CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIAN BELIEFS
The writer of the book mentioned that he was asked to explain the fundamental Christian beliefs, in spite of the different languages and divergent accents among Christians. This divergence is due to their huge number and to the fact that they live and are spread throughout the world, in addition to those who dwell on islands and in lands that extend to where the sun sets. He, i.e., the writer of the book, further said that Bishop Dayan, the king, held a meeting with the superiors, the noblemen and the scholars of his kingdom in order to discuss with them the beliefs and opinions of the people of the island of Cyprus before entering it, as he was curious about their religious beliefs.
The writer related that the Bishop said, ‘They (the people of the island) say, ‘We have heard that a man from amongst the Arabs named Muhammad claims that he is
the Messenger of Allah and that he has been sent with a Book (Qur’an) which, he claims, was revealed to him from Allah.”‘ He continued, “If you have already, as I see,
acknowledged that Book and Messenger, and you have exerted your ultimate efforts to study and comprehend it, why have you not followed him, Muhammad the
Messenger? What has prevented you from believing in this Book (Qur’an), especially when it is mentioned that this Book states,
which means, “And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.” (Al-‘lmran, 3: 85)
They replied, “We did not believe in this Book or in that Messenger for several reasons.” He asked, “And what are those reasons?” They replied, “The first reason is that this Book (Qur’an) is revealed in Arabic and not in our mother tongue as stated in its verses
which means, “Verily, We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’an in order that you may understand.” (Yusuf, 12:2)
which means, “in the plain Arabic language.” (AshShu’ara’, 26:195)
which means, “And if We had revealed it (this Qur’an) unto any of the non-Arabs, And he had recited it unto them, they would not have believed in it.”(Ash-Shu’ara’ 26:198-199)
which means, “Similarly (to complete My Blessings on you) We have sent among you a Messenger (Muhammad, peace be upon him) of your own, reciting to you Our verses (the Qur’an) and sanctifying you, and teaching you the Book (the Qur’an) and the Hikmah (i.e. Sunnah, Islamic laws and Fiqh – jurisprudence), and teaching you that which you used not to know.” (AlBaqarah, 2:151)
which means, “Indeed Allah conferred a great favor on the believers when He sent among them a Messenger (Muhammad, peace be upon him) from among themselves, reciting unto them His verses (the Qur’an), and purifying them (from sins by their following him), and instructing them (in) the Book (the Qur’an) and Al-Hikmah [the wisdom and the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him) (i.e. his legal ways, statements, acts of worship, etc.)], while before that they had been in manifest error.” (Al-‘lmran, 3:164)
which means, “To give warning to a people to whom no warner had come before you in order that they may remember or receive admonition. “(Al-Qasas, 28:46)
which means, “In order that you may warn a people whose forefathers were not warned, so they are heedless. “(Yasin, 36:6).
They added, “And thus, we understand that this Messenger has not been sent to us. He has only been sent to the Arabs, for whom neither Messengers nor warners were ever sent before. Subsequently, we are not included in this message and we are not obliged to follow it or to believe in it. Unlike the Arabs, we received
messengers before, who addressed us in our tongue and language and warned us with this religion of ours which is in our hands; in which we believe and to which we have submitted and have adhered to until this very day. Those Messengers had conveyed to us the Torah and the Gospel that were revealed in our language. All these facts are mentioned and asserted in their Book (i.e. Qur’an) for it is stated in their Book in the Chapter of Ibrahim,
which means, “And We sent not a Messenger except with the language of his people, in order that he might make (the Message) clear for them.” (Ibrahim, 14: 4)
It is also stated,
And the verse which means, “And verily, We have sent among every Ummah (community, nation) a Messenger.”(An-Nahl, 16:36)
It is also stated,
which means, “And indeed We did send Messengers before you (O Muhammad) to their own peoples. They came to them with clear proof.” (Ar-Rum, 30: 47)
So it is stated in this Book that it was sent only to those pagan Arabs. For proof of this read this verse,
which means, “And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.” (Al-‘lmran, 3: 85)
they said, “Verily, as far as justice is concerned, the judgment in that verse is confined to those people (Arabs) to whom Islam was sent, but no other nation is referred to in those words. It is taken for granted that Allah is just and thus, it is not becoming of His Justice that He would order a nation to follow a man (i.e. a messenger) without sending a book in their language with him. Therefore, that Messenger, who was sent with the Arabic book, is sent only to the Arabs.”
These are their very words in the first chapter, in which they did not tackle the issue of believing or disbelieving in the Qur’an. They only claimed that it was not sent to them, but was sent for the pagan Arabs and so, according to reason, it cannot be sent to them.
By: Sheikhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah
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