither claimed to be a demigod nor did he put himself among the ranks of the angels. Instead, he insisted he was only a man among men chosen by the Creator for His service. Allah specifically instructed him on this point:

We sent Messengers before you, (Muhammad) and appointed for them spouses and children. It was never the place of a Messenger to bring a sign save when Allah allowed. For every age there is a scripture. (Ar-Ra`d 13:38)

From these verses it is evident that Islam was taught from the beginning of history, though it may have gone under different names and guises. It is also clear that Islam is not merely a set of rules and rituals, but a way of life (deen). The final, perfect form of this way is enshrined in God’s last Revelation. The rise and fall of previous nations is a testament to this truth.

declaration of faith

Islam is the latest Message brought by all the previous Prophets; surrender to the Universal Will, do what is morally right.

How many peoples have We destroyed which gave themselves to wrongdoing? They fell from their roofs! And how many wells lie idle and neglected, and castles high and strong also? Don’t they travel through the land so that their hearts may learn the wisdom (in all this) and that their ears may learn to hear? Truly it’s not their eyes that are blind, but the hearts within their chests! (Al-Hajj 22:45-46)

The scripture revealed to Muhammad, the Qur’an, contains directions for every important aspect of life. It also includes instruction in wisdom, ethics, philosophy, economics, politics as well as science.

Furthermore, the recorded deeds and sayings of the blessed Prophet provide us with additional, detailed information about the specifics of living life properly and peacefully. The requirements of our faith, however, are wider than our merely practicing it ourselves. Allah says in this regard:

There should be a number of you who actively call people to righteousness; who encourage goodness and forbid evil. These are the ones who shall prosper. (Aal `Imran 3:104)

Thus, we see that promoting good in society and forbidding wrong are also requirements of the faith. Allah makes it clear in other verses that only by following His Laws can true justice and order be established.

We must therefore give the call to those around us that they might desire to lead lives of goodness and faith. With this understanding in mind, how do we go about our task?

Allah, the Exalted, gives us direction saying:

Call people to the path of your Lord with wisdom and inspiring speech. Reason with them in a superior and respectful manner. Certainly, your Lord knows best who strays from His path and who is guided. (An-Nahl 16:125)

In Cause of Islam

The purpose of this manual is to equip the eager Muslim with the necessary information for calling others to Islam (an activity henceforth to be called Da`wah,) in North America. No Muslim is required to leave his or her job and family and shout on street comers.

All of us are capable of making our own small contributions in the cause of Islam. A small percentage of the work of one hundred is more effective than one hundred percent from one. So do not feel that Islamic da`wah is a daunting task best left to the “professionals”.

There are no priests in Islam, only a society of men and women united by the bonds of a potent ideology.

An important saying of the Prophet is that, if there are at least three Muslims in an area away from the Muslim community, then they must make one of them their leader. Many Islamic groups in North America seek to assist Muslims in this task by helping them to organize locally, while at the same time making them a part of the national and international Islamic movement. Branches and units of many of these activist organizations exist in nearly every major city of the U.S. and Canada and they work eagerly in the cause of Islam.

Upon completion of this manual, you may begin to become more interested in the Islamic movement and in inviting others to the path. You can look into getting involved with ISNA, MYNA, ICNA. MAS, CAIR or a local masjid, or you may promote an organization of your own creation. Any of these avenues may provide you with a channel to carry out this essential requirement of the faith.

Whether or not you become involved with an Islamic group, however, we hope that this manual influences you in the right direction and provides a solid foundation for all those involved in da’wah everywhere.

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Source: Da`wahskills.com

The article is an excerpt from the book  How to Tell Others About Islam, 1994- by Yahiya Emerick, a former President of the Islamic Foundation of North America, vice-principal at an Islamic school, and a Muslim author.

 

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Categories
Divine Unity New Muslims

Six Facts about Jesus in the Qur’an

What does the Qur’an say about Jesus, his birth, and his mother Maryam? Who was Jesus? How was he created? Did he call himself God or “son of God?” What about his miracles; does the Qur’an mention them? Was he crucified?

One of the facts about Jesus, according to the Qur’an, he was born miraculously without a father:

Relate in the Book (the story of) Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place in the East. She placed a screen (to screen herself) from them; then We sent her our angel, and he appeared before her as a man in all respects. She said: “I seek refuge from you to (Allah) Most Gracious: (come not near) if you does fear Allah.” He said: “Nay, I am only a messenger from thy Lord, (to announce) to you the gift of a pure boy”…. (Maryam 19:16-19)

Watch the video below to learn about other facts about Jesus that were mentioned in the Qur’an…

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Source: OnePath Network

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ABC's of Islam New Muslims

What Do the Prophet’s Traditions Say about Jesus?

