A Muslim Convert Once More

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ If Jesus ( a.s. ) was crucified in today’s times, what would be the validity to the Islamic claim attempting to disprove it? ”   The verses of the Qur’an pertaining to Jesus ( a.s. ) are about events in the past.   This includes the verses on the crucifixion.   If Jesus ( a.s. ) were crucified in modern times, it either means the events in the past did not happen at all, or that Jesus ( a.s. ) came back and was crucified.   The first scenario would mean that Revelation would be different, whereas in the second, it would have no impact on the Qur’an.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ Will I go to hell?   I am trying to believe in God and Jesus ( a.s. ), but I have been conditioned by my life to question everything.   It is hard to believe what you cannot see.   I want to fully believe, but I do not know if my doubts will ever leave. ”   Your question is incongruent.   First, you say you find it hard to believe in a God you cannot see, but you seem to have no problem believing in a Hell you have never seen.   If you want to find faith, you have to look inside yourself, and question everything.   There is no faith without doubt.   This idea that faith means unquestioning belief is erroneous.   Such a faith, that has not been tested, has no reality.   If, after all that, you find God, and come to a conception of the Divine, then that is the start of your journey.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ Why does the Qur’anic rejection of Jesus’ ( a.s. ) death on the Cross refute Islam for Muslims? ”   In modern scholarship, there are still people who dispute the existence of Jesus ( a.s. ).   The Qur’an Affirms his existence, his miraculous birth, and his baptism by John the Baptist ( a.s. ).   It Rejects his dying on the cross and resurrection.   The Qur’an Treats the question of Christ’s ( a.s. ) crucifixion in a single verse, where it affirms that the Jews did not kill Christ (a.s.), but rather that this was Made to seem to happen to them.   سُوۡرَةُ النِّسَاء وَقَوۡلِهِمۡ إِنَّا قَتَلۡنَا ٱلۡمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ٱبۡنَ مَرۡيَمَ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمۡ‌ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱخۡتَلَفُواْ فِيهِ لَفِى شَكٍّ۬ مِّنۡهُ‌ۚ مَا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنۡ عِلۡمٍ إِلَّا ٱتِّبَاعَ ٱلظَّنِّ‌ۚ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينَۢا ( ١٥٧ )   That they sa...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ How was Jesus ( a.s. ) considered a Muslim if Islam had not been formed yet? ”   Within the context of the Qur’an, when it is Stated that Jesus ( a.s. ), Abraham ( a.s. ), Moses (a.s.) are “ muslim ”, it should not be understood in the context of them being Muslim, as in adherents to Islam, the organised faith.   These people preceded Islam, so that is impossible.   The term “ muslim ”, not “ Muslim ”, refers to them being among those who submitted to Divine Will, the meaning of “ muslim ”.   It is an attribute and a virtue, not a label of faith.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Abu ‘Ali al-Fudhayl ibn ‘Iyadh ( q.s. ) said, “Whenever I disobey Allah ( s.w.t. ), I know this from the behaviour of my donkey and my servant.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Abu ‘Ali al-Fudhayl ibn ‘Iyadh ( q.s. ) said, “If this world with all that is in it were offered to me, and I were not held responsible for enjoying it, I would still turn away from it in disgust, as you would turn away from a decaying corpse, while passing it by, in order not to smear your clothes with it.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following poem was originally written for Trudi M. Best, who passed away on the 26 th February 2021, two days after her fortieth birthday, from cancer.   There are footsteps felt, In the emerald belt, Where the wind blows, And the rains flow, On a lonely trail, To a hidden vale, Where the angels sing, And laughter would ring. Where sorrow and pain, Heartaches in vain, Are kept a distance, And union an instance. Where the weary soul, Is made again whole, To await a return, A Promised return, To a place of rest, In the company of the Blest. To come Home again, To be Home again.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Abu ‘Ali al-Fudhayl ibn ‘Iyadh ( q.s. ) said, “I would rather swear that I am a hypocrite than that I am not a hypocrite.”   He also said, “Not to act for the sake of others is hypocrisy, while to act for the sake of others is polytheism.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Someone asked, “If a Muslim came to believe in the divinity of Jesus ( a.s. ) even as he continued to believe all other tenets of Islam, what happens?   Is he thrown out of Islam?   Not acceptable as a Christian?   Accepted by one or both?   Does it depend on the community he is associated with?”   That depends on the definition of divinity within Islamic theology.   For example, Shaykh Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Arabi al-Hatimi ( q.s. ) wrote, in his Futuhat al-Makiyyah , that Islam’s contention with the Christians is not that they made Jesus ( a.s. ) God, but that they limited God to Jesus ( a.s. ).   Within the concept of taswawwuf , spirituality, we understand the theological position that all Creation reflects every one of the Attributes of Allah ( s.w.t. ), but one, asw-Swamad , Eternality.   Only the nafs al-kamilah , the perfected soul, reflects it.   And that is why there are narr...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Abu al-Qasim ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Huzan al-Qushayri ( r.a. ) recorded, in his Risalah al-Qushayriyyah , Shaykh Abu ‘Ali al-Fudhayl ibn ‘Iyadh ( q.s. ) came from Khurasan, from the region of Marw.   It is said that he was born in Samarkand, and grew up at Abiward.   He passed away in Makkah, in the month of Muharram, in the year 187 AH.   Shaykh al-Fudhayl ( q.s. ) was a dangerous young lad, who robbed caravans between Abiward and Sarakhs.   