Allah (Exalted be He) selected the finest amongst humanity as messengers whom He sent to His creation with specific legislations: for them to worship and obey Allah and to establish His Religion and His tawheed (Oneness of Allah) in His Lordship, Worship, and Names and Attributes. This is how the Muslim believes in Allah’s messengers.

jesus

Muslims believe that Jesus will return before the Day of Judgment to bring justice and peace to the world.

And We sent not before you (O Muhammad) but men to whom We inspired, so ask the people of the reminder (Scriptures) if you do not know. And We did not create them (the messengers, with) bodies that ate not food, nor were they immortal. (Al-Anbiyaa’ 21:7-8)

Therefore, one must believe in all of God’s prophets and that they were purely and truly only human in nature; they were not supernatural beings.

`Umar ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Faith is to believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His Messengers and in the Last Day, and in divine destiny, both in its good and in its evil aspects.” (Muslim)

Allah says:

Lo! those who disbelieve in Allah and His messengers, and seek to make distinction between Allah and His messengers, and say: We believe in some and disbelieve in others, and seek to choose a way in between; Such are disbelievers in truth; and for disbelievers We prepare a shameful doom. (An-Nisaa’ 4:150,151)

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Send peace and blessings upon the Prophets and Messengers of Allah, for He (Allah) has sent them (to people) as He (Glory be to Him) sent me.” (Al-Albani)

God’s Word

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “He who bears witness that there is no true god except Allah, alone having no partner with Him, that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger, that `Isa (Jesus) is His slave and Messenger and he (Jesus) is His Word which He communicated to Maryam (Mary) and His spirit which He sent to her, that Paradise is true and Hell is true; Allah will make him enter Jannah (Paradise) accepting whatever deeds he accomplished”. (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Between Jesus and Muhammad

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “Both in this world and in the Hereafter, I am the nearest of all the people to Jesus, the son of Mary. The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but their religion is one.” (Al-Bukhari)

Ibn `Abbas narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “I saw Moses, Jesus and Abraham (on the night of my Ascension to the heavens). Jesus was of red complexion, curly hair and a broad chest. Moses was of brown complexion, straight hair and tall stature as if he was from the people of Az-Zutt.” (Al-Bukhari)

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: There is no prophet between me and him, that is, Jesus (peace be upon him). He will descent (to the earth). When you see him, recognize him: a man of medium height, reddish fair, wearing two light yellow garments, looking as if drops were falling down from his head though it will not be wet. He will fight the people for the cause of Islam. He will break the cross, kill swine, and abolish jizyah. Allah will perish all religions except Islam. He will destroy the Antichrist and will live on the earth for forty years and then he will die. The Muslims will pray over him. (Abu Dawud)

Virtues of Jesus

Abu Hurairah narrated that the Messenger of Allah said, ‘I am the most close to Jesus, son of Mary, from among the whole of mankind in this worldly life and the next life.’ ‘They said: Allah’s Messenger how is it?’ Thereupon he said: ‘Prophets are brothers in faith, having different mothers. Their religion is, however, one, and there is no Prophet between us (between me and Jesus Christ).” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “When any human being is born. Satan touches him at both sides of the body with his two fingers, except Jesus, the son of Mary, whom Satan tried to touch but failed, for he touched the placenta-cover instead.”

About Maryam (Mary), the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Many a man achieved perfection, but no woman achieved perfection except for Maryam (Mary), the daughter of `Imran, and Asiyah, the wife of Pharaoh…” (At-Tirmidhi)

Jesus’ Return

Muslims believe that Jesus will return before the Day of Judgment to bring justice and peace to the world.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon) said, “Dajjal (the Antichrist) will appear in my Ummah and he will stay in the world for forty. I do not know whether this will be forty days or forty months or forty years. Allah will then send (Prophet) ‘Isa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary). ‘Isa will pursue him and slaughter him. Then people will survive for seven years (i.e., after the demise of ‘Isa) in the state that there will be no rancour between two persons…. (Muslim)

This Islamic belief about Jesus is similar to the belief of some of the early Christians.

In the Qur’an, God addresses the Christians about Jesus in the following way:

O People of the Book, do not commit excesses in your religion, and do not say anything about God except the truth: the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was nothing more than a messenger of God, His word, directed to Mary and a spirit from Him. So believe in God and His Messengers and do not speak of a ‘Trinity’– stop (this), that is better for you– God is only one God, He is far above having a son, everything in the heavens and earth belongs to Him and He is the best one to trust. (An-Nisaa’ 4:171)

 

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