The reason for his repentance began when he fell in love with a slave girl and, as he was climbing up the wall in order to meet her, he heard a Qur’an reader reciting the following:   سُوۡرَةُ الحَدید ۞ أَلَمۡ يَأۡنِ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ أَن تَخۡشَعَ قُلُوبُہُمۡ لِذِڪۡرِ ٱللَّهِ … ( ١٦ )   Has not the time arrived for the believers, that their hearts, in all humility, should engage in the remembrance of Allah ... (Surah al-Hadid:16)   And he said, “O my L...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Utsman Nuri Tufbas wrote, in “Islam, Spirit, & Form”, that in neither in the Qur’an nor in the ahadits , is any information given regarding the timing of the Day of Resurrection.   However, a number of minor and major signs of the Day of Judgement are mentioned in these primary sources.   We can summarise the available information as follows:   Minor Signs Learning and knowledge will decrease while ignorance will increase. Alcohol consumption and fornication will take place explicitly. Murders for simple reasons and even for no reason at all will rise. Justice and competence will disappear; no attention will be paid whether something is awful or unlawful, legitimate or illegitimate. Rebellion against parents and slavish obedience to the unnecessary demands of women will increase. Cheating and corruption will spread and everybody will start complaining about these ills. Respect and compassion for people will...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Khalid ibn Sa’id ibn al-‘Aasw al-Amawi ( r.a. ) was a swahabi , and one of the muhajirun .   He was also Sayyidatina Umm Habibah Ramlah bint Abu Sufyan’s ( r.a. ) wali , when she married Prophet Muhammad ( s.a.w. ), while she was in Abyssinia.   Sayyidina Khalid ibn Sa’id ( r.a. ) said, “And when Allah ( s.w.t. ) informed the Messiah that he was going from the world, he was disturbed at that, and called the disciples and prepared food for them and said, ‘Come to me tonight, for I have need of you.’   Then, when they gathered at night, he gave them supper and rose to serve them; and when they had finished eating he began to wash their hands and wipe them with his clothes; but they disdained that, so he said, ‘Whoever rejects anything of what I do is not one of mine.’   Then they left him alone until he finished.   Then he said, ‘I have only done this that you should have in me an example of serving one another...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh ‘Utsman Nuri Tufbas wrote, in “Islam, Spirit, & Form”, the following incident, narrated by Sayyidina Hudzayfah ibn al-Yaman ( r.a. ).   It shows the level of kindness and generosity that the members of the early community attained.   Sayyidina Hudzayfah ( r.a. ) was searching the battlefield for survivors at the battle of Yarmuk.   He narrates, “I saw my cousin, Harits, in a pool of blood.   I rushed to him to give him water, but when he was taking the water he heard the voice of ‘Ikrimah, ‘Water, a drop of water for the sake of Allah!’   Harith pointed his eyes to ‘Ikrimah and withdrew his hand from the water, signifying that I should take the water to him.   When I reached him, this time we heard the voice of Iyash, ‘Water, please water!’   ‘Ikrimah like Harits, did not accept the water, and instead pointed me towards Iyash.   I rushed to Iyash, but he did not have time to drink the...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ Did Jesus ( a.s. ) end the Torah? ”   I am not sure what you mean by that.   But Jesus ( a.s. ) did say this:   Matthew 5:17-19 17 “Do not think that I have come to set aside the Law and the prophets; I have not come to set them aside, but to bring them to perfection.   18 Believe me, heaven and earth must disappear sooner than one jot, one flourish should disappear from the Law; it must all be accomplished.   19 Whoever, then, sets aside one of these commandments, though it were the least, and teaches men to do the like, will be of least account in the Kingdom of Heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches others to keep them will be accounted in the Kingdom of Heaven as the greatest.”   17 Μὴ νομίσητε ὅτι ἦλθον καταλῦσαι τὸν νόμον ἢ τοὺς προφήτας: οὐκ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι ἀλλὰ πληρῶσαι.   18 ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν, ἕως ἂν παρέλθῃ ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ, ἰῶτα ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ Why do the Muslims accept Jesus of Nazareth as the Jewish Messiah, and his Second Coming, when he failed to establish the Messianic age? ”   Muslims believe that Jesus ( a.s. ) was a prophet, and he came as a prophet.  And that he was Taken Up by God, and he will come again, as the Messiah to defeat the Anti-Christ.  And then, he will establish the Messianic Age.  He was not supposed to establish any Messianic Age in his first coming since that was not his mission.  This is his first mission:   Matthew 5:17 17 “Do not think that I have come to set aside the law and the prophets; I have not come to set them aside, but to bring them to perfection.”   17 Μὴ νομίσητε ὅτι ἦλθον καταλῦσαι τὸν νόμον ἢ τοὺς προφήτας: οὐκ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι ἀλλὰ πληρῶσαι.   17 Nolite putare quoniam veni solvere legem aut prophetas: non veni solvere, sed adimplere ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ If Jesus ( a.s. ) is not the Son of God, why did he say he was? ” Jesus ( a.s. ) never called himself “Son of God”.   In the canonical gospels, the expression, “Son of Man” occurs 81 times in the Greek text, and is used only in the sayings of Jesus ( a.s. ).   Jesus ( a.s. ) specifically referred to himself as “Son of Man”.   “Son of Man” appears 30 times in the Gospel according to Matthew, 14 times in the Gospel according to Mark, 25 times in the Gospel according to Luke, and 12 times in the Gospel according to John.   Before its use in the canonical gospels, there are no records of “Son of Man” used in any surviving Greek texts of antiquity.   In contrast, in every instance that “Son of God” is used, Jesus ( a.s. ) never said it.   In the Gospel according to Matthew:   Matthew 14:33 33 And the ship’s crew came and said, falling at his feet, “Thou art in...